I Was Not Wrong

You might remember that I endorsed Hillary Clinton and warned about the dangers of electing Donald Trump.

I suggested he’d endanger people with pre-existing conditions, that there was no there there—his ideas were basically empty slogans, and that he had authoritarian tendencies.

Six months later, I think we can assess my worries about Trump. 

At this point I think I can safely say I was not wrong.

Pre-existing conditions

            The Affordable Care Act is still the law of the land, though there are plenty of ways Trump is undermining it, including pulling ads and use of executive orders. That said, he’d initially said Trumpcare would protect people with pre-existing conditions, until he got down to the final hour before the bill was going to go for a vote, and gladly cut up that part of the bill before the whole thing failed. There is now a new effort to repeal the ACA and cut people with pre-existing conditions off at the knees. So, yeah, I was not wrong.

Empty Slogans

            When Trump was trying to tackle healthcare he admitted, “Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.” This after claiming he’d create a perfect plan that kept all the things people liked about the ACA, but it would be tons cheaper. “A terrific plan that would cover everyone.” Yes, he’s governing by slogan not idea.

            As further evidence, he’d promised, as you might remember, to get China to invade North Korea for us, now he’s planning on “solving” North Korea without China.

            He had a secret plan to defeat ISIS, it looks more like he’s just letting the Obama plan chug along, maybe with more civilian casualties and botched raids.

            He was going to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. They won’t.

            He promised to ban Muslims, which has proved to be unconstitutional and judges have blocked said executive order twice.

            You get the picture, he says things, but they don’t seem to work as actual policy, so he backtracks. I was not wrong.

Authoritarianism

            I was a NATO kid and was on a NATO base when the Tiananmen Square Massacre took place. I was told in no uncertain terms that was what we were fighting against—America while deeply imperfect, stands for human rights, and when we fail that we are held to account for it, because that is who we are. Yeah, naïve right, but still, damn it, if I have a choice between someone who stands up to China and says, “Women’s rights are human rights!” or someone who thinks what happened at Tiananmen Square shows strength, I’m going with Human Rights every time.

            Off my soap box.

            So far, Trump and his people have proved to be very cozy with Vladimir Putin. In fact, he’s defended Putin killing journalists and employed a moral equivalency between America and Russia to defending Putin being a killer.

            Additionally, he’s given Egyptian Strongman Al-Sisi legitimacy and a boatload of cash, green lighting his human rights abuses. In general, Middle Eastern dictators are loving this.

            So far he’s ruling via executive orders, with 23 so far (vs 18 for Obama at this time). And when these orders don’t go as planned we’re told to not question his authority. Those who do their job and interpret the constitutionality of the orders are dismissed as “so called judges.” He is threatening fellow Republicans like he’s “The Godfather.” Also, he capriciously knocked a billion dollars off an American company’s stock via Twitter.

            As for the hate crimes, it’s so bad the Lutherans are doing active bystander training. And before you think we’re over-reacting, the night before the first training a young woman was spat upon for wearing a hijab and the day after I visited a local Islamic Center, it was targeted. On a more terrifying scale an Indian man was killed in Kansas because he looked Muslim. Then there is White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon’s obsession with “The Camp of the Saints” in which immigrants from the 2/3rds world and hippie leftists are eventually slaughtered to save the West.

            So, it seems Trump is emboldening human rights violators abroad and racists at home and governing in a heavy-handed manner. I was not wrong.

My review of Aristotle's Rhetoric

Rhetoric by Aristotle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Obviously this is a very important book, essentially class notes from Aristotle's class itself.
There are tons of lessons to be learned about both building up a case and tearing down an opponent's. That said, the book reads, as indicated, like class notes. It is a good resource to have, especially if you are heading into a particular argument, but at least for me, it lacked umph.


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A review of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons for the Twentieth Century

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Snyder worries that the post-Cold War West has largely assumed "we won, now history doesn't matter" and in so doing left us dangerously open for the repetition of history. In order to inoculate us against such an eventuality he gives concrete examples of how both fascism and communism were resisted in the 20th century.
Here are the 20 points he fleshes out in this little, powerful, book:
1. Do not obey in advance.
2. Defend institutions.
3. Beware the one-party state.
4. Take responsibility for the face of the world.
5. Remember professional ethics.
6. Be wary of paramilitaries.
7. Be reflective if you must be armed.
8. Stand out.
9. Be kind to our language.
10. Believe in truth.
11. Investigate.
12. Make eye contact and small talk.
13. Practice corporeal politics.
14. Establish a private life.
15. Contribute to good causes.
16. Learn from peers in other countries.
17. Listen for dangerous words.
18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives.
19. Be a patriot.
20. Be as courageous as you can.


