Bring Back a Day of Rest

The lazy, hazy, slow down days of summer are over and a full 24-7 world seems to be speeding up again.  So I thought I would post a newspaper article which I wrote for a local paper a few years ago. 
I'm on a crusade of a sort! It's a crusade for the sanity of humanity. My crusade is to have some form of Sabbath-time law enacted by some law-making body.
Some people will remember the ancient -- about 40 years ago -- Blue Laws. These laws closed down merchandise stores and largely prohibited organized sporting activities on Sundays. Sundays became nothing-to-do days. Most people would have a religious-based activity (worship) and then the rest of the day was time for just being with family and friends. It was really down time.
To many, my crusade for a set aside Sabbath time may seem to be the foolishness of an aging minister or a hater of organized sports and retail merchandising. Most people would say that I am nothing of the sort. I love my sports -- played lots of basketball; have hit lots of golf balls; have coached premier state championship soccer teams on Sunday afternoons. And since I live in Greenwich, I root for all the wrong teams -- family connections lead me to Philadelphia and Boston (forgive me and please read on). And I am the last person to try and ruin the capitalist system by not buying more things than I will ever need.
Yet I offer my Sabbath-time crusade because I see up close too many people who are getting the blues because their schedules are overbooked and they are running, running, running 24/7.
For many, being overbooked is a source of pride. "You wouldn't believe my schedule! I have to be here by ... for a business meeting and there by ... so my children can practice ... and here by ... so I can be seen at..."
I know some people say the answer is easy -- "Just say no!"
"No, I can't come to the party;" "no, my children won't be able to play at that time!" I have a feeling that the "Just say no!" approach isn't working.
In the Judeo-Christian Scriptures we find God resting on the seventh day of creation. We find laws about keeping the seventh day holy -- wholly unlike the other six. We find the sabbatical year law for planting crops -- plant nothing in the same field in the seventh year -- after six years the soil is exhausted. Jesus himself takes Sabbath and alone time. So it seems all that is made from the earth -- including us -- need Sabbath down time.
Since people can't seem to say "NO" and since the wisdom of the ages says that we need a seventh of our time for just "being," not "doing," I offer my Sabbath Time Law -- call it a modified Blue Law, to the Board of Selectmen, the State Legislature, or U.S. Congress for their action. It might become almost as controversial as the health care bill. In a way it is an emotional, spiritual and physical health care suggestion.
Since I am Protestant clergy, I would propose Sunday morning for the time. However, that is not essential. Any day or two half-day Sabbath times is fine with me. Just think of it -- time on the schedule that allows us to just be with family and friends; just to meditate or look are the beauty around us or hike in the woods or read a good book. This all made possible because the "world out there" has not been allowed to dictate our schedules.
I remember as a youth my frustration when the town basketball courts were locked on Sundays and there were no pickup games available. I ended up sitting on the beach listening to the waves crash on the shore or talked with my grandmother for hours or ... with being time, I realized that there was more to life than perfecting my three-pointer.
Feeling blue, depressed, emotionally tired? Feeling your schedule is overbooked? I offer two answers to those problems, "Just say no!" or join my "Anti-Blue Coalition" and come to a Being Party where we might serve tea and just be. Until the legislation passes, just say no. Take the time to worship -- what do you expect a pastor to say? -- or just be!

Teaching Friendship

I received a called today to substitute teach at a private school.  I don’t do it for the money.  However it does pay for a nice dinner out with the woman who has put up with me for over forty years.  (I understand she is being considered for canonization!).  I teach because I love being with energetic and inquisitive young adults.  I have taught everything from pre-calc to creative writing to all sorts of government and history courses to statistics.  The latest venture was with an “English as a Second Language” class for students who are involved in full time athletic training programs for golf and tennis.  They are aiming to be professionals in their sports.  One Thai, one Korean, one Mexican and five Japanese students sat before an English and slightly Spanish fluent teacher – me.  The first question left for my use was:  “In English and in three sentences write why this class is important for you?”  Following a time of writing I asked each student to read in English their answers.  Two mentioned going to an American college as their reason for learning English.  Two were quite honest in saying it will help in pursuing a career that could be financially lucrative (I think they used the good old English word “money.”).  The remaining threes answers lightened my heart.  Without consulting each other on their answers they said “It will help us make friends.”  Following a teacher assigned test, I did some of my own lesson planning.  My new lesson plan was -In English, let’s tell each other about why you like the sport you play and what friendship means.  There were smiles and good laughter as each person in the room answered the question.  (I tried my Spanish and asked other students how I would say certain things in their language)  In spite of our ethnic and cultural differences we learned that we shared many of the same hopes and dreams.

