tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39196424327102424252024-03-08T17:08:12.167-05:00Bullock BlogThoughts on humanity from a theological and psychological point of view...Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-77884423370422973612019-06-19T11:43:00.001-04:002019-06-19T11:43:50.499-04:00<br />
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On Liberal and Conservative<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Not long ago the minister of the church I attend, Dr
Robert Fogal, titled his sermon “Transaction vs Transformation:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It captured succinctly the difference between
the liberal and conservative divide among many who name the name of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Transaction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">A quid pro quo <u>deal</u> that defines the
over-reaching philosophy of our culture (ie, capitalism, free trade, “you
scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” commercially and socially).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A “good deal” is when a transaction results
in a benefit or profit for each party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Transactional “believers” emphasize the “art of the deal” (eg, believes
the right things) and behaving oneself (ie, being good), especially concerning sex
(adultery, transgenderism, abortion, divorce, same sex relationships) in
exchange (the deal) for life after death which comforts the number one anxiety
about mortality among humans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Transformation<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">A gradual but insistent awareness of the “Gospel” that
translates into an inner psychological and spiritual change that values deeply
equality for all (male or female, Greek or Jew, slave or free), all are
one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is deeply concerned about the poor,
the oppressed, the different, values compassion, forgiveness, peace, and
especially love, not only for neighbors, but for enemies and self, and a deep
and abiding belief and value that everyone matters and in God’s sight is
precious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The result is a new being, a
creation resulting in meaning that allows authenticity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-56365094939339527352018-12-26T12:27:00.000-05:002018-12-26T12:27:57.904-05:00<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Christmas 2018<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The Story<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">by Peter K Bullock, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">MDiv</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">MS</st1:state></st1:place><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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It’s about a journey taken, stars followed, sudden surprises
and inexplicable events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about
crowded places, political pressure, ignorance and superstition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about the wise and the foolish, the poor
and the privileged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about dreams
and inner voices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about hopes and
longings and promises.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Its form is ordinary, its substance is profound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end, it’s about a man, a woman and a child;
a very human experience filled with the desire that presses us inexorably
toward the divine mystery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the
story is our story – yours, mine and ours. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps it’s about us and our journey; the
story that contains our deepest longings and our hidden hopes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For surely it’s a story like ours; the
ordinary, the confused, the fearful, the unexpected sustained by the thread of
grace, gratitude, wonder and hope.<o:p></o:p></div>
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May your story
contain all the elements of any great story:<o:p></o:p></div>
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One that is encouraged
by hope, refined with joy,<o:p></o:p></div>
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Strengthened by love
and wrapped in meaning.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And finally, may your
story be one that moves<o:p></o:p></div>
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Unerringly toward . .
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Peace<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-8588610704088354672018-07-07T10:27:00.000-04:002018-07-07T10:27:13.992-04:00<br />
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Written and posted originally in 2014 -- </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">On The Children at Our Border - Revisited<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I am
a therapist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am capable of assessing, evaluating,
observing and even diagnosing persons. But most of what I have learned comes
from the privilege of having people come to my office and sharing their hopes,
dreams, doubts and fears. I listen, observe, support and diagnose. However, if
I can’t identify with, empathize with and recognize that these courageous and
wounded ones are also me and I them, then I cannot see in them my own journey
and think and feel and believe even as they do, and I am only full of “sound
and fury, signifying nothing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So it
is with these courageous and wounded children who come to this land, though it
be one of privilege and poverty. They are like the Israelite slaves stumbling
out of and longing to flee the oppression of Egypt who are also like us:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Then we cried unto the Lord – and the Lord heard our voice –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And brought us out of Egypt with an outstretched arm with great terror,
signs and wonders –<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And he brought us to this land – flowing in milk and honey – and he gave
us this land”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Deut
26<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">We
have all been given this land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are
our mothers and fathers and their mothers and fathers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed we are all those who came here in
small boats and large, stumbling and hoping for a new life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are all of them for 15 or more
generations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are those who have
looked to the horizon, smelled the land, seen the birds, and even glimpsed a
great statue in New York Harbor, on which is inscribed:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Give me your tired your poor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Your huddled masses yearning to be free<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The wretched refuse of your teeming shore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I lift my torch beside the golden door”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
addition to being a therapist, I am also a Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a particularly good one, certainly not a
pious one, but one whose heart and mind is stirred to compassion and heartache
for all those who are oppressed, and as such, a listener to this man from
Nazareth, who said:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Let those children come to me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For unless you become as one of these<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You cannot see the kingdom of God”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Luke 18<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And
again:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Come to me, all you who labor and who are heavy laden<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And I will give you rest”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Matthew 11<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">These
are not simple platitudes for comfortable, air conditioned pews. These are a
serious challenge to identify with the “gentle and lowly of heart.” We are all
the inheritors of those before us and they were like us and we like them. On
the shores of the Sea of Reeds (we call it the Red Sea); with the Pharaohs’
chariots hard on our heels (bigotry, racism, greed, manipulated laws and
regulations), we are all threatened by our own self-importance, our material
greed and our warped notions of love, and as the Israelites needed to be
delivered from Egypt, we need to be delivered from the impoverished slavery of
our “exceptionalism.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Recently
I heard a line from an old Black Slave Spiritual:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’m gonna put my foot in that water<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And God’s gonna stir those waters<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I’m gonna put my feet in that water<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And God’s gonna trouble those waters”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Anonymous<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For
me, I am stirred by the plight of these little ones, and I hope, if necessary,
our politics, our corporate/profit mentality, our shallow and superficial
culture, and our personal agenda driven laws are “troubled” and that the result
will be the deliverance of these who came to our land, and in that, we too may
be delivered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-11483647789312348992018-03-16T10:49:00.002-04:002018-03-16T10:49:39.712-04:00<br />
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In the Bleak Mid Winter<o:p></o:p></div>
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When people
ask how I am I always respond, “I am a 7, the scale is 10 and I don’t do
6.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>8 requires more imagination, 9 is
borderline delusional and 10 doesn’t exist.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Lately while
sitting alone in my living room my feelings while pondering the many challenges
of life I experienced myself sliding toward 6 and maybe even 5.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We live
where we are surrounded by trees, woods, forest and in the summer one can see
only the front edges of the woods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, in the clear, cold winter the trees are bare, and one can see
deeper into the woodland, especially after a recent snowfall of almost one foot
allows seeing even deeper into the trees and
underbrush. I got up from my bluesy self-pity
and went out on my deck. While gazing
into the woods I saw a single deer run through and I wondered if there were
others. Sure enough, after several
beats, six more deer followed in rapid succession. Then they were gone. I watched to see if there were any more. And then I saw her – running hard all alone
and wanting to catch up. I waited a
while longer to see if there were others – there were none – they were all
gone.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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I went back
into my living room and felt my emotional temperature rise back to 7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What had happened?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I processed what I had just seen and realized
that I and perhaps others, had just been given an anti-depressant experience of
life on life’s terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sometimes
we lead, sometimes we follow and sometimes we just try to catch up</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pondering further, I wondered from whence
came the urge, the impetus, the wish – to get up and walk out onto the deck –
at just the right time?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want to be arrogant enough to say I
know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I do know there is a mystery
in life that we cannot predict or schedule.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some call it Grace –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so do I.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-60677878014024909192017-05-15T08:26:00.000-04:002017-05-15T08:26:27.877-04:00<br />
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Easter
Morning, 2017<o:p></o:p></div>
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Immortality
or Resurrection<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>By Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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In 399 BC Socrates, the classical
philosopher and considered one of the Founders of Western Philosophy, was
executed due to his moral and ethical stance that “might does not make
right.” The form of execution was to
drink poison hemlock. While dying,
surrounded by disciples and friends, he spoke of the gradual numbing of his
legs and torso due to the poison. Those
around him were weeping and grieving and it has been said that he comforted
them, for after all, in good Hellenistic theology, he had a “soul” and it was
imperishable and immortal and that he “was going to a far better place (ie,
eternal life).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Human beings have in all cultures
had a notion of life after death. Neanderthals
buried their dead with food, weapons and favorite items to accompany them in
the life to come. Vikings believed in
Valhalla where warriors who died with weapons in hand would drink and be merry
in the great hall of Odin. Native
Americans did the same, believing one goes to The Great Mystery (eg, Happy
Hunting Ground). Muslims believe they go
to Paradise and some (the radical variety) believe if martyred they will be
greeted by 70 virgins.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Christians influenced by the same
Hellenistic philosophy of an imperishable and immortal soul believe, perhaps
due to the universal angst about mortality also believe in a Soul. Evangelicals, a relatively new name, brought
about to distance from Fundamentalists but not much has changed in their belief
system (“you can’t put new wine into old wine skins”). They, like Socrates (not Christian and dead
400 years before Jesus who was also executed for his moral and political
stance), believe in having an immortal soul.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The ancient Jews of whom Jesus
was one, did not believe in life after death, but they steadfastly believed in
a creator God who was the source of all life.
The pro life types having to do with abortion don’t seem to be pro life
when it comes to the environment (the planet is a living entity) or when it
comes to bombing brown people, or capital punishment or the use of guns. They would do well to take the scriptures
seriously – “God breathed into Adam
(Hebrew for human being) (Genesis 2:77 RSV) . . . the breath of life and he
became a living being.” We become human
(alive) when we take our first breath – as or shortly after we are born – not
before.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Comparing the death of Socrates
with the death of Jesus; Socrates was calm and comforted his followers. Jesus prayed, “remove this cup from me” and
“my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Socrates, like many in the western world of Christianity believed he had
within him the capability to survive death (eg, immortality). Jesus, on the other hand, knew he did
not. Many Christians believe that if
they do the right thing, believe the right thing, the soul will be transported
immediately to heaven (paradise). In
other words, many believe the power to determine their fate lies within
themselves. Jesus believed he had no
such power, but was willing to trust in God, who created him in the first
place. “We are saved by Grace through
Faith, and that not of ourselves, it is a gift of God – not of ourselves, lest
any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8).
