Walk With Me (New Studio Version)

It's Tuesday, so I must have another song to share.
(Four for four over the past month!)

Today, as promised, a new version of a song I'd recorded before, called "Walk With Me."

The original tracks were stolen with my computer about a year and a half ago. But I've redone it. And I like this version even better than the stolen one. (So, maybe the thieves did me a favor?)

At any rate, hope you enjoy it...







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Goodbye, Mr. Peppermint

How is it that I am this sad today, about the death of Mr. Peppermint? A few moments ago, I was in literal tears, followed by a feeling embarrassment.

I wasn't a close friend, like others here in Dallas can say. I didn't know him through theater circles, as some drama-friends did.

But like an entire generation who grew up here, Mr. Peppermint meant a lot to me. And I'm deeply sorry to hear he's gone.

For the unenlightened, Jerry Haynes, aka Mr. Peppermint, hosted a children's show, mornings on Channel 8 here in Dallas. Think: Captain Kangaroo for North Texas kids. He played the character in two stints that lasted almost 30 years, starting in 1961 and finally ending in 1996.

He was also a well known actor in the Dallas community, and from what I've been told by actors and theater people, he was respected and loved by almost everyone who ever met him. For those of you outside Dallas, you may remember Jerry Haynes for his role in the movie "Places in the Heart" as Deputy Jack Driscoll.

It's lovely to hear all those writing in about how they knew him personally, how he was a kind and decent human being. But for me, and for several generations of Dallas kids, he was larger than life, bordering on mythological. He was living a superhero. But he was from Dallas. He was our local superhero.

I remember my Mom taking me to see Mr. Peppermint at NorthPark Mall, and getting a black and white publicity picture of him that I put up on the wall of my room. My Mom also bought me a peppermint-striped walking cane, and a straw hat, just like in this picture...

See that kid? Could have been me. It was me.

Mr. Peppermint always began his show with a segment that had him walk through the studio, and dramatically point his cane at various parts of the room; an action that apparently caused the lights to come on. To my five-year-old mind, it was more than just a staged movement. I didn't know what that was. To me, it was MAGIC.

Mr. Peppermint had magical power over electric light itself.

Time after time, I would dance around the living room, in cane and hat, recreating this same scene.

Somewhere during the time his show was off the air (1969-1975) I was moving out of that "magical" time of childhood and into the harsher reality of adolescence. We were members of Lovers Lane UMC and so, apparently, were Jerry Haynes and his family. In one of the most stunningly confusing moments of childhood, I passed him in the halls of church one morning,  apparently on the way to pick up his own child from Sunday School.

I remember staring at him in awe, and if he noticed he didn't let on. In that moment, he became  just "Jerry Haynes;" a guy with Mr. Peppermint's face, but wearing a regular suit. It was like walking into your neighborhood Starbucks to discover Santa Claus has retired and become the morning-shift barista.

I'm sure that moment happened more than once for him. In a sense, it did for me too, because I got used to seeing him each Sunday, and gradually grew used to the idea that there was a man named "Jerry Haynes" who was not just Mr. Peppermint, but a real-life flesh and bones guy.

Here's a nice slideshow of images about Jerry Haynes.


By the time Jerry Haynes went back on the air for his second stint as Mr. Peppermint, I was moving into junior high and high school; well beyond the time of childhood heroes.

In fact, "feeling into" my sadness today, I sense it comes from recalling the loss of that magical childhood time and the inevitable movement into the reality of adulthood. Eventually it dawns on you that nobody turns on the lights by pointing a candy-striped walking-cane at them, and each childhood "Mr. Peppermint" eventually becomes just a "Jerry Haynes."

And, even more than this, I think, the sadness is knowing that not even being a superhero like Mr. Peppermint can save you from the ravages of time itself; a fact I'm certainly feeling myself, and seeing more in the lives of friends and loved ones too.

I heard about his Parkinson's disease, and I know enough about that disease to know that his last years were surely difficult. Likely, too much reality and not enough mystery and magic.


However it is that we die, all of us deserve to be remembered at our best and our most magical. I am sure that his close friends and family will remember him in so many varied and personal ways at many points of life.

But even as a man who grew to know who Jerry Haynes was, I will still always be most grateful Mr. Peppermint, and remember for what he meant to this six-year-old boy.

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A Good Friday

I've had some fantastic days in the studio the past few weeks. My goal is always to spend some part of Friday recording and working on music, but for all sorts of reasons if often doesn't work out. One reason, of course, was not having my guitar for about a year. And ever since it's been back, it seems like the songs are pouring out. Three new new, mostly-baked demos in three weeks.

 

Today, I had the longest studio day I've had in months. Today, I went back and re-recorded "Walk With Me."

The reason I had to re-record is that, last year, my computer got stolen straight off my desk at home. The master files of several songs I'd been working were forever lost. I had some in-process demos burned, burned but they weren't fully baked and were never intended to be "final."

So, today helped redeem last year's stolen computer. And it sounds great. Even better than the stolen versions. thich is great and exciting, given that I was worried about whether it'd be worth it to redo it. I'll put it up soon for yall to give a listen to. What's most exciting is that it's gonna be a much better recording for my CD.

So, a good Friday.

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The Dividing Line Between Good and Evil

"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
-- Aleksander Solzhenitsyn

Or, as Jesus said.

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An Amazing Birthday Vision

First, for the zillions of amazing and generous birthday greetings via Facebook…Thank You.

Every year, I forget just how amazing this is, this Facebook-Birthday-Greeting-thing.

Very likely, while I write/post this blog, I will receive the five HUNDREDTH Facebook greeting. No joke. It's shockingly wonderful.

It's always beautiful to hear from the incredibly diversity of my friends...church folks... clergy... musicians… political friends... general cool people I've met along the way.

Thanks, friends. It's humbling, and it means a lot.

But I need to write tonight about what happened on today's bike ride, just a few hours ago...

As some on FB will know, I've been riding around White Rock Lake twice week. I start at the trail head for White Rock Creek Trail. It's a gorgeous and meditative 24 mile ride.

