Thursday, February 28, 2008
Post Operation
I drove Georgia
to the doctor's office this morning. He removed some bandages, said everything looks fine, though the shoulder
is still very painful. Georgia will have to stay immobile for another week. Then they will remove the stitches
and she should be able to get around again.
Meanwhile, I'm still
having difficulty recovering from my bout with the flu. I feel terribly tired. Didn't do much except rest and
read.
Good news from Kenya.
Apparently agreement has been reached between President Kabaki and the opposition, whose leader will share power by
assuming the newly created position of Prime Minister. We must hope and pray that this will cause the violence to cease
and lay a better foundation for unity in that nation.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Celebrate in Bed
Today is Georgia's
62nd birthday. And how did we celebrate? I drove her to the hospital where she underwent a second rotary cuff
surgery, this time on her left shoulder. She will find her recovery quite painful for the next couple of weeks.
Such was the case last time. But if she will stay in bed and take her pain pills, she'll do just fine.
Since my last posting,
I too have been in bed. For the first time in five years I came down with the flu last Thursday. It knocked me
for a loop. I guess it's my age, but it seems like I'm taking much longer to recuperate than I would like.
5:30 pm est
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Sitting It Out
I'll be at home
tonight while Georgia is singing in the choir at church. But I won't be watching the debate between Hillary Clinton
and Barack Obama. I've seen and heard enough. There's very little difference in their policies and I can't imagine
anything new will emerge in this debate. I'll spend my time reading the latest book by John Polkinghorne on Quantum
Theology.
"The more things
change, the more they stay the same." Such seems to be the case with U.S. policy toward Cuba. It's a pity.
If the U.S. would, on our own initiative, lift the present embargo and open up relations with Cuba, the 50-year tension in
the Caribbean would ease immediately and the quality of life in Cuba change for the better.
The current front-page
story in the NY Times about presidential candidate John McCain, which is dominating the TV talk shows, is a lot of nonsense.
The story is nearly ten years old. We should be concentrating on McCain's legislative record of the past decade and
asking the crucial question: would his election mean four more years of Bush policies?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Bush in Africa
Rarely do
I have anything to commend President Bush for. So I want to take this opportunity to applaud him for the decisive action
he has taken to combat malaria and AIDS, to improve education opportunities, and to strengthen infrastructure in
Africa, His current trip to Tanzania, in which he pledged nearly $700 million for transportation, energy and water infrastructure, is
a case in point. The Bush administration has invested $15 billion to fight AIDS and another $1.2 billion to prevent
malaria, which kills tens of thousands of children under five years of age each year. Another $600 million has been
invested in basic education. These figures are large and impressive. Even so, they average out to less than $60
per American citizen, or just $8.33 annually over the past seven years. This is an investment no taxpayer
should grudge.
9:03 am est
Friday, February 15, 2008
Infrastructure
I grew up in Omaha,
Nebraska during the Great Depression. I was six years old when President Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administraton
(WPA) to stimulate the economy by putting men and women to work on the nation's infrastructure. WPA workers were a common
sight to us kids at the time. During the recent debates about the recession the U.S. is sliding into (if we haven't
already slid) I kept wondering why someone didn't suggest something on the order of the WPA. That seemed so much more
sensible that handing out rebates in the form of a few hundred dollars per family. Especially when everyone knows America's
bridges and tunnels and roads are in need of major repair and expansion. Finally that appears to be happening. Both
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have begun to talk about it in their campaign speeches. Perhaps a year from now, with
another Party in power, we will see this practical kind of stimulus implemented.
9:24 pm est
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Crescent and Cross
The Crescent
through the Eyes of the Cross. Here's a book I highly recommend you buy. Dr. Ralph Winter, chancellor of
William Carey International University, says, "Page after page will take your breath away!" Eugene Peterson, translator
of The Message Bible, agrees: "This book is both timely and necessary for Western Christians to read."
If you buy it, as I hope you will, I suggest you do so through
www.Amazon.com and -- oddly, you may think -- before 3:00 p.m. Eastern time (noon on the West Coast) tomorrow, Friday the 15th. It
would take too long to explain why here, but in short, it will help the book place higher in the Amazon ratings and possibly
make the book a best seller. From 3:00 p.m. onwards, you may also purchase Crescent and Cross directly from
www.navpress.com or phone 1-800-366-7788.
9:05 am est
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Poor Rowan
I don't envy Rowan
Williams these days. Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury and the spiritual leader of the world's 80 million Anglicans.
For the past five years he has had to negotiate the increasingly rugged terrain that divides most of the world's Anglicans,
especially those in the developing nations, from the U.S. Episcopal church, a branch of the global Anglican communion.
The division is over the issue of homosexuality, and particularly the issue of ordaining openly gay individuals as bishops
-- something the U. S. Episcopalians have already done. Williams' job is to hold the global communion together and this
appears to be next to impossible. Already some American parishes, discontented with their own leadership, have seceded
from the U. S. organization and asked archbishops from Nigeria and, I think, Singapore to adopt them.
