Click The End of Exile to read the story of Ed, the beloved Jewish atheist communist in the assisted living facility. The story is memorable, especially for those losing their memories.
The Story of Ed
6
Quote Me: More than Words
“The characteristic place to find Christians is among their enemies. The first place to look for Christ is in Hell.” – William Stringfellow (1928–1985), author, My People Is the Enemy.
These aren’t just words. After Harvard Law School, Constitutional attorney Bill Stringfellow moved into an East Harlem tenement apartment on the block the New York Times then called the “worst” in the city, turning down lucrative NYC corporate law firm job offers. The first of his many books, My People Is the Enemy – a theological reflection on racism and poverty in America- opens with an unusual sentence:
“The stairway smelled of piss.”
All these years later, Stringfellow’s words sound strange to many Christians and non-Christians alike who see the Christian life as the search for moral purity and the climb into a Hell-free afterlife. You want to meet Christ? According to the author of An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land, Christ will meet you from among your enemies and in the Hell of human suffering racism and wealth create.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, January 27, 2016
I’m hearing voices in my head
This original composition by Momoh Freeman is inspired by Momoh’s fellow Liberian refugee who lost his entire family. Scroll down for what the lyrics and what inspired the song.
“It was the morning of August, 1995 in Liberia when my friend went out to look for some food for him and his family. When he got back, he met the bodies of his family laying there. They were killed by the rebels. He moved to the U.S. in 1997 still carrying the pain and suffering he saw that day. One day he called me and asked me if I could come visit him at the Mental Institution. I said yes. So I went there. He told me what was going on and that he hears voices in his head and all this stuff, so I wrote a song about it. Hope you like it and thanks for watching.” – Momoh Freeman
Lyrics (copyrighted)
V1. I’m hearing voices in my head.
They are telling me I’m not good enough.
I asked myself what’s going on…… I think my
mind is playing tricks on me… can it be I’m going
crazy…? don’t want to go near insanty.
Bridge: If I loose my mind, where does that leave me
will I be a shell of what I used to be?
send down the rain, and wash away my fear
send down the rain and set me free
V2. I don’t think that I can take this alone
I need some help from above
I can hear them getting louder
and these voices are driving me crazy.
V3. What can I do to get these voices out of my head
I can’t sleep, as if monsters under my bed….
I need some help to get me through the night…
what can I do not to be afraid anymore…..
PERSONAL NOTE:
Momoh’s works in a group home for mentally-challenged adults, serves as Music Director at Immanuel Lutheran Church in North Branch, MN, and performs in various venues on weekends.
Momoh and I served Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska for eight years. He defines for me “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” In his voiced response to his friend’s voices, I hear God. Thank you, Momoh, for the privilege.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, January 26, 2016
Not Lemonade
“When life gives you lemons… make something else. Tell us about a time you used an object or resolved a tricky situation in an unorthodox way.” – Not Lemonade
The invitation brought to mind an altogether different memory. It’s unorthodox, but not what the Daily Post had in mind.
The memory is “Lemonade-on-the-Lawn” at Knox Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati. During the summer months worshipers gathered on the church lawn at the corner of Observatory and Michigan for conversation over lemonade.
Visitors frequently misunderstood the pulpit announcements to be an invitation to eliminate on the lawn. They were relieved to learn about the lemonade.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, former Pastor, Knox Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati, January 26, 2016.
Spell check chuckle
Kosuke Koyama, Ph.D
Was the professor’s career distinguished or disguised?
Last night’s post stated that Kosuke Koyama had “a disguised career as John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Professor of World Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.”
The distinguished professor would get a chuckle.
Thanks to Carolyn Kidder (no pun intended) who had a disguised career as a music librarian at the University of Pennsylvania, for arresting the spell check error in the fourth paragraph.
- Gordon, Chaska, MN, Ja. 26, 2016
The Varieties of Religious Appearance
Pulpits and lecterns are “One size fits all!”
Visiting preachers will cover the wall.
