The Good Old Days

This post was meant to appear several weeks ago but got lost in the shuffle.  Still, it is relevant if not timely.

The school year is upon us!  Very soon children and adults of all ages will undergo that timeless tradition known as Back to School.  For parents there is the inevitable sense of relief mixed with sadness that comes from having spent more time than usual with their children, which can be very taxing since finding ways to occupy easily bored youngsters is often VERY challenging.  Still, for most parents this is outweighed by just being able to spend time with your offspring doing more than rushing through the day at a breakneck pace.  This has been a time to hopefully reconnect with your children in a meaningful way that strengthens family bonds and builds the kinds of familial relationships that stand the test of time.  Many times, this is not the case and that is sad but today I am not writing about the often broken nature of the modern family.  Today I am writing about our talent for wishing for the good old days and how we miss so much by doing that very thing.

I was reading the local newspaper and was struck by the Editorial for this week in which the writer pined for days gone by when the school year was a time when community really got the opportunity to band together around local school activities.  The author pointed out that it was normal to see a high school, or even junior high school basketball gym filled to capacity as the local faithful cheered on their team.  Parents, students and just regular townspeople who did not attend these functions were actually thought to be somehow suspect in the grand scheme of things and there was general suspicion regarding “those folks”.

To be a part of the community was to be a part of it’s school activities.  This included not only sports but music, drama and even the local county fair where there were always dozens of kids showing their prize cows or rabbits to throngs of locals.  Sadly, today a school event is considered a success if you can get a one third of the seats filled, even if the audience is less than attentive…and Lord forbid that organizers of an event asks that all attendees turn off their cell phones.  I mean really – who has the right to tell someone that they can’t answer their call right in the middle of a performance, usually at the most crucial moment (tongue firmly planted in cheek!).  Is anyone really that important?

Now – this pining for yesterday and the way things used to be is all well and good but it misses the point.  The fact that people are too busy to be a part of their community in a significant way actually points to a much deeper problem.  In most places, there is really no such thing as “community” anymore.  Ask yourself this question: who are my neighbors?  Can you answer that question?  Ok, maybe you know who lives next door.  How about who lives 3 houses down from you?  When I was growing up I knew the names of not only the houses on either side of me but also across the street and on either side of them and in fact knew the names of about a dozen of the closest families to my house and even the folks that lived behind my family.  I knew what was going on in their lives and the lives of their families and friends and they knew what was going on with my family.

When my father had his first heart attack it was our neighbors who swung into action.  No one went hungry while my mom was at the hospital and if we needed anything there was a neighbor ready and willing to make sure that we had it.  In short, we were a community.  We cared about each others welfare and if one of us was in trouble we were all there to help work it out.  What has happened to that sense of mutual responsibility, that family feeling with people not related to you?

I can say that I am fortunate to be part of a wonderful church family who supports and loves my wife and I…and have been fortunate to have a couple of neighbors who are friends but most of the people who live around me are strangers.

Over the last couple of decades I have heard many a pundit bemoan the fate of the United States and the sad state of affairs we find ourselves in.  The rampant apathy and unwillingness to become involved in things that are “none of our business”.  I have listened to this and wondered myself at what kind of country have we become when the excesses and incompetence of our leaders do not elicit any outrage or even mild protest.  When the role models we look to come from Hollywood or our local pro sports team.  When our heroes regularly and repeatedly fall from grace and are quickly forgiven because they draw us out of the humdrum of our daily lives.  Am I the only person who finds that pathetic?  What ever happened to real heroes? What ever happened to actually living instead of existing?  As Thoreau so presciently concluded: “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” and so timidly accept their lot in life.  Is that the American Dream?  Is this now our American Nightmare?

It does not have to be.  The solution is simple but rather profound.  Get involved.  Stop worrying about how much stuff you have and start worrying about the life you are living.  If you have children make sure that they get more time with you rather than you spending all your time trying to make sure they have the latest and greatest video game.  Get them involved in some wholesome outside activity and then participate by supporting that pursuit wholeheartedly.  And I do not mean something sedentary like online gaming.  Get them moving (and yourself in the process).  Children need to be involved in sports, music, drama, art or some other pursuit that in some way uses their bodies AND their minds.  Once they are involved then you become involved too.  Support them by attending their games, concerts, performances or art shows.  Is there a booster club?  If yes, then participate.  If no then start one.  Get other parents and community members involved.

