Wherever you hang your hat...

My blog used to be called "wherever you hang your hat," after the phrase, "home is where you hang your hat." i liked that phrase because it always meant to me that home is wherever i decide it is, where i feel at home. A large part of what makes you feel at home is how you're welcomed there.

i haven't particularly felt welcome at Union outside of the cafeteria in a long time, but that's ok because i have a home off campus and the dog is always happy to see me... when i come home with my wife.

i went back to my folks' house last weekend and was warmly greeted by my sister, "what are you doing here?" Granted, it was a surprise and my parents hadn't informed her, but still. She coulda asked it whilst hugging me. ;-) When i walked into the room a few weeks ago where all the PBB alum had gathered, they didn't all know i was coming and i walked in to, "Yay! Brian!" and hugs and warm greetings. It was great. It felt a lot like home.

Today, i was sitting at my desk and the office assistant at the office here saw me and said, "what are you doing here?" There was confusion as to when my internship ended apparently. My chair had already been relocated.

Oh well. This week is less about returns though. It's about goodbyes. Ashley's supervisor since she started at Richmond Habitat is headed overseas to work, retiring from Habitat. One of the few administration members here that i am really tight with and truly admire and respect is leaving his position in admissions to take an Associate Pastor of Youth position in SC.

And one of my best and few really close friends, Victor, is heading home to Burma. Victor has been a dear friend for two years now. He is young and his wife and little girl have been apart ffrom him for the two years he's been studying here in the states. Victor has labored to give me cultural understanding of Burma and marriage and fatherhood and i've indoctrinated him with movies and culture and editted many of his papers. He heads home to start a school, and maybe some day soon, a teaching program for teachers. The military government there in Burma and the recent Typhoon have destroyed the educational infrastructure and Victor hopes to do his part to rebuild it and bring good news to those who need it most. He's a man i admire. He's a man i hope to be more like. And i will miss him.

Life's a Beach... or not...

We had plans to go to the beach for the day on Saturday, but they fell through. Luckily, i had already made back up plans to surprise Ashley. On the downside, when i told her to wear jeans she put on capri jeans, but on the upside, i brought three pairs of jeans just in case she did that and she now knows to follow my instructions on surprise outings more carefully. ;-)

We went ice skating! It was tons of fun. i hadn't been since college with PCM and before that was middle school. i think it had been since childhood for Ashley. When we first got out there, we looked like 5 year olds. i got my footing after the first 10 or 15 minutes and we skated around and had fun for a couple of hours. We got some Hokie mom on the side with the same camera as Ashley to take a few pictures of us together.

Sunday, i headed over to a church i am helping this summer to sit in on their mission committee meeting. Was really helpful to have Ashley there to talk about Habitat locally and what they could plug into.

Then we broke out our bikes for our first ride and headed over to the CVS. It has come to my attention that not everyone knows what CVS is. It's a drugstore chain that stretches from NY to Florida and i don't know how far west, but obviously not as far as Nebraska or Kansas. It's like Eckerds or Walgreens. And if you don't have those, think McDonald's or Wendy's, yeah? Groovy.

The World's Fair

My whole life, i grew up hearing my dad talk about the World's Fair and the things that blew him away or stunned his child's mind. Whenever he talks about it, his eyes light up and he looks up a little like he's suddenly shorter again, a kid.

i grew up in a world that not only has all those amazing technologies and wonders, but has programmed me to expect new ones every day with less than awe and wonder. Very little impresses me or fills me with awe. So when something does...

When i was in high school, i went to the movies. It was the Delta 6 movie theater on Harris Blvd in Charlotte with a couple of friends from church. i don't remember what movie it was, but the preview was drilled in my head forever.

