Category: News

Apr 14

Mourning with My Privilege

I thought I was done with the Privilege topic, but then I read about the churches being attacked in Egypt.  This is Holy Week.  We’ve gone to worship every day and twice on Maundy Thursday.  Not once did any of us worry that we might be targeted.  I know that Muslims, Jews and even Black Christians in this country can’t always say the same.  I am grateful for my Privilege in knowing that I can worship in safety.  On this Good Friday, as we remember Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, I pray the day will come when all God’s people will have such Privilege.

As part of my Lenten commitment, I’ve been reading “He Chose the Nails”  and “On Calvary’s Hill” by Max Lucado.  Lucado emphasizes the fact that Jesus knew, even before He started His ministry, how it would end.  I am wearing black today as a symbol of my mourning for the fact that I fear, if Jesus came back today, we’d kill Him again.  After all, He was a Middle Eastern religious fanatic who taught that we should all be living by God’s law.

He was executed by the method of the day because of fear and political expediency.  The fact that he expected it and was prepared to sacrifice himself doesn’t alter that fact.  For more than 250 years, His followers were also persecuted and killed by the popular methods.  In the middle ages, Europeans, professing Christianity, killed thousands to “free the holy land” from the Jews and Muslims who had always lived there.  Today, we have leaders promoting discrimination against people for their religious beliefs, just as those early Christians suffered under the Romans, the Muslims suffered during the Crusades, and the Jews suffered in Germany during World War II.  

While I may not always agree with the teaching of other religious organizations, including some Christian ones, I fanatically declaim their right to hold their beliefs in peace as long as they allow others to do the same.  Whether or not we agree with them, we have no right to judge, only God is supposed to do that.  

There is only one God, people.  The fact that others call Him by different names, doesn’t mean it’s a different being.  We have many names for Him ourselves.  In Spanish, it’s Dios; in French, it’s Dieu; in German, Gott; in Swedish, Gudaväsen; in Russian, Boga; all from Christians.  The fact that Islamic nations say Allah, doesn’t make it a different God, any more than Jews saying Jehovah or Yahweh does.  We all worship the God of Abraham.  

We adhere to different teachings, claim different prophetic voices, but we start from the same beginning and we should respect the fact that others could only take the path that was before them as they searched for a relationship with the only God that exists.  We are instructed to go forth and preach the gospel, not to condemn those who do not accept our proselytizing.  Our only concern should be our personal relationship with our Lord, not the correctness of other people’s beliefs.  

Rant over.  I cannot judge those who do not agree with me, even those whose actions are based on obvious prejudices.  God is in charge, whether the majority of people choose to believe it or not.  He gave us free choice because He wanted us to choose to love Him and live by His commandments.  I am sure He is saddened by the state of His world today.  I know I am.

This is not the post I had planned for this week.  That one got bumped to next week.  Come back then.

 

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Posted in Church, Current Events, For Your Consideration, Inspiration, Meditations, News, Religion

Apr 06

Privilege Part 3

As Americans, we have privileges that we frequently take for granted or completely ignore.  We can complain, whine, or rant about things we dislike from politics to prices. It may not do much good, but we won’t, usually, be threatened with arrest because of it.  We can vote, but too many of us don’t bother.  We can choose what jobs we want to do, how we want to dress, who we want to have for friends, what religion we prefer to practice or not.

Most all of us have privileges of one kind or another.  Privileges that we take for granted or don’t even realize other people don’t have.  It is part of the human psyche to think our lives are the norm and everyone else has the same benefits that we do.  

We may see other people’s privilege that we don’t enjoy and feel envious.  But, other than the homeless (Who we tend to think are there because of their own faults.), we usually assume that everyone else’s life is the same as ours.   Most of the people we associate with have the same privileges we do.  We seldom think of how different it can be for those outside our circle or even some within it.

