That We All May Be One

Not an “Ascension”

Up, up, up, up and away.

Now he fills all things!

On a whim, I ordered a DVD of Otto Preminger’s 1960 film Exodus. It was based on Leon Uris’ fine novel of the same name and starred Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb and Sal Mineo! How’s that for a cast? It was a bit long at 3 hours 28 minutes (!) and considerably dated in its dialogue and special effects. But it was set on location in Israel/Palestine and the photography quite beautiful for its time.

It is set in 1948 and chronicles the rebirth of a people and the lead-up to the establishment of the state of Israel. The lead character, played by Newman, is Ari Ben Canaan (said to have been based loosely on the real-life Yitzak Rabin) who is a commander of the underground and who leads some 600 Jews from the detention camps of Cyprus onto a large freighter bound for Palestine. But British forces learn of his plan and insist that he turn back. Undaunted, the Jews refuse to give up and risk their lives for the greater cause of Israeli independence. Much blood is shed and the film concludes without a real conclusion and with Newman and his troops headed off into one more battle.

Whenever I get fed up with Benjamin Netanyahu’s strong arm tactics and policies of the Israeli government which trample upon the rights of the Palestinian people today, I try to remember that there is a reason why the world’s Jews seem paranoid and why they do not think their incredible military might (today funded and supported by the United States in large part) is unnecessary. As they old saying goes, “Just because you’re paranoid, that doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you!”

Yes, in many ways the oppressed have become the oppressor once again, this time in the state of Israel and I reserve the right to be critical of the Israeli government without for one minute conceding to the charge of anti-Semitism. I criticize my own government, but am not thereby un-American. I have allied myself with “J Street,” a Washington based pro-Israel, pro justice and peace lobby who continue to strive for a viable two-state solution in the Holy Land.

For, was it not a two-state solution that was initially envisioned? Near the end of Exodus Newman speaks at the burial of a boyhood Arab friend and a young Jewish girl, side by side, in the rocky soil of Palestine. He vows that, just as these two sleep together in death, one day Arab and Jew will live together, in this same land, side by side, in peace.

This story was set in 1948. The lines were spoken spoken in 1960. It is now 2016.

How long, O Lord?

We lost another prophet on Saturday. The Rev. Daniel J. Berrigan, a Jesuit priest and poet who was active in anti-war activities in the 1960s…and ever since. When I entered seminary in 1969 Dan and his brother, Philip, were heroes to many of us.

We were an interesting mixture on the seminary campuses of the late 1960s — some of us right off college campuses where we had marched for civil rights and against the Viet Nam war, some of us returning Viet Nam vets reassessing what they had seen and done in the light of their new-found, or renewed faith. But most all of us admired the Berrigans because we knew that, as the New York Times has it today:

“It was an essentially religious position (for them) based on a stringent reading of the Scriptures that some called pure and others radical. But it would have explosive political consequences as (the Berrigans)…and their allies took their case to the streets with rising disregard for the law or their personal fortunes.”

They were more radical than many of us: burning Selective Service draft records in Catonsville, Md.; hammering missile warheads in Pennsylvania; blocking the entrance to the Intrepid naval museum in Manhattan — Daniel the ascetic poet and Phillip a decorated hero of WW II. I sometimes questioned their tactics, but never their courage or their integrity.

And lest we think that we can slack off on our efforts for peace and justice today, that things have gotten better since the 1960s and 70s, hear this troubling comment from Daniel Berrigan just six short years ago in The Nation magazine, “This is the worst time of my long life. I have never had such meager expectations of the system.”

If he was still well enough, in his long illness, to keep up with the political machinations of today and the meager expectations so many of us have of Congress, he may well have been just as glad to close his eyes for the last time, knowing that even in this long night, he lit more than a few candles rather than being content to curse the darkness.

Whether or not it proves to be the case that Prince’s death was caused by an overdose of painkillers (like Michael Jackson’s) the problems we have in this country with opioids is massive. It’s a very different, and in someways a more complicated, problem than other kinds of drug addiction like heroin or cocaine. These drugs are often prescribed by doctors and the user becomes addicted slowly while trying to manage the symptoms of real and chronic pain.