It was a preview for the firs Final Fantasy movie. It was the first movie to tackle the CGI world and focus on people characters that looked like people and not cartoons. Toy Story had already produced a full length CGI movie with "people," but they looked like robots or toys. This was different. It was close to realistic as i had ever seen. It didn't look like computer game, but a real-life movie. The characters were so life-like. They zoomed in on one man and the wrinkles surrounding his eyes and the skin blemishes were so real, i couldn't tell if it was or not.

i remember thinking, "this will change movies forever." And it did.

i saw a preview before the Dark Knight last week and it was the first time since then that i saw something equally mind blowing. The first Matrix movie came close when i saw it for the first time, and its preview was pretty mind-warping. However, the preview for Watchmen, a movie that will release next March, stopped me dead in my tracks. The kind of cinematography and art blended with science fiction super hero laid over an industrial track of Billy Corgan was, well... riveting. Check it out.

Apples and oranges

I watched a good chunk of that new CNN mini-series: Black in America. It was intriguing. It was also not very contextual. It's been said that statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. This is true in sports, politics, and in our society at large.

Last year, Time magazine chose a statistician as one of its 100 most influential people of the year. What is his area of expertise? Baseball. That’s right. Why would he be chosen for a top 100 list of most influential folk? Certainly there are people making a bigger splash. His contributions in baseball have not only revolutionized how the sport is analyzed and who is recruited, and ultimately who wins more, but how we think about collecting relevant data.

Most people are well aware that a batting average has something to do with how often you hit the ball when it’s pitched to you. People who have never held a bat will refer to “batting a thousand.” However, this statistic is not meaningful all by itself. All sorts of other factors come in to play. How often does he get up to bat? The more often a batter is up, the better he gets. Who were the pitchers he faced? If he faced a string of good pitchers every game he batted, and another batter faced a bunch of weak pitchers, is his lower average indicative of his lesser skill or of chance? How do you measure that? Those are the kinds of questions Bill James began asking.

Now what if that’s applied to census statistics, both those collected by the US Government and CNN? Is it wise to compare all of the whites in America to all of the blacks and on no other basis? Is that even possible? The percentage of people claiming “other” on the US census as their race or ethnicity has climbed in recent decades. Even more people who identify themselves as one race or ethnicity are 1/16th or 1/4th or even half another race or ethnicity. Polls and census forms don’t dig into that. If you claim to be white, you get to be white. If you claim to be Hispanic, congratulations, you are!

This brings me to my next point. This program had lots of statistics comparing blacks to whites. Absent were any statistics that compared blacks to other minorities. If your goal is to investigate gaps in income and opportunities, as well as differences in cultural norms, might it be of benefit to examine the same categories for other minorities? This seems like a logical step to me.

Why not compare blacks to Japanese or Indians (immigrants from India) or Hispanics and Latinos? Blacks were not entirely liberated from slavery until 1865, and Jim Crow laws and civil rights were a slow process. But is it not helpful to acknowledge that as recently as the 1940’s, the US Government was placing Japanese American citizens in internment camps? Perhaps a look at the struggles faced by the Japanese in America over the last 60 years could be at least as beneficial as comparing blacks to whites over the last 60 years. What is the rate of unwed mothers in the Japanese community? At what rate do Japanese men and women attend college? What is the life expectancy of Japanese in America? What percentage of Japanese men are incarcerated? These questions may reveal just as much about racial disparity, but more importantly, may reveal how best to overcome it or move forward.

This brings me to my next point. Statistics do not speak for themselves. That’s why we employ people and not just calculators to determine their meaning. If I told you that 87% of the people that graduate from my Presbyterian seminary leave and work for Presbyterian churches, would you assume this school turns people into Presbyterians or would you assume most of them were Presbyterian before they came here?

Take a statistic like the one offered in Black in America last night: there are nearly twice as many black women in college as black men. Wow. That says a lot about black men in America, right? Maybe not. At the college I attended, and most [co-ed] colleges in America are following this trend more and more, there were almost twice as many females (of all races) as males. This statistic is far less indicative of a problem with black males than with the education and culture of all males in America. Some statistics are helpful, and some can be dismissed almost out of hand with a simple phrase I learned in middle school… duh.

