Mychal Judge, Chaplain, Priest, Opponent of Hatred
When Robert Judge was a young boy he had his own share of problems. In fact, Robert had enough trouble that many would consider him doomed to a life of desperation and struggle. He had been born into the “Great Depression” of the 1930s and all of the desperate poverty that this entailed for a family of recent Irish immigrants in Brooklyn. When Robert was only six years old he watched his father die slowly and painfully from some dreadful sickness that seemed to steal into their lives by night and rob them of their peace and their hope for a future. In the aftermath of his father’s death Robert began shining shoes to supplement the loss of income. Each day he would go to New York city’s Penn Station to shine the shoes of anybody willing to pay. Robert took occasional small breaks to go and visit the nearby St. Francis of Assisi church. In this church he received an education in the life of Francis of Assisi and in what it meant to be a Franciscan friar. As the day turned to evening, Robert would walk back home to deliver all but twenty-five cents of what he had made that day to his mother. The quarter he kept for himself he put into the hands of the first beggar he came across–Robert knew what it meant to give even when there wasn’t much to give. (more…)
The Gospel According to John Coffey
This week brought the sad news that Michael Clarke Duncan, the Oscar-nominated actor who starred in The Green Mile, passed away at the age of 54. In that movie, he played a man named John Coffey who was convicted and sentenced to death for a horrific crime. Even though Duncan was *only* 6’4″ tall, the clever camera work made him tower over everyone else, including the not-so-short Tom Hanks. John Coffey was daunting from the moment he appeared on screen.
But then he spoke. His voice was deeply quiet. He addressed the guards as “Boss.” He told them his name: “like the drink but not spelled the same.” After he was secured in the cell, he took everyone by surprise by saying, “I’m afraid of the dark.”
Could such gentleness that fears the darkness have committed such a dark crime? That is the question that The Green Mile spends nearly three hours answering. And what we discover is that John Coffey possesses not a propensity to hurt but rather a gift to heal. We meet him as a man with accusations and judgments already attached to him. Then, in the close confinement of a jail cell, we acquaint ourselves with a heart that wants to share light, not darkness. (more…)
Part 2: Life is a Beautiful Struggle
I was a little nervous taking my Girl to the beach a couple of weekends ago. I wasn’t sure how she’d react to, well, to any part of the “beach experience.” The sand, the water, the noise of the ocean, the birds, the seaweed—there were too many variables that might make her pause with trepidation. My husband and I never know what might throw her off. Yesterday, she decided that a small, metal, non-living elephant might soon start stampeding towards her.
However, she walked down the boardwalk, over the dunes, and onto the sand like it was her normal, and personal, backyard. She enjoyed her steps. The birds gathered in a welcoming formation, waiting to greet her. She enthusiastically said hello to them. The waves bid her, “Come in!, and with the donning of her Puddle-Jumper and some encouragement from her grandmother and me (she held a good balance of fear and bravery), she accepted the invitation. The sun did its part by warming the whole scene.
I watched her eyes as the things in her picture books became real to her. Boats floated along with us in the water. Birds flew close to the water and sang for us while they fish. (They seemed to laugh at me when a fish found my toe.) Shells shared there many configurations, remaining beautiful pieces of artwork even when chipped. (more…)
Equality Under the Law
Some of you may remember the Cecil B. DeMille epic, The Ten Commandments. In the film, we often see Pharaoh, in the latter part of the film played by Yul Brynner, making a decree and sealing it with the words, “So let it be written, so let it be done.” As Pharaoh, he is both god and lawgiver. What he wants is the law.
