Category: Kim’s Blog

How many dogs do you have? If you know me, then you know that I think pretty much everyone should have a dog. And if you don’t have a dog, you are depriving yourself of one of the greatest experiences of life. We have three dogs. All rescue. The oldest a 12 year old female German Shepherd/Golden Retriever mix. The middle one a 9 year old, 136 pound, male Newfoundland. The newest one a two year old, 40 something pound, male of unknown origins. They are dependable, predictable, attentive, and social. They bring so much life and joy to our household.

Last week when we went to the Interfaith Association presentation about Islam, it was mentioned that some Muslims don’t use the word G-O-D because it has the same letters as the word D-O-G. The similarity of the words is too close.

As the fortunate owner of 3 dogs, I find that my dogs teach me much about the spiritual life. They can sleep peacefully in the midst of chaos. When something good happens, regardless of when it is and what else is going on, they are overjoyed. They never tire of paying attention to what is going on around them and what their human family is doing. When they are needed, when they have to do something, they do it. No questions asked. They entertain themselves endlessly taking delight in life and the world around them. Chip and Dana, chaplains who are members of our church, mentioned that they contemplate writing a book entitled, “Everything I Needed to Know about Being A Chaplain I Learned from My Dog.” As I said, my dogs give me ample instruction in the spiritual life.

Now, take Christmas. A special day. A holy day. A day of gifts. A day with loved ones. A day to be grateful. A day of eating and drinking and playing with friends and family. For my dogs, that’s everyday. Everyday is like Christmas. And shouldn’t it be that way for us all – taking joy and delight in each and every day?

Forever I will sing the wonders of your love, Yahweh,
proclaiming your faithfulness to all generations!
I’ll tell them that your love stands firm forever,
your fidelity is fixed in the heavens.
Ps. 89:1-2

Prayer: We are grateful for the many ways that we experience the presence of the Divine. We pray for the capacity and discipline to appreciate the gifts of each day. We so want to be loyal to our desire to love with abandon. Amen.

December 17 is the birthday of Pope Francis. Even before his birthday and being named person of the year by TIME Magazine, he was the most talked about person on Facebook, outpacing even Miley Cyrus were her twerking and her tongue! Who would have thought that the pope could generate such interest without being involved in some kind of scandal?

The pope has become famous for his simple ways, for his compassion for all people, for his concern for the poor, for his desire to give women more of a role in the church, and for his humility. Basically, the pope has generated such notoriety simply by being himself, a follower of Jesus.

So many of the things that have attracted attention and interest relating to the pope are the basics of the Christian life. Things we see in the life of Jesus. Things that are present in the birth stories of Jesus. Jesus is born to poor parents. They are living in a situation of oppression. They don’t have full human rights. They live a materially simple life. They are not of high status or privilege. In the life and ministry of Jesus, we see the embodiment of humility. We see the choice to serve. We see compassion and sensitivity to all people especially those of little account. We see the equal valuing of every human life. Just as we see in the life of Pope Francis.

What people see and admire in the pope is what should be seen in all Christians. It is the incarnation of the way of Christ. And it should not be such a surprise least of all to Christians.

All I can say is that it is refreshing to have the pope show the world the face of the Christian church in way that so emulates the way of Jesus. It is refreshing to see such a positive presentation of Christianity to the world. It’s refreshing to see the church receiving notoriety for something good.

In this season as we celebrate the light of God coming into the world it is wonderful to see that light shining for all the world through Pope Francis who, incidently, has over 10 million Twitter followers and is one of the 50 most followed people on Twitter. Happy Birthday, Pope Francis!

In the word was life,
and that life was humanity’s light –
a Light shining in the darkness,
a light that the darkness has never overtaken.
John 1: 4-5

Prayer: In this season of shortened days and light at an odd angle, we are aware of the light of God coming into the world through Christ Jesus. May we look for that light. May we be led by that light. And may others see that light in us. Amen.

You have probably seen the saying, “Put Christ back in Christmas.” This, apparently, is an effort to eradicate the use of the term “Xmas.” I am not sure why we would want to eliminate the use of the term Xmas.

The X in Xmas is the English equivalent of the first letter of the word “Christ” in the Greek language. The Greek word is Χριστός. The X is simply an abbreviation. I have many notes that I have taken from lectures and books in which I have written the letter X to stand for Christ.

Often on a cross or altar we see the letters INRI. This is an abbreviation for the Latin “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum” which means “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews”. We have no problem with using those letters as an abbreviation.

We also use the letters IHS on altars and crosses. These letters refer to the Greek word “Jesus.” IHS is a monogram the first three Greek letters of the word Jesus transliterated into English.