One of the Harvard professors on the program last night, a young black man, offered his own theory that many scientists and academics ascribe to currently. Studies show that blacks have a lower life expectancy than whites in America. One of the possible contributing factors is due to salt retention. Those men that searched for and captured Africans to bring them over on rat-infested slave ships didn’t want human cargo that would use up all their water. The saltiness of your skin can tell you how well you retain water. If you retain water well, you’re more likely to need less of it and survive the ocean voyage. This is good news for your chances of living longer on a ship without water. However, this same genetic trait makes you more likely to develop hypertensive problems, heart-related health problems, which blacks die of more frequently than whites in America. The same trait that was essential to survival may well be one of the many reasons blacks do not live as long now.

Other traits that were valued in slaves may also have contributed to problems later on. In any species, including humans, if you mate for any other reason than scent, you lose advantages in resistance to disease and immunity. If you mate for one reason only (i.e. royal blood, money, fast cars, strength, large biceps or butt), you run even greater risk of health problems. This has to be taken into consideration.

This brings me to my final point. It’s been suggested that many genetic health problems would diminish if interracial dating and marriage were more widely practiced. This is, of course, yet unproven. However, the segment last night ended with discussion on the difficulty that black women face in finding black men to date. It was pointed out that 1 million more black women are employed than black men. Any woman who wants to date a man with a job is automatically at a disadvantage. There are also a dramatically high number of black men in incarceration or who were. The stigma of dating outside the racial or ethnic community is certainly strong. It remains strong particularly in Asian culture, religious Jewish culture, and is certainly not gone from white culture, although more prevalent in some communities.

However, maybe one of the first steps towards narrowing the “gaps” between races in test scores, incarceration rates, mortality, housing, and so forth may be to embrace interracial dialog and dating.

In 1967 Sydney Poitier starred in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. In 2005 Ashton Kutcher starred in a remake. The exact same tension and problems exist 38 years later. That’s not a statistic, but maybe it’s just as telling…

Weirdo

So one of my favorite bad guy actors is Brad Dourif. You won't recognize the name, but he's in TONS of stuff as the creepo. He really takes the cake. He's been in over 100 films and TV shows since the mid 1970's, as a bad guy in almost all of them (and a super creepy one at that) such as...

Law and Order (2008)
Deadwood (2004-2006)
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King- creepy sidekick to that king (2003)
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
SNL- as Chucky (1998)
Bride of Chucky- voice of Chucky (1998)
Urban Legend- creepy gas station guy
Alien: Resurrection (1997)
Star Trek: Voyager- serial killer crew member in 3 episodes (1996)
Babylon 5- a monk who was a serial killer before being reprogrammed with new memories (1995)
Escape to Witch Mountain- a chauffeur [it was Disney, first time i ever saw him] (1995)
The X-Files- serial killer that channeled the dead [most recent thing i saw him in and for which he received an Emmy nomination] (1994)
The Exorcist III- the Gemini killer (1990)
Murder, She Wrote- [episode called: Fire Burn, Cauldron Bubble- i.e. only truly creepy episode of the 70 year old Jessica Lansbury series] (1989)
Miami Vice (1987)
Moonlighting- as Father McDonovan [has a thing for creepy and priesthood] (1986)
Spenser: for Hire (1986)
Dune (1984)
Rag Time (1981)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest- Billy Bibbit [Golden Globe] (1975)

Also, he was apparently cast as the Scarecrow for Batman Forever when Tim Burton was attached to the film and was replaced by Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carey as Two-Face and the Riddler. And we all know how that turned out...

But Dourif has other skills outside screen and stage. He appeared in the music video Stranger in Town by Toto. Also, he plays the didgeridoo and is on a CD called: Eating Jello With a Heated Fork

Paper, Rock, Scissors

Paper, rock, scissors. i think this should be the new security policy of the United States airlines. Explain, you say?

Simple: Everyone boarding a plane should be given a paper bag with a rock and a pair of scissors. This way, anyone causing a ruckus or trying to take hostages, etc, will be immediately incapacitated, or discouraged altogether.

Told you, simple.

Your thoughts? Our lines are open.

Ointerjecting

Straight from the Richmond Times-Dispatch this weekend...

