Some Initial Musings on the Way Forward

Look for the good-In Illinois, the only candidate to whom I contributed money who won is our new Sen. Baldwin. Most of my life, I have wanted a new  program to put people to work to rebuild America. It is possible that President  Trump will get such  a bill passed, one that could dwarf Sec. clinton’s proposals.

Watch creating catastrophe where none exists-Sec. Clinton did win the popular vote. She came up short in states she required to win the electoral college. Donald Trump may well be sui generis.

Drill into data Here we will need to rely on political science models and statistical skills, but  my point is to use data to assess different questions-did Sec. Clinton lose potential votes due to her gender? If so, why, among what groups? Are we able to disentangle  sheer prejudice from other concerns, especially economic among the electorate? To what degree did hints of isolationism in Trump’s record attract folks? (After all, we have not had a declared war in my lifetime, but we have poured blood and treasure ito half commitments. With a volunteer army, we send the children of the working class into those conflicts that have had such poor  results.

How could 30% of Latinos vote for Mr Trump?

What are the policy and candidate issues that had so many women desert Sec. Clinton?

How to present facts-social psychology-Look at the new Carville book for a guide to argument. -Social psychology experiments provide a gold mine of ways to see how we are prone to error in decisions due to a variety of factors. Some of the work even speaks to persuasion and the advantage of personal experience to move the issue from abstraction.Its terror management theory goes a way to explain the appeal of “tough” candidates.

On the other hand, it is clear that we have moved from the tyranny of the merely factual. Interpretive schema seem to  override factual presentations. Lawyers have known this for a long time. That is why they labor so on opening and closing trial statements. Frank Luntz has developed the focus group into a linguistic gold mine. Democrats can do the same. We need to seek ways and test them of framing a convincing and cohesive story that helps to frame issues and candidates.

Interest group activity I just contributed to Sierra Club and the ACLU again.Small acts like this not only have cumulative significance, but they help stem the onrush of political despair and passivity.

Candidate recruitment-One of the reasons  democrats choose lousy candidates. Yes, i know that the primaries select to keep the selection out of the hands of the party insiders. Political parties exist to recruit candidates for nomination. Keeping an eye out for potential candidates contributes to the process.

Look to states in 2020-republicans are in control of at least 33 states. In part this is due to Republicans doing the hard work of selecting candidates and supporting them in local and state races. Democrats need to  help with the drawing of the new legislative districts after the census.

Arrogance and condescension-In discussion much of the liberal left is insufferable.Dogmatism afflicts us. Language White privilege v. community. Trump struck on nerve on political correctness, in part, because it is a language preserve of the liberal left. I do not think that critical race studies are a good tool in political debate and discussion.  The privilege argument often turns stereotypical, ignores cross cutting privileges and obstacles and  creates defensiveness and denial more than dialogue. I do wonder if particularism is a tactic for elections as opposed to integration. I fear the ethical colonialism of trying to shield groups from agency and criticism.

Painting extremism in the Republican Party. Some data analysis would point us to Americans being moderates.  The republican Party is unrecognizable to me from what I grew up with.  It is most difficult to find  moderates in the party at all. We call those few people who would consider compromise on occasion to be moderates. How? When  was a child the the John Birch Society was laughed into becoming an isolated  fringe group.  2) The Khan family’s moment wa effective in painting the  bigotry of Trumpism by demonstrating commitment to values. 3) Pick battles, already the leadership is planning to go after Medicare and maybe social Security. This will not succeed if opposed well. It could be a cudgel in the 2018 elections.

Working class-Since I was a kid in 1968, I have seen the erosion of support for Democrats for the party of their natural constituency. Some of it is cultural. I recall sitting in a bar u (udnerage of course) back in PA when one of the miners saw McGovern on TV-and I will clean up the language but it went:L I ain't voting for anybody who sounds like Liberace.Environmental movements have turned to job creation, but the history has been willingness to close down jobs  for the sake of the public health.In some ways, the liberal left is a beacon of the future of white collar workers, but it ignores pink collar and blue collar labor to its peril.

