Bagging it

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Yesterday the City Council passed an ordinance that will impose a 20-cent charge for plastic or paper bags in grocery stores and drug stores beginning January 1st. There has been considerable chatter about it lately. One City Council member reports that his office has received about 4000 letters, cards, and E-mails in support of the measure and about 400 against it. This is reportedly a record amount of correspondence on an issue for his office.

I’ve noticed an interesting trend in our bookstore as this topic has been on the minds of the local residents. I’ve changed from automatically placing customers’ purchases in a bag to asking them if they want it in a bag as I am reaching for one. Surprisingly about half of the customers refuse a bag saying something along the lines of “I don’t need one for this purchase.”

The local customers seem to be ready, eager, to give up the extra merchandise bag. I did not expect such a change in thinking by so many so quickly.

In the years to come, with the major changes that will be needed by the industrial countries, perhaps everyone, in order to overcome the damage that we have been causing and are continuing to cause to the environment, more lifestyle changes will be needed. Certainly much bigger lifestyle changes are needed than simply remembering to carry your own shopping bag into a store. It seems to me that this change in bags is just one of the beginning baby steps of drastic changes that we will need to make in order to prevent the environmental changes that will diminish the carrying capacity of humans of the world. I eagerly await the day (not in my lifetime I’m sorry to say) when half of the buildings and homes will have solar cells on their roofs for capturing sunlight energy and wind farms will be common place while we zip around in electric vehicles, reducing our population with fewer births, eating locally grown sustainable foods and feeling empowered by shopping less for personal merchandise while sharing our wealth to eradicate hunger and disease throughout the world. I think that our local populace is more ready to begin (not to make all of those changes this year, but to begin exploring the options) to make the changes than the powers-that-be are aware.

Saturday, July 26, 2008
By John

There is a new book that I have just begun and about which I am excited. Put Down Your Sword: Answering the Gospel Call to Creative Nonviolence , by John Dear (oh, what a difficult name to have to live with!), Wm Eerdmans Publishing, 2008, paperback. The title comes from the author’s report of Jesus’ last action. At the time that Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane one of his disciples reportedly drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of those who was arresting him. Jesus said, “Put down your sword.” Even when Jesus was being arrested he resisted violence and killing. His disciple was about to kill the arresting guard. In another short chapter the author describes Jesus’ resurrection. John Dear states that if he had been Jesus he would not have come back to life to see those he had worked with. Everyone of them had fled from him at the crucifixion. “if it were me, I wouldn’t have wanted to come back at all. I would have been angry, hurt, and resentful. I would have wanted nothing to do with those former friends. I’d have nursed a grudge for a few thousand years before I came back!”

In another short chapter John Dear argues that to follow Jesus means to be radically opposed to war, killing and all that goes with it. “I don’t think that I can truly honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus and at the same time support the ware on Iraq, of the death penalty, or global warming, or corporate greed, or U.S. imperialism, or the School of the Americas, or the oppression of Palestinians, or the systematic oppression of Darfur and Haiti, or the development of nuclear weapons at Los Alamos. Or sit back in silence while these injustices rage.”

That is strong stuff. That is the Gospel that Jesus lived and we are not living. This book is challenging me to reconsider my shallow commitment to Jesus’ life.

My first cell phone

Saturday, July 19, 2008
by John,

Yesterday I purchased my, our, first cell phone. It will be delivered next week. That is an interesting step in Nancy and my technological lives. We have made the conscious decision, up to now, to not own, or more accurately, not be owned by a cell phone. Talking on the phone is okay for me. There are times to talk and times not to have to talk, times to not be interrupted by a phone call. Nancy and I have both enjoyed being away from home and knowing that we will not be interrupted in whatever we are doing by a phone call. But, things are changing.

Mainly, I am preparing to begin volunteering driving my EV to deliver senior citizens to their medical appointments on my days off. I did that for a few years. Then I stopped and worked with teenagers at the boxing gym. In my humble opinion teenagers can always benefit from more personal attention from adults and I was glad to work with them as a volunteer in their afternoon boxing classes.