Key phrase on all of this: GET INVOLVED!  Do not let your life pass by without being alive!  If you do not have children then find a cause you believe in and GET INVOLVED.  Support a homeless shelter with your time and money.  Collect canned goods for a food bank or start a clothing drive or become a mentor.  How many of our children would benefit if more adults gave their time and talents in helping them to learn to read, write or do mathematics…or were just a friend.  Kids deal with far more in this complex, confusing world than I ever did growing up and a strong role model is the most important gift they can ever receive.  Hopefully not just parents are asked to filled that role but all adults in their lives.  Be another role model.

Do you attend church?  Do you have a belief system.  Maybe it’s time you did.  My life was completely altered when I accepted Christ into my life.  Every person has to make that choice for themselves but I urge you to explore faith in your own life.  It has changed me forever.

Are you getting the picture?   Getting involved means actually living as we were intended to live.  400 years ago John Donne wrote: No man is an island, entire of itself…any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”  Donne is telling us that our lives are supposed to matter and they should matter to all around us.  God created us to be unique beings but he also created us to be a part of a community.  We all matter and the world with it’s rampant consumerism and greed cannot and should not diminish that fact.  It is only when we forget that each of us is individual yet part of the whole that we allow the kind of atrocities that seem so common throughout human history.

Live.  I urge you.

Love for the long haul: part 2

As time went on it became evident that the situation was spinning out of control.  I was getting fatter and more unhealthy and our marriage was becoming a battle.  Every day there were more reasons to resent her and every day I became more and more convinced that this whole marriage thing was a mistake.  Then, as fate would have it our work situation changed.  Peggy applied for and won a promotion to a Supervisory position in the same location where I worked and now she had to start the daily grind of a long commute.

This made my life a bit easier since there was someone to share the driving duties however, my attitude had not really changed that much and all my misery was of course her fault.  DAMN HER!!!  Now the solution for the problem was to sell our current home and move closer.  And that is what we did.  We left her 10 acres and 5 stall horse barn and moved to 5 acres with no horse barn but some very nice pasture and lots of big trees and it had the luxury of being 70 miles closer to work!!!  All our problems were solved…right???  Wrong. I was still angry, just a bit more rested and she was still the cause of all my problems – oh, and I was still really fat.

As we settled into our new home and her job became more demanding we were having to occassionally stay late because of her work.  Now – this was just not acceptable.  I was the major bread winner and altering my plans to sit in front of the television or the computer playing games was not how this was going to be at all!  To top it off, my lack of mobility was translating into a lack of motivation at work which translated into general unhappiness.  This was not working out at all and, if it was possible I was becoming even more miserable and miserable to live with. The solution of course was to get fit.

That was the logical solution.  I was fat and unhealthy and in fact had been declining for a few years.  So, my nagging wife decided that if I could just get healthy my attitude would improve and all would be better.  Fine, fine.  I would do anything to get her off my back.  Actually, losing weight was one thing I knew I could do easily, having lost hundreds of pounds over the course of my life.  I also could gain it back easily but that would have to wait for later.  And so, we launched into Bill Philips excellent “Body for Life” program and I mean launched.

Every day we worked out HARD and watched what we ate. We followed that program rigidly (I had too or the Nagasaurus would let me hear about it!) and at first it was working.  I was working out fiendeshly each day and thought “I’ll show her who is the top dog in this marriage: when I get finished I will be the stud of studs” and other blather like that.  Within a month I had lost about 25 pounds and was feeling pretty decent.  But then another month passed and I only lost 5 pounds…and then another when I lost nothing.  Now I was still working this program hard and nothing was happening and that scared me to death…

Love for the long haul

This is the beginning of a multi-part post.  There is a lot to say and even though when it’s done the whole story will not be told it will at least be a pretty decent rendition of events for any who are interested.

Tomorrow is my eighth wedding anniversary.  I am spending the day cleaning house and making sure that the only thing we have on our schedule is us time.  Now – this is not the way I would have envisioned this day on the previous seven anniversaries.

