Blessings for which to be Grateful in 2009

Today a new year dawns. We can look forward to four major positive developments.

1) A black person will soon be in the White House. This presents the opportunity for the generational healing of blacks whose ancestors never could have seen this happen in their times.

2)Hard times economically will require a general shift away from a culture of profligate waste. Major CEOs and the previously pampered pets in the non-profit sector tend to be slow learners, but they will join middle-class folks in general in re-discovering some long-forgotten values.

3)There will be more civility in public discourse. Liberals have morphed from whiners to vicious malcontents under eight years of predominantly Republican leadership. Now that they are in control, they will shut up, being unwilling to eat their own kind. Conservatives are suck-it-up types who are gracious and decent in dealing with their opposition, no matter how destructive it is. They will not descend to the quagmire of New York Times ethics or Garrison Keillor rudeness.

4) For Minnesota Episcopalians, we will be electing a new Bishop. While it is unrealistic to hope for a conservative or orthodox replacement for Bishop Jelinek, a moderate is definitely within reach, and in fact, likely to fill the vacancy. With the Lay Leaders' Network only growing in numbers and strength, the new Bishop will be pushed to improve Diocesan Administration. With Jelinek's top Diocesan staffer having resigned, his replacement is receiving compensation at a far more appropriate level. Sabbaticals for bean counters and other administrative types will end, and the Diocese in all ways will move towards greater administrative effectiveness.

For these things, let us give thanks. Happy New Year.

Most Noteworthy Comments of 2008

It's no coincidence, I suppose, that 2008 being a Presidential election year, the most notable quotes come from politicians. What is surprising, however, is that the most notable comments are notable because they are ridiculously erroneous, irresponsibly negative, or true but depressingly so. As we wrap up 2008, let's hope that 2009's list will provide more positive inspiration. Let's hope that our religious leaders come to the fore. Meanwhile, let's go back over the past 12 months. The quotations are approximations; it was too painful to track down the exact verbiage on most of these.

1. Barack Obama: "Next week, I will have visited all 56 states."

2. Joe Biden: "Within six months, there will be an international crisis to test Obama."

3. Barack Obama: "Pennsylvanians resort to guns and religion because they are bitter."

4. Rahm Emanuel: "I had no conversations with Governor Blagojevich."

5. Geraldine Ferraro: "Obama would not be where he is today if he were not black."

6. Jesse Jackson, speaking of Obama (exact quote): "I want to cut his nuts off."

7. Jesse Jackson, speaking of Obama (exact quote): "He's talking down to black people, telling Niggers how to behave."

8. Jeremiah Wright: "God damn America."

9. Jeremiah Wright speaking on December 7, the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor: "On this day, the United States dropped a bomb on Hiroshima. A few days later, we did it again over Nagasaki."

10. Michelle Obama: "For the first time, I am proud of America."

Uh, the State of, you know, New York, Deserves, you know, so Much Better

Twelve times in 47 seconds: that's exactly how many times Caroline Kennedy said "you know" during a friendly interview with the New York Times. What would she have done if she had faced tough and critical reporters, as did Sarah Palin?

Caroline, for all she has suffered, inherited neither her father's charm nor his gift for a well-turned phrase. She comes off as having not a single intelligent idea in her head, let alone an original, creative one. I'm -uh-a- -Democrat-you- -know- -that- whole--value-system- -you-know- -Doesn't- -that-mean-you- -should-vote- -for-me seems to sum up her vision for public service. And did she mention that she has a good relationship with President-elect Obama?

Caroline is not a leader for these times, and probably not any times. I would love to be proved wrong by her earning her way up to Senatorial responsibilities while gaining a little experience, whether as mayor, state senator, or elected Dog Catcher. There's nothing wrong with continuing political dynasties--as long as the candidates can prove themselves worthy by their own efforts and skills, and not just on their relatives' glory. No one, male or female, who looks and acts as depressed as Caroline Kennedy would ever have a shot at a Senatorial seat, without some family advantage. Even a Kennedy-sized fortune can't buy sufficient political consulting to remake her in a true candidate's image.

