Tag: society

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

Ready for Alien Visitors?

Apparently when Edward Snowden was snooping into top secret government computer files he decided to check out some things we wonder about and argue about over morning coffee or evening other-stuff. Like, Is the U.S. government hiding evidence of alien  life visiting earth? The answer, you may be disappointed to know, is no. The moon landing, by the way, did happen. Meanwhile, Google is touting the successful test run of a quantum computer that can solve in a couple of minutes what a conventional computer would take, they say, years to get through.

These bits of other-than’Trump news maybe appeal to us because they hint at the possibility of something other than our own problems and ways of dealing–or not–with them, especially if it’s as if the people you have to live and work with have materialized from some parallel reality. Or maybe people who show up in the context of whatever you are trying to accomplish in this world seem like some new species if hominid. You want a break.

So it’s somewhat understandable if we can entertain thoughts of other-worldly or wonder-computer ways of making everyday life different. But everyday life is exactly where we–in this current dimension and in our present hominid form–can make a difference. We could start, as prodded by the sign n the photo, with how we dispose of batteries 

And, if and when the aliens do come, maybe they’ll be impressed with what we’ve undone with the place.

Genesis 1:31

Happy

You can hardly go anywhere these days without hearing the Pharrell Williams song, “Happy.” A report by Carol Graham of the Brookings Institute may indicate that it will not resonate with people uniformly through the life cycle, at least as Brookings Institute report might indicate.

Apparently there is a worldwide trend for people to have a U-shaped pattern to their life-long degree of happiness. Middle age is tough, it seems. Well, middle age can be especially tough. I would not want to minimize, having had my own very low times, how difficult certain seasons and circumstances of life can be. But there is hope to sustain us through those times.

In Romans 15:13 Paul indicates that there is a happiness that does not depend on circumstances.  There is joy, which is not to be taken necessarily  as a jump-up-and-down kind of thing (though it certainly can be), but is based on the certain knowledge that there is the Lord who loves and values us, and has a purpose for us. We know of this, and put it into practice in various ways, through the welcoming of the Holy Spirit.

And, as the context Romans 15:13 makes clear, mutuality of acceptance and service is key to experiencing such enduring inner peace.

 

Recognizing the Reality

Thoughts out of my message yesterday (April 14) at St. Andrew’s, Ajax. Audio of the message will be available at www.standrewsajax.ca.

Since there is a power that seems to try to destroy our happiness when we most have it, I decided to address the reality of evil in the wake of Easter celebration. As evidence and example of the reality of evil, I referenced the sickeningly disturbing recurrence of girls being gang-raped, subjected to further humiliation through cyber-bullying, resulting in their suicide. As I make these notes, there has been news of bombs at the finish of the Boston Marathon. We do not just have social “ills” and global “issues.” We face evil.

Arguably, the book of the Bible that most obviously (or at least most grapnically) deals with evil is the Revelation, or Apocalypse, to John. The context of the book is the brutal persecution of early Christians at the hands of the Roman Empire. As with what they faced, symbolized (chapter 13) by the beast from the sea and the beast crom the land, with the authority of the “dragon” behind them, there are forces coming together todsy, as in every age, to try to deceive us and rob us of union and peace with God. The deception today plays especially on our insecurity, and tries to convince us that we are not smart enough, pretty enough, good eough, or even worth while persons, without what the powers of influence have to offer, having instilled the “need.” It is curious today that as “brand” (think of cattle) names have come to be considered critical (who instilled this?) to our credibility, attractiveness, and success, so a “mark” was required in the vision of John for people to engage in commerce and get on in the world.

But as chapter 20 conveys, when we are joined to Christ, Satan is bound and unable to deceive us (the completeness of the 1, 000 year symbol), even while Satan is still loose in the world and wreaks havoc until all is fulfilled (the significsnce of the “little while” time period symbol). Whatever the language in chapter 20 may convey about future events, it always has this basic meaning for us, whatever the times.

Evil is real. That was underscored again today in Boston, as it is underscored every day somewhere. It has power to destroy and cause misery in this world, and we must spare no effort to limit its power and effects. But we will never destroy evil itself. We must place our trust for that in one who has already demonstrated his power over it. “Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5 nrsv).