William Hicks and Perspective

I have discovered that after working with computers all day, the best intentions go astray when I enter the house.

Rather than a place of continued work, the house becomes a place to play, whether by puttering around in the garden, watching a Yankees baseball game, Keith Olberman on Countdown, sitting in the pool reading book, reading the Sunday Times, playing with the cats, or (God forbid) cleaning.

I cannot tell you the number of times that I have actually written out lists of things to do

Finishing filing my 2008 Income Taxes.

Writing on the blog.

Working on the raffle for Sudan.

Planning for Disciple Bible Study beginning this fall.

Maybe I am channeling Lee Iaccoca, though I in no way think that I am in the shape that Chrysler was in.

That said, maybe I am channeling someone. Possibly Jim. It appears that I can work very well sitting in Borders, as I am now.

Okay. I do remember why I loved being in Borders. It is people watching, something I know I share with my sister.

There is one male employee that walks around with pink hair. Then, there is this man in the corner that has pen to paper and writes and then looks up to his right. Continually. This man either has a tick or is drawing the woman sitting on his right with her back to him. It is very odd. If he had a focusing problem, it might have his head turned right but staring straight ahead at me. YIKES.

I love this place. However, since putting myself on a strict budget, I can only afford coffee, no books. It is like an addiction with me, the purchase, want, need of something new to read, a book to own.

Can I say library?

OK, mystery solved. He is drawing. I think his coffee cup. And yes, I have kept staring.

No tick, no fascination with the woman's back, no off-kilter sight.

Speaking of sight. Today, I am a woman with a new eye.

On Thursday, I had my right lens replaced due to a cataract. I can see well (20/30) as of yesterday. And it is bright and clear and white is white and not dingy yellow white. It is like having a blue white light bulb instead of a yellow white light bulb. I will have the left one corrected on October 6.

It is truly a miracle, the way science, medicine and technology have come along. Just years ago, this operation would have required stitches, more recovery time. Now, there is a small incision, old lens broken up and removed and a new one inserted like a ship in a bottle. And, I would have been driving that same day, if the anesthesia I had received did not prohibit it.

So now all that I will eventually need is a pair of $5.99 readers out of the local drugstore.

Of course, this could all lead to a discourse on perceptions. Mine vs yours vs theirs.

In the US, the big topic leading to so perceptions, read opinions, is Healthcare Reform. It is enough to make us all dizzy.

Just one page in the proposal, 435, is a point in fact. For a funny, strange not haha, example of this, log on to www.comedycentral.com and watch Thursday's episode of The Daily Show. It went on for so long, that they had to add the balance of the interview to internet viewing only. The show was heading out for their August vacation.

One person reads and fixates on the phrase life sustaining. Another reads the same sentence and fixates on the phrase shall report.

I read the entire sentence and I am sure that there are others that do the same thing and still come up with different observations or conclusions.

It is the same with Christians and our Bible, Jews and their Bible, Muslims and their Koran. Take the same story and you will get at least two interpretations, two reasons for why the story is being told.

This should make everyone excited, that another reader can bring their experience, their needs and wants to a reading and provide us with another insight.

It should.

This fall I am facilitating a weekly course on Disciple Bible Study. I use the term facilitate because I am not the teacher. I am another pupil/participant. However, someone has to arrange for the meeting space, start and end the meeting, arrange for and play the video, start the discourse.

My energy will come from hearing the many variations on the same story. To nurture each other. To be respectful of each others point of view.

For me, as I learn how to do this praying and listening and evolving around Bible study, one of my goals is that I will be able to do this around politics and other life issues.

From John 8:31:

If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples.

Imagine “a church focused on addressing the”why” questions of God's purposes before engaging the “how to” questions of church practices.

Imagine “the members of the body of Christ shaped by a shared knowledge and understanding of the whole biblical story and its connection to their story.

“The nature of discipleship, Jesus says, is like the lifetime of labor it takes to establish a place of growth and nurture, refuge and redemption, trust and hope.”

Finally, I have come upon a quote that has rapidly become a favorite of mine. It is a quote on religion by a stand-up comedian, William Melvin “Bill” Hicks (12/16/61 – 2/26/94). Mr. Hicks wrote this on February 7, nineteen days before his death. Mr. Hicks was introduced to me this past February 26 by Keith Olberman on Countdown. Mr. Olberman has a segment on his show that highlights something that took place in history on each particular day. I look forward to this part of the show because I almost always learn something new. Or I get really excited when I can say (yell) I knew that.

