Let the Donkey Speak

In the Old Testament of the Bible, in the book of Numbers chapter 22, there is an interesting story about a donkey. In the story a donkey speaks. That might bring to mind the Eddie Murphy voiced donkey character from the Shrek movies, or Mr. Ed the talking horse, but the ancient story is way more interesting.

In Numbers 22 we read about the King of Moab, a guy named Balak son of Zippor. King Balak has been watching the Israelites coming up out of Egypt and is afraid that this mass migration of people “Is going to lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” The situation is not unlike current fears of mass migration at the Southern US border. In response King Balak calls on a guy called Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on the Israelites. Balaam's reputation got him the job. He is known as someone who, when he blessed someone they were blessed, and when he cursed them, they were cursed.

After the request is made to curse the Israelites God tells Balaam he can't curse them because they are already blessed. So, Balaam sends the King's messengers away. This cycle repeats, but the second time God tells Balaam to go with the men.

The next day Balaam heads out riding a donkey, but an angel (seen only by the donkey) blocks the road and the donkey veers off into a field. Balaam is mad and beats the donkey to get it back on the road. At a narrow place in the road the angel blocks the donkey’s path again, and the animal crushes Balaam's foot against a wall trying to get away. Another beating takes place. The angel blocks the road a third time at a very narrow spot where the donkey could not turn. This time the beast simply laid down. Another donkey beating takes place. And then it happened, the donkey spoke.

"What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?,” the donkey blurts out.

Balaam responds, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.”

To which the donkey reasons, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?”

Balaam agrees and answers, "No." (Number 22:28-30 - NIV)

After the discussion with the donkey Balaam's eyes are opened and he can see the angel blocking the road.

This coming Sunday another ancient donkey will take center stage. Each year on the Sunday before Easter the Christian church remembers Palm Sunday with the story of Jesus entering the city on a donkey. Unlike Balaam's donkey this one doesn't utter a word, but speaks volumes.

We don't know who owned the donkey we remember on Palm Sunday. Jesus gave instructions for his disciples to borrow this young donkey colt for the trip into the city of Jerusalem. The donkey is a bold choice, and a colt aspect adds to the drama. Typically, when conquering heroes returned from a successful battle they would ride into the city on a horse, captives in tow, soldiers marching along, to celebrate their victory. The act was part victors’ parade (think ticker-tape parade) and part reviewing the troops with a dash of humiliating one’s enemies thrown in as well. The Romans had this practice. Kings in Israel were known to do this. Just over one hundred years before Jesus, the Maccabees rode into Jerusalem in a similar way celebrating a victory that made Israel a free state once again (I Mc 13:51). Finally, only years before Mark records his gospel, in 66CE, Menahem processed into Jerusalem to celebrate the struggle to overthrow the Romans. In each of these cases the goal was to celebrate a victory and show strength. If one is making a show of strength and force in the ancient world a horse is a fine choice.

However, nothing much has changed in our world. We are still looking for powerful symbols and military victory to guide and inspire us. Brian Zahnd notes that whenever he travels "There is Always Some Dude on a Horse." He sates,

"In my travels I’ve seen this same statue in every capital city — the horse, the dude, the sword, the pigeon droppings. Of course, they’re not really the same statue, but if you’re a foreigner and don’t know who the hero is they all look the same...I’ve seen horse-riding dudes in capitals from Lisbon to London, from Rome to Paris, from St. Petersburg to Washington D.C. Of course, the dude with a tricorn hat on a horse in D.C. is George Washington. It makes a difference if the dude is your dude. Most Americans upon beholding this marble dude will feel the kind of patriotic stirring in their bosom that the citizens of other lands feel for their equestrian statuary." (1)

A horse (with a dude on it) says a great deal.  A horse projects leadership, power, victory, triumphing over one’s enemy, strength and likely a whole lot more. But Jesus shows up on a donkey, not a horse.

In the story of Balaam we know what the donkey is thinking because the beast speaks. The story of Jesus on Palm Sunday (Mark 11:1-11; John 12:12-19; Matthew 21:1-11; Luke 19:28-44) prompts the reader to wonder what nearly everyone in the story is thinking. What is going through Jesus' mind as the praises surround him? What do the disciples think is happening? Does the crowd think a new political or military leader is on the rise? We only get hints in the texts to answer our wonderings.