We simply have to get on top of this issue because, as more and more of us live longer and longer, more and more families are going to be confronted with the need for so-called palliative care. Failing that, increasing numbers of people are going to join voices as different as the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, and talk show host, Diane Rehm, who are calling for legislation commonly called “the right to die.” In other words, physician assisted suicide.

I am conflicted personally about that approach. My church, and most others, continues to speak against this kind of suicide, pointing to the value to human life to the very end and to the slippery slope which could lead to elders being taking advantage of by relatives all too happy to speed us on our way. Invariably, they point to such things as hospice care and palliative care (including opioids and other pain killing drugs)as doing away with the need for anyone to suffer unrelenting pain and agony in their last stages of life.

That, however, is easier stated than demonstrated in practice. My wife and I walked with her mother during the last years and months of a painfully degenerative illness which led to her increasing use of oxycodone and other such medications.  At the end, they barely touched her pain and, like Diane Rehm’s late husband, she eventually stopped eating and drinking, we are convinced, in order to hasten her own demise and end the suffering she had to endure for all too long.

For, in order to avoid tragedies like Prince’s, doctors are often extremely careful about how much pain killing medication they are willing to prescribe. The pollyanna view that “no one need die in pain anymore” is simply false.

If, holier than thou religious types wish to pontificate about refusing to support physician assisted suicide, perhaps they had better spend more time at the bedsides and in the homes of, especially, the poor who do indeed continue to die in pain and who wish nothing more than to follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ who, at the last, “bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30c)

The following is a Letter to the Editor I submitted to the Quad City Times today in response to a  vitriolic Op Ed piece in support of the Iowa legislature’s recent decision not to support the BDS movement:

Was Jesus An Anti-Semite?

While I too oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against companies doing business in Israel, I completely reject Denise Bubeck’s April 29 op ed piece which describes BDS as “virulently anti-Semitic and call(ing) for the destruction of Israel.” The BDS movement is, rather, a means of peaceful, non-violent resistance to an Israeli government which consistently violates the human rights of Palestinians, ignoring their biblical mandate to care for the stranger and sojourner in the land.

This movement, analogous to the successful protest actions against South Africa which eventually helped to bring down apartheid, is backed by many whom I know personally to love Israel (as Jesus did) but who are willing to criticize her when she falls short of her own noble aspirations as a people (which Jesus also did). Brubeck’s charge of anti-Semitism is typical of those who define any disagreement or opposition to the Israeli government as anti-Semitic. Was Jesus an anti-Semite?

Having said all that, I reiterate that I oppose BDS and do not believe it is a successful strategy, even while having some sympathy with those who, out of frustration and compassion for the Palestinian people, support it. If you too are concerned about the Israel/Palestine issue and want to do something constructive, why not join me as a member of “J Street,” a Washington based pro-Israel, pro peace lobby seeking justice as well as peace in the land of the Holy One. Go to jstreet.org to see more.

I think in many ways Jesus gives us one of his scariest commandments on the Fifth Sunday of Easter! He says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35).

Well, you say, why should that be so scary? Sounds like a simple command to me – love one another.  Of course we should do that!  Yet, it may not be as simple as it sounds when first we hear it.  For one thing, Jesus does not simply say: “Love one another,” does he? He says, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

And just how did Jesus love his disciples? Well, he left his home and family in order to prepare himself to give his entire energy and attention to teaching and forming those disciples into the kind of community which could carry on God’s mission when Jesus’ earthly work was done.

He spent three tough years traveling about Galilee and Judea, living on the generosity of strangers, putting himself in jeopardy time and time again by hanging around with people who were unacceptable to “polite society,” teaching a dangerous message about the kingdom of God and, in the process, alienating both the religious establishment and the political “powers that be” because they were so threatened by that message.

Jesus concluded that public ministry by marching into the teeth of the opposition in the holy city of Jerusalem, fully aware that there was a plot against his life and that such public preaching would likely lead to his arrest, “trial”, and execution. And that those twelve disciples he had so carefully and lovingly nurtured would probably cave in and desert him when the going got rough, leaving him a spectacle of failure in the eyes of most people.