Socrates believed in the power of his Soul – Jesus trusted in the power
of God.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Postscript<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>A final note about mortality, about which I frequently ruminate as I
approach my 78<sup>th</sup> year. Recent
research found that the most prominent cause of human death on this planet is
not war, violence, poverty, famine or disease etc, but simply obesity. One would think that the “pro lifers” would
be deeply influenced by the need to maintain a healthy body weight.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com1Perkasie, PA 18944, USA40.372048 -75.29267600000002940.323654499999996 -75.373357000000027 40.4204415 -75.21199500000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-25117281778648391092016-11-30T15:44:00.000-05:002016-11-30T16:19:48.214-05:00<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“Nothing New Under the Sun”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In the middle of the third
century BC, one of the books in the old testament (HEB Scriptures) is
Ecclesiastes, its author “Qoheleth” (HEB Preacher). In it he writes there is “nothing new under
the sun” (an early existential thought).
Therefore, there are really no surprises. Human beings are going to behave as they
always have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A story about an African village,
in which a young man agonized over the health of his fellow villagers is
telling. This young man was noted by a
missionary as intelligent, insightful and deeply caring. The missionary made arrangements that enabled
the young man to go to college and medical school in England. He returned years later to address the
medical needs of his people and he was warmly greeted. However, when he made it known that he had
knowledge, experience and medicines that could greatly help the physical
maladies of the villagers, he sat alone in his hut and no one came to him. Perplexed by this, the young doctor looked
for reasons and found that the villagers were still flocking to the local witch
doctor for their ills, where the witch doctor would rattle monkey bones in a
tortoise shell to make them well. They
did not get well, but habit, tradition, custom and stubbornness had soon “won
the day.” Ultimately the young doctor
moved to London where he practices his skills among the poor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Don’t be surprised, fellow
progressives, about the recent election.
“There is nothing new under the sun.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-23748275579652835482016-07-17T10:19:00.000-04:002016-07-17T10:19:17.477-04:00<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Black Lives Matter: A Commentary<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Black Lives Matter movement
has caused a push back by many saying, in effect the obvious, “all lives
matter.” This is to counter by way of
sarcasm, the movement. Of course all
lives matter and this simplistic, obvious and trite attempt to diminish the
point of the movement hides what I suspect is the real underlying issue –
simply and starkly stated – RACISM!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I think what impacts and causes
anger among so many is that they know, feel and are aware – at some level -- that
the Black Lives Matter Movement is really saying: “Black Lives Matter – as much
as White Lives.” Enter the racial animus
of so many who will not openly admit that Blacks, and other Minorities are as
good, smart and deserving as Whites. This
is just old (ages old) racism – all the more reason to support the movement
because historically and even to the present, as a group, Blacks have been
culturally, economically, academically and opportunistically un-equal – and
this is a nation that constitutionally declares all are created equal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Some time ago I was in a
Mennonite thrift store perusing books. I
couldn’t help overhearing an elderly couple in conversation. The woman, in particular, loudly complaining
about the country’s state of affairs and made reference to that “thing” in the
white house. Barack Obama, a black man
born, raised and educated in a country where he rose to the highest level of
achievement and influence in the world.
This bigoted old woman refers to him as a “thing” – of course she has to
dehumanize him since she is a racist.
And – forgive me here – given the store we were in, most likely calls
herself a Christian.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I am a 77 year old white male who
has been afforded the freedom and opportunities granted by this nation. I am an imperfect man, along with being a
grateful man. I am liberal, pretty well
educated, sometimes smart and many times not so smart. I am one who has been deeply influenced by
Judeo/Christian thought and insights, and especially by the man, Jesus of Nazareth. I do not pretend that I can overcome
prejudice, racism and ignorance, or the many other injustices that persist in
our society. Our president recently said
that “ignorance is not a virtue!” I
agree. Ignorance is also ill informed,
unaware, insecure, immature -- and dangerous.
I do not believe that I would be able to change any of this – but what I
can do, is to refuse to remain silent in its presence.<o:p></o:p></div>
Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-17273962943266657752015-08-26T18:38:00.001-04:002015-08-26T18:38:43.410-04:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A Grief Revisited<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
In September,
1970, I was between college and graduate school. I and two of my children were at my parents’
home in central Pennsylvania. On the 12<sup>th</sup>,
I was getting ready to go to my in-laws to pick up my wife and two of my four
children and head toward Philadelphia.
As I was leaving, I saw a military car pull up in front of my parents’
house. Knowing my brother Denny was in the Service, I thought he had been given
another award, as was his history. I
decided to stay to find out what it may be all about. Two officers came to the door and my mother
answered. They inquired as to her name,
and if Dennis John Bullock was her son.
She said she was and that he was.
The officer then said simply and directly, your son was killed yesterday
in the South China Sea off the coast of Viet Nam. My mother did what all mothers do. She sank to the floor saying No! No! Oh No! In the following days my parents, along with
my two other brothers, grieved. My
parents being religious, began to find some comfort by acknowledging their
son’s death was somehow the “mysterious” will of God. I railed against that notion by pointing out
that what killed “Denny” was the American paranoia of communist influence in
Southeast Asia; the machinations of the military industrial complex, the
decision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a five inch shell that killed their
son and my brother. I was much younger
then, my head filled with the protests of college during the 60s. My so-called intellectual maturity was
leaning more and more to liberal and progressive ideology. What I said then, I still believe. The aforementioned dynamics were true then,
and still are – I was right. However,
for a number of years now I have come to know that I was, in fact, wrong. I had failed to acknowledge my parents’
faith, for which even though more liberal, I hold deep value even
now. I am twelve years older than when
my father died and two years older than when my mother died. I was wrong.