¹⁵ I do not call you servants^[a] any longer, because the servant^[b] does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.  (John 15:15-17)

Somehow in that classroom ethnicity and faith differences disappeared and we became friends.  Who would have ever pre-calculated that?  In God’s classroom, the world, let us become astute and energetic in our efforts to show others what the Teacher from Nazareth has taught us about being friends. 

In Christ and now preparing for (Just received the call!) teaching a history class on the Civil War!  (Not a good historical example of friendship!),

Bob

Let’s Give Bambi A Chance!

In mass a dozen clergy rose to their feet and in unison shouted out “bang”.  It was the official beginning of hunting season in central Pennsylvania.  It seems their area minister – ME – had scheduled a clergy development day on this high holy day.  Shame on me!  One decisive “bang.”  That was it – no “rata-tat-tat.” No multi-shot assault weapons allowed in the sport of hunting “game”!  One shot – if you miss the deer or whatever animal, it wins.  No 30 shot magazines.  No assault weapons!

Assault weapons are killing our “bambis”.  The little dear ones in Newtown (and now in Parkland) would have had a fighting chance if the gunman would have had a one shot and reload weapon. 

For our ancestors hunting put food on the table.  For my clergy friend hunters and others the sport of hunting is an outdoor get away from the pressures of daily life.  But let’s at least make that outdoor adventure a fair game for Bambi and other God created creatures.  One “bang” is enough!

When background checks occasionally fail and mental health issues are missed, at least a ban on military style assault weapons would lower the carnage.  Such a ban seems a reasonable legislative action to take.    

Prayers are fruitless unless we put feet on them!

P.S. I weep; I am incensed; I cannot believed that 5-10% of Americans are controlling a majority of the spineless cowards in Congress!

Bob Naylor 

It's Time to Do Something Now

Whatever Happen to Frogger or Jumping Super Mario?

                I have a new Surface Tablet by Microsoft.  As some of you know I enjoy a good game.  The gaming sight on my Surface led me to a list of XBOX games.  I stopped after reading fewer than 100 titles. I was nauseated by the preponderance of games that fostered violence.  Nearly 2/3 of the titles were designated “action” or “first person shooter.”  You have to love the “first person shooter” designation on some of these.  To make sure I was reading it correctly I went to Wikipedia to gain further insight.  "First-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre centered on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through a first-person perspective; that is, the player experiences the action through the eyes of the protagonist."  Well isn’t that special and disgusting!  There were five Assassin’s Creed related games.  There was Bayonet, a game that focuses on hacking and slashing your enemy.  In Battlefield 3 we are given assault rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, sub-machine guns and carbines, shot guns and pistols, rocket launchers, etc.  And I understand the graphics are fabulous. 

                I am sure that one loner, outcast person who has lots of time for interaction with his or her gaming endeavors can kill hundreds of people each day.  Donkey Kong and Super Mario never provided such “terminator” action as this!  I know that I’m just a fading preacher who has too much time on his hands.  Feeding the poor in soup kitchens and working with in need youth in values education through sports just can’t match the action of one “first person shooter” game.  Being a person who gets committed to things I am afraid that if I get hooked on one of these games I might want to go “first person shooting” in real life.  And if I would ever get angry because I didn’t fit in, I believe now I have a game plan how to get even with my enemies.  Forget the Jesus loving enemies stuff – let’s hack and slash and assault them with multiple weapons. 

                I think by now you can see where I’m going.  20 children and 6 adults are dead in Newtown, CT.  And I am getting angry about the violence perpetrated by lonely – possibly high-volume video game playing – youth.  It’s time to become an action figure in getting youth and their parents to halt the addiction to violent video gaming and movies.  Maybe we need parents and youth to go to war with the violent gaming and media industry by pledging to not purchase games that promote violence or attend movies that are filled with violence.  It’s Christmas and maybe that’s the best gift we can give to the Christ child, the Prince of Peace.

