On Marriage

Some day, some day, people will really get it.

They will understand that their concept of marriage is cultural, as in the 'wedding industry' that lures couples into spending thousands of dollars they do not have for an evening, whereas those of us who counsel said couples are more interested in five to ten years down the line.

They will understand that their concept of 'biblical' marriage is totally wrong, that this notion of one man/one woman more often than not does not show up as the norm in the bible (try Salomon and his gazillions of wives and concubines or Levite marriage).

They will understand that their concept of the actual rite involves both state and church and perhaps, it would be better to separate church from state in this case, as it is in all other rites.

They will understand that the concept of samegendermarriage is incredibly conservative and traditional and is not going to tear apart their (fragile) heterosexualmarriages.

They will understand that the sex lives of gays and lesbians are boring, and not cracked up to what their fantasies think they are, that the gays and lesbians are not out there 'doing it' all the time but actually are quite bogged down in the mundane tasks and responsibilities of daily life.

End rant.

In the meantime, the arc toward justice is incredibly long and slow.

Shame on Texas

From the NY Times in an article about Texas slashing funds for women's medical care

But the clinic closed in October, along with more than a dozen others in the state, after financing for women’s health was slashed by two-thirds by the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The cuts, which left many low-income women with inconvenient or costly options, grew out of the effort to eliminate state support for Planned Parenthood. Although the cuts also forced clinics that were not affiliated with the agency to close — and none of them, even the ones run by Planned Parenthood, performed abortions — supporters of the cutbacks said they were motivated by the fight against abortion.

Now, the same sentiment is likely to lead to a shutdown next week of another significant source of reproductive health care: the Medicaid Women’s Health Program, which serves 130,000 women with grants to many clinics, including those run by Planned Parenthood. Gov. Rick Perry and Republican lawmakers have said they would forgo the $35 million in federal money that finances the women’s health program in order to keep Planned Parenthood from getting any of it.

In what year are we? You say 2012? Really? I'd say it is more like the 1950s or 1960s. Depressing.

Christmas Eve sermon

[This sermon is not being preached anywhere but on the internet.]

No longer can I hear the story of the nativity with the same ears or see it with the same eyes of my imagination. For a long time, my heart has ached upon hearing the words, ‘O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie....’ Having gone to Bethlehem, no longer a little town, my vision of the place has changed.

The basilica, Christendom’s oldest complete and working church now devoted to Jesus’ birthplace, like so many other places in the Middle East, is a place of dispute. The Orthodox run the old part of the church where one gains access to the grotto that is the birthplace of Christ whereas the Franciscans hold masses in an adjoining church that is a smaller duplication of the older basilica. Elsewhere in the complex, Armenians worship.

The birthplace of Jesus is marked by a large star that most recently dates to 1717 and was also a source of dispute in the 19th century. Regardless of who wants the star in place and who does not, the star is clearly in a cave which was the typical place for animals to be kept as well as for women to give birth. Facing the star is the place where the manger was, just a couple of footsteps away. To venerate both, one must kneel down and stick one’s head under an altar and be careful not to bang one’s head against the suspended votives that surround the two spots.

The day I visited Jesus’ birthplace, things were not flowing smoothly in the basilica for the simple reason that Senator John McCain was visiting. He and his entourage swept past the long queue of people to descend the steep stairs into the grotto. The rest of us hoi poloi were left standing, waiting and waiting and waiting.

To leave Bethlehem to return to Jerusalem, one has to go through the partition wall, the thirty-foot high barrier that separates Israel from Palestine. It is forbidding, foreboding with its concertina wire up top, the gun turrets every so far, the huge sliding doors that allow army vehicles into the space between the two countries. Pedestrians walk through a cattleshoot-like tunnel to leave Palestine, enter the security area before exiting into Israel. The Palestinian side of the wall is covered by graffiti — exceptionally artistic paintings — whereas the Israeli side is barren.

Just as it is impossible to separate out the political from the spiritual today, so it was in Jesus’ day. Why should the Son of God be born into such a humble family, to an unwed mother who should have been cast off and rejected? Why should the Holy Family have had to scrounge for housing were it not for the census — a census dictated by an occupying force, the Romans. Then as now, the land where Jesus was born was under dispute. Most of all, why should God have chosen to irrupt into history at that point in time in that small person of a fragile baby?

