And nothing else

The lights go out and I can't be saved
Tides that I tried to swim against
Have brought me down upon my knees
Oh I beg, I beg and plead, singing

Come out of things unsaid
Shoot an apple off my head and a
Trouble that can't be named
A tiger's waiting to be tamed, singing

You are
You are

Confusion never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks
Gonna come back and take you home
I could not stop that you now know, singing

Come out upon my seas
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure?
Or am I part of the disease? Singing

You are, you are, you are
You are, you are, you are

And nothing else compares
Oh nothing else compares
And nothing else compares

You are
You are

Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go
Home, home where I wanted to go

I'll take a "more glorious" triumph...

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love a man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." --Thomas Paine

So that explains it...

I am suffering from extreme jet lag. Just to explain the scope of this jet lag, my home in Plainville is five hours behind London. Five. Can you imagine this? It is 9 a.m. here, it is 2 p.m. there; it is 1 p.m. here, it is 6 p.m. there. I could go on, but I believe you get the picture. 4 p.m., 9 p.m. Exactly. No one who is six hours away from where their natural body clock is telling them they are, can be held to account for their words or actions. When it is lunchtime here, I want dinner. This is no way to live.

"As I mentioned in my speech Wednesday, I am suffering from extreme jet lag. Just to explain the scope of this jet lag, my home in Libya is six hours ahead of New York. Six. Can you imagine this? It is 9 a.m. here, it is three p.m. there; it is 1 p.m. here, it is 7 p.m. there. I could go on, but I believe you get the picture. 4 p.m., 10 p.m. Exactly. No man who is six hours away from where his natural body clock is telling him he is, can be held to account for his words or actions. When it is lunchtime here, I want dinner. This is no way to live."--from "Saturday Night Live" sketch, "U.N. Address Open: Libyan President Muammar Qadhafi explains himself" on 9/25/09

Reluctantly giving up control...

Spent a week in a dusty library
Waiting for some words to jump at me
We met by a trick of fate
French navy, my sailor mate

We met by the moon on a silvery lake
You came my way
Said, "I want you to stay."

You and your dietary restriction
Said you loved me with a lot of conviction
I was waiting to be struck by lightning
Waiting for somebody exciting like you

Oh, the thing that you do
You make me go, "Oooh"
With the things that you do, you do, you do

I wanted to control it
But love, I couldn't hold it
I wanted to control it
But love, I couldn't hold it

I'll be criticized for lending out my art
I was criticized for letting you break my heart
Why would I stand for disappointed looks
Fooling all, but I'm on tenterhooks, ooh with the looks
On tenterhooks,
Ooh, with the looks, the looks, the looks

I wanted to control it
But love, I couldn't hold it
I wanted to control it
But love, I couldn't hold it

Relationships were something I used to do
Convince me they are better for me and you
We met by a trick of fate
French navy, my sailor

I wanted to control it
But love, I couldn't hold it
I wanted to control it
But love, I couldn't hold it
--from "French Navy" by Camera Obscura

I can't help but wonder...

I often wonder why he came to me
Brought such a flame to me
Then let it die
And if another love should find my heart
It will remind my heart of your goodbye
With every new love
You’ll come back to me
In other eyes it’s you I see
If I love again
Though it’s someone new
If I love again
It will still be you
In someone else’s firm embrace
I close my eyes but see your face
If I love again
I’ll find another's charms
But I’ll make believe
You are in my arms
And though my lips whisper "love me!"
My heart will not be true
I’ll be loving you
Every time I love again...
--from "Funny Lady"

Impatient for the promise

“Impatience and Eternity” A Lenten Sermon Preached by
Reverend W. Dale Osborne on March 22, 2009
Lectionary Texts: Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:14-21

This is the fourth Sunday in the Christian season called Lent. Around the world people like
you and me are living out their Lenten promises as a way of connecting more fully to the life
Jesus encouraged us to live. From Bangkok to Barcelona, our friends in Christ are patiently
and sometimes impatiently waiting for the promises of Easter. . . . There are millions of people who count Jesus as their redeemer and teacher who are
consciously and unconsciously seeking God’s abiding presence as they make their way on
the journey we call life. The lectionary readings from scripture on this fourth Sunday of Lent
can encourage the faithful to be focused on facing our fears, stretching our patience and
receiving the gift of eternity in Christ.

Our Old Testament reading is from the book of Numbers which is the fourth book of the
Hebrew Torah. The Torah which means teaching or instruction is composed of the first five
books of what we Christians call the Old Testament. Do any of our young people know why
this fourth book of the Torah is called Numbers? How did it earn this name? Most scholars
believe it is called Numbers because of how it begins. The book of Numbers begins with the
first census of Israel. A census is something we do at least every ten years here in the United
States. The book of Numbers details how the first census was taken for Israel. A census is
just a proper way of saying “Let’s count everyone who is part of our tribe or state or country.
Let’s find out what our total number of people is.” If the book of Numbers was just a census
it would have been quite boring. Thankfully it contains more than just numbers. Following
the census chapters there are several chapters containing laws. Laws are boring for some
people too. In order to keep Numbers more readable for people like me, the story-telling or
narrative section begins in Chapter 9. It follows the people of Israel from near the southern
tip of the Sinai Peninsula to Moab, which is east of Palestine, over a period of 38 years.
Numbers is less a history book and more of a recollection of how God and the people of
Israel interacted during their journey away from slavery in Egypt and toward their promised
land. Today’s lesson from Chapter 21 focuses on a critical time of heated, strained and
reconnected relationships between the Israelite people, their earthly leader Moses and
Yahweh, their God.

