An Important Discussion in Europe

Albert Cuyp Market in Amsterdam - the meeting of cultures.

The New York Times published an article this week entitled, "Amid Rise of Multiculturalism, Dutch Confront Their Questions of Identity." Click HERE to read the article on the Times website.
       This is an extremely important conversation for the Church to be in, and one which demands prayer and our engagement. I feel a great sense of urgency about this and hope many others do as well.

New Family Photo

For all of you who have photos of us on your refrigerator from a bunch of years ago, here's the most recent shot of our family (taken today at my nephew Dan's wedding in Richmond, VA).

Famine and Downgrading Credit Scores

Somali child suffering from chronic malnutrition last week.

The year was 1986, the place was Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was the first time I encountered another human being starving to death.
      His name was Sukamar, a 3-year-old Bengali who I met in a children's hospital when I was visiting Bangladesh as a journalist for a relief agency.
       I got to know this little boy and his mother over a week's time. I thought he was slowly improving. He was gaining weight, his vacant eyes had begun to fill with hope. Then I walked into the hospital on a Saturday morning to visit him only to learn he had died over night.
       And my idealism about the world was shattered.
       Today I read again about famine in Somalia - the UN says that hundreds of thousands of children could die in the Horn of Africa. It reminded me of the tragedy of Sukamar from 25 years ago.
       I have also been reading and listening about the U.S.'s credit rating being downgraded from AAA to AA+. Quite the juxtaposition with the situation in Somalia! I find myself gasping at how ludicrous is the debate among politicians and policy makers about a credit rating while famine ravages a part of the world. I simply cannot fathom the painful irony of it all.

Bonhoeffer on "Worldliness"

"I discovered later, and I'm still discovering right up to this moment, that is it only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life's duties, problems, successes and failures. In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world. That, I think, is faith." 

— Dietrich Bonhoeffer

My Dad's Old Stomping Grounds

I love this picture that I snapped of Steven and my dad on a street in Manhattan this weekend. We went into the city to have lunch with my extended family and my dad, Steven, my cousin Artie, and I went for a walk. We were standing in front of a French restaurant on 3rd Avenue and 80th Street.
       I cannot remember when I was in New York City with my dad. It must be 20 or more years. These are his old stomping grounds from the 1930s and 1940s! It was such a great experience to have my 17-year-old son strolling down 3rd Avenue with his 85-year-old grandfather.
       The car behind them in the picture had just been parallel parked by a Russian woman and she left the front wheels turned out. Dad reminded Steven and me that leaving the wheels turned after you park messes up the front end alignment! I love that my dad tells us those things. It's priceless.

An Acquaintance's Last Poem

Someone I know as an acquaintance died suddenly a few days ago. I was supposed to meet with him the day before he was heading on a fishing trip to Wyoming or Montana. But I had to postpone due to a scheduling conflict. We will meet again - but not on this side of eternity.
       A friend sent me the last poem that this person wrote before he suffered a brain aneurysm. Wonderful, compelling words from a life lived well:

wind sings through the pine as

bird song echoes across the field

together a halleluia chorus of

praise for the Father/Son of Creation

there is another song deep within

the heart of everyman, appearing

at first as a humming low

without definition almost silent

Yet it beckons with rhythm and

harmony that draws him to

the source of all song -- the

beat and rhythm of the soul

Much of life is accompanied by

this quiet time keeping us in

places and pace for living but

then comes a time

that this quiet song beats louder

bolder noisier unrelenting

demanding to be heard and embraced

let out, marched to and lived

It is the halleluia chorus of

living in freedom, beauty,

peace and harmony in praise

for the Father/Son Creator

Onto The Big Apple

I drove from York, Pennsylvania to New Jersey yesterday and picked up Steven at the airport last night. He and I are spending the weekend in New York City with a packed schedule:
   * College visits at New York University and Columbia today;
   * Seeing various family members over the weekend - parents, brother and sister-in-law, nephew;
   * Time with good friends Joe and Betsy we are staying with in NJ;
   * Visiting a church on Sunday and going to a concert at Brooklyn Tabernacle Sunday afternoon.
     So it will be a packed time. I am looking forward to being with Steven for these days and exploring options for him to be here for college. It would be a hoot for me if he landed here (although I do know that my child's choice of college is NOT about me!! :o)
     I absolutely love New York City - the immediacy of it, the intensity, the culture, and of course the knishes you buy from street vendors!
     I'll post some photos of our time in the Big Apple. Stay tuned.