I know some will find this crazy, but more times than seems predictable, just the right song will come on at just the right moment when the iPod's on shuffle. I've taken to calling it "the iPod gods."

Keep in mind, I have something like ten DAYS (Yes, days) of music on my iPod. (Something like 3300 songs.) But, the number of times that just the right song "happens" to come on at just the right moment strikes me as improbable. I am willing to consider that maybe it's just the "meaning" I, as a listener, assign to it.

But the truth is that I believe it's Grace. Or Synchronicity. Or Kairos-time. Or a ghost in the machine. Whatever phrase you use to describe such mystery.

Case in point.

Tonight, I got to one of my usual stopping places on the ride: Sunset Bay. I sat down on the bench for a few moments, to rest and take in the view. The next song that comes on the shuffle was Dan Fogelberg's "Icarus Ascending."

Non-Dan-Fans will likely not "get" what a great song this is. Here's a blog I wrote about the song(read the first part of the blog). A part of the lyrics form the inscription on one of the three main "stones" in the Fogelberg Memorial in Peoria, Ill. Several times during that weekend, someone read Dan's own thoughts about the song and what it meant to him (You can read those thoughts in that blog entry…)

As I say in the blog, I listened to the song about a zillion times on the way home. And I've learned to play it myself. It's just a great, great lyric. (Read the whole lyric here.)

That song came to epitomize the Fogelberg Weekend for me, then. And, in many ways, it feels like a song of Dan's that speaks to me more strongly, as a musician myself, than any other over these past few years.

So, I knew I needed to be on the bike, and moving, during the song. After all, this is a song about flight, about pushing yourself, and trusting the journey; not a song about sitting on a bench.

So, I jumped back on the bike, and headed out. The next section of the trail, just past Sunset Bay, routes you in front of Winfrey Point. It's a gorgeous part of the lake. And today, it was calm. Not a hint of breeze. It was a little over 90 outside, and the sun was still high enough that the water was a gorgeous blue.

So, I pick up speed, and the second verse of the song comes on. I'm pushing myself, enjoying that amazing connected between bike, lake, and song…

"Venturing further than the length of your sight
Out past the reach of your beginnings
There is a gamble in each proud act of flight
But the losses pale before the winnings
Circling and diving with this freedom you've found
Illusion blows apart and scatters
There is no darkness in this place that we're bound
Love is the only thing that matters"

All of the sudden, completely dominating my field of vision, was a gorgeous Redtailed Hawk. I mean, a HUGE hawk. A full-grown bird…soaring in off the hillside, at eye-level…about three to four feet off the ground...and no more than five feet in front of me.

I am not kidding when I say that it was about five feet in front of me, swooping in toward something it saw at water's edge. The whole thing only lasted a second or two. But the image of the fully extended, strong wings...the feathers...the eyes, even...everything was clear and frozen in that moment, as if time stopped.

And I have also already written about my love of hawks. Here, for example.

It looked almost exactly like this, but even closer, and with the talons up:

(BTW, this picture, courtesy of the Peoria Audubon Society…kid you not…it was the hawk picture I just thought looked the coolest, and this is where it's from….)

The whole moment lasted a matter of seconds. Within two more seconds more, the hawk was pulling up at the lakeside…about ten feet past the trail. And I was whizzing by.

I literally yelled-out at the sight so loudly that a mom and her kids on the trail 100 yards in front of me all turned around.

Keep in mind, I was probably traveling 14 or 15 mph.
The hawk? It was probably going at least that.

Had I been two seconds earlier, I would have crashed into it. Five second after that, I never would have seen it (it would have been behind me…) The idea that it could swoop in front of me, and just that close, is amazing.

This is one I will ponder for a while. An amazing birthday vision…a proud of act of flight…right as I was listening and thinking about that very song and message.

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September

Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the minds of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away.

Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember how the stars stole the night away.

Ba de ya - Say do you remember?
Ba de ya - Dancing in September?
Ba de ya - Never was a cloudy day.

My thoughts are with you
Holding hands with your heart to see you.
Only blue talk and love,
Remember how we knew love was here to stay.

Now December found the love that we shared in September.
Only blue talk and love,
Remember the true love we share today

Ba de ya - Say do you remember?
Ba de ya - Dancing in September?
Ba de ya - Never was a cloudy day.

Ba de ya - Say do you remember?
Ba de ya - Dancing in September?
Ba de ya - Golden dreams were shiny days.
~ Maurice White, Charles Stepney & Verdine White


(Place: Little Company of Mary's Hospital, Torrance, CA. September 21, 1962)

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"Those Two" (Studio Version)

At the beginning of the summer I posted a YouTube of this song.

This week, I've been working here in the studio on a demo of it.
I'm very pleased with how it's coming out.
Hope you like it too.



(BTW, if DO you like it, consider Facebook/Twitter "Liking" or "Sharing" it with the buttons below....EF)

Those Two 
Words and music by Eric Folkerth

You fell in love
with a guy in jeans and boots
who never wore a suit
and played guitar all night long

I fell in love
with a girl of revolution
pushing back the institution
in places it was wrong

Where'd they go, those two?
I believe they're still inside
me and you.

You fell in love
with a guy, chronically late
who forgot important dates
but who could always make you smile.

I fell in love
with the girl who had a plan
for every second in her hand
and survived every trial.

Where'd they go, those two?
I believe they're still inside
me and you.

Things we found attracting
Grow frustrating and distracting
Each year, these scenes we're acting
Keep repeating, time again.
And so, the greater mystery
Is how, with all this history
We can yet persist to be
Lovers and friends.

I'm still in love
with that quiet girl who knows me
never says, but simply shows me
all the safety of a home.

Your'e still in love
with that guy who sees the world
as a jewel to give that girl
with fields still yet to roam.

Where'd they go, those two?
I believe they're still inside
me and you.

Every day, they're still inside me and you.

Copyright, Eric Folkerth. © 2011.
All Rights Reserved.