It is one of my deepest regrets that over the years I never clearly
indicated to my parents how much I have come to know they were right. Life and death is a psychological and
spiritual mystery and the most honest reality for me is the willingness to
acknowledge that mystery by “leaving it up to God.” The truth is, we don’t know, even as our
hearts and minds want and need to “know.”
So if courageous and honest, we go again and again to that only
place where deep in us we know we have always been. The place where the fierce and radical love
of God calls us and pulls us – sometimes kicking and screaming – to that place
where we say with gratitude and wonder “your will be done.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-89257089832286980502014-08-17T17:23:00.000-04:002014-08-17T17:23:32.430-04:00<h2 style="tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">On The Children at Our Border</span></span></h2>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I am
a therapist. I have degrees. I am capable of assessing, evaluating,
observing and even diagnosing persons. But most of what I have learned comes
from the privilege of having people come to my office and sharing their hopes,
dreams, doubts and fears. I listen, observe, support and diagnose. However, if
I can’t identify with, empathize with and recognize that these courageous and
wounded ones are also me and I them, then I cannot see in them my own journey
and think and feel and believe even as they do, and I am only full of “sound
and fury, signifying nothing.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So it
is with these courageous and wounded children who come to this land, though it
be one of privilege and poverty. They are like the Israelite slaves stumbling
out of and longing to flee the oppression of Egypt who are also like us:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Then we cried unto the Lord – and the Lord heard our voice –<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And brought us out of Egypt with an outstretched arm with great terror,
signs and wonders –<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And he brought us to this land – flowing in milk and honey – and he gave
us this land”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> Deut
26<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We
have all been given this land. We are
our mothers and fathers and their mothers and fathers. Indeed we are all those who came here in
small boats and large, stumbling and hoping for a new life. We are all of them for 15 or more
generations. We are those who have
looked to the horizon, smelled the land, seen the birds, and even glimpsed a
great statue in New York Harbor, on which is inscribed:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Give me your tired your poor<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Your huddled masses yearning to be free<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The wretched refuse of your teeming shore<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I lift my torch beside the golden door”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In
addition to being a therapist, I am also a Christian. Not a particularly good one, certainly not a
pious one, but one whose heart and mind is stirred to compassion and heartache
for all those who are oppressed, and as such, a listener to this man from
Nazareth, who said:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Let those children come to me<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For unless you become as one of these<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">You cannot see the kingdom of God”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i>Luke 18<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And
again:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Come to me, all you who labor and who are heavy laden<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And I will give you rest”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i>Matthew 11<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">These
are not simple platitudes for comfortable, air conditioned pews. These are a
serious challenge to identify with the “gentle and lowly of heart.” We are all
the inheritors of those before us and they were like us and we like them. On
the shores of the Sea of Reeds (we call it the Red Sea); with the Pharaohs’
chariots hard on our heels (bigotry, racism, greed, manipulated laws and
regulations), we are all threatened by our own self-importance, our material
greed and our warped notions of love, and as the Israelites needed to be
delivered from Egypt, we need to be delivered from the impoverished slavery of
our “exceptionalism.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Recently
I heard a line from an old Black Slave Spiritual:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“I’m gonna put my foot in that water<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And God’s gonna stir those waters<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m gonna put my feet in that water<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; tab-stops: 4.75in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And God’s gonna trouble those waters”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <i>Anonymous<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For
me, I am stirred by the plight of these little ones, and I hope, if necessary,
our politics, our corporate/profit mentality, our shallow and superficial
culture, and our personal agenda driven laws are “troubled” and that the result
will be the deliverance of these who came to our land, and in that, we too may
be delivered.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com2Bucks County, PA, USA40.371658891505938 -75.305786132812540.178044891505941 -75.6285096328125 40.565272891505934 -74.9830626328125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-11166383084952916112011-11-22T08:31:00.009-05:002011-11-22T08:37:39.129-05:00Enantiodromia<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Enantiodromia</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">The essence of Greek tragedy is the concept of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">HUBRIS</b> or pride. It is hubris that demonstrates to we humans, that the acclaimed and powerful, no matter how hard they try to do otherwise, have a fatal flaw. A fatal flaw that brings them down. So it should be no surprise that Penn State University has fallen from the pristine heights of moral probity to just another example of institutional "shucking and jiving" to maintain an image.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The image of PSU is, of course, a fine one. Only PSU and Stanford graduate the highest percentage of athletes; the football record stands alone in bowl wins; 4 undefeated seasons and 2 national championships; and its coach holds the most wins ever in Division I; its research reputation in agriculture, its engineering school and its business school has recruiters streaming to its campus; PSU is one of only a handful of public universities that approach Public Ivy status. Their plain uniforms with no stars on helmets, no names on jerseys, and black shoes all bask in the adulation of its fans. "We Are Penn State" reeks of self aggrandizement and hubris.