Monthly Archives: June 2019

Graveyards

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I have a rather odd interest; I love traipsing around old cemeteries. It isn’t quite a hobby like video games or jogging. And it doesn’t produce the same sense of euphoria as writing sometimes can. And I don’t find myself cemetery traipsing nearly as much as those other pursuits either.

But yeah, put me in a cemetery setting and odds are I’ll tend to linger some. Likely more than most ?

Spots
When visiting Jamestown Virginia in high school, as part of a nearby family reunion, I remember being fascinated walking through mostly wooded areas, learning about the early settlers buried there in 1607.

When Kathi and I honeymooned in Key West Florida, home to the southernmost point in the US, you can be sure we spent some time at their cemetery. Lined with palm trees and blue skies it’s a picturesque tropical setting, nestled in the middle of a residential area, practically begging to be explored.

While at a work conference in Savannah Georgia fifteen years ago Kathi and I tacked on some trip time to explore this serene, historic city. We went to two Savannah cemeteries if memory serves, maybe more. Each were lined with Southern Live Oak trees, complete with drooping, curvaceous branches, often draped in Spanish moss that sometimes reaches the ground. It’s gorgeous.

Bird Girl, Bonaventure Cemetery; Savannah, GA

And I almost got to the Vienna Central Cemetery while on business trip in Europe. One weekend a couple of coworkers and I took a train, from Budapest, to visit Vienna. But I couldn’t quite convince them one of the largest cemeteries in the world, with over 300,000 graves and 3 million internments, was worth the time. I mean come on, Ludwig Von Beethoven is buried there! Perhaps one day.

Sights
Besides the history and picturesque settings and celebrity status cemeteries often contain there are, of course, the gravestones.

Gravestones represent a marker of a person’s life, a summary of what makes them, well them. Many stones contain religious symbols. A cross for Christians, a star of David for Jews, alongside other religious symbols too countless to name. Each providing clues to what faith the person claimed while with us here on earth.

Other stones immortalize hobbies, vocations, and interests.

Last week I had the chance to preside over a graveside funeral service for Bernard Ortgies at the Ames Municipal Cemetery. Bernard was a member of Bethesda a while ago before moving to Florida in retirement. And I couldn’t help but appreciate the gravestone for he and wife Sharon. Under Bernard’s name is a square and compass, under Sharon’s a book, and between them is Cy the Cyclone. He was an engineer, she a teacher; they both were big ISU sports fans.

And while there I couldn’t help but notice a gravestone with the last name of one of our current members, Kepley. The marker is for Danny Kepley’s parents; mom was buried there in 2016, one day dad will be joined alongside her once again. The Kepley gravestone gets my attention every time – there’s this great image of a tow truck on it. The Kepley’s owned a tow truck company in the area – what a neat way to celebrate that identity. It’s about as cool a marker as there is.

Some markers contain a few final words from the person; some funny, others reflective. The Key West cemetery has both, next to each other.

The marker for Pearl Roberts, a local hypochondriac who died at age 50, reads like this: “I told you I was sick.”

And right above that is the headstone for Gloria Russell. It simply says, “I’m just resting my eyes.” Downright poetic.

But for all the beauty and nature and history and symbolism and humor and poetry and earthly finality that cemeteries contain, there is one thing they don’t typically house.

At least when visiting hours are over.

Cemeteries aren’t meant to be a permanent address for the living.

And when the living find themselves taking up residence among the dead, and that happens sometimes, you know something is not quite right.

All of which leads us to today’s gospel.

Unclean Spirits
Luke 8 contains one of the more memorable biblical characters there is. A man who –

Was naked,
lived in tombs,
among the dead,
and likes to shout,
at people he’s just met.

Jesus, entering a new country, one with different religious beliefs, stepping from boat onto land, has this as his first impression.

Now I don’t get out of the US too much. Tho when passing state borders it’s always nice to see a “Welcome to Minnesota” sign or somesuch, and take a few minute break at the first rest stop.

Instead, the welcome sign Jesus got this day, when entering a new land, was a naked homeless shouting dude.

New country,
Different religion,
Naked guy approaches,
Naked guy starts shouting.

I don’t know about you, but if I stepped off a plane bound for a new destination and this were my first experience? I might just turn around.

But Jesus, of course, doesn’t do that.

He doesn’t turn away from the man;
He doesn’t return shouting with shouting;

Instead he engages.

The naked man falls down and shouts – at the top of his voice no less – “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of God? I beg you, do not torment me.”
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Jesus then asks the man’s name.

The man responds, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.

When unclean spirits of this world get a tight hold on us, or on loved ones, sometimes we can’t separate the person –

From the addiction;
From the disease;
From the stigma.

And we really should.

Christ is all about separating us from our demons.
And Christ wants us to help separate others from their demons. All in His name.