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Taking It All Off With the Naked Pastor

We had a great night last night at our annual "Feast of Beginnings," featuring David Hayward, the "NakedPastor." David is ordained in the Canadian equivalent of the PCUSA, and lives somewhere North of Maine. (That's how he kept describing it...)

The point he kept making about weather is that "It never gets this hot here at home." (This was on a day when it was about 85).

Last night, about 150 folks showed up for our annual "Feast," which has been a Northaven event for four decades or more. David showed some of his cartoons, and also some of his "Sophia" series.

David has been called "The graffiti artist on the wall of religion." Man, do I love that description. And it's quite apt.

The crowd was very receptive to David, and his honest and sincere humor about the church and faith. David draws a new cartoon a day (weekdays). They tend toward the biting and the funny, something I'm also, ahem, drawn to.

Here's some of the works that got the most reaction last night. This one got a huge laugh...

I think a part of why I like David's stuff so much is that, from time to time, people have told me I also use humor well. I once had a retired preaching professor tell me that I use sermon-humor better than anybody he's ever seen. I don't know that that's true, but I'll take the compliment.

But, let's be clear, it's a specific kind of humor. It's not stupid, throw-away preacher's jokes. Those, it seems to me, are pointless.

And, good God, how many times have you heard them? You're listening to a sermon and somebody throws in a joke at the start that has nothing to do with the scripture, sermon, or theme of the day. It is, quite literally, just a moment designed to loosen up the crowd. Like the warm-up comic before a sitcom actually starts taping. That kind of humor is pointless.

But there's another kind of humor, altogether. It seems to me that humor can break us open to truth in a way that sometimes telling a story head-on cannot. You can spend pages describing the theological point such as: "when it comes to Jesus, be careful what you wish for."

Jesus' life ends in crucifixion. If you think everybody's gonna love you all the time, you're incredibly naive, and the Gospels talk over and over about the path of the suffering servant. A preacher can talk for pages and pages about this deeply theological stuff.

Or, if you've got David's talent, you just draw the above two frames, and make exactly the same point.

I once remember Larry McMurtry talking about his son James' songwriting. And he made a point something like that it's much more challenging to tell a story in three verses and four and a half minutes, than it is to tell it in an entire novel. I also remember James disagreeing with this. All this is to say, there are clearly different ways to tell a story/make a point.

However the point gets made, when we "get" this kind of humor, we not laughing at Jesus, or ourselves. We're laughing with. We're laughing at our own pretensions and the pretensions of others. We're allowing ourselves to be broken open to some deeper truth.

All this is to say: this kind of humor is funny not just because it makes you giggle. It's also funny because it's deeply true. (all good comedy is like this, really...)

In a sense, a laugh says "We understand this truth." Which leads me to remember one of my favorite quotes from Anne Lamott: "Laughter is carbonated holiness."

Isn't that lovely?

This one also got a big laugh...

Again, my theory is that many of our folks have lived this cartoon. They've been at other places where they were not fully welcomed, and whether or not anybody ever said what this sign says, they felt it, loud and clear. (Attention: United Methodist Church)

This one also drew a big laugh...

Again, because many of our folks have also lived this. Many of our members have fled, or been pushed out of, churches where somebody told them something like this. Without the actual box, of course.

This one drew a quiet murmur of approval...

As David noted, some churches literally seem to believe that God is only present IN the church, and not in the world. Of course, that's absolutely ludicrous. If God is really God, that can't possible be true. But you'd never know it lots of places. BTW, this cartoon immediately reminded me of the great David Wilcox song, "Silent Prayer." Here's the lyric I was thinking of...

I want to smash the windows. The congregation's asleep.
I want to feel the wind blow and let the spirit free.
I can't, I can't stand to sit there where their God is pocket-size.
I want to feel what's real and will not compromise.

David has a whole series of "Question Cartoons." (sorry this one's not better quality...)...

The guy's handing over his small question to God, and God just gives him back a bigger question. Again, in so many churches, questions and doubts are not tolerated. And if you ask too many, this can happen...

I really liked David's idea that there are three kinds of ways to ask/live with questions:
Closed Questions
Hinge Questions
Open Questions

At the closed question phase of faith, any questions that come up are immediately shut down...either by a person's own internal fear, or by something like the "exclamation police" above.

At the hinge question phase of faith (which David pointed out can last for months, years, or decades...) a person is open to questions and where they will lead, even if he/she is still disturbed by there not being any great and easy answers.

At the open question phase of faith, a person becomes so comfortable with questions that he/she no longer is in need of pat or easy answers. He/she is comfortable with ambiguity, doubt, and questions that perhaps can never be answered.

I found this a really helpful way to name this reality.

All in all, a great great night. It was wonderful to meet David and to make this connection.

I can tell you now, this kind of "show and tell" night with David is the kind of thing that lots of churches should consider doing. We've got 150 very "satisfied customers."

At the very least, be sure and check out his blog often.

 

Thanks, David.

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Our trademarked slogan.

This phrase is actually a trademarked slogan of Northaven UMC.

We're glad people like it.

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Dear Neo-Cons...

Dear Neo-Cons,

No, you don't get to claim credit for the "Arab Spring."

That makes as much sense as, each year, claiming credit for the actual Spring.

However, if you're in the mood for a game of "count the credits," you still have plenty left from your so-called "Doctrine of Pre-Emptive War."

And you wracked up a ton more for that doctrine's test case, the War in Iraq.

And, no, we haven't forgotten about those.

Sincerely,

The American People.

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Let Us Never Forget

What follows is a text version of my sermon on the 10th Anniversary of September 11th. (also an audio version) It's now several years later, but this still sums up nicely my feelings on every new September 11th. Hope it's helpful to you...EF
 



Ten years ago this morning, on the Sunday following September 11th, I walked into the old sanctuary of Northaven Church to deliver the sermon. I had not been sleeping well. Nobody had. The whole world had been crying and screaming at our televisions, in confusion, pain and anger.
You should know that I have never before, and never since, been so terrified to preach a sermon. I remember walking by Billy Crockett, who was sitting in an aisle seat, just before we began worship. I touched him silently on the shoulder, and he looked back at me and said, "Preach the word today, brother...we all need to hear it..."

