Archive - Mar 2016
March 25th
Good Friday Anger Management
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 03/25/2016 - 12:11Yesterday a friend was angry about something I had done. It probably isn’t a rare occurrence for me or for any of us. I felt that I was justified in my actions and my friend’s anger was unjustified. I could have argued about this, but I didn’t see any benefit of this, so I tried to let it go.
It seems like hanging on to anger is a big problem in many ways right now. I see people hanging on to anger and spreading it on social media. It seems to drive much of the political discourse in America right now.
Yesterday, I was talking with a pain specialist who suggested that much of the problem with opioids these days is they are being prescribed for pain which would better be treated by other approaches like stress reduction and anger management.
We see this play out on the geopolitical scale as well; terrorists striking out in anger at some perceived injustice and others seeking to strike back ever harder out of even greater anger. Where does it all end?
Good Friday.
Jesus Christ, taking all the hatred and anger on the cross.
I am bound to do things that will anger friends in the future. I am bound to get angry myself in the future. Yet I believe all that hatred and anger has been addressed in the cross. I need to let the anger go and seek to show the love God has for each of us to those that are angry with me or that I am angry at.
March 24th
The Cross, The Easter Bunny, and Validation
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 03/24/2016 - 06:43The health center I work at has a holiday celebration each year around Christmas and a spring celebration each year around Easter. For the past few years, I’ve Santa at the holiday celebration and I’ve learned a lot from it.
There are children that are afraid to see Santa. They break down in tears as they approach. There are some that are timid, hiding behind the person that brought them. Some are eager to see Santa and come and give me a big hug.
They are mostly kids that are referred to as ‘underserved’. They may not have a stable family. The only gift they receive may be the one they get at the holiday party. It took me a while before I learned how to be a good Santa.
As kids wait in line, I smile at them, wave, wink, and beckon them to come to me. As they approach I let them know that I am so glad they have come, that I have been waiting for them. I let them know that Santa loves them.
Often, I ask them what good things they have done recently for someone they love. Even if they focus on having been bad, I let them know they are loved.
I have seen caregivers wipe back tears as they realize there is still love in this world, even for the underserved.
All of these things came to mind this week as a kidney stone journeys through my system, causing great pain and as I spiritually journey to The Cross of Good Friday. They came to mind as I read headlines of yet another bombing, or a priest captured by terrorist being tortured, whom the terrorist are threatening to crucify on Friday. I think of these things as I listen to our political discourse, or read of a person who has overdosed or committed suicide.
Tuesday was the Spring Celebration. An AmeriCorps member dressed as the Easter Bunny, and I shared a YouTube video that I think helps get into the mindset for being Santa or the Easter Bunny.
To me, the ultimate validation comes from God, from a greater being, becoming human and saying that they love me, individually, by name, so much that even with my brokenness and being underserved, they are willing to suffer great suffering than I can imagine, even with my kidney stone, and to die.
At work, we have a holiday celebration and spring celebration because not everyone uses the same language to speak about a greater being, or even acknowledges a greater being. Online, I talk with friends that believe in Jesus, but more as a metaphor than a historical event. Some of my more conservative friends may get all hung up about what one must believe to be ‘saved’. To me, these things don’t really matter.
What matters is that a great being became like me and validated me, showing great love amidst great suffering. He smiles at us, waves, winks, and beckons us to approach. She tells us that she has been waiting for us and loves us.
March 23rd
Imago Dei: #WhatIMake
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 03/23/2016 - 17:00On April 16th, the #WhatIMake conference is scheduled to take place in Somerville, MA. My daughter is organizing it and I would love to be there. However, I’ll be at the 2016 Missional Voices Conference in Alexandria, VA. In my mind, these conferences are very closely related.
My daughter speaks about her work as an artist in terms of “reconnecting art to daily life”. For too many people, art is something you go to museums to see. It is something you need to be incredibly gifted to produce or incredibly rich to own. She is on a mission to challenge this thinking.
I’m looking for ways to reconnect the divine to our daily lives. It seems like for too many people, experiencing the divine is something you go to a church edifice for. It is something that other, spiritual people do, but isn’t part of your own daily life.
Perhaps this is all related. We mass produce objects and experiences and lose touch with what it means to create. From Hegel and Marx among others, we find the idea of estrangement or social alienation. We become alienated from our creativity.
In Judeo-Christian thought, we are created in the image of our creator, Imago Dei. These days, it is important to think of the Imago Dei in terms of people that are different from us. Instead of building a wall to keep them out, we need to find ways to connect with those who are different from us. Yet it is also important to keep in mind that what we are created in the image of is a creator. Reconnecting art to daily life and reconnecting the divine with daily life are perhaps two different aspects of the same thing.
March 22nd
Morning Prayer - Tuesday of Holy Week
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 03/22/2016 - 05:56I have a kidney stone I am hoping to pass with a little pain as possible. The pain has ebbed and flowed. Often, including right now, it is minimal. At other points, I have been doubled over in pain. It is a sharp pain in my right side and as we enter Holy Week, I’ve been thinking about the physical pain that Jesus must have suffered. I can barely stand the pain that I have.
I am drinking as much fluids as I can to try and help the stone pass. I don’t know when it shall pass. Perhaps today, perhaps not for weeks. Perhaps it will pass with minimal pain. Perhaps the time of passing will be great pain. As I wait, both for the stone to pass, as well as I seek to walk with Jesus on the way of the Cross this week, I play on Youtube, Stay With Me – Taize.