Every year we come face-to-face with the mystery of the Incarnation, God-made-flesh, Emmanuel, in Jesus the Christ. Every year we have to grapple with the paradox of the splendour of God’s universe and the particularity of the crib. Every year we are reminded that the soft wood of the crib becomes the hard wood of the cross and that through this tiny infant humanity was redeemed. It is an awful lot to contemplate. In some ways, we avoid it all by the frenzy of shopping and preparing the household for guests and fancy meals. The mystery of the Incarnation is so mind-boggling when one gets down to it, that one chooses to focus on the candles and sentimentality of imagined perfect Christmas celebrations instead.

Underneath all the lights, wrappings, feasts, music and commotion, though, lies our simple human need to know that we are loved… loved beyond measure by the same God who created the universe and the Son of Humanity. That assurance is what we really seek. We yearn to hear God’s heartbeat under our ears, to know that God is as close as our breath.

Knowing that God loves us unconditionally and immeasurably will not take away the pain there is. God’s love won’t find us a job or housing or restore the ravaged hillsides and rivers of Vermont to their pre-Irene status. God’s love will not end cancer or improve the economy or bring back lost loves and friendships. Those sufferings are part of the finitude of humankind, they are the human condition. These limitations do, however, challenge us to make a difference — to bind up the broken-hearted, to heal the sick, to give water to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to give food to the hungry, to visit those in jail. For those of us who know and love God, we are called to change this world to one where God’s mercy and justice — God’s jubilee — break into this otherwise incomplete and shattered world.

By struggling to infuse our world with God’s grace, we continue in the spirit that brought us Jesus who, as God made flesh, showed us God’s love. Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the source, the beginning — he, of the father’s love begotten.

We yearn for peace, we yearn for a healed world… and most of all, we yearn for God.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Come, fill our hearts.

Come, break down the walls that separate us.

Come, show us God’s love so that we might show it to others.

Come close once again.

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

[pictures taken in February 2011]

Exemplar of a boor

November 10, 2011, 9:56 pm
Cain on Camera Joking About Anita Hill
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR (NYT)

Even as he is facing his own sexual harassment scandal, Herman Cain was caught on tape Thursday joking about Anita Hill, the college professor who lodged similar accusations against Clarence Thomas decades ago.

The exchange between Mr. Cain and a supporter was caught on tape by a Fox News camera at a campaign stop in Kalamazoo, Mich. It first aired Thursday night on the network’s “Special Report” program.

According to the video, a person in the crowd mentioned Ms. Hill to Mr. Cain, who responded, jokingly, “Is she going to endorse me?” prompting laughter.

J.D. Gordon, a spokesman for Mr. Cain, said simply that “it was a joke,” and added that the Republican presidential candidate was simply “repeating what a supporter said.”

The exchange comes just a day after Mr. Cain, a former talk radio host, had to apologize for calling former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “Princess Nancy” during Wednesday night’s debate.

+++

That man has shot himself in the foot so many times and yet his numbers still remain high. What is it with people? I don't know which is more discouraging: his sexist remarks or people's blowing them off as jokes.

Never believe the woman

When a woman comes out with an accusation of sexual harassment, the accused always will blame the woman, question her financial motives, her sexual life, basically do everything possible to discredit her.

I am jaded enough to think that these words are posturing because they follow a script we know too well. On the other hand, I don't think people have a clue what it takes to come forward with such an embarrassing truth of having had her personal space violated. Nor do I think people have an understanding of what it takes to have one's space violated. It does not have to be physical; it can be emotional and verbal. If the aggressor consistently brings sexual content into the conversation, that is as much harassment as having someone grope her.

With the accusations coming forward against Herman Cain, the posturing has started and his supporters are attacking her motives, her financial past and her lawyer. It is the usual modus operandi.

All I can say is that despite the occasional accusations that do not pan out (we will never really know the truth about Dominique Straus Kohn in NYC this May), there are far many more who speak an uncomfortable truth. There are far many more who speak out for their sisters who cannot or dare not speak the truth. They speak because they don't want someone else to go through what they have had to endure. Not all of them want recompense. They just want to be heard, to have their dignity restored, to assure themselves that the perpetrator will not be able to continue to violate people's space. One person speaks out and it unleashes the confessions of others because they understand that it is isolating to make such accusations alone and, moreover, if there has been one offense, often there are others.

