The Vanishing Pastor

To spell or not to spell, that is the question.

I will be the first to admit that my online use of the English language, both in grammar and spelling, leave a great deal to be desired. Whether chat rooms, email or even posting and responding to blogs, there is a loose quality to the way we communicate electronically. We use short cuts, abbreviations and emoticons to try and breathe some personality and individuality to what we say and how we say it. It is the postmodern vernacular and it helps to define us and our times.

 

All that being said, I am appalled by the simple proofreading errors I find when visiting online news outlets. For example, on Space.com, an article about the beginning of the new solar cycle read, “signal the new cycle’s stars” instead of “start”, and a local news website, when discussing a model aviation club’s fundraising event said, “putting dozens of model plans in the air” rather than “planes”. I see it on other sites too, from the NY Times to national TV news sites, AP, you name it. 

 

There was a time when print news was considered the standard of the language in which it was written, but no longer. There’s a reason grammar is a core course for English, education, journalism and communication degrees. 

 

Most of the problem is mine. I am easily distracted and when these typos pop up they break my flow of thought and it just irritates me to no end. I am sure others aren’t as bothered by this as I. It’s just that it is so easy to correct. Turn off spell check and auto correct in your word processor and actually use your eyes to find your mistakes. It’s not a new idea, I think they call them proofreaders.

 

When I have taught writing in elementary and secondary schools, proofreading is essential to the process. The kids hate taking the time, but when they do, it makes them better writers. But why should they put forth the effort, why even try, when the people in the jobs who should do it the most don’t bother at all.

Aren't you Hungry?

Something I get asked all the time since my gastric bypass surgery is, “Aren’t you hungry?” The trademark answer is, “No, not really.” And it’s true. Sure, I feel empty, but never really hungry. I am finding I CAN eat more than I should, but physically, I realize I don’t have to anymore. Give me some Oreo’s and milk, mix in a stressor or three and I can still woof them down like a pro, but I don’t get hungry.

At least I thought that was the case. But lately, I have been finding myself very hungry. Not for a couple subs from Barbato’s Italian Restaurant or for trying to figure out what to have for 3rds at Thanksgiving dinner. It’s said that hunger is all in the mind, but what to do when it’s the mind that’s hungry? I learned a new term when relearning to eat; “nutrient dense food.” Since I couldn’t eat much, I had to make the most of what I ate. High protein, lot’s of vitamins and minerals keep the water up and stay away from empty calories. I’ve decided I need some nutrient dense food for thought. There’s no shortage of information being bombarded upon us all. But it’s all fluff, spin; empty calories. It’s so bad it’s not filling anymore.

I’m hungry.

So, I’ve picked up an old copy of Walden at the used book shop near Chautauqua. I have some other reading I have been putting off for way too long. Since I can’t go off and build a cabin on the lake at the moment I will have to retreat in my mind. Working in the garden helps. I took the hundreds of mistakes I made last year that I have whittled down to double digits. I even got some asparagus this week and I should have strawberries soon. The raised beds are working so well I might make more over the summer and use them almost exclusively next year.

Until I can visit Firth Lake I will sit at my own fire, watching the stars and imagining them around the fire at camp. I am starting to count the weeks to my journey north. That is when the feast will really start. Nowhere else can the hunger I have be satisfied completely.

It’s quiet for the moment. I have the house to myself. Before the rest of the gang gets home and I put my virtual retreat on hold I think I will take my book to the swing and have something good to eat.

Leonardo, if you only knew. . . . .

 Cardinals calling for Roman Catholics to find ways to sue anyone they can related to the DaVinci Code movie coming out. Please. Martin Luther was right, the church can be too flippin’ uptight. 

 The Cardinal’s argument went along the lines of “other faiths wouldn’t stand for this kind of insult and neither should we!” I get to hear the same rhetoric when I have the privilege of recess duty at the elementary school.

 He seem’s to have forgotten the whole love your enemies/turn the other cheek passages and when straight for the eye for an eye category. 

 For cryin’ out loud, it’s a MOVIE! Fiction, no less. The only major sin I can see Hanks has committed, as pointed out on this last weekends SNL, was doing the movie Terminal. If Jesus is offended by this movie, and that’s a pretty big if, I am more than happy to let him deal with things and I plan on staying out of it. I actually plan on seeing it. It looks pretty good and I like to see how film deals with spiritual issues. The Last Temptation of Christ and Dogma offer a glimpse in the fringe stuff I enjoy.

 If there are those that see this movie as an attack on their faith, then they don’t have much faith in their faith, do they? If you are going to get bloody over an story, then a stroke in is your future.

 I was recently watching the Colbert Report on Comedy Central (as a side note, if you didn’t get a chance to see his performance at the White House Correspondence dinner, it was priceless and the dueling Bush’s was a hoot too) and his guest was Tony Campola. I have always respected him and he says he considers himself a “Red Letter” Christian. I like that. Stick to the basics. Actually look at what Jesus said. I have always believed the message of the gospel must be simple if it can be received by all. Love God with all you got, and love everyone else; simple. I just can see how suing anyone over a movie fits with either of those two criteria.

 As for the “everyone else is doin’ it” side of it, I think what my dad would say, “If everyone jumped off a bridge would you?” Of course we SHOULDN’T sue, we should love. Some send people to their death over a cartoon, Christians watch 5 churches burn and pray for the offenders. We aren’t supposed to be like the world, we are told we will stand out for it. We fight the desire for self and strive to serve others.