Here is the quote:

“I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit.”

Step it up, Just do it

One of my challenges is to take what I believe in, what my faith tells me, and relate it to what is happening around me. The past few days, weeks, and months have provided me with numerous examples, but I have so far been silent.

Not any more. For some of my family or friends, warning, I will probably annoy you.

Frequently.

One of the tenants of my faith is the forgiveness that is abundantly given to all of us. We humans who make mistakes. Often. Some rather large. Some repeatedly.

My faith in this forgiveness comes from the teaching of Jesus, out of the Christian books of the New Testament.

It is therefore difficult for me to hear "Christians" not willing to allow human mistakes be forgiven, rather to be calling for strict punishment. Once again, my fellow "Christians", whose faith appears to be grounded in the Old Testament with a little of Jesus thrown in, separate themselves from me.

There are consequences for our actions, but what is the sense of welcoming Jesus, who proclaimed a new way of looking at the world, of relating to each other, of caring for each other, if every time a challenge comes along, Jesus is forgotten or pushed aside.

Why is there so much clamoring for a pound of flesh?

Why the emphasis on the negative?

This anti-Christ crap? The birthers?

I am astonished to hear the furor over the release of the two journalists recently held in North Korea. Rewards for bad behavior is what John Bolton has said.

This was not a case of not eating your vegetables and still getting dessert. This was hard labor, wives and mothers separated from husbands and child. Rewards?

If the case for saving was to have been deserving where would we all be?

Remember Jesus talking about separating us into two groups, those welcomed into heaven and those not? Remember him preaching that by taking care of the least of them, feeding the least of them, welcoming the stranger,that by doing so, we did it to him? He never said that the qualification for assistance was that the receiver believe in anything that the giver did.

Working towards caring for all of our citizens by reforming health care?

Nah, Jesus didn't mention health care. Or, why should I care about "them". Or, I work hard for what I have, let "them" do the same. I have mine, let them get theirs.

The time to live up to this is now. Step up to the plate.

Just do it.

On a personal note, my mother did not have health insurance in the latter part of her life until she could get on Medicare. At 64, she could not afford a policy.

She would have liked to have had an option, any option, that she could have afforded.

At 65, she died.

What about your mother, or his, or hers, or theirs?

What about your sister, or his, or hers, or theirs?

Father, brother, cousins, friends.

What about them?

Just get on with it.

Rush Hour

Monday through Friday during the summer, the route that I take to work changes.

During the summer, schools are closed and therefore, students, parents and teachers are not traveling on the roadways. Without buses and all those extra cars on the road I can take the shorter distance, travel the same speed, and get to work much quicker.

(God forbid Americans would design public transportation to take the majority of travelers where they need to go. Delaware should design a high speed rail line up the middle of I-95 as well as providing adequate bus or train lines in the southern part of the state. But, I digress.)

Each morning I am reminded about a particular story in Matthew's Gospel. Each morning those of us exiting at Concord Pike gather in a long line.

When I was younger I would drive as far as I could up the middle lane, then cut to the right when there was a break in the line.

At other times, those waiting in line endured those that cut their waiting time by driving up on the right shoulder. At those times, several of us would move to the right straddling both lanes taking away this short cut. So self righteous.

Then, I changed my driving habits. I tended to get in line, travel up slowly and take in the view of the river and woods along the Brandywine River. However, I would seethe at those that still maneuvered their way at high speeds, cutting in or driving up the right.

All in a hurry to get there first. My way was the right way, the correct way to get off the exit.

Eventually, all of those traveling get off the exit. No matter which way we travel, we all get off the exit. Slow or fast. Left, center or right lanes. We all get there.

I do not know when it happened, but I came to care not about when I got off the exit.

Rather, I came to care that I got off the exit.

The last shall be first, the first last. But, they all enter.

Matthew 20:1-16

SimonSurmises

I have added another blog link.

The Rev. Canon Simon Mein, a long time friend and associate, has a wonderful blog called Simon Surmises.

Grab a cup of coffee, sit down comfortably, and read, thereby exercising not only your brain, but your soul.

Enjoy!

