At World Head Quarters

I didn't think that it would fit into my schedule but we managed to find our way to the Anhauser-Busch brewery in St. Louis. Who knew, but the St. Louis location is the world headquarter of this famous brewery. The landscapes were beautiful. The technology is unbelievable. The history is amazing and continues to expand. I'm not a beer drinker (the Sis calls me a dessert wine snob), but some of A-B's special beers are pretty good (I like the Mojito beer). :)

I have never, ever seen bottles and cans of beer get filled so fast in one minute. Unbelievable!

Penguins

Butttttt...

So here are the little cuties whom I met at the zoo in St. Louis.

Cut paper lace banner

The last night of my stay in St. Louis, I was fortunate enough to attend a worship service where Dr. James Forbes preached about "having a conversation with God about elections." He was brilliant, naturally, but I'm not posting about his talk. Take a look at the pictures of the banner that hung in the sanctuary of the church (where the service was held).

The banner is made of 16 separate pieces designed by liturgical artist Ellen Phillips of Atlanta, GA. All the cutting was done by hand by members of First Church (in Webster Grove, MO) and St. John's UCC in north St. Louis city. Says the church info sheet:

This artistic expression is the first of four that our churches will be creating this year as part of a worship renewal grant we received through the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Grand Rapids, MI. [The 16 separate pieces] remind us of our communion with God and God's creation. As you look up, you'll see many expressions of God's wondrous creation, and in the center, you'll see the communion chalice and loaves of bread, symbols of our communion with God.

View from the Arch Gateway

After taking the four minute tram ride from groundbase to the top of the arch way (630 ft high!), we get to look out the East and West windows of the arch.

St. Louis Historic Courthouse

More of the St. Louis Arch Gateway

For all named and unnamed

While walking around downtown, I came upon a little event hosted by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). I thought this is an appropriate time for me to post about it... especially so many of my loved ones have been affected in some way or another by cancer of one kind or another.

There's this little bus that they drive around. It's called the ACS CAN Fight Back Express. This little bus is traveling around the nation telling people about and talking with people about cancer and how we as individuals and as a nation can fight back cancer. And everyone who's been touched by cancer -- in whatever way -- is asked to sign the bus, as a symbol of spreading the news. Today, the bus parked under the arch, and finished touring MO as the 48th state. The FBE now heads back to D.C.

You should check out the blog and read up about the American Cancer Society.



More importantly, inform yourself on the positions your presidential candidate holds regarding cancer research. Check out what Obama and McCain are saying in response to questions about cancer research, treatment, and prevention issues.

Take action because you CAN.

We are That One

Their vision was to take a potentially divisive phrase like "that one" and represent it as something positive and unifying.

Go see this excellent video.

www.wearetheone.org

Oprah may think Obama is "the One." McCain may think Obama is "that one." But WE are the one voice to change America.

At the old historic courthouse

Yesterday, I got the chance to visit the historic courthouse in downtown St.Louis where in 1846 Dred Scott and his wife, Harriett, sued their owner Irene for freedom from slavery. It is impossible to describe the feelings that rushed through me as I walked the halls and climbed the stairs and sat in the rooms of that courthouse. This was the exact building, changed so very little, where those two individuals had to stand trial, waiting and expecting for a verdict regarding the state of their humanity. Hearing the details of and reading the information about that infamous case scared me, and saddened me -- how could such a thing happen, I wondered. Human beings considered as chattel, as property to be carried from city to city, from town to town as if they were a piece of luggage. It hurt my chest just thinking about it -- I couldn't help but think that we might be in danger of regressing back into that time and place and mindset once again...

Ironic, isn't it, that less than a mile way stands a 630 feet arch built as a "gateway" symbolize America's westward expansion, to represent our nation's forward-thinking development, a veritable symbol of our progression toward the west, a reminder of our strength, courage, and endurance as a nation of diversity and resilience.

How sad that the little courthouse stands, to this day, as a historic landmark of our infamy, our narrow-mindedness, our arrogance, our greed, our pride, our disrepect of and disregard for our fellow human beings.

May we learn our lessons well, and may we never, ever forget them.

Sleeping with the ducks

So while I lounged around the base of the arch gateway, I fell asleep next to the pond in the little park where the arch is located. And when I woke up, there were these little mallards that showed up...