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are those who grieve "the fall from grace" of PSU; others can barely hide their glee behind moral outrage, that borders on the sanctimonious. I am one who also grieves as a PSU rabid fan for at least as many years as Joe Pa has been coach (I got married 22 years ago at 11:00 am on a Saturday morning and watched Penn State on television at 1:00 pm that same afternoon). But why are we so shocked? Child abuse is by all expert accounts, rampant and increasing, and we don't even have laws that require reporting to the police here in Pennsylvania except for certain professionals including therapists like myself.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Furthermore, why are we shocked when it is apparent when the goal of any self conscious institution is to survive? Survival is largely dependent on PR and image, an open invitation to "cover up." Cover ups are the unspoken and non documented goals of any institution. We can talk about the decades of cover ups by the Catholic Church, or the cover ups of the US Military (most of whom are rightly called heroes), by releasing information that a former NFL player was killed in heroic action, only to discover he was killed by friendly fire. Or, the scripted rescue of a West Virginia private from an insurgent capture, the government - national, state and local is rife with cover ups. Insider trading tips, good ol' boy networks, money from God knows where, are only the tip of the cover ups that permeate institutions. Political cover ups need not even be mentioned, they are so common. "I never had anything to do with that woman." Or, what about Lay, the CEO of Enron, or Bernie Madoff, or the Savings and Loan scandal. Did they ruin lives? Or Wall Street shenanigans covering up the real work of hedge fund manipulators.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Carl Jung, the great Swiss co founder of psychoanalysis said that we all have a persona -- or mask (persona is Latin for the masks worn by actors) that we wear before the world. The problem, is that when we believe we are our own mask, then that is the fertile ground for neurosis, not to mention tragedy. When institutions -- political, financial, athletic, military or religious, have as their goal, survival, it is easy to see why persons do not count -- only the institution. In the case of PSU, the boys didn't count. Boys from disadvantaged circumstances, needing guidance, nurture and love, and so hungry for that it made them an easy target for a father figure who was revered, admired and apparently wore a mask of caring deeply for them. And if he did what the grand jury says (I'm saying if, because due process is not only a constitutional right, but is deeply embedded in our value system), he perpetrated a violent betrayal of trust that has the potential to impact one for life. These boys, the most vulnerable ones, without power, are at the bottom of the hierarchical set up that defines our institutional driven culture. The people in the institution do not matter. Only the institution, and if the institutional image is threatened, it folds in on itself and circles the wagons, and does away with people, which is just a variation of keeping the image intact. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Institutions are not going away, and I am not arguing for their demise. They constitute the structure and fabric of our culture. I am making the point that money and image driven value systems dominated by males who honor "winning is not everything, it is the only thing" or to paraphrase, "image is not everything, it is the only thing." As for the boys, Jesus said, "even as you do it unto the least of these, you do it unto me." I believe that what he meant was not just to be human, as we all are in our gifts and flaws all mixed together, but that he meant that to be truly human, one must be humanely human. I also believe that humane humans remain a minority and a meaningful goal in life is to increase this number by insisting on becoming part of the minority.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Finally, I must point out that I am sad -- especially for those boys -- who's ability to trust may be permanently impaired. But I am also sad and disappointed in myself. I bought the lie. People would ask, when they saw my Penn State enthusiasm, if I had attended college there. I didn't. Over the years, I had developed a "tongue in cheek" rationale for my Penn State cheerleading. I usually said that PSU symbolically represents the classic clash of good and evil. So the good guys, dressed in blue and white (the color of the sky) operating out of Happy Valley in the beautiful Nittany mountains of central Pennsylvania, my home region and coached by "Saint Joe Paterno" fought valiantly against the likes of the "Crimson Tide, " the "Boilermakers," the "Wolverines," the "Badgers," not to mention the "Cornhuskers." I bought the image that I created. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. So I was stunned when it turned out I had been mistaken about who was good and who was evil in my metaphor of the great cosmic clash. Perhaps my petty regional hubris was a flaw; not necessarily a fatal one, but one that reminds me that I should know better. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Addendum</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Enantiodromia -- a term coined by Carl Jung, borrowing from the Greek, meaning simply -- anything pushed to its extreme becomes its opposite.</div>Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-74739106004731559522008-11-24T05:48:00.002-05:002008-11-24T05:57:37.609-05:00A New Earth Commentary<div class="Section1"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >A New Earth<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial;">by Eckhart Tolle<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Commentary by Peter K Bullock, </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >MDiv</span></st1:city><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >, </span><st1:state><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >MS</span></st1:state></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Premise 1</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >A new age, a new era, even a new species is arising<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Premise 2</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >This new development is a result of a new “consciousness”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Premise 3</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >New consciousness = break with the ego defined as “self”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Premise 4</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >New consciousness (awareness) is that elusive sense that is not <i style="">attached</i> to the ego (which is, according to Tolle, at best a functional operation and at worst a “false self”)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Premise 5</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >New consciousness, or break with attachment to “ego” frees one from pain, anxiety, depression and the general malaise of neurosis of human suffering<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Premise 6</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >The “I” that emerges with this new consciousness is transcendent and eternal<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Premise 7</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >As such, these “enlightened” beings can envision and even help bring about a “New Earth”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Tolle’s book, published in 2005 and on bookshelves recently, is an interesting, thoughtful reflection on certain “spiritual” insights.