Pray for Obama

Has anyone actually seen one of these T-shirts?

Before anyone thinks that folks are actually praying for Obama take a look at the verse and its context.

⁸ May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.

⁹ May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.

¹⁰ May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven ^[d] from their ruined homes.

¹¹ May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

¹² May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.

¹³ May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.

¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD;
may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.

¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the LORD,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

I don’t have much to say, I am just disgusted with the people of propagate this trash.

It is not funny, it is not poignant, it is not appropriate and, most importantly, it is not Christian.

A brief thought on Tiger Woods

I don’t respect Tiger Woods for his infidelity, but I do believe that he is trying to do the right thing by dropping golf and focusing on his family. He himself called his acts “transgressions”, he knows that weight of what he has done.  I definitely feel for his wife and children, but I also feel for him. Sin is eroding to the soul. Both those who have been sinned against and those who have sinned feel the destructive burn of sinfulness.

What angers me is all the conversation about how much money golf is going to lose – and how much money news stations and tabloids are making from running this story.  The money doesn’t matter in the least bit. I am flabbergasted that so many people are, at least outwardly, so concerned with the financial aspect of this issue that they are forgetting the hearts and souls involved.

Instead of critiquing him and examining is every actions, let us – especially Christians – pray  that Tiger and his family find true friends to rely on, that, in some why, they will find a God who loves them, and that their marriage , which most everyone sees as sacred and right, be restored.   At this moment they are both suffering from feeling like unloved beings.

This is a beautiful picture . . .

let us all hope that, despite it being tarnished, this picture can restored to is full beauty.

The restoration of beauty, reconcilation of relationships, and redemption from the bondage of sin are at the center of the Christian faith, so may it be at the center of our hearts and minds.

Glen Beck & “White Culture”

Why is it so hard for Beck to define White culture – especially when he says Obama has a hatred of it?

What is “White culture”?

My personal take is that there is “White culture” just like there is “Black culture”. But just as within Black culture, White culture is not monolithic, nor should everyone who is White be stereotyped into a rigid Whiteness.*

An interesting characterization of “White culture” -in the shallow expression of culture** – is the Stuff White People Like Blog and the subsequent book Stuff White People Like: The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions. If you haven’t seen either they both contain a list of things that typically White people enjoy: farmer’s markets; bookstores; wine tasting; etc (Our of Ur and Urban Faith posted a interesting article about the potential of small groups being a White Christian thing.)

I actually don’t like the book/website because it is limited and Lander, the creator, is making misinformed generalizations. It is really only touching on one section of White America. I think about lower-class Whites, or blue-collar Whites, or inner-city Whites, or rural Whites, the book/website it isn’t really stuff “White” people like, it is stuff a certain level of educated and socialized White like.

But there is something important in the book/website. It affirms that there is a culture typical to Whites – more appropriately various White cultures within a boarder American experience. White folks who deny that they have a culture and assume that  their actions are universally normal hinder actual multiculturalism, diversity and reconciliation because that perspective naturally color-blinds the world.

But again, it is also dangerous to ignore the diversity within Black and White folks  – as well as Asians, Latinos etc.  We literally make things black and white and don’t examine the variations and blending. So many Black folks have to fight the assumption that we ALL like, fried chicken, rap, baggy jeans, the N-word, basketball etc. and fight Being called “White” when we don’t like those things or happen to like NPR. Also, some white folks fight being called a “wigger” ( a common expression I heard when growing up) when they are genuinely a child of Hip Hop culture.

So I return to the original question, what is “White Culture”?

*The conversation is beyond just  Black/White – but Beck’s comments and interaction with the issue of culture was/is mainly Black/White.

**There are deeper culture values that are help differently in different cultures (i.e. preception of eldery, perception of time, gender roles, role of religion etc.). These are perhaps the real difference that divide folks. Which is why people of different ethnicities seem to be able to increasingly feel capable of working together – a fairly shallow exercise – but struggle with worshiping  and living together.

Giving Thanks,Together: A Prayer for Unity

Turkeys being dressed this eve
Norman Rockwell table setting
Families sitting elbow to elbow
Gestures preparing the moment

Conversations link to yesterdays
A time when time was breathing
Prayerful celebrations of thanks
Snapshots of where it all began

Empty chairs of of lost feelings
Ceilings echoing voices passed
Nodding dreams sleeping away
A photographic gallery of family

A season of trimming windows
Window shopping for a purpose
Finding quality in mere quantity
Lighting roof lines with promise

Hands to chin mosaic reflections
Colored fragments, introspections
Framed into a thanksgiving feast
Humanity harvesting a collection

A symposium of what is worthy
Where humility should find rest
A monumental gesture of prayer
Putting each member to the test

It is not in the fare of the harvest
Where Thanksgiving finds her heart
It is in the careful considerations
That every human has their part

Let nothing divide family meaning
As a house on sand will not stand
It is in the foundations of God’s love
Where thankful hearts will understand

Thanksgiving is the grace of understanding
That together we can provide provisions
For a world longing to know the true meaning
Of the First Thanksgiving, a prayer for unity

Kathy Paysen 2009

Thank you to my friend Bob Henry who made me aware of this poem.

Bowing

U.S. President Barack Obama bows as he is greeted by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko as he arrives at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009.
———–AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

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What I love about this picture is the respect and symbolism that is here.

Although folks are upset about Obama bowing to the Japanese Emperor, he was showing a sign of respect. Some commentators have argued that Obama did not bow to the Queen of England. But that was because Obama greeted her in what was a culturally proper manner; he gave her a slight, respectful gesture. In this case Obama greeted the Japanese Emperor in a completely acceptable manner, he was formal and respectful. Obama was stepping on Japanese territory, it wasn’t up to him to dictate the way that he greeted the Emperor. Even, if this meeting was in the United States, the humility to be hospitable to the presence of someone from a different culture and point of view is a valued and important quality.

There is some great symbolism in this photo.

First, I love that they are shaking hands and bowing. This is multiculturalism in action. It is the West meets East in a beautiful way that integrates and values both American and Japanese culture. I also love seeing this because  it occurs when I visit my in-laws; I simultaneously shake hands and bow with my wife’s grandfather.

Second, and more importantly,  there is the issue of humility. Bowing innately represents the lowing of one’s self. It is submissive.  It is easy for me as a Westerner to see humility, lowering and submission  as negative traits, but biblically these are beautiful things.  They are not signs of weakness, but strength. These actions acknowledge that it is not necessary to try to reaffirm one’s power, it is not necessary to try to assert power and it is not necessary to be domineering. These traits show strength comes by understanding one’s self so well – for the Christian this means understanding one’s identity in Christ – that it is not necessary to flaunt power or control. It takes a strong and confident person to bow, to lead by putting one’s self literally and symbolically underneath another.