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The Congregational
Church of Manhasset
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CONGOblog

A weblog of The Congregational Church of Manhasset (UCC)

Archives--December 2005

Christmas is past us and everybody's already looking forward to their New Year's Eve plans, and certainly all the hubbub over the "non-war on Christmas" is also past us (at least until next year), but I just got around to reading Anna Quindlen's column in the Dec. 26 issue of Newsweek. If you're tired of the issue, skip ahead in this post to see what the "Nun Bun on the Run" is all about.  Here are a few of her good lines about the issue (or is it a non-issue?):
 

Quindlen also makes the point that in addition to wasting time protesting discount stores' advertising campaigns, a lot of time is also wasted by people who seem to find the Virgin Mary on food items or by the various Mary statues weeping various liquids. 

With Quindlen's legitimate criticism of our obsession with weird Mary sightings clearly in mind, I point you to the following Reuters article about the theft of a famous cinnamon roll bearing the Mother of God's likeness.  Click here to learn about this mystery sure to rival the Da Vinci Code for dramatic intrigue.  (By the way, you'll notice that I blatantly stole this posting's title from the Reuters article.  Nun Bun on the Run!!!!  It's just too good!)

Peace,

Chase

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I was perusing the NPR site (NPR stories are my soundtrack at work) to see what I missed over the weekend when I espied the face of Bruce Cockburn next to a link to a Christmas day interview with him--a songwriter of beautiful and prophetic songs--one of a number of musicians that Jimmy Only introduced me to when I was but a sheltered college student with bad taste in music.

Cockburn has a new album of instrumental music out now, but since the interview was broadcast on Christmas day, he shared his lyric-filled 1991 song "Cry of a Tiny Babe" about the original nativity.  If you're interested in hanging on to the Christmas spirit a little longer, give it a listen--I promise it will stick with you in the best kind of way.

Cockburn's own web site is worth a visit as well.

Peace,

Chase

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NPR is running a series called "This I Believe" which contains essays from people of various backgrounds that offer up their beliefs. Some of these have been meaningful for me, while others have not.  The segment that aired yesterday, however, was excellent and very meaningful for me in my vocation as a minister.

This essay is written and read by Debbia Hall, a pediatric psychologist and volunteer with the Red Cross on their Disaster Mental Health Team.  She writes about her experiences of being with people in times of grief and difficulty.  Although she oftentimes felt inadequate, she has come to realize that simply being present with someone during a dark time is more valuable to a person than possessing the proper words to say or the right cure to offer.  She writes:

Hall's essay is a gift to everyone and anyone who struggles to know what to do (or not do) for another in grief.

Peace,

Chase

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This Christmas I received a wonderful gift from a friend; it is the poem, "Amazing Peace," by Maya Angelou.  She wrote it for and then read it at the White House Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony this year.  It is a truly beautiful poem that is really more a prayer for peace offered on behalf of all people--people of all faiths and no faith.  I think it captures the essence of what Christmas means in our culture--even beyond what it means to us as Christians.  Before the lights of Christmas dim too much, I encourage you to read it or better yet, purchase a copy for yourself or someone else. 

I would print it here, but I'm sure that violates some kind of copyright law.  I found it on Oprah's web site.  So click here to take a look.

May we all learn from the "shimmering light" of peace "How to look beyond complexion and see community."  Amen.

Peace,

Chase

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Paul Theroux had an editorial a week ago in the NY Times and I meant to write a post about it before it was a week old, so folks could read it for free on-line.  Alas, I waited too long and now you have to pay for it--unless you have a subscription to the Times or to their evil "Times-Select" service--op-eds should be free on-line for cheap people like me!

Anyway, Theroux basically wrote an editorial about aid to Africa where he basically said that money alone won't solve all of Africa's problems.  (DUH!)  He wrote that Africans need to be trained to provide their own healthcare and education, (DUH!) and then he based his opinions on his own experience as a Peace Corps volunteer a few decades ago. (HUH?)  The literary crutch of his article--little more than a device to put at the introduction and conclusion--was to bash Bono for being a bleeding heart rock star who is just out to raise money for Africa without really knowing the continent's problems. 

I'd like Mr. Theroux to do a little more background work before attacking someone in his column.  In addition to being a rock star, Bono may be one of the few people who know the facts of everything from national debt amounts to the cost per vial to administer a polio vaccine.  No one has been more eloquent, persistent and pragmatic about working to help the extreme poor of Africa.  Just go to the web site of the One Campaign which Bono founded or D.A.T.A. (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) which Bono also founded to get specific about solving Africa's problems.   

