I thought I would take a few minutes at lunch today to write-
As I woke this morning and had my usual Friday meeting with my friend and retired priest Nick this morning we mused over the meaning of Good Friday in the world today. I couldn't help but think about all of the controversy that is running through our country right now, gun control, immigration, same sex marriage, etc.... A few years ago there was a fad that started called WWJD or What Would Jesus Do. I can only image the parables coming from Jesus when asked about weapons and the right to defend yourself.
I grew up owning a Remington 20 gauge shotgun that my father allowed me to buy as a teenager. We went pheasant hunting in South Dakota and deer hunting in Northern WI. I grew up going to the Winchester shooting range and learning to shoot trap and clay pigeons. My father owned a pistol and did target practice. Recently we had to remove the guns from my father who is suffering from Alzheimers and insisted on keeping them loaded and nearby as he became more afraid of the unfamiliar world around him. I found an interesting statistic yesterday. More people die from guns in the home and suicide than of gun street violence. Sadly there are a large number of teens who don't understand that emotional pain can be temporary turn to suicide or violence using guns. As I watched some of the people propounding the use of guns to defend their families and property I wondered What Would Jesus Do?
In the immigration arguments about those people who came here illegally I wondered if my Irish ancestors (Cochran) came off the boat legally? Those people who have migrated for thousands of years to strange lands to find work or opportunity or a better life. Many of whom were my ancestors. Those strangers on the road who were passed by in the parable of the good samaritan. (Samaritan's were immigrants too.) What would Jesus have said to those strangers in a strange land?
Marriage described by one theologian is the process of two rough rocks rubbing against each other until they become smooth. After 30 years of marriage I would bet that my wife would say I'm still pretty rough around the edges. Relationships are hard work and you have to be willing to allow yourself to be hurt sometimes because we certainly hurt those we love more often than not when we try to make them conform to our needs. My first love was a beautiful young woman in high school that was trying to understand her own sexuality. When she bravely told me about her confused feelings I was at a loss. But as I spent an afternoon riding around in a city bus confused and hurt. I turned to a man who was my Sunday school teacher who I ran into by accident while wandering around that day. I do think God was guiding my footsteps. He confided in me that afternoon that his daughter was gay. I talked with him and I understood that if I really loved this girl I had to allow her to be who she was and that meant allowing her to love someone else. I do think that afternoon Jesus was talking to me through that teacher.
On this Good Friday afternoon it seems right to take a moment and reflect on What Would Jesus Do? I don't consider myself as a religious person. I'm not really all that devout. But I'm grateful for at least one day a year when the calendar calls out to me to reflect on the small trials that I face in life and how I respond to those in need and those who I have judged worthy or not.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Bearings
As I talk to my parents by phone I'm aware of age taking its toll. My father who was once strong and active is slowly pulling in and getting tired easily. When I talk with him, I mask the worries about his health and talk instead about the weather. I try to stay focused on things he can easily converse about and things he can physically do. I talk about how maybe when it gets warmer in Wisconsin he can get back outside again. He and my mother had an active routine of going for long walks. As my father's Alzheimers has progressed he seems to tire much more easily than he used to. My mother told me that even when they go to the mall to walk inside in the warmth he now often says, after only a short time, "I'm ready to go back home".
I've witnessed that on tough days when my teenage daughter struggles with kids making mean comments to her that she comes home at the end of the day and just wants to go to her room. I was struck the other day when she told me that some kid at her school called her a Mexican. I sometimes forget that she is one of only two Asian kids at her school. In this modern age with so many racially blended families, we are still dealing with pockets of prejudice against people who are different from us. It's tough enough to be a teenage girl with all the social pressures put on them by bullying and trying to fit in without the pressures of race. Sometimes she just gets tired and wants to go home. To her room surrounded by the things she knows to get her bearings.
As I was driving the other day I was deeply focused on a problem from work. Not the best thing to be doing while driving. Suddenly I looked up and was lost for a moment not knowing where I was. I began to panic a little. I quickly got my bearings and moved on but I was keenly aware of how fragile my control is over my sense of reality. My father is watching his world disappear and he struggles to keep his bearings. My daughter is moving from childhood into her teenage years and is struggling to keep her bearings. When I am overwhelmed by problems with work and family life and I struggle to keep my bearings.