What is life like for the couple who aren’t able to have children?  How is the young mother who just got divorced coping with custody arrangements and a reduced income level?  How does the couple of mixed race or religion deal with the prejudices that they run into? What effect does that stress have on their relationship?  What is it like to need to explain to a six year old why some people don’t allow their children to play with her?  

There are so many ways that we are privileged and as many ways that we are not.  When I was younger, the majority opinion was that I was privileged to be naturally slim.  It didn’t feel like privilege to me though.  I knew that 104 pounds at 5’6″ was too skinny, but I couldn’t gain weight.  No matter how much or what I ate, I never gained a pound.  I never had to worry about getting rid of “baby weight” because I weighed exactly the same after my children were born as I did before I got pregnant.  People who have trouble controlling their weight would call that a blessing, to me, it was a curse.

Then, I quit smoking and going dancing on weekends.  I turned 50.  My natural metabolism slowed down and I gained 75 pounds in less than a year.  Ever since, I’ve been struggling to keep the weight off.  It seems there is no middle ground.  But, I call it a privilege that I was able to arrest the gain, have been at a stable size for the past 10 years, and my health is good.  At 74 years old, I take no prescription drugs, have no major health problems, and am not in daily pain.  That is privilege of the best kind.

Your privilege isn’t something to be ashamed of or feel guilty about.  It isn’t your fault that other people have problems you don’t.  They may also have privilege that you don’t.  The important things are to realize your privilege,  to know that not everyone is fortunate in the ways you are, to stop and think before judging others, to believe that your viewpoint and experience may make it difficult for you to understand their actions and reactions.  Check yourself for privilege and then give others some leeway in your expectations.

Wikipedia says that “Privilege is a social theory that special rights or advantages are available only to a particular person or group of people.”  Perhaps that is accurate as far as it goes, but I think whoever posted that page is privileged to have a narrow view of the subject.  

How privileged are you?  I took this quiz on Buzz Feed as research for these articles.  I scored 52 out of 100 possible points.  My results say that I am “quite” privileged.  I am not bragging.  I am feeling very humble.  I count myself privileged in every sense of the word and I hope that I have empathy for those who are less fortunate. 

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Posted in For Your Consideration, Meditations

Mar 30

Privilege Part 2

As I’ve been parsing my privilege, I have realized that it starts at birth.  We won’t even consider the fact that I am a white American born citizen descended from generations of the same.  Those points of privilege are a given.  Anyone who doesn’t realize what advantages come with them just isn’t paying attention.  

My first privilege was a stable home environment.   I was born to a happily married couple of honest hardworking people.  They didn’t marry until they were 30 and 31.  They had known each other for about five years.  I was born a year later and from that day until my father died, I never heard them argue, never saw them angry with each other.  I’m not saying they never disagreed, just that they worked out their problems quietly and without letting it affect us kids.  As far as we could tell, our parents had the perfect marriage that lasted more than 35 years. 

Part of that stability was the fact that, even though we were never well off, we always had a clean, comfortable home and plenty to eat.  With five children and a limited income, it wasn’t easy but my parents saw to it that we always had what we needed and, at least, some of what we wanted.  They also instilled good values and a strong work ethic in us, mainly by setting an example.

My second privilege was being fortunate enough to be born healthy with no disabilities.  My aunt and uncle had a stillborn daughter and a son with spina bifida.  I had another aunt who had severe scoliosis.   Three of my four brothers were also born healthy and strong, but the other one was subject to seizures that eventually got so severe they had to be controlled with medication for years.  Two of them had dyslexia at a time when no one knew what it was.  They never did learn to read well which limited their employment opportunities.

Consider how many people in this country, never mind other parts of the world, are raised in broken homes or are mired in poverty.  How many have parents who fail to give them good values or the loving attention that every child needs.  Look around at the number of people who must deal with limiting handicaps all their lives.  Think of how many families are homeless or living in refugee camps.  

