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Janie’s Sermon

April 18, 2020 by Jim Leave a Comment

Janie Redwine Bartlett with Brother Jim

My sister, Jane Redwine Bartlett, is a retired psychology assistant professor and a working lay minister. She gave the following Easter message electronically. As she received some Good personal News the following week she may see that as a reward. It is a nice thought.

“Good Morning!  We gather in worship on this strangest of Easter Sundays—almost as strange as that first Easter 2000 years ago. When in your life have you ever given up so much for Lent? Forget giving up chocolate or starches or alcohol. Forget, “Don’t give something up; get out and do something good for others.” This year Lent has called for big time sacrifice.

We have given up freedom of movement, freedom of choice, jobs we love, family time around Easter ham, Mom’s brownies and colored eggs.  We also mostly gave up Shrove Tuesday Pancake Breakfasts, Maundy Thursday’s fellowship meals and Good Friday’s Stations of the Cross.

Some have given up income. Students have given up school and the important social interaction with friends, settling for parents REALLY as teachers—with results sometimes good; sometimes not so good. Many Moms and Dads have jobs or are trying to work from home. Teaching six different subjects to three different kids at three different grade levels while stirring the fried potatoes just isn’t fun.

As writer David Brooks says, we humans are social animals. We have always been stronger and served our God better when we reach out to others. Now we are cautioned against reaching out. Touch has always healed yet now touch can carry a death sentence. Because kids aren’t in school, child abuse reports have dwindled—school is about more than education; school is often the only ‘safe’ place for hungry, abused and neglected children.

Most worrisome for many of us is the giving up of our sense of safety and security—the, silent, unseen Covid 19 virus may be insidiously waiting just around the next corner or next aisle, not only for us but more importantly for one or more of our loved ones or friends. We may still have a job but are waiting for another round of layoffs. Almost 20 million unemployed boggles our minds as do the miles and miles of bread lines.

When shopping for groceries or taking a walk in the park turns in to a possible contamination of self or others, our world is rocked. Few of us have ever experienced such restrictions, and most of us have not experienced such pernicious fear or anxiety. When all has passed, what will our nation and our world resemble? Will we recognize those things we hold dear or will they have been forever changed? How about each of us? How are we being changed by this pandemic?

Today’s scripture finds Jesus’ disciples in a very similar situation. Their leader has been crucified, killed, buried. Roman and Jewish authorities are attempting to herd and capture them. They are frightened, hiding and fearing what will come next.

Hear the words from John 20: 1-18. As you listen, put yourself in the place of each character—Jesus, the Angels, Peter, John, Mary. How do you think each was feeling? Just as everyone around us now is reacting differently to what is going on, Mary, Peter, John and the others each react differently to Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion and the empty tomb. Some with awe; some with fear; some with disbelief, some with action.

As observant Jews, the disciples and faithful followers of Jesus had to leave his body unattended until the next day or bury him quickly.  Two of the Sanhedrin took charge—both wealthy enough to receive favors from their fellow Sanhedrin and from Pilate, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. I wonder if they were present for Jesus’ trial and chose not to speak?  What gave them courage now, these secret followers, to claim the body of this homeless, itinerant carpenter?

Peter fearfully and shamefully denied he was a follower of Jesus’, yet he almost beats John to the tomb on that first Easter Sunday morning and as the story plays out is still seen as a leader.  Mary, grieving deeply over this man who accepted her with all her wrongdoing, came to anoint Jesus’ body, but finds him missing. Mary rushes to tell Peter and John then returns to linger and mourn her loss.  John, the disciple who the Bible tells us,” Jesus loved”, raced Peter to the tomb– John’s ability to beat Peter at this race might have something to do with John’s youth. But apparently John didn’t have the nerve to enter the tomb, leaving that to Peter. When they saw the grave cloths were not disturbed but folded neatly, they were amazed.