<span style=""> </span>I cannot help but think of “Quoheleth” the “preacher” (Ecclesiates in the OT) who said “there is nothing new under the sun” – (350 </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:stockticker><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >BCE</span></st1:stockticker></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >For Example:</span></i></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Sidarrtha Gautama </span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span>(463 </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:stockticker><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >BCE</span></st1:stockticker></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >)<b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >The Buddha thought that life as perceived through our body and mind is an illusion and therefore pain and suffering and even happiness is an illusion and an illusion does not exist, ergo, no pain, etc<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Jesus of </span></b><st1:city><st1:place><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Nazareth</span></b></st1:place></st1:city><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" > </span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >(AD 29-32)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >The </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place><st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Kingdom</span></st1:placetype><span style=";font-family:Arial;" > of </span><st1:placename><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >God</span></st1:placename></st1:place></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > is within you and is found by prioritizing its existence and finding it is a “Pearl of Great Price.”<span style=""> </span>If found, it is freeing, transforming, and is, in effect, synonymous with salvation.<span style=""> </span>Also, He said “I am come that you may have life and life abundantly.”<span style=""> </span>I have never seen this pericope as pointing to either heaven or plenty, but in truth, a quality of life rather than a quantified life.<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >
</span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Paul</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span>(Circa 60 AD)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >“Don’t let the world (ego) press you into it’s mold, but be transformed by having the mind of Christ in you.”<span style=""> </span>“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ who lives in me.”<span style=""> </span>If any be in Christ Jesus they are a new being.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >C G Jung</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > (Early 20<sup>th</sup> Century)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Jung, along with Freud, the delineator of the unconscious or psyche or soul.<span style=""> </span>Inner transformation occurs only by an inner search to find, understand, or at least grasp some knowledge of “who am I really?”<span style=""> </span>His great contribution concerns archetypes, unconscious constellations of meaningful drives and motivations all out of consciousness.<span style=""> </span>The goal is to bring into consciousness through awareness.<span style=""> </span>Two of these archetypes “anima” (female) and “animus” (male) Tolle refers to, but in a simplistic and stereotypical manner, and even reduces these feminine and masculine characteristics to a description of countries in terms of how women are seen and treated.<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style=";font-family:Arial;" >Juan Ramón Jiménez</span></b></span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" > (1973)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Tolle’s construction I (the emerged new consciousness) am not I (the ego)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >I am not I.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span>I am this one<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Walking beside me whom I do not see,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >Whom at times I manage to visit,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >And at other times I forget.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >The one who remains silent when I talk,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >The one who forgives, sweet, when I hate,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >The one who takes a walk when I am indoors,<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" >The one who will remain standing when I die.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:11;" ><span style="font-size:100%;">Without sounding too critical, my experience of “The New Earth” is that it is a rehash of ideas and concepts that are in fact ancient.</span><span style=";font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;">To his credit, Tolle compiles these (sort of) with a readable, and I might add “easy” enough notions to make his book marketable.</span><span style=";font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Actually, what he says is not refreshingly said, but I certainly would not deny him the right to say – or sell it.</span><span style=";font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Gurus come and go. </span><span style=";font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;">I have been temporarily fascinated by my share.</span><span style=";font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;">There is only one of whom it is said “there is no shadow of turning” and He remains the same today and forever – and He is Love – and that is the last thing standing when all else has fallen.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-19739932329317687552008-11-24T05:43:00.003-05:002008-11-24T06:00:46.833-05:00Ten Thousand Years - Some Thoughts<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14;">10,000 Years<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:14;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><st1:city><st1:place>Lynn</st1:place></st1:city> walked back from the pond and I could tell by the slump in her shoulders that a great sadness had fallen upon her.<span style=""> </span>“The egg is gone” she said.<span style=""> </span>“Something got it” – the egg was laid in a hollow of a knarled old tree three feet off the ground and Lynn had been midwife of the one egg of a pair of geese that had driven all others from the pond and spent their days together taking turns – watching, cradling life like two proud and fierce protectors of the new life they were creating.<span style=""> </span>I walked over to the tree by the pond and sure enough the egg lay scattered at the tree bottom and across the path – bloody viscera still glistening on the broken shell.<span style=""> </span>“The fox” she said.<span style=""> </span>“The fox probably got the egg.”<span style=""> </span>We walked back from the pond and her hand lightly and briefly touched mine <span style=""> </span>and I knew in that moment I had been touched by Hera, The Goddess, the great Mother, the source of life and creativity and my walled up maleness had a light break through the crevices of my intellectual walls and I was so moved and so gratified I could not speak – even though she walked quietly beside me.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">Several days later I saw the fox – graceful, head up, tail straight out, gliding over the green and brown grass, its winter fur still mottled.<span style=""> </span>Its form fell behind a rise and I saw only a glimpse as she slipped into the foliage.