You know.

The Cold that Warms

As I was pumping gas on the way home from church in Northern Minnesota yesterday, a snow machiner pulled up on the other side of the pump. It got me to thinking about all the other interesting ways that the details of life are different in places where there there is serious snow and cold. Deer bratwurst from an animal the host killed himself is as likely to be served as Oscar Myars. Hockey is the sport of choice. Church activities grind to a halt in the summer as parishioners, cooped up for the very long winter, are eager for every moment of lake-side sun they can capture. Teenagers will begin wearing flip flops and shorts while piles of snow still linger, and wear them longer into the fall than their southern friends, because, to some extent summer is a state of mind, and the summer clothes sustain the memory.

As a newcomer to Minnesota and, at best, only a regular and frequent visitor to the Northern part of the state, I take especial pride in the beloved objects that help me survive the clime. At the top of the list are my moose-hide boots crafted by the dogsledder's company in Ely. I actually fell in love with these during an Outward Bound dogsledding excursion ten years before I moved to Minnesota. And it was a couple of Christmases here before they found their way under the tree. That they were a gift from husband Ben adds an emotional warmth to their adventurous and utterly practical vibes. It's a rare day that I don't receive a compliment about their rustic, cris-cross thonged styling. If the truth be told, it's other newcomers like me who tend to admire the knee-high boots.

Having grown up here, my kids are Minnesotan in a way I will never be. Like many Minneostans, however, I will probably move south when last-chapter-of-life approaches. When I go, it will be with lots of fond memories of the interesting details of life on the frozen prairie.

Lie Now and Avoid the Rush in January

Who is busy keeping a lower profile these days than Barack Obama as he vacations in extreme luxury in a 9 million dollar oceanside Hawaii estate? That would be Obama's future White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel needs to cool his heels under the media radar for the unthinkable political faux pas: a lie that wasn't necessary.

It is thoroughly understandable that Emanuel would have needed to have conversations with Illinois governor Blagojevich about a number of things, including Obama's vacant Senate seat. The problem is that Emanuel denied conversations that he not only had, but that were recorded on tape. Oopsie. In trying to avoid getting smeared with Blagojevich's slime, Emanuel created his own by lying about the conversations.

Not even officially on the job, and already an Obama operative is caught in a lie. How long will the media continue to give the Obama squad free passes? You can take the boy out of Chicago politics, but can you take the Chicago-style politics out of his team?

Toss a Nut

"Sometimes you feel like a nut; sometimes you don't," as the Mounds candy jingle reminds us.

Today's a great day to let that inner nut come out of its shell (groan!).It's St. Stephen's Day, the day we honor the first Christian martyr, the hard-working deacon, the guy who couldn't keep his mouth shut after his beatific vision, the victim whose stoning was presided over by Paul (actually, still called Saul at the time). The tossed nuts represent the stones hurled at poor St. Stephen.

This nut tossing is said to be an old Polish tradition, although I previously have not been acquainted with the custom, despite growing up in quite the Polish ethnic community. In any case, it sounds like a fun activity to remind the kids of the reason for this season, which has only just begun. Merry SECOND Day of Christmas!

A Hobo Hand-Out for Christmas

When jobs dried up during the Great Depression of the 1930s, a lot of good men hit the roads and railways in search of opportunities, or at least to avoid being a burden to family members back at home. Not always receiving the best of hospitality, the informal fellowship of hobos developed a code to signal what was likely to be encountered at a given household. If a cat was carved unobtrusively on the front gate,a kindly woman would likely answer the door. A bird drawn with a stub of charcoal indicated that the family owned a telephone and would likely allow the lonely men the precious opportunity to check with folks back at home. A favorite,comforting sign to see was an oval with three hatch marks. That was a symbol for a beautiful loaf of homemade bread. The hungry hobo had just stumbled upon a "bread house."

