EASTER SERMON: HE IS NOT HERE! ..Matthew 28:1-10.. March 30, 2013

 

When my children were very young we awoke on an Easter morning to find their little gold fish on its side, lifeless. I declared him dead. Being less sensitive in those early adult days I suggested we use the toilet as the means to bury the fish. As soon as I carefully poured the fish  into the toilet he began to swim actively. Well, suddenly the word 'resurrection' had a very real and exciting meaning to the children. That Easter they needed no Sunday School lesson or sermon to inform them of the experience of resurrection. Their fish was back alive. I learned to not be so quick to declare anything as dead. And I may have begun to consider that the actual experience of resurrection is an internal reality, not primarily something on the outside of us.

Resurrection is the great mystery and the great hope that the Christian religion brings to bear upon the question of life's meaning and purpose. Reading the ending of each gospel you will find they tell the story in different ways with varying details. Every gospel 'appearance' story of Jesus is unique. Not one of the gospels tells any appearance story that is also told by the others. This only shows that the story some fifty to hundred years after Jesus' death was told in different ways in different Christian communities. It was not a single set story. It was a story that grew and developed as more people were touched by this remarkable life of love and courage. But they all agree that somehow the presence of Jesus of Nazareth, the one who had loved his friends dearly, the one who had taken a stand against the exploitation of the common people by the political and religious powers in their lives, had not been successfully killed by his physical death. He had been raised by God from such a permanently destructive death. And the same hope that his word and action had inspired among abused, beleaguered and outcast people was even more alive now than before.

The Symbolism Of The 'Empty Tomb' Still Speaks.

It is unfortunate that our modern overly rational and materialistic attitude places a much higher value on Jesus' physical body and person being literally raised from the dead than on his Spirit being alive and living in the hearts of people then and now. To take the story materialistically may cause some to say, “Wow, how did that happen?”, but taking resurrection as a spiritual reality is what can make it trans-formative for our actual lives. Potentially resurrection can change and enliven ones whole view of life and love. Ever since that first message began to spread by his women friends and mother that 'He is not here. He has been raised.', other humans have been inspired to take up his call of love for humanity and his desire that among humankind God's way of responsible justice and courageous love 'be on earth as it is in heaven.' It would be a mistake this morning to attempt to explain perhaps the greatest mystery in human history. Mysteries are not meant to be explained but to serve as inspiration to the human Spirit. Inspiration to live fully, love extravagantly and serve selflessly for the good of all kinds of people. I wish to call attention to two phrases in Matthew's story.

1. He is not here. They came in the darkness expecting to see the dead body of Jesus. The dead body of one whose stand against the abusive dominating forces over people had been crushed and ended by his enemies. They felt discouraged that his death proved again that good does not prevail over evil. But they heard a voice from the Sacred that is heard in all healthy religions , 'Things are not as they seem'. Our Christian faith has nearly been swallowed up by itself today by the thinking that the mysteries of faith are based and stand on proven physical facts. When the world of the Spirit is so viewed the stories of faith become dead stories of the past and have little power to affect our lives in the present. But when the old stories of faith are received as just that, stories of faith and realities of the human heart, then we too, with heart and brain in tact, can trust that 'He is not here. He has been raised.' He lives not as the mortal Jesus of Nazareth , not as one who is limited to time and space. No, he is not here. He is now everywhere. His Spirit lives. He is risen indeed!!

2. It was women who the Matthew story says first experienced his living presence. How amazing that is. It says mounds about how Jesus turned the meaning of male and female upside down. In that culture women were rarely the first or leader of anything. Their word or testimony counted for little. They were second class citizens, no more powerful over the male hierarchy than slaves. But this writer says it was women who first received the understanding that Jesus was alive. His 'kingdom of God' had only been nourished by his murder. His life of love and justice had been vindicated by God. His influence over humankind had only begun, not ended. And the first men who got that new 'good news' were perhaps humbled, for it was from the mouths of women that they received it. Jesus will forever speak the most loud through the underdogs of life, through the otherwise powerless, the terminally ill, through the rejected , through the sinner. Jesus will always be lifting up , resurrecting, the part of humanity that has been pushed down and crushed, whoever that may be in any situation or generation.

3. 'He is going ahead of you to Galilee'. The women are told this by the angel and when they sensed the presence of Jesus he tells them the same thing again,' Tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me'. This is another voice that is the opposite of what is expected. Why do they not get to see him here in Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the city of power, the city of the wealthy, the place of the religious and political elite. Galilee is the area of the common people, the riff-raff; representing the powerless, the oppressed, the outcasts, the downtrodden. Also referred to biblically as the 'Galilee of the Gentiles' (Isaiah 9:1).              
   

   

   Jesus Healing A Blind Person...@ 1650 CE

                           

What does this tell us about where to find the resurrected Jesus ourselves? The story is saying we should generally look for the spirit of Jesus in those who strike us as 'the other' and the unimportant, the non stakeholders. Jesus' concern is found in the lives and the needs, the hopes and dreams of ordinary people of everyday circumstances. We will not relate to the resurrected Spirit of Jesus by identifying with the pride associated with  big names, high powered, high tech religious programs, or places of corporate greed and political power grabbing. Jesus' Spirit will be in  places of power but  to correct the wrongs directed at the most marginalized among us.  Jesus will be heard in the voices of persons seeking to bring what is good , right and needed as the basic needs of human life.... reasonable physical  safety, opportunity to learn and grow, a sustaining share in the natural resources of the earth, an equal level of protection from the destruction by human disease and natural disaster, a human community where all people and all human needs are honored equally no matter one's race, ethnicity, religious heritage or any such difference.