There is a lot of talk these days about "how far we've come" with regard to potentially having either a woman or a black man as our new president. The irony is that if we have in fact come so far, then our primary concern should be who is the best person to be president, and gender or race should be an irrelevant topic.
-Lisa Raum

Purity Police

This a subject that i find fascinating. It's one of the few subjects that i take a stand on more for secular reasons than faith or Biblical reasons. The ramifications of casual sex, both emotionally and physically or medically, are the most logical and verifiable to discuss with kids and teens. You can restrict your sex talk to: "the Bible says ____" or "Mommy and Daddy believe ____," but when they encounter someone more persuasive who says something contrary, it may or may not hold. It's gotta be more comprehensive.

Frankly, if you confront a kid with the percentages of those who get STD's from their partners and the average number of partners that sexually active teenagers have, they will never encounter a more persuasive statistic. Tell a girl that she's twice as likely to graduate from college if she remains a virgin until she graduates from high school (true), and she may be more likely to abstain than if you say, "well i did it and the Bible says so."

i finished reading an article on Purity Balls for young girls to attend with their fathers and promise that they will let their fathers be the guardians and protectors of their hearts until their husband comes along. i was appalled. This happened on two levels...

First, as someone who finds this misogynistic and takes note that not all families have a father figure, or a good one, or a Christian one, this is backwards Medieval attempt to put women in their place.

Secondly, this is NOT a Biblical concept. As a Christian, i absolutely shudder at Christians peddling this notion. You are NOT to trust in earthly powers to protect you, but only God in heaven. It is also most definitely NOT a Biblical precept that you should or have to marry. In fact, Paul encourages you to stay single if you can manage it. And in none of his letters on the subject does he say that your father should protect you from men your whole life if you do not marry.

Fathers should of course take care of their daughters, but they should be taught to trust in God for protection or "purity," not their earthly father, if they have one present.

What i most appreciated was the end to the article. It balances the conservative and liberal viewpoints on this in a level-headed way i can totally get on board with.

"If you listen long enough, you wonder if there us really such a profound disagreement about what parents want for their children. Culture war by its nature pours salt in wounds, finds divisions where there could be common purpose. Purity is certainly a loaded word- but is there anyone who thinks it's a good idea for 12-year-olds to have sex? Or a bad idea for fathers to be engaged in the lives of their daughters and promise to practice what they preach? ...On the one hand, for all the conservative outcry, there is no evidence that giving kids complete and accurate information about sex and contraception encourages promiscuity. On the other, a purity pledge basically says that sex is serious. That it's not to be entered into recklessly. To deny kids information, whether about contraception or chastity, is irresponsible; to mock or dismiss as an unrealistic goal of personal responsibility in all its forms may suit the culture, but it gives kids too little power, too little control over their decisions, as though they're incaple of making good ones. The research suggests they may be more capable of high standards than parents are."

This Just In

Lots of people are buzzing about the New Yorker's latest cover. As i designed my own recent New Yorker cover, i was curious. James Poniewozik of Time wrote this week's Tuned In article on the matter. i don't always agree with the man, and i do agree that there are times for restraint. However, i do have to agree with him. When we live in a world that is surprised that the Daily Show or the New Yorker will indeed take a shot at our politicians, we live in a naive world.

I'd like to quote Poniewozik here, "Comedy, good comedy, is not just unsafe; it's uncontrollable- satire most of all. Satire takes a real position and exaggerates it to the point of absurdity. By nature, it is, if it is any good, subject to interpretation. The knock on the New Yorker cover was like the old critique of Archie Bunker: that some idiot bigot somewhere might take it literally and enjoy it... Satirists don't make crystal clear how you're supposed to read their work. They don't give you a road map to correct thinking, because a joke explained is neither funny nor persuasive."

It seems to me that a politician running an ad that included this as some sort of smear campaign would be inappropriate, but people tune in to SNL and the Daily Show and read the New Yorker for satire of those they hate AND those they love. It's an American tradition. But someone will always be offended, and that's part of the reason it continues. It's hardly satire if someone isn't, especially a politician or electoral candidate.

