Promises Promises

Let me have a show of hands. How many have already broken their New Year’s resolutions? Aha. Just as I thought!

So, what are New Year’s resolutions, anyway? Or, is it New Year resolutions? Whatever. How did we get into that good habit? When did all this “promises made, promises broken” begin? I wrote about this two years ago, but it’s worth revisiting.

The celebration of the New Year was first observed in ancient Babylon. Around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now March 23.

The tradition of the New Year's celebrations , however, goes back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar. The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. Depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back, he could look backward and forward at the same time. At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back at the old year and forward to the new. The Romans began a tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year's Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune.( We party. )

In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to December 25, the birth of Christ. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1. 

So, ever since primitive man, New Year’s Day has been recognized as a day on which rites were done to abolish the past so there could be a clean slate for the New Year. But, sorry to say, there is no record of making “resolutions” to do this or that but, there was a strong implication to improve behavior caused by the looking ahead.  

OK. Breaking bad habits is one thing, but renewing good habits is quite another.  Gym? Daily walks?  Being better Christians, like loving your neighbor as yourself. What? Loving your neighbor? Now, that’s tough. Is it ever.   

It’s not the end of the world if you’ve broken your resolutions to stop smoking or overeating. But, it could be the end of your future world, figuratively speaking, if, for one example, you failed to obey Christ’s commandment to love your neighbor. Not liking your neighbor, but loving your neighbor. Respecting. Not gossiping.The condition of our soul is infinitely more important than the condition of our body. That’s not to say that we should be careless with our physical well being, but that we should be just as careful with the condition of our souls.

So, if you have started your diet or thrown away your cigarettes, your physical body will be grateful. But, if, for another example, you’ve returned to church, the gym for your spiritual body, if you will, your soul will be eternally grateful.

Eternally. 

Happy New Year.

Remember the Little Drummer Boy

Like the song says, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And buying gifts for those we love should be a heartwarming experience. Unfortunately, it can be a heart-pounding experience, a chore, an obligation, and at some stores, a terrible time of pushing, shoving and, ye gads, sometimes even fistfights.

                             Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
                             A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
                           

How did Christmas get wrapped in gaudy commercialism?   

                             Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
                             To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
                             rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

I’ve written about this before, but worth revisiting. The custom of giving gifts to loved ones on a special day in winter probably began in ancient Rome where people gave these gifts as part of their year end celebration to honor Saturn, the god of harvest. The festivities began in the middle of December and continued until January 1st.  It was in 350 A.D. that Pope Julius I declared December 25 as the official date for celebrating the birth of Christ.

                              

                  So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
                  When we come.
                  Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum

Saturnalia was considered a festive time for Romans, but Christians believed it an abomination to honor a pagan god. Eventually, the Church was successful in removing the merriment, lights and gifts from the Saturnalia and transferring them to the celebration of a Christian Christmas.

                            I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
                            I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
                           That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
                           rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

In our country, gift giving reportedly began in the 1820’s, though advertising for the

concept began years earlier. By the 1840’s, giving gifts at Christmas became a

mainstream custom in society and grew tremendously in the 1930’s when Coca-Cola  

incorporated Santa Claus into its marketing campaign. 

                                   Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum, 

                                   On my drum?

Today, traditions of holiday gift-giving have grown more complicated.  There are questions of money and meaning, of different faiths, of different cultures. To further complicate matters, November and December include Christmas  ( December 25),Ramadan’s Eid-al-Fitr ( timed to the sighting of the new moon, around November 25)Hanukkah (December 19-27) and

Kwanzaa (December 26-January 1) all of which have distinct gift traditions. Neighbors, friends, families and co-workers really stress over how and what to give to the many different people in their lives.

  

                                    Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
                                    The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum 

And now, even as the Advent season has begun, the joy we should be feeling for the coming birth of Christ has been pushed aside by harried shoppers in the frenzy of buying gifts in crowded stores.

                                          
                                          I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
                                         I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
                                         rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Let’s get ready for the wonderful birth of Christ.  And, let’s not worry about what to buy. For, in the end, the gifts we exchange do not matter. As the classic “Little Drummer Boy” reminds us, it is the love they represent that does. Rejoice and be glad. The Lord will soon be born and be among us.  

                                    

                                     Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
                                     Me and my drum. 

Come, let us adore Him. You can bring your drum.

Pa rum pum pum pum.

Hell Is For Real,Too

“The hell with it!”, “ That was a helluva ball game!”, “Get the hell out of here!”, ‘Where the hell do you think you’re going?”…Add your own favorites.

