At the Weekend: Groundhog Day and More
Happy February. I’m not sure what the fabled groundhog of Pennsylvania will forecast tomorrow, but it looks like more winter ahead in the Pacific NW, even with some possibility of snow down here in the coastal lowlands of Seattle (and lots in the mountains, up to 30″).
The “Groundhog Day “movie with Bill Murray is a fun classic if you’re needing a laugh (and who isn’t?). Not sure where it is to be found among the many streaming services. It has a special salience as we now awake to Trump all over again. Spoiler alert: in the movie Bill Murray wakes to Groundhog Day over and over and over again.
I promised some of you that I would post the recordings of our webinar on Robert Capon’s book “The Mystery of Christ and Why We Don’t Get It.” So here is the second session, which happened last week (we missed a week when Jason spaced out on time zone changes). You can use the link at right to join the live sessions.
We opened that second session with a brief conversation about Bishop Budde’s remarks at the National Cathedral the week before, acknowledging that we were five males of the species opining on the efforts of a female colleague. Surely unwise. In our defense, our comments were requested by some in our listening audience. Jason put me on the spot first.
More on Bishop Budde’s sermon from two writers at The Atlantic, offering two quite different takes.
Elizabeth Bruenig heard a message staying true to the Christian principle of mercy, which any leader needs to heed. “Christian priests and pastors have thus exhorted leaders to mercy for many centuries—in fact, this style of communication with power could constitute its own genre,” Bruneig wrote. “The Christian faith is careful to exhort the powerful to mercy because mercy is so opposed to the exercise of power; in fact, mercy requires that a leader restrain themselves from the harshest of decrees and punishments, and the Christian tradition proudly recommends as much. For having mercy protects not only mercy’s recipients, but also the merciful themselves. What Trump despises in Budde’s plea for mercy may be the key to saving his own soul—if only he would listen.”
Her colleague Caitlin Flanagan had a wholly different reaction: that Budde’s sermon was the perfect encapsulation of the “let’s just get along” impulse of many in more theologically liberal traditions. “It was dry, high-minded, and Christ-light, and it built on a theme of ‘unity’ in which all people drop their political differences and embrace a generalized, feel-good, Esperanto-like uni-faith, with everyone directing their prayers to, To Whom It May Concern.” Flanagan continued: “The high priestess wanted to reveal her goodness, her moral purity, her inclusive and diversity-forward politics. She wanted a gold star, and in many quarters she got one. A headline in The New Republic read ‘Trump Seethes as Bishop Calls Him Out in Heartfelt Plea.’ But in the church he had looked only bored, as though his mind was on other things. Maybe he was seething. Or maybe he was thinking, ‘That’s why I won.’”
I would only note that it was exhortation (“you should”) not proclamation (“God is.”).
Safety Third. I liked this piece on “safety” by Sam Bush at Mockingbird. Sam suggests that instead of “Safety First” we try out “Safety Third.” Here’s Sam:
“A ‘Safety First’ life is one that is principally guided by fear, one where suspicion triumphs over trust and the levers of control are pulled more quickly than they probably should. If you think the worst-case scenario is always the most likely one, then you’ll come to believe that every shadow hides a monster and every fork in the road leads only to disaster. This approach convinces us that life is a test to be passed rather than an adventure to be lived.”
My two cents on this . . . my theory is that when words are everywhere and over-used it is a sign that the reality they name has gone missing. I felt this way about “community” back in the day. Everything was “community,” (as in “the intelligence community,” or “the banking community”), while the actual thing was becoming harder to find. Then it was “magic,” or maybe “enchantment.”
So now with “safety.” We say, urge it, all the time. But have you noticed how unsafe and fearful we seem to feel? Back in the day as a country pastor I would drop by someone’s farm or home for a cup of coffee and a visit unannounced. We would never do that now. I doubt clergy today visit at all. An unexpected knock-on-the-door is cause for alarm, as are all sorts of things these days. The “Next Door” site is full of dire warnings from lurkers to coyotes. Despite shouting “safety,” fear seems to rule the day.
I also notice the growing popularity of really huge motorized vehicles, most with opaque, dark windows, fronted by a dazzling array of headlights blinding anyone coming in their direction. I this all this as a sign of how frightened we are of one another. “I need a big, big car to feel safe!” It’s a vicious cycle and a costly one. So, yes, “Safety Third.”
Have a good weekend!