Some have even wondered about what the donkey was thinking. G.K. Chesterton and Mary Oliver have written poems about the donkey. (2) Others have speculated on donkey thoughts and feelings, but we don't really know because this Palm Sunday donkey is mute, unlike Balaam's lowly steed. However, the donkey's lack of a statement doesn't mean that it's not speaking.

The dude on a horse imagery is far from the colt of a donkey Jesus sits on as he rides into Jerusalem. In fact, rather than riding high above the crowd on a steed, this young donkey may have struggled to carry Jesus and undoubtedly failed to lift him above the people. The diminutive size of the animal has led some to imagine Jesus' feet dragging on the ground as he "rode" into the city.

We often refer to Jesus' Palm Sunday processional as the Triumphal Entry, but name another leader the conquered on a donkey? While horses are noble, speaking to leadership, power and victory, donkeys are common lowly animals associated with service, suffering, humility, and weakness. This processional, though it looks similar to the Romans, King David, the Maccabees, and others, is different, starting with this dinky donkey.

The prophet Zechariah saw this ass entrance coming. In that prophets book he wrote,

        "Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

            Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

        See, your king comes to you,

            righteous and victorious,

        lowly and riding on a donkey,

            on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

    

        I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

            and the warhorses from Jerusalem,

            and the battle bow will be broken.

        He will proclaim peace to the nations.

            His rule will extend from sea to sea

            and from the River to the ends of the earth." 

            (Zech. 9:9-10 - NIV)

 

The prophet sees that the king who is coming will be riding on a donkey (v.9) and that this will replace the warhorses, chariots, and weapons of the previous kings (v.10). The donkey riding king is different. The Donkey riding King is not interested in military force that dominates and conquers, but rather comes in a lowly way to serve. Rather than riding high above the people on a horse, Jesus comes low to the ground among the people. The prophecy of Zechariah could be retranslated this way, "See your king is not some dude on a horse like every other leader, he comes among you to show another way."

 

Many of us have inherited a Christianity that rides a horse. The gospel has come wrapped in militarism, colonialism, nationalism, and a winner-take-all mentality that seeks to conquer ("Onward Christian Soldiers" anyone?)  We should not be surprised or embarrassed by this, these are the things - militarism, colonialism, nationalism, and a winner-take-all mentality - most likely on minds of those yelling "Save Us! Hosanna!" as Jesus entered the city. However, we would be wise to listen to what the donkey is wordlessly saying to us. We would do well to attune ourselves to the message of the donkey this Palm Sunday - the message of the arrival of a very different King who is a suffering servant.

 

This Palm Sunday we might not hear the voice of a donkey as Balaam did, but we should let the donkey under Jesus speak.

 

 

Joel K

Footnotes:

(1) https://brianzahnd.com/2020/06/theres-always-some-dude-on-a-horse

(2) https://jonathangrieser.com/2019/04/14/the-poet-thinks-about-the-donkey-by-mary-oliver-poetry-for-palm-sunday/   &    https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47918/the-donkey 

Ched Meyers' Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark's Story of Jesus was helpful in crafting this post.

Why have I never heard this name before?: Dr. Eugene Callender and the CRCNA.

I am nearly 48 years old. Every one of those 48 years I have been part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. My father was a pastor in the CRCNA for many years. I am an ordained pastor in this small Calvinist denomination. Growing up I learned the names of prominent CRCNA members. Names like Berkhof, DeVos, Ehlers, Plantinga, Smedes, Van Til, Wolterstorff, and Zondervan. But I learned a name today that I had never heard, Dr. Eugene Callender.

On a Zoom call today with other members of the CRCNA involved in Urban Ministry I learned the name Eugene Callender. The host of the call shared he had just read the autobiography of Dr. Callender - Nobody is a Nobody: The Story of a Harlem Ministry Hard at Work to Change America. He went on to say that Callender was a civil-rights leader, urban ministry innovator, and held important positions in both New York City and as an advisor in Washington D.C. The list of accolades was impressive and it sent my mind spinning. As soon as the call was over I looked him up.