Most of all, to come forward with such an accusation is not something taken lightly or frivolously. It is far, far too costly to do so precisely because she will be accused of trying to 'destroy his career,' or bringing it upon herself and on and on. To come forward takes guts... and a lot of support so that when the system closes around the accused and spins the stories, the accuser does not feel as though she is losing her mind because the system is going to want to make her think she is crazy.

How many times do we have to go through this — a powerful man (again, in most cases) infringing on the emotional and physical space of someone without power — to get it that there usually is a grain of truth in such accusations? On the twentieth anniversary of Professor Anita Hill (whom I believe) speaking in the hearings against the actions of Judge Clarence Thomas and subsequently being dragged through the mud and then some, things have not progressed at all. If anything, they have gone backward. Pretty sad.

And, in case you are wondering, I will believe the women until proven wrong. Why? Because I have been there, done that, and what I have described was my experience twenty-one years ago. The perp got off the hook, the system closed around him and we were simply worn down and too small to take on the system. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Add your caption

Meanwhile, in the House follies, H677 passed with a whopping eight-vote margin, hardly a whopping mandate. Here is what we look like today... there is a lot of red between the coasts. How much does this mirror the church today?

An empty word

The news pundits keep talking about how Osama bin Laden's death will 'bring closure' to those who lost family members on 11 September 2001 or in the war fronts following that fateful day.

The word, 'closure,' should be banned when put in terms of mourning someone's death. We so want as a society to wrap things up neatly and put them away, especially when it comes to someone's dying.

The overuse of this word in the reports and the scenes of people jumping around wrapped up in US flags and chanting USA is indicative of our culture methinks.

Meanwhile, I still try to understand it all. And I won't. So I light candles instead.

Another nut case

From the news wires (as it were):

Jack O'Reilly Jr., the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan, has written an open letter to publicity-seeking, Quran-burning Florida pastor Terry Jones, in an effort to dissuade him from protesting in front of a Dearborn mosque. In the letter, O'Reilly tells Jones it's ridiculous to believe that the city is under Sharia law: "If Dearborn practiced Sharia law, would we have three adult entertainment bars and more alcohol-licensed bars and restaurants per capita than most other cities?"

Terry Jones is becoming a lone-ranger clone of the Fred Phelps clan — totally irresponsible, clueless about the damage he is doing yet protected under the First Amendment. This is the only comment I will make about this pathetic so-called 'pastor' because to continue posting gives him the publicity he so craves.

People like him give Christianity such a bad, bad name.

As goes NH, there goes the nation?

NH Republicans elect Tea Party activist to lead them to 2012.

At least there is the Connecticut River between the two states to distinguish us... VT gets thinner at the bottom, NH thinner up at the top. Make of it as you may :)

Lord have mercy on us all.

Venting

So the conservative block in the House wants to cut education, Amtrak, foreign aid, the Washington Metro... cuts that would put Amtrak out of business and education???

And people wonder why the US falls behind so many other countries in educational standards and has such feeble public transportation?

At least there still are the Senate and President to put an end to such nonsense... if the House Republicans are serious about cutting the deficit they can take the symbolic step of cutting out their health insurance and cutting their salaries to levels that most people get.

What is beyond me is why people vote for quacks like this... just where and when did the deficit come from? Hm?

Pathetic. it is going to be a very long two years.The old depression pre-2009 is back again full force.

Still alive

Just not posting all that much...

A grey day in Vermont after a mid-week snowfall — not nearly as much as folks got down in Connecticut or even southern, southern Vermont (Wilmington VT got 36 inches whereas we got 10 or so). There is talk of rain next week, oh joy.

Ruminating on the events of the past week, realising that Vermont only gets a score of 8 from the Brady Foundation (as in James Brady's group for gun control), thinking that trying to have a reasoned, sane and non-visceral conversation about gun control is about as successful as having one about marriage equality.


I think about how such carnage could happen anywhere, here in Vermont. Here's a photo taken last July of my talking with Vermont's lone representative, Peter Welch. Given how loose Vermont's gun laws are, the same sort of thing could have happened, though the rhetorical temperature is much lower here than in Arizona.


What a difference several thousand miles make. Both states are border states but there is nowhere near the anxiety about it because it is true, who wants to come into Vermont? I still marvel at the open border that we crossed when we walked into Canada in September.