To quote Samuel Clemens, "Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

One Dark Knight

Victor and Tiny and I headed to see The Dark Knight last night at midnight. It was absolutely worth the hype. It was sold out for 5 showings at our theater. We couldn't all sit together and we were relatively early.

Excepting Liam Neeson, all the big names were back and then some. Christian Bale returned, Morgan Freeman, Michael Cain, and Gary Oldman. They gave the movie another boost by replacing Katie Homes with Maggie Gyllenhal, who was a much more believable feisty ADA. In addition, Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking) entered as Harvey Dent, the Gotham DA. He was phenomenal, an exceptional choice for the role.

As many people probably went to see Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, i doubt anyone left disappointed. He was totally unrecognizable and an absolutely deliciously demonic adversary. He took the film to another level of scariness, tragedy, pain, and hatred that the character was meant to embody. It was astounding. There's nothing that induces fear and hatred of a character like a truly believable villain. Ledger will go down in film history for this.

In addition to a superb cast, that also drew a tremendous number of character actors, the story was exceptional. It indeed picked up where the other had left off and covered a lot of the essential story of Batman. It didn't neglect the lore and storyline in favor of action, and yet was one of the most action-packed movies i've ever seen. It covered the topic of vigilante copy-cats, the rise of Commissioner Gordon and the friendship of Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne. It addressed the limits of Batman's power and justice within the bounds of the criminal justice system. It broke other boundaries, as Batman traveled to Hong Kong in the film.

As an action film, it does not disappoint, even for a moment. The gadgets are more intense and sexier than the first film. The action sequences are mind-blowing. You could tell how surprised people were in the packed theater. As a person with a real concept for "this isn't real," and never being surprised or scared by movies, i jumped a number of times in shock and surprise last night, a rare delight. Do not take your mother to see this. It was intense, dark, scary, and gut-wrenching. i give it five stars, and that goes to only maybe 3 movies i've seen the past 5 years.

Go see it.

No scene after the credits.

Super tempting preview: Christian Bale, next summer, Terminator

Weddings and Funerals

For those of you here in Richmond, you know that one of our community went missing last weekend. On Monday, she was found, a drowning victim in the James River. Her husband is a PhD student here at Union and was one of my TA's for Old Testament. He's a really nice, mild-mannered man and his wife Rosa was incredibly sweet. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations to a group that helps the street children of Lima, Peru, a ministry she was passionate about.

But in every week of bad news and tragedy, there is a celebration of good news and life. Today, for the first time at Union-PSCE, a wedding was held during a Chapel Service. Our Chaplain, Edna Banes gave a meditation, and Sygman Rhee presided over the vows. My polity professor, Dr Ken McFadden was married to my friend and coworker, PhD student, Narola. I didn't realize it was happening until today, but it was open to the community. It was also a neat multi-cultural experience as Dr Rhee is a defector from North Korea originally and Narola wore her traditionally styled Indian white dress and wrap. Ken even more a traditional sash over his shoulder with his suit. The best man is another man i worked with, Mungistu, from West Africa.

Show me the Money

If you haven't seen Jerry McGuire, no biggie. There's a Facebook petition currently to ban the "sexual" advertisements that are generated in the left column. i was sort of surprised. i've never seen anything i would consider offensive. i've seen shirtless guys and girls in t-shirts and bathing suits, but um, don't you see the same thing at the YMCA (that's young men's christian association for those of you who don't know)?

The person who started the petition seems to think that facebook should be a "safe Haven," which i was convinced was not the goal when they allowed everyone in high school and then the entire world to join, just like myspace. That's like saying you thought a public beach was supposed to be a safe haven and suddenly people are showing up in bikini's. And to be perfectly honest, i love the girls in t-shirt ads. They're always cute and the t-shirts are usually pretty funny. Besides, it's not like you can get back to some sort of innocent yesteryear. This ad is from a 1955 Newspaper.

My immediate reaction though was not, "what's so offensive," but "are you serious? Do you really think this is gonna stop facebook?" Frankly, i think the millions in advertising outweighs any amount of mullah these kids (or their parents) are cranking into the database. i just don't see them buckling to overprotective naivety. Not seeing it.

