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He who is without sin..

I got some friends on Facebook and elsewhere who’ve taken umbrage with Mr. Obama refer to Kanye West as a “jackass.” I don’t follow Kanye West at all and I didn’t see the video music awards, but if the President of the United States of America refers to an individual with that epithet, I say “so what?” Get a life!

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” — John 8:7

Is there anyone here without sin? Have I judged folks unfairly from time to time. You bet. No one is perfect.

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First week

This was my first week teaching a class in almost five years. It was fun to be back in the classroom. This is the first time I’ve ever taught this particular age group. Keeping seventeen seventh graders and fourteen eighth graders on task can be a challenge. Add to that fact is that the curriculum I’m teaching them is one of my own creation. I can draw on the experience of others in creating the course of study and I did, but there is no one who really has embarked on what I’m charged with.

My initial emphasis was on self-esteem building. I think many of today’s youth are like young people have been since time began. They’re unsure of themselves. Add to this they are really the first generation to grow up online. They have never known a time when the internet didn’t exist. In addition to the that, nearly 70% of the class own cell phones and of that number nearly all have sent text and picture messages. I handed out mirrors on my first day of class. I told them their homework each day was to look in the mirror and tell themselves that they loved what they saw. In addition to that each of the students is asked to write a few sentences about what they’ve done that day. Moodle is the software that supports this course. Each student has his/her own blog and they love to write. Some of the students have really written quite a bit this first week. It’s the most popular aspect of the course thus far.

I’m really grateful to be back in the classroom and to be working with such an exciting bunch of students. They are challenging me to learn more and to re-think how I teach. Already I’ve had to adjust my style. Today I discovered how attuned they are to video. When I’m talking, even when I try to engage them in higher level thinking, they tend to fidget and move about. Today, I showed two short videos. One segment was about seven minutes long, the other about five minutes. In each case the students quieted down and were completely engaged. Tonight I spent time finding some appropriate videos and this weekend I’m adjusting my approach. It’s fun watching people learn. I’ve loved teaching ever since I was a little boy. I used to teach my brother lessons and then make up tests on my father’s mechanical typewriter. Moodle is a long way from a mechanical typewriter but some of the same principles apply.

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Morning Fog

Carl Sandburg had a poem about the fog.

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

That poem is with me this morning as I sit looking at the fog that covers the valley in front of me. I’m sitting here enjoying a fresh cup of Starbucks, but in deference to my friend Lee, it could easily be Tim Hortons or whatever brand you like. One of the remnants of the fog this morning was a dew covered spider web on the lamp post in front of our home. The sun breaking in caused the moisture on the web to glisten. I tried to take a picture of it, but there are some things that even cameras can’t capture and this was one of them. I thought too of how often ethereal events can only be appreciated by those who can see them. I was blessed this morning to see the web and it reminded me of the Ruach. The Ruach is the breath of God and so much of what surrounds us all is just that the breath of God. Sometimes I’m so caught up in myself that I fail to see the beauty of the fog, the spiders web, or the full moon that was out last night. Thank you God for letting me have the eyes to see your creation and to embrace it. Peace and all good.

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Starbucks

This summer I’ve been brewing Starbucks nearly every morning in a two-cup coffee maker that we’ve inherited from our daughter who left it here on a vacation a year or so ago. Having a summer off is a luxury for most folks and it was for me this year. I like my coffee black, aromatic and flavorful and Starbucks provides that better than almost any other blend. I must say that Dunkin’ Donuts does have good coffee too, but I’ve not brewed that at home.

I wasn’t always a Starbucks lover. I’m really indebted to my friend Br. Joe Kotula, OFM who got me going. Joe and I have been on some road trips together for ministry events held at least a couple of times at the St. Francis Springs Prayer Center in North Carolina. Traveling over 500 miles one way to get there provided ample time for a number of stops and more often than not Joe chose a place that served Starbucks. It’s funny how associations form in our minds and in my mind every time I see Starbucks I think of Joe and our trips to North Carolina. When I think of Br. Joe it reminds me of the Franciscans and Peace. Brother Joe is synonymous with peace, connectedness, St. Francis and of course Christ. There is a lot wrapped up in my association with Starbucks and its about peace and all good. Pax et Bonum, the motto of Holy Name Province and of Franciscans everywhere.

As I think about it now it’s all very Franciscan, without preaching a word, Br. Joe and the Holy Spirit formed an association for me with peace and all good and every time I brew a cup of Starbucks it’s a call to holiness. It doesn’t get any better than that.

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A Sacred Path

More than a month ago I wrote about taking a picture of the labyrinth at Mt. Irenaeus and how that invited some comments from friends that sent me on a journey that included reading Dan Pink’s, “A Whole New Mind.”  Actually, I downloaded the book and listened to it on my iPod Touch. I listened to it more than once and went so far as to buy a finger labyrinth from the Labyrinth Company. The labyrinth arrived this week and in the past several days I’ve used it a number of times.  The very first time I used it I had the sensation that there was some movement in my brain. I could almost feel my brain move. I know that sounds strange and I wouldn’t have believed it myself had I not experienced it.