The biography attached to Dr. Callender's book on Amazon reveals an impressive career. It starts, "For over sixty years, Reverend Dr. Eugene S. Callender’s career covered a broad spectrum of social, political, and devotional activism" before listing these achievements:

- Neighborhood missionary for the Christian Reformed Church

- 1950: creates "a ministry for drug addicts, alcoholics, welfare recipients, ex-convicts, battered women, and brutalized children. He also began the first community-based clinic to detoxify heroin addicts. Among those treated were famous jazz musicians Jackie McClean and Ike Quebec."

- Chaplain at Rikers Island the New York City jail.

- 1957, "Dr. Callender brought Dr. Martin Luther King to Harlem for the first time and created a public event from a flatbed truck in front of the Hotel Theresa on 125th Street."

- 1960, "became senior pastor at the Presbyterian Church of the Master" and started "the original Street Academy Program, an educational enterprise that provided opportunities for high school dropouts to succeed in a nontraditional environment. In the end, fourteen Street Academies were formed in Harlem with significant funding by major corporations in New York City. Two thousand students would graduate from Harlem Prep, some of whom are in prominent positions in America today."

- 1962, "helped out a young Alex Haley...took him to Reader’s Digest, the publication for which Haley eventually wrote the article that would become Roots." He also, "assisted Haley in finding a publisher for his book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X."

- Creates "the first and largest anti-poverty program in America, HARYOU-ACT, eventually becoming the executive director of the Urban League and later serving as the deputy administrator of housing under Mayor John Lindsay."

- "Served as president of the Urban Coalition, an organization founded to deal with inner-city relations following the widespread rioting in America in 1967 and 1968. As president of the coalition, Dr. Callender helped launch Positively Black, the first major black television show on NBC, as well as the Ashanti Clothing Enterprise, New Breed Clothing Company, and Essence Magazine."

- "Served on presidential commissions under Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Bush Sr., and Clinton." Elsewhere, it is noted that "he officiated at the funeral service for Billie Holiday" and "publicly debated Malcolm X."

That is just a taste, the list goes on.
All of this has me wondering why had I never heard of Dr. Callender until today? I've been in the CRCNA my entire life and do not remember anyone mentioning Dr. Callender even once. What makes it even more interesting is that I have practiced and studied Urban Ministry and the name never came up. My parents (both long time CRCNA members) ministered in West New York, New Jersey in the early 1970's, and they didn't pass his name on. I've been a pastor in the denomination for 13 years and never was this leader highlighted in any meeting I was a part of. Why? I think the answer is two-fold.

First, he was not Dutch. Not being Dutch is a bit of a sin in CRCNA circles. Growing up my Uncle jokingly wore a t-shirt that read, "If you're not Dutch, you're not much. While it may have been in jest, what makes a joke work is an underlying truth. Not only was Dr. Callender not Dutch, he was African-American. Dr. Eugene Callender was the first African-American pastor in the CRCNA, but unlike Jackie Robinson, there is no day set aside to celebrate his breaking of that color barrier.

Second, Dr. Callender was doing urban ministry and the CRCNA is a denomination that was founded in rural agrarian settings and continues to be shaped by that heritage. I suspect that innovative urban ministry work being done in the inner city of New York City in the 1950's was simply of little interest to the vast majority of CRCNA members at the time. I would also venture that not much has changed.

Dr. Callender was only in the CRCNA a few years. The denomination website lists his positions as a Minister of the Word this way:

- Manhattan, New York, NY (1955-1959)
- Home Miss., Negro Evangelizati, (1952-1955)

Elsewhere it is noted, "He was recruited in the late 1940s by The Back to God Hour to plant a church in Harlem. The first black graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary, he started out in a storefront, but no one came for services. So he started holding outdoor worship services, going from street to street. Eventually he attracted worshippers and opened a five-story worship center."

It appears from records that Dr. Callender was ordained in 1952 and withdrew from the CRCNA in 1958/59. It might be this leaving the denomination that caused his legacy to be less known. However, others have left - most notably Bill Hybels - and remained a name associated with the CRCNA and claimed by members.