Fear that the Roman or Jewish leaders had stolen Jesus’ body coupled with fear of what was going to happen in this new world environment had to be as disturbing as our fears of what our new world environment offers. As Christians we celebrate Easter as a day of Life Breaking Death—we rejoice over the renewal and rejuvenation of all things that have been lost. What a relevant celebration for this scary time.

Just as Mary didn’t recognize Jesus until he called her name, we too have difficulty seeing God and Jesus in the midst of this pandemic—particularly since we not only have to winnow out what is true and right and good, but because we must discard so much misinformation and despair. As Mr. Roger’s said when asked what you tell children to do in times of disaster or despair, “You look for the helpers. Keep your eye on the helpers.”

Excellent advice for all ages. I would say to you that God is in our midst, despite our inability to see God’s continual creating. In moments of doubt and confusion, darkness and struggle, fear and anxiety, it is normal for even faithful Christians to fail to see God, to find his loving goodness in the midst of despair.

If we remember our mandate to “Love One Another as Jesus Loved,” we can see sparks of hope, in the dainty pink tulips I discovered on my front porch, in the effort of my eldest brother who called to play, “The Holy City” on his saxophone for his siblings on National Sibling Day, in caring neighbors who bring soup and cinnamon rolls, in parents and teachers working together; in research scientists searching for a cure, in medical personnel who continue to treat Covid 19 patients even at risk of their health, in the RV’s for MD’s program New Song is investigating—we have the land and facilities; hopefully we can provide a service.

The fear and pain are huge right now. The message of Easter is that we are called to act in large and small ways to mitigate that pain wherever we can, including not encouraging others to gather—even in small groups.

The church has never been about the building but about our individual relationship with God and with one another. We will continue to Seek God, Create Community and Serve Humanity—that’s who we are.

The message of the empty cross and the empty tomb is that Jesus lives. As long as he lives within our hearts, as long as we continue to step up and serve others, being safe and cautious as we push through our fears, being faithful to our calling to love as Jesus loved, Easter may be celebrated differently; Easter might feel strange; but we each can come out of this quarantined, physically distanced world more connected, more loving, more kind and assured that God is alive, God is in our midst. He has risen; he has risen indeed.”

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Filed Under: COVID-19, Gavel Gamut, Religion Tagged With: child abuse, COVID19 virus, David Brooks, disciples, Easter Sunday, He has risen, James M. Redwine, Janie Redwine Bartlett, Jesus, Jewish leaders, Jim Redwine, John, Lent, love one another, Mary, Mom’s brownies, Peter, Roman leaders, unemployed

Hang Together Or Separately

November 8, 2019 by Jim 1 Comment

You may already know Peg and I bought a log cabin in Osage County, Oklahoma. Our home in Posey County, Indiana is a converted barn with 4,000 square feet of finished space and our barn/home also has a barn. Our cabin in Oklahoma is 2,000 square feet and we had to add a barn. Four thousand square feet of stuff does not smoothly fit in 2,000 square feet of space. However, my suggestion to Peg that we simply leave everything but our toothbrushes was not kindly received. Ergo, we are in the process of triage. I have learned the hard way to not suggest which items are disposable. My role is to take down and re-hang not to judge what should be preserved.

Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah, lived much of their married life separated by the Atlantic Ocean as Ben served as Minister to France while Deborah refused to accompany him. But they managed to raise three children and stay married for many years. I suspect their marital success was in large part due to staying put in one house most of their marriage. When Ben’s famous quote, “We must hang together or we will surely hang separately”, is cited most people probably assume Ben was talking about our Revolution from Great Britain. I propose he was giving marital advice. You know Ben was famous and got rich for his advice column Poor Richard’s Almanac. Why not accept that he was an early Ann Landers?

What I think Ben meant was, if you and your spouse wish to avoid all out warfare, you should never engage in moving and especially not in what should be hung and where. For example, when I was sixteen my parents moved one block to a different house. Our family had three pictures on the walls. One was a black and white 8” x 10” photograph of our immediate family and the other two were Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper (not the original) and some European’s creation of a blond-haired Jesus. All three were taken down by my mother and put back up by my father. No argument, no stress.