It’s amazing how often we refer to hell and yet, apparently, we not only do not fear it, but also seem to think we’re all going to heaven, implicitly denying its existence. Have you read the obituaries lately? At my age, it’s required. As the late George Burns said, “The first thing I do in the morning is read the obituaries. If I’m not listed, I get up”.

Almost every obituary I read these days says pretty much that the deceased has “gone to be with her Lord” or “went to be in the arms of his Savior”. Not to be disrespectful, but, I think the obit should have read “he died and went to be judged”. He may be cast into hell. Terrible thought? You bet.

Hell is mentioned 110 times in the Bible. Imagine. And in those days, they weren’t using that word in a sentence the way we so casually do. If you check a few Bible references, you will get the not surprising idea that hell was (is) a place of unending pain that is punishment for our sins that grievously offended God.

“As a cloud is consumed, and passeth away: so he that shall go down to hell shall not come up.” ( Job 7:9) Not come up? Scary stuff.

“And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) He wasn’t talking Walking Dead or True Blood.

Probably the greatest description of hell was written by Dante in his “Inferno”, the first part of his 14th-century epic poem, Divine Comedy. It’s the telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of suffering located within the Earth. Allegorically, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul towards God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.

The best selling book, “Heaven Is For Real”, got me to thinking about Hell. The book was written by a father whose 4 year old son claimed he traveled to heaven while in a coma. His descriptions are predictably warm and fuzzy. The enormous success of the book suggests to me that we hope and expect heaven and love to read anybody’s description, including, strangely, one by a four year old.

My favorite description of hell, however, was given by Saint Thomas Aquinas, the brilliant 13^th century Catholic theologian who wrote that hell was the absence of God’s love. For anyone who has lost a loved one to death or separation, the pain of loss is sometimes unbearable. Pain on earth is temporary and ends with our death if not before. The pain in hell of losing God’s love is never ending.

Why am I talking about Hell as the holidays approach? Well, it’s my disgust with our culture. Turn on the TV, open a newspaper and see the fabric of our social mores fraying before your very eyes. Immorality is commonplace. And, maybe it’s me, but it seems that no one acts like there will be an accounting for their immoral behavior or they wouldn’t act the way they do.

While I’m no saint and I’m not screaming “ Repent, The End Is Near” but, hell is for real, too. And, that’s a helluva thought.

Oops.

Press 1 For Tolerance

"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!"("The New Colossus", Emma Lazarus)

How did we go from that welcome with open arms, engraved on a bronze plaque mounted inside the Statue of Liberty, to the hold-it-right-there request for proof of citizenship that may soon be heard in Alabama? Beats me. But, here we are.

Make no mistake. There was resentment felt by the immigrants who came here aboard those ships that sailed by the Statue of Liberty and into New York harbor. They had left their homelands to start a better life. They had no idea what to expect. And, despite the taunts and insults they heard, those “wretched refuse” were accepted and easily mixed with other nationalities in what was called a melting pot. Perhaps they were admired for their struggle. Perhaps.

But, the resentment today is just as bad and probably worse. It has resulted in the most punitive legislation in the United States. Even though the Constitution states immigration laws are the responsibility of the federal government, some states-notably Arizona and Alabama-are unhappy with the government’s slow progress and have passed their own laws. Without getting into specifics, the provisions of Alabama’s law border on, well, cruel and unusual. The law is so inhumane that an Episcopal, Methodist and a Roman Catholic bishop have sued to block it, saying it criminalizes acts of Christian compassion. Fortunately, enforcement has been partially blocked by a federal judge.

We have become a land where immigrant means illegal and illegal means welfare. And, that, in my view is why there is so much resentment. We see someone who doesn’t look like us or talk like us, buying food with stamps and we become angry. We conclude, unfairly, they’re lazy, don’t work and are taking advantage of our system and we resent it. The fact is because many can’t find minimum wage jobs, they are taking advantage of our system because they need to and that’s why the programs are there. It makes me wonder whether there would be resentment if these people were legal. Probably.

According to the Center for Immigration, the latest study shows 53% of all households headed by an immigrant (legal or illegal), with one or more children under 18, used at least one of America’s 8 major welfare programs compared to 36% of natives in same category. That means some of those folks shopping with stamps may be legal immigrants, or, perish the thought, American citizens. Like the bishops pointed out, we have abandoned our Christian compassion with the passage of this law. I have news. We lost our compassion long before the law. Seems to me.