Today Archbishop
Williams is in trouble in his own nation. This is because he recently suggested the possibility of making legal certain
aspects of Sharia law. There are 2.5 million Muslims in England and Williams thinks that it would be helpful to allow
them to apply Islamic law in limited areas such as family matters. Already England allows certain issues among
Orthodox Jews to be settled in rabbinical courts. Williams suggestion is reasonable, but predictably has raised hackles
among British conservative clergymen and politicians who are calling for his resignation. He will survive the present
turmoil, no doubt, but may well wish he had never become Archbishop.
4:10 pm est
Friday, February 8, 2008
Top Black Spiritual Leaders
This is Black History
Month. Beliefnet.com has posted its current list of the top African-American spiritual leaders on its web site and I
will copy their photos here, with a few identifying comments about each.
Rev. A. R. Bernard is senior minister at the 28,000-member Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, NY. He preaches
a level-headed prosperity gospel, emphasizing personal responsibility and living by biblical standards.
Rev. Jeremiah Wright is senior pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He is Barack Obama's pastor.
He is insistent on the relevancy of an "unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian" church.
Dr. Renita Weems: minister, teacher, and author of the acclaimed book on women's spirituality, Just a Sister Away.
Her book Listening to God: A Minister's Journey through Silence and Doubt won the Wilbur Award for excellence in
commuicating spiritual values to the secular media.
Rabbi Capers C. Funnye is the leader of Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago. He works
tirelessly to bridge the gap between African American Jews and the mainstream Jewish communities. "Judaism is beyond
any racial group," he says.
Imam Zaid Shakir, an internationally repected Muslim scholar, is an American-born convert to Islam. He served as
leader of the Masjid Al-Islam in New Haven, CT for six years, and now lectures at the Zaytona Institute in Berkeley, CA.
William Gregory is Roman Catholic Archbishop of Atlanta, GA and the first African-American to head the U.S. Conference
of Catholic Bishops. He is noted for having led the reformation of church policies in the wake of the clergy sex abuse
scandals.
Peter Akinola is the Anglical Archbishop of Nigeria but has become a major player in the U. S. Episcopal Church.
A group of Episcopal churches has split from the U. S. communion and asked Akinola to be their archbishop. He is noted
for his oppostion to the ordination of homosexuals. His prominence is symbolic of the rise of the churches of the Southern
Hemisphere.
Rev. Claudette Copeland and her husband made history when they became the first active duty African-American chaplains
in the U.S. Air Force. She is the founder of Destiny Ministries, an empowerment group for women. Today she serves as
co-pastor of the New Creation Christian Fellowship in San Antonio, TX.
Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III is senior pastor of the legendary Abyssian Baptist Church in Harlem, NY. He has been
a leading voice in social issues for the past 15 years. He recently announced his endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
Bishop Charles Blake is pastor of the 26,000-member West Los Angeles Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and also presides
over the national COGIC. He is passionate about overseas missions, having founded the Pan African Children's Fund which currently
supports 350 orphanages throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Myles Munroe is senior pastor of the Bahamas Faith Ministries which emphasizes the importance of finding and fulfilling
our God-given purpose in life. He authored Applying the Kingdom: Understanding God's Priority and Primary Interest.
He is also the founder of the International Third World Leaders Association.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Romney's Rout
I just finished
watching/listening to Mitt Romney suspend his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. I've never quite figured
out why conservative Republicans, so adamantly opposed to John McCain, never rallied around Romney. Our ultimate citizenship
is in heaven, but for three score and ten we live on earth and are citizens of a particular nation. For myself, Romney's
speech reminded me once again why, at this particular time in American history, I could never be a Republican. For him
as well as McCain, the war against "Islamic jihadism" is the greatest challenge to America. Romney says he is suspending
his campaign so as to not detract from McCain's focus on that war.
Readers of this
blog know that I believe the war on terrorism is a red herring. Islamic radicals are a small and weak minority within
Islam, lacking the backing of even most Muslim nation states, themselves for the most part weak. Constant and vigilant
police action, such as has been carried out by Britain and Spain these past six years is what is required. Under no
circumstances should we allow America to become a nation defined by fear and insecurity, with traditional individual freedoms
systematically subverted in the name of homeland security. America should conduct its foreign policy not unilaterally
and arrogantly, but in concert with the family of nations. We should strengthen our economy not only to decrease the
ever-widening gap between rich and poor in America, but in order to alleviate hunger and disease around the world. Our
aim should not be to maintain our status as the world's latest imperial power but to be the light on the hill that the Pilgrim
Fathers envisioned and the Founding Fathers of our nation dreamed of.