I also hope Mr. Theroux took notice when Bono, along with Bill and Melinda Gates, was declared Time Magazine's Person of the Year.  The article details the many people who blew Bono off as another rock star filled with white liberal guilt and then changed their mind after meeting him. 

Bill Gates shares how he didn't want to bother with meeting Bono, because he thought it would be a waste of time.  But then "it took about three minutes with Bono for Gates to change his mind.  Bill and his wife Melinda...love facts and data with a tenderness most people reserve for their children, and Bono was hurling metrics across the table as fast as they could keep up." 

The article also includes a nice quote from Jesse Helms--not exactly someone in favor of foreign aid or debt relief.  Helms publicly repented of his previous views on AIDS after talking scripture with Bono.  "I had met enough well-known people to quickly figure out who was genuine and who was there for show.  I knew as soon as I met Bono that he was genuine.  He has absolutely nothing to gain personally as a result of his work.  In fact, he has opened himself to criticism because he has been willing to work with anyone to find help for these children who have taken his heart."

Paul Wolofwits--not exactly mister touchy-feely-liberal--is quoted in the article as saying, "Pomposity and arrogance are the enemies of getting things done.  And Bono knows how to get things done."

Rick Santorum, Republican Senator from Pennsylvania--once again not in the running for mister touchy-feely-liberal--says, "Bono understands his issues better than 99% of Congress."  (The natural reply to this statement is, of course, exactly how hard is it to know more than Congress--but that's just cynicism talking.)

Nancy Pelosi, House minority leader from CA--maybe a candidate for miss touchy-feely-liberal--says about her first meeting with Bono, "I saw a depth of knowledge that was hugely impressive and a depth of commitment to match."

As Nancy Gibbs, the author of the article, writes, "[Bono's work, along with that of Bill and Melinda Gates] is not about pity.  It's more about passion.  Pity sees suffering and wants to ease the pain; passion sees injustice and wants to settle the score.  Pity implores the powerful to pay attention; passion warns them about what will happen if they don't.  The risk of pity is that it kills with kindness; the promise of passion is that it builds on the hope that the poor are fully capable of helping themselves if given the chance.  In 2005 the world's poor needed no more condolences; they needed people to get interested, get mad and then get to work."

The article concludes with an account of when Bono, the day of a Boston U2 concert, talked shop with the members of the "Poverty Action Lab" a Gates Foundation--endowed group of professors at M.I.T. who work out the most feasible action plans for combating poverty around the world.  They do nothing but come up with ways to produce the "measurable results" that politicians are always asking for.  According to the article, Bono held his own with the geniuses in the room. 

So, Mr. Theroux, next time you decide to take a cheap shot in one of your articles pick someone who doesn't have the ability to talk to liberal and conservative politicians, M.I.T. economists, a woman dying of AIDS in Uganda and a stadium full of rock-n-roll fans.  I'd rather hear Bono's thoughts on poverty any day before reading another article by Paul Theroux.

Thank God for Bono!

Peace,

Chase

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Continuing what I guess is now a Sunday tradition, Nicholas Kristof continued his commentary on the non-War on Christmas.  This time he's taking on Manhasset's own Bill O'Reilly who denounced Kristof this week on his show.  It appears Mr. Kristof has been reading the CONGOblog, because he makes some of the same points I made in previous posts.  There are many highlights in Kristof's column.  Here are a few of them for folks--who like me are too cheap to pay for a Times subscription or to pay to read it on-line:

I say "amen" to Kristof's sentiments.  Something tells me that Bill O'Reilly will not take Kristof up on his challenge.

Thanks to Don W. for passing this article on to me.  I guess I'm going to have to do what the fat cats at the NY Times want me to do and pay the bucks for the Times Select on-line service so I can read these op-eds.  <sigh>

Peace,

Chase

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The world's attention has turned this week to the trial of Orhan Pamuk, an internationally-known Turkish novelist by the Turkish government.  (See the nice op-ed today in the NY Times)  Pamuk has been charged with insulting the Turkish government when he told a Swiss magazine that the Ottoman Turks had killed 1.5 million Armenians and thousands of Kurds.  The trial has put a spotlight on the Armenian Genocide--the first genocide of the twentieth century and the example used later by the Nazis during the Holocaust.  The Turkish government has never admitted the genocide occurred, much less apologized for it. 

