Driving into New York City, from the west, you must first endure miles and miles of salt marsh punctuated by industrial ruins. You can see the factory here or there, the abandoned railroad beds, odd pieces of steel jutting from the water. At night with a little fog on the water, it looks like a scene from the old Twilight Zone television show, not the western gateway to one of the world’s favorite cities. The decaying infrastructure in the marsh also belies a set of assumptions and values. The land for that old salt marsh never was worth much anyway. Or was it? Read more…
Sound Bites and Dialogue
Thanks to the video-ization of modern culture, humans have shifted our cognitive skills to largely visual with short attention spans, now shorter than a TV commercial. This means that anything that is not visual, i.e. auditory or kinesthetic, is discounted. This also means that anything that takes more than about 13 seconds of our attention is either discounted or ignored. Hence, quickly pronounced “sound bites” have taken the central role of truth in our society, over and above having a substantive dialogue about a topic. Heaven forbid that any of us would be required to engage our rational thinking skills more than 13 seconds. Read more…
Anxiety and Inflation
Caveat: I am not an economist. I took two econ courses in college.
Having warned you, I must ask, why do we have inflation? Why must the prices of goods and services go up in a never-ending cycle while we avoid the dreaded deflation? Economists will give all kinds of reasons for this and many are very valid. Having observed this “macro” phenomenon for decades I wonder if there might be one more factor – anxiety.
Twin Devils (part 1) – In the Hopeful Season of Advent
The question posed (for now) is hypothetical, but poignant, nonetheless. I imagine my teenaged grandchild asking me this question, “Grandpa, you’re a scientist and a priest, what did you do to prevent all those Christians who wanted the world to end soon from carrying out their plans?” Some people advise that we tolerate other Christians’ beliefs, but what should we do when those beliefs cause real harm to generations of people? Beliefs like vaccinations cause autism or because some Christians want to be part of God’s chosen elect who get taken up in a cloud after the end of the earth, they desire the destruction of governments and the planet for their own self-interests. Do we tolerate murderers coming at us with a weapon? Do we tolerate people who want to see the planet burn up?
Twin Devils (part 2) – In the Hopeful Season of Advent
In a second scenario, I imagine my teenaged grandchild asking me this question, “Grandpa, you’re a scientist and a priest, what did you do to prevent all those people who deny human-caused climate change from causing all the problems we have today?” I have mentioned this before, but, at least in one sense, scientists are incredibly conservative. Why would someone who worked super hard to get to a respected position in the scientific academy be willing to throw all that away in exchange for taking a position that could not be substantiated? Is it likely that 2,000 scientists from respected universities around the globe all be willing to drink the Kool Aid of public scorn and ridicule? Read more…
Essence and Existence
This may be more of a philosophical or metaphysics reflection than anything scientific, so forgive me this once. Christian views of the afterlife are often viewed by the non-Christian public with scorn, derision and disdain. The popular, Medieval, view of the afterlife as winged creatures flying around heaven is also unhelpful. The Greek doctrine of immortality of the soul (Plato) is so thoroughly mixed into Christian belief that most people are surprised that immortality of the soul is not an explicitly “Christian” belief. Read more…
History
I hated history in high school and college. Maybe it was the monotone, no-nonsense droning lectures. Maybe the classes were during my most-of-the-day sleepy period. For whatever reason, I grudgingly studied the subjects and made B grades. Fast-forward to age 40 in seminary, and history began to make sense. I don’t know what happened. Having lived through civil rights, the Vietnam war, the sexual revolution, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and more, history was at once, entertaining and frightening. Read more…
Reconciliation
Reconciliation noun
- the restoration of friendly relations.
| synonyms: | reuniting, reunion, bringing together (again), conciliation, reconcilement, rapprochement, fence-mending; |
We come together as a community out of mutual love, respect, caring for one another and compassion. In open, honest conversations, mistakes are made. The challenge lands in our lap immediately. When we are the recipient of a remark or action that we interpret as rude, thoughtless, careless or even hostile, what action do we take? Do we go to the offending party later in private to work things out? Or do we hang onto the ugly feelings and let it out by counter-attacking, gossip or leaving the church? Read more…
Use less, recycle more, keep things longer
Quick, which is the better course of action. Repair and continue to use my 1997 Ford Explorer or purchase a new, environmentally-friendly electric SUV or hybrid? This may surprise you but hanging onto your old vehicle is almost always more earth-friendly than purchasing a new one. Even if the mileage on the old clunker is down to 14 mpg and the eco-friendly replacement is 60 mpg, it is still better overall to hang onto the old one. The same is true for your clothes, your appliances and even your house. It is always better to repair and continue to use something rather than purchasing a new replacement. What about your smartphone? Read more…
Rend your hearts
Scarcely a week goes by lately without one person telling me that they are full of hope and optimism for the future … that their world has never been better. And often, in the same week of hearing such cheerful perspective from one person, I hear the exact opposite – that others are full of dread and gloom. For them, the world appears to be headed downhill, fast. I am proud of our parish that we can embrace a wide latitude of perspectives, but when our collective sense of hope seems to be bipolar, what should our spiritual response be? Read more…