My marriage began based on a deep love but very faulty premises, most of them fostered by me.  I could go into all of that and someday probably will but for the purpose of this note I will just say that even though I had been married previously (for a very short time!) I really was not prepared for the day to day, year to year reality of what it meant to share my life with another person.  Add to that my real brokeness and you have the recipe for a disaster.  Fortunately, I was not the only person involved in the relationship and even more fortunately, God has other plans for Peggy and William.

At first I thought that my irratibility was just a symptom of having to learn to share my existence with another person.  After all, I had been a bachelor for 17 years after my first failed trip down the aisle and all that time, even with a string of relationships does not allow you to truly understand sharing at a deep level.  There was also her habit of not doing what I wanted her to do.  VERY ANNOYING!!

After all, I was older and more experienced so she should just defer to my whims and do as I say.  Right?  But she kept bucking my wishes and actually challenged me on a regular basis.  Now that was totally UNacceptable.  Who was this upstart to defy me?  I had the better job, I had the more varied experience, I was smarter!  This was not how things were supposed to be at all.

Now – this is conversation that is going on in my head, not what is happening in reality.  First of all, I was living over 100 miles from my office and had a 4 hour round trip commute each day.  I usually got up at 4 a.m. and was out the door by 5:30 a.m..  I would arrive back home each day around 7 p.m. and was in bed by 8:30.  Never a great sleeper to begin with, this only made matters worse and since I had used food as a crutch for my entire life it only stood to reason that it should come to my rescue yet again.  Not being a small person to begin with I soon ballooned to an impressive 350+ and was bearing down on 400 pounds rapidly.  Of course it was all Peggy’s fault!!!

She wanted that damn horse property and that 5 stall horse barn! She was only having to commute 20 minutes each way to work while I was getting killed each day in traffic.  This was not good and she was to blame.  As each day passed I became more and more angry and fatter and fatter and more withdrawn and more bitter and it was all her fault…

Part two coming soon!

Profoundly Disturbed

I live in the south and grew up in Texas during the 60’s and 70’s so am no stranger to racism and bigotry.  I have listened to members of my own family spout epithets and skewed opinions for a majority of my life however, I would hope that the one place I would not hear or see this heinous representation of moral corruptedness would be in the church.  Sadly, I am wrong.

I have, over the course of my life been privy to conversations and participated in certain discussions that seemed to not represent the love of Christ in any way.  I had hoped that as time went on and as efforts toward reconciliation continued that examples of outward race hatred would have become a very rare exception.  Sadly, this is not been my experience.  Oh, to be sure there is not the constant stream of comments and overt actions that scream “Racist” however, I have seen and heard enough in the last few years that tells me that even in settings that should be promoting the love of God and the example of Jesus we have not yet embraced His message of love and acceptance.  Good, “God fearing” people have said things in my presence that have greatly saddened me and more, have made me wonder at the salvation of some who profess Christ as King. 

What has happened is that the outward signs have been buried but the feelings are still so strong with some that they manifest themselves upon occassion – and this is not just among the older population.  There are many young people who have grown up with their parents attitudes towards others who are “different” that foster animocity and outright hatred.  By the time these children reach middle school there attitudes are often already formed to the degree that change will be very difficult, if not impossible.  And yet these same parents preach the virtues of following Christ.

 This is Christianity?  Not by the example set in the bible.  When did Children of the Cross begin to speak as if the devil was in their midst.  Sadly this has long been true.  The early church dealt with these issues.  Did not Paul admonish Peter and the church in Jerusalem for their lack of willingness to reach out to Gentiles?  Many of Paul’s letters speak directly to the practices of many of the churchs to which he ministered and their unwillingness to share from their wealth with the poor and downtrodden (of course there are many who will point to Paul and his admonitions regarding slaves as proof that there was nothing wrong with THAT practice).

This tradition and practice of not being open and loving to all of God’s children can be found throughout the history of the church.  The Protestant Reformation was largely fueled by the excesses and abuses of the church when the monies used for the lavish lifestyles of church leaders was supposed to be utilized for the good of the people.  And when these abuses and inconsistencies were pointed out by Martin Luther he was called a heritic.  But I digress – except to say that the devil does work to make us comfortable with our sin so that we become blinded to it.  How can this be sin when it feels right? 