And I thought something in that moment that I did not say  to him. And what I thought in that moment was: "And what exactly IS that word? What DO we need to hear?"

In a sense, even today, ten years later, I feel the same way and am asking the same questions. So much has happened. So much has changed. So much has healed. So much has not.

As this rattled in my head the past few weeks, I recalled a phrase I heard, over and over, in the weeks following September 11th...on websites...in print....on billboards....in emails that got passed around. And, this month, ten years later, I have seen that same phrase again. In fact, I saw in yesterday on two billboards out in front of churches here in the area:
"Let Us Never Forget."

And I thought: "As IF any of us ever will forget. How blessed it might feel to one-day be rid of this horrific memory....how blessed "forgetting" might be."

The clearest plain-meaning of the phrase "Let Us Never Forget" applies to the victims. And, certainly, on this 10th Anniversary, we should remember them. At the end of our worship today, we lit candles to remember the 3,000 people who died. We did that on the Tuesday evening of the original September 11th..threw open the doors, broke out the old Christmas Eve candles, and lit candles of peace.

Let us never forget those who died.

We also remember that great and powerful sense of national unity that existed in the weeks following....that incredible can-do spirit that seemed to spiritually transcend party and politics. We were one nation. We were all New Yorkers. The feeling was palpable. Out of our joint grief came a joint sense of unity.

Let us never forget this.

But this week, something else dawned on me. I'm slow, because it apparently it took me ten years to ask this next question. Ten-years after September 11th, it finally dawns on me that that the phrase "Let Us Never Forget" presupposes a prior-question.

The question is: WHAT do we choose to remember....and never forget?

What else would God tell us to "Never Forget?"

Has that ever dawned on any of you? Because as I said, ten years of ruminating on this it's just dawning on me that, spiritually, the answer to this question is not as self-evident as it ought to be.

Do we never forget.....the Trauma? Shock? Fear? Anxiety?
Or do we never forget....the repeated challenge of the Bible to "Fear Not"

Do we never forget...the desperate search for personal and national security?
Or do we never forget....God's Golden Rule? Jesus' challenge to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you?

Do we never forget....Pain....Anger...Revenge?
Or, do we never forget...the spiritual truth that violence often leads to more violence?

What is it that we "Never Forget?"

The spiritual truth September 11th continues to teach all of us is this:  
What we remember, what we hold onto, what we allow to penetrate into our souls our consciousness, our spirits, our bodies...matters. It makes a difference what we choose to "Never Forget."

In the immediate weeks following the original September 11th, if you asked me what I could not forget, I would say: grief, sadness, fear, anxiety, paranoia, anger, confusion.

September 11th was terrorism. And one of the clear and stated objectives of terrorism is fear and anxiety. We should all "Never Forget" that.

Take your mind back, and recall how much we feared in the days after 911...
Was the attack actually OVER?
What else might happen?
Was it safe to fly?
Were buildings safe?
Was opening the mail safe?
What does the color-coded warning system mean?
Should we buy "duct tape?" (Remember duct tape? The 2001 equivalent of "duck and cover" school drills...)
Remember all of the stories of planes delayed for searches?
Remember the new security at airports?

I am not saying these fears were wrong. They were what they were. And ten years later, can't you feel the fear and anxiety creep back into you, even as you are reading these words right now?

What I am asking is: Do we continue to hold onto all of this today?

I believe a seething fear, anxiety and terror crept into our individual souls and into the soul of our nation on September 11th, 2001. And it continues to reverberate inside of us, even today.
We REMEMBER it. We do not FORGET it. It affects us still

As I was preparing this weekend, Bill Stoner, one of our own members here at Northaven, wrote me an email which, more than anything else I've read recently, summed up precisely what I'm talking about here. And, with Bill's permission, I would like to read a portion of it now. Bill writes:

"I was a flight attendant for American for 18 years, including over 9-11. A back injury had me grounded at the time, but I returned to flying the first of October. Then came the 2 rounds of extensive FBI checks on all employees, then the two day-long classified training sessions on how to respond to attackers in the air. Then came the photos we had to carry with us--terrorists who were being hunted. Then the company statement to all American crew members that because of the multiple thefts of crew uniforms and badges, "just because someone comes on your plane in uniform with an ID doesn't mean they really are a crew member." We were taught how to lock down the aircraft, how to pick passengers as guards, how to tie a passenger to a seat, to always keep a full pot of hot coffee, and what to do with a corkscrew. On each flight we had specific areas to check--for explosives. If we smelled almonds, to physically drop whatever we're holding and rush to the oxygen tank--or there would be heavy casualties.

I wound up diagnosed with depression and luckily worked out of it. But as the post 9-11 years ensued, the level of danger we crews had to keep in mind never diminished. Always stay alert, be ready. The turning point was a flight back to Dallas. I always worked first class which meant I was primarily responsible for protecting the cockpit. I was in the galley, a Super 80, and heard very heavy running from coach towards first class. Nobody runs in the aisle. I grabbed the always open corkscrew, became incredibly sad that I was ready to try to kill someone, and as the stomping got close, I stepped into the aisle, corkscrew held like brass knuckles, and there was an overweight kid, 7 or 8, clomping up to the bathroom. I was ready to slit his throat or ram it into his eye. I decided I was ready to quit. And Jim agreed. Thus I retired about 6 months later."

Bill told me yesterday he's never gone around broadcasting this story, but that he's never shied away from it either. His story deeply moved me, and I'm grateful he's allowing me to share it.

Because although our own fear and anxiety...our own sense of insecurity and constant vigilance perhaps did rise to the level of those who worked in aviation such as Bill...or those who lived in New York and Washington....all of us felt some level of this increased anxiety, didn't we? This consistent fear of the "other"....the lurking, menacing, danger that might be out there.