A very short woman,
She carries her step in
I’m very tall, so I carry a hole…
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASteve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, January 25, 2016
NOTE: These photographs of Steve kneeling (l) and standing (r) were taken several years ago at the historic pulpit of Sheldon Jackson in Colorado.
Sheldon was a smaller guy with a big heart. Steve’s has the same heart and is likely much more humorous than Sheldon, but who’s to say?
America’s Original Sin?
Jim Wallace’s new book America’s Original Sin: Race and White Privilege & the Bridge to New America takes a hard look at the origins of the Euro-transplant nation that supplanted America’s indigenous people. Jim Wallace argues that the United States was born of White Privilege. It is the nation’s original sin: it’s America’s first and enduring sin.
It seems no matter how much things progress, or seem to progress, the original sin is always crouching at our door, as the Genesis story of Cain and Abel puts it. “Sin is crouching at your door, and you must master it”.
But is the issue race? Or is it class? Or something else, a fatal flaw in the human psyche and the social psyche? Are racism and White Privilege what they seem, or are they manifestations of something more basic?
“There is only one sin, said Kosuke Koyama, and it is exceptionalism.” Born in Tokyo in 1929, Koyama saw in the Japanese Empire the myth of exceptionalism. To his great sorrow, he saw the same myth in the United States, the second home where he finished a distinguished career as John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Professor of World Christian
ity at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.
Beneath White Privilege lies the election doctrine that arrived on these shores with America’s European settlers. Their theology was wrapped around the belief that the true believers, the elect, were exceptional to the rest of humankind. The result was genocide against America’s indigenous peoples followed shortly by the institution of chattel slavery, both the racial sins of White Privilege of which Jim Wallis writes.
In the larger scheme of things in 2016, one can argue convincingly that exceptionalism has been a primary contributor to climate change. The sin of exceptionalism is the illusion that we, the human species, are superior to nature. In honor of Koyama: Could it be that there is only one sin: exceptionalism?
I wish Jim and Ko could have spent time with each other. It would have been so enlightening to have sat in not their conversations.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, January 25, 2016.
No Problem!
When was the last time you heard “You’re welcome” or “I’m sorry”? “No problem” used to mean there was a problem. Someone had made a mistake or had inconvenienced you.
The Restaurant
Would you like a refill?
Yes, please. That’d be great.
NO PROBLEM.
Thank you.
NO PROBLEM.
Can you tell me where I might find the Rest Room?
NO PROBLEM. [Wait person gives directions.]
Thank you.
NO PROBLEM.
I’m sorry. I ordered the ribeye medium rare. This is a NY strip well-done.
NO PROBLEM.
Vacation Rentals
I just checked out the rental car. It’s a mess. There are dents and scratches everywhere.
NO PROBLEM.
We have a reservation. We’d like to check in.
NO PROBLEM.
I’m sorry. I have a hearing problem.
NO PROBLEM.
The plastic deck chair on the balcony just broke apart. I’m lucky my hip’s not broken.
NO PROBLEM.
The handle on the toilet just broke.
NO PROBLEM.
The Supermarket
Can you please help me find the Splenda. It’s not next to the coffee and CoffeeMate.
NO PROBLEM. [Employee says it’s in Aisle 4.]
Thanks so much.
NO PROBLEM.
I hate to butt in, but I think it’s your son who just tipped over a row of canned fruit in Aisle #8.
NO PROBLEM.
Do you have a _____ Reward Card?
No.
NO PROBLEM.
The Airlines
Um. I don’t mean to be an alarmist. But the pilot just boarded the plane with dark sunglasses, a white cane, and a seeing eye dog.
NO PROBLEM.
Would you like coffee, water, Sprite, Diet Coke, regular Coke, orange juice, or tomato juice?
Coffee please, with two Splendas and cream.
NO PROBLEM.
Thank you.
NO PROBLEM.
_____________________________________________________
Gordon: Thank you very much for coming by Views from the Edge!”