Sounds like a modern maxim: if it feels right – do it!

The problem with racism and bigotry is that to many people it does not feel like sin.  This is just expressing our opinion and God gave us free will so what’s wrong with having an opinion? 

Yes, God gave us free will so that we could make the right choices or be condemned by our false choices.  Are we not told in Luke “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”?  How then is it so easy to judge?  The problem is that as soon as you mention this to folks the immediate response is “I am not judging!”.  Well, actually we are (yes, I realize that by even writing this I am passing judgement to a certain degree).  When we look down our noses at someone, whether because they are not of our social or economic class or of a different ethnicity are we not judging?  “Oh, that’s just my opinion.”  Is not an opinion a judgment? 

This is not to say that we are not supposed to stand up for what is right.  Far from it.  As Christians we are commanded to work for justice and peace, just as our Master taught us to do.  There was no lack of revolution in Jesus heart or actions however, what he did and said he did out of love.  Love for the Father and love for his neighbors.  Where is the love in comments meant to slander and hurt?  I often hear – I was just joking.  Joking?  When did: “That monkey needs to go back where he came from and climb back up into that tree” become a joke (yes, I have heard that said by a “Christian”)?  Somehow I have a lot of trouble finding that funny.

If the church is ever to measure up, even in a small way to the author and founder of our faith then we must become the embodiment of His love.  We must be the chief promoters of His justice and work for His kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven.  The Way, and the Truth and the Life has offered us all that we need to save the world in His name.  But first we must save ourselves.  Our words and deeds must reflect our true feelings and if our hearts are filled with hate and mistrust then we MUST turn inward, find the source of our hatred and call upon Jesus to help us heal, forgive and move forward in His Light.

If we do not we can never be truly called Followers of Christ.

 

 

The Least Among Us

I saw a dead dog on the side of the road today.  Now I live in the country so seeing a dead animal is not unusual.  Dark country roads and excessive speed make for a dangerous combination when you are low to the ground.  Heck, it is pretty scary if you’re 6 feet tall and understand what the sound of an oncoming car really means.

The problem with this particular dead animal is that it was a very large dog and it was on the curb in town where the speed limit is 35 mph.  In viewing the dog I realized that whoever hit it was travelling much faster than 35 and very likely did not bother to stop and render any aid to the dying animal.  I am sure that there was a perfectly good reason for killing one of God’s creatures.  I am certain that they were in a big hurry and could not be bothered to pay enough attention to see the dog and certainly to busy to stop and at least offer a bit of comfort in its last moments.

Does that sound a bit bitter?  Yes, I suppose it does but then I have seen so much of man’s inhumanity to others in my 50 years that there are times when I am numb.  For some reason this bloodied, big old dog got to me in ways that other suffering does not any more.  And that REALLY bothers me! 

You see it has become all to common for us to hear about one or more forms of horrific death.  Whether it be tribesmen in Sudan hacking members of another tribe to death with a machete just because they are not of the same clan or Iraqis being dragged out of their homes and being beheaded by members of a different sect or even in our own country when we hear a gang member killing an innocent bystander as part of an initiation ritual.  We are used to hearing every day of one horror after another and have lost our sense of moral outrage and revulsion.  We draw into ourselves and just hope that the world will stay outside our town, or our neighborhood or our home.  The problem with this is that we are never really safe when we ignore the world around us. 

Those who prey upon the weak, helpless and oppressed count on the inaction of the rest of the world in order to carry out their acts of senseless brutality.  Unmolested by those who might be governed by some sense of decency or who have at least some semblance of a moral code that abhors these types of activities.  Oh, for sure there are those who decry all the senseless bloodshed in the world and there are many good and courageous people who do everything in their power to bring about change and reconciliation.  I would submit though that their efforts may very well be doomed to failure unless common people find their own moral compass.  Even great leaders need followers in a great cause.

And this leads me back to the dead dog.  What would it have taken for that creature not to have died an agonizing death?  In two words: care and attention.  The driver of the vehicle that killed that poor animal needed to care enough to pay attention – to the speed limit, the road ahead and rules of the road that say: be careful, anything can happen at a moments notice and others are depending on you.  The dogs owners could have cared enough to pay attention to keeping the dog restrained and off a busy town street.  Attention could have saved the dog.  Attention and care can save our world. 