'He is not here. He has gone ahead of you to Galilee.' Jesus still says to us on a new Easter morning, 'Go to Galilee. Only there will you see me.' If we would be ones who trust the central and final word of the Christ story we will carefully try to hear, trust and follow the words of that story. 'He is not here. He is resurrected and always going ahead of you to Galilee'. 

SERMON: REPENT OR PERISH...Luke 13:1-5..March 3, 2013

The word repentance has been greatly reduced from its more profound spiritual meaning. We envision a mean judge with his long finger in our faces saying something like, 'repent , repent you didn't pay the rent.' Some years ago I found a far more meaningful definition to be ' to perceive differently afterward.' Vine's Expository Dictionary Of New Testament Words. Repentance is that profound religious experience of actually coming to a new, fresh and broader meaning of something in ones life experience.

A frequent theme in the gospels for the experience of repentance was 'Jesus healing the blind, the blind coming to see.' There is very good reason to think that the gospel writers themselves were not intending to tell stories of physical blindness being instantly healed. But were using metaphor and religious story to describe the incomparable impact that the love and courage of Jesus had on their recent forbears. Apparently the very association with Jesus resulted in some people having a 'repentance' or receiving a very new and different perspective of life and love. The traditional supernatural interpretation of the actions of Jesus is not the only way in our day to come to believe in him as strongly as any Biblical literalist, but in a transformed way. Seeing 'miracle' in this new way is I think one of my personal experiences of repentance. I truly see it differently than I did even well after I became an adult. To take the gospel blind healings as instant physical cures tends to make light of the fact that all through history the vast majority of blind people have never been cured. Instead many of them have spiritually and courageously transcended their handicap to live tremendously filled and fulfilling lives. I think of America's woman of courage Helen Keller as an example. In such lives is where we can often see the miracle work of God taking place in our own time and in our ordinary real lives, not miraculous physical cures, but moments and times of human transcendence above all kinds of restraints and difficulty.

These stories are surely primarily about the great need that all of us humans have(not just the physically blind), of being healed from our spiritual kinds of blindness, of experiencing repentance. Thus the stories are universally applicable and potentially transforming. Jesus' ministry was about raising people's levels of perception or 'seeing', about increasing their moral consciousness and awareness and thus extending one's compassion in an ever growing outward circle. An increase of moral consciousness  can be a sudden flash of insight following thoughtful  wrestling with a moral problem or after a meditative state of prayer or just a sudden change of attitude for the better and richer meaning of live and love. Such was the case of John Newton, the slave ship captain, which resulted in his words of the hymn 'Amazing Grace.' He suddenly saw the slaves in his ship as full human beings deserving of the same respect and freedom that he enjoyed. He expressed his personal transformation, “ I once was blind but now I see.”

Realizing life is to be an on-going experience of repentance one becomes more enlightened and comes to more clearly 'see' and 'know' several typical areas of awareness: 1. That each and every human being is an object of God's love, a love that does not value any person less than another. 2. That each person has gifts from God to give to others and that each of us has a need to experience ourselves as contributors to the well being of others.

To become aware of such things(and God only knows what others) is an example of how our blindness is healed just as miraculously as if Jesus had healed a physically blind person. Repentance is a present day miracle experience. 3. That none of us ever reach such a level of consciousness that we do not still have serious blind spots. So we are wise to live humbly in our dealings with others...slow to judge or devalue another person. One N.T. Writer says we often 'entertain angels unaware'.

The good news is we can all receive continual renewals and needed increases in our ever growing consciousness. The people around Jesus ,including his disciples, are pictured as seriously blind to much of life and love and the significance of what is happening right in front of them. We also are still such people. This can be a Christian description of the human condition. By God's grace change, repentance, can happen with any of us. We can rightfully expect that higher levels of ethical human consciousness, so desperately needed in our day, are a possible occurrence for us as individuals, churches, communities, the nation and even the whole world.

Dear God. Let your Spirit breath your healing power on us according to our need. May your Spirit be continually healing us of our blind spots and increasing our moral consciousness. We do come asking that personally, collectively and for our nation, May we receive your gift of repentance.

SERMON: AND THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME....February 8, 2013

Please notice three expressions in this story of Abraham  in Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18. ...'and the word of the Lord came to Abraham', 'Do not be afraid' and 'Abraham believed(or more accurately trusted)'. The sermon, following some background, will focus on the first of these.