Segueway to another bread house: Bethlehem. In Hebrew,the word "beth" means "house" and "lechem" means bread. "Bethlehem" thus means "House of Bread," and we travel there today with Joseph and Mary to receive bread for the journey called life: the Christ child lying in a food trough, a manger (remember your high school French: "manger, to eat!"

The above paragraphs were part of last night's Christmas sermon at a little church built less than a couple of hundred feet from railroad tracks. Sometimes, the church services there need to pause for a minute while the trains, whistles blowing, pass by.

The unexpected gift to me last night was the presence in the congregation of an elderly man who had lived across the street from the church as a child. In high school, he had served as the church's janitor, before heading off to college, eventually to become a professor of music. As sexton, he was instructed never to disturb the hobos who would seek shelter in the unlocked church from the worst of Minnesota's wintry winds. The church was unheated, so no palace for the cold and weary men, but a hard pew for a bed in a cold church was a big step up from card board under a bridge. If there had been a gate around the house across the street, it probably would have been marked with a cat, because the young sexton's mom always found sandwich makings in the kitchen for the men who knocked on the door. I had known none of the church's hobo history in preparing the sermon, and the professor's visit back to his hometown was the first in many years.

One more hobo symbol is worthy of our note today: a cross in a circle signified a good place for a hand-out. I'm sure it's just coincidence, but a circle with a cross looks ever so much like our communion wafers. So--welcome to a hobo hand-out today: the body of Christ, food for a hungry world. Like Mary, let's treasure and contemplate this wonderful, mysterious gift.

Another Episode of "As the Ballot Turns:" Clearly the Fix is In

Some of the decisions are totally ridiculous. Look at the sort of Coleman votes that are being determined to be "clearly" ballots for Franken: The Fix . If it's an "x" AND an oval in the same space, it couldn't be a vote for Coleman, but it CAN for Franken. If the mark is clearly for Coleman, but not large, it counts as a vote for nobody. When the recount does not match the number of original ballots, if the recount favors Franken, the recount is taken as authoritative; if the originals ballots favor Franken, then the originals are held as authoritative. Through transparently double standards, the majority has been given to Franken for the moment.

Franken's current lead is as cobbled as Mary Shelley's monster. Can fairness yet prevail?

The Measure of Men

It only now is allowed to come to light: President Bush quietly has written personal letters of condolence to the family members of the more than 4,000 military personnel killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. He met with more then 500 of these families, and also visited more than 950 wounded soldiers. The humble Commander in Chief explained that sometimes the job includes serving as "Comforter in Chief." He frequently tapped Laura for support during the emotionally-draining meetings.

Compare publicity hound Obama, who, when he learned that the media would not be allowed to cover the visit, cancelled his scheduled meeting with wounded soldiers recovering in an Army hospital in Germany. The fitness-focused Obama thought it was more important for him to work out in his luxurious hotel gym than to do a good deed that would yield him no public credit.

Someday, nothing will be hidden and all will find their just rewards.

Lesson Learned: Another (not so) Small Mercy

Gas prices are the lowest we've seen in the States in almost five years. By the time that gas prices hit their highest last July, many Americans had figured out ways to cut back on driving. Whether through car pooling, grouping errands, or just cutting down on discretionary driving, the lessons are not being lost as the prices have returned to pre-crisis levels. Fuel economy apparently is here to stay, and in this, perhaps we see a cultural shift towards better stewardship of the earth's resources and personal finances. Cutting back is something with which boomers and their progeny have had little experience. This overdue brush with reality bodes well for the future.

Small Mercies

The Episcopal Church, whose members reportedly number only 1.8% of the United States population, is becoming a tinier and tinier footnote in 21st Century Christianity. The number of conservative women priests within that number, in the grand scale of things, is positively miniscule. Yet, good Christians being good Christians, their plight is not neglected by perceptive, caring souls.

Along these lines, it was pure delight to read the President of no less a prestigious evangelical school than Fuller Seminary comment about the abandonment of orthodox women priests: Evangelicals . It is downright chivalrous of him to do so.