In this turbulent time it seems no matter what our age, we are all struggling with getting our bearings.
I've witnessed that on tough days when my teenage daughter struggles with kids making mean comments to her that she comes home at the end of the day and just wants to go to her room. I was struck the other day when she told me that some kid at her school called her a Mexican. I sometimes forget that she is one of only two Asian kids at her school. In this modern age with so many racially blended families, we are still dealing with pockets of prejudice against people who are different from us. It's tough enough to be a teenage girl with all the social pressures put on them by bullying and trying to fit in without the pressures of race. Sometimes she just gets tired and wants to go home. To her room surrounded by the things she knows to get her bearings.
As I was driving the other day I was deeply focused on a problem from work. Not the best thing to be doing while driving. Suddenly I looked up and was lost for a moment not knowing where I was. I began to panic a little. I quickly got my bearings and moved on but I was keenly aware of how fragile my control is over my sense of reality. My father is watching his world disappear and he struggles to keep his bearings. My daughter is moving from childhood into her teenage years and is struggling to keep her bearings. When I am overwhelmed by problems with work and family life and I struggle to keep my bearings.
In this turbulent time it seems no matter what our age, we are all struggling with getting our bearings.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Moonlighting
I haven't posted in this blog in almost 2 years. Part of that was a self imposed exile because of too many things going on in life to try to keep the blog going. In other ways I was also finding that I imposed a certain restriction on myself to not make any statements about faith or my observations on life because they might be misinterpreted while I served on certain boards or were engaged in certain civic projects. I've missed writing and feel like I'm ready to start poking my head back up, looking around, and trying to sort through the things I see in life, work, and faith by putting them into a written form. I know that a couple of my friends have been after me to get back into the writing mode. Thanks for the encouragement and I'll be posting again soon.
Michael
Michael
Monday, February 8, 2010
final episode
I haven't written in over a month. Since Christmas I have been overtaken with several projects. I've also been absorbed in watching something that I received as a Christmas present and last night I finished the final episode.
I happened to hear the interview over a year ago about the final episode of Battlestar Galactica and it sounded intriguing. I purchased the first few episodes on itunes and then got hooked. For Christmas I received the entire series in a box set. 26 discs in total.
As I have watched these episodes unfold it was like reading a book. Each episode was a continuing chapter in the story of the human race and its struggle to survive and understand what it means to be human. You need to forget all about the old 1970's series that this one used as a basis. This is also nothing like the old Star Trek series or others like it with a weekly episode that wrapped up neatly. This series is about the nature of God, man and machine. This series also came along at a time when I wasn't directing a show so that was how I spent most of my evenings the past month and a half.
I am so appreciative of the creative team that put the series together. Their writing and their probing really touched a nerve in me. So as I move on beyond this series that has absorbed my life in approximately the same time that it takes to rehearse and perform a play I find myself asking the question of what to take with me as a part of who I am. Each play that I work on always enriches my life. Not just the collaboration that happens with the people but the story of the play itself becomes incorporated in my consciousness. I often think about how much of our life is made up of the stories that we read or that we view that were created by a writer or storyteller. I know that parables, plays, movies, books, all can transport me to a place where I can look not only at the culture and the world but at myself.
The final episode of the series talks about how things keep repeating themselves over and over and yet there is hope that at some point there is the chance that things will turn out differently. We as humans won't continue down the path of self destruction. Our science and our technology far outpace our heart and our ability to make sense of it all. But even with incredible technological feats what we all reduce down to is the need to be loved and the need to connect with others. The series didn't answer all the questions it raised. Some characters never reveal to us who they are or what they are. We are left with only small glimpses of what is the truth and if we are honest with ourselves what we have told ourselves is the truth.