I know that it changed air travel forever for people with dark skin. I've mentioned this before, but in the wake of September 11th, Dennise has been taken out of line and personally searched EVERY TIME she has traveled. The only times she has not have been when we're traveling together, and I hand our travel documents to the security people myself.
Every time.

My dear musician friend, Tom Prasada-Rao, who is of Indian descent, had master tapes of a CD he was working on confiscated by security in the weeks after 911, and he never saw them again.

And just one month ago, another songwriter I know, Vance Gilbert, who is African-American, apparently caused his airplane to turn around and head back to its gate. He's a fan of vintage aircraft, World War II airplanes. And somebody noticed...and was afraid of....a book he was carrying in his carry on bag, about vintage World War II planes.

These examples speak to the way "the world has changed" since September 11th, and changed in terms of our continuing insecurity and our fear.

Collectively, our insecurity, our fear, our anxiety allowed us to justify War in Iraq. I know many of you, like me, had grave doubts about that war from the very beginning.

As I have said many times over the years, there was, at the time the Iraq War began, no way to justify it from a perspective of so-called  "Christian Just War Theory." The case, theologically and spiritually, was not made. Events of the past ten years have done nothing except prove that truth. Admission after admission of government officials of that time, have shown that there was no just cause for that war....other than our fear, anxiety...and an ill-conceived theory of "preemptive war." Our fear, anxiety and anger has led to violence...which always leads to more fear, anxiety and violence.

Remember what we should remember: one of the goals of terrorism is FEAR and ANXIETY. This is one thing we should "Never Forget." But we do. Far too often, we gave into fear

But God also speaks to us a message of "Never Forget."

And God's message to us gives the expression "Never Forget" a whole new, and powerful meaning..

Faith tells us: "Never forget the Golden Rule of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Faith tells us: "Never forget that Jesus EXPLICITLY rejects the theology and practice of "an eye for an eye." and challenges us to "love our neighbors and pray for those who persecute you."


Faith tells us to not forget this story from the Gospel of Luke. In this short passage, Jesus has sent the Disciples out among the people. In fact, in this case, some of his Disciples had just returned from a Samaritan village. The Samaritans were hated and despised rivals of the Jews. Theological and political cousins, but somehow the fiercest of enemies.

The Samaritan village had refused to welcome Jesus' disciples.
The disciples say, and this is an exact quote from them: "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"

The Disciples are clearly operating out of the theology and practice of "an eye for an eye." They have not understood what Jesus has been trying to teach them.

And so, The Gospel of Luke says, Jesus "turned and rebuked them."

Jesus will not stand for retribution. Jesus will not stand for perpetuating a cycle of violence. Jesus does not stand for fire being called down from heaven. And so, it seems to me, on the Anniversary of 911, the best way we can REMEMBER those who died is to continue to commit our lives, and our being, to the hard and challenging principles our faith teaches.

I want to be clear. Very clear: None of this is easy. And eye for an eye is easy. An eye for an eye is deep inside our biological DNA. Hurt me. Hurt my tribe. Hurt my people, and I, or we, will make you pay. That is something we cannot forget, because it's deep and innate. It is perhaps even a part of our genetic wiring. BUT! Even if we don't forget that, we are not forced to act on it either. We have the choice, always, in every moment, to act a different way...to respond in love. September 11th changed many things, but it did not change this.

God reminds us to never forget these truths:
-- Love your neighbor as yourself.
-- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
-- Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

These are not just tangential or secondary truths. They are not optional, applying only at times when we are not fearful, afraid, or when we have not been attacked. Friends, these are the primary truths at the heart of the Gospel. 

And on this tenth anniversary, THEY are a part of what we should "Never Forget."

-----------------------------
There is one final story that I've been following off and on in the past few months, and it's a story that wraps up all these things we forget and remember in a horrifying way, but with great truth too. It is a horrifying story, and I tell you this at the start.

Even as the fires of September 11th were still burning in New York City, the smoke still rising, a local man, from our own community here, Mark Stroman, walked into a gas station in Mesquite. The date was September 21, 2001...my birthday, in fact.

Behind the counter was a young man named Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim immigrant from Pakistan.
Mark Stroman looked at Rais Bhuiyan and said, "Where are you from?"
"Excuse me?" replied Bhuiyan.

But before Bhuiyan could say anything else, he felt pain the right side of his face. He had been shot a point blank range. Rais Bhuiyan would survive the shooting. But, it would later be discovered, Mark Stroman had already killed another convenience store worker, Waqar Hasan, back on September 15th. And on October 4th, he would shoot, and kill, yet a third man, Vasud Patel, at a third convenience store in our area: Mom's Grocery store, right here in Dallas, Texas.

Once arrested by the police, Mark Stroman admitted that he had killed the two men, and attempted to kill Rais Bhuiyan, in a twisted attempt to avenge the attack of September 11th. He would tell police that he sought-out his victims because they "looked like they were of Muslim descent."
He also told police that "we're at War," and that he had done "what every American wanted to."

You see, friend, Mark Stroman had done what many were doing at the time. He misunderstood the phrase "Let Us Never Forget" as a call to violence and vengeance. His was certainly an extreme case. But how many other countless cases of suspicion have occurred? (I've already named a few). How many of us can stay we are, even today, totally free from the fear and paranoia, and anxiety of that time?

As you might imagine, Mark Stroman was convicted of the murder of his third victim, Vasud Patel. And since the crime was a hate crime, he was sentenced to die. And, in fact, Mark Stroman was executed, just a few weeks ago now. Almost ten years after his crimes.

Like many death row inmates, in his last years Stroman became quite remorseful for his actions. I am sure some will doubt his sincerity. We can never know what goes on inside another human being's heart. But here's what Mark Stroman in the later part of his life:

“At that time here in America everybody was saying ‘let’s get them’ — we didn’t know who to get, we were just stereotyping. I stereotyped all Muslims as terrorists and that was wrong...Killing another human being is not something you can forget…If there is another terrorist attack in America, please don’t stereotype people. Please don’t become a Mark Stroman.”

Of course, it is ironic that not all of the men he attacked were Muslims. They literally died, they were chosen, simply because they looked like the MIGHT be.