I am encouraged and excited to have learned a bit of the life of Dr. Eugene Callender and will be eagerly checking the mailbox for his autobiography to arrive. A life like his needs to remembered and retold.

Joel K


References:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1463634811/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www2.crcna.org/person/270544

https://www.crcna.org/news-and-events/news/first-black-crc-pastor-dies

https://www.crcna.org/news-and-events/news/black-ministry-crc-has-far-reach

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Callender#:~:text=For%20most%20of%20his%20life,City%20Housing%20and%20Development%20Administration.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/memorial-service-honor-eugene-callender-article-1.1511406

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/nyregion/rev-eugene-callender-who-saw-potential-of-disadvantaged-school-dropouts-dies-at-87.html

Were the Wise Men Saved?: Epiphany Part 2

Today is the first Sunday after epiphany, the day the Christian church remembers the arrival of visitors from the East at the home of Joseph, Mary and the Baby.  Epiphany happened around 2 years after Jesus birth, but you might know the Wise men from a nativity scene you have in your home or see elsewhere over Christmas.  

 

Our nativity scene is back in a box and tucked in our shed.  The reality is that the figures representing the Magi spend most of their time in boxes where no starlight can get in (thank you Terry ScottTaylor).  When the Wise Men do come out of their box, they get shoved into the wrong scene all together - near the manger, in line with the shepherds, waiting for a visit with a newborn wrapped in cloths.  This has always bugged me - our misplacement of the Magi - but it is another placement I have been pondering this year.

 

I grew up in an Evangelical world that saw everything in terms of in and out.  For example, music was either Christian (or even sacred) or secular.  This was also true for people.  People were viewed as either Christian or non-Christian, saved or un-saved, in or out.  Which makes me wonder about the Wise Men.

 

For a few years I taught High School Bible classes.  In my class there were weekly writing assignments that were aimed at making students think about Jesus.  The essays were all titled "Jesus is/was _________?"  One of the most challenging for the teens was "Jesus is/was a Christian?"  I got a lot of papers that amounted to "of course Jesus was a Christian" despite the term itself not showing up till after his death and resurrection.  In a similar way I have been pondering this epiphany season if the Wise Men were Christians.

 

We know only a little about the Magi, though we think that we know a lot.  We think there were three (no Biblical evidence, but there were three gifts).  We sing about them being from the Orient but that is not very likely.  We say they were kings, which is not right at all.  (Can we get rid of that song now?) The Bible tells us they see a star; they follow it; they want to worship the new king; they worship him; they bring gifts to "The King of the Jews;" and they thwart the plans of the reigning King of Jews, Herod, by going home another way which triggers a mass murder of infant and toddler boys.  That is about all the details we have. 

 

My evangelical training causes me to notice something.  These foreigners (who would not have been allowed into the temple) show up, worship, give gifts and leave.  First, I admire their dedication to the game.  After two years on the road they do what they came to do.  Second, there is no record of the Magi praying a prayer, or professing faith in Jesus, or even necessarily having a clue who Jesus really is.  This leads me back to the question, were the Magi saved?  Are the Wise Men, who are wrongfully included in the Nativity scene, excluded from heaven?  Are these visitors from the East in or out?

 

The professions of faith of the participants in the nativity are pretty well chronicled.  Mary sings a song in response to learning of being favored by God and that she is carrying the Messiah.  Joseph changes his plans from a quiet divorce to acceptance of marriage (that came with a heap of disgrace) in response to a dream and displays his faith in doing so.  The shepherds are the first evangelists of the coming of the promised one of God by spreading the word of the child's birth to anyone that would listen.  It goes without saying that the angels know what is going on and are celebrating the birth.  But with this band of outsiders, who take the longest trip to a baby shower ever, it is a bit hard to tell what exactly they believed.  No record of a profession of faith by the Wise Men is found in the Biblical text.