Remembrances

Some of my dearest friends and I will be getting together this Saturday to celebrate 40 years of being away from home. Here is what she has written. For those of you reading this in Sudan, or other parts of the globe, Cate, along with my three Wise Men, assisted me in obtaining my vision to do more for my church. Hence, God put me in Sudan, for which I am eternally grateful.

Mountain View Life Coaching Newsletter
40 Years Ago...

JULY 29, 2009

Hard to believe, but it's true. Forty years ago I (barely) graduated from Ossining High School. The "barely" part is another story... This weekend I will spend a few short hours with a handful of my amazing graduating class of over 300 "kids". Not long ago, I realized that my experience "growing up" with my classmates (and the classes of '66, '67, '68 and '70) is one of the greatest gifts of my lives. I feel as though we raised ourselves and each other. I think we did a pretty good job. No one else was paying attention to my struggles and angst, at least not that I noticed. I can't speak for my classmates or anyone else of this "era". Perhaps this is not unique to the Class of '69, but we truly "went though a lot" together, the best of times and the worst of times. Coming from five small racially, ethnically and economically diverse elementary schools into one over-crowded junior high school, 7th and 8th grade, which adjoined the high school, we were on double session for two years while a new "middle" school was built. We went to school from 7 to Noon one year, Noon to 5 the other. It was weird. We didn't really have any activities except to find our classrooms on time (which could be under the stage or next door at the church) and the rush to get there early to claim one of the limited number of desks and chairs. Never mind the books.... We learned to sit wherever and share. Made us close. We were the beginning of the peak of the baby boomers and our town and school did not plan ahead. We lost our beloved President Kennedy when we were only 12 years old. Our hearts were broken, but our young spirits were not dampened. We still believed we could save the world. We entered high school in the same complex of buildings, as the "middle schoolers" left us and headed to their new school. We had "toughed it out" and got to spread out and relax a bit in our roomier old school and annex. We finally had dances, played sports together (well, the boys, this was pre-Title 9 after all, the girls watched or were cheerleaders). We went to the town library at night to study (or at least that's what we told our parents). We skipped school and took the train down the Hudson River to NY City and learned how to get to the Greenwich Village on the subway and back, and off the train before dismissal. We lost Dr. King and Senator Kennedy. We were in shock and pain as the racial tension in our school escalated to the breaking point. Police lined our corridors for weeks as we made our way to class. We worked together in our senior year in our shared desire to heal. We broke the dress code. Yes, the girls wore skirts that had to touch the floor when we got on our knees in the dean's office, and the boys had to wear jacket and tie on Fridays. Now we all wore jeans, or at least we could. We experienced the "sexual revolution" in our own young way, having heard reports of the "Summer of Love" in 1967 Haight-Ashbury. Some of us experimented with drugs. We watched the war in Vietnam on the evening news, watched it escalate and worried about the draft. We partied when our parents were away. Our parents remained oblivious, or so we thought, until some of us "got caught". That summer, many of us planned for college, entered the work force or Armed Service, and some of us bought our tickets and looked forward to The Woodstock Festival in August (more next time), as we marveled at men walking on the moon. Back to today -- My boxes for our move are mostly packed and I am fleeing my home and my adoring, understanding husband, to see my homegirls and homeboys for a few short hours of laughs and shared memories. We share experiences that have bonded us in ways that I barely understand, if not because of the "times", than at least because we were and are who we are. Unlike previous reunions (I made the 25th and 35th), I don't care if I have a manicure or something new to wear. I won't and I don't. I don't care that I didn't lose a few pounds just for the occasion. I am who I am. Happy to be able to attend and hug my classmates! Including my years in junior and senior high school, I have spent many years trying to morph into something I'm not. I finally like myself for who I am. Funny thing is, this group of old friends, brothers and sisters of my soul, always appreciated me for me. It's taken all this time for me to "get it" -- that I'm okay and totally lovable, just as I am.

I believe we are all born with an innate sense of worth and intact self-esteem. I lost mine for a very long time... and found it again through the transformational work of "integrative" life coaching.

If you would benefit from support, a guide to help you find the path back to your birthright of worthiness and self-acceptance, call me. From my training, personal experience and the experience of my clients, I know that from this place of wholeness, your gifts will unfold with ease. The world is waiting for your gifts. Why wait another moment?

Call me for a complimentary conversation.

