Pastor's Notes

“The buck stops here!” So read the sign on President Harry S. Truman’s Oval Office desk. I don’t think this slogan was coined by the 33rd President of the United States. I think he just liked it, agreed with it, and decided to let all know that as the one at the top of the US political food chain, responsibility began and ended with his office, and therefore with him.

Most would agree, would we not? Leaders at the top are responsible for what happens from top to bottom of whatever people, organization, or group which they lead. I have experienced this as a pastor. Numerous times, in churches with multiple custodians, I have been approached by someone in a huff who says to me, “Pastor, there is no toilet paper in the women’s restroom!” Over the years I have learned to respond,” That’s funny, there was plenty last time I was in there.”

It has become politically popular lately to not talk about race. Laws have been and are being passed essentially forbidding such conversation and dialog in school rooms. One might be able to mention slavery, even say it was “bad”, but don’t get into the horrid details, to say nothing of the cruelty of Jim Crow and segregation which followed. Reconstruction? One has to leave out any talk of race, despite the fact it was often at the heart of such reconstructing of the US following the Civil War. Such talk, it is said, will lead to more racism.

It would seem the buck is not stopped; instead it is buried. Who has been in power of our nation and culture from the day the Pilgrims landed, and the time of Jamestown’s founding? White men, mostly. Somewhat under the protection of this umbrella of power were white women and children. Left out in the elements were those of color, particularly African-Americans and Native Americans.

Check the stats. Many things have improved, but racism persists. We see it in employment statistics and housing numbers. The very schools prohibiting such conversations are often in well to do predominantly white areas with much better academic success often due in part to better funding. Many more numbers in various other areas continue to bear out the racism endemic to our culture.

Why would it not be endemic to our culture? Like the stereotypical ostrich, if our heads are in the sand on this issue, what improvement can we expect? Will we continue on until demands are made of us, or are we willing and able to dialog, question, learn, and grow?

The buck stops with us. That is, with white Americans. It is time to stop passing the buck and time to make it cease, acknowledge our responsibility and deal with it. Why are we afraid to claim any or very little responsibility?

The Bible, actually, does not seem to know anything about race. Those who are different and those considered enemies are those of different faiths, not races. Traditions have sprung up over one of Noah’s sons, Ham, tradition says, was black. Yet there is no biblical evidence for this. Likewise one of the three Magi (Matthew doesn’t even say there were 3…that too is tradition) in Matthew is said to have been black. Again, no evidence within or without scripture for this. Whatever their race, scripture doesn’t care.

Yet the Bible has much to help us with racism. The Bible is big on repentance, a jubilee year of debt forgiveness and more, loving one’s neighbor, loving and including those different, loving the enemy, and forgiveness and love. We read of Samaritan’s doing good. We just see them as other than Israelites. Those listening to Jesus praise the Samaritan’s deeds had to be seething that he made their most hated infidel neighbors into heroes.

Mistrust of others, suspicion, blame, cruelty and prejudice are not new to humanity. What would be new is to acknowledge and own them. Only then can something be done about them. Time to make the buck stop.

I have never seen Stonehenge. It has long been on my list of places to go and things to see. I wonder now if London and Windsor are as close as I will ever get to Stonehenge. So many things I had once hoped to do, see or be have been cast along the side of life’s road. Others have come and gone. Some were as great or better than anticipated, others just a brief blip on the radar screen, and, of course, some disappointed.

Many in older age look back and reflect upon both what they have done and what they have left undone. Young adults instead look ahead to what they hope to do in the years ahead. I wonder how often our looking ahead ends up matching, at least to some degree, our looking back.

I notice for myself I spend more time looking in the rear view mirror now than I once did. For many decades it was eyes on the road ahead with only an occasional glance behind to see if any of life’s traffic was catching up to me.

People, and it seems, Americans in particular, are all about goals and accomplishments; about doing. One of the things those of us who have had some time of living have realized is that life is not all about what we have done or might yet do. Important as where we have gone and what we have seen may be, that, even coupled with what we have done, is not enough to summarize a life. We are more than what we have done and where we have been. And we are more than our potential.

Every time I meet with a family to talk about their recently deceased loved one as we plan a memorial service or funeral, I am struck by the person’s life. I am often struck by what God was up to in this person and how God used a very unique person and personality to touch others. After about 250+ of these experiences over the years, I have yet to find a formula to share that would be helpful to anyone as to how to use their life so God may touch others. I have yet to discover a step 1,2,3 program to follow so one might have maximum impact and God have optimum opportunity to work through a person.

There may be, however, one thing I have seen in common among those many saints before us that is useful: be yourself. Be the person God has created. Use the gifts God has given you. Don’t worry about gifts you do not have. Sleep well in spite of things left undone or places and experiences not had. God didn’t create any of us to be like some other. Nor did God create us to check off deeds or places on some scoresheet. God created us to be like us.

I smile sometimes listening to people talk about teachers or family members. Often they poke some fun at little quirks or, shall we say, unique habits some other has. Yet as they speak, their mouth curls up into a smile. Somehow even the quirks and strange habits of those around whom they spend time seem to mean something to them too. There is an appreciation for people as they are or were. God can even use our oddest characteristics to touch others.