That’s how much Jesus loved his disciples! Enough to give himself totally to them, make their education and formation his highest priority, model the kind of life he expected them to live no matter how dangerous that was, and ultimately forgive them for betraying him and running away after all he had done for them!  And that is the kind of love Jesus commands us to have for one another! That’s the kind of love we are to have for one another right here at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church!

But it gets worse than that! For Jesus goes on to say: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another!” In other words, it was not because of their brilliant teaching or miraculous healings that people would know that they were Jesus’ disciples. It was not because of their piety or even their holiness that people would know that they were Jesus’ disciples. It was to be because of how they loved each other that people would know.

I think that must have been in Peter’s mind in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles as he wrestles with whether God could possibly accept these filthy, unclean Gentles also as disciples of Jesus Christ!  All Peter’s life he had been taught that these people were sinners, that they were so unclean that he would be putting himself in jeopardy just by eating with them…or even by eating the same kind of food that they ate! Now, he has become convinced that God is saying ‘not to make a distinction between them and us…and that “what God has made clean” he was not to call profane! (Acts 11: 12, 9)

In other words, he was being asked to love people he never thought he could love because it was only by doing so that they, and people around them, would know that he was a disciple of Jesus! He was beginning to learn that, while John the Baptist, had baptized with water, he and these Gentiles were baptized with the Holy Spirit – with God’s Spirit…with the Spirit of love!

Well, this morning we will be confirming and receiving into The Episcopal Church! And that means that we are going to be praying for the strengthening in their lives of that same Holy Spirit…with God’s Spirit…with the Spirit of love.

And you, members of their families and members of this parish, are going to promise that you will “do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ.” You’re going to promise to pray and to be the kind of witnesses which will help these people grow into the full stature of Christ…and that you are going to support them in their Christian life.

Do you know that that’s going to require of you?  It’s going to require that you make the kind of sacrifices for them and for St. Mark’s, Glen Ellyn that Jesus made for his disciples! You’re going to have to be willing to work and pray and give so that St. Mark’s Church will be around for years and decades to come to nurture these folks in their Christian faith and life.

You’re going to have to build up this community by meeting in small groups and loving one another – through thick and thin, whether you agree with one another or not (frankly, whether you even like one another or not!) – with the kind of love Jesus had for his disciples. Because it is only when people see that kind of love that they will know that you are Jesus’ disciples, and will be drawn to join you here!

Because ultimately, it will not be because of our beautiful liturgy (as much as we love it) that people will know we are Jesus’ disciples. It will not be because of our fine music program (as beautiful as it is!) that people will know we are Jesus’ disciples. It will not be because of eloquent words from this pulpit that people will know we are Jesus’ disciples.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, “Jesus said, “If…you have love for one another!”

What kind of love? Sacrificial, risking, patient, forgiving love – for one another. “Just as I have loved you, “Jesus said, “You also should love one another.”

Remember that, beloved, if you want this church to grow…and to be around…and to make a difference! Love one another. As he loves you!

As this Tuesday of the New York presidential primary dawns, I continue to be conflicted in my support of the Democratic candidates. The fact that “my heart’s with Bernie, but my head’s with Hillary” is demonstrated by the fact that I continue to support him with a monthly donation (more than his average $27 supporters, but fully aligning with them) while not giving her a cent (because she doesn’t need it) even though I was a delegate for her at our Democratic District Convention here in eastern Iowa.

As a catholic Christian (though not a Roman Catholic one) how could I not love a politician who, according to the National Catholic Reporter, has “embraced decades of Catholic social teaching in a brief visit to the Vatican Friday, lambasting some particularly American aspects of the global market system in a bid to match his voice to Pope Francis’ cry against the ‘new idols’ of money and wealth.”

How could one who has preached and taught and tried to live such social teachings for over four decades not agree with Bernie Sanders when he said, “I am told time and time again by the rich and powerful, and the mainstream media that represent them, that we should be ‘practical’, that we should accept the status quo; that a truly moral economy is beyond our reach”

“Yet Pope Francis himself is surely the world’s greatest demonstration against such a surrender to despair and cynicism,” Sanders continued, “He has opened the eyes of the world once again to the claims of mercy, justice and the possibilities of a better world. He is inspiring the world to find a new global consensus for our common home.”