While reading Bishop Gene Robinson’s book, In the Eye of the Storm, I was reminded gently but urgently that we all can do more to help others than we are doing. Robinson’s book is very good on many levels. Just one of those resulted in my reexamination of my volunteer activities. The result was that I have given up my participation with the youth boxing program. They have an excellent instructor whom, though it was fun to help, actually did not need my help as much as the low-income seniors need assistance traveling to and from their medical appointments. Transporting them is something that I can do and they are mostly enjoyable, frail, elderly individuals. Besides, my EV does not use gasoline, just electricity, and most of that in this region comes from hydropower and remains relatively very inexpensive.

It is much more important for me to have a cell phone when driving the seniors to their medical appointments. In case of a malfunction with my car, or an emergency with my rider, having immediate communication is vital.

I plan to use the cell phone only infrequently, when needed. I expect that our lives will not change because of the presence of the cell phone. I will not be talking on it while shopping, driving, or in the presence of others. I think that is one reason for the Off button on the phone (or whatever button it may be that turns the thing off). As long as I control the cell phone and it doesn’t control me, then we may have an acceptable relationship. I think that I can, if need be, put it in a drawer at home and not use it.

John B. the politician

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
by John, (John Marshall, not John B.)

A knock at the door at dinnertime. “Oh, no. What could this person want?” (That’s part of life in the city.)

“Hi. I’m John Bxxxx and I’m running for the State Legislature in this district.” (“Oh… no. Maybe I shouldn’t have answered the door.”)

Within a minute he asked if I had any issues that concerned me. “Well, I have one issue that is concerning me this week, this month…” It was my description of the work our ministry-which-is-the-store has been struggling with to change to the new state law (July 1st) concerning Destination-based Sales Tax collection. Instead of charging sales tax to all WA State customers based on the location of our store we now “get” to collect sales tax based on the location of the buyer. With about 340 different taxing districts in the state it has been a major challenge to create a method to determine the specific taxing district for each customer, charge the correct sale tax, and then report the sales for each taxing district in the state to the Dept. of Revenue each month.

John B. had only vaguely heard about this new taxing structure. I explained it to him briefly. He surprised me with immediately suggesting some legislative measures that could reduce the burden on the smaller businesses like ours.

I was, and continue to be, impressed with John B.’s ability to first, listen to my description, and second, to respond creatively off the top of his head. Both reactions do not fit my preconceived opinions about politicians.

Politics has not been something that I have participated in previously. Actually, I’ve avoided politics, politicking, and politicians throughout my life. This guy, John B., has been on my mind the last few days.

He later invited me to a “small business round table” meeting yesterday. Because of John B.’s first impression I was curious enough to attend. Okay, there were only seven of us who attended the meeting in a small restaurant yesterday morning. I now think, “What can so few people do in such a huge bureaucracy as the state government?” It was interesting being there. I saw a different slice of the world.

I’m not planning to jump in to politics, but it will be interesting to watch John B. and where he and this goes. Yes, I have put one of his signs out by the curb in front of my house. That is more political commitment than is normal for me.

Church hiatus

SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 2008
by John,

Tomorrow will be my last day at the church congregation that I have been attending for mostly 8-9 years (I actually forget how long).

Church is too far away. It takes a gallon of gas each way to attend church. Now that is over $8.00 each Sunday and too much to pay. There is also the guilt I feel about driving so far, using that much fuel, putting out that much carbon dioxide, to drive to church.

I have really loved the congregation. What they do fits in “my book” as being mostly right, and they are the only local congregation that I have found for which that statement is true for me.

What do they do right? First is their commitment to the Child Learning Center. About half of the building is used by the child center five-days a week. The church is committed to that a level of outreach that makes me feel good. It goes to kids, most of whom can’t afford the fancy, expensive child day care centers. Secondly, the congregation takes what it does in the rest of its life, its worship, hospitality, and community interaction not too seriously. It is very important but not limited by seriousness. We/they enjoy worshipping together. They enjoy tweaking the liturgy for different times, events, and seasons in order to keep it vital, interesting, and alive.