How do we 21st century Christians make meaningful application of such Sacred stories coming from out of the misty ancient past? Surely that world thousands of years ago was very different from ours and it can be argued that humans ourselves are quite different, especially are we more conscious in many respects than our ancient counterparts. Surely we must be careful in how we use such stories as a way to inform ourselves for living a more spiritually responsible life in our day. These Old Testament stories were passed on orally for hundreds of years before being written down. Yet it is my belief, and that of many, they remain potentially living Sacred stories for our church and even for a large part of our American culture. However they got here, they are here and, for good or bad, have been informing our spiritual and moral lives for centuries. Some are disturbed to realize these stories have at times destructively influenced our culture's moral attitudes as they also at times have been most redeeming. Bible passages have been used to support institutionalized slavery, sexism and discrimination against people of color, mentally ill people, women and gay/lesbian persons for centuries. But there has also been another, and more redeeming, appeal to scripture which has brought about great strides in justice and moral perspective in church and culture. Such appropriate and sound interpretations of the Bible have helped make  remarkable  progress in social justice possible 

 There were no Hebrew Manuscripts Of The O.T. until  1947.

Bible stories surely must be speaking of things that are so deeply a part of what it means to be human that they can be very applicable, even corrective of our present day assumptions about human living. They have in common descriptions of the human being as having his/her feet in two worlds or parts of reality at the same time. One of these we generally refer to as outer reality, the world of mater, of flesh, blood  and physical energy; the world we are able to be directly aware of through our marvelous senses, what we can touch, see, smell, hear and taste. This is surely a fascinating wondrously lush world which through science has opened up technologies and views of the subatomic and galactic worlds which Abraham or even Abraham Lincoln could have never imagined.

The other part of human experience and reality is sometimes called the 'other' world, something real that may be related to the senses but brings something which is definitely more and different. It is our very real inner world that we all can potentially become more aware of. We experience this world in ways that simply 'come to us' as beliefs, feelings, creative intuitions and attitudes. In the past this inner world, so prevalent in Bible stories, has come to humans by the nightly dream and daytime visions. Today it may also be experienced in one's indescribable love for a child, friend or lover or even a work or project. It includes the real world of psychological energies and in religious language .....the spiritual.

The Negative  Irrationals Of The Spirit World Invoke Themselves

Individuals and cultures throughout history are always in some balance, or lack of it, of experiencing these two worlds of reality. Only by these being in practiced balance are humans able to arrive at the most healthy and ethical states of mind. In ancient times, before our age of more objective scientific learning, the balance was far more toward the spiritual and irrational; often so much so, that without a strong awareness of physical realities, cultures and religions were victims to superstitions, many of which were harmful and misleading. Today's world-wide violent dispositions, including America's home grown high tech massacres like Sandy Hook, are a spiritual irrational yet deadly reality. Such happenings indicate serious cultural imbalances of spiritual-material, inner-outer realities. But on the other hand a consciousness of spiritual inner forces, balanced with strong material awareness, has guided persons and cultures to devote lives to serving , healing, freeing, and elevating the quality of human life and of the planet itself. Much more of such personal and collective consciousness is now needed in our world, to respond to our biggest challenges.

In our day, especially over the past 400 years, Western culture has shifted far to the side of the materialistic-outer reality where we highly value reason, control, competition and amassing various materialistic and self-serving trophies. So much so we easily lose a living touch with the world of the spirit, of the dream, of a living image of the world as something far more than can be grasped with our senses and our pure reason.

Challenges Of High Tech, Subatomic And Galactic Knowledge

Sacred stories are timeless in that they show us the human in touch with and honoring both the material and the spiritual world. They often amazingly well depict the balance of the two human realities. So this story of Abraham can likely point us to a more balanced life, one that is more in harmony with our deepest human nature. Notice briefly one of the ways we are informed here of what it means to be more spiritually/materially balanced persons and communities.

It says simply that the 'Word of the Lord came' to Abraham. This is implying that it is natural for the voice of the Sacred or God to simply come to a human being. That beyond our senses our hearts and minds can be touched by a prompting from God. This clearly suggests that the 'Word of God' is not only or primarily something that is written and read and held in our hands, which is how our materialistic religion thinks of 'word of God.' We can instead see it is true to human nature that at times- by intuition, by hunch, by a flash of awareness or a nightly dream that we are informed by God. I realize that to say God's voice comes in such direct ways sounds dangerous for we might also be mislead into superstition or even into unethical behavior. But with such a materialistic and limited definition of Word of God we most assuredly will get lost. It requires our trust in Spirit and full use of our reasoning skills to correctly relate to and discern the much needed  'messages' of the Spirit.

Abraham's And Our Experience  Necessarily That Different?

Our Sacred stories clearly admonish us to be keenly aware that sometimes the most needed answers to individual and collective life problems can only come to us in just this way... by the Word of the Lord directly coming. So here Abraham is depicted as a human with a healthy balance between the material world and the world of the Spirit. Surely you and I can be informed by this story to aspire to a more well balanced mind in our day. I hear this teaching in the  United Church of Christ saying that 'God Is Still Speaking' , speaking to us beyond any of our more respected reasoned and rationally approved ways.

You are likely expressing an awareness of the world of the spirit when you say, " I was in a very difficult situation and I  suddenly became  aware of what was the right and necessary thing to do. Or, I had exhausted every resource of how to handle my problem and out of the blue the right direction came to me. Or, physical things came together in such a timely, meaningful and unique way that I deeply felt it was not merely coincidence." We no doubt have all had such spirit based experiences. It is healthy for us to consider them as just that and to not reason them away.  Of such moments we can truthfully say, 'The Word of the Lord came to me." We are freed by this story to live more expectantly of such a balance between the world of the Spirit and our outer material world.