Wow, preach it, Bernie!

While I continue to believe that Hillary Clinton, should she be elected, is more likely to be able to lead in taking incremental steps toward some of these same goals, I am mightily impressed by Senator Sanders’ integrity and decades-long consistency in his advocacy of economic justice and equality for all. I have said before that I will support him enthusiastically should he win the nomination.

But, as the Supreme Court seems poised to overturn Barack Obama’s signature accomplishment on immigration and as the Congress continues to block any and all progressive moves by the Administration, my fear is that four years of Bernie Sanders will, once again, lead to more gridlock and disillusionment as a Republican legislature will unite in trying to sabotage anything such a liberal President will try to accomplish.

Then again, those same “Hillary haters” may well frustrate her attempts to work across the aisle just as they have President Obama’s. The only real hope is for the Democratic nominee to bring along, on his or her coat-tails, more “down the line” candidates for the Senate and House, actually pulling off the “political revolution” Sanders is calling for. I wish Bernie was working as hard at this as Hillary is (the real purpose of those embarrassing George Clooney fund raisers!)

It’s a quandary.

But I am proud to support a political party which has put forth two candidates — a democratic socialist and a woman with a long history of working for women’s rights and children’s issues along with vast experience in international relations. It goes without saying that either one of these dedicated public servants will serve us better than any of the clowns on the GOP side.

It’s hard to overstate the symbolic significance of events surrounding Pope Francis’ recent trip to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last week. First of all, the media-savvy pontiff was well aware that his very visit would shed the light of the world’s press on the faces of these victims of the greatest human tragedy in our current time.

Secondly, of course, he not only  visited the refugee community he “walked his talk” by flying twelve Syrian refugees back to Rome. Even he admitted that this was but “a drop of water in the sea” of Europe’s migration crisis, but if every Christian community in the world would follow his model, there would be no refugee crisis anywhere in the world.

Related items got little attention: He made this visit with the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, representing the Orthodox churches. This great man, often known as the “Green Patriarch” because of his strong environmental stands, was sadly neglected by most press reports and yet is the titular head of the second largest Christian communion in the world just as Francis is the actual leader of the largest. This ecumenical gesture is the latest in a movement toward healing the split between East and West in the Christian world which has existed for more than a thousand years.

Ecumenism extended to inter-religious awareness as the twelve Syrian refugees (members of three families) turned out to be Muslims, not Christians. This sends a clear message to the world about the need better to integrate Muslims into Western society because, Francis said, “Their privilege is that they are children of God.” In other words, human beings.

The Roman Catholic community of Sant’Egidio will actually welcome these refugees into their headquarters in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood. I have worshiped, broken bread, and traveled with this amazing, primarily lay-led charitable community which has quietly led to instances reconciliation around the world and daily feeds and shelters members of the “Roma” (or gypsy) community in the city of Rome. They, like the Bishop of Rome, are examples of Christianity at its finest, putting flesh around the spirit of love demonstrated by the religion’s Founder.

Finally, just before his departure, the Pope met briefly with U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Some have decried this as an openly political move by Sanders even while Pope Francis described it as “good manners and nothing more.” Actually, it was both. Sanders genuinely admires Francis’ “democratic socialism” (otherwise known as Catholic social teaching) and is married to a Roman Catholic.

But he could not have been unaware how this would have played with desired Catholic voters in New York who will be voting in the primary this Tuesday. Nor could Francis — again, extremely politically and socially aware — have failed to know what kind of signal he was sending about his admiration for (and support of?) Senator Sanders.

I just think this brief trip was an amazing and extremely effective gesture which reveals with startling clarity how the twin poles of “the Jesus Movement” (evangelism and reconciliation) so often spoken of by our own Presiding Bishop Michael Curry can come together seamlessly.

In the words of one young Facebook commentator on Pope Francis’ recent trip: “This guy is the real deal!”