Namaste,

Cate LaBarre

Mountain View Life Coaching
Certified Integrative Coach Professional
Trained by The Ford Institute of Integrative Coaching at JFK University
Workshop Facilitator and Leader
(607)264-9500
After August 6th -- (518)882-9880

My first encounter with Bishop Steven Charleston was at the Episcopal Church of Sts. Andrew and Matthew. Each year, the Rev. Canon Lloyd Casson would invite Bishop Charleston to participate in the three Hour Good Friday service at SsAM's. What started out being a one year treat turned into seven.

Imagine looking forward to Good Friday, an afternoon spent praying, crying, laughing and being in community.

Since then, I have encountered Bishop Charleston at CODE, EBAC and other conferences. To know that he will speak is to know that I will be challenged and refreshed.

Here is a synopsis of what he had to say this week during the noon time Eucharist. from Episcopal News Service.

Future generations will look back on the Episcopal Church aghast that it spent 30 years talking about human sexuality and largely ignoring the ecological disaster affecting the world, said Bishop Steven Charleston in his July 15 sermon during a General Convention Eucharist that celebrated creation care.

“For years now the environmental movement has told us that there is a clock ticking, a clock, ticking, a great organic ecological clock that is ticking away the time of our lives to that when we no longer will be able to reverse the damage that we have done to this planet through our own greed, negligence and ignorance,” said Charleston, assistant bishop of California and provost of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

Charleston continued: "Why is it that we do not hear that? Why is it that around this world of ours, though there are good men and women all seeking to help save the earth, that there is not this huge outpouring of sudden activity as the bell rings in our ears to save the earth?"

It is because, he said, "we have been distracted."

In addition to being distracted by discussions on human sexuality, the church has been worrying about its institutional survival; its relationships in the Anglican Communion; money, budget sheets and head counts, Charleston said.

“I am here to tell you that unless we recognize that there is a higher, deeper calling that lies behind all of these needs … none of our hopes and dreams, whether they come from conservative hearts or liberal minds, will sustain the day on anything we have been discussing, for all will be for naught, all will be for naught lest we wake up and pay attention to the underlying great issue of our day.”

"The day will come when the future will look back on what we have been doing here and see in our discussions -- though they appear to us in this moment, so fraught with importance -- issues as antique as the concern as to whether or not women could have the right to vote and whether we should stop the practice of child labor," said Charleston.

"And yet they will consider our folly on a planet that is but a burnt cinder, compared to the garden that has allowed us the luxury to have these self same debates. They will live in a world in which wars over water will make ours over oil pale in comparison."

But, he said, it doesn't have to be so. As the history of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion have shown, people can live in peace even when they disagree and people are capable of living in harmony with the natural world.

"In the name of Jesus of Nazareth I call upon the presence of the Holy Spirit … the spirit of the very earth itself and ask that that spirit come into this room and touch each and every one of you who is listening to me now," Charleston concluded. "Let your mind be opened to the truth of what I have spoken here today, let your heart be set on fire … be not afraid Episcopal Church, but stand proud and tall into this great commission of God.

"This is our moment, this is our time, this is our call and under an anointing of the spirit of God we will not fail in that call, but be in the vanguard of a change that will resound around the world full of hope and grace to renew humanity itself through the hope and power of Jesus in whose name I have preached and in whose name I have prayed."

And the crowd of hundreds took to its feet in applause.

Abrahamic Blessing

Attending the House of Deputies on July 14 was a blessing within a blessing.

At the end of each session the chaplain closes with prayers and incorporates prayers for the concerns of Deputies and others attending. This morning was different.

A little history first.

Most of you know that I spent time last summer in Khartoum, Sudan. Khartoum is a predominately Arabic speaking Muslim city. Each day, the many calls to prayer reminded all within earshot to turn to God and pray.

As a child growing up in Westchester County, New York, I attended many Saturday services at Temple.

This day, my past and present were woven together when three men, one Christian - The Rev. Peter Hood, one Muslim, Mu'athin Ben Yousef, and one Jewish - Cantor Mark Saltzman, sang an Abrahamic Blessing. The co-mingling of these three voices were music to my ears. Shutting my eyes, I heard the history of the praising of God in one.

The sons of Abraham blessing together.


To read more about this in the Convention Daily go on line to http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/08Daily_071509.pdf If this does not work, paste it into your browser address bar. While there read more editions that contain wonderful articles and pictures.