culture – James Robert Kitson

The Use and Abuse of Names

I resist blaming aging for losing any facility for remembering names. It is a matter of basic respect and “you matter” importance. Just please don’t talk to me about ‘networking’ or whatever term is in vogue. Let’s credit people with the radar to detect, over time at least, when we have simply developed a skill that is for the purpose of developing connections in the interest of personal advancement. I know, that has its place in ‘the real world’ but let’s not assume it takes care of true personal engagement.

There is another aspect of the use of names that ought especially and enthusuasticaly to be eradicated.

I, for one, am wary of that person who begins everything said to you within a conversation with your name, sometimes spoken in what sounds like a sentence by itself.

I find it difficult not to suspect this kind of deployment of one’s name as being anything other than a dominance device. Either blatantly deliberate and calculated, or habitually thoughtless, it will do the opposite of that which simply remembers and speaks names with honouring of personhood. It is, if calculated, objectifying and therefore abusive.

Names, like the persons to whom they belong, are precious. Name calling, on social media, at school lockers, or settings of work or worship (yes, i said worship), is a real and present scourge.

May we take great care with names.

Genesis 32:27-28. Matthew 16:18

Hungry?

German shepherd and kitten nuzzling. Deer fawn and golden lab cavorting in a forest-bordering backyard. Cat and parakeet poking playfully at each other. Cute, but I can’t help but wonder how many such encounters end tragically, with most (?) having been set up to see what will happen, with YouTube glory in mind from the get-go.

My interest here, however, is the great maw of an appetite we humans have for this genre. One possibility: boredom reaches deep and wide in our culture. Another, kinder thought: Our appetite for this material points to a hunger, a hope, for happy homey relations among fearful, suspicious, wounded and angry humans.

If such is our hunger, we nay be well prepped for the plea from a wise man who is actually more than a wise man, who said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “You will wind up being fulfilled and satisfied if you have a deep, relentless hunger and thirst for the putting right of human relations” (Matthew 5:6).

If you look it up (my paraphrase being bait for you to check the real thing), you will find, in most versions, the word righteousness, which you might find preachy-sounding and off-putting. My understanding of the term puts it very close to justice, which basically has to do with the putting right of human relations. I would like to see more written tiday about a correlation between social polarization and economic disparity.

Would we at least have the same appetite, even hunger, for human reconciliation as we do for animal togetherness (at least when they are well fed)?

A Need for Respect

I note a report about violence against Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) drivers. This was in the Toronto Star, but it’s not the first I’ve read or heard about this problem. There is a sign at the front of TTC buses that says at least one TTC worker is assaulted daily somewhere in the city. The notice further points out, quite rightly, that this is one too many, and those who commit such violence will be held accountable for the crime that this is, with fine, imprisonment or both, and, in all cases, a criminal record.

There seem to be people on whom it is all too convenent to take out frustations. There is a level of anger that is seen also in road rage, rudeness, and general impatience with others. This is all very wearing for everyone. On the other hand, it is really very easy and simple to practise what another “r” word (other than rudeness) represents: Respect. “Show proper respect to everyone” (1 Peter 2:17).

Who’s Calling the Shots?

There is a common and disturbing dynamic that permeates various areas and levels of our organizational life. Even in the church. Let’s face it. It happens–not in all settings but it certainly happens–that the life of a faith community can be guided more by political “reality” than the way we outwardly agree it should be run, usually with an agreed upon system of governance, based on Biblical principles and authority. Too often it boils down to things being done according to the predilictions of some power broker or brokers, and people fall into line, often unconsciously. The principled leader ends up frustrated, and often demonized as defensive, unresponsive, and/or simply incompetent.

The point here is that so pervasive in society is the power talks and might is right mindset that not even the church is immune from being run this way. And it’s too easy, and inexcusable, to just throw up our hands and say, well that’s just the reality. That’s the problem (see above re the church). Part of this mindset by those who most practise it is an end-justifies-the-means mentality. If you are convinced you know what’s best for everyone, any means is justified, even deemed right.

My current reflection on this is prompted by the news that Canadian government agencies have been requesting, successfully, roughtly a thousand requests per day from telecoms for information on Canadians. This is justified under the umbrella of “national security.” Really? For that many requests? And is really just the government itself behind this. Or are there powerful forces in our world that see themselves as the rightful rulers (just like the power person in the church), and therefore see any action or tactic as justified.

Is government just a willing player in this dynamic?

Who is really calling the shots?

Bread with a Purpose

The United Nations has just released the second part of a study on the effects of climate change. It seems, no surprise, it will mean our over-consuming lifestyle is ever more certain to contribute to displacement, hardship and hunger, especially for those least able to deal with such developments. Meanwhile, there has also just been a warning that for some of us our breakfast is going to get more expensive–something a lot of us, if we’re honest–will be more directly concerned about.

This may be impetus for some of us to pray more frequently and fervently for the Lord to give us “our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). But there is a more complete way to draw on this part of the model prayer Jesus gave, in connection with what comes before that particular part. Before the petition about what we need for each day, there is the invitation to hallow the Lord’s name, welcome the realization of his kingdom, and to look for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Perhaps then, the “daily bread” part that then follows has to do with being nourished and strengthened to have our part in the fulfilling of the previous good things. In so doing, perhaps we will conduct our lives in a more responsible way, one that will help to alleviate, maybe even start to correct, some of the problems of supply in our earthly life that might have led us (back) to prayer in the first place.

Union Station

I passed through Toronto’s Union Station last evening. The shot above was taken on Platform 27, with the Lakeshore East train approaching (note I am not on or over the yellow line as I take the photo!).

I suppose because I’m planning to have Christian unity as the them of August messages, I think of various elements of community and culture coming together as I look at this scene now. There are all those rail tracks, where there could be dangerous confusion if someone wasn’t in charge of traffic. There is the CN Tower, representing communication. There are the buildings where business of the nation and world is conducted. There is the city itself, with its great ethnic and spiritual diversity. Not visible in the shot are churches, which tend to be tucked away here and there, and where many people think of going if they want respite from everything else.

Respite from the world is part of what is necessary at times, but is that primarily what the church is for? I think not. Maybe as a church we should be more at the centre of things, where people live all these everyday things represented in the scene above? And we have one to keep us united and on track. May we be closer to him, and allow him to challenge us.