A MUSIC BOX GOOD-BYE

I want you to visualize this:  You have a music box and you wind it up.  You listen to the music—many notes, up and down the scale, some repeating themes, a few notes held long, most others very short, but finally, if it’s programmed right, more or less the music comes to a conclusion as the song starts to wind down.  The song doesn’t usually end, though, as it might if you experience it in a concert you attend or as you hear it on a recording or on the radio.  Rather, it starts to slow down, and slow down, and finally almost stops, and then a last note or two and then . . . stops.

So it is with most lives and most deaths.  So it was recently with Aretha Franklin and John McCain.  So it will be with almost all the people we know and so it will be with  us. 

There will be lingering memories of the pitch they sang in, the songs they sang, the concerts they performed in, the speeches on the floor, the places they walked, or sat, or built, or spent time in—the  notes they emphasized in their lives.   And then they wind down and the music stops . . . or does it?  Or should it?

Who, in our generation, will not remember Aretha belting out R-E-S-P-E-C-T whenever we hear it replayed for the next how many years of our lives, or visualize and ‘hear’ the voice of John McCain reminding us of stoic and heroic patriotism when someone invokes his name? Or when we remember special times in the lives of our loved-ones, or ourselves with them, at unbidden moments, when just their name is mentioned, or you see a picture, or a scent, or go to a place where they once walked? 

Just remember the music box.  It didn’t just stop; it just wound down and we no longer hear it.  But it will be wound up again by another hand and its music will play on another stage and delight and inspire and add to the music once played by billions and billions of other sisters and brothers . . . and one day, too, by our music box. 

PRIESTHOOD

In my little biographical sketch on the right side of this weblog home page I indicate that I find it a great honor to hold the priesthood in my Church.  I have felt that way from the day I was first ordained many decades ago and I do today.  It is because in the Church to which I belong priesthood really means something.  It means that I have authority and power to act in God’s name for the salvation of all of God’s children provided I keep myself worthy to exercise it.  And that is a worthy purpose. 

I am embarrassed for those faithful members of another Christian denomination, those who trusted their leaders who called themselves ‘priests’ of this denomination.  I am more embarrassed and even appalled regarding those fallen men who have not kept their sacred vows and have violated some of the most fundamental commandments and expectations of God. They have befouled the very title of 'priest.' But most importantly, I feel sorry for those who were violated and who had their faith and lives damaged by these trusted ‘priests’ who were in reality weak men and unworthy imposters.

Jesus said, “Whoso who shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). 

Perhaps it is not only weak men, but an ecclesiastical structure that traditionally has disallowed these men to marry that drives some men (many more we are now finding) of the 'cloth' to engage in these reprehensible practices.  I am not saying that this church encourages such behavior—because it does not—but it does not recognize or put sufficient weight on God’s observation or foreknowledge that “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18).   That ‘helpmeet’ was a woman who God gave to Adam to be his wife.  The sexual drive which was given to procreate the human race and to bind, through marriage, a man and a woman together in love was to be used in no other way and for no other purpose.

And it was not to be used to exploit children.

These attacks on the innocent not only psychologically damage the victims, but they damage the very institution of religion in the eyes of an increasingly skeptical public.

My own father was agnostic or maybe even atheistic because of what he saw, read about, or perceived as common among false priests, or hypocritical preachers who drove the big cars and held in charismatic bondage those who belonged to the big-box, ‘feel-good’ churches he saw on television. 

Don’t, like him, throw the baby out with the dirty bath water.  The invitation remains, "Come unto Christ and be saved." But be sure the church you attend is truly led by a man of God.

SECULARISTIC SCRIPTURES

Well, not exactly.  These scriptures (holy writings) come from the Bible but are not theological writings nor do they express dogma (a doctrine formally proclaimed by a church) of any kind. Any jaded, cynical, existential atheist non-believer (as well as a theist/or any religious believer) could well benefit from their application and not feel compromised in their unbelief.  The source of words of wisdom, or the person who is given credit for uttering them should make no difference to any honest person who is looking to make the world, or his or her own life a better place.

 Let’s look at a few:

·        “. . . all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so them . . . ” (Matthew 7:12).  In our vernacular we would say, ‘do unto others what you would have done to you.’ We call this the 'Golden Rule.'

·        “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).  This truism is commonly called ‘the law of the harvest.’

·        “. . . do justly, love mercy, walk humbly. . .” (Micah 6:8)

·        “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. . . .” (John 7:24)

·        “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose . . . “ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8-11.

·        “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29::18)

·        “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

·        “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)

·        “The love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

·         

Civil War general Robert E. Lee said:  “In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.”   

IDENTITY and SELF DEFINITION

In making a new acquaintance it is customary in our culture to inquire of a person—or have them ask of you— “How are you?” (do you or they really want to know?), or “Where are you from” (does that really matter to you—or them?), or maybe, “What do you do for a living?” That is how most people identify themselves.  But is that going to make a difference to how you view them or how you want them to view you?  It is less common to ask them (or yourself) questions such as, “Who are you?”, or “What’s important to you?”, or “Why are you here?’ or “What do you value?” or, “Where are you going?” or, in short, “How do you define yourself?”

When we were kids we were asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  We probably replied that we would like ‘to be’ some occupation—an athlete of some kind, or a ‘star’ in something that brought celebrity or a job that would earn us a lot of money—maybe a singer, or an astronaut, or a doctor. But we really didn’t know what it would take to ‘be’ those occupations.  We didn’t know that it wasn’t even entirely up to us--being in the right place, at the right time, with the right opportunity and the right people there to help us or recognize us, or inspire us.  These things would play a big part in an ‘occupation-defined’ life. In fact we probably didn’t think much beyond what we would ‘be,’ occupation-wise. Somehow it would come, we thought,  but in the meantime all we wanted to do was have fun.

As a child we subconsciously defined ourselves as thinking we would be or could be competent to do whatever it was that we wanted to do and that we would, in fact, do it.  As we got a little bit older, say in our early adolescence, we found that things weren’t that easy.  We had to earn it.  We then sometimes did a 180 degree turn and discouragement set in and we viewed ourselves as worthless because things did not come to us automatically, or we bought into the social mirror (which is almost always distorted) and didn’t really realize that young people rarely look outward but focus on themselves as the center of the universe.  We were victims, we thought.

We were looking at the wrong issue and in the wrong direction.

We thought about what we would be but didn’t think about who we would be. Do we yet? That was the larger question.  How do you look at others, and how do you define yourself? 

I am reminded of the related statement made by Martin Luther King, Jr. who said “I have a dream that my . . . children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character!” 

An intelligent man or woman will always consider character far more important than skin color or physical appearance, or place of origin, or place of residence or size of bank account or, yes, occupation.  And character is developed.

I would suggest you do something really radical: consider your life as a moral drama.  Consider that a quality life is not only to do good or be prosperous but to be good.  Don’t just float along from day-to-day.   If you measure the success of your life at all (which I hope you do)—choose not to measure it against the false standards we so often see and hear around us, but against the principles and values upon which the best societies and cultures and people have been built.  And then choose from this day forward to change, to build your life around the principles, and people, and purposes that set you apart and promote peace, external and internal, and define you as a person of substance.  Be honest.  Be kind.  Be genuine.  Be of service.  Be a friend. Be good.  And remember, passivity is not necessarily good.  Get engaged.

You’ve got it in you—just bring it out and bring it on and then see how you define yourself—your changed self.   You might be amazed!