This past several weeks I've watched as friends have passes away, long time friends health slowly slips away, a new year begins and all the challenges it brings with it. I've watched as people in the series and in my life have seen all of their hopes and dreams turn out to be a false illusion and have to turn around and pick themselves back up again and set out again on a new path. Family members have come home to care for others and then had to leave to begin life again on their own. I've seen people who refused to give up and others who refuse to get up. I've seen people who have carried the burden of so many for so long fall down and only want to have peace, yet when duty called they stood back up, picked up the load again and set out a new course.
I used to scour every book I could get my hands on hoping to find the ultimate answer that would make sense of it all and I would live happily ever after. Lately it is the stories of others and not the philosophy or the theology books that seem to carry the most meaning. Each moment, each story of our life and the lives of others seems to hold that ultimate answer if only we can puzzle it out.
We get so caught up in the demands and the distractions of our lives that we forget the story that we are a part of unfolding with our every breath. That life is a constant discovery and a journey to an unknown place.
One of the characters in final episode said that after a lifetime of fighting and struggling and pain and heartache all he wanted told himself that he wanted to do was to find a quiet place and do as little as he possibly could and just enjoy the life. Yet as he looked around, after all he had been through, he found that his heart was calling him to climb mountains and to explore the oceans. The final episode is always the beginning of a new chapter in another story. A new story of creation that is as old as the beginning of time and continues for eternity.
I happened to hear the interview over a year ago about the final episode of Battlestar Galactica and it sounded intriguing. I purchased the first few episodes on itunes and then got hooked. For Christmas I received the entire series in a box set. 26 discs in total.
As I have watched these episodes unfold it was like reading a book. Each episode was a continuing chapter in the story of the human race and its struggle to survive and understand what it means to be human. You need to forget all about the old 1970's series that this one used as a basis. This is also nothing like the old Star Trek series or others like it with a weekly episode that wrapped up neatly. This series is about the nature of God, man and machine. This series also came along at a time when I wasn't directing a show so that was how I spent most of my evenings the past month and a half.
I am so appreciative of the creative team that put the series together. Their writing and their probing really touched a nerve in me. So as I move on beyond this series that has absorbed my life in approximately the same time that it takes to rehearse and perform a play I find myself asking the question of what to take with me as a part of who I am. Each play that I work on always enriches my life. Not just the collaboration that happens with the people but the story of the play itself becomes incorporated in my consciousness. I often think about how much of our life is made up of the stories that we read or that we view that were created by a writer or storyteller. I know that parables, plays, movies, books, all can transport me to a place where I can look not only at the culture and the world but at myself.
The final episode of the series talks about how things keep repeating themselves over and over and yet there is hope that at some point there is the chance that things will turn out differently. We as humans won't continue down the path of self destruction. Our science and our technology far outpace our heart and our ability to make sense of it all. But even with incredible technological feats what we all reduce down to is the need to be loved and the need to connect with others. The series didn't answer all the questions it raised. Some characters never reveal to us who they are or what they are. We are left with only small glimpses of what is the truth and if we are honest with ourselves what we have told ourselves is the truth.
This past several weeks I've watched as friends have passes away, long time friends health slowly slips away, a new year begins and all the challenges it brings with it. I've watched as people in the series and in my life have seen all of their hopes and dreams turn out to be a false illusion and have to turn around and pick themselves back up again and set out again on a new path. Family members have come home to care for others and then had to leave to begin life again on their own. I've seen people who refused to give up and others who refuse to get up. I've seen people who have carried the burden of so many for so long fall down and only want to have peace, yet when duty called they stood back up, picked up the load again and set out a new course.
I used to scour every book I could get my hands on hoping to find the ultimate answer that would make sense of it all and I would live happily ever after. Lately it is the stories of others and not the philosophy or the theology books that seem to carry the most meaning. Each moment, each story of our life and the lives of others seems to hold that ultimate answer if only we can puzzle it out.
We get so caught up in the demands and the distractions of our lives that we forget the story that we are a part of unfolding with our every breath. That life is a constant discovery and a journey to an unknown place.