Also, Abraham is encouraged in the story to 'not be afraid.' The greatest resources for a human to not be overly influenced or overwhelmed by fear is not the only the voice of logic and reason but a spiritual voice. The same kind of voice when a parent intuitively knows it is right to tell a child when physical danger is all around, "You will be O.K." Sometimes what is most deeply and spiritually true is not logical or capable of being 'seen' or understood by our human reasoning capacities.

In similar fashion Abraham, as the human he must have surely been, was given permission from the highest authority that he could 'believe or trust' life and its direction for him. To believe for Abraham was not to give reasoned consent to the statements of any creed or a list of things he should accept even against his best rational thought process about the material world. To believe was to be assured from a spiritual reality that he would be most human by allowing himself to trust the direction of life and to cooperate with it, not fight against it.

Yes, just like Abraham, you and I, though much further down the road of human evolutionary history, can still open ourselves to receiving directly a " word of the Lord.' We too are given in this story permission to trust that we can live not fearing, beyond a healthy and creative level, but living effectively this wondrous experience of life, a life that is one of balance between our amazing outer world and the even more mysterious yet real inner world of the Spirit.

GUN CONVERSATION..January 15, 2013

This is a Facebook conversation I had with several responsible gun owners regarding how the nation might best respond to the epidemic of neighborhood massacres where high power semi-automatic weapons are always the weapon of choice.

Columbine Massacre

Semi Automatic War Weapon

Jim Hibbett: Why would anyone rush to the conclusion that these words(Obama's  general statement about suggestions  forthcoming for reducing the likelihood of more citizen massacres. He also said their may be some actions he could initiate by executive order.) indicate that the second amendment is being threatened? It may mean that all gun purchases will be required to have registration and background checks and possibly some type of weapons of war be made illegal(as they used to be). There is so much unreasonable fear around this issue. What is truly making persons afraid now in the land? Ask yourself if it is a legitimate fear, like 'Is someone's family gong to be mass murdered at school or the movies?" or a fear that is very low on the bar of actual reality? There is no way to eliminate all fear in life but there are reasonable ways to reduce true and real threats to our citizens. The later is all this debate is about, not taking away anyone's reasonable guns so you will be suddenly attacked by criminals or the government. REASON not EMOTION needs to be securely in place for this important conversation. Let's take a big breath and pay attention to what is true and real.

Steve Waller The past four years have demonstrated that there is radicalism to the inth degree in office. And, little regard for patience in going through the system of government, but to jump quickly to fulfill a personal ideology.

Jim Hibbett Steve. That kind of statement might be considered by some as a 'jump quickly' unsubstantiated statement based on what feels and not so much what the record shows. We all need to resist letting our tendencies to free deeply running emotions to cloud our capacity to describe what is actually there. Emotion is not a bad thing itself, it is our source of passion, but it becomes a real enemy of reality when it runs the show and takes precedence over careful thought and reason. Saying something is to the' nth degree' is nearly always an exaggeration, not based on any factual foundation. This president's record is quite centrist on most all issues, even compared with previous republican presidents.

Micki Didas Sorrentino

The second amendment gives us the right to bear arms and now ...that right is infringed upon when it is altered as to what the government says we can bear... criminals WILL posess guns ILLEGALLY... it is the criminal where strict law needs to happen... there is "talk" as to the government having our military going door to door... WAKE UP AMERICA! Conformity to a society that is ruled by the government is and has been occuring. Take a stand... The ATTITUDE to trust and allow certain guns for us to surrender is an infringement on our rights and freedom.

Jim Hibbett Be careful of such 'talk.' That is usually exactly what it is. Talk really is cheap and usually not fact based.  That is the kind of thing that stirs unreal fear and takes away ones reasonable peace of mind. Obviously there has always been and must always be limits on any right including what kind of 'arms' are reasonable and that do not not become a serious threat to other innocent citizens. If we can't discuss such things without an 'all or nothing' mind set then we can't even have a functioning government. Surely that is not what anyone wants. There are limits and boundaries to all things and in a democracy the "People' through lawful processes sit down and make decisions in the public's interest. There is always and must be a trade off or balance between individual rights and public well being. No one is an 'island unto himself.' This is nothing new. But some , however unintentionally, are letting unrealistic fears stop such a democratic process from happening. This is occurring around several issues facing us as a country. This sets our country back, keeps us from adapting to new realities and facing new challenges. We get into a rut that makes good governing impossible.

Micki Didas Sorrentino As "The People" it is time for individuals to stand up and stop from such changes to occur. It is in these "trade off" as you so put it. That the only thing being traded off is our freedoms. It is this complacient attitude in trusting the government to handle it. It will do just that and take away our rights that our founding fathers fought for.... As I originally so put. It is simple. The second ammendent needs to be upheld. You have to stand for something....or as people fall for everything!!

Mike Nale Jim if you check the laws we have back ground checks in place already you can check this! The mentally unstable idiot that murdered those poor children tried to illegally buy a gun 2 days before he murdered those helpless kids his mom knew he was mentally unstable taught him to use weapons and gave him illegally access to her weapons her careless behavior cost her life and a lot of innocent children president Obamma's head law enforcement pick also gave illegally weapons to Mexican drug cartel members and got many people killed and 2 dea American agents , also giving weapons to Islamic extremest fighting in Syria if you do not want to carry your choice it is my choice and any other law abiding citizen to keep and bare arms guaranteed by the constitutional of this great nation I shed blood 3times in war for this right and to protect this right for other Americans have you ever served your country ?