God gave us the capacity to feel for others but as a society we have suppressed that ability and have become more and more centered on our own wants and own desires.  It is not called the ME generation for nothing.  The problem with me is that there is an actual need for WE.

Like it or not, even in a world that gives us unprecedented choices there is still a need for community.  The fact that most of us do not have a relationship with our neighbors is one of the contributors to the enormous divisions that we see within our society.  People do not KNOW their neighbor and rather than getting to know and understand them, they would rather just assume that they have no opinion or worse, are idiots and that their opinions have no validity so therefore they are not worthy of our time, attention or support.

WRONG!!!

Despite what we might think, we need each other and we need each other now more than ever.  I am speaking now about the idea of neighbors caring for and helping neighbors.  My wife and I regularly assist the folks that live next door to us.  Why?  Are we obligated to do so?  No.  They are just our neighbors and until we moved here we had no knowledge or need to know these people.  Are we do gooders?  Our past history would not indicate this.  Except for a soft spot for (you guessed it) animals, particularly dogs but pretty much every creature on God’s green earth (I have been known to usher spiders back to the outside of our house rather than stomp it) we have never really helped our neighbors before and frankly, previously they did not need our help.  These people do and I would hate myself if I watched them suffer more than they have already and did nothing and so; we help.  Sometimes it is with money, sometimes food or sometimes with a ride to the auto parts store.  They always try and pay us back but frankly, we do not care and never make it a condition of our help that we “have a clean slate”.  There is no talley sheet here.  These are decent people who have run upon hard times and they need our help and though there are times when we are stretched thin ourselves, God has always provided for us and we come out ok.

We care about these people and so we pay attention to their problems…and we help.  Does that make us saints?  Nope.  I know those who have less who do more.  I also know those who have far more than they will ever use who do NOTHING!  This is a problem.  This is people focused on ME and never thinking about WE.  The solution is simple: care enough to pay attention and HELP.  If WE are waiting for our politicians and other leaders to offer up solutions WE are in for a VERY long wait and frankly, the world cannot afford many more years of waiting.  WE are in trouble right now and only WE can really do anything to make it better.

Jesus said for us to “Love our neighbors as ourselves”.  That is the means for a revival in our society. 

A revival is long overdue.

The Music of Change

At heart I am a musician.  I do not remember a time when I did not think of myself as a singer and conductor and hope that I will end my days presenting music that is pleasing to the Maker.  The thing is, I believe that music is a powerful force.  It touches and calls up emotions close to the surface and those buried deep within us.  Those who are not moved in some way by music have likely been so beaten down that they have lost the ability to feel and need a major dose of God’s Love and the support of their fellow Children of God.

I have often in my life turned away from music simply because it does require so much emotion and more importantly, an opening of the soul that can drain ones life energy.  If one is not willing to open up completely to God’s love and grace the well can soon run dry.  I have finally given myself over to that love and grace and so have tapped a source of emotion and strength that I previously could have only dreamed of.  This also has led to a freedom to express innermost thoughts and feelings once deemed too deep to share.  I did this out of fear and fear is a powerful motivator but in the words of Albert Finney’s character in the movie Amazing Grace “I know two things “I am a great sinner and Jesus is a great savior”.  Once I was saved by the redeeming blood I have become more than just willing to share my emotional responses to His love and grace but am often eager.

On a recent Sunday I delivered the message during morning worship in which I spoke of service and how important it is that we all do something to change the world in even a small way.  In the words of Robert Kennedy:  

• Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation … It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

I believe that music has to power to effect such change.  It has the power to bridge mistrust and create understanding and it has the power to move the heart…and when the heart is full enough that it overflows, then the world can be changed.  I have witnessed it in my day and I am certain that you have as well.  I have been a part of and listened to musical performances that give me hope and comfort that perhaps there is a way to make our world a better place.  Perhaps even the place that God intended, full of beauty, kindness, justice, peace and love.  Or perhaps I am just a dreamer.  If I am then I believe that this is the best kind of dream and so I will continue until the dream is real.