These demons then begged Christ to enter into a herd of pigs. A request Jesus granted. The piggy swine, apparently going peacefully about their piggy business beforehand, now go berserk, dash madly over a cliff, and drown.

It’s an absurd scene. I mean who’s ever heard of a swine stampede?
Theologian Patrick Willson concludes this:

“If pigs were runners, our bacon would look different.”

Noodle on that one.

Healing and Home
Separated from his demons, the man, now in his right mind, puts on some clothes. He then begs to go with Jesus and the disciples as they get back on the boat, to head home.

But Jesus had other plans. “Return to your home,” Christ responds. “And declare how much God has done for you.”

This, for a man whose demons had driven him away from others.
This, for a man who’d been living, in isolation, among the dead.

The man then went to his city.
The man then proclaimed all this.
The scene then ends.

Here
Admittedly scriptural talk of demon possession always strikes me as a bit wonky. At least when looking at it through the lens of our modern era.

Exorcisms these days are more likely to be paired with faith traditions that do things like snake handling and walking on hot coals. Which is not something you’ll see in too many Lutheran settings. Certainly not here ?

Yet this concept of being possessed, being led out of your right mind, and driven by unclean spirits to do some crazy things, that part I get.

Many theologians conclude that the demons of scriptural times are today’s mental health diagnoses, today’s addictions. Illnesses like depression, schizophrenia, addictions like gambling, alcohol, overeating. And when these demons get ahold of us they can do some nasty, destructive things.

They can drive us away from loving friends, loving family, loving community. They can strip us of our worth, leaving a destructive path in their wake. They can lead us, either literally or figuratively, to premature death.

Yet Christ desires, for us, so much more.

And with the help of Christ, present with us through those same loving friends, family, and faith community, and sometimes counselors and modern medicine as well, we too can often find healing from these divisive demons.

I have a backstory that includes a clinical diagnosis of major depressive disorder. And looking back it really felt like death; life had lost all meaning. If you’re struggling with depression the door is always open. At least let someone know; there are good resources out there that can help you.

Others of you may have experience with addictions of various sorts. Let me encourage you to talk about your challenges with others, whether you’re knee deep in the demons now or solidly along the road to recovery. The more we share the more help we get. The more help we get the more we heal. The more we heal the more help we can eventually give to others.

Close
Cemeteries can be beautiful places. I’ll likely not stop enjoying them any time soon. Especially when hip tow truck gravestones are nearby ?

But cemeteries and graves and tombs aren’t made for the living. They are relics of the past, monuments of what once was, markers of time now complete.

It is in these places Christ meets us where we’re at. The naked, shouting cemetery dwellers that we all sometimes can be. Christ then restores our mind, clothes our bodies, and sends us away from our own personal places of darkness. Sends us back to the city.

A city filled with friends, and family, and faith.
A city filled with Christ-followers, all seeking to be whole.
A city where you belong.
A city of light.
A city of life.

When you get back home, to your city, remember his one request.
Proclaim, my friends, throughout that city, how much Christ has done, for you. Amen.

Big Data

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As you may know, my first career – prior to pursing a pastoral path – was in market research. I worked for the Nielsen Company for a dozen years. Nielsen is the largest market research company in the world, by far, in terms of employees and revenue.

The company thinks that’s a big deal. These days I’m kinda meh on it.

While there I managed large, syndicated surveys for most my tenure, helping banks, insurance companies and restaurants better market their warez. If you can figure out the who, what, when, where and why of consumer purchase behavior, and then predict that behavior with some level of accuracy, well, big bucks are in your future.

Tho given my shift in vocation it’s safe to say that any notion of big bucks, personally speaking, is decidedly in the past ?

The surveys I managed at Nielsen had enviable sample sizes, at least when it comes to survey research. A small study was 10,000 completes a year, a larger study closer to 100,000 annually. And with those big numbers you could do big number crunching, segmenting people into all sorts of demographics and groups, all to better predict who would buy what.

Big Data
Admittedly having specific information on 100,000 people these days isn’t all that big a deal. Companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Netflix and Apple collect data, passively, through our many devices, and boast databases of information about millions, sometimes billions of people.

How many devices? One study predicts that by next year, 2020, more than 50 billion smart devices on our planet will be turned on at any given time. All equipped to gather, analyze, and share data across the globe.

50 Billion smart devices.
In a planet of only 7.7 Billion people.

The implications of all this, in terms of utility, are fairly clear: more knowledge, more information, more pretty much everything.

Now we just have to figure out what to do with it.

This massive data explosion is fairly new. Studies suggest more than 90% of data in the world has been created in the last three years.

Which makes the concept of big data, and what we do with all these learnings somewhat uncharted territory.

Today’s gospel text, from John 16:12-15, as you may have guessed, is not about big data. ?