One of the characters in final episode said that after a lifetime of fighting and struggling and pain and heartache all he wanted told himself that he wanted to do was to find a quiet place and do as little as he possibly could and just enjoy the life. Yet as he looked around, after all he had been through, he found that his heart was calling him to climb mountains and to explore the oceans. The final episode is always the beginning of a new chapter in another story. A new story of creation that is as old as the beginning of time and continues for eternity.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Year of Stories
I got up this morning and flipped on the news. They were discussing New Years Resolutions. I flipped the channel over to HBO and they had the Bucket List on. Okay two things that are trying to tell me to make a resolution on what I want to change or things I would like to accomplish in the new year. That's a tough question. There are lots of little things that I can always name easily that I would like. Lose weight. More time to write. More time period for the things that I love to do. Spending time with family and friends. But after watching the Bucket List I took a moment to try to figure out some bigger goals. That's a tough one.
I know that during Spring Break we will go to Disney World for Jade's first time ever. She is really looking forward to that. I had one of my biggest goals two years ago when I went to New York and saw shows on Broadway for the first time ever. When I was in school I always thought I would travel the world. Adopting my daughter allowed me to see China including Beijing, Hong Kong, and a layover in Tokyo. Traveling doesn't' seem to be a realistic goal at the moment. Financially everything is pretty tight. One of my goals I've had for several years now is to end the year with less debt than I started it. I was able to achieve some of that but life didn't really cooperate towards the end of the year with having to repair and replace a couple of big ticket items like plumbing systems, appliances and automobiles.
As I thought back over what I went through in 2009 I thought about how the year began with my father in the hospital as 2008 ended and my worries about his health. The ice storm took most of my focus for two months in January and February. I was pretty stressed both mentally and physically and in February ended up spending a night in the hospital because of a pain in my chest. Then I helped judge the local competition for America's Got Talent and helped select Kevin Skinner. I went right from that into The Wizard of Oz and that kept me busy until the July. We had Jade do some testing to see if we could help her with her school work and that took sometime to work through and we are just now able to make a plan to help her. A short summer vacation back to see my family and then back to work on Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming and Tom Dick and Harry. Through all that my shoulder has been keeping me in and out of the doctors office and I finally got a procedure scheduled for next Monday. In the meantime I strained my left shoulder and elbow trying to compensate for my right injured shoulder. I didn't start out with any new years resolutions in 2009 and lots of things happened.
Maybe it's best if I don't start out with any resolutions in 2010. What I think about is that most of life takes place in the stories about what happens to us while we are doing the everyday things. For me last years stories were about family, weather, work, money and trying to stay healthy. I have a feeling that many of the stories that will come in 2010 will be about the very same things. I feel very fortunate that I get to work in a career that tells stories. Many of my personal stories last year and the stories that I helped bring to life in the theatre helped to give a way to appreciate what life means. After 4 years of Education for Ministry class the one thing I learned was that we are still experiencing the same basic stories that were written thousands of years ago. While the details may be different the themes are the same. The search for love, for respect, for meaning are still just as consuming now as they were then. As we take in a story about someone else we realize, how much more alike we are than how different. The stories that inspire me are how we pick ourselves up and start again after we get knocked down. How we learn how to smile and sometimes even to share a laugh in the midst of pain. How we learn how to find love by giving it away when it hurts to give it with no expectation that it will be returned. And how we learned what it meant to be a friend, a father, a husband, a brother and a son and not talk but listen to the stories that someone else needs to tell.
A year from now I hope that when and if I'm able to sit down and think about resolutions for 2011 that I will have lots of new stories to tell.
I know that during Spring Break we will go to Disney World for Jade's first time ever. She is really looking forward to that. I had one of my biggest goals two years ago when I went to New York and saw shows on Broadway for the first time ever. When I was in school I always thought I would travel the world. Adopting my daughter allowed me to see China including Beijing, Hong Kong, and a layover in Tokyo. Traveling doesn't' seem to be a realistic goal at the moment. Financially everything is pretty tight. One of my goals I've had for several years now is to end the year with less debt than I started it. I was able to achieve some of that but life didn't really cooperate towards the end of the year with having to repair and replace a couple of big ticket items like plumbing systems, appliances and automobiles.