On the other hand, Peg and I have countless photos of us, of our three kids and their spouses, of our seven grandkids, some of whom already have spouses, and one great-grand kid. We have knickknacks from family vacations, from gifts and from school projects. Every wall in our Indiana home/barn is festooned with something. And Peg demands all of it must be hung in our much smaller Oklahoma cabin. Of course all our furniture has to be carefully placed somewhere too. Well, you see the dilemma.

We are gingerly adjusting to this new strain of “Cabin Fever”, but there is a constant simmering of strife just below the lip-biting surface. My position is usually reasoned and rational, but Peg’s is often influenced by emotion. For example, yesterday we spent over an hour negotiating if a forty-pound mirror should be saved and, if so, where would it go? Peg’s position was it is a family heirloom and my response about it not being from my side of the family was not charitably received. The mirror now hangs in its new location.

Peg and I have now made nine trips to the cabin with items crammed onto a trailer and in a car (SUV) and a pickup. We have about two more trips to go. Each trip takes about twelve hours each way and requires a day to load and another day to unload. The nitty gritty of what goes where will consume the remainder of our lives and marriage.

Now, if you Gentle Reader, wish to be a modern day Ben Franklin marriage saver, feel free to give us a hand and bring a truck!

 

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Filed Under: Females/Pick on Peg, Gavel Gamut, JPeg Hoosier Ranch, JPeg Osage Ranch, Males, New Harmony, Oklahoma, Osage County, Personal Fun Tagged With: Ben Franklin, cabin fever, Deborah Franklin, Gentle Reader, Hang Together Or Separately, Indiana barn/home, James M. Redwine, Jesus, Jim Redwine, Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, Minister to France, Oklahoma cabin, Osage County, Poor Richard’s Almanac, Posey County, Revolution from Great Britain

Do We Want To Fool Mother Nature?

April 12, 2019 by Jim Leave a Comment

China’s National Science Review reported in March 2019 that Bing Su of the Kunming Institute of Zoology has inserted human genes into monkeys. His apparent goal was to investigate how the brains of early primates developed along different paths with monkeys remaining in the trees and Homo sapiens progressing to the Internet.

Chinese scientist He Jiankui while at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China claims to have modified the genome, the DNA, of twin female humans in an attempt to preempt the possibility of them someday contracting the HIV virus.

Both of these researchers dealt with DNA and CRISPR. DNA is familiarly known as deoxyribonucleric acid and CRISPR is an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. The genome is the famous Double Helix discovered by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. DNA is our 23 pairs of intertwined chromosomes that make us us. CRISPR is the DNA from viruses that might protect us from other viruses such as HIV.

Gentle Reader, if I were you I would not rely upon this exposition of biological knowledge from me for answers you may wish some paid tutor to give on your child’s SAT test. Please remember, I was an English major.

Instead of science, let’s you and I turn to literature for our analysis of genetic engineering. We can start at the beginning. In Genesis, that was written about 400 BC if we look to the Dead Sea Scrolls for a date, Yahweh was doing a little human manipulation when he decided Adam needed a companion. The DNA from Adam’s rib was used to create Eve. The Bible does not explain why two Adams was not the result. However, blissful ignorance was the life these humans led until fruit from the Tree of Knowledge was eaten. Some may think it’s been all downhill since.

About 300 years before Adam and Eve those marvelous Greeks were writing about Achilles who was the product of a human, Peleus, and the immortal nymph, Thetis. This mixing of DNA’s of differing species helped lead to the sack of Troy.

Of course, Jesus, about 2,000 years ago, was a similar product of the human Mary and a god who used genetic merging to create a Prince of Peace. To my way of thinking this was evidence there may be some true benefit to Mankind from such genomitry.

As for me, I could support the manipulation of human genetics if we could create drivers who would not clog up the passing lane and who could survive at least a few moments without a cell phone stuck in their ear. Also, as a husband, could we not embed in wives a gene that allows for beer and football instead of yard work?