I have only scratched the surface of the myriad ways that my life has been filled with advantages.  Things that I, like most people, have usually taken for granted; and being able to do that is a privilege all by itself.  I’m not done yet with this subject.  Stay with me.  Part 3 next week.

 

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Posted in For Your Consideration, Meditations, Memoirs

Mar 22

Privileged?

We’ve been hearing a lot about “Privilege” lately.  It’s been thought provoking for me.  If it hasn’t for you, if you’ve rejected the concept or just ignored it, then you are coming from a place of privilege.  I know that I am privileged in many ways, in some others not so much.  I also know what privilege looks like from the other side because I’ve been there.  

When I decided this subject should be my next post, the first thing I did was go looking for a dictionary definition.  The fact that I had so many sources easily available is another sign of privilege.

“A separate and personal advantage.” From the Webster’s abridged edition that I keep on my desk.

“A right or benefit that is not available to everyone. 2. the advantages enjoyed by an elite group.” From the Microsoft Encarta Dictionary that was a required book for one of my college courses.

“A special or peculiar benefit, favor, or advantage. 2. An exemption or immunity by virtue of one’s office or station.” From the Funk and Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary that lives on my reference book shelf.

“A right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most.” from dictionary.com

Then I began to make a list of all the ways I know that I, personally, am now and have always been privileged.  It got very long.  As I thought about it, I realized there are also ways that I am privileged now, but wasn’t always.  There are even ways that I used to be privileged that no longer apply.  

As I was leaving home to day to pick one of my toddlers up from preschool, I was still mulling over the subject and saw a perfect example of a complexity of two.  I was backing out of my driveway in the mini-van I purchased specifically to have room for multiple car-seats, another evidence of my privilege. 

As I looked behind me, I saw a young girl, maybe 11 or 12, walking down the sidewalk across from my house.  She looked cold and miserable.  Her arms tight against her side, hands folded in front of her, strings of blond hair blowing in the chill wind.  She was obviously heading home from school, her backpack slung from her shoulders, in the middle of the day.  Behind her walked a woman, equally unhappy looking.  

I wondered whether she was sick or in trouble.  You couldn’t really tell from their expressions.  It could have been either.  What was evident was that the school had called for someone to come get the child and the woman had no transportation so she had to walk to the school, then back home again.  If the girl was in trouble, her situation got worse.  If she was sick, she wouldn’t improve walking 6 blocks or more in the cold. She looked at me from the corner of her eyes without turning her head and I had deja vu.  

Only I was the one on the sidewalk, waiting in the cold or the rain for a city bus because I didn’t have a car, watching the people in their cars sail past, and feeling such envy, bitterness, misery.  For a brief moment, I was right back there and I realized, even then I was enjoying privilege. This small town has no bus system for people who don’t have cars to use.  It’s either walk, pay for an expensive taxi or beg rides from others.

I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but I was fortunate to have access to public transportation, to have a job which made it possible for me to afford the bus, and paid for a place to live along with food for my daughter and myself.  There are many other people in this country who don’t have those things. Even then, at one of my lowest points, I was enjoying privilege.

There are a million ways that we enjoy privilege every day without noticing. We just take for granted our safe homes, warm beds, hot showers, clean clothes, etc.  We walk out our doors without feeling the need to scan the street first to be sure it’s safe.  We get into our cars and drive to our destinations without concern for roadside bombs or blitz attacks.

Privilege.  I think this is going to be a series.  I feel the need to explore all the ways privilege can apply without the person enjoying it even realizing it exists.  Some people would claim that they have earned their security and comfort but, as I continue, I hope to demonstrate that being able to earn it is another sign of privilege.

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Posted in Current Events, For Your Consideration, Meditations

Mar 11

Searching for Prayer

Over the years, I’ve said the Lord’s Prayer thousands of times.  I’ve taken part in study groups that discussed it.  The consensus being: we frequently tend to simply recite it without thinking about the meaning of the words.  The second factor being: it was never meant to be an actual prayer, but an example of how to pray.  I was looking for a book that would take this idea and expand upon it. 