In this Easter season the scriptures proclaim new life. The old is put to death and the new rises. Yet God does not raise up some new strange person. God raises up the same person, gaffes, quirks, head shaking moments and all. God raises up unique persons to continue to be a unique person however new.

Many times talking about someone’s strange ways is a way to say we care about that person. That person and their life means something or meant something to us. It means so much we even, and perhaps especially, recall the strangeness as well as the more expected way someone touched us. God doesn’t simply smile at our strange ways, God jumps in and makes use of them. God will jump in and make use of them. What matters most is not what we have done or might do, but whose we are. What matters most is that we are children of God. God will use us, God does use us.

Who has inspired you? Who has motivated you? These words are not interchangeable. That is, they are not synonyms. One can be inspired while not at all motivated to change or to take something on. One can be motivated without inspiration. In fact, motivation can come from a negative experience. We can, for example, become angry and then become motivated to act without any inspiration.

Too often the church sees its role as an agent for inspiration. It can be that as inspiration certainly has its place. Sometimes all you and I can do in regards to God is be inspired and awed. Many times there is no adequate response except to stand there and drop our jaw in amazement. I suspect many are inspired by their first view of the Grand Canyon. It can be overwhelming to try and take it all in. It can be the same for God as well.

The Christian faith as proclaimed and taught by the church, is to be more than inspiring. It is also to be motivating. It is to bring newness and change, lift up the downtrodden and work for justice. It can be challenge and strength so we might love even to the point of loving the stranger and the enemy. It can push us to working hard to sin less and to live as God would have us live.

The Christian faith is not meant to leave us inspired. It is intended to motivate us to become a follower of Jesus Christ and reflect this Jesus in our own words, works, and lives. The Christian faith is intended to create in us a new person and to have such creation be an ongoing, life-long work.

Easter Sunday has come and gone. The Easter season is now upon us. The season of gospel stories reporting appearances by the resurrected Jesus. Doubting Thomas missed the first such encounter in Luke, but was there for the second. Two travelers on the road to Emmaus walked with Jesus but did not immediately recognize Jesus. On a beach, Jesus grills fish and instructs his fishing disciples where to cast their nets. The resurrected Jesus was busy! Resurrection, new life was more than just escaping death. There was work to do!

I wonder if many of these gospel accounts were written so we would not leave Easter Sunday and the empty tomb armed only with inspiring thoughts and feelings. The resurrected Jesus is present and forgives, sends, and commissions. Easter is to be both inspiring and motivating. We stand in awe and we go forth to proclaim and serve.

Who knows? Maybe you and I can motivate a few folks long life’s discipleship journey. That’s how the resurrected Christ works now. That is how the resurrected Christ is present and continues to send and commission. Dropped jaws are fine but we can’t say much when they remain in that pose. Busy hands, listening ears, and mouths at work proclaiming good news motivate. Careful! But we need to be careful: inspiration combined with motivation may lead to perspiration!

I haven’t heard any good Polish jokes lately, have you? Actually, it may be a bit oxymoronic to say there is such a thing as a good Polish joke. If you know anything at all about Poland and its history, you are aware to be a Pole is no joke. Someone always seems to be dominating their native land. And their native land’s boundaries have been pretty fluid over time. Are you aware that some of what is now Ukraine was once Poland?

A pretty tough Pole, Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtyla was known during communist times as a critic of the regime in Poland. He became Pope John Paul II. While there may be things for which to criticize him, he still commands much respect for the way he navigated his role as Cardinal and political critic. Another heroic Pole, Lech Walesa, a laborer and labor leader led a movement that transformed an entire nation.

No, there are no Polish jokes these days. After what we are witnessing in Ukraine with millions of refugees heading to Poland, their hospitality has been stellar. What makes it more intriguing is the hostility these two lands have often had for each other in the past. Now, even some corporations are opening their office towers so families can live in what were once offices. Families are inviting other families…sometimes multiple families into their homes for refuge. Perhaps we in the US need to see more video footage of violence in Central America to motivate us to welcome some who are fleeing hostility into our country, much less our places of business and homes.

This week is Holy Week and Easter. A time of betrayal, horror and astounding joy. Easter does not come to do away with all the pain and suffering. It could not go back and erase the event or the pain of the cross. Instead it brought to life what once was dead. It resurrected hope in a God who was good and would not allow evil the final word.

Some days appear as Good Friday. Some years, some times and even some lives appear as such. Our hope is never that all will be well. Our hope is that God has the final say on us and our lives.

This is the kind of hope devoid of cynicism. It is the kind of hope that opens doors and homes to refugees. It is the kind of hope that can transform enemies into care givers. Hope does not point fingers nor cast blame. Hope reaches out. Hope says God is present and at work in the worst of circumstances and I/we will be that hope for someone now hopeless. My/our arms, tongues, and possessions will be that hope for someone who needs lifting, kind words, and things.

Easter does not reverse the past. Easter gives it new life. Easter takes those once the butt of jokes and makes them stories of heroism, hospitality, and compassion. No, there are no Polish jokes these days. What the Poles and Ukrainians are dealing with is no laughing matter. It is the stuff of hope….Easter hope. The hope of new life.