In any event, I don't hold much hope for the tenor of political discourse cranking down. And off on a slight tangent, I don't know how I am going to be able to stand two years of the Speaker of the House boohooing all the time. Get a grip.

Oy veh

From the NYT:

Republicans gained more than 690 seats in state legislatures nationwide in the November midterms, winning their strongest representation at the state level in more than 80 years.

God, have mercy on us all.

Why? Where to begin? I can't.

Immigration.
Choice.
Marriage equality.
Health insurance.
Deficit and taxes.
Muscular Christianity.

That is just what comes to the top of my head.

May God have mercy on us in 2011.

Thought for the day

If the Republicans are going to pull a filibuster, then they need to DO it and stay in the Senate chamber all night talking rather than get it and celebrate, i.e., they need to work for that filibuster.

Shame on them. Shame on them for denying a discussion on DODT.

Ramifications of SCOTUS decision

Ever since the Supreme Court decided that corporations could be people, we have waited to see what ramifications there will be.

Well, Target has given $100K to a group supporting the Republican (Perublican) gubenatorial candidate — anti-same-sex marriage, anti-immigration reform, pro-business — in Minnesota.

So, I guess they won't be getting a lot of business from those people who favour same-sex marriage, immigration reform and less of a pro-business bent, despite Target's corporate policies that paradoxically are pro-lgbt.

Go figure.

Logic???

This has got to be some of the most twisted logic I have read... from a debate on Georgia and the possibility of people packing heat:

An armed congregation keeps the peace against those who would harm.

By Jonathan Wilkins

As you may know, the Baptist Tabernacle in Thomaston is seeking an injunction against a provision in Georgia law that forbids its members from carrying guns to church.

The question asked by our critics is, “Why would any one want to have a gun at church?”

Folks are genuinely astonished that a pastor and his congregation would want to exercise such a right. Let me list several reasons why this is so.

Theologically, the critic objects by echoing the words of Christ in Matthew 5, “Blessed are the peacemakers”!

And yet Christ told us in Luke 11:21 the way to maintain peace was to arm oneself. “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace.” It is the armed man who deters those who wish to disturb the peace.

On another occasion the Lord stopped in the middle of a sermon and said to his congregation, “he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.”

To this the disciples replied, “Behold here are two.” Rather than reprove them for surreptitiously bringing a weapon to “meeting” Christ said, “It is enough.” The lord of the church authorized and sanctioned the concept of “concealed carry.”

+++

Read the piece above for the opinion that guns should be banned in places of worship.

Quote of the day

From an article about a federal judge in Massachusetts who found Thursday that a law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, ruling that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples:

Professor Balkin, who supports the right to same-sex marriage, said the opinions ignored the federal government’s longstanding involvement in marriage issues in areas like welfare, tax policy, health care, Social Security and more. The opinion in the advocacy group’s case applies the Constitution to marriage rights, he said, undercutting the notion that the marriage is not a federal concern.

“These two opinions are at war with themselves,” he said.

The arguments concerning the 10th Amendment and the spending clause, if upheld, would “take down a wide swath of programs — you can’t even list the number of programs that would be affected,” he said.

By citing the 10th Amendment and making what is essentially a states’ rights argument, Professor Balkin said Judge Tauro was “attempting to hoist conservatives by their own petard, by saying: ‘You like the 10th Amendment? I’ll give you the 10th Amendment! I’ll strike down DOMA!’ ”

Beyond words

I do not know when this photo was taken and in some ways it does not matter... it just breaks my heart as undoubtedly this mother's and daughter's hearts were on the day they had to say good bye not knowing when they would see one another again.

A new take on an old song

What the Deepwater disaster would look like here

Basically the entire state of Vermont would be under the goo. The best part of the NH White mountains would be covered and part of the central Green Mountains. Practically all of the Adirondack Park would also be ooked up.

[click to enbiggen]

Just trying to understand

Isn't this the same guy who refused to take any money from the economic stimulus bill who now is haranguing the government to pay up for everything in the wake of the Deepwater oil spill? The one who is part of the party that wants 'less government' in our lives? Just curious.

Not to make light of the increasing mess in the Gulf of Mexico. The image of the dying heron in the oily muck haunts me.