Earlier this week, one of the teenagers in the Jeffrey household happened to be watching the intriguing movie from New Zealand, "Whale Rider." It was interesting to note the difficulties both for the chief traditionalist and the unwitting innovator, as the small oceanside village struggled with an unavoidable development in their entrenched customs regarding females and leadership. Anthropologically speaking, Maori animists and Anglican Christians seem to have a fair amount in common.

DSM is Coming to Town: Who's Normal, Who's Not

Sworn to secrecy, a panel of psychiatrists chosen by the American Psychiatric Association is meeting to decide what's ill and what's not. Not due for release for another three years, the fifth edition of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" already is causing debate.

As always, DSM will likely both add and eliminate psychiatric disorders from the official list that is the key to insurance reimbursement. Once upon a time, homosexuality was included among the list of treatable diagnoses. Once again, gender issues are likely to be among the hotly-contested diagnoses. Some transgender activists want the diagnosis removed, as an indication that "strong and persistent cross-gender identification" is within the realm of normal behavior. Other transgender activists want DSM-V to continue to include the diagnosis, because without it, there can be no insurance coverage for those surgeries that change men into women and women into men.

This is the first year that sworn secrecy was a condition of participation on the DSM panel. If you're going to mess with cultural definitions of what's normal and not, you cannot go seeking book contracts or open yourself for bribes. I suppose that's a good thing, but so is transparency and the opportunity to voice opinions in what, ultimately, effects the trajectory of our moral norms and culture as a whole. Of course, religion and scripture are not taken into account in determining which diagnoses to retain and which to abandon. When it comes to mental illness, popular culture, as interpreted by a small, secret group of "experts," is given the suasive power.

Evangelists to Baha'is

Anglicat has a special request. Are there any readers who have had interfaith or evangelistic experience with people of the Baha'i faith? If so, I would be very grateful for a note to my personal inbox: kgjeffrey@msn.com. Thanks!

Subzero and Falling

As I write, the temperature outside is -5 Fahrenheit degrees and falling. Yesterday's low of -10 was just shy of 2 degrees away from tying the lowest temperature ever on December 15 here since records have been kept. Clearly, we are headed for a very cold winter here in Minnesota.

Yet, in the twist of common sense common to those totally lacking common sense, climate activists claim that the cold temperatures are a sign of--I kid you not--global warming. You can read it all here: global idiocy . If we have higher-than-normal temperatures, that's evidence of global warming. If we have lower-than-normal temperatures, that's evidence of global warming. If Al Gore would start practicing what he preaches, that would be evidence that Hell is freezing over.

So where else do we see logic like this? Hmmm.....dwindling Sunday attendance and church membership--why that's a sign that TEC is healthy! Or....failure of the auto industry in the United States--why that must be a sign that we should give the incompetent leadership in Detroit tax money to waste. What other examples of global warming-style logic came we come up with?

Weirder and Weirder.

It seemed odd that the phrase, "People make too much of Christmas" was repeated several times amidst a monologue that had nothing to do with Christmas. It seemed odder still that after the monologue, Garrison Keillor talked about how wonderful the year 2009 would be, skipping the upcoming Christmas season completely. Smack in the middle of Advent as we are, it would have been truer to form for Mr. K to milk the season for all it was worth, and then a little more, with at least six or seven verses of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." Then it all came together with the next segment: he launched into a modified version of the carol, "In the Bleak Midwinter." The carol, as modified, had nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. The revised words described a family traveling in a "time of trouble" from Chicago to Washington, at which point Keillor's audience broke into applause. It seems that this Messiah Obama business has addled even Mr. K's otherwise impressive intellect. I'll bet all the Sanctified Brethren among his ancestors would be spinning in their graves to hear how their Anoka son had corrupted the lyrics from lauding the reign of Christ to extolling the upcoming Obama administration. It would seem that there will be more weirdness to come.