The idea that the sovereign is bound by the law as much as anyone else comes later in history. We read in today’s portion:
When he [the king] is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll by the levitical priests. Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God, to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching as well as these laws. Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of Israel. (Deut. 17:18-20) (more…)
Albert Schweitzer, Theologian, Physician, Humanitarian
Albert Schweitzer spent the first thirty years of his life doing what he wanted to do. The difference between himself and others, however, is that he stated at a young age that this was his plan: thirty years to explore his own desires and, then, he would “do God’s work.” Albert was the son of a Lutheran minister and this indubitably had an effect upon his vision for himself and his future. Albert had an excellent education at his father’s insistence and urging and profited from it for years to come.In Alsace, where Albert was living the sanctuary was shared equally by a Roman Catholic and Lutheran congregation. The two congregations held their services in the same church but at different times and in different areas of the sanctuary. Albert was steeped in this climate of care and ecumenical theology from a young age. The impact of this cannot be overestimated on the eventual theological pursuits of Albert. (more…)
Symphony Before the Storm
Here in Mississippi, now more famously known as The Land Mass Between New Orleans and Mobile, all eyes have been on one eye this week: the eye of a storm. Isaac, the tropical storm formerly known as a hurricane formerly known as a tropical storm, has had more identity crises than The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. Or is his name Prince again?
Over the past few days, Isaac has sped up, slowed down, hit land, hit the gulf, slowed down, hit land, and now it’s floating upward at molasses-pace through Louisiana, Mississippi, and parts of Alabama. Before hitting the United States, it also wreaked havoc in Haiti. We pray for all in its path affected by the winds and floods and for those still in danger’s path. As children of God and theologians, we are called to ask ourselves a question. What have we learned in the literal and figurative storms of life? This is a question that still haunts us seven years after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and twenty years after Hurricane Andrew. (more…)
The Danger of Holiness
A reflection on portion Shemini, because, in the matters of Nadab and Abihu and of Uzzah I thought G-D was being a jerk. Yet if a man would fall to his death BASE jumping, I would not blame G-D.
A toddler may climb up
A chair
Attempt to perch upon it
She may fall
A bruise
A scrape
Some tears
A lesson learned
More care
Perhaps
Will be taken
In future adventures (more…)
Moving from “B” to “b”
Today I ended my internship with St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship. I stood outside, looking into the faces of dear friends who were sitting on log benches that made a semi-circle around an empty fire pit. I read the Mennonite communion litany and spoke words of institution over ciabatta bread and grape juice while a dog begged at the base of the table. I then proceeded to speak “God bless you” over lots of children while offering them ranch crackers and grapes. Ciabatta and ranch crackers are not exactly the typical makings of communion in the Fellowship, but on church retreat, communion supplies can be difficult to separate from the bread at dinner and crackers available for snacking. I felt a little like St. Francis as I offered the leftover communion crumbles to the birds and wildlife of the forest. “May God bless you, too.” (more…)
Harry Potter and the Feckless Seminarian
NOTE: This week the Baptist Seminary of Kentucky is celebrating its tenth year of educating and preparing students for ministry. I enrolled during the winter term of BSK’s first year (2002-2003) and graduated in 2007. In honor of the seminary’s 10th birthday, here is a musing (as published in Elvis, Willie, Jesus & Me) about my BSK experience.
2007. It’s the year J.K. Rowling closed the books on our wonderful journeys into the always magical realm of the Harry Potter stories. It also happens to be the year I closed the books on my wonderful journeys into the sometimes mystical realm of theological education.
It took Ms. Rowling seventeen years and seven books to complete her wizard story. It took me sixteen years and three institutions to complete my seminary story. But the similarities don’t just end there . . . (more…)
Time to Play: The Gospel According to Narnia and Pixar
“Let the little children come to me. Do not stop them. For it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”
~Mark 10:14-15 (New Revised Standard Version)
Outside of my office window is the church’s playground. When students of our Neighborhood Children’s Program are out there, I don’t need any other soundtrack for work. They chatter and call as their feet clunk through gravel. It’s a marvelous symphony that testifies to life. Their carefree abandon to running, leaping, dancing, and shouting remind us of Jesus’ words. We cannot enter into God’s riches and abundance until we embrace such energy. (more…)
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