Stroman's story has one more powerful twist to it, however. One of the things that apparently broke his heart open in his later years, and helped him to finally understand the depths of his own hateful acts, was that the victim he shot, but did not kill, Rais Bhuiyan, became a fierce advocate for sparing his life from the death penalty.

Rais Bhuiyan credits his Muslim faith for helping him to forgive Stroman. He set up websites, wrote letters, pleaded with authorities to spare the life of the man who had shot him. He attempted to meet Stroman to seek reconciliation. He spoke in open court about his desire to see Stroman's life spared. Here's a quote from Rais Bhuiyan:

“Some people have said I’m crazy, that I’ve lost my mind trying to save someone who deserves to die. Some attack my Islamic faith, telling me it preaches violence or hate. But we use religion as a scapegoat. If I give you a knife, you may use it for cutting paper. You give the same knife to a doctor, he could use it for saving a human life. If you give it to a robber, he will use it to rob people. The problem isn’t the knife, it’s the people holding the knife. It’s the same with religion.”

Bhuiyan  still carries more than 35 shotgun pellets in the side of his face. He has lost sight in one of his eyes. But he has not lost his spiritual sight. And what he no longer carries, what he chooses to forget is a hatred toward the man who tried to kill him.

On the day Mark Stroman was executed, just hours before that event, Bhuiyan and Stroman actually talked via mobile phone for a few brief moments.

Bhuiyan said: "Mark, you should know that I am praying for God the most compassionate and gracious… I forgive you and I do not hate you. I never hated you...and this is from the bottom of my heart."

Stroman thanked Bhuiyan for being such a supporter and advocate for sparing his life. Stroman told Bhuiyan that he loved him and "you touched my heart. I would have never expected that."

Bhuiyan replied, "You touched mine too."

That was the end of their conversation. A few hours later, Stroman was executed, over the protestations of his victim.

I suppose seen from one angle, this is just another continuation of the cycle of violence that begets more violence. Stroman killed others. He has now been killed. Violence begets violence.

September 11th killed 3,000 innocents. But it begat wars and roadside bombs. Far too much collateral damage to count. Perhaps too painful to count.

But there is one quote that Rais Bhuiyan says in a recent interview that I totally agree with. He says this:

"It’s time to take a new narrative on the 10th anniversary of September 11, one of passion, forgiveness and tolerance.”

---------------------------------
We are forgetful people.

If you want to know one of the main reasons I think human beings have religion in the first place, it's because we're forgetful. We forget the important things, and we remember the unimportant ones. We forget the powerful, bedrock faith and love God gives to us; and we remember, sometimes hang on to, fear, hate, anxiety and worry.

But God keeps speaking. God calls us understand that God does not desire fire called down fire upon the heads of our enemies. In fact, God rejects that response. Instead, God challenges us to never forget something entirely different:

"Put aside your anger, your hate, your bitterness, your fear...your anxiety," God says.

"Put those aside, best you can. Hard as it is. Do not act on them. You do not HAVE to act of them. They will not serve you," God says.

"Never forget: to love your neighbor as yourself."
"Never forget: to do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
"Never forget: to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

As we look back at September 11th today, and whenever we say the words "Let Us Never Forget," these are the things God hopes we mean.

(As always, if you like this post, then "like" this on Facebook by clicking the box below, so others can see too...)

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Christmas Snow (A New Song)

Posted this new song to FB Friday afternoon, but thought I'd put it out on the blog today.

Another new song, this one instrumental.
Somehow, when I heard it, I just thought "snow." Thus, the title.
(Could also be that it was our last 100 degree day too...)

Hope you like it...

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The Struggle of Weariness and Hunger Together (Labor Day 2011)

"...How many are there in this Christian country that toil, and labor, and sweat, and have it not at last, but struggle with weariness and hunger together? Is it not worse for one, after a hard days labor, to come back to a poor, cold, dirty, uncomfortable lodging, and to find there not even the food which is needful to repair his wasted strength?


You that live at ease on this earth, that want nothing but eyes to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to understand how well God hath dealt with you, is it not worse to seek bread day by day, and find none? Perhaps to find the comfort also of five or six children crying for what he has not to give!"
-- John Wesley (Founder of Methodism, writing in the mid 1700s)

While writing the sermon that became this blog, a Google search led me to the perfect Labor Day metaphor. I vaguely recalled the above quote, and figured if I searched the words "John Wesley" and "Labor Day" it would lead me to it.

Wesley was a tireless champion of the poor and forgotten of his day. England of his day suffered from a terrible social stratification. Wesley railed against systems that forced working people into working long hours, in poor and miserable conditions. Religious reformers like him helped create the political environment that, eventually, led to labor laws and Labor Day.

And, sure enough, about the seventh or eighth listing on the first page, I found what I was looking for. But it wasn't the first listing on the page.

When you search the words "John Wesley" and "Labor Day" the first listing that pops up is a link to "Specials at the John Wesley Inn," a bed and breakfast in Cape May, New Jersey.

They've got some great Labor Day deals going on now...

What a metaphor.

Even our religious connections to a day that should celebrate the value and importance of honest work has been reduced to a cut-rate at a bed and breakfast.

But faith still has something to say to our present day. And we are in a big mess right now. The unemployment rate is over 9 percent; which translates into 14 million human beings. (Including, very likely, people reading this...)

But it's far worse than this. When you factor in those who want to work full time but can't find jobs, or those who've simply quit looking, that rate leaps to near 20 percent. 25 million people.

And that's even before you start taking a hard look at those who do have jobs. In our nation today, fully 30 percent of the workforce are working at, or near, minimum wage. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, an average person making this kind of entry level wage would have to work 89 hours a week just to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.

A decade ago, writer Barbara Ehrenreich told this story in her book: "Nickled and Dimed: On Not Making it in America." She hit the road, traveled the country, to see what life would be like for the working poor in our country today. For months, she lived in various American cities, working low wage jobs, just to see if it was even possible to get by. She worked as a maid. She worked as a waitress. She worked at Walmart (now, the nation's largest employer, btw...)