As I have written previously here on the CONGOblog, our denomination and our church in general has a direct tie to the suffering of the Armenians.  The Congregational Church, now a part of the United Church of Christ, had a large missionary presence in Turkey which established an evangelical church among the Armenians.  Furthermore, the Congregational Church tried to enlist the American government's help in stopping the genocide.  Afterwards, Armenians found their way to many places in the world, including America.  Their descendents remain as a part of our denomination and are present in the many families in our church of Armenian descent. 

Currently, on the United Church of Christ web site, there is an article that appeared in United Church News "Armenians and Turks: Can They Reconcile?" about the first small steps to raise awareness of the genocide in Turkey.  In response to the article, several  top officers in the UCC issued a statement calling on reconciliation between Armenians and Turks through an honest discussion of the genocide.

As usual, I'm proud to be a part of a denomination that takes stands against genocides past and present.

Peace,

Chase

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I'm back in town and so is the CONGOblog.

Last Sunday, I preached about what I call the "Real War on Christmas."  I shared that the real war against Christmas is not one being fought over whether or not it's a "holiday tree" or a "Christmas tree" but whether or not people of faith will actually follow Jesus' teachings to care for the poor and oppressed.  Hopefully one of these days the sermon will be in a publishable form.

Meanwhile, a number of folks noted that my favorite op-ed columnist, Nicholas Kristof, had a column that morning that was right along the same lines as my sermon.  I promise that I had not read Kristof's column prior to my sermon.  (I don't subscribe to the paper and now that they've added that @#%^%$# "Times-Select" subscription service to their web site, I can't read these articles for free.)  In Kristof's column, George Bush and St. Peter have a conversation at the pearly gates.  Here are some highlights:

Great minds think alike, I guess.  (Thanks to Lynne S. for passing this on to me.)

Here are some other articles on the supposed "war on Christmas" that I think are worth reading:

• Hands down, the funniest article on the non-war on Christmas was a satirical piece written by The Onion entitled "Activist Judge Cancels Christmas" (Thanks to Link E. for making sure I saw this one.)
• Associated Baptist Press has a great article ("Is the 'War on Christmas' Worth Fighting Against?") on the non-war on Christmas that interviews a number of Baptist folk--most of whom would be pretty conservative in my book.  These folks do take the separation of church and state seriously, however, along with their devotion to Jesus rather than a materialistic holiday celebration.

Peace,

Chase

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Okay, I wrote my post on Christmas outrage on Tuesday before I really understood that a future episode of the O'Reilly Factor was occurring in my own backyard.  I had heard some things about last weekend's Christmas Tree lighting in Manhasset, but I certainly did not know that the controversy would spill over beyond the Manhasset Press and onto the front pages of Newsday and the New York Post.  ("Treeson" was a pretty hilarious headline I have to admit.)

I'm glad that in the end some kind of reconciliation could occur.  I wasn't at the tree lighting ceremony so I have to rely on other people's accounts who were there, what I've read in the papers and Father Nick's e-mails which were forwarded to me (and I think everyone else in the nation).  It seems to me that Jon Kaiman made a really really dumb political move and has been apologizing ever since.  Also, I've met Father Nick on a number of occasions and I've always found him to be an honorable person, so I have no problem accepting his account of things and I respect his reasoning for giving the kind of prayer he did, given the context of the event. 

I do feel frustrated by the many, many folks in the community (and outside of it)--some of whom were not even present--who jumped on the "War on Christmas" bandwagon.  Given how Kaiman acted, I think folks were rightly offended, but I also think there are legitimate questions about a celebration of one religious group's holiday on city property and supported with tax dollars.  (Now, there may be plenty of information here I don't know about, so stay tuned for further addendums and clarifications from me in future posts.)

Although Manhasset is a community that has a majority Christian population, there are still plenty of folks around that are Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and of other religious persuasions.  If there was a way to represent all of the religious diversity in our community during the holidays--in a way that does justice to each group in a real way rather than just a watered-down exercise in political correctness--I would feel much more comfortable with this annual event.

The whole majority rule thing sounds great when you're in the majority, but it pretty much stinks when you're in the minority.  Since I'm a part of a religious tradition with its roots in being a persecuted minority, I am a little sensitive to folks who say you should conform or shut up. 

The reason religion flourishes in our culture is because it is free.  Despite all the claims that the Supreme Court took God out of the schools when it did away with school prayer (I knew the Supreme Court was powerful but I didn't think it could push God around!), more genuine Christian witness occurs in school today because it is free--bible clubs, prayer groups, etc. take place in almost every school, but they are far superior to a prayer read over an intercom because students are the ones saying their own prayers for authentic reasons.  The same goes for ceremonies on the town square or the steps of city hall.

