MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS - HONORING BARBARA BUSH

BY STEVE DUNN

Saturday morning in St. Martin's Episcopal Cathedral in Houston, America celebrated the life of Barbara Bush. I was amused by a news reporter's comment that her faith and friends were very important to her, but most important to her was her family.  Mrs. Bush's quote on the subject earlier in her life was in a different order saying the most important things were faith, family and friends.  In a 2013 interview for a C-Span series on First Ladies, she made that clear: "I'm a huge believer in a loving God," she said. "And I don't have a fear of death for my precious George or for myself because I know that there is a great God."  A lady of great Christian dignity, Cleve R. Wootson, Jr. of the Washington Post added. "Even in the 2013 interview she took pains not to sound too sanctimonious. 'That sounds so arrogant," she said, turning away from the interviewer. I'm a big shot. I have a faith in God. I do have a faith in God. And I don't question it. I have no fear of death. And I think that's very comforting."  SOURCE: The Oklahoman -News OK website-April 18th, 2018.Cleve R. Wootson Jr. The Washington Post

Her values informed her ideas and thoughts and words.  Here are some of those definitely worth remembering.

To the Wellesley College graduating class: "At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a children, or a parent."

"Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people -- your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way."

"When you come to a roadblock, take a detour."

"I hate the fact that people think 'compromise' is a dirty word."

 "Don't cry over things that were or things that aren't. Enjoy what you have now to the fullest."

“Bias has to be taught. If you hear your parents downgrading women or people of different backgrounds, why, you are going to do that.”

 "You have to love your children unselfishly. That is hard. But it is the only way.”

"You have two choices in life; you can either like what you do or dislike what you do. I have chosen to like what I do."

"Libraries have always seemed like the richest places in the world to me, and I've done some of my best learning and thinking thanks to them."

"Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others."

"I'm a liberal when it comes to human rights, the poor; so's George Bush. . . . But Liberal and Conservative don't mean much to me anymore. Does that mean we care about people and are interested and want to help? And if that makes you a Liberal, so be it."

" If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weaknesses, as unlimited rather that dull and unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities."

I AM TIRED

By Steve Dunn

Watching the news lately, I have grown tired, very tired.  I am tired of ….

Politicians who demonize people and political positions with which they disagree.

Politicians who spin or even ignore the truth that is inconvenient to them but who insist on

  accountability and even punishment for others who do the same.

Politicians who believe that they are above the need for civility and respect towards others.

Politicians who demand absolute conformity and support from people who work for them even

   when they are wrong.

Politicians who put their mouth in motion before their mind is in gear.

Politicians who don’t know when to simply keep their thoughts to themselves

Politicians who worship political correctness but who believe people who do not agree with

   their definition should ostracized.

Politicians who believe that character is a private matter.

Politicians who do not know how to choose their battles.

Politicians who believe people should never question their motives or integrity.

Politicians who believe they are always right.

Political supporters who support these “leaders” unquestioningly and pounce on those who dare to question their pet politician.

Political supporters who always assume the other side is lying. 

Political supporters who justify these actions by saying the other side does it, too.

Neither these political leaders nor their uncritical supporters do our nation a service.

    

MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS: EASTER

BY STEVE DUNN

 Long ago, in my early preaching days, I came across this little story.  It's probably apocryphal but contain at least a kernel of reality.

A Sunday school teacher was teaching a group of four-year-olds. It was Easter Sunday and she asked, ''Does anyone know what today is?'' One little girl raised her hand and said, ''It's Easter.'' The teacher complimented her and then asked, ''Does anyone know what makes Easter so special?'' The same little girl raised her hand and said, ''Easter is special because Jesus rose from the dead...'' Before the teacher could compliment her, the little girl added, ''but if He sees His shadow, He has to go back in for seven weeks.''

Easter is the most important holiday in the Christian year, but it's prime value to most Americans is to create a convenient spring break.  Many could recount the first half of the little girl's answer,  but for them it has little personal significance.  There was a time when even our more secular population put on their finery to join Mom and Dad at the family church to attend a worship service before rushing off to fight for a spot at a local restaurant serving dinner on a Sunday when few people wanted to cook.  Now with less and less of the population having any Christian roots, it's a sunny day to be enjoyed in some other family activity that probably won't include even a prayer.

But Easter is the celebration of the day when God took the sting out of death.  It is the day God decisively declared that sin need not be our master and invited us once again into a life of hope that would not disappoint us.  It is the day of Resurrection--not some seasonal cycle of the planet, but the transformed destiny of a people who once again could become a people who loved and served God with their whole being. A destiny that was more than now-it was eternal.

The apostle Peter perhaps said it best: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. - I Peter 1.3-5

And more recently the late Johnny Hart described it this way:

 

© 2015 by Stephen L Dunn

Permission is given to reprint this post as long as it is not included in material that is for sale, that it is reproduced in its entirety including the copyright notice, and that a link is provided to this blog.

MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS: A HEALTHY BODY POLITIC

BY STEVE DUNN

I have a confession to make.  I don't remember if I registered to vote.  I moved to a new community early last  year and was out of town on election day.  Because I work as an Intentional Interim Pastor, I anticipated being in a new community at this time.  My job, however, depends on someone dying, being fired, unexpectedly quitting, or retiring.  I would not wish the first three on anyone.  There have been no such changes since I completed my last assignment, so I am still living in this community. 

Tomorrow is election day and I need to call the election board and see if I am registered.  If I didn't or if I did and don't go the polls, I will be part of what is wrong with our nation.  People don't vote. They do not participate in the process.  A healthy body politic requires an informed and responsible citizenry who actively participates in the political process and then holds those they elect accountable to do what is in the best interests of the nation.

But a healthy body politic, especially in a democracy requires  more.  It requires a civil citizenry that is concerned with what is best for all its citizenry--not just its party or special interest group.  We are often so divided and hostile before we go to the polls that we elect leaders who reflect this and the nation suffers accordingly.

On Facebook this week I came across a post that reflects an attitude I believe we need to embrace if ours is to be a nation that works for the good of all of its people--and makes us a stronger and more unified nation as a result.

I know that many young people have opted out of the political process because they no longer have confidence in their politicians and are fed up with our political parties.Maybe we would restore their confidence if as Americans--voters, citizens, leaders - we heeded this simple counsel.

MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS-THE WISDOM OF TWO PRESIDENTS

Today is Presidents’ Day, a holiday that I haven’t always taken as a holiday from work.  Dianne and I moved over the weekend, so I thankful for the space to unpack and since the banks are closed, the freedom not to business.

On this day we celebrate the birthdays of unarguably two of the greatest American presidents: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Washington was the general who would turn President, whose faith and moral strength, whose leadership skills and ability to stay focused basically ensured that we would have a nation at all.  Lincoln was the country lawyer turned politician whose faith and moral courage, whose vision for human equality and political toughness saw to that government of the people,  by the people and for the people did not perish from the earth.  And Lincoln insured that we would begin correcting that great injustice of our Founding Fathers who still kept some men in slavery.

As a person who is proudly an American, but more so as a person of deep Christian faith who believes that all people matter to God—I salute these two men.  Neither was perfect, as revisionist historians are fond of pointing out, but then none of us are.  What they were was men who let the mind of God shape their view of reality and their values as leaders.  And many of their words of wisdom could serve well today, despite our secularizing tendency to drive God from the marketplace and from our places of power.

Here are a few of my favorites-first from Mr. Lincoln:

“Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”

“My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.”

“Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.”

And then from Mr. Washington:

“He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.”

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”

“Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”

“Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”