An Interesting Week
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 09/07/2015 - 20:13Well, it looks like this is going to be a very interesting week. Today, Kim, Fiona, and I went hiking in Granby, CT and swam in some swimming holes near waterfalls. It was great. I came home to find a video of The Rev. Brian Baker talk about his experiences at Burning Man. It is a half hour long video, but I started watching it and was hooked. I had to watch the whole thing. I hope you will too.
Then, I learned that Larry Lessig will be running as a Democratic candidate for President. The Lessig for President Official Announcement will take place Wednesday at about noon in Claremont, NH. I am planning to drive up.
All of this is a precursor to a meeting Thursday afternoon with the Episcopalian Bishop of Connecticut, The Right Rev. Ian Douglas, and members of the Commission on Ministry to discuss how I could “help the Episcopal Church in CT be more faithful to God’s Mission”.
Where is all of this leading? Well, let’s check back next week see what transpires.
Confession, Repentance, and Commitment to End Racism Sunday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 09/06/2015 - 19:18Today was “Confession, Repentance, and Commitment to End Racism Sunday” in the Episcopal Church. It brought the typical reactions online. For example, one person posted,
Are Episcopalians racist enough they require a letter to be read to them to not be racist? I find this strange.
Yet I think this reflects part of the problem. We don’t use racial epithets or display symbols of racism. We all go to church. We confess that we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We get forgiven and that’s good enough, right?
Maybe some of us even admit having privileges as white people that people of color do not have. We acknowledge that. It is good enough, right?
We nod appreciatively as a letter from the Bishop is read about racism, and we say a special little prayer during the service, and it’s all better, right?
Maybe we’re even church leaders and we are going to attend a training about racism, and we’ll go, reluctantly, because we feel like we’ve already dealt with our own racism. We’ll go without too much grumbling. That’s good enough, right?
I don’t think so. I think God is calling us to much, much more. Our parish is going to have conversations after church for a couple of Sundays starting at the end of the month. I’m not sure what the goals will be, what the format will be, or what the outcome will be, but I am praying for this. It is really important.
I’ve spent a bit of time working on racial health disparities. Did you know that as of 2012, the most recent data I could find, the infant mortality rate for black infants in Connecticut is nearly twice that of white infants in Connecticut? In Hartford County, it is almost 2 and a half times, and this is after significant progress in recent years. I mention infant mortality, because it is something that many of us understand how horrible it is. There are plenty more examples.
Why is this? Perhaps some of this is because of racism. Not the racial epithet shouting confederate flag waving racism, but a subtler racism that is built into our system, that we participate in, perhaps unknowingly.
What do you see when a young black man runs across the street in front of you? A thug who’ll probably end up in jail? Another potential headline of a black man killed by police? A future President or future Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church? If we are honest with ourselves, it isn’t always pretty.
A longtime friend of mine wrote a blog post about this the other day, Enforcing the Pattern. What do you see?
Then, think about this in terms of what it must be like to be seen this way, all the time. Here, I think about the blog post I shared yesterday. “Picture yourself as a stereotypical male” explores how people do on tests as a result of their self-perceptions. How does our view of the young black man crossing the road change the community and culture we are part of? What happens when we see ourselves and those around us, like the young black man crossing the road, as beloved of God?
We’ve got a lot of work to do, or at least I know I do.
Imagining Oneself Intelligent, Creative, Empathetic, and Blessed
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 09/05/2015 - 23:52It has been a crazy day. Started off routine. Trip to the dump. Then some special stuff, a trip to the store to get ingredients for Fiona to make a birthday cake for Kim and a trip to the Greek Festival.
In the evening, we ate cake, had a YouTube RiffOff, and got ready to wind down the day, when I got caught in a work related social media issue.
When I got back to personal stuff, I noted it was almost midnight and I haven’t put up a blog post for today. There is probably enough with what has gone on for the blog post, but then I found an interesting article.
“Picture yourself as a stereotypical male” is from the MIT Admissions blog which explores self-perception and the impact on tests.
As it turns out, there is zero statistically significant gender difference in mental rotation ability after test-takers are asked to imagine themselves as stereotypical men for a few minutes.
There are a lot of implications to this, in terms of gender identity, racial identity, and for that matter, perhaps what it means to be a ‘Hynes’. If it wasn’t so late, I’d explore this more right now, but it will have to wait.
Suffice it to say, I wonder if those who imagine themselves to be a ‘Hynes’, with the definition of ‘Hynes’ as including high intelligence, high creativity, and high empathy, end up doing better.
From the spiritual side, I wonder what it does to people if they spend time thinking of themselves as ‘loved by god.’
Less Quiet Desperation.
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 09/04/2015 - 20:17The masses of men lead lives of quiet desperation
except when
the demands of the day
of tasks to be done
exceeds the available time
and
the stress at the desk
exceeds our coping
Then, the desperation becomes less quiet.
The masses of men lead lives of quiet desperation
except when
friends bury their sons,
the homeless man
who seemed to be getting back on his feet
gets attacked outside the soup kitchen
and spends a month in the hospital
and victims of domestic violence
loose their children
to DCF
or their abusers.
Then, my soul cries out.
The masses of men lead lives of quiet desperation
except when
the time spent
caring for a loved one
leaves little time for self-care
and all that is left
is groans too deep for words.
And God says
“My Grace is sufficient”
as the 1% hoard the manna from above
leaving others.
hungry, struggling.
So, while dreams are on hold
because of daily life getting in the way
I will wait quietly on my Lord
with less quiet desperation.
#IamKimDavis
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 09/03/2015 - 19:57#IamKimDavis
According to Facebook, I became friends with Heather Cronk back in 2007 and we have 59 mutual friends, most, if not all are progressive activists I met one way or another. Recently, Heather has written a couple Facebook posts discussing Kim Davis, the County Clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex coupls..
Heather starts off with
Cut out the personal attacks on Kim Davis. Most of what I'm seeing is liberal/progressive men making jokes about her outfits, her appearance, her past marriages, her perceived socio-economic status, and the hypocrisy of not distributing marriage licenses due to her religious beliefs despite having been divorced three times. Cut it out.
Heather talks about her own experiences growing up in the South with conservative Christian beliefs, suggests others do the same, using the hashtag #IwasKimDavis and goes on to explain
This moment is not about a county clerk in Kentucky - it's about showing folks who live across the South that there is plenty of room to grow and to change and to shift, and to do so with love.
I like that, but it still makes me feel a little uncomfortable. It sounds a little bit like, “I used to be a close minded bigoted conservative, but I grew up, and you can too.” And that sounds an awful lot like the conservative preachers suggesting that people struggling with their sexual orientation can pray away the gay.
So, I’ll take what Heather says, and push it even further. I’ll start off with paraphrase of Luke 18:11,
“The progressive stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people—southerners, conservatives, Republicans--or even like this county clerk….”
No, I cannot say #IwasKimDavis. I think it is better for me to say, #IamKimDavis. I try to act boldly on my beliefs, even if they are out of step with others, even if they mean that I must break the law. Sometimes, I properly discern what God wants of me. Other times, I may be convinced of something that is not what God wills. Yet I believe that even when I am completely wrong, God still loves me with love greater than I can understand.
So, I confess my sin
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
Yes, I am a sinner. I need people to pray for me that I might discern God’s will, that I might be able to show God’s love to people different than me, even if they are bigots, homophobes, or whatever else I might find objectionable in other people.
So, pray for me, a sinner, pray for Kim Davis, and Heather, and those who once were, or even still are like Kim Davis, that we all might show a little more of God’s love to people that are different from us.