A Blessed Weapon Free and First-Person-Perspective Free Game Christmas to You,  

Bob,   The One Time Gun Owner of Several Cap Pistols

P.S. In all seriousness you will be hearing from me again about concrete actions – on individual and local church levels that need to be taken to stop this madness!

A Response to the Loss of Innocents

Are We Becoming a “Shoot Down” Society?

Maybe what follows is my way of dealing with the death of 20 young children and 8 adults – including a sad sole young man who turned to violence in dealing with the demons inside his soul.  I am trying to make sense of a senseless and truly unexplainable situation.  While even stricter gun control laws and mental resources need to be put into place, there is a  core issue that needs to be addressed!  We live in a society where children are exposed constantly to a “shoot down” society.  Increasinged exposure to anger and violence is their daily fare.  Whether it is shooting people down in the public or political arena of the exchange of ideas with less than civil words or the scenes of violence from around the world; whether it is visible increase in violence in sports or in film or in “shoot’em” dead video games where the more dead gives the gamer more points, children and youth are probably exposed to anger and more violent behavior than in any other time in the history of the world.  Before 24-hour news which can bring the bellicose, disrespectful words, dead bodies into our living room or the games that allow the players to kill the enemy without experiencing the finality of their actions, there was a greater possibility of innocent souls having a longer age of innocence.  Guns were for killing wild game for the dinner table or as sport.  Guns were used by soldiers in faraway lands to fight for freedom and justice.  Except for an occasional arcade sharp shooting contest, children had little exposure to a “shoot’em” dead world.  Yes access to guns needs to be more strictly controlled, but it is the mindset of those who would shoot that needs to be addressed.  Civility in speech and less access to violence in the media for children and youth needs to be unequivocally addressed.

In this season we need to commit ourselves more boldly to an action figure, the child of Bethlehem.  The Prince of Peace came to terminate hatred and anger through weapons of love and grace.  The Herods of the world will try to kill his message, but it is our duty to protect the Child and his message.   Violence in our society must subside and no children of God should suffer the fate of 20 little ones in Newtown, CT.

Prayer – God of Christmas, Good Friday and Easter, with the birth of a Child heal our broken hearts for we once again have experienced the pain of our loss of innocent children and our innocence.  More than ever, we now need the hope and joy of Christmas to enter our hearts.   May the child be born in us again so that we might be vehicles of your love and instruments of your peace.  Amen.

 

Trying to celebrate a birth of a Little One who brings a message that can bring true peace to a violent world!     Bob  

The 47% Up Close and Personal

                I opened the door with some hesitation.  I was greeted with a smile and a good word – “Would you like your room freshened up?”  The hotel employee – often called maid – was trying to make my stay comfortable and pleasant.  I spoke with her for a few moments.  She was married and her husband was a construction worker.  She had two children – one was in a subsidized pre-school and the other was a first grader.  She worked hard and took pride in changing and making beds, emptying waste baskets, vacuuming rugs, putting on new rolls of toilet paper and handling dirty towels.  She was one face of the 47%.

                The distinctive aroma of convalescent home filled my nostrils as I into walked to Bill’s room.  Bill was a retired school teacher who had educated our children and paid his local, state and federal taxes faithfully.  It seems that the health care costs of first his deceased wife and now his own had consumed all his assets.  He was receiving something that to him was an embarrassment – Medicaid.  He would never complain about healthcare costs and would only say that he had lived too long. He never saw himself as a victim.   He had done so much in giving meaning to so many young lives yet now he saw his life as meaningless.  He was one of the largest group (the aging) of the 47%.

                He was neatly stacking the cereal boxes on the shelf.  I had asked him where to find my gluten free Rice Chex.  He pointed to a shelf about a 1/3 of the way down the aisle from him.  I made some comment about his geographic knowledge of the store.  My words apparently opened a stream of pain.  He was quick to tell me that he wasn’t really a super market shelf expert but rather a laid off marketing “guy.”  He did feel he was a victim of a false economy that led to the major recession that took his job.  “Just trying to feed my family until a job it my field comes along.  It took a long time for the bottom to drop out.  I’m afraid it will take a long time until things get straight again.”  His broken soul was easily seen.  He was one of the 47%.