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Sermon: The Blind Man

         It is an interesting thing, 

John’s Gospel, 

the letters of John, 

and the Apocalypse by John the Revelator, 

all share the same repetitive, braided together way of communicating. 

-Why say a thing once, if you can say it a thousand times? 

-Why give an orderly account of what you mean, when you can let chaos reign and meaning ebb and flow?

         But, to untangle things a little, let’s look at three braids that will be threaded through today’s gospel lesson.

1. Sin.

2. Jesus reveals God.

3. We are found by Jesus.

Let us pray,

1. Sin.

         Throughout John’s Gospel we find Sin to be lack of relationship with Jesus, failed encounters, not seeing your Lord right before your eyes, encouraging others to forsake the Faithful One.

         The theme of Sin and sins—small s plural saturate this, the 9^th chapter of John. 

         The Disciples start us off with a question about the connection between sin(s)—small s plural and …

sickness and disability and a rough lot in life?

         Is it generational? Does the son pay for the sin of the father? Is a daughter doomed by mother’s misdeeds?

         Or is it your own darn fault? Are we so personally responsible that every malady is our own?

         This debate raged in the time of the prophets—in fact both Ezekiel and Jeremiah weigh in in favor of the second option. And even today we talk about nature versus nurture, families of origin shape who we are, yet our decisions have consequences…

         But Jesus shifts the focus away from sins, to Salvation—saying essentially, “Hey guys, you’re burying the lede here! In this very moment, he who was blind, now will see—Look, this good thing is about to happen, and will point to God! Look, this man now gets to experience a full life!

         But, Sin continues to rear its head. The religious authorities insist that Jesus is a sinner, and when the man who was blind isn’t so sure about their assessment of Jesus, when he calls Jesus a prophet, they declare that from his birth he’s been filled with sin and they cast him out.

2. Jesus reveals God.

         Jesus, in John’s Gospel, is the One who comes into the world, who reveals the Invisible God made visible—he is sent for this very task. While he is in the world we can know God in a unique and unqualified way—he sheds light on all the things of God, for he is the Light of the World. God’s work is revealed in his acts of healing.

         In fact, this is Salvation—the enlightenment of the light of Christ. His transformational relationship with those he encounters—the Samaritan woman at the well, the Blind man, they are saved by experiencing Jesus Christ, the one sent by God.

         At the same time, Sin, Big S Singular, is being confronted by the dawning light of Christ and calling it night. If you cannot see what he is doing, you’re more than missing something, you are blind and will be judged as such.

3. Jesus finds the man

         Jesus is found to be among sinners—he is declared a sinner by the Pharisees.

         Maybe you didn’t catch that—but Jesus is said to be a sinner, he is identified as a sinner, for the sake of the world

—this light from God is seen as night because we aren’t seeing right, and he’s transforming it

—giving sight to the blind.

         Jesus becomes Sin for us, that is true. Jesus comes into the world not to condemn the world, but to save it, save us.

         And Jesus saves this particular man too

—he was thrown out…

Take a moment and imagine how strange it must be, seeing for the first time, but navigating that experience alone!

         Well, Jesus finds him twice, 

first to heal him of his blindness

and then to defend him, and re-define him. 

         Jesus seems to step between the formerly blind man and the Pharisees who are accosting him, in order to protect the man, and then Jesus insists that the Pharisees are the blind ones.

         

John’s Gospel braids 

-Sin, 

-Jesus as Revealer of God, 

and 

-being found by Jesus 

together into a winding, intertwined, repetitive, faithful, reflection upon who Jesus is for the sake of the whole world.

A review of Trevor Noah's Born A Crime

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I definitely recommend Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood”.
Now, if you’re looking for laughs, being that it is written by a comedian, this is not the book. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of funny analysis and lines, but Trevor covers many serious topics, Apartheid, the criminal system, matriarchy and patriarchy, and both spousal and child abuse.
I love the set up of each chapter, there is a short description of some phenomena in South Africa, followed by the chapter where Trevor interacts with that thing.
One of his best observations is that criminal racial calcification actually made catching him committing a crime harder, because a black and white camera made it appear that the suspect was white, and he wasn’t. I also especially appreciated his descriptions and thoughts on being a consistent outsider.
Again, really interesting, intense, good stuff. Read it!


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Samaritan Woman, a skit

Samaritan Woman!

(SAMARITAN WOMAN, holding a jar is seated ENTER JESUS who sits next to SAMARITAN WOMAN)

NARRATOR:

          So Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 

          Jesus was resting on the wrong side of the tracks, the bad part of town, a gay couple accidently attending a service at Westboro Baptist, a Jew in Samaria... have you ever felt out of place—that’s this moment!

Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

          A small detail, but not that small. For John the Gospel writer, night indicates unbelief, day belief.

