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You Shall Be My Witnesses 01272025

In all 4 different “gospels according to” the women were the only disciples who witness to the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth — the legal, public execution of a threat to the totalitarian regime of Rome. Women who couldn’t be trusted to testify in court in those days, testified to the truth — the cruel terror of armed enforcers methodically torturing to death a former immigrant whose only threats were words, nonviolent resistance, healing, inclusive love, and a vision for an abundant life for everyone’s good. Jesus’ last words for his killer were: “I’m not mad at you, dude.” (My translation of Luke 23:24 “Father forgive them; they don’t know what they do.”)

In all 4 different “gospels according to” the women were the first witnesses to the resurrection of the Cosmic Christ. They testified that the light shines in darkness, the abundant love and distributive justice of God is greater than pyramids of selfish cruelty, compassion and mercy for the least of these trump domination and violence by the rich and powerful. Without women’s witness of preaching, we’d be left with the lying witness of those grasping power (“they stole his body”, “the guards fell asleep”, “it was a radical conspiracy by outside agitators”).

At the start of the second volume of Luke, Christ broadens the role of witness beyond the women to ya’ll — “ya’ll shall be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). (Although we now know the world is not flat, and men sought to silence the women, the meaning remains). We can’t control whether we are a witness; we can choose what kind of witness and whose witness we will be.

Where do you see compassionate, loving people taking a risk to be a witness? How does the mere presence of a camera and the truth of the images it can distribute pose such a threat that lethal force is justified with impunity. Did Iran block the Internet because they got tired of saying “what you witnessed isn’t what happened”? In 2020 when Ruth Ben-Ghiat wrote that throughout history “strong men” “silence and slander witnesses to the truth”, did you think she meant in our neighborhood?

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Spiritual Convergence 

I was taught that the deep wisdom of all great spiritualities converge. Before you push back, I invite you to let it sit for a while. Does the teaching mean all spiritualities are exactly the same? Why use the word “wisdom”? What changes if we substitute “religions” for spiritualities? Apparently I’m trying questions before reflections today.

Brian McLaren’s podcast from May 15th’s “Leaning How to See: Seeing the Humanity in Everyone (no exceptions)” points out:

Jesus teaches: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. For this is the Torah and the Prophets.”

Jewish law in Leviticus reads: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

In the Hadith sayings of Islam, the prophet Muhammad speaks: “as you would have people do to you, do to them. And what you dislike to be done to you, don’t do to them. None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”

From Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”

From Hinduism: “Do nothing to others which, if it were done to you, would cause you pain.”

From Taoism: “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”

From Sikhism: “Love for people what you love for yourself, and you will be a believer.”

From the Baha’i Faith: “And if thine eyes be turned toward justice, choose thou for thy neighbor that which thou choosest for thyself.”

How might this deep wisdom affect a system that marginalizes, misunderstands, uses, and overlooks people? How might our eyes be opened to see the humanity in everyone? Why is this teaching often called “The Golden Rule”?

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Beadle 09192025

On a church sign in Scotland, below the minister’s name, I read Church Beagle: {name}. Church Beagle? Did the church have a mascot? Had they gone to the dogs? Was the alpha-dog bully publicly named on the sign? (In our system it might read TLG – That Little Group). It was a misread, not a misprint. The sign actually and accurately read: Church Beadle. 

For Charles Dickens’ novel “Oliver Twist”, Mr. Bumble was a Beadle who ran the orphanage workhouse outside London — “tears were not the things to find their way to Mr. Bumble’s soul; his heart was waterproof.” Wow. I cry with tears, bad beadle, bad beadle, sit, stay.

During the Scottish Reformation of the 16th century, the Beadle was “the minister’s man.” He would open the church, take care of the grounds, ring the bell, etc. As Sunday worship began, the Beadle would process in with the Bible and the Psalter, escort the preacher up to the pulpit, lock the door of the pulpit steps, and sit by the door with a mace. His actions said the preacher was called to interpret the Bible whether you liked it or not. He made sure the word was proclaimed, unhindered. (He might also waken those who had fallen asleep during a long sermon.)

I wonder if the Beadle is shown below John Knox preaching at St. Giles Cathedral. Maybe he was protecting Knox’s freedom of preach as he questioned the autocratic actions of Mary Queen of Scots who ruled from Edinburgh Castle halfway up the royal mile.

In line with the Beadle, as a Presbyterian Preacher, I can’t be silenced by “That Little Group” for what I say in a sermon. It takes a vote of the congregation AND a vote of elders and pastors from a majority of congregations in the presbytery. With wisdom from a wider witness, they might act to get me the help I need, correct my errors, or protect me as I faithfully speak truth to power — especially when it’s unpopular and thus Biblically prophetic. 

Who has been a Beadle in your life? Where might you see a need for Beadles today? What protections do you have to speak your truth to those who greedily abuse power?