This month, I’ve been using “Lord Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days” by Kay Arthur for a kind of devotional study.  I bought this book a couple of years ago and this is my third attempt to finish it.  Each time before, I’d get bogged down or distracted, start letting it slide and, eventually leave it on my nightstand to be buried under other books.  This time, I made a commitment, as part of my Lenten observance, to finish it.  I am nearly there.  The book has 28 chapters, obviously, plus four sets of group discussion questions at the back.  Perhaps I would have gotten more out of it in a group setting.

This time, I scanned quickly through the earlier chapters and my notes on each.  As I looked back over them, I found the Lord’s Prayer breakdown I have studied before in Days 3 through 5. It didn’t vary much from previous classes, but it didn’t really expand on them either.  Days 6 through 8 seemed to be general information about the names of God and why we should worship Him. Interesting, but not what I was looking for. Day 9 is where I started to part ways with Arthur.  It was here that she first said, basically, that non-Christians have no right to pray (page 53). The furthest I ever made it before was Day 9. I think this idea may have been the reason I quit reading last time.  I decided that I should give her a fair hearing.  Even though the book wasn’t what I hoped for, I am strong enough in my belief to listen to other points of view.

After my quick review on Tuesday, I started with Day 10 on Ash Wednesday.  I am now on Day 18 and, while I still intend to finish it, I am not in agreement with much of what I’m reading.  Arthur makes some interesting points and I have found some value in what she is saying, but, during this last section, I find myself frequently disagreeing with her premises. I don’t mean to say the book isn’t valuable or that what she says is, necessarily, wrong.  I am simply saying that I don’t agree with some parts of it and, overall, I am not finding it helpful to my current purposes.

I was looking for something that gave me guidance on constructing prayers, on breaking down that Lord’s Prayer “outline” and using it to make my own prayers more meaningful.  Arthur’s purpose seems to be more about getting measurable answers to prayer.  Knowing that God answers prayers is great.  Being able to point to a given situation and say, “Here’s God’s answer!” would be amazing.  But, that’s not what I’m looking for and, as I said, I find myself disagreeing with her opinions at times.  

I know she is a well respected religious teacher and award winning author but, I was raised with the idea that we are not to have blind faith in our leaders.  Each of us is responsible for reading the Bible and drawing our own conclusions.  At the end, we are the ones who must answer to God and He will not excuse us for our sins because we listened to someone else’s interpretation of His Word. So, by my understanding, I have, not only a right, but a duty to disagree.  

First of all, I don’t believe that God doesn’t listen to sinners, that “prayer is a privilege reserved for those that are truly children of God.”  I believe that we are all children of God.  Some of us have a better relationship with Him than others, but He still listens even to those who have turned their backs on Him.  Such is what Jesus meant when He told the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 3-32).  He wanted so much for us to understand this precept that he gave us all three examples on one occasion. 

Secondly, I believe that God hears all prayers.  I can even say I believe that He answers all prayers.  It’s just that we don’t pay enough attention and that we don’t want to accept that sometimes He says, “NO.”  Arthur quotes several verses that, basically, say “Ask and ye shall receive,” but she seems to gloss over the “Thy will by done” aspect.  She appears to think that, if we don’t get the answer we want, it’s because we aren’t real Christians. I can’t begin to address how wrong that seems to me.

I am not finished with the book.  I still have ten more days to go.  Perhaps she will address my conflicts later on but, what I’ve read so far doesn’t seem to agree with my ideas of what the scripture teaches us.  Nevertheless, as I have said, I have found value in some of what I’ve read.  The fact that I disagree with some of her conclusions means she has made me define more clearly my own beliefs and that also has value.

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Posted in Church, For Your Consideration, Inspiration, Meditations, Religion

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