<span style=""> </span>“So that’s the fox my wife has been talking about – and not too friendly, either.”<span style=""> </span>That fox had taken her egg.<span style=""> </span>A couple of weeks went by and all of a sudden we saw three foxes, the mother and two kits busily frolicking in the meadow like grass that passes for our lawn.<span style=""> </span>I thought to myself that fox family has been here 10,000 years.<span style=""> </span>They shed their winter fur, ate goose eggs and have been here since when the southern tips of the last Ice Age glacier was only ninety miles north.<span style=""> </span>The geese were here also, proudly, loudly and fiercely protective – the reason for their existence.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">We have here in our wooded space turkey and rabbits and woodchucks and deer and herons and weasels and blue jays and hummingbirds and cardinals and squirrels and they all have been here 10,000 years.<span style=""> </span>There used to be twenty turkeys, but suddenly there were only two, and we thought – Hunters!<span style=""> </span>We soon discovered why there were only two.<span style=""> </span>Because one day following them, the male out in front and the female leading them, there were a dozen small furry, flapping, stumbling, fledgling turkeys. <span style=""> </span>Life abounding.<span style=""> </span>We watched them as they made their rounds and noticed one day there were only nine– not twelve.<span style=""> </span>Then, just recently, we could count only five.<span style=""> </span>The parents still majestic and strutting.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;">I reflected on the wonder of life and its continuity, its ebb and flow, its birth and death, its persistent resilience.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>As I felt the privilege and gratitude of witnessing just a small piece of the journey, I was caught up in a sense of peace and comfort, knowing that I and we, are part of the great sojourn – and<span style=""> </span>here since the ice stopped only ninety miles away.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right; line-height: 150%;" align="right"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:10;" >PKB, July 2008<o:p></o:p></span></p>Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-26947551342766104532008-11-03T08:39:00.003-05:002008-11-03T08:50:58.503-05:00Sermon on the Mount<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:14;">Sermon on the Mount<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><i style="">by Peter K Bullock, </i><st1:place><st1:city><i style="">MDiv</i></st1:city><i style="">, </i><st1:state><i style="">MS</i></st1:state></st1:place><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>
</o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Recently I was subjected to a YouTube presentation which used some sound bites from an Obama speech. <span style=""> </span>Wherein he was pointing out what parts of the “Bible” we would use to guide our nation;<span style=""> </span>a Leviticus line that supports slavery, a Deuteronomic line that says children should be stoned to death if they refute the faith or the Sermon on the Mount which would render our defense system irrelevant.<span style=""> </span>His point was that the Bible says many different things, all of them contextual, and not to be used selectively, as so many on the “right” do.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The presentation went on in a rant reminiscent of fascist propaganda in its’ claim that Obama disbelieves or dierespects the Bible.<span style=""> </span>He [Obama] then adds that people in general “aren’t reading their Bible.”<span style=""> </span>The presenter was aghast that anyone would suggest that people don’t read their Bible, because good cultural evangelical born again Christians DO read the Bible; of course, literally, uncritically, without insight or appreciation for the developmental character of the Holy Script.<span style=""> </span>Of course they read “their” Bible, and do so in the same way that magical thinking, fantasy prone and literalistic children do.<span style=""> </span>The more insidious suggestion is that Obama is not a good moral man, much less a Christian.<span style=""> </span>As for taking the Sermon on the Mount seriously, one might point out:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;" align="center"><i style="">When you claim that Jesus is the Lord of your life and yet fail to acknowledge that your policies ignore his essential teaching or turn them on their head<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;" align="center"><i style="">(you know, Sermon on the Mount stuff like never returning violence for violence and those who live by the sword shall die by the sword)<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;" align="center"><i style="">you are doing something immoral.<o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=""> </span>Dr Robin Meyers</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=""> </span><u>Why the Christian Right is Wrong<o:p></o:p></u></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=""> </span>UCC Minister</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=""> </span>(Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ)</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">As long as one wishes to throw stones while living in glass houses, one could be reminded that McCain’s whole life has been devoted to militarism – and he is a self admitted adulterer – and he and his cartoon running mate are proven guilty of bearing false witness eg, the Keating affair, and she being called on her use of unethical power in a recent Alaskan legal decision.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="">One final observation.<span style=""> </span>Those who make the “country first”<span style=""> </span>“the Bible” and the “flag” as idols are guilty of the first of the 10 Commandment (you shall have no other gods before me), but, what can one expect from a Sunday School level of moral development, lack of reflective insight or sadly, just plain ignorance.</p>
If anyone is interested in seeing the video that prompted this -- here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi-V_ilJu0w
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><o:p> </o:p></p>Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3919642432710242425.post-45583497271018733062008-10-28T20:17:00.001-04:002008-10-28T20:17:55.919-04:00The Meaning of Wealth Distribution<div class="Section1"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The Meaning of Wealth Distribution – A Short Political Sermon<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Luke 18: 18-27, New English Bible<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><i style="">by Peter K Bullock, </i><st1:place><st1:city><i style="">MDiv</i></st1:City><i style="">, </i><st1:state><i style="">MS</i></st1:State></st1:place><i style=""><o:p></o:p></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">“A man from the ruling class” came to Jesus inquiring what to do to “win eternal life.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">What is a “ruling class” (euphemism for those in power) person doing seeking out this itinerant rabbi/teacher and his lower class buddies to ask questions?<span style=""> </span>My guess is like any good politician he wanted to “test the waters” – so to speak – and – perhaps having heard of this Jesus and his teaching of the “<st1:place><st1:placetype>Kingdom</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:placename>God</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>” and being an opportunist, he didn’t want to miss out on any new political or power movement.