Teaching Moments

Some reading on this Friday morning that offered more perspective for me as I continue to sort my feelings and seek to understand how the President has benefited from a Twitter storm and public persona of “don’t look at what I do, just listen to what I say.”  With a pitch perfect tuning fork he touched the notes of classism, tribal racism, and twenty years of shout radio in the form of Limbaugh and little Limbaughs.  Sixty plus million of my neighbors in America preferred a caricature of Archie Bunker to be the President of these somewhat united States. Well, you got it and all the blemishes that come with it.  Is your bank account worth it?  Is the rage at demographic change worth it? Is America’s place as a leader in world affairs worth it?  My neighbors find a way to rationalize their “yes”.  I get it.  I rationalize my choices as well.  The #bigotinchief resides in the White House when he is not taking taxpayers money golfing at one of his resorts and enriching himself via the Oval Office (all in the public record).
Is this a teaching moment?

Behavior, language, and anti-intellectualism that once embarrassed has coopted GOP States Congregational representatives as they gloss over the open bigotry and economic conflict of interest of this President.  They openly supported the unconstitutional block of former President Obama’s ability to appoint a judge to the Supreme Court that would have changed the balance of the court.  Too much change.  Marriage equality.  Too much change.  Regulated capitalism rather than wild west buyer beware.  Too much change.  Quality and shared equality in education.  Too much change.  Regulated military weapons in the public domain.  Too much change.  “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.  Hate leads to suffering.”  Yes, Yoda, we see it and feel it.

The status quo of America is caucasian supremacy, and some believe it Christian, though that is not historically accurate when you meet the founders honestly.  What religious convictions they had were Deists in nature.  And, America a a specific religious Nation is a damaging image of Christendom the way ISIS damages Islam and Zionism damages Judaism.  Systemic caucasian supremacy, that no one wants to admit in a Nation that proclaims to be “the land of the free and home of the brave”, that supremacy has gone about nullifying the a non-white President who, like Jackie Robinson, broke a color barrier.  It will do the same to the first female President.  That change, though celebrated by many, threatened the old script of caucasian male supremacy. Our current President is the natural political backlash to the pace of change: demographic, economic, and religious.  He gave segments of our citizens people to blame for their situation in life.  Observe the evidence of his life.  President Trump has never taken responsibility for his own bankruptcies, personal failure, or bad decisions.  He has never spoken of his culpability in his previous marriages ending in divorce?  He is never responsible, unless it is a perceived “good” and never wrong.  Yes, this is an Occam’s Razor explanation.  A teaching moment?

A thought experiment.  Remove the name of this President and party affiliation. With the evidence we know in the public record, it is clear that the President benefited from the aid of a foreign government to get elected.  That foreign government recognized the opportunity to alter our Nation from the inside the way our Nation helped alter the former Soviet Union.  How should our Government proceed in holding itself, the system, and the President accountable?  Observable evidence indicates that politicians, Government systems, and the President rely on credit default swamps on their character to realign our Nation toward greater segregation at all levels.

We are living through a time of systemic teaching moments.  Our Nation will have to borrow form South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission as we outgrow caucasian male supremacy in this century.  We need leaders that can help Americans reconcile without needing a Nation or person labeled “the enemy.”  Ideas are easier to change than beliefs.  It’s not our better nature.  It’s our shared National moral compass that has given the United States moments of being a light upon a hill to the Nations as we rummage through and right our deficiencies in public view.  Teaching moments.

And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mold a new reality
Closer to the heart
Closer to the heart
[Rush, A Farewell to Kings, “Closer to the Heart.” (Mercury) 1977]

 

‘Vision, Chutzpah and Some Testosterone’
Letters to the Editor from Trump Supporters, The New York Times, January 17, 2018

An Exit From Trumpocracy
David Frum, The Atlantic, January 18, 2018

The Decline of Anti-Trumpism
David Brooks, The New York Times, January 8, 2018

, 01/19/2018. Category: Culture, Michael D.

a Question for the Day

One of the sites I visit most days is Gratefulness.org.  A nonprofit that encourages persons to find, experience, and share gratitude.  It offers many ways for a person to be intentional in thinking about and even practicing gratitude.  I’ve determined that as often as possible, I will post my answer for the daily question.  To begin, I’m choosing a question that is from last week, but is relevant to my experience of late.

Who has passed from your life and left you more grateful for knowing them?

There is a long list of persons that I could name in answering this question.  You probably have a similar experience.  People pass from this life to the next reality through violent action and in peace hourly.  Some unexpected and sudden.  Others linger and struggle.  Unlike many clergy, I’ve never been a witness to a person’s death.  That moment when the residue of the divine is released, not from a captive state, but from this experience of living however short or long. Released as if abandoning a body that can no longer sustain life back into the essence of creation that cannot be seen, but is trusted to be there.  Believed to be there in some form no matter the religion one practices or philosophy one follows.  And in those moments when life departs it is hard for the living to embrace the promises of God, by whatever name you call God, or be as full of the Force as Yoda, “Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealously. The shadow of greed, that is.”  We mourn and grieve.  The promises of God comfort through the response of those still living with us and around us. But the work of grief is ours alone.

When I was in seminary, Dr. William Baird taught New Testament and Greek.  Though my native language I often struggle with the written form of English.  Grammar was not my best subject prior to college and seminary.  Had I only paid more attention diagraming sentences in junior high or high school, learning to read and translate ancient Greek may have come much easier.  I had the opportunity to study with these two men who loved the text and teaching others to find their own love, or at least respect, for the ancient Greek from which we make and take our translations of the New Testament.  They both had the hardest time telling a student a translation of a word or passage was wrong.  “That’s not quite right Mr. Davison.  Almost.  Try again.  What does that verb form tell you about the sentence?  What does the context of the passage tell you about that word and it’s meaning?  Try again.”  Memory work was important to success and I did enough to do “C” and sometimes “B” work for these masters of ancient Greek.  I appreciated their patience and steady encouragement, but the practice and work was mine to do, daily.

Some years after seminary my companion and I saw Dr. Baird at a conference.  He had retired from active teaching.  Same smile and tone as he greeted us.  In the conversation we asked what he was doing in retirement.  He mentioned projects and books.  “I rise early each morning and spend an hour translating the text.  There is still so much to learn.”  Dr. Baird loved his God.  Dr. Baird loved the Church that invited people into the journey of following Jesus and wrestling with stories about his life and the stories of those who, after the time of Jesus, struggled with Jesus and proclaimed him as Christ.  Dr. Baird loved the ancient text and respected it like it was a living being.  He couldn’t give that love of the text to his students, but he set for us an example.

, 01/17/2018. Category: Michael D.
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