As I thought back over what I went through in 2009 I thought about how the year began with my father in the hospital as 2008 ended and my worries about his health. The ice storm took most of my focus for two months in January and February. I was pretty stressed both mentally and physically and in February ended up spending a night in the hospital because of a pain in my chest. Then I helped judge the local competition for America's Got Talent and helped select Kevin Skinner. I went right from that into The Wizard of Oz and that kept me busy until the July. We had Jade do some testing to see if we could help her with her school work and that took sometime to work through and we are just now able to make a plan to help her. A short summer vacation back to see my family and then back to work on Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming and Tom Dick and Harry. Through all that my shoulder has been keeping me in and out of the doctors office and I finally got a procedure scheduled for next Monday. In the meantime I strained my left shoulder and elbow trying to compensate for my right injured shoulder. I didn't start out with any new years resolutions in 2009 and lots of things happened.
Maybe it's best if I don't start out with any resolutions in 2010. What I think about is that most of life takes place in the stories about what happens to us while we are doing the everyday things. For me last years stories were about family, weather, work, money and trying to stay healthy. I have a feeling that many of the stories that will come in 2010 will be about the very same things. I feel very fortunate that I get to work in a career that tells stories. Many of my personal stories last year and the stories that I helped bring to life in the theatre helped to give a way to appreciate what life means. After 4 years of Education for Ministry class the one thing I learned was that we are still experiencing the same basic stories that were written thousands of years ago. While the details may be different the themes are the same. The search for love, for respect, for meaning are still just as consuming now as they were then. As we take in a story about someone else we realize, how much more alike we are than how different. The stories that inspire me are how we pick ourselves up and start again after we get knocked down. How we learn how to smile and sometimes even to share a laugh in the midst of pain. How we learn how to find love by giving it away when it hurts to give it with no expectation that it will be returned. And how we learned what it meant to be a friend, a father, a husband, a brother and a son and not talk but listen to the stories that someone else needs to tell.
A year from now I hope that when and if I'm able to sit down and think about resolutions for 2011 that I will have lots of new stories to tell.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
The birth of light and tolerance at a time when we need it more than ever
I was talking with a friend and we were discussing a prayer that was said at a school function. I am keenly aware of those who want to strongly voice their faith in schools and other settings as a political act. I feel sorry for them. They are always getting worked up by those who speak on a regular basis on the talk radio airwaves-those defenders of the faith. These defenders always want to put the world into two warring camps.
On one side is a group of people who wants to make a cause of saying Merry Christmas to rally around the bible and fight what they see as an evil that is spreading among business and individuals- the dreaded saying "Happy Holidays". On the other side is a business community and a group that recognizes that there are more and more people each year who are not Christians. The Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and many other people of faith who live and work in our community every day. I read on my Google home page the hype about the war over Christmas and the people who actually keep a tally of what businesses and individuals are using the phrase happy holidays instead of Christmas.
The other day as I greeted a Jewish friend of mine I said Happy Hanukkah to him and he responded Merry Christmas to me. It seems to me that most people of faith would greet each other in a respectful manner. I am not Jewish and he was not Christian. Yet we both smiled and wished each other happiness and joy of the season. I would appreciate non-Christians greeting me with a wish for a happy Hanukkah or Passover, a greeting during the month of Ramadan would also be welcome. I believe there is a cancer that is growing among certain parts of the faith community. This cancer is the certainty that they alone have the truth and must proclaim it in a way that tries to assert their truth above all other truths. That we should all live under one state sponsored religion. There are several books written about the people who came to our shores and founded this country on the right to practice their faith in their own way. The freedom of religion. Of course if you read just a little later in our countries history you see that they too were just as intolerant of others faith and beliefs as the the countries that they fled from. Several colonies tried to establish a "state religion". It was only a few individuals who saw that a true democracy allowed everyone to pray to their creators in a way that suited them. That also gave the freedom for some not to pray at all.