 

There seems to be an assumption that the Wise Men are saved.  I think this stems from the fact that they are in the story and everyone’s nativity scene.  However, clearly not everyone in the Bible is automatically in just by the virtue of being on the page.  Another assumption is that the Wise Men are saved based on the word "worship" which appears in the account three times.  The word is the same each time in the original language - proskuneo - which means to kiss; to fawn; to crouch; to prostrate oneself in homage; to do reverence; to adore.  It is essentially the act of bowing before a king - which is what they came to do - so this makes sense. The word is used twice in reference to the wisemen: first, when they announce their intention and second, when they perform that action.  Herod also uses the word when trying to trick the Magi into providing information.  This word, in my opinion, does nothing to help clear up the question at hand.  The Wise Men could have worshipped Jesus as a king without knowing he was the Messiah - the Son of God.

 

The question I am asking is impossible to answer.  It is clear to me that the Wise Men do not belong in a nativity, but as for them being in out of heaven that is a mystery.  I wonder too if it's the wrong question.  In the Gospels Jesus is often frustrated with those that think they know who is in and who is out as it relates to the Kingdom.  A number of Jesus' exchanges with the religious leaders of the time are around this idea of who is "saved."  Maybe it is not up to us to decide if the Wise Men are in or out, or if anyone else is in/out for that matter.

 

What is interesting to me about the Wise Men is that they are on a journey.  They are willing to follow a star for two years, not knowing entirely what it meant or even where they were going.  These Magi alter their trajectory in life to give away part of what they have.  These visitors from the East travel to a strange place and become outsiders asking the old king about this new king - something that could have gotten them killed.  Finally, after two years of slow travel they alter their direction again at the direction of a dream.  

I don't know if the Wise Men are in or out, but I do know they are a great example of the spiritual journey.  They are willing to give up their time, their wealth, their status and their plans to follow their spiritual impulse.  From the example of the Magi we can know what devotion to a Spiritual journey looks like.  Perhaps we should consider their orientation and not their location.  Rather than consider if they fall in or out, maybe we should value the direction they chose.  They are willing to give up a lot to head in the direction of Jesus, not knowing at all where it will lead them.  Am I willing to take that journey?  Are you?

 

Joel K

The Bloodbath at the End: Power Then and Now - Epiphany Part 1

The Bloodbath at the End: Power Then and Now

Epiphany Part 1

Today is epiphany, the day that the Christian church remembers the arrival of the Magi from the East that came bearing gifts to the one born "The King of the Jews." (Matthew 2)

The reigning King of the Jews - Rome's puppet king Herod - had quite the reputation in the then known world.  He built a mountain (758 meters / 2,487 feet high) in the desert to celebrate a military victory and named the place after himself.  The mountain had built into it a palace that had four towers, each seven-stories high at the top, a theater that could seat 600 people, and a pool so large boats could be floated in it.  He builds a port at Caesarea, a gym in Tripoli, the city of Augustus Sabasti, a temple in Leiodecia and Rhodes, fortresses in Cyprus, Macarus, Alexandria, and funds the Olympics - all to impress Rome.  All of this was paid for by heavy taxation, likely 80-90% of ones income total.  Herod lives a lavish lifestyle, spends money like water to impress others in power, and all of it is paid for by others.

Herod's grip on power included murdering anyone that opposed him including two of his sons, his brother-in-law (drowned in the pool), his mother-in-law and his wife's grandfather who was a high priest.  Augustus Caesar once commented "it is better to be Herod's pig than his son."  His ego was so large that he placed an order that when he died for the people of Jericho to be brought into a stadium and killed so that it could be guaranteed mourning.  He builds a new temple in Jerusalem (the one in Jesus' time) and places an eagle - the symbol of Rome - over the entrance, just to stick it to the people.  To rub salt in the wound he built a building next door to house Roman soldiers and made sure it was just a little taller.

It is to this King Herod - The King of the Jews - that a group of foreigners arrive looking to worship the new King of the Jews.  Herod is clearly not happy.  He tries to get the visiting worshippers to provide him information to knock off this new threat.  They don't because a dream tells them to take the long way home.

One definition of epiphany is "a moment of sudden revelation or insight."  The story of epiphany ends up being the one in the scriptural record that reveals just who Herod is.  After not being able to learn the location of the one "born King of the Jews" Herod orders all the boys born in the pervious two years to be killed.  Herod is willing to kill children to make sure he can keep his grip on power.