 Anyone who is worried that this movie is going to shake the foundations if Christianity, they don’t have a flying buttress to stand on.

 Do you think Jesus and DaVinci are having a good laugh over all this?

Could someone give Mr. Robertson a time-out?!?

And here's to you, Mr. Robertson
Jesus loves THEM more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)
God help you please, Mr. Robertson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)

First, my apologies to Simon and Garfunkle for associating their inspired (it's no Zephaniah 2:4, but it's good) music with the subject of this rant.

 Dear Rev. Robertson,

Maybe you think you are helping. Maybe you think that you are doing and saying the things that God wants you to say. Please stop. Thanks for all your help, but I think we can handle it from here. You are entitled to your opinions, no matter how inappropriate they are, just don’t say them around a microphone, near a reporter, into the phone, or anywhere else someone might accidentally hear you. I tend to be a live and let live kind of person, but you are making my job all the harder and I think it is way past time for someone to speak up.

 To presume to speak for God is something that is best left to God. I am cautious to point this out lest I fall into the same position of passing the judgment of God on someone else, let me just point out where I think God might be coming from on a few of these topics and see which makes more sense.

 Today it dealt with Mr. Sharon, and suggesting that a stroke might have something to do with “dividing God’s land”. In the past it has been “taking out” world leaders and a plethora of “just desserts” comments regarding 9/11, and hurricanes at Disney and

Bourbon   Street

, just to rattle off a few off the top of my head. I always believed with age came wisdom, but you seem to have a very sophomoric grasp of the nature of God. 

 First of all, it’s the

Holy Land

, not because it belongs to God and we have to protect it, but because it was a gift from Him. I would imagine that God is more interested in HOW we live in it than WHO lives in it.  Do you really think God cares more about a strip of dirt than all the people who live there? That brings me to my second point, and that is we are ALL God’s children. We might not have all realized it yet, but God has. We are all his children, and I suppose that is why we act so childishly. But we are expected to grow up, to learn the lessons of life, to experience all the gifts that God has given us, and hopefully, if we so choose, when our faith is mature, to follow in the footsteps of our heavenly father. It’s just too bad so many never choose to grow up. 

 Your comments of the past seem always to deal with judgment. Judgment is real, yes, but it is not the whole message and definitely not the most important part of the story. To live by judgment, especially trying to interpret Divine Judgment is a very childlike mistake. It is the mistake that has the world in the mess it is in today. The argument goes “good things happen to us so god likes us and bad things happen to them because god doesn’t like them.” I don’t think I have heard that said out loud since the playground in 1^st grade. If trouble in your life causes personal reflection and a commitment to live life better, great, but to suggest that God goes about using natural disasters to inflict punishment is stone-age thinking and not worthy of being taken seriously. A father does not treat his children in that manner, at least not our Heavenly one. 

 The message, Mr. Robertson, is grace. It is not about getting what one deserves, it’s about pardon and mercy. If you want to speak of judgment, than so be it, but you must also live by that judgment. Or, would you rather grow up, and realize that life is about grace. That the entire universe is God’s Land, and it is a gift from Him to us. I am not big into all the “What Would Jesus Do?” t-shirts, hats and wristbands, but I am pretty sure, that looking back over the stands you have been taking lately, there isn’t too much that you have said that would ever have come out of his mouth. Jesus said, “Love one another” and your mom used to tell you to “play nice”. Same advice, take whichever one you understand better.

 Well, I started with Paul and Art, I will close with a little Harry Chapin. . . .

 “Now if a man tries, to take his time on Earth, and prove before he dies, what one man’s life could be worth, well I wonder what would happen to this world. . . . .”

Investigative Reporting . . .R.I.P.

It's official, NEWS is dead.  I understand with the 24 hr news cycle that you're gonna have some filler. Human interest stories, opinion and commentary, financial information, etc.  The problem is no one remembers how to be a reporter anymore.  They are too busy writing books, passing off each others mistakes as news, and all around too often becoming a part of the story.  West Viriginia - network anchors and camera persons probably outnumber the towns people 3 to 1.  First, 1 miner found dead.  Then word that the rest are alive, then one but the others unknown, then the rest did not survive.  Hats off to the guy who is the spokesman for the company.  I was also impressed with the Governor and his handling of the situation.  It appears that things were officially pretty tight on both those ends.  So where did this 'unofficial' report come from? Was it a well meaning person from within the command center, or someone nearby that overhead the initial report and went off on their own wanting to be the first to let everyone know? Why, aren't these questions "reporters" should be asking?
Maybe, if they would bother doing some investigative reporting, they might "A", find out that there was no official announcement before they started blabbing that they were all alive, and "B" never use the phrases 'we are hearing' and 'unconfirmed reports'.  The latter being what most of the rest of us call rumors, and the first could be cured by actually finding something out for yourself before you repeat it rather than wating for someone else to feed you something.
Come dawn, we might find out that after chasing all the families down as they headed home to capture the perfect picture of grief, maybe someone might actually do a little investigating to find out WHO is responsible for that first call/message that got to the families saying everyone was alive.  That would be nice.  I am afraid that they will all just be speculating because it's better TV, and that I am afraid would be the last nail in the coffin.