One congregation that I tried to worship with did not work for me because, in my humble opinion, they were worshipping the worship service. Every little portion of the service was planned with elaborate, even arcane detail, and with hierarchy of organization. It often seemed to me that God was fit in to the worship service but was not the main activity. There was much more “aren’t we good at worship” than there was of praise to, thanks to, and petitioning for God’s help in that congregation.

Others that I have visited appear to me to use plastic worship. They go through the motions but it does not come from their souls. And others seem to be using the old, familiar liturgy but with little connection between it and the worshipers. It is like a morning routine in the bathroom that one does without too much involvement or commitment.

Another of my concerns of the worship service is when we-the-congregation are applauded and patted on the back for what we are doing. The “we are so good” message does not fit with my understanding of Jesus’ response to those around him and the Church. He was always pushing at them, encouraging them to change, and caring for the lost, the lonely, the unloved, and the unfed. That is what, in my humble opinion, we need to model in all of our activities with the church and worship. One of my tests for that is at the Eucharist and who gets fed first. The Eucharist is a shared meal and celebration. So, why do the hosts of the meal eat first? In every other social event that I see the hosts feed everyone else and then take care of their needs afterwards, or at the minimum, they serve everyone and then we begin eating together. For me, the liturgy of the Eucharist must do that too.

I love the music at the church I have been attending for these years. It is a significant reason that I have continued to travel so far to worship with them. They/we play with the music as we do with other parts of the service. The question is always there, “What can we do to this piece of music that will make it more relevant, more interesting, more meaningful for this service?” Sometimes that means taking a hymn that was originally a Welsh drinking song and giving it more of the sound of a Welsh tavern. It means adding gaiety to a hymn of praise. It means choosing music from a wide range of resources other than the standard hymnal. It means never, ever dragging a hymn by singing it so slowly that we forget the message and what we are singing.

I’m going to miss “my” church. I do not know where I will find a better fit, but I am committed to finding one that is much closer to home, one that I can drive to in my electric vehicle.

Three holies, one God

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2008
by John,

Some thoughts about the Holy Trinity from Trinity Sunday last weekend:

The description of the Trinity as "three holies, one God" sprouted from the children when they were discussing the Trinity with our priest just prior to their leaving for Church School near the beginning of the service. "Three holies, one God" seems to me to bypass the traps of trying to explain God in too many details, ineffable as God is.

Part of the sermon reminded me about the fighting throughout history over religion and who has "it" right. It seems it is always that we have it right and they have it wrong where "we" and "they" are very fluid and dependent upon who is describing it.

Bloodshed. Lots of bloodshed has been shed over doctrines, religious in general, Christian in specific, throughout history. This makes me think that all of the hand-wringing today about a break in the Anglican Communion is really quite tame when other much more violent events in the history of the Church are recalled.

During coffee hour I asked our priest about the bishops that did not, could not, agree with the forming definition of Jesus and the Trinity during the Council of Nicea. I know that history tells us that those bishops left Nicea and formed the Coptic Church in northern Africa. I asked "Since Constantine, during that historic meeting in Nicea, had locked the church to keep all of the bishops inside until such time as they all agreed, when at the conclusion of the Council, when the definition of Christ and the Trinity had been decided, and any bishop that refused to sign the statement was killed, on the spot, how did the dissenting bishops get out of the church so that they could create the Coptic Church?" He replied that they left a couple of days early, before the Council had completed their work and when the direction that the discussion was headed was obvious to them as well as repugnant. They may have escaped through a window!

During the sermon another statement our priest made was that the whole point of the Creed is to get us to do mission. It’s a good thought. I've not heard that before. I wonder if that is really the underlying point of the Creed. If so, then it has certainly lost its emphasis in the Church that I have attended and studied.

Good Shepherd aphorisms

TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2008

by John,

An aphorism I learned during last Sunday’s sermon. It was Good Shepherd Sunday.

Four shepherd lessons for the sheep:

Stick together

Follow the Shepherd

Stick together

Follow the Shepherd

Most of us sheep need to be reminded more than once!

(My test for the quality of a sermon is whether I can remember it Sunday evening, or on Monday. This one remains with me on Tuesday.)