Immigration reform is a complex issue. Unfortunately, the road to citizenship is paved with excessive paperwork, costs and time. The average immigrant, almost by definition, is uneducated and poor. Quite obviously, we need to streamline the system and our president is trying to do just that.

Perhaps if we stopped printing Spanish alongside all English on everything and everywhere it seems, because it’s unfair to all other foreign speaking immigrants, not to mention counter-productive to their learning our language, then, perhaps there might be more compassion for these people seeking a better life.

In the meantime, let’s love our neighbor as ourselves and, well, “press 1 for tolerance”.

Otherwise, we’ll have to throw a sheet over the Statue of Liberty.

“Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That”

In a classic episode from his program in the 90’s, Jerry Seinfeld pretended to be gay. When his pretense was revealed, he said the now famous line, “I’m not gay!....Not that there’s anything wrong with that! ”.No, there isn’t. But, if you’re gay and want to marry another gay of the same sex, well…

Consider what happened in New York State, the 6th state to legalize gay marriage.

Gays feel they have the right to marry. Ah, the right. We seem to have a “right” to everything these days. Claiming a right conjures up the Bill of Rights and gives it the patina of an untouchable privilege. But, I think there is a difference between a “right” and “permission”. If the gun lobby, for example, would claim they should be permitted to own a gun just as we are allowed to own a car, the revolvers would probably be put back in their holsters and the gunfight would end. I’m just sayin’.

However, when we speak of the right of gay marriage, we’re not only speaking about a loving, long-term, committed relationship, we’re also usually talking about the physical sex that expresses that love. Otherwise, we’re simply talking about roommates. We must assume the “marriage” that gays seek is more than two roommates seeking equality under the law for all the benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples since those benefits are readily available to them with civil unions in many states.

So, why do gays want their relationships called “marriages”? Could it be gays are looking for the “Seal of Good Housekeeping” or, more relevantly, an Imprimatur? They long suffered in the closet, came out and were welcomed by a different society and now want our blessing on their lifestyle. And that is why Christians, mainly, are opposed to granting them that “right ”.

Why? Well, first, it is important to distinguish between beinghomosexual and acting on that condition by engaging in sex with someone of the same gender.

Christian beliefs state that people with homosexual tendencies are to be embraced but homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered ”-contrary to the natural law-and close the sexual act to the gift of life. That’s key to understanding why there is opposition to these “marriages”. Natural law or the law of nature means natural is that which operates according to its nature.

Which brings me to the human reproductive or sex organs. You might say they were made for each other. Literally. There is a certain beauty, an elegance, in these reproductive organs. The operative word, of course, is “reproductive”. Even if you did not believe in God the Creator, you must marvel at the complexity of how women produce human eggs and men produce the seeds that fertilize those eggs and give them life. To reproduce the species is their purpose. It is theirnature. That does not mean that every sex act must result in childbirth. It doesn’t always, but, that’s not germane. Sex between same sex partners is, therefore, unnatural.

Gays point to their many long-term commitments and argue that almost 50% of traditional marriages end in divorce. However, to recognize that commitment of gay relationships as a reason to call them "marriages " is to reveal a frightfully poor understanding of marriage.

Christians believe marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman by which they establish between themselves a partnership for life that, by its very nature-there’s that word again-operates toward the procreation of offspring.

So, let me be clear. Christians oppose gay “marriages” not because they threaten “traditional marriages”. No, Christians oppose the sanctioning of gay relationships as “marriages” because acceptance would be tacit approval of the unnatural sex that is presumably present in those relationships.

That’s strong stuff, granted, and is probably why it’s left unsaid.

So, there can be “something wrong with that ”.

Sorry, Jerry.

Laughter

If there was ever a time when we needed to laugh, it is now. Besides the shocking news of scandalous behavior of politicians, the stagnant economy, the unemployment, the endless wars, the drug disease infecting our city, we have the painful reminders of the April tornado to darken our mood.

As I drive around and see the brutal evidence of that tornado that huffed and puffed and blew some of our houses down, I get depressed.

Gone are the trees that were like canopies covering the roads, giving us welcome shade,filtering the heavy rains. Some trees, barely alive, are stark naked, stripped of their leaves, hunched over with broken and blackened branches, appearing helpless and sad. Others lie dead with huge clumps of soil and worm-like roots still attached, looking as if they were yanked out of the ground by a giant hand, waiting to be cut into small pieces and taken to God knows where. Beautiful and historic homes, buildings with familiar and popular businesses, houses of worship luckily empty, all appear to have been stepped on and crushed by some giant foot.