Steve: NO PROBLEM!
Pops Warfel and the School Playground
“Pops” Warfel, the Principal at Marple Elementary School in Broomall, PA, was like a prison warden. Every prison warden has his guards, his ‘goons’, as the prisoners call them. Every school back in the 1950s had its Safeties, the Principal’s goons who wandered the Yard during recess to keep the students in line. Real guys. Like Sammy Peacock.
School Safeties
In the 3rd Grade Sammy, attired in his Safety outfit, “arrested” his classmate Gordon during recess for cursing. “I DIDN’T curse,” said I.
“You did, too,” said Sam. “You said a bad word. I’m taking you to the Principal’s Office!”
Pops Wafel asked his Goon what happened out in the Yard. “Gordon, you know better than that. You father’s a minister! He wouldn’t approve of you using language like that. We’ll keep this between us just this once. But if it happens again, I’ll have to tell your father.”
Long before I read Kafka’s The Trial, I experienced existential guilt – the feeling of guilt for something I never did – the guilt of being alive. I was Josef K in The Trial.
Meanwhile, Pops Warfel was violating one of the prison rules daily: no eating in class. Pops often reached into his desk drawer, and, pretending to cough, would pop in a jelly bean. No one dared say a word.
- Gordon C. Stewart, Marple Elementary Inmate #00056789, Jan. 22, 2016
Ah, Finally a Florida Vacation!
Three couples rented a house this week in Florida. We selected the place after an extensive search using criteria of natural setting, water-front, quiet, three bedrooms, fully-equipped kitchen, views, kayaks/canoes provided, cost with a no-smoking policy. The house is on an estuary with manatees, ospreys, pelicans, egrets, Great Blue Herons, oyster-catchers, and advertised a million dollar view. It was too cool for the manatees, but that’s understandable. All 10 of the renters who rated their experience gave it ***** out of five. Hmmm.
QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT WANT TO ASK BEFORE BOOKING A VACATION RENTAL.
Do the owners live on the lower level?
- Do the owners smoke?
- If they smoke, how many packs/day do they smoke?
- Does the smoke seep up through the floors into the closets of the rental unit?
- Do they smoke anything else?
- How do we get up to the rental unit?
- Are the steps inside or outside?
- If outside, are they protected from high winds and torrential rains?
- Do the beds squeak?
- Is there an odor and standing water around the house that’s related to nature, but not the estuary?
- Are you on the city sewer system, or do you have a septic tank?
- If septic tank, has it been pumped out in the last year or two?
- Is there a limit on the number of showers we can take per day?
- What’s the meaning of a “quick” shower?
- Is there a limit on the number of times we can flush the toilet before it runs down the driveway?
- What kind of deck and balcony furniture is provided?
- If it’s made of plastic, how long has it been weathering?
- Has any of the plastic chairs on the balcony crumbled underneath a renter recently?
- Do you have drinking glasses? How many?
- Do you have coffee cups? How many?
- Do you have enough forks, knives, and spoons for six people to all eat at the same time or must we eat in shifts?
- Do you have a dishwasher?
- Will we need to buy Imodium because of the drinking water?
- When it rains, does the rain pour through the top of the west-facing window frames?
- Does the wind echo through the house like a freight train?
- Once you lower yourself the kayak from the deck, is there a way to get out without injuring yourself?
- Did you build the house yourself with the proper building permits?
- Was the house built with salvaged materials?
On the plus side, when we asked the owner for more plates, bowls, and coffee cups – there were four or five of each – he said he’d go downstairs and tell his wife. Nothing happened. Later in the day, before dinner, we asked again. “Oh,” he said “I’ll be back in 20 minutes.” He returned from Marshalls with newly purchased plates and glasses. We were grateful. He went back for the coffee cups, and everyone was happy!
Now…about that broken plastic chair that still sits the bedroom balcony!
- Gordon C. Stewart, FL, January 22, 2016
Views from the Edge 