It reminded me of what David LaMotte said this weekend at his concert (folk singer rock star for those of you not in the know). He thanked us for being there. He said that he knew millions of dollars had been spent to persuade us to be in front of our TV's on that Saturday night and that we were true rebels fighting the system. We laughed. But like most things, we laughed at it's sheer and sad truth. Money makes the world go round and sometimes people find a way to stop it from turning with mere words or actions. So i say "march on," to the facebook petitioners, although i don't foresee much hope for them...

PBB CD for the Alum

This year, i made a new CD for the returning Project Burning Bush 2007 crew that returned to share their mentored projects. This is the list...

POD - Youth of a Nation

Joan Baez – One Tin Soldier

The Flobots – Handlebars

Billy Joel (as sung by Cass Dillon) – Christmas in Fallujah

Kanye West – Jesus Walks

Everclear – Father of Mine

David M. Bailey – Rome

Weezer – Pork and Beans

Woody Gutherie (sung by Arlo Gutherie & Hoyt Axton) – Deportees

Knock Here

This is the sermon i preached at ARPC on Sunday, June 29th, in Charlotte. It's the first time i preached at my home church, of which i've been a member for over 20 years. To give you some slight background, this is a church on the corner of Albemarle Rd and Harris Blvd in Charlotte, which is the highest traffic exchange in the largest city in NC. It used to be on the outskirts of town, suburbs nearly in the country. In the years since i first attended, the neighborhood has changed greatly as the city expanded. It is no longer a mostly white middle class area of town, but an area of minorities, immigrants, high turn over apartments, and homeless. The congregation, however, is still the same, but most of it travels an average of 20 minutes to get there on Sundays.

This is the sermon from last Sunday...

Knock Here

In the story Les Miserables, the character Jean Valjean is imprisoned for five years for stealing bread for his starving sister and her family. When he is finally released, he walks many miles in the cold and tries to find lodging in a tavern or an inn. Knowing that he is a criminal, poor and homeless, they all throw him out without a bite to eat or even a stable to stay in. He even gets chased out of a dog house by a bull dog.

As he begins to try and make himself comfortable on a stone bench, a kind woman sees him there and offers him some of her very few pennies. She apologizes that it’s not enough to obtain lodging but maybe someone would offer him charity and a place to stay. He tells her that he has been turned out everywhere he has tried.

“You have knocked at every door?” she asks.

“Yes.”

Pointing at the church next door, she inquirers, “Have you knocked at that one there?”

“No.”

“Knock there.”

I’ve always thought of ARPC as a very welcoming place. It’s full of people I consider family. They are people who warmly welcomed my mother when she first came toting a very energetic toddler who liked to steal the golf pencils from the pews (that’s why we don’t have them any more, by the way). And Mrs. Brown still extends a monthly invitation to my father to join the choir. They called her and they encouraged her and they nurtured me and Kelley. There are men and women in this congregation who should be nominated for saint hood solely because they taught Sunday school and chaperoned retreats for me and Justin Stritch. We were blessed. We were received…. We were welcomed…. We were accepted.

You see, even in 1815 in France, the Church was a place for those in need, but those in need didn’t all know they could find refuge there. Perhaps the Church today is much the same. Perhaps churches are not unwelcoming places for the poor, the sick, and the lonely, but simply a well kept secret. Might the church need to do a little more advertising? The church is declining. The PC(USA) is shrinking. The Charlotte Presbytery is losing members. Maybe if the Church were as persistent as the folks who want you to switch your long distance plan it would be growing. Or if the Church was as omnipresent as Marine recruitment officers and Avon sales ladies… it would be growing. Or if the church was as likely to invite you into their home as grandma, maybe then… the Church would be growing.