We need something to ease the pain. Laughter. Laughter is the lubricant that helps us roll with the punches, bear our burdens, lift our spirits, go with the flow.

Laughter is defined as a reaction to certain stimuli which serves as an emotional balancing mechanism. It's considered a visual expression of happiness, or an inward feeling of joy. It may happen after hearing a joke, being tickled, or reading a cartoon. Researchers have shown infants as early as 17 days old have vocal laughing sounds or laughter.

There is a link between laughter and healthy function of blood vessels. It was found that laughter causes the dilation of their inner lining and increases blood flow. Freud theorized that laughter releases tension and psychic energy. His theory is one of the justifications of the beliefs that laughter is beneficial for one's health and explains why laughter can used be as a coping mechanism when one is upset, angry or sad.

And so, since I suspect many if not all of us are upset, angry and/or sad, I think we should begin to laugh more. I’m not suggesting everybody is wearing an upside down smiley face. It’s just that I don’t hear much laughter lately. Yes, surely there was laughter at the recent Celebrate Cullman event and that was a good start to the healing process for our town.

The story is told of the game warden who stopped a redneck carrying some fish as he got out of his rowboat. “No fishing allowed”, said the warden. “ I ain’t fishin”, said the redneck, “I’m trainin’ my fish by letting them swim free for a while every day. Here, let me show ya” and he threw the fish back into the lake. The warden was not convinced and told him to hand over the fish. The redneck said, “What fish?”

Okay, I hope I made you laugh. Now it’s your turn. Make someone laugh today.

“Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That”

In a classic episode from his program in the 90’s, Jerry Seinfeld pretended to be gay. When his pretense was revealed, he said the now famous line, “I’m not gay!....Not that there’s anything wrong with that! ”.No, there isn’t. But, if you’re gay and want to marry another gay of the same sex, well…

Consider what happened in New York State, the 6th state to legalize gay marriage.

Gays feel they have the right to marry. Ah, the right. We seem to have a “right” to everything these days. Claiming a right conjures up the Bill of Rights and gives it the patina of an untouchable privilege. But, I think there is a difference between a “right” and “permission”. If the gun lobby, for example, would claim they should be permitted to own a gun just as we are allowed to own a car, the revolvers would probably be put back in their holsters and the gunfight would end. I’m just sayin’.

However, when we speak of the right of gay marriage, we’re not only speaking about a loving, long-term, committed relationship, we’re also usually talking about the physical sex that expresses that love. Otherwise, we’re simply talking about roommates. We must assume the “marriage” that gays seek is more than two roommates seeking equality under the law for all the benefits enjoyed by heterosexual couples since those benefits are readily available to them with civil unions in many states.

So, why do gays want their relationships called “marriages”? Could it be gays are looking for the “Seal of Good Housekeeping” or, more relevantly, an Imprimatur? They long suffered in the closet, came out and were welcomed by a different society and now want our blessing on their lifestyle. And that is why Christians, mainly, are opposed to granting them that “ right ”.
Why? Well, first, it is important to distinguish between beinghomosexual and acting on that condition by engaging in sex with someone of the same gender.

Christian beliefs state that people with homosexual tendencies are to be embraced but homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered ”-contrary to the natural law-and close the sexual act to the gift of life. That’s key to understanding why there is opposition to these “marriages”. Natural law or the law of nature means natural is that which operates according to its nature.

Which brings me to the human reproductive or sex organs. You might say they were made for each other. Literally. There is a certain beauty, an elegance, in these reproductive organs. The operative word, of course, is “reproductive”. Even if you did not believe in God the Creator, you must marvel at the complexity of how women produce human eggs and men produce the seeds that fertilize those eggs and give them life. To reproduce the species is their purpose. It is theirnature. That does not mean that every sex act must result in childbirth. It doesn’t always, but, that’s not germane. Sex between same sex partners is, therefore, unnatural.

Gays point to their many long-term commitments and argue that almost 50% of traditional marriages end in divorce. However, to recognize that commitment of gay relationships as a reason to call them "marriages " is to reveal a frightfully poor understanding of marriage.

Christians believe marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman by which they establish between themselves a partnership for life that, by its very nature-there’s that word again-operates toward the procreation of offspring.

So, let me be clear. Christians oppose gay “marriages” not because they threaten “traditional marriages”. No, Christians oppose the sanctioning of gay relationships as “marriages” because acceptance would be tacit approval of the unnatural sex that is presumably present in those relationships.

That’s strong stuff, granted, and is probably why it’s left unsaid.

So, there can be “something wrong with that ”.

Sorry, Jerry.