We have no problem using Greek translations for IHS and INRI, so why the problem with X in reference to the Greek word for Christ? I don’t know. I will continue to use X in notes and personal writings and have no problem with using the shortened term Xmas for Christmas. To me, whatever the alphabet, whatever the language, Christ is. We cannot take Christ out of Christmas or anything else. We may shorten the letters, but the love is still the same.

No one has ever seen God;
it is the Only Begotten,
ever at Abbas’ side,
who has revealed God to us.
John 1:18

Prayer: We pray for the openness to see Christ in ourselves and in others. May we see that light and love shining brightly this season of joy and celebration. Amen.

On the 16th of June in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to go into space. She orbited the earth 48 times and was in space for almost three days. On that voyage, she spent more time in space than all the American astronauts combined up to that date. Just this week, two women were the top candidates in the election for the president of Columbia. With regard to the church, I spoke with a man in the Catholic hierarchy this week who expressed disappointment and regret that Pope Francis has made it known that the ordination of women is not on the table during his papacy. To me, the disappointment of my colleague was a welcome surprise.

In these Advent weeks, we have been thinking about the women in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. Learning about these woman shows the extremely confining social circumstances that they faced. While there may have been reasons for the restrictions within the structure of the society as a whole, it still seems that these narrow roles for women were more than based on need, but also simply outright inequality and oppression.

The agency, courage, and resilience of the women in the genealogy of Jesus inspire our discipleship. We are challenged by these women to live our faith with conviction and creativity. And that includes continuing to work for the equality of women in the church and in society in the US and around the world. That job is not yet done.

In Christ there is no Jew or Greek. slave or citizen, male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28

Prayer: We are thankful for the wondrous potential that is imbued in the human spirit. We pray for the courage to cultivate that potential in ourselves and in the wider world. Jesus shows us all that life can be when we are free to love and serve. In this season of Advent may we honor the freedom and equality of all people as Jesus did. Amen.

A year ago today, we were stunned by the news of a school shooting in the sleepy town of Newtown, CT. Grief poured from news outlets and social media. President Obama choked up when he spoke.

But then there have been more than 16 mass shootings in the US in the past year and another attack at a school yesterday near Columbine nonetheless. And then there are the multitudes of children killed by gun violence day in and day out not to mention the adults murdered each and every day.

This morning, I heard an interview with a Newtown parent. She spoke of planning a vigil in the aftermath of the tragedy. They struggled over whether to light 26 candles for the children and staff that were murdered or 28 candles including the killer and his mother. They decided to light 28. After all, there were 28 deaths.

I think 28 candles was the right choice. Yes the children and staff were beloved by God, but so were Adam Lanza and his mother. There had to be grief in the heart of God for a precious creature gone so wrong as well as the death of the woman who gave him birth.

Actually, I think that God has still not stopped crying over the continuous murders of precious children by other precious children. Why don’t we get the sacredness, the divinity, at the heart of all of life? If we did, we would end not only gun violence and murder but global climate change, arguably the greatest threat to human life.

And, what must be the worst part of this for God, is that our country, perpetrator of such horrific violence, has so many Christians and people of faith. That’s the crowning irony. We’re supposedly not a “godless” country. And yet we are not allowing ourselves to be transformed by the horror of 20 children murdered at school. “When will they ever learn,” the song “Where have all the flowers gone” asks.

There is a quote attributed to Edmund Burke, statesman of the 1700‘s: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Since the evil of gun violence to continues its rampage in our country, it appears that good people are not doing their part. Violence is not the consequence of having a free society; it is the consequence of having a sick society. We have accepted the pandemic of violence; integrated it into our lives. We have accepted it as being as natural as the air we breathe. For people of God, this acquiescence to violence is delusion, denial, and flat out sin as grave as the apostasies of the Hebrew scriptures rife with the worship of foreign gods. We, too, are worshipping gods foreign to the God of Jesus Christ. We make gods of the Constitution, personal rights, profit, and individualism, at the expense of a peace-loving society.

How many candles will it take to illumine the truth?

They dress my people’s wound carelessly,
saying, “Peace, Peace,” knowing that there is no peace.
Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct?
No, they feel no shame; they don’t even know how to blush.
Jeremiah 8:11-12a

Prayer: Help us to see our complicity with the violence in our society and in our world. This Christmas season, may we receive the Prince of Peace and allow him full sway over our lives, our hearts, our values, and our behavior. May we be converted by the birth of Jesus so that we might be agents of transformation of the world around us. Amen.