I finish one glass of fluids and move on to the next. At home, I drink mostly very diluted pomegranate juice. The splash of juice makes it easier to drink more fluids and perhaps provides some additional benefits. For Lent, I’ve been getting up early to read the lessons for the day and pray.
It is a special time spent with the God of love, but it is a time or remembering God’s suffering. It can be challenging to stay focused, to stay in the presence of God, and not just doing a morning ritual, like the rituals performed by money changers in the temple. It can be difficult to stay in the presence of God thinking about the great suffering of the crucifixion.
So I try to mix things up. I try to tie my morning devotions as closely to the rest of my life as possible. This morning, I start off with the collect for the day.
O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
That is hard to pray. I move on to reading through posts in a Facebook group of Episcopalians online.
There are so many prayer requests. Prayers of God’s people. So much suffering. I pray for a person who has a very stressful meeting at work coming up today. I pray for a woman whose nephew is struggling with addiction, and for her struggles as well. How often do we pray for people in addiction after they leave a recovery program? How many times are we called to not give up hope? Seven times? No, we are told, seven times seventy. “Stay with me” continues to play, thinking of Jesus in the garden and Nick in the streets.
I pray for another who has had a terrible 2015, and 2016 isn’t looking much better, yet. I pause to enjoy looking at various prayer beads people have shared pictures of. I pray for a woman and her nine year old daughter as they wait to hear about approval for housing. I pray for another woman who is hoping to find people to work with on an important project.
Then, I stop to pray for CEC Fairfield Community of Hope Initiative which “serves a small, poverty stricken, historical city in Alabama that is currently facing overwhelming financial hardship and turmoil.”
“Stay with me” plays again. Watch and pray. There are churches around the country struggling to bring hope to desperate situations.
Presiding Bishop Curry talks about being part of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement. These people that I am praying for, I am connected to by the online arm of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement.
“Bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours, and grant that we may serve Christ in them, and love one another as he loves us.”
March 20th
Hynes 2016 versus Donald Trump
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/20/2016 - 15:22In 2012, I ran for State Representative in the 114th Assembly District in Connecticut, which covers Woodbridge and parts of Orange and Derby. My opponent was the incumbent State Representative, Themis Klarides. I ran, not because I disliked Themis or thought her a bad person. I ran because I believed the voters deserved a respectful discussion about the issues our state faces. I believed that the voters deserved a choice in who they would vote for. I didn’t believe that Rep. Klarides was particularly effective as a state legislator or a leader and I disagreed with her on various important issues.
Themis easily won re-election against this relatively unknown candidate, but when asked the outcome of the election, I always told people I won. I won, not by being elected, but by having a respectful discussion, by getting voters thinking about the issues, and by giving them a choice.
Two years ago, I ran again. It was a last minute decision, because no one else was stepping up to run. I had become a fellow with the CT Health Foundation and I spoke often about racial health disparities. In a predominantly Caucasian district this wasn’t an issue that resonated with a lot of voters, but I got a lot of people thinking about an issue they hadn’t considered before. Like in 2012, I won by getting people thinking about the issues.
Here we are in 2016, and people are starting to ask me if I will run again. I am still trying to decide. People who regularly read my blog know that my primary focus right now is if I’m called to pursue a different office. I am seeking discernment on whether I’m called to become an ordained Episcopal priest. This has me leaning towards not running for State Representative this year.
Yet a few days ago, The House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church issued A Word to the Church
In a country still living under the shadow of the lynching tree, we are troubled by the violent forces being released by this season’s political rhetoric. Americans are turning against their neighbors, particularly those on the margins of society. They seek to secure their own safety and security at the expense of others. There is legitimate reason to fear where this rhetoric and the actions arising from it might take us.
They appear to have been careful about naming any specific candidate, as I have generally tried to be.
The United Church of Christ echoed this in their statement
The leadership of the United Church of Christ, concerned with the political rhetoric aimed at the marginalized people of society in this election cycle, spoke out in support for and solidarity with a Holy Week statement released by The Episcopal Church. The UCC national officers and Council of Conference Ministers, in testimony to the ecumenical relationship between the two churches, expressed gratitude to The Episcopal Church for "the courage to speak, and for granting us the kindness of joining them in this statement."
With all of these things on my heart, I read the Op-Ed by Colin McEnroe in The Hartford Courant today, CT Republicans Must Denounce Donald Trump
On Wednesday, the candidate broke new ground. He threatened his own party and the city of Cleveland with violence if he doesn't get his way.
Trump told CNN that, if he arrives at the Republican National Convention with a substantial delegate lead but something short of the requisite 1,237, "you'd get riots" if he were not automatically anointed as nominee.
McEnroe goes on to write
We have some good Republican leaders here in Connecticut. It's time for them to speak, with the primary five weeks away. "I'm staying neutral" doesn't wash anymore. Mark Boughton, J.R. Romano, Themis Klarides, Len Fasano, Joe Markley, Rob Kane, John Kissel, Toni Boucher, Kevin Witkos. You're good people. I know many of you. Maybe it's time to assemble in one place for a press conference to tell Trump what he can expect, in the form of delegates, from our state.
I hope someone will step up to the plate and run against Themis this year. I hope Themis will show the courage and leadership to take up Colin’s challenge. Meanwhile, I will continue to seek what God is calling me to, including exploring the best ways of bringing love of our neighbors back into our political discourse.