2:02 pm est
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The Day After
The concerns and
high hopes evident by the high turn-out of voters on Super Tuesday bodes well for a democracy. If I followed the figures
correctly, it looks like John McCain already has locked up a majority of the Republican delegates, so I'm not quite sure why
Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul vow to continue their quest. There must be something I don't understand about
this -- though possibly it is necessary to ensure a vice-presidential or cabinet post appointment. On the other side,
it is quite clear why Barack Obama will continue his campaign, and there is some reason to believe he will eventually catch
up with and surpass Hillary Clinton in the delegate count.
Super Tuesday was
eclipsed in my mind, however, by the harsh reality of economic recessions. The administration is in denial. It
is obvious that the recession is already under way. Why, at such a time, the U.S. government would pass a budget that
increases our national indebtedness and cut services for unemployment, health care and education is beyond me.
The lustre of Super
Tuesday is also dimmed by the terrific devastation and extraordinary loss of life caused by the tornadoes in Tennessee and
neighboring states. Union University, in Jackson, Tennessee, where one of my favorite Christianity Today columnists
teaches, was especially hard hit.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Superbowl
I'm not an avid
sports fan, but I can usually get interested in championship matches. So I settled down last night to watch the Superbowl.
Naturally I was rooting for the Giants, a 14-point underdogs, according to the Las Vegas sharks. But Giants star receiver
Plaxico Burress had predicted that the Giants would win 21-17. As it happened, the Giants actually bested Plaxico's
forecast, winning 17-14. In the process, they prevented the Patriots from posting a perfect season, leaving the 1971
Dolphins as the only team in NFL history with a perfect season record.
A little relaxation
never hurt anyone. But while I was watching the game, civil war erupted in Chad and a full-scale war between Chad and
neighboring Sudan was in the offing. Millions upon millions of Chinese were left stranded at railway stations and on
the highways just before the Chinese New Year by the worst snowfall in half a century. And the Pentagon proposed a new
budget which, if passed, will have reached its highest level since World War II.
On the positive
side, the world's first cargo ship partially powered by a giant kite, set sail from Germany to Venezuela. Exactly how
much this reduces fuel consumption and emissions was not reported, but every little bit helps. And General Motors has
committed to filling orders for more than 1,700 new hybrid buses in Philadelphia, Washington, DC and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
This will save an estimated 2.4 million gallons of fuel annually.
9:26 am est
Saturday, February 2, 2008
It's the Economy, Stupid
At the end of the
first month of this new year our Sunday morning collections are already nearly $2,000 in the red. Patersonians are beginning
to feel the recession President Bush thinks might be coming, but which Patersonians know is already here. This
recession was inevitable, and not merely because of the normal busiiness cycles.
The truth is, President
Bush has made the same mistake the former President Lyndon Johnson made a generation ago. Johnson tried to wage an expensive
war while, at the same time, attempting to wage an expensive war on poverty. Bush is trying to execute an increasingly
expensive occupation of Iraq while, at the same time, cutting taxes, especially for the top one percent of Americans who are
very wealthy and who, like the billionaires Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, admit they don't need the tax breaks.
Meanwhile, this
morning's newspapers trumpet the news that Exxon oil company earned a net profit of $40.6 billion in 2007, on top
of the $39.5 billion it earned the previous year. Republicans boast of "trickle down" economics, yet the reality is
that the nation's debt has skyrocked during the seven years of the Bush administration and the typical middle-class American
family has seen its annual income shrink by $1,000. And the probable Republican nominee says he will continue the occupation
of Iraq into the indefinite future -- as long as it takes to achieve "victory," which he has yet to define. Why anyone
would vote Republican this coming November continues to amaze me.
9:35 am est
Friday, February 1, 2008
Civility
Politics is important.
A huge portion of the Bible is given over to politics in one form or another, from the construction of a constitution for
the tribes of Israel, to a half-dozen books recording the acts of monarchs, to more than a dozen devoted to prophetic
critiques of those monarchs from the perspective of God's concern for social justice. In the New Testament, trapped
within an oppressive Roman Empire, Paul offers a new vision of overcoming the historic Jewish-Gentile enmity: "one new humanity
out of the two." So I am following the current Republican and Democrat campaigns with interest.
Last night, with
Georgia and my step-daughter, Lynn, I watched the debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. How different it
was from the Republican debate of the previous evening! Civility reigned. Never mind the political motivations
that surely motivated the civility. It was a pleasure to listen carefully as each candidate outlined his/her respective
platform. No name-calling, no personal attacks, no rude interruptions -- just reasoned presentations.
As a result, we
were able to see clearly the policy differences between Clinton and Obama. As it turned out, they didn't amount
to much. Whether immigration, the war in Iraq, health care, family values, or the growing gap between rich and poor
in America, opting for Barack or Hillary will make little difference. The real differences, the ones that
count, are between Clinton/Obama, on the one hand, and McCain/Romney/Huckabee on the other. Voters will have a clear
choice this coming November.