          A small detail, but not that small. Women go to the well when it is cool out, not at noon—unless you are an ostracized, unwelcome, out of place, woman.

          A small detail, but not that small. We’re going to see a story of belief! We’re going to see a story about an outsider.

JESUS:
          Give me a drink.

SAMARITAN WOMAN:

(To Congregation)

          What’s he on about?

          I’m a Samaritan, he’s a Jew.

          I’m a woman, he’s a man.

          The wrong gender.

          The wrong religion.

          For this…

          How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?

JESUS:

          If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.

(To Congregation)

          Have you heard of living water?

          The Rabbis recommend it for ritual baths.

          The Early Church will recommend it for baptism.

          Fresh and clean.

          Bubbling, clear, living!

          From God’s good earth—a sign of God’s goodness.

SAMARITAN WOMAN:

          Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?"

JESUS:

          Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.

(To Congregation)

          Think of it!

          To be filled with a life flowing!

          Flowing from God’s good earth

          You, a sign of God’s goodness!

          A living, clear, bubbling life

          Fresh and clean.

          

SAMARITAN WOMAN:

(To Congregation)

          What’s he offering me?

          You know…

          I’d take one less backbreaking job

          Out here in the heat

          Fetching water at noon

          Is not a sign of God’s goodness,

          But society’s stubbornness.

          I’d settle for slaked thirst and less monotony

          But, I think he’s offering me more.

          Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.

JESUS:

          Go, call your husband, and come back.

SAMARITAN WOMAN:

(To Congregation)

          He didn’t just go there!

(To Jesus)

          I have no husband.

JESUS:

          You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!

SAMARITAN WOMAN:

(To Congregation)

          Five husbands.

          Everyone jumps to adultery

          I guess that’s what people do when there is a woman involved…

          But that’s not it

          It’s abandonment

          Barrenness

          Left

          Again

          And again

          And again

          And again

          Left to fend for myself

          To carry my own water

          Left in the noon sun

          Left to grow hard

          Abandoned.

          But he knows, and… wants to know… what kind of man is this?

(To Jesus)

          Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.

JESUS:
(To Congregation)

          Peter won’t even top this!

          Nicodemus was blind,

          But this woman, she sees.

          Sees me in the harsh noon light

          We’re both exposed here

          Exposed for who we are

          I named her and she named me.

          We see each other here at Jacob’s well.

(To The Woman)

          Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

SAMARITAN WOMAN:

You’re a prophet, but not of my religion… so… brass tacks.

The place between you and me.

The space between Mount Gerezim where I worship and Jerusalem—Mount Zion, where you worship…

What of it?

It’s nice to say it isn’t about place, but by what authority do you say it?

          I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.

JESUS:

          I am he, the one who is speaking to you.

NARRATOR:

(To Congregation)

He doesn’t say I am he…

English communicates this poorly

He says “I am”

I AM

When Moses spake with the burning bush

The bush said “I AM”

I am. With a period after it.

No genealogy, but Genesis instead

The origin

The formation of it all

It all flows out from this

He says I AM…

          Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you want?" or, "Why are you speaking with her?"

(Exit JESUS and SAMARITAN WOMAN—leaving her jar behind)

(Re-enter SAMARITAN WOMAN)

SAMARITAN WOMAN (to congregation):

          Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?
My question mark is a shepherds’ crook

One leading us

Like Moses with a staff

Miriam’s song at the river

I’ve found the One Who Fills the Water Jar

Fills is forever!

I’ve seen one who sees me

He knew me and saw me!

In the noon sun

I saw him!

Come and see!

NARRATOR:

          They left the city and were on their way to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, eat something."

JESUS:

          I have food to eat that you do not know about.

NARRATOR:

          So the disciples said to one another, "Surely no one has brought him something to eat?"

JESUS:

          My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.

(To Congregation)

          Sometimes my disciples don’t see…

          Even in the noon sun

          They don’t see!

 Do you not say, 'Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.

(To Congregation)

          She sowed

          She sowed with her words

          Sowed in the noon sun

          Sowed because she saw me

          My disciples did not labor

          But they will reap

          Because SHE sowed

          Here in the noon sun.

NARRATOR:

          Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, for she said:

SAMARITAN WOMAN:

          He told me everything I have ever done.

NARRATOR:

          So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."

          They came to see

          In the noon sun

          Bright with belief

          These Samaritans

          Stayed with the Savior

          Seeing him

          Because she sowed

          And said

          And suggested

          And saw her Savior!

Amen.