Post election column

I’ve been interested in American politics and history all my life. Maybe the long-promised perspective of age is finally dawning on me, as my younger self would have been crushed by the results of the recent election. Almost immediately, I started jotting down some ideas about the path ahead, and perhaps it is good to share some of those musings. This piece is directed, mostly, to those on the center or leaning left on our political spectrum.

I counsel patience, both in the sense of watching events unfold and giving oneself and others time to work.  It is fine to be sad for a while and not to jump into fevered blaming  or lashing out in frustration. When down, we often move to extreme reactions. We have seen spates of gloating that has already mutated into  I have no problem with the protests concerning the election, but I do have resentment against the recourse to violence. I am willing to bet that many in the streets could not be bothered to vote at all, but they seem to have the time to go into the streets.

As time passes, we owe ourselves some space to reflect. We do well to rely on political scientists to drill deeply into the data to try to tease out answers to questions such as: how many votes were denied Sec. Clinton due to her gender?  Did Mr. Trump, the President –elect, receive or lose votes due to his personal qualities, for instance, his brashness?  What were the salient issues that impelled people to switch parties in their voting?

I would like to see how it is that Democrats have squandered their support in the working class during my lifetime, at least since 1968.  Put differently, how do Republicans get working class people to support a party that usually does not support their economic interests?

Part of the answer may lie in the image that the parties project. At times, liberals in this county are insufferably arrogant. They have taken on a mantle of intellectual and moral superiority to those who deign to disagree with them. In other words, they look down on the very people they claim to represent.

It is time for Democrats to start to recast some of their arguments for people to vote for them and not against opponents. We may well be at a new juncture on political opinion. It seems to me that we have a world of information at our disposal, but we choose to ignore it. Instead our reading of material, our interpretation, our narrative, as some call it, seems dispositive now. Of course, some facts are selected as being proof of a set of beliefs. To a large degree, we are ignoring facts and replacing them with mere opinion across the political landscape. In that light, how points of view are framed seem crucial.

At the same time, a basic role of a party is to recruit good candidates at all levels.  Knowing that the electoral maps change every ten years, Republicans have made huge gains at the state levels.  These  are vital  sources for future national candidates and testing grounds, laboratories, for different policy proposals.

Finally, the future is always uncertain. Instead of predicating doom find signs of hope. If opposition needs to arise, then may it be effective and civil. I do not trust my forecasting skills any more. I missed the wave of Tea Party activity as an emblem of the future. I predicted in the summer that Mr. Trump would garner no more than 38% of the vote.

After any election, I remind myself of the words of Max Weber,: politics is the slow boring of hard boards. 

Nov. 13  Is. 65, Is. 12 Lk. 21:5-19

New heaven and new earth-start from scratch-transform the world? This sounds to be a nature transformed.Apocalyptic material is about the revealing of God’s work, now and in the future. Our passage from Luke is an example of the dark side of the end times vision, but they do not end that way.For a dispirited people, it is an antidote to despair. It is a powerful act to imagine that the future is not consigned to be a repetition of the past. To see god intervening when we feel powerless or even hopeless is a valuable religious resource. Trend lines can change.At this time 8 years ago, we were racing toward a global financial collapse (use garden image from Brown)-

Fretheim creative significance of events but they also burst forth into new realms, especially violence-a new improved Eden?possibly a worldwide Eden-an expansive vision of not a garden within a piece of the world, but the whole world a garden (Hiebert)\ Moltmann sees God on the move toward a future yet unfinished. So the kingdom of his righteousness does not merely embrace poor human beings. He brings peace to the whole of creation, peace between man and beast, and peace among the beasts themselves “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.” ― Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Carvalho-Isaiah’s  poem points to the reality behind worship, and creates a picture of what that virtual world looks like. God creates a new reality;creation is God’s on-going activity. That ideal world is being created “new” every day. God’s creative work turns the profane world of the city into holy space, God’s territory. Divine blessings radiate out into the steppe and the wilderness, the abode of wild and dangerous creatures. Every day, God recreates this cosmos: a world of harmony, prosperity and joy.

