Godless Liberals Want to Take Away Your Guns
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 12/03/2015 - 07:45Many of my friends are posting comments like, “No more prayers” on social media in response to the most recent mass shooting in America. I understand their point, but I think it is misguided, and I chose the title of this blog post to illustrate this.
One person, whom I’ll refer to as a Radical Humanist attacked me on Twitter when I posted “Make straight the way of the Lord, in San Bernardino, in Colorado Springs, In all those places of darkness where God's lLove seems so far away”
I choose my words carefully. As an Episcopalian, I seek to coexist with people from all belief structures. I seek to find common ground and ways we can work together. Unfortunately, there are radicals in every belief structure that fight against coexistence. Some simply pick fights online, others pick up physical weapons. I’m glad that the radical humanist that attacked me chose to do so only with words, and I challenged him to show me where the compassion is in his words. He could not.
My tweet harkened to the season of Advent, which we Episcopalians are currently observing. It is a time of waiting and watching for the coming of the Kingdom of God, of waiting and watching for Christmas. It is a time of recognizing the darkness that is in the world.
To me, this does not mean not doing anything. In a sermon I preached in the summer of 2013, I said
Yet, another issue with prayer is that too often it is viewed as an excuse for doing nothing. Too often, we feel, when we've prayed about something important, that it's all we can or need to do.
Yet I don't believe that is at all what God has in mind for us. Prayer is linked with mission, with going out to proclaim the Gospel. One of the things I've learned from much time working with various well run volunteer and non-profit organizations, is that when a person says, “I think we should....” and goes on to talk about one task or another, the wise leader responds, “Thank you for the great idea. Does this mean that you are willing to head up a group to make this happen?” Suggesting is volunteering. Prayer should be too.
It is an old problem, either/or thinking. It is possible to do two things, like pray, and act on the prayer. I believe this is generally what God calls us to. I went into this in a comment I posted on Facebook:
I think it is a dangerous path to take saying "No More Prayers" or "God' Isn't Fixing This". It sets up a narrative for the gun culture about Godless liberals taking away their guns. It reflects either/or thinking which contributes to so many of our problems and blocks progress in many cases. Instead, Senator Murphy's approach has a nuance that is much more effective. It is a both/and approach. If you're going to pray, back up your prayers with action.
Saying No More Prayers is very much like saying No More Facebook. We all know the problems with Slacktivism, but telling people not to use Facebook until the issue of gun violence in America is fixed just doesn't seem wise.
My two cents, as a candidate who has gone door to door talking with voters about gun violence, and still posts messages of praying for victims.
Instead, we need to promote the narrative that ending gun violence is the Christian thing to do, as well as the humanist thing, and the Jewish thing, and the Muslim thing, and the thing of all religions. We need to stand with Bishops Against Gun Violence to http://www.claimitgc.org/> Claim Common Ground Against Gun Violence. We need to be part of Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence. We need to participate in The 2015 National Gun Violence Sabbath Weekend is December 10-14
We need to change the narrative about gun control and gun culture to one of proclaiming God’s love by working to stop gun violence.
Advent Question of the Day: Gratitude
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 12/02/2015 - 20:58It has been another long day, topped off with yet another mass shooting in the United States. My wife is fighting a sinus infection, and the dining room table has been taken over by Christmas crafts projects.
I get home to a makeshift dinner. We eat around the living room table and talk about the news. We take a break to try and lure the cat which has slipped outside, back in. I try to think about the question of the day and write. “What makes you feel grateful?”
Recently, I was at a meeting where a doctor from Nigeria spoke about going on a mission to a poorer part of Nigeria. She talked about how she had thought she was poor until she went on the mission.
So, in spite of the hard day, my wife’s sinus infection, the wayward cat, things are actually really good. What makes me feel grateful? All the little things of life that are so easily taken for granted,
Advent: Who helped?
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 12/01/2015 - 21:16Today’s Advent question was, “Who helped you to do something today?” My first thought was along the lines of someone helping an old lady across the street. I was brought up on good old fashioned New England self-reliance. People don’t help me. I help other people. Yet that isn’t the message of Advent.
Advent, the time that we wait for the Savior for the one who will do something for us when he comes. But what about now? The question helped me think more about who I am, about our interconnectedness. Laura Darling helped me do that thinking today through her post on the Confirm not Conform blog. Bishop Laura Ahrens helped me start thinking about this by sharing a link to the blog on Facebook.
I thought about who has helped me do something today from another angle as I drove to work. How did I know how to drive? My mother taught me to drive years ago. It is something I do just about every day. Who helped me to do something today? She did.
This morning, I read the lectionary for today, the feast of Nicholas Ferrar. Ferrar was an ordained deacon in the Church of England. He lost much of his family wealth in the Virginia Company but later published the poems of George Herbert. Ferrar did something that helped me do something today. He published the works of Herbert, and I read some of Herbert’s poetry today.
We are all interconnected, across time, across space.
BLest Order, which in power dost so excell,
That with th’ one hand thou liftest to the sky,
And with the other throwest down to hell
In thy just censures; fain would I draw nigh,
Fain put thee on, exchanging my lay-sword
For that of th’ holy Word.But thou art fire, sacred and hallow’d fire;
And I but earth and clay: should I presume
To wear thy habit, the severe attire
My slender compositions might consume.
I am both foul and brittle; much unfit
To deal in holy Writ.Yet have I often seen, by cunning hand
And force of fire, what curious things are made
Of wretched earth. Where once I scorn’d to stand,
That earth is fitted by the fire and trade
Of skilfull artists, for the boards of those
Who make the bravest shows….
From Herbert’s The Priesthood, published in 1633 by Ferrar.
So, I turn the question to you,
“Who helped you to do something today?”
Moving from #DigiWriMo into Advent
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 12/01/2015 - 07:15Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit. DigiWriMo comes to an end and a new adventure begins. I had planned to write much more during Digital Writing Month. I had hoped to be interacting with what people were writing on other blogs. It started off okay, but the other blogs participating in DigiWriMo headed off in discussions of audio and visual content, which wasn’t a topic I was interested in writing about, so I drifted away.
This month is Advent, and I have a few hopes for my digital writing this month. One goal is to write a poem each week tied to the lectionary. I posted my first poem last week. A second goal is to write daily based on the Question A Day Advent calendar. To yesterday’s question, I posted a poem. Today, I will keep my eyes open for who has helped me with something, and write about that. I have one idea in mind, but I’ll see what the day brings.
I would like to bring some of the ideas from DigiWriMo over to my Advent musings. Are others posting blog posts about Advent? Are others following the Question A Day Advent calendar? What else should I be reading or writing about?
Morning Shower
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 11/30/2015 - 22:09By paying attention
to what I notice today
I become more observant.
The sparkle of the drops of water
splashing from the shower head.
The echo
of my early morning
cough.
The pressure of my hands
as they massaged the shampoo
onto my scalp.
The shampoo’s fragrance.
The broken pieces
of old bath toys
strewn around the tub.
It’s just another Monday
that will be completely different
by paying attention
to what I notice today