Jim Hibbett Well Micki. It likely is not as simple as you wish and the only way healthy government has ever worked, including with the founding fathers, is that all stake holders(gun owners are a steak holder but not the only ones, that is all I am saying) have a voice that WILL BE HEARD . That is what people have died to protect, not that one voice alone be heard with no other discussion allowed. No right or amendment is above the open and honest scrutiny of the people. No one can ever get all they want, not if you wish to have a real democracy and true freedom. There is the individual and there is the community and both have to be honored and protected. Yes , if there is no trade off then you have either tyranny(which you fear) or chaos and every person for himself(which you also should fear.) Balance is always the only reasonable goal for a democratic society. It is uncomfortable to say the least to be a citizen during times of great social change but we should be thankful that we have a voice for how changes unfold in the democracy, but no one gets to call all the shots. It is that simple. That is where we always have to start if we love freedom and democracy. There is no other right place to seek solutions to different opinions.

Jim Hibbett Is it possible to stick with the topic presented? To go everywhere is another way , however unintended, to keep the conversation from going anywhere. This is the kind of thing that the national conversation must move beyond and that we hopefully can agree we want to move beyond. Otherwise as a nation we have no capacity to make genuine decisions and policies in the best interests of all.

Micki Didas Sorrentino I clearly have expressed how I feel on this issue.I will not go back and forth. Yes,it is that simple. The People need to stand as a whole and not let the second ammendement be infringed upon. That is how tyranny starts...freedoms being taken away....

Mike Nale Without the 2nd right amendment in place we would also lose freedom of speech the right to gather and all our other rights a man who has the right to bear arms is a citizen a man who does not is a subject !

Jim Hibbett We have regulated the use of automobiles all along and continue to require higher standards of safety and we attempt to keep drunk drivers off the road. Nothing is perfect but we genuinely try and do make progress in safety. Few are on the sidelines demanding that it always be left as it is and no new regulations and requirements be formed. Some are wanting the gun issue to never be thoughtfully  studied and appropriate regulations formed with the expectations they be seriously enforced. There is this powerful voice in the room that uses its power to squash any genuine oversight.  A power that funds many of our politicians and requires them to not  have any serious discussion about  gun safety. This power  protects the status quo no matter what new crises the country finds itself facing. That is what needs to be seen and changed. NO one gets to call all the shots.

Jim Hibbett Actually armed citizens lowers our freedom to assemble and speak out for all know that someone with a gun may not like what is being said and feel threatened by free speech. Thus free speech is hampered and damped down by the unspoken threat of violence.

Jim Hibbett Micki. As I attempted to explain for anyone to say their way or the highway, no discussion allowed or I will leave the table, is not patriotic or American. It is highly self centered and assumes ones personal individual wisdom is always greater than any other voices. when did this idea of democracy take such strong roots? It seems this particular issue really brings it into the open.." I don't care what anyone thinks or a what anyone's concerns are, my way or nothing.... or I will leave the conversation.' If that is not what you are saying please correct  me. I'm seeing this democracy destroying attitude in too many voices. Not a good sign for any of us as a nation. I'm confident if we keep talking to each other some of that attitude will dissipate . I surely hope so.

Mike Nale I have freedom of speech also I all fought to guarantee that right for ever American !

Randy McJunkins @Jim... If you are saying that my ability to protect my family should be negotiated by someone other than me you are wrong. The second amendment was not written to guarantee America that they will have the guns needed to hunt game. Hunting was an ever day thing back then. It was written to give us the ability to protect us and our family from people wishing to do us harm, with a strong emphasis on the Government. Owning a weapon of choice is not so we can cause harm to the general public, it is a strong deterrent to keep the criminal element at bay. Look back through history, other countries would not attack us because they knew “there would be a weapon behind ever blade of grass”. Now if you limit America to let us say, you can only own shotguns for hunting. Do you really think that anyone, whether it is another country or our own government, is going to be worried that you brought a shotgun to a machine gun fight??? You buy home owners insurance to protect your house, although it is highly unlikely you will ever need it for its core purpose. History has shown that people in the past has really need this insurance and the ones that had it were extremely happy they did and the ones that did not have it wish they did. I buy guns as insurance to protect me and my family. Although I it is highly unlikely I will ever need them. History has shown were people in the past has really need them but their Government had taken them and said “we will protect you”. Where are they now? How many glowing examples do you need before you understand it can happen to anyone at anytime. It has been shown that all but one of the mass shootings in the recent past has happened in “GUN SAFE ZONE”. There have been MANY ones that happen in other places that good people stood up and defended themselves and others with guns of their choice. If you truly think your Government could never take you rights away from you totally then you really need to pull your head out of the mud. Read your history at all the examples from the past. The second amendment is non-negotiable. It does not say the right to bear arms that is approved by the Government. It was written for us to be able to protect ourselves from ALL enemies foreign or domestic. And if my enemy is carrying an AK-47 I sure don’t want to be holding a shotgun.