Is 12,Nobel prize winner Bob Dylan sees his lyrics as fluid sometimes. Like some other writers he makes songs by using fragments of notes and material and putting them together in new ways. It is possible that our little song from Isaiah does the same thing, as its words are sprinkled throughout other OT songs of prayer.

Webb -The wells of salvation, the water of God’s gracious presence, are bottomless, endless. These are the waters that give life, restoring vibrancy to a world that is dying of thirst, and seeking wholeness for those overwhelmed by the floods of destruction.The water of forgiveness, of liberation from all that holds us in captivity, of refreshment of souls that are parched for grace, .This is god’s vision for life: for life, for blessed life, for a rich and full life to be shared by all.One of the religious crimes of the newer churches is their  denial of this basic idea. Instead o they harp on the negative forces with undisguised glee.

Edward Hicks was a Pennsylvanian Quaker. He devoted much time  in making version after version of a painting, The Peaceable Kingdom.We have around sixty versions. Greg told me of an artist Hible   Look at the picture on the bulletin. It has Penn’s treaty with the Indians in the corner, but the scene from Isaiah dominates. Look at how the lighting makes the lion almost look as if an angel's wing is on it. Look at the sated sleepy cat in the corner. And the sleepy wolf next to the lamb. For Hicks it was a future vision and a glimpse into history. As agents of peace, we help form a peaceable kingdom, a life at peace.

Week of Nov. 6 Devotional Pts

Sunday-Ps.145-is one of the great praise hymns. Verses 8 and 9 are recapitulations of God’s identity form Ex. 34. The remainder is a great evocation of the compassionate active god. Write your own praise psalm today with this as a template.

Monday-In the ancient Celtic imagination, this was considered to be a "thin time" when the veil between heaven and earth grew more transparent and the wisdom of our ancestors was closer to us. We are reassured that we are not alone, that we share the world with a great "cloud of witnesses" and "communion of saints" just across the veil. These next several days are a threshold space and in thresholds we are closer to the other world which is always here. The communal honoring of the dead continues for the whole month of November.

Tuesday- Daniel 7-Daniel isn't sure what to make of this terrifying and confusion vision, so he asks an "attendant" who helps make the message clear.Who are your "attendants"? Who helps give you a sense of clarity in your life? Who is present with you as you sort out your faith and what it means for your life? As we celebrate this holy night and the approaching All Saints Day, how can you honor those who have been and are "attendants" in your life?Amanda Kempthorne,

Wednesday-Luke 18:9-14-Comparing yourself to someone else is usually not very helpful. Sometimes we do it without even realizing it. Jesus' parable calls us out on this behavior, helping us realize what we are doing, what we are thinking and how we are viewing others. This passage is just a few verses long but truly they have a depth of meaning which can lead us into better relationships and a healthier frame of mind. It takes work on our part to realize what it is we are doing. This is not something that will happen in a moment, but by may take us some time to realize, adjust and, by God's grace, change to reflect the likeness of God.

Thursday-Hold plans and expectations lightly and notice where your energy and prayer are taking you and being fluid like the element of water.  It means being open to the subtle ways that God shapes and transforms us moment by moment, listening deeply for the call of the Spirit leading us forward into our lives.Abbey of the Arts

Friday-"From ev'ry bliss that earth imparts we turn, unfilled, to hear your call." St. Augustine made the same point in his Confessions: "You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you." We long for so much, and much of what we yearn for is good: purpose, direction, relationships. But finally even such good things are among the treasures moth and rust consume and thief breaks in to steal. We remain restless, unfilled, longing for what we know not. We remain unfilled until the one we were made for, the one who would share with us all that he is and has, finds us.God Pause

Saturday- “The creation of the world did not take place once and for all time, but takes place every day.” ― Samuel Beckett, Proust

Nov. 6 column -Minor Prophets and Anxious times

I was visiting our eldest daughter in Austin, TX this week. She was busy at work, so I had some time to work on my book on the Minor Prophets/ Book of the 12. With that, a column idea was slow to develop. Placed in steerage on the plane back, an idea started to form: merge them. When I arrived, my inbox was filled with suggestions on prayers for the election, but avoiding partisan endorsements.

