I wrote this on Tuesday morning this week, very early. It was the feast day observing Gregory of Nyssa, one of the “Cappadocian Fathers” (Gregory, his brother Basil and their close friend Gregory of Nazianzus). The two Gregorys were appointed bishops against their will by their elder brother, Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea, all, in modern-day Turkey.
Were Adam and Eve Neandertals?
Modern two-legged primates of the species, homo sapiens, pride ourselves on our special place on the planet. After all, we are God’s chosen. It is true that when our ancestors traversed the Bering Sea ice bridge during an ice age, our entrance into the vast North American continent enabled us to hunt all of the large animal species to extinction. More recently, in the epic tale of Gilgamesh in today’s southern Iraq. Gilgamesh defies the gods by cutting down the forest. In return, the gods say they will curse the land with fire and drought. The Sumerians who created the story most likely deforested the land causing widespread desertification. By 2000 BC, soil erosion and salt buildup devastated agriculture. This forced the Sumerians to move north to Babylonia and Assyria as the first “climate refugees” in history. The first laws ever written to protect forests were decreed in the new Sumerian village of Ur.
Will they come back?
We have lost a lot of people as this little church in this little town. Some left before the pandemic in disputes with the rector, in disappointment that Grace couldn’t regain its glory years, in addictions, in family disputes, and in broken marriages. People quit coming until the view of the church on Sunday mornings was painful to see. Then the pandemic hit. There was no church to attend anywhere. Now we are reopening with social distancing, and people ask, “Will the ones who fell away come back?”
Voting
I dedicate today’s reflection to that wonderfully democratic notion of voting.
The American experiment in democracy was founded during the intellectual period of the Enlightenment. Isaac Newton’s laws of gravity and mathematical calculus were towering achievements that set the course of modern technology to this day. The basic laws of physics and chemistry were being worked out in Europe and in the colonies during Jefferson’s day. It was an exciting time to be alive.
The February Triple Crown
Huh? In the next few days, a probe named “Hope” built by the United Arab Emirates will touch down on Mars, a day later a Chinese rover, Tianwen-1, will touch down, and the following week, NASA’s “Perseverance” rover will touch down. If successful, Perseverance will be our nation’s fifth robotic vehicle to traverse Martian soil since 1997. Two earlier missions in 1971 failed.
Why should we go to another planet? Why spend $3B on spacecraft when we could feed the poor here or give more tax breaks to billionaires? We’ve already been there four times, what more can we learn?
Fact, Reason, and Human Decency
A professor of constitutional law in Minnesota has developed an Instagram following of 400,000 people dedicated to the idea of substantiated facts and the truth, even if it is not what her followers want to hear. In the era of outrageous lies and conspiracy theories, this one woman and her non-partisan crusade for facts and truth gives me hope.
Is there room for fact, reason, and human decency in the church I wonder?
Intransigence
Our online dictionary defines this as “refusal to change one’s views or to agree about something.” I hate to say it, but this pretty much defines the perspective of a large portion of Christianity – the Orthodox churches, the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Churches including the Episcopal Church, the Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Methodists. But the old (pre-COVID) world out there is rapidly fadin’ and we “better start swimmin’ or we’ll sink like a stone” as Bob Dylan said, for the “times, they are a changin’.”
Disease of the Soul
In a sermon January 3, I mentioned some statistics about children in the United States including childhood obesity which is, sadly, a rapidly growing problem. Later that week, a friend who heard the sermon and who is also a pediatrician mentioned an academic study about childhood obesity. I was aware of the general results of this study, but my friend went into detail.
What is Truth?
The question Pilate asked Jesus (John 18:38) before sentencing him to a brutal execution is as valid today as it was then. Not only is this a great question to ponder, but we might do well to review some of the “top 40” of Jesus’ teaching. In Matthew, Chapter 5 and 6, Jesus teaches us. Read more…
The Social Contract
Good afternoon everyone. I hope that this new year finds you healthy and hopeful. I would like to spend a few minutes talking about the social contract under which we live and the relationship of organized religion with that contract.