***

On this celebration of epiphany - January 6, 2021 - another king who builds towers with his name on them tried to keep his grip on power.  Another King, concerned with impressing others in power, fought to keep his position.  On this day another insecure leader was doing whatever it took to make sure his loss was mourned.  Today a new Herod encouraged opposition to his successor.  Today many of us were glued to the news of the riotous insurrection taking place at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. in support of a king retaining his power.

Like the epiphany story in the New Testament revealed the true Herod to those reading the Bible, today is a day of revelation.  The rioting incited by Trump and his supporters is an epiphany revealing the results of four years of seeking to gain, control, and maintain power at any cost.

***

The good news in the original epiphany story and the epiphany taking place today is that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is the one with the true power.  Jesus' power, however, comes from giving away all of his status, all of his control, all of what he possessed, all of the things he was the master of, in order to die.  Jesus allows himself to become the object of an angry job so that he could become a living epiphany that reveals our desires to be over and against the other - a matter of keeping our own power.  And not only does Jesus die as a victim of a mob, he comes back forgiving even those that killed him.  True power, a Jesus-like power, is not about holding on to power, but letting it go.

***

Phillipians 2:1-11

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Joel K

The Tale of Two Protest Requests: Reviewing 2020

The Tale of Two Protest Requests: 

Reviewing 2020

Did you ask or expect your pastor to protest something during 2020? 

I am an ordained pastor. In my tradition (white, evangelical, reformed) the advice has historically been that pastors do not get involved politically. We are encouraged to not preach or speak out in political ways. The people I grew up around did not protest. The world I was raised and trained in limited its politics to picking up a Christian Coalition voting guide off the literature table on the way out of the service. But I have noticed something interesting this year, members of that community calling for protest and resistance.

Recently on Facebook I stumbled across a comment on a thread where the writer self-disclosed that she was on her third church this year because she was sick of weak pastors who won't stand up to the government over mask-mandates and worship service restrictions. Her comments echoed others (though with much more church hopping/shopping) I've heard throughout the year calling for Christians to stand up and resist - or even defy - government advice on masks and/or in-person worship. I know from talking to colleagues that these sentiments have translated into requests (even pressure and threats in some cases) that pastors resist, defy or protest - even in the tradition I am a part of that tends to be anti-political in its stance.

Over the summer I was invited to join a group of pastors in my city who are seeking reconciliation, in part in response to the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd. That group, made up of African-American and White pastors, discussed the issue first separately and then together. In those conversations it became clear that the expectations for involvement in the issue of race/racism differed greatly in the two communities. What also became clear is that in the white churches there was not much (if any) expectation for pastors to protest on this issue.

Each winter as a year draws to a close we spend time reflecting on the past year. It is natural for humans to do this at the end of anything. 2020, unprecedentedly odd year, may have many not wanting to reflect, choosing rather to charge into 2021 with hope, however naive it might be. But I invite you to reflect on 2020 using the question I opened this blog with: Did you ask or expect your pastor to protest something during 2020?

If the answer is no, I invite you consider what it is about protesting that seems to not be part of the work of a pastor?  Further, what issue would be so important that you would expect your spiritual leader to, well, lead?

If the answer is yes, what did you expect or ask them to protest?

Did you want them to stand up for your right to not wear a mask?
Did you expect your religious leader to fight for your understanding of religious freedom?
Did you put pressure on your pastor to resist government overreach so you could go to church?

Did you ask your pastor to stand against the evil of racism?
Did you expect your spiritual leader to speak out against the freedoms (and lives) taken from others because of their skin color?
Did you put pressure on your pastor to lead in making sure that all people - created in the image of God - are being treated fairly?

During 2020 I suspect many folks in the spiritual tradition I am from protested for the first time. I also suspect that many expected the same from their spiritual leaders, also for the first time. First times, like the end of things, call us to reflect. If this year was your first protest, or call for a protest, what did you protest? What did you call for? Were you concerned about your own comfort, rights, and freedoms or the comfort, rights and freedom of others?