I have found this to be an utterly dispiriting election. I visited the LBJ museum doing a thunderstorm in Austin and was reminded of a time when people could work across the aisle in courtesy. The book of the 12 intrigued me as a study due to its often diminished set of expectations. Without fail, they are immersed in troubles of various sorts. They look at political and religious leadership with grave disappointment (Micah 3, Hosea 4).

It seemed to the Minor Prophets that it was impossible to get ahead. Haggai 1:6 puts it well: we work and work and are not content or satisfied; it is as if our wages go into a “bag full of holes.”

While our crime rates have fallen dramatically in the last 40 years, violence plagues us. Too many people are not safe within their homes or on the streets. We get herded like cattle through detectors at airports due to terrorist outrages. For the Minor Prophets, violence was a sign of a disordered society. Salvation, in part, was safety and security from its ravages ( Ob v.10,  Jonah 3:8, Hab. 1:1-9).

One of the general areas that divide the political parties is the issue of justice.  The parties divide on this point. One emphasizes justice, and the other is oriented to the individual idea of charity. At this point, my ideal is to hold charity in my left hand and justice in my right hand. Too often, charity provides a temporary bit of help; the problems continue to fester. On the other hand, justice tends toward the abstract, and the individual gets excluded from its lofty pronouncements. Amos speaks for a powerful tradition of justice (5:5:24), and against luxury. . He speaks to the sheer complacency and self-satisfaction that luxury induces in us (ch.4,6). At the same time, helping the needy is crucial (5:12).

We can try to setting up fairness, without giving a person or group a particular edge or impediment. People in similar circumstances should be treated in similar ways. At the same time, if charity can help ease individual predicaments, those basic human needs are crucial. As a pastor I would like to see a social ethic based on Biblical teachings on public life. At the same time, we can scour the secular world for ideas and programs that fit that ethic.  I would then like to see if we could teach methods to put them into practice. As Martin Luther King demonstrated Christian social action does well to engage in a time of fact-finding and analysis and a period of spiritual preparation and discernment.

Most of the Minor Prophets  end on a note of hope. In a time of diminished expectations, these books for the downtrodden rarely end on a down note. They are beyond optimism, as if things move in a march of progress, but keep a vision of a better future. “In that day, the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and  the hills will flow with milk” ( Joel 3:18).Zechariah closes with a vision of continuous day and living waters (14:7-8).

If all goes well, I will do my part to help the electoral process by working in the polls as an election judge again this year. My prayer is for full, free, informed walks to cast ballots to lead us into an uncertain future.

Nov. 6 sermon Notes Haggai 1:15-2:9

Nov. 6

Hag. 1:15-2:9 Haggai urged the people to begin to restore the ruined temple. They are dispirited. “They have a hard enough time making ends meet. Haggai points out that they seem to be on a gerbil wheel, all of the money flows out of a pocket with holes, no matter how hard they work. Now they hear that both nature and economics are allied against them. They will get nowhere until the temple is restored.

When the work came to a close, it was a disappointment. I love the psychological realism of Haggai’s little book. This could be for a number of reasons: it did not measure up to the memories the few who recalled actually seeing it... At the very least, it probably lacked both the fine ornamentation that had been built into the temple and the quality of the workmanship was probably not up to standards of the time. Some of the exiles had seen glories, and this seemed small, cheap, disappointing in comparison to the glories they had seen. Even more likely, it could not compete with the memory of the imagination of those who described it.