Her experience confirmed what the NCH found: that she had to work two jobs, simultaneously, just to make ends meet; just to afford a meager apartment, and semi-decent food. She could not afford a car, had to rely on public transportation. And, she was tired all the time.

So on Labor Day this year, it's hard to sing joyfully about the honor in "labor" when there is so much wrong with the labor markets.

Faith calls us to talk about these things.

Faith calls me, as a preacher, to do something that likely some will likely find crazy: To call the government to do more, and to confess that the Church, alone, is likely at the limits of what it can do.

Government is called to do good for people

People will say, "Eric, why as a preacher do you have any concern at all for what the government does or doesn't do? Isn't that a mixing of church and state?"


The reason is because I believe in an incarnational God. I believe in the God of Christmas, who comes to earth to powerfully show us that the world is not god-forsaken, but God-loved. I believe in the reality of God present in and through the workings of the world.

And if God is truly incarnational, then God also works through the government, as well as the Church. The Good News is that God is also works through all sorts of other people and other professionals, and not just through what we do in church. (Thanks be to God for that!)

Consider this for a moment...

What do we do when we're facing surgery? We pray for the surgeons. ("Dear God, guide the surgeon's hands and be with the nurses...")

What do we do on the first day of school? We pray for teachers. ("Dear God, be with my son's new teacher...")

But, what do we do when it comes to government workers, who are also in helping professions?

Do we pray for them? Do we imagine that God can work through them?
If not, why not?

So...God works through your surgeon's hands, but not through the hands of the Social Security clerk who helps a widow get benefits?

...God works through your kid's teacher, but not through social workers signing-up single mothers for WIC?

...God works through Sunday School teachers, but not through "Workforce" employees who help the recently-laid-off understand what resources and assistance they might get?

Hogwash.

God can work through all these people in all these times and places, precisely because God always works incarnationally in all times and places.

And this has implications for what we believe about government and government workers:

If we are to truly grasp the depth and breadth of God's incarnational working in the world, then we've got to stop believing government is incompetent, and incapable of helping change society for the better.

The idea that government is incapable of ever helping has become almost "gospel" for some. For more than thirty years, we've been told that, not only is government not a part of the solution, "government is the problem." As the years roll by, more and more people have come to believe this lie, as if it was true.

Please hear me: I am not saying government programs are always holy, blessed, and blamelessly awesome. Far from it.

But I am saying this: Government programs have the potential for being a vehicle that God uses brings about positive change in our world. It is theologically and spiritually necessary for us to believe this, if we believe in the God who came to earth at Christmas.

No, government is not perfect. Yes, there is waste and fraud. (Probably massive, even...) Government programs are messy. But Jesus was born in a backward stable too, with bleating animals all around.

Incarnation is messy.

But beyond recognizing that God can work through government programs, there's another reason for people of faith to support the government and to challenge it to do more with respect to the un/under-employed...

The Church cannot do what the government does at the scale the government does.

The reality is that if you look back at 100 years of charitable giving, as a percentage of income, it rarely fluctuates more than a few percentage points up or down. In the best economic times or the worst ones. Given that factual reality, there is no concrete evidence, whatsoever, that churches and non-profits can take over all, or even most of the social services offered by the government.

100 years of data on charitable giving speaks to this truth.

There are some problems so big that only the government can really step in to help. And in those instances, people of faith must challenge our government to create policies and programs that truly serve working people, and the working poor.

The Prophet Amos encouraged people to seek good and not seek evil. He is pretty blunt about what seeking evil entails:

"You trample the poor and take from them levies of grain....you take a bribe and push the needy in the gate."(link)

The Book of James in the New Testament (one of the most important books in the New Testament, imho...) make the same point in blunt terms:

"Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?"(link)

Even in Biblical times, the poor were taxed at unfair rates, and wealth flowed up the chain, away from the poor and middle class, and to the rich. Even in Biblical times, even those who were the "faithful" showed too much partiality to the rich, and not enough care for the poor.

In Wesley's time too. In fact, there's another pretty amazing quote, where he even lambasts his own "Methodist" people on this point...

"Most of those in England who have riches love money, even the Methodists; at least those who are called so. The poor are the Christians. I am quite out of conceit with almost all those who have the world's goods."
-- John Wesley

Clearly, justice for the poor and the needy is what God wants, not just help for the wealthy and the powerful. And it's equally clear that those of us who have been blessed with financial resources are called by God to share of our abundance.

The phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is not in the Bible. (link)

The phrase "To whom much is given, much is required" is. (link)

But here's just how insane things are today: You can't even make these points without somebody accusing you of socialism or "class warfare."

Thank God Billionaire Warren Buffett is not afraid to tell the truth, when he said this: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

Can we even hear this?!

Instead, we continue to hear that government is evil, and that taxing the wealthy to help the poor is evil. Yet even if we take theological meaning out of it, and analyze things statistically, we must admit that we had far greater prosperity when taxes on the wealthy have been much higher.

Tax rates on our wealthiest citizens have been falling since World War II. Ten years ago, we cut them again. Theoretically, according to what "we are told," tax breaks always mean the economy improves, companies create more jobs, etc, etc...

So, if that's the case, then the last ten years should have been blissful, since tax rates on the wealthy are at their lowest point in almost 50 years.

But it hasn't been, has it? The clear evidence shows that as the wealthy are taxes less, our economy has gotten worse, and we're in the most challenging financial downturn in 70 years.

They say insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

So, how much longer will we continue to believe the insane lie that tax cuts for the wealthy always lead to prosperity?

It's getting mean out there too, with regard to the poor. There are a lot of bitter folks, mad about the economy in general (they should be mad at the rich), but taking it out on the poor instead.

For example, more than once in recent weeks I've heard it said that the poor are getting some great, free ride. The whisper campaign goes like this:

"Did you know that half of Americans don't pay any taxes?"

The unsaid grumble here is that half the country is getting a free ride, finding "loopholes" that keep them from oweing any taxes.