Jesus once said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13). As 2020 closes, my challenge is this, if the thing that caused you to cry out in protest for the first time was the protection of your rights, it might not be Jesus you are following/worshipping. If the thing you were pressuring your pastor to take a stand for was your comfort, rights and freedoms, and not the right for all people created in the image of God to experience the same comforts, rights, and freedoms, the thing you call "good news" may in fact be anything but.


Joel K


Photo Credits:

https://pixabay.com/photos/blm-black-lives-matter-protest-5267765/

Anti-mask protesters outside the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on July 18, 2020. (Jeff Dean/AFP via Getty Images) as it appeared at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/29/both-republicans-and-democrats-cite-masks-as-a-negative-effect-of-covid-19-but-for-very-different-reasons/

 The Spirituality of Bird Feeders   

I haven't had a bird feeder in the yard for over a decade. I never put one up when I moved into my current neighborhood since they are only allowed during the winter.(1) I guess it seemed like too much of a hassle to put it up and take it down annually. A couple of weeks ago, I decided I'd like a bird feeder again.

Not having a feeder for so long was a mistake.

Everyday I wait to see the birds arrive. I find simple pleasure in watching them dive in to the feeder, perch, eat and flutter away. I find the uncomplicated practice of watching the birds calming, centering, and even a bit spiritual.

I am not alone. When I posted on Facebook about the simple pleasure of the birds there were a number of comments. One called the birds entertaining, and another referred to them as support animals. A friend confessed, "Got me through this entire year. Could watch all day" a statement underscored by the fact that the year he is is talking about is 2020 - a long hard year. It seems the birds a have some therapeutic or spiritual power.

The spiritual nature of birds should not have surprised me. The tradition I am a part of has birds in key stories. Noah learns the flood is over from a bird. During 40 years in the wilderness, God's people are sustained by quail. Elijah is kept alive during a long drought, in part, by ravens that feed him. Poets and prophets alike use images of birds all through the Old Testament. Jesus himself has a dove descend on him at this baptism and also uses birds to teach when he tells his listeners to "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."

Here in Alaska the traditional stories also give a nod to the birds. In one understanding the raven creates the world. (2)

On a recent morning I stood looking out the window, cup of tea in hand, and my daughter commented to me "You have become Nana." It is true that in this area I have become my mother. My mother, in turn, has become her parents since they too fed the birds and enjoyed their company. It seems that this simple, spiritual ritual of offering a feast to the fowl is a family tradition.

So as 2020 slowly creeps to a close:

May we all find a simple daily ritual, like watching the birds, to center us. 

If you have a feeder, while you sustain the birds, may the birds sustain you as they did Elijah.

May the avian arrivers in all of our worlds remind us not to worry, just as they did Jesus' listeners. 

May we all stop, and enjoy the simple pleasure of the birds.

Joel K


Footnotes:

(1) This policy is in place to prevent attracting bears.

(2) Katharine Berry Johnson, Myths and Legends of Alaska (Chicago: AC McClurg & co., 1911), 17-32.

Jack White Says Everything on SNL

I missed it on the first pass. 

 

I was excited to see Jack White on Saturday Night Live last night.  However, when he started his first song, I just couldn’t place it.  It sounded great, but I didn’t know what song he was performing.  It turns out he was weaving three songs together.  While I had no idea what he was doing, White knew exactly what he was doing.

 

The first strand to be woven in was "Don't Hurt Yourself," a collaboration he did with Beyoncé for her album Lemonade.  White did a sight re-write, and opened the medley by singing,

 

            When you hurt me, your hurtin’ yourself

            When you lie to me, your lyin’ to yourself

           

            When you hurt me, your hurtin’ yourself

            When you love to me, your love to yourself.