St. Louis Arch Gateway

A first view of St. Louis. More to come:

Keeping the peace

I'm disheartened by my inability to articulate my political position in a cogent, coherent conversation with my father. We talked and talked on the phone, and it seemed more like me talking to him (or at him?) instead of us discussing as adults the differences in our positions. In the end, my dear father merely said, "you seem very passionate about this."

That, my friends, is why he is my father and why, despite our political differences, I LOVE him.

My friends, on the hand, do not think so gently or kindly of me. I have friends who will vote for McCain (M: you're not reading this I hope), and I am afraid, no, I AM ILL, at the thought of us having to discuss our differences. Just ill. Just. Ill.

(Sorry, I had to say that. Just to see how it would read. I still hear her voice and it creeps me out.)

But at some point, we'll have to realize that our differences are everywhere and more apparent that we thought. Today, I sat in a large church, and the assoc. pastor prayed that we would never bring our divisions into the church because the church is the one place where we can come together in unity. (And the preacher had just finished his sermon which pushed a new agenda on their capital campaign: recreation as a new ministry.)

Hearing that, I couldn't help but think that what the church really is, is a place where our divisions can be examined and, sometimes, heightened. In reality, we do not leave our divisions aside. It's when we come to church that our separations and differences are highlighted -- like with a neon sign! (Issues of same-sex marriages, issues of women's ordination, issues of abortion, just to name a few.)

In the benediction, the preacher told us to be alert, to be on the lookout for God just might do something new. Here's something not so new, but still shocking to some of us: Christ didn't call us to always keep the peace. It's part of our responsibility as Christians called to faithful and effective stewardship.

So, I guess what this really means is I've got to suck it up and try to cross the aisles (or pews of the church) and actually engage...

I guess he doesn't "plumb" that much!

I'm sorry to be giving blog-space to such a horrible thing, but I had to do some fact-checking about Joe the Plumber's salary. This is what I found:

As for the star of this ad, Joe Wurzelbacher (a.k.a. Joe the Plumber): He told ABC News, among other news organizations, that he makes much less than $250,000, in which case he'd get a tax cut under Obama's plan. But, he said, he hopes to make that kind of money one day.

For now, Joe would certainly qualify for a tax cut under Obama's plan. According to his hometown newspaper, the Toledo Blade, publicly available divorce court proceedings show that he made $40,000 in 2006. And according to the Tax Policy Center's analysis, 93.5 percent of those making between $40,000 and $50,000 a year would see a tax cut under Obama's plan, averaging $1,124 for the year in 2012.

He hopes to make that kind of money some day. Some day. The man doesn't even make $250,000!!! He wouldn't even be taxed under Obama's plan! I won't be taxed under Obama's plan. In fact, I would get an estimated $1500 tax cut. Yay! (not that I'm counting before they're hatched, but, you know...)

Obama & reform/welfare

My parents might think that Obama's plan is "welfare" (and what would be wrong with that, you ask), but it's all about terminology. I checked on the Obama-Biden website just to be sure so that I can talk about it w/ my parents. You should check it out, too. Go to factcheck.org to get the short version:

"Welfare" or "Reform"?


The "welfare" claim rests on the argument, made in an Oct. 13 editorial in the Wall Street Journal, about refundable tax credits. Obama proposes to grant a number of refundable tax credits to low- and middle-income workers. For example, he would give a $500 tax credit ($1,000 for a couple) for workers, which would phase out for single workers making $75,000 or for couples making $150,000 per year. As the Journal editorial says: "You can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability." That's true enough. Whether or not that makes them "welfare" is a matter of interpretation, however. As the Journal editorial also says in its headline, "It depends on what the meaning of 'tax cut' is."

Fair enough. But McCain himself is proposing refundable tax credits of up to $2,500 a year for individuals, or $5,000 for families, as part of his health care plan. McCain doesn't call his credits a "tax cut" but he doesn't call them "welfare" either. He does call it tax "reform," right there on his own Web site:

McCain Web site: John McCain Will Reform The Tax Code . . . [E]very family will receive a direct refundable tax credit - effectively cash - of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset the cost of insurance.

McCain makes his tax credit refundable to make it worth just as much to low-income workers as to high-income workers. If it were not refundable, it would be worth $0 to anyone who makes too little to pay any federal income taxes. A non-refundable credit would be worth the full amount only to individuals who owe at least $2,500 in federal income taxes, or couples who owe at least $5,000. Obama makes his tax credits refundable for the same reason – so they will benefit workers who earn too little to pay federal income tax.