I'm proud when we gather as a community each September 11 and each Thanksgiving, but we do so under the leadership of all of the clergy of the various faiths in our community.  Given that we know firsthand the violence of people who claim to know God's will, I just wish that our community gatherings could be ones that bring everyone together and honor both what we have in common and where we differ when it comes to religion.  (Before you get huffy, I'm not equating Al Qaeda with folks who were offended by Jon Kaiman.)   

Furthermore, I would offer that it is indeed very Christian to love one's neighbor as yourself by listening to their point of view in a humble manner even when it differs from your own.  When I read the gospels, I find a Jesus who included people who were on the outside.  The only people he excluded or judged were the self-righteous and hypocritical.  It's worth pondering by all of the folks who claim there is a war on Christmas but fail to give any real thought to Jesus' claim upon their lives--especially those making big bucks selling books, getting ratings and raising money by waging a cultural war that divides more than it heals and helps.

Now, before anybody starts sending me hate mail, let me remind everyone that I AM PRO-CHRISTMAS!  Not only am I a minister at a Christian church but I am also Christian.  I believe that the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ to be the most important thing in my life and the most important thing in history since Creation.  I am not ashamed of my faith or my savior.

In fact, I would say that I hold Christmas in such high esteem that I want to resist every effort to subdue the meaning of Christmas for commercial and political gain--including the work of TV talk show hosts and televangelists and a shallow mass media.  I don't look to government, media, or corporations to do what I believe is the church's job in general and every Christian's job in particular--spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Peace,

Chase

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P.S.--here are a few other bits on the "War on Christmas" that just haven't made it into my rants--er, I mean posts:

• I posted a quote last time from Stephen Colbert.  I enjoyed his interview on Fresh Air where he again mentioned the whole "War on Christmas" theme.
• I enjoyed Ellis Henican's column "Peace for Christmas, or "the holidays" that appeared in Newsday on Friday literally below the article about our Manhasset brouhaha.  His best line: "We'd probably all be better off leaving the blessings to the churches and not the town square. If we mix them sloppily, what do we say next year when the Wiccans and the devil worshipers want their turn?"
• Ruth Marcus had a nice op-ed today in the Washington Post where she explains that even though she's a "nice Jewish girl" she has always loved Christmas.  Her best line(s): I'm not one who would argue that we ought to Grinch our way out of this discomfort by aggressively de-Christmafying. And to the extent that the war-on-Christmas crowd is simply reacting to knee-jerk political correctness, I'm with them...But there is an ugly, bullying aspect to this dispute, in which the pro-Christmas forces are not only asking, reasonably, that their religion be treated with equal status and respect but in which they are attacking legitimate efforts at inclusivity. It's this sense of aggrieved victimhood that confuses me: What, exactly, is so threatening about calling the school holiday a winter break rather than Christmas vacation?
• WNYC's On the Media today had an interview with Michelle Goldberg from Salon.com on the whole "War on Christmas" phenomenon.  Today's claims have their roots in the John Birch Society and the anti-Semitic writings of Henry Ford.  Sometimes historical context can be frightening.  You can read her full Salon article here.
   

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I saw Stephen Colbert's "The Word" segment on Monday's show and laughed out loud.  The humor for me was in the bit's truth. Every year Christians (most well-meaning) getting upset because they feel Christmas is under attack.  I have news for all of you: Christmas is doing just fine, and so is Jesus by the way.

Sure, the ACLU and other groups can and have at times taken things too far regarding religion in the public square, but I believe most of the fuss is stirred up by demagogues like Bill O'Reilly and Jerry Falwell in order to get ratings and readership (not to mention donations in Falwell's case).  David Batstone has a nice column on this issue in a recent Sojomail.

I just read about the American Family Association's boycott of Target and other retail chains, because the AFA feels that the retailers have stopped using the word "Christmas" in their advertising.  They're spokesperson claims they've generated thousands of e-mails and letters from outraged Christians.

Give me a break!  The irony here is so thick!

Did any of these outraged Christians stop to think that they are in fact supporting the commercialization and corporate takeover of what is supposed to be a sacred holiday?  I think Jesus would be more concerned about how we think far more about holiday gift-giving than we do about being his disciples. 

How many of these concerned Christians have written letters of protest regarding the genocide in Darfur?  The treatment of the poor in the most recent federal budget?  The torture of prisoners and detainees?  Does anyone think Jesus might have something to say about these issues?

This Christmas, instead of getting irate when someone says "happy holidays" to you, why not give Jesus a real birthday present and save your outrage for the suffering of the people whom Jesus died for?

Peace,

Chase

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