. . . .Our story finds the Israelite people due southwest of the Dead Sea. Their leader and main
connection to Yahweh is Moses. Moses who had worked so hard to convince Pharaoh to let
the Hebrew people go now had a bit of an angry mob on his hands. According to the New
Interpreters Bible Commentary, during their journey from Egypt to Palestine, the Bible tells
us of eight rebellions: six of the people against their leaders and God, and two of their leaders
against God. In today's reading, the people rebel against Moses and God. The people are
“impatient” or short-tempered because Moses has refused to engage Edom in battle and,
therefore their journey to Palestine is made longer. They are also impatient and angry
because of “this miserable food”. The miserable food was the “manna” which God had sent
to them when they were hungry in the wilderness. The people are resenting what God gives
them freely. In response to their anger and impatience, God sends “poisonous serpents”
whose bites become inflamed on the people who are bitten shortly before they die. The
people don’t like this course of events at all. The biting and the pain and the death made
them rethink their impatience and anger. Eventually, they repent, and ask Moses to intercede
for them. “Pray to the LORD” they beseech Moses in verse 7. God replies that the people
will be healed through a symbol, a bronze or copper snake on a pole. Those who are bitten by
the poisonous snakes are asked to look at the bronze snake on the pole in order to be saved
and healed from their poisonous plight.

This story of impatience and anger towards leaders and towards God rings true on many
levels today. I think of the great anger and impatience that people in the United States and
around the world are feeling due to the collapse of our financial systems. People are being
bitten by mortgage debts as they see their homes foreclosed. Unscrupulous lenders and
merchants of Wall St seem to be poisoned by greed. We cry out to our leaders to take away
our pain. Send the swindlers to jail where they belong we say! What then shall we look at in
order to ease our pain? What can be raised up on a pole for us to gaze upon and find healing?

. . . .The disciples who followed Jesus during his three years of recorded ministry on earth in and
around Galilee had reason to be impatient. They longed for a kingdom that might give them
power and security. The new disciples of Jesus who composed the early church after his
death were also impatient. They had access to John’s record of the Gospel which could have
prompted either anxiety or serenity depending on how it was interpreted for them. Many of
them hoped that Jesus would be returning soon. How long would they have to wait patiently
for an age of grace and hope to be realized? What could be raised up for them to heal the ills
of the impatience, anxiety and anger early Christians experienced in the face of oppression by
the ruling authorities?

John offered to them what he could based on his interpretation of God’s actions at work in
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. God did not raise up a bronze serpent on a pole as
Moses had been instructed to do hundreds of years in their past. God moved in a new
direction to quell the fears of an impatient people. The words of the Gospel are just as
compelling to me and millions of Christians today as they were nearly two thousand years
ago. They are words of solace and of hope in the midst of turbulent times. They are words
of eternity in the face of impatience. In John 3: 14-17 we read, “And just as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in
him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not
send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through him.”

I have always found it boldest and best to deal with impatience and anger through the eyes,
ears and heart of eternity. In Christ, through Christ and with Christ there is eternal hope,
eternal love and eternal life. For this I am eternally grateful. Thanks be to God.

It's true, it's true, it's true...

I've always known, It's no surprise
It's just my pride keeps me from showing
Time after time, I've tried to disguise
But it's your love that keeps me going

When I find myself in doubt
Your love comes and pulls me out
And when I turn away
You give more and more love every day
Every day

Nobody loves me like you
Nobody loves me like you do

Nobody loves me like you
No one ever loved me
The way you do
No one ever loved me
Loved me like you do

All of my life I've needed you
Sometimes I know that I don't show it
I love you, Lord, for all that you do
And I want the whole world to know it

When I find myself in doubt
Your love comes and pulls me out
And when I turn away
You give more and more love every day
Every day

Nobody loves me like you
Nobody loves me, loves me like you
--Amy Grant

Climb every mountain

"To abolish all valleys means getting rid of all mountains" --Alan Watts

I will not have loved enough

NOD OVER COFFEE

All the unsaid words that I might be thinking
And all the little signs that I might give you
They would not be enough
No they would not be enough

So we nod over coffee and say goodbye
Smile over coffee and turn to go
We know the drill and we do it well
We love it, we hate it
Ain't that life

Ain't that the curse of the second hand
Ain't that the way of the hour and the day

If I weren't so alone and afraid
They might pay me what I am worth
But it would not be enough
You deserve better

So we nod over coffee and say goodbye
Do whatever has to be done again today
Get in the traffic and time will fly
Look at the sun and pray for rain

Ain't that the curse of the second hand
Ain't that the way of the hour and the day

The dam of time cannot hold back
The dust that will surely come of these bones
And I'm sure I will not have loved enough
Will not have loved enough

If we could see with wiser eyes
What is good and what is sad and what is true
Still it would not be enough
Could never be enough

So we nod over coffee and say goodbye
Bolt the door it's time to go
Into the car with the radio on
Roll down the window and blow the horn

Ain't that the curse of the second hand
Ain't that the way of the hour and the day

--Mark Heard, from the album, "Second Hand"