Thoughts

Mid-Late October, 2006

I have returned from Washington, D.C. where I attended a conference on Muslim/Christian relations. It was informative and I am glad I was able to go. I am always happy to go to the Washington area, to visit with my son Craig and to catch up with people at Virginia Seminary in Alexandria. It is also always good to be in Washington just because it is a wonderful city. I was able to spend some time in Georgetown and to have a meal in Old Town Alexandria. I was also able to visit with some of my friends in the Diocese of Washington.

Speaking of Muslim/Christian relations, this whole concept of how we live in a pluralistic society came to a head for me last week. I was invited, and thankful for the invitation, to the Garland County Leadership Prayer Breakfast. Hot Springs is located in Garland County. This prayer breakfast was held in the HS Convention Center with probably 300 or so people in attendance. The prayers for the elected officials, at least in part, were that they would come to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior, etc. I was shocked. Obviously I am a Christian but that was entirely out of place in my view. What about Jews who are elected officials? What about anybody who is not a Christian and is an elected official? I know, I know, it is the obligation of evangelical/fundamentalist Christians to convert everybody. But this was simply inappropriate in the context in which it occurred. If fact, the entire program was overtly fundamentalist Christian and just seemed to be not the thing to do in that setting. This kind of talk will not likely endear me to the Christian community in Hot Springs. Well, it needed to be said anyway.

A sign of the times: On a recent Friday morning, in the aftermath of the Amish school tragedy, we had an emergency meeting among parents of our school children to look closely at security issues. We became aware of a number of potential areas of vulnerability and have moved to correct them. What a shame to have to spend time thinking through every possible scenario of ways our children could come into harms way while on campus. What has become of us? How is it we human beings can do such things to our children? How is it we human beings can do the things we do to one another, usually in the name of God? Forgive us Lord.

As Iraq continues to become more and more of a quagmire for us I find myself thinking about things VP Cheney and Paul Wolfowitz said in the time just before the invasion. Cheney: they will welcome us as conquering heroes. Wolfowitz: Iraqi oil will pay for the whole thing. It will not cost us anything. I could go on with thoughts from Rumsfield (an Episcopalian by the way) and the President that were just as far off base as these two, but I will not.

I read somewhere recently that in the view of some “experts”, whoever they are, that the Middle East is more unstable and volatile right now than at any time since 1948. Why could we not have approached Iraq as we are now trying to handle North Korea? That would be with diplomacy. We certainly could be no worse off, and there would most likely be many thousands of people still alive who now are not.

Senior Warden Tommy Humphries is in the process of putting down the stone labyrinth in the center of our courtyard. It is really going to be nice when finished. There has also been much planting of flowers around the courtyard, led by Jackie Blakeslee and with the help of many. This place is really starting to look good.

On September 15 we celebrated the feast day of our patron saint, St. Luke. John Davis, President of Bank of the Ozarks and a member here, stayed up most of the night before smoking BBQ. This man knows what he is doing. The Q was terrific! We had a festive time and enjoyed the food. On top of that there was plenty left over so we delivered it to Jackson House and they will feed hungry people their own feast. That’s the best of both worlds.

The guests of Jackson House are almost all people who have full-time jobs. What do you think Jesus thinks about an economic/political system where people work all day, every day and do not have enough money to buy food? All this while people like me have so much we do not know what to do with all of it? Where is the justice in that? What am I, and all of you who are like me called by God to do? Do we even want to think about it? Forgive us Lord.