Time for NPR to Get on the Program

I read with interest that National Public Radio was having to lay-off a significant number of its staff, because of budgetary constraints. Familiar with the exorbitant salaries (in excess of $400,000) and the luxurious perquisites of the Minnesota Public Radio elite here, I conclude that this is a healthful step for public radio in general, which has grown all too fat on taxpayer subsidies, all while serving up very unbalanced, left-leaning programming.

The next step would be to cut ALL tax support for NPR, and allow the company the responsibility of earning its own revenue, the way that other broadcasting companies pay the rent, namely through corporate sponsorship, otherwise known as "a-d-v-e-r-t-i-s-i-n-g. " As Thomas Jefferson said, "To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." And the tyranny has been going on through NPR subsidies far too long.

Hatttip to: Mary Ann

Grace Happens

Here's a true story that's simply too wonderful not to share.

I was driving back from one of the distant churches I serve, and was excited to make cell phone contact with a good, old friend with whom I had not been able to speak for a long time. I became engrossed in the conversation, not to the extent of paying insufficient attention to traffic, but to the point of forgetting to stop for gas. I realized my mistake as my car began to lose power. Amazingly, it was directly before a highway exit. I was able to exit safely and continue down the long ramp towards the local street, all on the momentum of highway driving before the car ground to a halt.

Because my friend was in the middle of an important story and I did not want to interrupt, I kept listening to her as I gathered up my things and locked the car, intending to walk the last 10 feet of the exit ramp while she finished her story.

"Gotta go now," I said to my friend, as a friendly, middle-aged couple stopped ahead of me. I had not even walked one single step.

"Need a lift?" the wife asked. I hopped in the back of their suburban and they drove me to a gas station a couple of blocks away, and brought me right back. I emptied the contents of the gas can into my tank, and drove my own car to a second gas station across the way that had the lowest gas price I had seen for months.

The story gets even better. As I drove out of the gas station onto the main street in town, the first car ahead of me had this bumper sticker displayed in back: "GRACE HAPPENS."

Yes, it certainly does. And for some of his slower learners, God, displaying extraordinary good humor, goes to great lengths to make that message abundantly clear.

The entire episode took less than a half hour. I headed back on the highway home, contemplating grace and the goodness of our God. Grace happens, and we are never alone!

Episcopal Church Searched: Yet Another Episode of "As the Ballot Turns"

A church offering its facilities for use as a polling place shouldn't be considered support for Obama, right? Well, in the left-leaning world of the Episcopal Church, it is. In December's issue of Episcopal Life, Editor Solange De Santis wasn't content to wax poetic over Obama's victory in her editorial column. She also placed a paean on the front page entitled, "People of Faith Offer Obama their Support." The article, written by Mary Frances Schjonberg, went on to list Episcopal parishes nationwide that had donated their facilities as polling places, including St. Paul's in MINNEAPOLIS.

This week, that church apparently was a locus for a search for 133 missing ballots, a search announced by Democratic Mayor and Episcopalian R.T. Rybak. The specific name of the church to be searched could not be confirmed. Rybak, who attends another Episcopal parish in Minneapolis, appeared at a news conference to announce the search. Coleman supporters were justifiably concerned about the Mayor's partisanship, as well as that of Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, who has made and subsequently denied partisan comments, although the comments are caught clearly on camera.

And all this in the Diocese where Bishop Jim Jelinek said back in 2002 that he would be devoting his Episcopate that year to defeating Senator Coleman in that year's Senatorial race. Coleman was successful in that race, and is now the incumbent in the election that has drawn national attention as Democrats hoped to capture a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. With Senator Chambliss handily reclaiming his Senatorial seat in Georgia's run-off election this past week, Senate Democrats will fall short of the needed 60 seats, even if the pendulum in the pathetically partisan recount effort were to swing Minnesota's election to Al Franken.

Let's hope that Episcopal Life is wrong about the notion that St. Paul's Church's lending of its facilities for polling purposes was an act of partisan support.

Meanwhile, incumbent Norm Coleman's lead over Franken stands at 787, up by about 500 votes from election night tallies.

Christmas Carols: Bring Them On!