<span style=""> </span>The use of “win eternal life” is interesting because the connotation is to <i style="">win</i> or <i style="">earn </i>or <i style="">deserve <span style=""> </span></i>“Eternal Life, ” a euphemism for the <st1:place><st1:placetype>Kingdom</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:placename>God</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The politician refers to Jesus as “good master” which prompts Jesus to reply with the famous “why do you call me good? – only God is good” – which interestingly enough, put dampers on the notion of merit (ie, goodness) as a measure of worth and value.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Jesus’ response to the question; “You know the commandments” (the Old Testament Law of which there are 10) and he reiterates only five – all pertaining to how one treats other human beings:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">“Do not commit adultery” </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">“Do not murder”</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">“Do not steal”</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">“Do not give false evidence” and</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">“Honor your mother and father”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Apparently, Jesus focuses on how one treats others as key to his persuasion and insight.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The ruler (ie, politician) points out that “he” has kept all these commandments since he has been a boy” ie, not only is he a good man, he has had the same moral development since he was a child.<span style=""> </span>All one has to do is observe the morals of any child or adolescent and one sees how ludicrous this statement is(but politicians are known for stretching the truth in the service of self aggrandizement.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Jesus then replies “only one thing you lack – sell all you have and distribute it to the poor and then you can follow me.”<span style=""> </span>Dismayed (the text says “his heart sunk”), evidently because he knew immediately he could not qualify for the standards of following Jesus.<span style=""> </span>He went away and Jesus uttered his familiar aphorism “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the <st1:place><st1:placetype>Kingdom</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:placename>God</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">If the rich young ruler was dismayed, the disciples of Jesus were dumbfounded, stunned, and in their amazement cried out, “what?! – who then can be saved? (If not the one who obviously was blessed by God because he was rich and powerful).<span style=""> </span>The disciples, like others of that time and even today, believed in a prudential morality.<span style=""> </span>Prudential morality simply holds that good people have good fortune, undeserving people have less good fortune, and bad people have poor fortune – ie, the rich must be good and the poor must be bad because God has favored the rich and punished the poor.<span style=""> </span>It is no wonder the disciples were stunned.<span style=""> </span>Jesus had upset the apple cart of their most ingrained paradigm – that the world is made up of two classes of people – the good and the bad, according to God’s reward and/or retribution.<span style=""> </span>In significant ways Jesus and his teaching of the <st1:place><st1:placetype>Kingdom</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:placename>God</st1:PlaceName></st1:place> counters the whole notion of the worth and value of persons being based on good or bad fortune.<span style=""> </span>The idea of “prudent” morality is insidious, pervasive and deeply ingrained in human consciousness.<span style=""> </span>It is based on “common sense.”<span style=""> </span>It is prudent, smart, practical, and helps explain the existence of the “haves” and “have nots” (the powerful and the powerless).<span style=""> </span>Jesus and his teaching cuts through this superficial and all too common way of thinking and believing, by making a case that all persons are of value and worth and are not validated by fortune or misfortune, but simply by their humanity.<span style=""> </span>How one treats or thinks about others is at the core of Christianity.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> </div> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">
</span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Evidently the reason the rich ruler went away dismayed, was not because he was being asked to give all his money away to the poor, but because he was being asked to transform his belief system about the worth and value of persons; he would have to give up his claim to being a “favored” class of person.<span style=""> </span>In order to “distribute the wealth” he would have to come to terms with the worth, value and indeed the equality of all people.<span style=""> </span>Jesus was not just a social reformer – we have plenty of those and need more.<span style=""> </span>He was striking at the deepest issues of the business of being human – all people – rich, poor, powerful and powerless, regardless of race or creed or color or circumstances, are of worth and value. <span style=""> </span>All of creation is precious and valuable and are equally deserving – so says Jesus, true to his Judaic heritage, true to himself, and true to his God in this conviction that all people are of worth and value.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Among those who would be influenced by Jesus’ insight were the framers of the US Constitution that reflects this truth in that “all men are created equal.”<span style=""> </span>To distribute the wealth is to embrace the idea that all are deserving of equality; it is not earned or worked for or demanded, but is inherent in the very humanity of all people.<span style=""> </span>What the rich ruler could not give up was not his money, but his station, his credentials of value and worth; his class mentality, his desperate clinging to an ego that sustained his only way of being meaningful; his only way of mattering; being among the special ones and the notion of seeing all people as equal (the poor in this case) and special in the eyes of God was more than he could accept.<span style=""> </span>Distributing the wealth means equal station, equal education, equal opportunity, equal access to goods and services, equal acceptance, equal rights, equal treatment and equal justice.<span style=""> </span>The very notion of equality represents an insight into the value and worth of human beings. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">If someone is not impressed or influenced by this Jesus that is OK – this is not an apologetic for Christianity.<span style=""> </span>It is an argument for policies, laws, attitudes, beliefs, value systems and convictions that underscore the great American experiment.<span style=""> </span>This experiment that sees persons – all persons – as of value and worth and that all are equal.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Distributing the wealth is not just giving money away; it is seeing to it that the wealth of the American spirit of generosity and equality be at the core of our political, economic, social, and constitutional personality.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Peter K Bullock, MDiv, MS 215.301.7840http://www.blogger.com/profile/11928126733167533590noreply@blogger.com3