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What If? 09-15-2025

During 40 years of pastoral counseling and hospice chaplaincy I’ve walked with many youth and adults who were asking, “What if?” Most questions of “What if” involve life & death — what if the.…  gun, car, disease, decision, protection, other person….  Eventually an answer to the question lies in discovering there is none. After all, “control is an illusion fueled by emotion.”

Last night I returned from my 1st & 50th high school reunion in Louisville. In 7th grade I entered the competitive college-prep arena. Our all-boys school merged with an all-girls school my sophomore year which proved to be excellent timing. We mourned 4 of the 66 in my class who had died. 

I was filled with all the curiosity, emotions, baggage, and appreciation I anticipated. I was surprised that my sense of being overlooked in high school was dispelled by warm welcomes, fond memories, and new discoveries. I was grateful my quest of “do no harm” led to not needing to dodge anyone.

I found myself asking, “What if?” What if I’d dated or kept dating someone? What if I’d come home to my father’s business? What if I didn’t focus on my present and kept in touch with my past? What if I lived the life others lived? 

Driving home we listened to Sirius 7 — Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40” from 9/72 (the month the ladies arrived). I honored my wife with Garth Brook’s 1990 song, “Unanswered Prayers.” It occurred to me that “What Is!” is more important than “What if?” I can fantasize, bemoan, envy, all the ifs. I can live into, relish, be grateful for, and respond to my one life that is. Relishing the full abundant loving life that is mine to live unlocks my gratitude and service.

When have you asked “What if?” What were the circumstances? When have you been present to and aware of “What is!”? How has appreciating “what is” affected your outlook on life? 

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Building Bigger Barns 04072025

On his walk to Jerusalem to celebrate the last Passover of his life, the rabbi Jesus told this story found in Luke chapter 12.

Someone from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus said to him, “Man, who appointed me as judge or referee between you and your brother?” Then Jesus said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourself against all kinds of greed. After all, one’s life isn’t determined by one’s possessions, even when someone is very wealthy.”

As a pastor and hospice chaplain, I’m grateful for the example of Jesus not to get embroiled in a family inheritance battle. No one comes out unscathed. “Life is not determined by one’s possessions” is often ignored by religious conmen (except for relieving you of the burden of your possessions). THEN Jesus tells a parable. A parable is a story that never happened but is always true. You might notice how many times “I”,  “my”, and “self” occur after the land (not the man) produced a bountiful crop.

“A certain rich man’s land produced a bountiful crop. He said to himself, What will I do? I have no place to store my harvest! Then he thought, Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. That’s where I’ll store all my grain and goods.  I’ll say to myself, You have stored up plenty of goods, enough for several years. Take it easy! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. But God said to him, ‘Fool, tonight you will die. Now who will get the things you have prepared for yourself?”

What is the lasting truth from this ancient story? Where is the joy of love, inclusion, peace, and community for a fool who dies alone — save for his selfish possessions? If life isn’t about possessions what might life be about?

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Arbeit Macht Frei 04022025

From the Hofbräuhaus Beer Hall in Munich, Germany we drove to the Dachau concentration camp in 1975 (30 years after its liberation day). The 13-mile separation contained a chasm of context. The Dachau gate that past prisoners and current visitors enter reads “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work will set you free). In German, Arbeit (work) is a 3-letter distance from Wharheit (truth) but a chasm of context from Jesus saying “Wahrheit Macht Frei” (the truth will set you free) in John 8:32.

The lie that work will liberate you conned prisoners into hoping harsh labor would buy their freedom. Hope allowed the advanced German civilization to squeeze the last drop of profit from those deemed less than human — immigrants, priests, homosexuals, dissidents, social democrats, and Jews. As Red told Andy in the prison yard of Shawshank, “Hope is a dangerous thing.”

I recall “standing cells” where retributive vengeance forced many to stand for days as punishment. Standing cells were a cost cutting measure where space could be limited and cruelty was the point. (Imagine the opposite: volunteering to stand for days for restorative justice and against retributive vengeance).

Confidence men (conmen for short) rely on the confidence and hope other people place in them to have the secrets to solve their problems. It is the lie of false hope and the threat of deprivation that squeeze the last drop in exchange for freedom from fear or promised riches. Six years after building Dachau, the same words “Arbeit macht Frei” were placed over the Auschwitz camp entrance in Poland. By then the goal was no longer economic exploitation, but a system of extermination.

When has hope been a dangerous thing for you? Where do you find hope that does not disappoint? In what ways do you agree with Jesus — the truth will set you free?

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Moby Dick 03122025

I don’t recall reading every word of Moby Dick after “Call me Ishmael”, but I do remember my high school classmates calling the book “The Biggest Dick”. Maybe it was the size of the tome or a synopsis of Captain Ahab. Melville scholars say the original title was “Mocha Dick — the White Whale.” Today a small cell phone is a “Moby” and a “Trenta” is the biggest Iced Mocha at Starbucks.