It's a sign among some Christians that one is religiously hip to protest the early onslaught of Christmas. EVERYONE knows, afterall, along with which fork to use when, that we are observing ADVENT. We Advent Hold-Outs grouse about the stores that display Christmas merchandise before Halloween, and the Christmas carols playing in endless loops at shopping malls for at least a couple of weeks now.

As for the carols, I say, there's no bad time for people to be listening to songs about the birth of Christ. Hearing "Glory to the New-born King!" and even "Guide us to that perfect light!" (yes, an EPIPHANY song !) must register somewhere in the unconscious minds of the marginally faithful and even the hardened atheists among us. These carols plant seeds, albeit small ones.

The custom for which I want to save my grousing is not that we are deluged with Christmas carols when we're only in the first week of Advent, but that so few of them are religious in nature. I am, indeed, already overdosed on "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Rum-pum-pum pum!

The War on Homosexuality in Afghanistan

The majority of our Anglican neighbors to the north may seem hopelessly wrong-minded in their attitudes towards homosexual practice, but Canada's soldiers are complaining about their orders to ignore incidents of Afghan soldiers buggering young boys. Homosexuality, in fact, seems to be the dirty little secret among Muslims, who officially deny that such practices exist.

Although Islam forbids it, powerful men use their resources to indulge their perverse appetites, and then get ugly towards anyone who draws attention to their homosexuality. Taliban leaders and drug lords routinely buy or kidnap young boys from poor families for this purpose. More boys than girls are kidnapped for sexual exploitation. It has been five years since the Afghan government discharged all underage soldiers, so at least boys under 18 aren't readily available to be abused within the ranks of their own country's soldiers. Still, the young boys are helpless prey when Afghan soldiers occupy their land.


The average Afghan knows about all this, giving rise to jokes such as "Why do male birds fly over Kandahar flapping only one wing?" The punchline to this grim joke is, "So they can use the other wing to protect their rear ends."

Canadian troops are trained to tread lightly when it comes to local ways, so as not to offend Afghans by appearing to consider themselves superior. Still, ignoring the problem puts Canadian soldiers in an awkward spot: admitting to knowledge of the pederasty obliges them to intervene to prevent the sexual abuse of children. This, in turn, ignites Afghan sensibilities.

Fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan involves more than stabilizing the region and achieves more than liberating women from brutality and their head-to-toe chadors. It is also about lifting helpless young boys off their knees.


Source: http://www.strategypage.com .

Every Christian's "Yes:" Authority in the Church

Authority is something that used to be taken for granted in the Roman Catholic Church. What with Bishops being appointed from Rome and the ultimate Bishop of Rome being selected by secret conclave, your average pewster never sees much of the sausage-making that is so very public in the election of bishops in America's Episcopal Church. The guy at the top is THERE, making his rounds, confirming people, and taking the adulation of his people for granted, right? Even if there were always a bunch of radical intellectuals nay-saying from their monastic or academic posts, you average, mainstream Catholic would never think of criticizing the Bishop, right?

No more. In the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, for instance, the pre-recorded Advent I sermon of Archbishop Nienstadt was played at all masses in the land. One line was particularly striking: he asked for his people's prayerful support as he goes about serving them. My grandparents' generation would never have even understood the concept that their tiny prayers for a Bishop might be effective, let alone humbly requested.

The sermon went on to outline a rather humble vision of evangelism, which Archbishop Nienstadt says he borrowed from his Lutheran colleague, Bishop Anderson. If everyone would pray with their families everyday and go to church every Sunday, that would be evangelization. Wow. Mass attendance and daily prayer used to be taken for granted as well.

All this goes to show that even the heavyweight among the Christian denominations is suffering the effects of post-modernism. Church leadership may never have been easy, but it is particularly difficult in a time when there is no reflexive respect for authority, and perhaps, instead, a reflexive reaction against it.

Yes, the good Archbishop needs our prayers. Whether they realize it or not, the entire hierarchy, the visible church as we know it, depends on every Christian's "yes." The Anglican Communion is in the process of discovering what conservatives' "no"s mean.