Jim Hibbett Have you tried to find a bazooka and maybe a can of nerve gas or bombs to add to your arms to protect yourself Randy? This debate is not about you having reasonable guns to protect your family. It is about doing what we can to lessen the chances of the wrong persons having easy access to true weapons of war and slaying our innocent children and adults.(please keep those very real images in mind when discussing this topic. that is all its about.) The fear we all have of that is EXTREMELY real and even certain to happen. (because we have negligently let our land be proliferated by weapons of war.) The fears you have mentioned though possible are nearly infinitesimal compared to our very real Public fear of these repeating massacres. There are numerous things we can do without taking away anyone's right to bear arms to decrease the likelihood of them continuing and growing. All rights have limits and ALL Americans have a voice interpreting and deciding those limits, not just a few who very strong feelings about it one way or the other. Just as no one would suggest that bazookas, nerve gas and bombs be on legal market at gun shows, many of your fellow Americans(not the government) believe some other weapons of war be considered as ones to add again to that list. Responsible gun regulation is only one arm of a serious effort to reduce the chances of mass killings or our own people. Your opinion runs the risk of appearing that your interests lean very much toward self interest rather than also public interest. You don't want that to happen I'm sure. This debate has been postponed for at least two decades for irrational reasons. We are finally getting around to sitting down to have an honest talk. That is always good whether in a family a town or a nation.

Randy McJunkins OK Jim what do you call reasonable? And do you really think taking my ar-15 away from me is going to stop mass killings? If a person wants to do harm to people he is going to do it. In China, I think on the same day as Sandy Hook, there was a person that killed a mass with a machete. You people don’t seem to understand taking ones guns will do nothing but hinder good people from protecting themselves or others from these people. Think if you can if there was an armed officer in any of the mass killings. First off the person probably would have never attempted the crime, but if he did attempt it the outcome would have been totally different. Let’s say hypothetically someone who has made their mind up that they are going to break into someone’s house and harm them. Now they have two houses to chose from, yours where they know you have no guns or real way of protecting yourself. Or mine. Which do you think they will chose? There are other ways of stopping these horrible crimes than taking someone’s rights away from them. Oh and if it required me to have a bazooka or tear gas to stop this guy from breaking into my house and doing harm to my family, I sure would be glad I had it. And pardon some of the wording, I really hate auto correct.

Jim Hibbett Anyone ever feel surrounded? I've spoken my peace for this post as well as several of you have. I will add I have heard no one , on this post, express any serious concern about the only reason I'm talking..... innocent American people, many no doubt gun owners, being massacred by high powered weapons of war. I just have not heard that as what is topmost on anyone's mind. Take a look at all the comments above and you will not see this as the problem being lamented. I've heard the concerns you have expressed. What I have heard is, in my own paraphrase , ' My personal world is going to be greatly jeopardized and my quality of life seriously harmed if weapons are war should become illegal." I just do not see that threat to you as realistic. I do not think that is true in any serious way. If I did I would be quick to support you in your being mistreated or harmed. Respectfully.

Dave Long The Second Amendment discussed so thoroughly here is part of the "Bill of Rights"! The Bill of Rights is the very foundation of our Republic! Please note that it is not #5 or #9 it is #2 because of it's importance! You are right Randy, the second amendment was created to afford us the means to protect ourselves from our own government not for hunting. Jim, you use the term "reasonable" to describe weapons you believe we should be allowed to keep. Who decides reasonable? The same President and Senate that haven't passed a budget in over 1000 days? The same administration that has spent more in four years than the three previous administrations combined, and tripled our national deficit in that four years? Are second amendment supporters selfish or self-centered because they do place their own families' security ahead of the general population? If it comes down to you or the other guy, who will you put first? Yes, the welfare no scratch that, welfare has become an ugly word, the well-being of the general population is important and certainly it is something we should all be in favor of, but secure and protect your own life and family first. Fully automatic weapons, which are illegal to own have been stolen from National Guard armories and police stations. Did the restrictions stop some criminal or nutcase from stealing them ..NO! Promoting self-reliance, patriotism, decency, parental responsibility, and Judeo-Christian beliefs will do much more good toward protecting the general population than any amount of regulation will. Pandering to the many individual, minority groups and minority religions while restricting the open practise of Christianity in our schools, public gatherings, and government institutions has eroded the morality and therefore the safety of our nation and it's citizens!

Dave Long Jim, I don't know of anyone who was unaffected by the masacre of those innocent children in Connecticut or the theater patrons in Colorado. Those acts are beyond normal comprehension. What we are saying is that no new regulations or restrictions will make anyone safer. Criminals and crazies will always find a weapon of some kind to use in their eveil acts. It makes no sense to restrict law abiding citizens in any way. The people who will obey new laws are not the people who commit these atrocities.

Randy McJunkins Jim I do agree with back ground checks for all people. And people with a history of mental illness, assault or felony charges should not have access to any kind of fire arm. And you are wrong to say I am not concerned about the problem at hand. Someone could walk into my son’s school tomorrow and do the same thing. Will I blame the gun he used? No. I will blame the person who used it and then blame the state for removing the SRO from the school system. And you are also wrong about my personal world statement. Yes my family comes first but if I am in a movie theater and someone comes in and starts shooting I am going to do my best to stop that person from hurting anyone, Not just my family. If I am able I will protect any person no matter the color, creed or religion or if they believe in gun rights. I WILL NOT be in a situation where all I can do is watch my family die, or any other person, and not be able to do anything. That is thinking about other people and not just my world. There are good people out there and put in the right spot will react to the situation and stop these crazy people. But they cannot do it if you tie their hands.