A Litany for All God’s People

Wisdom of the Ages, you who know the number of hairs on each of our heads and for whom a sparrow does not fall without your noticing, on this day, we remember the most vulnerable among us, and renew our commitment to be in solidarity with them. Surround them, we pray, with compassionate communities, even as you continue to care for this fragile and suffering world.

Strength for our Journey, our Scriptures say that we are all made in your image, created to be sisters and brothers to one another, held together by the fabric of love. Yet the world's systems and structures threaten to tear us apart, making a virtue of self-interest and a luxury of kindness. Guide us in paths of right relationship with our neighbors near and far.
Teach us to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with you.

Home to all who seek Refuge, your words are always ones of healing and peace, your aims always call us in the direction of life and well-being. Renew in us a commitment to the very ones who most need us standing with them -- children, the elderly, the poor and disabled. Restore in us the dream that one day all of your people -- rich, poor, old, young, working, unemployed, weak, or strong -- will honor one another with more than words. We will honor one another by refusing to let go of one another. This is our prayer and our promise.



* Copyright 2008 by Mark Richardson, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church, Los Osos, California. Published by the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church.

Diverting our attention

Earlier today, I inadvertently stumbled upon an article on the AC360 site which talked about a soldier who wanted to bring home her adopted puppy "Ratchet." Feel free to browse Anderson Cooper 360, if you want to read more about it, but I'm not going to link to it. Talking about the article is already giving it more attention that I want, but, that's the way it is.

Before I proceed, I want to clarify that I love dogs. I love pets. I understand people who love pets. I sympathize with pet owners. I cherish the poor creatures of God's creation.

However, I marvel at the time and attention that we (namely the 10,000 petitioners) spend on petitioning to bring home a little puppy from Iraq when there are so many other soldiers who could use that same energy, time, and dedication to bring them home. Not just their puppies.

The last to see the blaze

Last night, Angel Island was on fire. Fierce winds whipped a brush fire through the little island and the entire hilltop was ablaze. And I didn't see it. Firefighters put their lives on the line and rushed the heat and wind and faced the flames while I sat in my comfortable little living room and wrote the following blogpost:

I'm sitting here looking out my french doors, watching a beautiful sun set below the horizon. Out beyond the houses down the hill, beyond the dark blue waters being bathed in red-orange colors, and way beyond the marina is the Golden Gate bridge. For the past few hours, while working away on the computer, I've marveled at the colors that are now slowly, slowly fading. Blues, greens, red, orange, yellow, salmon. Now it's almost gone and everything, so soon, will eclipse to navy then black. That ridiculously bright moon will soon show itself hanging above the two trees towering in my backyard.

Watching that silvery moon hang outside my window, I remember how earlier today while sitting in a meeting, I was invited to join in a group prayer. All our voices, in jumbled syncopation, recited the Lord's Prayer... "Our Father who art in heaven..."

I'm not sure how this evening's moon figures into this whole evening of work and contemplation about the state of our little Chinatown church, but I'm reminded of what Bishop Spong wrote in Why Christianity Must Change or Die. Why do we pray as if we pray to an unworldly God? Does God look down at us from "on high" like that great moon, watching over us but separated and disconnected?

Here's the thing: in these distressing times of financial crisis, global poverty, world hunger, natural disasters, etc. What I want, what we need, is God in our midst. Sometimes, what we have is God within, often inseparable, often subsumed, buried. I think that if I climb onto that brick wall at the end of my yard and look out over rooftops of the buildings, I just might see the moon's reflection twinkling in the water. But, in reality, I don't. In fact, the silver disk is nowhere to be seen, and all I see are yellow lights fom windows and doorways -- hundreds of them.

Alright, I'll say it another way: What I want, what we need, is God in our midst. God embodied, Christ's love experienced, and Christian witness lived out.

So I try to pay a bit more attention to the language that I use. Bishop Spong calls us to think about how living in the postmodern world forces us to articulate our prayer life in different ways. We need to envision a new image of God -- and not so much as a deity hanging loosely above us, deigning to look down once in a while because of our fervent accolades of "almighty" "most loving," "most gracious," etc...

"Did you see it," a coworker asked me. I feel as if the whole Bay Area saw the signs and all I could see were the little reflections on the periphery. Almost like Moses, only I didn't see the burning bush. I won't compare the Angel Island fire with the burning bush experience, but I can't help but think of the irony. While I sat in my cozy little apartment admiring my beautiful view of the bay and the gorgeous skyline, a fire -- a real fire -- was blazing right down the hill, on an island, above the waterline. I sat in my pretty house atop the hill in front of the laptop sipping tea, thinking about God's place in our lives and out there, people risked their lives to protect a part of our history.