Speaking of Starbucks…. my favorite character in the 1851 novel is the first mate “Starbuck”. He repeatedly warns Ahab that his egotistical maniacal quest is suicidal for the ship’s crew, immoral for humanity, and against the laws of nature. Seeing the captain has no well-reasoned pragmatic plan, no boundaries on his narcissism, no sense of morality, no limit to his prideful retaliatory vengeance, no compassion for the crew, Starbuck contemplates ever more drastic actions to stop him before it’s too late.

Even though he’s their first mate, the crew chooses to remain loyal to Ahab’s powerful personality. Over against the crew’s increasing unease and fear throughout their erratic voyage, the captain’s charisma and his promise of a fleeting future financial reward keep them cowardly conspiring to sail the ship to its destruction. 

Like the captain and crew, Starbuck suffers the consequences he tried to prevent. The sole survivor is Ishmael, rescued by another ship while floating on the coffin of his best friend, Queequeg, a skilled harpooner from a different race and culture.

Fourscore minus seven years ago, and a century after the novel, the film starring Gregory Peck, and directed by John Houston was released. If you watch it or read it, what are your reactions to this work of fiction?

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Ich und Du… I and Thou 02252025

Within the safe walls of seminary I read Martin Buber’s book “I-Thou”. I don’t recall all the nuances but the basic idea that called me into a new life can be shared briefly. We treat other people as an I-IT or an I-THOU. I tried to image all the preventable suffering between his writing the book in German in 1923 and the translation I had from 1970.

My attitude towards an IT is transactional —how I can experience, use, manipulate, control…. another as an IT. When I dehumanize, categorize, judge, hate, exploit, define another, I am treating someone as an IT. Joseph Stalin was born a year after Buber’s book. His quote in the Washington Post January 20, 1947 illustrates I-IT: “If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that’s only statistics.”

An I-THOU is a relationship that does not objectify another but lives in a fully present relationship. When I treat others as a THOU not an it, they in turn are drawn in relationship to me. God always relates to us as I-THOU and invites into relationship. We can turn our relationship with God into an I-IT when we talk about God instead of talking to God.

Writing clergy in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” April 16, 1963 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. writes: “Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an “I it” relationship for an “I thou” relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful.”

What I-IT treatments of people do you see today that are not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, but morally wrong and sinful? When have you experienced a profound I-THOU relationship with God, a human being or nature? How does technology impact how you relate to others?

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Martin Niemöller 02182025

The Stuttgart declaration of guilt was signed by leaders of the Protestant Church in Germany in October 1945. It confesses in part: “That which we often testified to in our communities, we express now in the name of the whole church: We did fight for long years in the name of Jesus Christ against the mentality that found its awful expression in the National Socialist regime of violence; but we accuse ourselves for not standing to our beliefs more courageously, for not praying more faithfully, for not believing more joyously, and for not loving more ardently.” It’s not too late to admit you’re mistakes.

An instigator and signer of that declaration was Martin Niemöller who had initially supported Adolph Hitler as an anti-semite. When Hitler ordered protestant churches to preach Nazi doctrine, Martin became one of the founders of the Confessing Church that said we will follow Jesus’ rather than the state. He spent 8 years in concentration camps where his views changed. When he barely survived, he became a famous speaker for protecting human rights. It’s not too late to change your mind.

As a teenager one of the posters on my bedroom was this quote from Martin Niemöller: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.” Sometimes it’s too late.

You can’t see the poster on my bedroom wall anymore, but you’ll find the quote at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. 

What is yours to do?

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What’d I Miss? 02052025

Washington Irving’s character “Rip Van Winkle” slept through 20 years and returned to a changed village. I’ve only been out of it for 2 weeks. We’ve been in France (the French side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin) since Jan. 19. That was the day before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday (a day of equality, mercy, inclusion, and service to others) and the day of beginning of the end (grabbing all the money and power you can by those lusting for more). 

The historian Dom Crossan taught me this truth: “The history of civilization reveals that you can have a Republic and you can have an Empire; but you can’t have both for long.”

In Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical “Hamilton” the second act opens with the beginning of the American Republic and Thomas Jefferson returning from France. Red-faced James Madison greets his return with these words: “Thomas, we are engaged in a battle for our nation’s very soul. Can you get us out of the mess we’re in? Hamilton’s new financial plan is nothing less than government control. I’ve been fighting for the South alone. Where have you been?”

Thus begins Jefferson’s song “What’d I Miss?”…. “What’d I miss? I’ve come home to this! Headfirst into a political abyss! What’d I Miss?” 

Being unplugged for two weeks, I too wonder what’d I miss? You can speak it, write it, rap it, or think it but I’m curious what your answer would be to my question: “What’d I miss?”