You know...apparently the poor have GREAT accountants.

Let's be clear about this, there is only one major loophole that keeps a human being (as opposed to a corporation) from paying any taxes: being poor.

Which leads to an obvious and self-evident truth: If half of America really is not paying taxes, then what that tells us is that half of America has fallen into the ranks of the desperately poor.

The ranks of the poor are exploding. So are the ranks of the super-rich. It's the middle class that's getting squeezed, and getting smaller and smaller.

So we come back to that great quote from Mr. Wesley.

"...How many are there in this Christian country that toil, and labor, and sweat, and have it not at last, but struggle with weariness and hunger together? Is it not worse for one, after a hard days labor, to come back to a poor, cold, dirty, uncomfortable lodging, and to find there not even the food which is needful to repair his wasted strength?"

It's a rhetorical question, of course. Yes, of course it's worse to live like that. To have to have work two and three jobs, just to put food on the table. Thirty-six percent of American families that get food from charitable food banks have at least one working adult in their household(link).

People are working hard, and not getting by. We can do better. And we must.

President Obama is about to deliver a major speech on jobs and job creation. I must say, I am deeply disappointed in what he had done so far. I personally believe that, like at other crucial times in our history, the government is the only agency large enough to really make a difference in the area of jobs.

I give President Obama VERY VERY poor marks so far in what he had done with respect to jobs. Yes, he inherited an economy that was collapsing all around. OK, so we had to prop up big banks. Fine. But then, what?

I am glad that there is a major jobs speech coming, but it was needed two years ago.

Here's what I'm hoping for. I hope and pray that President Obama will announce plans for real job creation. One place to start would be jobs that help us repair some of our failing infrastructure. We've got water mains breaking all over the place, bridges about fail their inspections, roads crumbling beneath us.

We need another WPA-like program to help turn the economy around.

I've heard a lot of talk about tax breaks for small business that actually add jobs to their payrolls. Probably also a decent idea.

Whatever programs are suggested, they will cost money, and require additional spending. Nobody should be horrified, shocked, or call that irresponsible.

It is ABSOLUTELY going to take MORE government spending and more taxes on the wealthy in our society to give what is wrong right now. Let's be absolutely clear about this.

I realize the debt is important. But we are not in debt because we help the poor and jobless too much.

We are in debt because, for the first time in our history, we fought wars (two, not just one) without a tax increase.

Please hear this: Never before in the history of America have we done this. We are in debt because of the tax cuts of ten years ago that cut revenues, right as we began spending for those costly wars. (link) That had a predictable result. Whether you fully support those wars or oppose them, fighting wars takes sacrifice, and we have yet to sacrifice, financially, to pay for those wars. THAT, and the tax cuts of ten years ago, have created the vast majority of our debt.

Warren Buffett has written another new essay in which he makes this same point:

"Our leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched. 

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks...

Last year...what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.
If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot...

I know well many of the mega-rich and, by and large, they are very decent people. They love America and appreciate the opportunity this country has given them. Many have joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give most of their wealth to philanthropy. Most wouldn’t mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering...

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice."

Our debt did not come from helping the poor and jobless. But even if it did, more support and more spending is what is needed now.

If all this sounds too political, I would remind you that Wesley once said "there is no holiness except social holiness."

On this Labor Day, the church must use it's moral persuasion to push our nation's leaders to act. The Church must advocate for the working poor and  jobless, and stop, as Warren Buffett and Book of James both say, "coddling the rich."

We must care for the poor, the unemployed, and the underemployed.

Government alone has the size and ability to create programs of a scale that can truly make a long term difference. It must use its power to generate additional income (taxes) and devise programs that can help us out of this mess.

The Church has the prophetic role to challenged the government to do so.

We must challenge the government to help the laboring poor who "struggle with weariness and hunger together."

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It's All About the Math

This is what I've known about "Fantasy Football" for a while now. It's all about the math. If you want to win, it's not about drafting players from your favorite pro team, or favorite college team. It's about which players put up the most consistent numbers.

I won our league last year, on the back of Michael Vick. (Although, my team was so good that I would have won almost every game without him...)

We had our draft Sunday afternoon, and what follows is my team, along with the player's pre-season fantasy ranking, calculated by NFL.com.

As you can see, it's a pretty deep team.

Aaron Rodgers QB - GB Preseason: #3
DeAngelo Williams RB - CAR Preseason: #8
Rashard Mendenhall RB - PIT Preseason: #9
Anquan Boldin WR - BAL Preseason: #5
Devery Henderson WR - NO Preseason: #21
Larry Fitzgerald WR - ARI Preseason:#8
Lance Kendricks TE - STL Preseason: #7
Phil Dawson K - CLE Preseason: #1
Green Bay Packers DEF Preseason: #1

There you have it. What I like about the team is few players from the same team...always a draft goal of mine (spread the risk around). Also, lots of players that might not be at the very top of their position, but collectively are near the top of all categories. (What I look for is consistency...) The lowest ranking player I have is Henderson, 21st at wide receiver...which is still not bad.


So, here's the breakdown for me:
Quarterback: Top five.
Running Backs: Both top ten.
Wide Receivers: Two top ten.
Tight End: Top ten.
Kicker: Number one.
Defense: Number one.

See, I like the way this all fits together. You want a team that is deep, not just reliant on a few stud players. But, I also have a few stud players. Don't underestimate defense and kicking either. You get a good fantasy kicker and defense, that those will be consistent points each week.

And wide receivers. Very important. The good ones can have unbelievable breakout games that really rack up the points. If Henderson can get his act together, this will be a great trio. (And if he doesn't, I've got Devone Bess on the bench, ready to take his place..)

It seems to me the biggest gamble I am taking is at tight end, with the relatively untested Kendricks. But the theory is that this could be Sam Bradford's breakout year, and if so, he's gonna be looking at Kendricks quite a bit. It's a gamble, and could turn out badly...or could turn out awesome.

The rest is, theoretically, solid.

Now, we just see how they play, week in and week out.

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