Haggai pushes us to consider the vicissitudes of memory. As Bruce Springsteen says, we tend to idolize the “Glory Days,” and how the misty past grows golden with the passing years.” Part of the attraction of a high school reunion is to re-stimulate memories and relive important moments in a time of life when small things take on dramatic dimensions. Memory seems to burnish things, especially when we are making negative comparisons with the present. we know from social science studies that memory is not particularly accurate.Nostalgia-

At the same time, it is a book with careful attention to the setting of dates as memory can blur dates and events. If the people could recall the date of the destruction of the temple, they could also recount the date of its restoration. Airy spirituality can exist in the ether of abstract intentions, but biblical spirituality lives in the warp and woof of human history. For Christians, with our linkage of the divine and human in Jesus Christ, we live in this tension, or perhaps better, in the reconciliation of those two modes.-The people seem to feel as if all their work has been done on their own.

Just as the Creator could shake the very structure of the cosmos, God will shake down nations for tribute coming to the temple to make it a special place.A cosmic shakedown will provide treasure to flow into Judah. At 2:9 the aim is shalom: peace, security, well-being, prosperity.This type of promise is important for religious vitality. Is the faith looking only backward? As recent Rolling Stone article, "The Age of Fear," reports on the "terror management theory."  Eddie Guy writes, research has revealed, "that when people are reminded of their mortality ... they can become more prejudiced and more aggressive toward people with different worldviews." Apparently, we are easily shaken in mind and alarmed.
take courage, do not fear, don't be so easily shaken in mind or alarmed, because God is faithful and the God of the living and we are the living who belong to God, always.Resurrection is  surely coming and with it forgiveness, reconciliation and victory over all that threatens to overwhelm us, even death.how are we living in this age? actions of God only in the past? Is God with us now? Will God be present in the future? Is it possible that the future could contain something new, something better? How is God’s presence connected to that vision?  

Reflection Points Week of Nov. 13

Sunday-Is. 12 is the reading instead of a psalm today. They may be ancient hymn pieces. Work with verse 3 and consider other ways to phrase it.

Monday-“Prayer is not just about finding happiness – although certainly joy is often a fruit of prayer – but also about allowing the full range of ourselves to have voice.”

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Tuesday- Being fluid like the element of water  means being open to the subtle ways that God shapes and transforms us moment by moment, listening deeply for the call of the Spirit leading us forward into our lives.  In our prayer, being organic means trusting what is emerging.  Trusting that what comes next will be revealed in its own time." -- Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Wednesday-When we make a good marriage with time . . . whatever sanity, patience, generosity, and creative genius we are able to achieve in life is not solely within our own remit.   . . .The closer we are to the productions of time--that is, to the eternal--the more easily we understand the particular currents we must navigate on any given day . . . If we want to understand the particulars of our reality, we must understand the way we conduct our daily relationship with the hours.---David Whyte, "Crossing the Unknown S

Thursday-The clock with its forced march is not the only marker of time. Our calendars with their five and ten year strategic plans rob us of our future. The rising and setting of the sun, the expansion and contraction of the moon, the ripening and releasing of the seasons, these all mark a different quality of time and invite us into a deepened and renewed way of being. Abbey of the Arts

Friday-Sacred time is what we experience when we step outside the quick flow of life and luxuriate, as it were, in a realm where there is enough of everything, where we are not trying to fill a void in ourselves or the world, where we exist for a moment at both the deepest and the loftiest levels of our existence and participate in the eternal life of all that is. Prayer, meditation, religious rituals, and holy days provided gateways into eternity that allowed us to return to the world of daily time refreshed and renewed, with an understanding that beneath the busyness of daily life there was an underpinning of calm, peace, and sufficiency. Gary Eberle

Saturday-Scripture tells us: "Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season, we shall reap, if we do not lose heart." My friends, let us have faith in each other. Let us not grow weary. Let us not lose heart. For there are more seasons to come and there is more work to do. – Hillary R. Clinton