Yesterday, while visiting a friend’s home and returning a computer to her that I had recently restored to original condition for her I shared this story. She didn’t think I was losing it and instead recommended a book which I began reading last night. The book is, “Walking a Sacred Path,” by Dr. Lauren Artress. I’ve only read a couple of chapters, but I am really enjoying this and from the stories therein I realize that my reaction to the labyrinth was anything but strange. I intend to keep using the finger labyrinth and see where it leads me. Each time I experience the labyrinth it is a bit different but each time I come away renewed.

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Finger labyrinth

I remember the first time I ever walked a labyrinth. It was at the Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, AZ. I remember how calming and centering that was. Since then I’ve had an attraction to labyrinths. A month ago while attending an Evening of Re-Creation at nearby Mt. Irenaeus I snapped a picture of their labyrinth. The picture posted to Facebook invited a conversation which saw me read Daniel Pink’s book, “A Whole New Mind.” It was from Dan Pink’s book that obtained a web link to the Labyrinth Company and now I’m the owner of my own finger labyrinth.

I ordered it last week and it finally arrived in today’s mail. It’s very exciting and restful to know that I now have my labyrinth and that I can use it whenever I might. I took it out of it’s case today and traced the path with my index finger. I had a peculiar sense as I moved my finger around that path. A sense of peace and stability ensued. I’m going to keep trying to use my labyrinth everyday. I want to bring it into my classroom at school but I’m going to wait for an opportune moment.

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Good Ole USA

I just got a video link sent to me and it’s typical xenophobia disguised to look like patriotism. When I reminded this individual that our grandparents had come from Wales and couldn’t speak English and that we are reminded in Exodus 23:9, “You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” Upon receiving my note my friend reminded me that although I was right she loved the “Good Ole USA.” Is it inconsistent to love your neighbor and not oppress the resident alien and still be a good American citizen. I don’t think so. What do you think?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEJfS1v-fU0]

Most of us Americans were aliens at some point in our past. Even Native Americans immigrated here over the Bering land bridge thousands of years ago.

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No news

This summer I’ve been enjoying almost no news. Almost without thinking I’ve been avoiding the news. Tonight my mother told me a tragic story of a couple of Buffalo, New York firefighters who lost their lives today trying save other. That’s a real tragedy and my heart goes out to those families but save for stories like that I’ve been living with less and less news and it’s been enjoyable. I didn’t set out to do this either, it just happened. I’d been avoiding news and television in general and that goes back almost five years now, but I still enjoyed reading the news. Lately the news has been so negative with the health care debate and the birthers questioning President Obama’s citizenship that I’ve just avoided it.

Some might argue that I’m escaping from life. I’m escaping the corporate news shows with their programming and a reality that I don’t care to be a part of. I like reality, but it’s the un-reality of the news that turns me off. Instead I’ve turned them off and I’m healthier for it. Please pray for the Buffalo Firefighters and their families.

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Don’t aim for success

Don’t aim at success–the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run–in the long run, I say–success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.

Read more: http://www.gaia.com/quotes/Viktor_Frankl#ixzz0PA7TnvLk

Yesterday, I finished listening to Viktor Frankl’s classic book, “Man’s Search for Meaning.” It had been recommended by a couple of authors I read this summer. The book and the story of Dr. Frankl is truly riveting. I really like this quote though because it contains an essential truth. I recommend the book to you either to read or listen to as I did..

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Stepping down

In a couple of months I’ll be stepping down as fraternity minister for our St. Irenaeus Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order. I really enjoy being a Secular Franciscan and lately I’ve been a bit more active in wearing my Tau. I’ve been challenged in that regard by my friend Br. Kevin Kriso, OFM. I’ve enjoyed being the minister of our fraternity at times and not enjoyed it at other times. I’m unorthodox and that is one of my strengths, but I sometimes find myself at odds with those around me a bit more tied to orthodoxy than I. I guess living the way I do, by the seat of my pants at times is unsettling to those folks.

One person in particular took issue with my use of Google Apps to facilitate communication amongst our fraternity and more than once in the last few years I’ve thought of how using technology like Moodle we’d be able to form individuals wanting to be Franciscans, but unable either by distance or family requirements to make our meetings. There is precedent for such activities as St. Clare formed Agnes of Prague by writing letters to her.

It was the website of the monastery of Christ in the Desert that reached out to me almost fifteen years ago and brought me slowly back to the church and eventually the Secular Franciscan Order. Being a web developer, a Blackberry user, a tweeter on Twitter and a blogger on WordPress much of this just seems to flow, but there are some folks that this sort of activity is either threatening or frightening to. A couple of years ago while spending time at St. Francis Inn in Philadelphia I noted that Fr. Michael Duffy, OFM was actually sending and receiving text messages in the middle of the dining room there. To some technology use seems un-godly I suppose and to others like me it’s just one more way of carrying a message of hope and reaching out to those around us.

In a couple of months I’ll return to being just another member of the Secular Franciscan Order. I’ve been a minister for three years and a secretary for three years before that. It’s time for a break. My plate is going to be very full this year doing varied tasks including graduate school. Quiet contemplative time continues to grow in my life and it’s something I crave more and more.

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven: — Ecclesiastes 3:1