The question I want to press today is what does it mean to truly receive, welcome, and accept? This church, like many churches, does a wonderful job of welcoming those from other denominations and faiths, other ethnicities and cultures. I think God tells us quite pointedly in scripture that welcoming, receiving, and accepting means more than smiling at everyone who walks in the door. They even do that at Wal-Mart… and they give out stickers. I think these words carry much greater meaning for those of us who call ourselves Christians. If we were to understand these words as passive, the great commission would look very different. Jesus would have instructed the Disciples to build a large church on the outskirts of town, in the suburbs and send fliers out to the rest of Jerusalem and the Roman Empire, inviting them to Sunday services and youth group, advertising their nursery and choir. Instead, Christ told them to go out to all nations.

In fact, there are countless stories in scriptures that illustrate this. When the prodigal son returns home, does his father fix up the spare room and wait for him to stroll in the front door? No. He goes running to him on the road and hurries him inside the house. Does the shepherd who loses his sheep keep calling the little sheep’s name, sitting under a tree, waiting for his return? No. Where does Ron stand every Lord’s day before service? In his office? Or does he go outside and welcome you in?

“Whoever receives and welcomes and accepts…”

Many of you have grown up in this church or… you came so long ago that you feel like you’ve always been a member. I’ve been a member for more than twenty years. Have you ever asked yourself, “Would I feel welcome as a visitor?”

Do you have a job? A family? A home? A car? Your health? If you have any or all of those things, maybe you’re asking the wrong question. Maybe you should be asking yourself, “If I were someone else, would I feel welcome as a visitor?”

ARPC has welcomed the worshipping communities led by three new worshipping communities; a Latino church, an African church, and soon, a Lutheran church that reaches out to the handicap community. We’ve opened our doors and our community to new cultures. However, would you feel welcome if the nicest thing you had to wear here to church was a pair of sweatpants, and a Good Will jean jacket? Would you feel welcome if those things smelled so bad that no one would want to sit directly next to you?

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

These are the words that end The New Colossus. They appear on the base of the Statue of Liberty. They have rarely reflected the immigration policy of the United States. As someone recently said, “It now reads, ‘No Vacancies.’” Many people have argued that this naïve poem is no way to run a country. Maybe it’s not. But it’s exactly how we are called… … to run a church.

“Whoever receives and welcomes and accepts…”

Just over twenty years ago, my parents and I lived just down the road on Farm Pond Lane by what used to be the Drug Emporium and within walking distance of Eastland Mall. This neighborhood has changed a lot since then. This church does so much to help the homeless through Room in the Inn. ARPC recently honored Mary Ann Ogle for her role in that life-changing ministry. What would it take to be a church that truly receives, welcomes, and accepts this community in an active way, both as a place to sleep and eat and feel safe, AS WELL AS a place to worship? Would things have to change? Would you stay in this congregation if it did? Can a bridge be built between Thursday evening and Sunday morning?

Singer, song writer David Bailey wrote a song based on the true events that transpired in a small Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. A homeless man, by the name of Big Joe hears singing as he walks past the church. So he “takes a step inside,” where he, “finds a bunch of well dressed folks who looked like they were trying to hide.” Hearing, “All ye who are hungry…” he wanders down the aisle hoping that means free food. He gets a little piece of bread and then a little Presbyterian-sized cup of… grape juice. Naturally, being hungry and poor, he notes that there’s still a half of loaf left over and could he take it home? After all, he’s got hungry friends too and they’re right there in the neighborhood.

Before you know it, the ushers and elders are in a “heated debate.” I’m sure none of you can imagine Don Blackmon or Art Parker or Jane Hutchko in such a situation. What’s the big deal? Use of communion elements? Disrupting the flow of worship? This is not in the bulletin. This guy doesn’t know how this works. No. He doesn’t. Why should he? Well, in the midst of this, Miss Betty, who makes the sacred elements each week runs off to the kitchen, and fills a basket full of bread. “You give this to your friends and you come on back next week,” she tells him. He smiles.

“As you’ve done for them, you’ve done for me.”

Amen.

Independence Day

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with one another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitled them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

This is how the Deceleration of Independence begins. If this doesn't sound familiar, please go locate it.

If you happen to have a copy of this handy, read it today. i keep one at my desk. If you don't have one, they are often quite cheap.

And what happened to those signers we celebrate today?
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. He never saw any of his family again. How many of us would show such sacrifice under similar circumstances today.