So this Christmas I will celebrate the birth of a Jewish child. A child that grew up in a faith tradition that revered Abraham as the founder. An Abraham that founded Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. A Jewish child that stood up against those in his own faith who said that you must follow strict rules of obedience as set forth by the high priests and ministers of the faith. This holiday season I celebrate the birth of a light in the world that fought against bigotry, intolerance, and injustice, and not just against those in the ruling empire whose will was carried out by armed soldiers or tax collectors, but also against those of his own faith who would tear down others for daring to believe that they too could have a personal faith.
So I say Merry Christmas and to my friends of other faiths I hope that you will express their joyous expressions of your individual faiths right back to me. I've been listening to the musical "Rent" lately and the song 525,600 minutes runs through my mind as I think back over the moments that measure this past year. In most of those minutes this past year I hope that I have tried to listen instead of talk, tried to encourage instead of reject, and tried to love even when it was much easier to be angry or even hate. How do you measure the the moments of a life?
On one side is a group of people who wants to make a cause of saying Merry Christmas to rally around the bible and fight what they see as an evil that is spreading among business and individuals- the dreaded saying "Happy Holidays". On the other side is a business community and a group that recognizes that there are more and more people each year who are not Christians. The Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and many other people of faith who live and work in our community every day. I read on my Google home page the hype about the war over Christmas and the people who actually keep a tally of what businesses and individuals are using the phrase happy holidays instead of Christmas.
The other day as I greeted a Jewish friend of mine I said Happy Hanukkah to him and he responded Merry Christmas to me. It seems to me that most people of faith would greet each other in a respectful manner. I am not Jewish and he was not Christian. Yet we both smiled and wished each other happiness and joy of the season. I would appreciate non-Christians greeting me with a wish for a happy Hanukkah or Passover, a greeting during the month of Ramadan would also be welcome. I believe there is a cancer that is growing among certain parts of the faith community. This cancer is the certainty that they alone have the truth and must proclaim it in a way that tries to assert their truth above all other truths. That we should all live under one state sponsored religion. There are several books written about the people who came to our shores and founded this country on the right to practice their faith in their own way. The freedom of religion. Of course if you read just a little later in our countries history you see that they too were just as intolerant of others faith and beliefs as the the countries that they fled from. Several colonies tried to establish a "state religion". It was only a few individuals who saw that a true democracy allowed everyone to pray to their creators in a way that suited them. That also gave the freedom for some not to pray at all.
So this Christmas I will celebrate the birth of a Jewish child. A child that grew up in a faith tradition that revered Abraham as the founder. An Abraham that founded Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. A Jewish child that stood up against those in his own faith who said that you must follow strict rules of obedience as set forth by the high priests and ministers of the faith. This holiday season I celebrate the birth of a light in the world that fought against bigotry, intolerance, and injustice, and not just against those in the ruling empire whose will was carried out by armed soldiers or tax collectors, but also against those of his own faith who would tear down others for daring to believe that they too could have a personal faith.
So I say Merry Christmas and to my friends of other faiths I hope that you will express their joyous expressions of your individual faiths right back to me. I've been listening to the musical "Rent" lately and the song 525,600 minutes runs through my mind as I think back over the moments that measure this past year. In most of those minutes this past year I hope that I have tried to listen instead of talk, tried to encourage instead of reject, and tried to love even when it was much easier to be angry or even hate. How do you measure the the moments of a life?
Sunday, December 6, 2009
making a two cent donation
It's been a wild and crazy month for me since I last posted. Everything has been focused on work so I've been feeling a little overwhelmed. I had an experience a week ago that has been on my mind since it happened. I was presented with a situation in that I was ushering for my church a week ago. As part of the ushers duty you walk up to the front of the church with a collection plate and then walk slowly to the back as people put their contributions in the plate. The aisle that I was on had a small number of people in it. As I walked from the front to the back not a single person put anything in the plate. I reached the back and the plate was empty. I thought about it for a second and realized I could not turn that plate in with nothing. I got out my wallet and looked inside. I realized all I had was 3 one dollar bills. I took those bills and put them in the plate.