Stott's "The Cross of Christ"

Some quotes from John Stott's book, The Cross of Christ.
"I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross.  The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as “God on the cross.”  In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?
       "I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world.  But each time after a while I have had to turn away.
       "And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness.  That is the God for me!  He laid aside his immunity to pain.  He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death.  He suffered for us.  Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his.  There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering.
       "The cross of Christ . . . is God’s only self-justification in such a world” as ours. . . . “The other gods were strong; but thou wast weak; they rode, but thou didst stumble to a throne; But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak, And not a god has wounds, but thou alone.”

Here's to Gabrille Giffords

In an otherwise low point in American politics, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to the floor of the House of Representatives to vote on the debt ceiling bill. While many of us have been thoroughly disgusted with the childishness of the Congress these past days, Rep. Giffords brought a dose of integrity and dignity to the political realm. For this I am grateful.

The Smallest County in the East

Piseco Lake Post office: Zip code 12139

       The least populated county in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River is Hamilton County in New York State. Population: less than 5,000 residents.

       One of the towns in Hamilton County is Piseco Lake, which has 210 residential addresses. Piseco has its own post office though (see photo for proof), Casey's Corner market which also has a gas pump. There used to be a restaurant where you could get breakfast but it closed down a few years ago.

       I spent much of last weekend in Piseco at a little hideaway camp owned by my friend Jim. It was a glorious time - a tad disorienting without Internet or phone access and because life is so incredible SLOW in those parts. But I have also not slept so soundly nor relaxed more fully than I did over the weekend. When the circumstances dictate that life slow to a crawl in a place like Piseco I take my cue!

First Day of Ramadan

The first prayer time of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan is at 4:23am U.S. East Coast time today (I am currently in York, Pennsylvania on this time zone).
I set the alarm today for 4:15am to begin this month interceding for the 1.3 billion Muslims around the world. I hope you will join in this prayer movement.

The Turmoil Within Me

I am sitting out on a deck with a breath-taking view on Piseco Lake in the Adirondack Mountains. My computer is open and I am working on two writing projects at the moment.
       As idyllic as this place is, I find myself unsettled and in turmoil. Today as I drove through Speculator, NY I stopped in a mini-market and picked up The New York Times. The lead article on the front page is about tens of thousands of Islamists in Egypt rallying to form a radical government in that country.
       I have been thinking and praying about Islam a lot this week, in preparation for the beginning of Ramadan Sunday evening. This is the most holy month of the year for Muslims around the world. The situation in Egypt reminds me what a powder keg this issue of Islam is in the Middle East and in the West.
       But right now I am perched at the edge of this lake in the Adirondack Mountains about as far from the realities of Egypt can be. And yet my soul is in turmoil, I am burdened ... burdened that the Church would wake up and embrace its mission to the Muslim (and Jewish) world to point people to Jesus and HIS Kingdom.

Retreat @ Raquette Lake

I am spending the weekend at Huntington Cmap at Raquette Lake with the board of directors of the Cortland State Alumni Association.
       This is the view from the shore of the camp. One of the most peaceful, idyllic locations on earth that I know. I am not used to the world being this QUIET and MAJESTIC. Wish I could be up here for a month or so.

Enduring Words from John Stott

Here are ten statements made by John Stott during his life and ministry. These will stay with me. I am grateful for his depth of insight and wisdom.

• [Jesus'] authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us with no other choice.
• The truth is that there are such things as Christian tears, and too few of us ever weep them.
• Every Christian should be both conservative and radical; conservative in preserving the faith and radical in applying it.
• Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.
• We should not ask, ‘What is wrong with the world?’ for that diagnosis has already been given. Rather we should ask, "What has happened to salt and light?"
• Social responsibility becomes an aspect not of Christian mission only, but also of Christian conversion. It is impossible to be truly converted to God without being thereby converted to our neighbor.
• Sin and child of God are incompatible. They may occasionally meet; they cannot live together in harmony.
• Good conduct arises out of good doctrine.
• The very first thing which needs to be said about Christian ministers of all kinds is that they are "under" people as their servants rather than "over" them (as their leaders, let alone their lords). Jesus made this absolutely plain. The chief characteristic of Christian leaders, he insisted, is humility not authority, and gentleness not power.
• We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.

The Religious Landscape of the Midwest

I was amazed by the billboards and symbols of religion along the roadways of the Midwest. The other day while driving in Ohio we came across a massive cross on the side of the road. It was like two stories high! It just stood alone on the side of the road. (see photo I took while driving)
        Some of the billboards had Scripture verses, one had the entire list of the ten commandments (I though someone might crash their car if they read all of them while driving!), one said "America, bless God!" Another said, "Adoption, not Abortion."
       When I drive to the Northeast of the U.S. I don't see too many billboards and symbols to secular liberalism, even though it is widespread here. I wonder why Christians dot the landscape with religious symbols all over the midwest but liberals don't do the same in the northeast.
       Just pondering!