My Review of "The Confessions"

Confessions by Augustine of Hippo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I recently read The Confessions as part of my morning devotions. The autobiographic portion is really good, his philosophical reflections on creation, are good for what they are, but didn’t move me the way the first 9 books did.
I love that it is set up as a direct confession to God, rooted in the Psalms.
His strange relationship with the Theater kept popping out to me, as did his attacks on the Manicheans.
He also interacts with scripture and the science of the time in a way that would make American Fundamentalist squirm—and he was writing around the year 400. That alone is worth the price of admission.
If the Confessions shows nothing else, it is that Christianity is best spread through kind ongoing relationships—caught not taught, as some people say. Between his mother Monica and Ambrose he is able to see models of Christian life that aren’t bizarre or horrible or unkind. I love his description of Ambrose, “I began to like him, at first indeed not as a teacher of the truth, for I had absolutely no confidence in your Church, but as a human being who was kind to me.”
So, yeah, this is an important book—it probably lacks some of its original power, just because autobiography is a common genre these days, but at the time this was it, a whole new thing.


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My Review of "Islam: A Short History"

Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After all the talk of a Muslim travel ban I thought I’d re-read Karen Armstrong’s Islam: A Short History. Last time I read it a year or so after 9/11 to get a friendlier reading of Islam than my rural Wyoming community.
I guess on the second read and 15 years later, it is less of a revelation, but still, a history of Islam that roots itself in Islamic history (as opposed to starting out from Western contact with Saracens or an Enlightenment “Orientalist” frame) is really refreshing. Having western events pop in as tangential to the thrust of the history being told is a very helpful corrective.
A few big take aways.
1. Christianity in its first couple centuries argued and split on questions of the nature of the Christ and the Trinity (obviously with politics floating around in the background)—in Islam the question of political leadership of The Community was what formed the first couple of centuries and the splits. This has heavy implications for how Islam interacts with Nationalism, Globalism, Secularism, the Enlightenment, etc.
2. Islamic interpretations of Aristotle are pretty interesting (something I already knew, but it popped back out in this reading of Armstrong).
3. Islam’s interaction with the Mongols is also fascinating.
It’s worth reading.


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Sermon: Romans Letter 2

         So, is Abraham our ancestor on account of the flesh?

         Those who preached in my day, in fact I myself before I knew Jesus as the Christ, preached that the answer to this question is yes.

         Yes, Abraham is righteous because he’s the first man set apart from the Pagan world, he’s the first circumcised man of God.

         And so too, we faithful people of God are his heirs, his ancestors, because we too set ourselves apart, we follow all the rules that make us a distinct people separate from the heathens.

         He is righteous on account of his separateness, and so too are we. In fact, those Jews in my day who most fully removed ourselves from the wider world called ourselves the Righteous Ones.

        

         Yet, now I come to you, preaching a new Gospel, or rather the Gospel always in existence, but now made obvious to all.

         Our separation from other people does not make us heirs of Abraham.

         Our works, our following the Law, does not make us heirs of Abraham.

         For that matter, Abraham’s honor and rightness before God, do not have to do with circumcision or separation or law…

        

         Don’t believe me? Just look at your bible. Abraham lives before Moses—so those Laws he receives are not the laws Abraham lives by.

         Not only that, God enters into Abraham’s life before Abraham is circumcised.

         Abraham’s relationship with God is not predicated on Law, Separation, or Circumcision.

         My contemporaries read scripture wrong on this point—I, a Righteous Zealot myself—read scripture wrong on this point. In fact, my zeal was in part founded upon this wrong reading of the Bible.

         You see, Abraham was made right before God by his faith…

         And when I say faith, let’s be clear, I’m not saying Abraham was reciting a correct creed, wasn’t being justified by right answer, wasn’t writing eloquent works of theology for the ages.

         No, Abraham trusted God!

         Think of the audacity of what he does. He trusts God and joins on a journey with God!

         He immigrates to a strange new land.

         He trusts God so deeply that he packs everything up and leaves Ur of the Kaldes and goes to a strange land he’s never heard of.

         He leaves this Iraqi town just North East of Kuwait—I hear your country now has some issues with immigrants and refugees. Thank God Abraham’s era was much less barbaric than your own.

         Abraham trust’s God on this journey—a journey with plenty of setbacks and hardships, loss… yet a journey to that promised place!

         And, today, I just want you to know all of you who journey with God, who trust God, you are also Abraham’s children!

         You who trust the God who calls life out of death—in the person of his Son Jesus, but also calling all of you—heirs like Isaac, unexpected, laughable, yet God creates him, creates faith in you!

         You who trust the God who calls into existence those things which did not exist—calling forth creation itself, and even, here today—look around you—God calls a community together who were not together, creates the body of Christ here and now!

         So, trust that you are children of Abraham, not on account of any action of your own, not because you’ve separated yourself from other people, or followed particular laws, or marked your body as belonging to God.

         You are children of Abraham, because you have his faith, because you trust in the God who shows up and journeys with you your whole life long.