Now I'm fairly certain that the people who did not put something in the offering plate that day probably write a check and contribute like I do on a monthly or quarterly basis. But I don't know that for sure. Now the thing that made me stop and think was wondering what it looked like to someone who came to Grace Church for the first time. Sitting there noticing that most of the people they see don't put something in the offering plate. What does it look like to my own child who generally doesn't see me put anything in that plate. Does she know that I contribute on a regular basis to help support something I care about. When I was a kid my parents always gave me something to put in the collection plate. It was a way of teaching me that it is important to give, and to be thankful for what I've been given. It wasn't until later I learned that they also sent a monthly check to support the church.
When I'm out shopping with my daughter at Christmas, I always give her money to put in the salvation army kettle. Even if I've already given that day, I'll try to always put something in almost every kettle I pass. Even if its just a little bit of pocket change. Why do I do that? As I thought about it, I discovered it is important to me that the people who volunteer their time, especially kids who volunteer their time to go ring those bells understand that I appreciate their efforts to make our community a better place. We have a shared responsibility. I also recognize that I can't give to everyone who asks me. I wish I could be my family has limited resources. Making a donation to feed the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, and clothe the needy is something that we are called by our faith and as citizens to do. I support education and the arts as well because I think it is just as important to give knowledge to the mind and give nourishment to a person's soul through music, theatre, and dance.
As I reflected back on that empty offering plate I knew that I couldn't let it go up empty even though I had already given that month. It is important for people to "see" people giving. Working for a non-profit we always recognize our donors with a thank you and by posting their names in our program. But what about places like churches and salvation army kettles where your name isn't posted. Last weekend it became important to me not how much you give but that people can see that you give. You are making a statement of what is important to you.
So I've made my new years resolution early. When the collection plate or the salvation army kettle appears, even if I've already written a check and got my tax deductible donation recorded, I will put in something every time I can. It may be just a few pennies or a single dollar, but it will be something. I want to teach my daughter to extend her hand in a way that sets an example and encourages others to give no matter what the amount. Besides if everyone gave even just a little bit here and a little bit there it adds up. So that's my 2 cents to contribute.
Now I'm fairly certain that the people who did not put something in the offering plate that day probably write a check and contribute like I do on a monthly or quarterly basis. But I don't know that for sure. Now the thing that made me stop and think was wondering what it looked like to someone who came to Grace Church for the first time. Sitting there noticing that most of the people they see don't put something in the offering plate. What does it look like to my own child who generally doesn't see me put anything in that plate. Does she know that I contribute on a regular basis to help support something I care about. When I was a kid my parents always gave me something to put in the collection plate. It was a way of teaching me that it is important to give, and to be thankful for what I've been given. It wasn't until later I learned that they also sent a monthly check to support the church.
When I'm out shopping with my daughter at Christmas, I always give her money to put in the salvation army kettle. Even if I've already given that day, I'll try to always put something in almost every kettle I pass. Even if its just a little bit of pocket change. Why do I do that? As I thought about it, I discovered it is important to me that the people who volunteer their time, especially kids who volunteer their time to go ring those bells understand that I appreciate their efforts to make our community a better place. We have a shared responsibility. I also recognize that I can't give to everyone who asks me. I wish I could be my family has limited resources. Making a donation to feed the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, and clothe the needy is something that we are called by our faith and as citizens to do. I support education and the arts as well because I think it is just as important to give knowledge to the mind and give nourishment to a person's soul through music, theatre, and dance.
As I reflected back on that empty offering plate I knew that I couldn't let it go up empty even though I had already given that month. It is important for people to "see" people giving. Working for a non-profit we always recognize our donors with a thank you and by posting their names in our program. But what about places like churches and salvation army kettles where your name isn't posted. Last weekend it became important to me not how much you give but that people can see that you give. You are making a statement of what is important to you.
So I've made my new years resolution early. When the collection plate or the salvation army kettle appears, even if I've already written a check and got my tax deductible donation recorded, I will put in something every time I can. It may be just a few pennies or a single dollar, but it will be something. I want to teach my daughter to extend her hand in a way that sets an example and encourages others to give no matter what the amount. Besides if everyone gave even just a little bit here and a little bit there it adds up. So that's my 2 cents to contribute.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
