Have you recalled the fun we had
All those long years ago? So young,
Poor, ignorant a girl, a lad–
Perhaps our song would not be sung,
Yet we would gather, drink, and play.Not caring what the hours were,
Enjoying ourselves every day,
We danced and laughed our fears to cure.Years have gone by and yet we know
Each time we meet our smiles will show
Awareness of what they forgave:
Real kindness, all our lives to save…
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, December 30, 2013
Shopping is getting dangerous in America. Okay. So. “How do you know?” you might well ask.
Mark Andrew before beating at the Mall
Mark Andrew after shopping at the Mall of America
2) An old college classmate wrote today on a popular social media venue that ends in ‘k’ that she stopped in at the local Walmart because she knew they would have the plastic product she wanted. A fight broke out in the Walmart among four people – two guys and two women – yelling and going after each other while store’s employees tried to break it up. She was afraid someone was going to pull out a gun when someone yelled “Police!” and the culprits ran for the exits. – Dec. 28, 2013.
Responding to my friend’s Walmart shopping experience on a popular social media site, her friends all but mugged her in cyberspace for shopping at WalMart, which, by the way, is pretty much against my friend’s own principles.
Conclusions
1) It’s gettin’ ugly out there at WalMart and the Mall of America. We want stuff. We want it fast and cheap, even at others’ expense. As if that weren’t enough, sometimes the fights break out on our own computer screens about who’s been naughty and who’s been nice.
2) Shopping is bad for our health. Next time I shop some place that violates my conscience or someone else’s and a fight breaks out, I’m not posting it on the social media site that ends in ‘k’. Besides, I’m a coward; the next time someone steals my out-of-date cell phone, they can have it. I’m leaving the Mall and WalMart for the locally-owned shops, if only I can find one.
“Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills.” – Pope Francis, TIME Person of the Year, Nov. 29, 2013
The economic disciples of Ayn Rand’s “virtue of selfishness” – many of whom attend Mass or other Christian worship services on Sunday only to act on Monday as though they never had – have met their match in Time‘s Man of the Year. Economics is a spiritual matter – first, last, and always. Thank you, Pope Francis for speaking the truth with clarity.
Yes, Race Street went from north to south
in front of my high school. I’d drive
each day from home and risk the wrath
of Mr. Rice when I’d arrive
five minutes late because I’d wait
for both the Larson twins who lived
with three more brothers down the street.
No, that was fifty years ago
and now I live a half mile east
of Race Street, but each day still go
that way to town. I drive right past
the football field where we would cheer
and hold the hands of those we loved.
How did we get from there to here?
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, December 28, 2013
“Wade in the Water” keeps welling up from some deep place of yearning this morning, waiting for 2014. Like the American slaves who sang “Wade in the Water” from the waters edge, I’m wading by the banks of the old order, yearning for something already conceived in the heart but not yet delivered, the new order conceived in Mary’s Magnificat when the mighty are pulled from their thrones and those of “low degree” are lifted up. We can’t part the waters, but we can “wade in the water” – no easy thing – with expectation that “God’s gonna trouble the water.” Sweet Honey in the Rock gives voice to the old slave song.
There is no “U” in TEAM,
so I’ll not pass to you.
Winning isn’t everything,
it’s the lonely thing.
All for none,
and none for all!
When the going gets tough,
the tough say “Enough!”
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Dec. 22, 2013
Steve’s complete verse has three stanzas. Yesterday’s post was only the first. Here’s the full piece.
“No Christians were there”
No Christians were there at the birth
of Jesus. (For “…disciples were
first called Christians in Antioch”
years later.) But were those who were
there believers? the shepherds, the wise
astrologers, the non-father,
the Blessed mother? Did they see
with eyes of faith, or more like we
do: wonder, ponder, doubt and stare
at the small baby stabled there…?That three were Jews, we know for sure.
The genealogies we read
in Matthew, Luke, go back as far
as Abraham. Eight days, we read,
then circumcision for the babe.
The Arab wise guys may be from
the land we call Iran. The sheep
herders may have been aliens
in the land illegally: cheap
pay for smelly foreigners.The barn contained no royalty–
the stock had better pedigree…
and yet some say a King was born
to poor folks that the rich would scorn…
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Dec. 21, 2013
This sermon was preached at Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, MN the Sunday following the first anniversary of the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School and seven years after the Amish forgave the shooter who had killed and maimed their children in a one-room Amish school house in Pennsylvania.
No Christians were there at the birth
of Jesus. (For “…disciples were
first called Christians in Antioch”
years later.) But were those who were
there believers? the shepherds, the wise
astrologers, the non-father,
the Blessed mother? Did they see
with eyes of faith, or more like we
do: wonder, ponder, doubt and stare
at the small baby stabled there…?
– Verse “No Christians were there” by Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, December 20, 2013
Sitting at the computer in the second floor study, I watched a van pull up and empty out. Five people with pamphlets. The doorbell rang. Two men, one older, one very young, wanted to talk about the gospel. Impressed by their earnestness and their willingness to go door-to-door in the sweltering heat, I listened for a long time. I finally asked them who Jesus Christ was. “He was the Son of God.” “Okay, but who was Jesus of Nazareth.” Again they answered, “He was the Son of God.” “Let me ask a different question. What was Jesus’ religion?” “He was a Christian,” they answered. “No he wasn’t,” said I, “he was the Christ. You can’t follow yourself! He was a faithful Jew.” They were aghast at the thought. We continued to talk for 45 minutes. There were no Christians at the birth.
as teacher minded others children
and cared for her own
her spouse of forty years was sick ten
then left her alone
by dying way too young
…………………………….his special
brother needed aid
with meds and moving thinking mental
health have his bills paid
her mother needed visits daily
she was ninety-eight
all thought god treated her unfairly
she just smiled at fate
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, December 19, 2013
Views from the Edge 