For too long humankind has stumbled along believing that we can make our way in the world by our own devises.  We are wrong.  We have been given all we need by the Maker and all He requires of us is to take those gifts and CHANGE this world into the image He created.  We are only required to TRUST in the power of His love and our ability to use what He gave us.  If we will do this then LOVE, PEACE, JUSTICE and HOPE will be REALITY, not a DREAM.

I BELIEVE

Silence

I wrote this poem after participating in the North American premier of Miguel Roig-Francoli’s Dona eis requiem (In Memory of the Innocent Victims of War and Terror).  After the performance there was at least two minutes of silence as everyone pondered the emotion of the moment.  At the very end of the performance I let go of the emotions I had been holding in very tight check and tears flowed. 

When I got home that night the thoughts below poured out. 

 

SILENCE

echoes of music on stone,

give way to silence. 

Silence full

and empty as the soul. 

Silence void

as the loss of a child

or a love.

felled by act of senseless

and unfettered carnage

Darkness and rage surrounding.

 

And yet here is beauty.

Beauty to cleanse,

Beauty to console,

Beauty to heal.

 

The soul aches with it

Tears fall and spirits rise

Rises as a prayer

A prayer to the One

A prayer of Hope

A prayer for grace.

 

A Plea

On another note

Since I am a musician by training and someday again hope to be by vocation I thought one of my first musings should be about music.  I am pleased to be a member of a local university Concert Chorale (choir for the non musicians) for the past year.  Being a part of this group has been a great joy and it has truly helped in the reawakening of my musical spirit.

A couple of weeks ago we presented our end of year concert during which, among other things we performed the Faure’ Requiem.  Gorgeous piece of music and the chorus and orchestra did a fine job.  Afterward I sent an e-mail to the conductor to discuss a project we have been working on and I shared the comments below:

On another note – I have to tell you that it is seldom in my life that I have been more moved than by the gift presented on Friday night.  That I was able to participate in this event humbles me in so many ways.  There really are no words to describe the emotion but ultimately I can only say that I was enormously blessed to be present. 

 On Sunday I delivered the message during Sunday worship in which I spoke of service and how important it is that we all do something to change the world in even a small way.  In the words of Robert Kennedy:

• Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation … It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

I believe that music has to power to effect change.  It has the power to bridge mistrust and create understanding.  I have seen it and I am certain that you have as well.  What happened on Friday gives me hope and comfort that perhaps there is a way to make our world a better place.  Perhaps even the place that God intended, full of beauty, kindness and love.  Or perhaps I am just a dreamer.  If I am then I believe that this is the best kind of dream. 

We forget sometimes that change, true change usually begins with a dream.  Perhaps it is time that more people dared to dream.  I believe that we all have the power to dream, and to change.  And there is so much change needed…

Peace

Just starting out

Ok – so after months of saying “I wish I could find a way to share some of my thought!” I have taken the plunge to start this blog.  Thanks to Dave for the advise and insights that got me to this point. 

If you are reading this you will likely find that my musing are not particularly revolutionary or even that original still, the point of all of this is to share thoughts and hopefully create a dialogue that will perhaps open those of us who participate to considering the impact of the discussion not only in these pages but in our daily lives and the lives of those around us.

My “agenda” is simple – change the world!  Yeah, I know that is a pretty grand statement but the hope is that if I can show how I have changed and how over time if I can show how that change alters my reactions to everyday life then maybe at least a few people will be interested in what I have to say and more importantly the source of that change.  I am a follower of Jesus Christ and believe in his message of salvation through Grace.  I also believe strongly that we are called to service and that in that service lays the true key to change.  I am NOT here to beat anyone with the bible and with my beliefs. 

I am a Christian and all that implies however, I take a more activist view of Jesus call for us to be servants.  In fact I take that call literally and what a person believes or how they act has little to do with my willingness to serve them using whatever gifts and talents I have been given.

Jesus himself ministered to sinners in opposition to the dictates of the religious leaders of his day.  The original religious radical, he and most of his followers suffered because of it.  I can only follow the example of my Master and hope that in some way what I do and say will please him.  Hopefully it strikes a chord with at least some who read these words and that in turn they will join in trying to change the world.  All we can do is try.

Peace