Here, now, it's not too far fetched for me to think about being in the world and living out our vocation and Christian stewardship. Too easily, I find myself demanding that something -- everything -- have relevance to my life. How does this or that affect my spiritual formation? How does this or that help nurture my faith and help me get closer to God? This internal searching can be good -- transformative. These are worthwhile and necessary questions to ask, but I'm not sure that the focus is in the right place: Me, my, mine. I looked up at the beautiful night sky created by that terrible fire, and wondered where is God in my life.

A few weeks ago, our little church held a luncheon to raise $6,000 to grow an orange grove for a wonderful ministry in Uganda. To date, we've raised about $4,700. Our little fake tree is starting to sprout more and more plastic oranges representing the number of trees our efforts will allow to be purchased, planted and nurtured. Our intentions are in the right place. But what are we looking at, really. I wonder if we're admiring the trees, envisioning them glowing green and orange, plush and lusciously sweet in the hot Ugandan air. Or, do we actually see "the fire" that is blazing in front of our very faces -- the orphans suffering from AIDs, the women who have been stripped of their rights over their bodies, their children, their land, or the many starving children who do not have anywhere to live.

Here's another way of looking at it. I could also think that the fires in Asia or in Africa or in LatinAmerica do not reach me here -- they have no relevance in my life. Or do they? Aren't we all a part of this global community? Don't we all see a bit of God's image in each and every person? And if so, how can we let those fires threaten to consume and subsume the holy vision of God embodied within each human soul?

Living in the Bay Area, I tend to ask questions about practical theology -- theology lived out in a way that is concrete, and yields tangible, quantifiable results. I enjoy being the one raising the difficult questions and pushing the boundaries. And here I stand, on the edge of a hill overlooking a little island called Angel, and here I am, only one of thousands of citizens awed by the beauty of the skyline, but perhaps one of the last to see the flames.

Updating nothing but HAT's

Lately, there's been nothing but HAT's busy-ness in the office, in the art world, in church, and of course, in my head.

unFound was a successful launch at Interplayce in Oakland, and

a terrifically crazy week has ended at the seminary - the customary culmination of two months of preparation.

I'm looking forward to visiting the Sis in a week or so, and the Bro is off visiting friends.

Church has also been keeping me busy -- always in the forefront of my mind. Committee meetings and visioning sessions and print materials, etc., have taken over my weekends (and thinking about them on weeknights) while office work consumes my days. This Sunday there will be another committee meeting which will naturally generate a little bit more work while the stuff I still have is burning a hole through my back burner. Ha.

The first weekend in November, I'll be attending the ordination of a great friend, and lucky me, I get to play a minor part in the service. The honor is mine, and I am absolutely thrilled to be invited. Come to think of it, I've not had the honor to participate in either my dad's (mom was chosen) or my sister's (dad was chosen).

Tonight and tomorrow night, I'll be attending jazz shows. Tonight, I get to revel in the music on my own (and after a week's worth of Hospitality for top guns, I'm ready for a slow night), and tomorrow, I get to enjoy the music and ambience with friends.

Next week, I'll be setting up shop in the Bade with Abby so that unFound can find a spot on the Bade's walls. And, we'll have to figure out a good date and time for an opening reception -- so more work to organize.

So while it is busy, there is balance. My life has been steadily busy with much work and other business, but I also have a lot of great time with loved ones -- quick dinners, phone chats, some (few) emails (nonexistent in the past two weeks, practically).

But, guess what I do not make time for. Just guess. I've got three manuscripts sitting on my bookshelf that need to be critiqued and I'm betting those folks are not happy that I've put them off for so long. I've not yet produced any piece for the writing group which meets this Monday. I just posted a verse on our renga blog which I was supposed to have posted on Sunday (sorry, guys!). And, I've browsed a poetry book in over 3 weeks. I am starving for poetry.

Or am I? I've come to realize that reading poetry for me is like drinking water. I think I can go for two days without any water (I differentiate between plain H2O and other liquids) but quickly realize I basically crackle and crumble to pieces when I don't hydrate. So I'm cranking out poetry verses while subsisting on nothing but drops. Drops. Not even a trickle.

Life is full -- it is filled and good. But it would seem there is a time to slow down, too. This is just it, friends. There is nothing further to report: nothing bad, no new surprises. All is well. Business is usual in that business is never usual.