                He sat in my office with a glazy stare.  He was asking for financial assistance, surely a church in Greenwich could afford a few hundred dollars to help his family through tough times.  His story could have been the story of hundreds of Iraq War veterans.  Let’s try post traumatic stress syndrome.  He was on veteran’s assistance but he couldn’t make ends meet.  He had served proudly and put his life at risk for his country.  He was one of the 47%. 

                Some of the 47% are takers – a very small minority.  Most wish they could pay federal taxes because their incomes would then be high enough to live the American dream – maybe even make a six-digit salary.  But who then would clean the rooms and stock the shelves and sit in long term care facilities feeling embarrassed that life had come to this because of healthcare costs?

Blessed are the poor in spirit because they are humble enough to know that they need to do everything possible to bless the poor.

In Christ,    Bob

P.S. It might be interesting to check out the small percentage who are taking advantage of the system – some may look like the incorrect but classic stereotype.  Yet an equal number might look like high rollers who “massage” the lucrative tax breaks they receive.    

P.S. S. About 20,000 households who made over $500,000 are part of the 47%.  How come I pay more than 13% in federal taxes and don’t make 1/5 of those 47%.  I guess I need a better tax accountant.

 What to Do When Our Values Aren’t Working for Us!

“Blue skies up above, everyone’s in love…..”  These idyllic words from the light jazz song “Up a Lazy River” seems to be the antithesis of what is the reality for Americans when the date 9/11 arrives on the calendar.   9/11/01 – Hatred raises its ugly head in the heinous atrocity at the World Trade Center.  9/11/12 – Hatred leaves four Americans dead at the American Embassy in Libya and diplomats under siege in Cairo!  There were blues skies up above and not everyone was in love.  And one major catalyst for the loveless tragedies of 9/11/12 is our American values.  We hold as a beacon for all to see our “freedom of speech and assembly!” - even for American-Israeli nuts who use the internet for broadcasting  a hate filled - religion degrading film that could be construed as attack on the faith of a significant faith group in the world.  If the reaction to the gone viral film vignette were not such a tragedy some Americans might possibly say:  “I don’t agree with his opinion but he has a right to say it!  That’s freedom of speech!  That’s what democracy is all about! “  And then we have democracy Arab Spring style.  We sympathize with “those longing to be free” until we realize that those whom we expected to govern rather turn out to be those that we did not expect to govern.  And what is even more disquieting is that some zealous nuts – a miniscule minority – feel  their right to free speech and assembly  includes climbing walls, burning flags, and killing good people.  Freedom of speech, the internet, a nut and a group of nuts – that’s a formula for disaster.

What do we do when our values aren’t working for us?  What do we do when democracy rears its head in the ugliest of forms?  We can theorize about what is happening is not what true democracy is all about!  We can condemn the nuts for their misinterpretation of democracy.  But then they retaliate by reminding us of the violence we have been a party to throughout our history.  Or we can further cast a wider net in demonizing all people who have a similar racial, cultural, or religious hue to the few nuts who perpetrated these acts of hatred and violence.  Or we can go angry and speak and post vindictive tirades that make us look as inhuman and nutty as those who have proven themselves insane by the atrocities they have committed. 

Then again as Americans and people of faith maybe all we can do is:

·         Model out love through praying for those who persecute us

·         Model out responsible democracy by praying for those who lead realizing there are no easy answers to the complexities of getting this thing called democracy right

·         Accept the fact that human sin – even in us – will sometimes rear its ugly head and we are almost helpless to do anything to halt it

·         Live out the basic principles of our faith – justice led by and tempered by love / non-violence in word and deed

·         Remember that our small actions can cause collateral damage – so pray and think about the larger good before acting

·         Avoid defining the many by the actions of a few

·         Respond to hatred with words that unite us as a nation and not divide us

·         But in the end all we can do is pray for those whose lives are impacted by the tragedies brought on by nuts who fail to understand that with democracy comes personal responsibility

Our values got the best of us this time, but let us not give up on them!

Bob Naylor (9/12/2012)