 

The next two yarns woven in to the tapestry came together alternating between the "Ball and Biscuit" from his White Stripes days, and an old blues tune, “Jesus is Coming Soon,” made famous by Blind Willie Johnson.  Like a good folk singer White takes Johnson’s tune about the 1918 epidemic and brings it up to date:

 

        The nobles said to the people,

        You better close your public schools

        And until death passes ya by

        you better close all your churches too

 

        I done told ya,

        they done ya,

        God is comin' soon

 

        I done told ya,

        they done ya,

        The Lord is comin' soon

 

        Tell all the people to get up and get out

        (I’ll go out in the streets where) I can find a soap box where I can shout it

        To you

 

And

 

        The Great disease was mighty,

        And people were sick everywhere (2X)

        It was an epidemic, and it traveled through the air

 

Those lines were mixed in with the White Stripes lines,

 

        It's quite possible that I'm your third man, girl
        But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son

 

And

 

        Let's have a ball and a biscuit, sugar
        And take our sweet little time about it

 

It is hard to remove the performance from its context.  White was performing on two-day’s notice after the originally scheduled artist for the episode, Morgan Waller, was dismissed for not following COVID protocols, just a week after President Trump spent the weekend in the hospital with COVID-19.  Into this situation White chose to sing a song about how one persons actions affect those around them; brought a folk song about an epidemic 102 years ago up-to-date; and conjured up some possible responses to both.

 

In a week where both sides of the Vice Presidential debate accused the other of lying, officials obfuscated about the President’s health and the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in the White House, and American’s are hurting and more divided than ever, the first words out of the mouth of Jack White were “When you hurt me, your hurtin’ yourself - When you lie to me, your lyin’ to yourself.”  Like a low-fi garage rock Mother Teresa, White’s lyrics reminded us that we are all connected and belong to each other. (1)  In this moment, as we villainize those on the opposite side of the political divide and see our daily relationships strained by the binary vitriol of a two-party system gone off the rails, Jack white was calling us to consider how are actions are affecting those around us.

 

After that reminder White notifies us that he’s the seventh son.  In the blues tradition the seventh son possesses special powers.  In this case White seems to be setting himself up as the one who is going to speak, and speak he does.  White climbs on his soap box and invoks the words of an old folk tune, and in doing so settles us into the historical context of the present moment.  Blind Willie Johnson was singing about the Spanish Flu and by connecting us to the history we are reminded that we’ve been here before.  In this way White offers a precious bit of perspective. 

 

But that is not the only perspective switch.  White takes it a step further.  Rather than being focused on what is closed - schools and churches – we are reminded that “God is comin' soon.”  Once again the seventh son is moving our focus.  This time we are not stepping back and looking at our place in history, but rather moving our eyes from the temporal to the eternal.  We are being asked to consider what really matters.

 

The final song offers us a chance to consider how we might respond to the moment we are in.  The lyric “Let's have a ball and a biscuit, sugar - And take our sweet little time about it” is open to interpretation.  One can see the lines as about cocaine (ball) and amphetamines / ecstasy (biscuit).  This is one way to respond to the COVID restrictions and political turmoil.  One could choose to numb the pain away. 

 

Another way to read the lyric is that a ball and a biscuit are symbolic of a performance transaction.  A dog chases a ball and is rewarded with a biscuit.  In this case the response might be to stop being played.  Are we the pawns of the politicians who promise us a biscuit if we just deliver, not a ball, but our vote?  Are we being manipulated on our social media platforms by being promised social interaction and information (as long as we give our data) just to end up being less informed and more divided? 

 

A third response is to see this line as about intimacy and connection.  Ball can be slang for sexual intercourse and biscuit could mean a meal.  What if White is again moving our perspective, from the great out there to the ones around us with whom we share our lives and meals?  What if we took “our sweet little time about it” with the people that mean the most to us?  What if we moved our eyes from politics and COVID to the loved ones we share our days with?   Maybe Jack White is asking us to consider these questions.  He is taking us full circle and asking us to consider how our lives and loves are interconnected -  “When you love to me, your love to yourself.”

 

That was just the first time Jack White took the stage Saturday night.  White’s second performance (with a nod to Eddie Van Halen) "Lazaretto" found him singing “When I say nothing, I say everything.”  Saying nothing was not Jack White’s problem on SNL.  He had a lot to say, and we’d be wise to take heed to all of it.

 

Joel K

 

 

Watch Jack White’s performance on SNL here:  https://www.npr.org/2020/10/11/922788708/jack-white-gives-a-thrilling-performance-on-snl-on-2-days-notice

 

 

Footnotes:

https://www.scu.edu/mcae/architects-of-peace/Teresa/essay.html