Micki Didas Sorrentino I am a woman of few words. Randy and Dave you have worded everything so well. And Peggy...you're great!

John David Putnam I am very glad that there are restrictions on some of the types of weaponry that average citizens are allowed to possess. I favor some of the suggested improvements in background checks, reasonable restrictions and tracking of private sales…..but only with the intention of helping stop the criminal and mentally ill from easy access. I also favor the tough enforcement of the laws that are on the books now. I believe it is possible to stop “straw buyers” from purchasing and then reselling to criminals if the current laws were actually enforced.
Jim is to be commended for defending his beliefs. I appreciate his thoughts, especially when they challenge mine. Yes, he is outnumbered here but that in and of itself does not mean he is wrong. I feel the discussion is slipping a bit into areas that are not entirely helpful so let’s let it be for now…OK?
Thank you all. Really!

1. Jim Hibbett Randy and other contributors. I have no doubts about your sincerity and willingness to be of service to others. I apologize for sounding otherwise in the heat of discussion. I am truly listening to you and learning. I am also emphasizing I think some of the fears strong responsible gun owners describe and focus on in these conversations, and the national one, are not nearly as likely, statistically speaking, or certain as mass killings are to happen in most places the present national situation. And so I appeal to such gun owners that they consider these less-likely to happen personal concerns be placed at a lower priority so we together can face this massacre epidemic effectively. I appeal to responsible gun owners that your families are far more at risk of being maimed and killcd in a massacre using high power semi automatic weapons(however obtained) than by someone breaking into your home with an intent to kill or mugging you with lethal force on the street. Best wishes to you all. Thanks for expressing yourselves. Signing Off. Jim:)
   

Micki Didas Sorrentino Jim...everyone is entitled to their own opinion..and discussion about what we feel and think...one of the great things about America!!! Have a great day everyone!!!!

LES MISERABLES...A SPIRITUAL VIEW OF LIFE...January 11, 2013

I went to see it today. While fresh on my mind I will post my strong and encouraged reaction. If you have not seen it I am not trying to give it away but obviously you will know more than if you read no reviews. ... It makes a strong moral emotional impact. I missed many words in the songs but think I caught the story pretty well. Such movies leave me convinced they are, even if  unintended,  attempts to make the basic Christ story far more relevant and applicable today than typical 'evangelical' and much orthodox interpretations are doing.  If only people could seriously consider that such public collective art and story can truly be a most needed 'word of God' in our culture. Some movies are quite worthless but some could have strong redeeming and  spiritually guiding effects on our time of spiritual wondering as a nation and world.  I rank this movie as one in this category. All the themes are here... the perils of human love, grace, law,evil, good, mercy,  forgiveness of others and self forgiveness.  Very absent, and I am grateful, are any typical orthodox  images of the idea of sacrificial and blood  atonement... where someone has  to sacrifice in order to appease God's  wrathful sense of justice. Yes sacrifice is very needed and appropriate as love's response to life  and to create justice(in the human community... not of God's holiness demanding anyone's moral perfection.) I was moved deeply. I think both main  male characters were too much impressed with the final authority  of any  legal or moral law. One of them , because of devotion to formal civil and religious law, was never able to extend mercy or receive it for  himself. In the end he turned such devotion to law even against himself(This certainly showed his sincere conviction but also how spiritually  misguided  he was all along.) This character  had acts of mercy and unconditioned love  extended to him but he was never able to make it  become fully  conscious that this is  the actual and true nature of God. He seemed rather to see it as  just some weak man who  ignorantly gave it to him to their own destruction. So he is shown as never learning  the most central lessons of spirituality.

The other was taught by the injustices of life to hate and mistrust life and others but then, due to a direct uninvited experience of grace from an official of religion, he had a transformation. He then was able naturally, not by self determination, to act with grace and love toward others along his convoluted  path. So he experienced both receiving and giving love and grace throughout  his life. But his learning was still not complete for he felt that  law breaking and failed character in his early years were a part of his life story that  he should shield his adopted and dearly loved daughter from. He made arrangements for her to never know of his actual  shadow. This showed, I think,  that he did not yet realize that his moral failures were just as much necessary and as important part of the story of his spiritual  life development  as those actions of love and grace that he selflessly  performed. 

My heart sunk when it seemed that the daughter was not going to be given the full 'truth' of her step father's  spiritual journey. In the end she did find him and was able to learn the full truth from him. This gave her a chance to learn of how  grace and love had transformed her Dad's life and it gave her father his last lesson... which is that anyone who loved him was delighted  to forgive him and  to thereby even more appreciate the good qualities of his life. And certainly  the greatest lesson of all  is that he was invited to forgive and fully receive himself , as he had done for others, including the lost and shadow side of his early life. These are to me the central elements needing stressed in the Christ story in our day. Personally I do not think such movies  catch the eye of the nation simply by chance. We can learn much from them. Good to remember this novel was written in 1830, quite ahead of its time as a  real life parallel to a spiritual  interpretation of the gospels'  story of  Jesus.