Truth
But it is about truth. And where truth comes from. And how we acquire it. Which has implications about what we do with truth once acquired.

Sometimes I think we confuse the notion of information, data, and knowledge and even education and facts and options, we confuse all of that with an understanding of truth.

“I still have many things to say to you,” Christ begins, “but you cannot bear them now.” Jesus, speaking to the twelve, in his farewell discourse, was about to be arrested in the garden. And was giving the disciples some wisdom before his fate, and theirs would forever change.

“When the Spirit of truth comes they will guide you into all truth,” Christ continues. “The Spirit will declare to you things to come; taking what is mine, and declaring it to you. All the Father has, is mine. And the Spirit will take what is mine, and declare it, to you.”

It’s a beautiful description of the Trinity. The Godhead, three in one.

But it’s more than that. This text also describes the nature of divine truth and the conduit it flows through.

All divine truth comes –

From the Father,
To the Son,
And is declared,
by the Spirit,
to you.

It’s the Spirit, the active presence of God in our world, that keeps our faith traditions from getting stale. Otherwise we’d be talking about Jesus as just a historical character, a distant deity that lived 2,000 some odd years ago.

And that would kinda be that.

But Christ still has many things to say. To the disciples then, and to us now. And that happens, through the declarations, of the Spirit of truth.
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Could the implications of big data, and the many things it says, be part of that? And if so, how would we know?

Big Data
Big data, and the researchers and scientific minds behind it can solve all sorts of real-world problems. And evolve our world in some amazing, jaw-dropping, potentially very positive ways.

Big data is being used to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS, and will likely one day find a cure for it. Thank God for medical advances past, present and future. But big data won’t put those live-saving treatments into the hands of millions that can’t afford them, both here and abroad. The energy for that initiative comes from elsewhere.

Big data is lowering food and water costs across the globe. But big data can’t explain why placing jugs of water, canned beans and blankets, in the Arizona desert, left for migrants that might otherwise die without them. Big can’t explain why providing that basic humanitarian aid, in the US, is increasingly being treated as a crime.

Big data is being used to better understand our exploding prison population. It just keeps on going up and up and up, doesn’t it? Big data has, fortunately, identified solutions that would reverse this trend. Two of the best predictors of lowering prisoner headcounts it turns out are 1) visiting inmates, and 2) providing mental health services to high-risk populations. But big data, and all the 1s and 0s that make it up can’t, in isolation, implement change. It can’t force us to care.

To address challenges like these that big data can’t solve alone we need another source. An older source. A timeless source. A God source.

We need, in short, God data.

God Data
The best source for God data, within our Christian context, is, of course, scripture.

Talk of healthcare, and food and water and prisoners and people from other lands is covered really, really well in our ancient texts.

Consider Matthew 25:35-40

For I was hungry, you gave food;
I was thirsty, you provided drink;
I was a stranger, you welcomed me;
I was naked, you gave clothing;
I was sick, you cared for me;
I was in prison, you visited.

The disciples then asked, Lord, when was it that we saw you in need like this? When was it that we did these things for you?

Christ then replied, truly I tell you, whatever you have done to one of the least of these, who are all members of my family, you have done to me.

This one scriptural text, this one nugget of God data, provides pretty clear direction on what we, as Christ-followers, are to be about. God data gives a faith-based lens to apply the learnings of big data. It gives us the direction and resolve to address real-world problems, faithfully, in ways big data, on its own, simply can’t.

Big Bomb
Parker Palmer’s book, To Know As We Are Known, begins with a reflection on the film documentary The Day After Trinity. The film is about the team of American scientists who produced the first atomic bomb. “Trinity” was the ironic code name for that original explosion. Even more ironic is to be talking about it, in the context of a church festival today, referred to as Trinity Sunday.

The film reveals that it was only on the day *after* this original massive explosion that the scientists stopped to analyze, and agonize, on the implications of their work. We still live with the implications of this earlier form of big data, daily.

American physicist Robert Oppenheimer, who helped develop the atomic bomb, in his post-Hiroshima pronouncement, concludes, “the physicists have known sin.”

That’s worth pondering.

Close
Let me encourage you, fellow children of God, to be on the look-out for the Spirit of truth. She blows in the winds of change, seeking to improve the lives of all of God’s children. She represents an evolution of progress. One we can experience personally. And she wants nothing less than to include you, and make you a vital part, of her sacred work.

I still have many things to say to you, Christ proclaims. The Spirit of truth will declare them to you, he reminds. Some of those things may just reveal themselves through the efforts of big data. Other results of big data have nothing to do with the Spirit at all. Or even run counter to the Spirit.

And to know, to really know, which is which, let me encourage you, fellow children of God, to do some fact-checking. And then proceed faithfully, seeking to follow the Spirit of truth wherever she goes. To do that, make sure you check all data, by referencing the original Source. Amen.

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