EVOLUTION, THE IMPORTANCE OF....January 7, 2013

 It has just struck me why a basic belief in the continuing 'evolution of life' on the planet is so very important in our times. When one believes that the nature of life is to be always unfolding into a future that is always becoming something different s/he is motivated, open-minded  and enlivened by the very important question, 'what is next?'

Such a mind set frees one from those aspects of any ideology or religion that obsessively clings to the past and how ones forebears have experienced and interpreted the world. It also motivates one to want to cooperate with the unfolding of an improved quality of life on the planet, to be on the 'right side of history', whatever that is going to be. And it is surely to be something different than it is presently.


To believe that such change is not the nature of life leads one to dig in their heels to keep the same beliefs and attitudes in tact, to be defensive against change rather than trusting and trying to cooperate with that which is very likely destined. The 'static view' of life  leads one to be committed to the past as being the 'good old days.'

Fossils Around The World- A Primary Way Of Learning About  Evolution

Such changes in our day likely include social ones like the unfolding equality of all races and sexual orientations,the definition of family, cooperation with factors that have made of us all a global community and the growing sense that our most trusted institutions(i.e. government, religion, and education) are in need of pronounced changes and reformation- not to the past but for the future.

Belief in evolution pushes us to imagine what these changes should be and look like and to give our energy to such creativity. Such change always involves times of sadly relinquishing once important and cherished beliefs as structures of the past. Whether one places all such systems into a framework of essential, and somewhat anxious, change or considering them as being eternal structures needing preserved at all costs by human effort makes a very distinctive difference in how we live life and especially how we solve problems.

I don't think this difference is primarily one of political parties. Evolutionary thinking may actually be a way around our extreme political polarization for it is something that is not necessarily incongruous with parts of  various political and some religious perspectives.

Probably the major force that keeps our country's majority from not trusting in an evolutionary perspective is a variety of religious belief which interprets 'God is the same yesterday , today and forever' as being a God who is static and not at the center of evolutionary change in the universe.  That is a tragic misapplication of that beautiful  statement. In a sense there is 'nothing new under the sun' but we already know there are fathomless ways the fundamental functions of nature can rearrage to always be bringing a 'new creation.'  As one who believes in such evolution and is also a Christian, I think a 'static view' of life and of the ultimate God is tragic and especially dangerous in our present time, one of tumultuous and necessary change.

In the past my religious opinion had led me to be strongly opposed to any serious belief in a general theory of biological, social and theological evolution. But I'm convinced there is no real threat to one's developing belief in God and the hopeful point of view for humanity  that Evolution generates.  In my strong 'vision' like experiences of mid- August of 1985  one of the highlighted initial themes presented in symbolic language was Evolution. Included in the symbols, which  in the context given was at once shocking and humorous, as the answer to my question regarding  the nature of our human origins was the head of a baby gorilla coming out of its mother's birth canal. This spoke very authoritatively instructing me to give much closer attention to the, origin, foundations and progression of evolutionary thought and to its very important,even essential, contribution to human knowledge and survival. Jim Hibbett

THOUGHTS AFTER NEWTOWN, CT MASSACRE.... December 17, 2012

Newtown Woman Comforts Child Who Lost Friends.

If nothing far worse our plague of semi automatic gun massacres shows us that America faces a crucial conflict in how we have always interpreted the essential Freedoms of assembly and personal expression with what a newer interpretation and meaning of 'freedom to bear arms' means in today's culture. They are now showing how they can totally oppose each other. We must find a way to honor both without destroying either. The increasingly individualized movement to bear assault style arms, a central encouragement in some publications of the National Rifle Association, can easily cause the former two freedoms to loose their essential power for a truly safe and democratic community. A seed has been sown, greatly by parts of the  philosophy of the NRA, and now is growing in America which says the more individuals are armed with lethal power the more free we are as a people. Nothing could be philosophically, psychologically or spiritually further from truth.

Not A Policeman But Next Door Neighbor

Openly armed civilians on the town square , or in a living room of acquaintances(even when it is NOT the conscious intention of the gun carrier), has a very direct intention....to use unspoken, unearned intimidating power to 'make us behave.' That means that free speech which ,at crucial moments in a free society, necessitates a person saying that which is very upsetting and offensive to the majority, must find more than normal courage to speak up. Where the public is openly armed everyone, as the president of the NRA has said, 'has to be polite', the implied threat being , 'or else.' This is not the atmosphere of a truly civil society.

The knowledge that I carry a loaded lethal gun in my pocket is a message to everyone else, ' you had better watch very closely all you say and do or I might determine that you are a threat to me.' In other words, 'don't upset me. I may go crazy.' This is classic passive aggressiveness, a way to control others by quiet intimidation. We must find the courage to stand against it in spite of the real fears of more massacres. Such an atmosphere inhibits any kind of free and open conversation. Is this living in freedom? It is the opposite! An armed public inhibits, reduces and quells (even when that is NOT the intention the person carrying)the likelihood, by imposing the inaudible fear and threat of armed individuals, the freedoms of assembly and expression from our living rooms to our town halls.

The  New Cool Guy In Our Culture?

 An ever more openly armed public, which is what the NRA unabashedly has wished America into becoming, does not promote an openly free democracy but an ever more intimidated and cowering citizenry. The world changing human movements which increase human freedom and safe living  must come from an assembled unarmed public, not from an individualized gun carrying one.