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Filed Under: Gavel Gamut, Martyrs, Personal Fun Tagged With: Achilles, Adam, Bing Su, Dead Sea Scrolls, DNA CRISPR, Eve, Genesis, genome, Gentle Reader, Greeks, He Jiankui, HIV, James M. Redwine, Jesus, Jim Redwine, Mary, Peleus, Prince of Peace, Troy

Merry Christmas to Us

December 27, 2018 by Jim Leave a Comment

If the message of Christmas were simply gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, etc., etc., it would have died out about as unceremoniously as the current stock market. Therefore, we should probably consider if there are other possibilities.

When the Jews were conquered by the Romans they reacted as most oppressed people would. Their cultural myths concentrated on deliverance. In general, deliverance from an omnipotent force can take three approaches: armed rebellion; assimilation; and/or peaceful coexistence.

To some of the Hebrews their hoped-for messiah would be a warrior who would throw off the Roman rule. To others the approach was more of total capitulation. But for many the thought was a Prince of Peace would provide the best hope. To fight Rome, as the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 A.D. showed, was to court annihilation. As the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius chronicled, revolt by the Jews brought total devastation to their society.

On the other hand, the Romans and Jews of that time did not appear to be interested in peaceful coexistence except upon terms set by Rome. That left real deliverance from bondage for the Jewish people to be more metaphysical, that is, through philosophy not armed resistance. And it took 2,000 years, the horrors of WWII and the benevolence of the world’s new Rome, the United States of America, before Jewish self-determination could be realized. Still true peace as called for by Jesus is elusive. The Middle East continues to be an area where armed rebellion is both ubiquitous and futile.

Perhaps we should give the true message of Christmas a chance. I know President Trump has his faults and I carry no brief for much of what our government does in our name. However, to withdraw from foreign conflicts that simply kill thousands, destroy cultures and cost trillions appears to me to be the course Jesus would call for. Merry Christmas and welcome home to our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever else we are engulfed in endless counterproductive conflicts. And if we really are the new Rome maybe we should learn from the military fiascoes of that ancient one.

The debacle on Wall Street might best be addressed not by quarrelling over interest rates but by investing our treasure in ourselves instead of squandering it in the vain pursuit of a Pax Americana.

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Filed Under: America, Christmas, Democracy, Gavel Gamut, Martyrs, Middle East, Patriotism, War Tagged With: armed rebellion, assimilation, debacle on Wall Street, frankincense, gold, Hebrews, hope-for Messiah, invest our treasure in ourselves, James M. Redwine, Jesus, Jews, Jim Redwine, Josephus Flavius, Merry Christmas to Us, Middle East, myrrh, Pax Americana, peaceful coexistence, President Trump, Prince of Peace, Romans, Rome's military fiascoes, stock market, true message of Christmas, withdraw from wars, WWII

Feet of Clay

August 25, 2017 by Jim Leave a Comment

Picture by Peg Redwine

William Shakespeare had Marc Antony preach these words at Julius Caesar’s funeral:

“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

Act III, Scene 2

Antony went on to list Caesar’s accomplishments in addition to his being ambitious. There was some good, some bad. Perhaps the citizens of Rome should have erected a partial statue of Caesar honoring just the good parts.

This could be a solution to our current controversy over monuments to historic figures. A committee could be composed of people who admire the works of a now dead leader and those who find the figure’s behavior flawed. A few examples might be helpful.

George Washington survived Valley Forge, presided over the Constitutional Convention and refused the opportunity to be named an emperor. On the other hand he owned hundreds of slaves and helped enshrine slavery into our legal system. The Committee might consider cutting the Washington Monument in half.

Thomas Jefferson was responsible for the Bill of Rights that guaranteed individual liberty but only to twenty-one year old white males. He also owned slaves and had children by one of them. Today such an employer/subject relationship would result in severe censure. Perhaps the Committee might recommend the Jefferson Memorial be closed every other week.

As we search for unblemished heroes to honor we could consider Abraham Lincoln who issued the Emancipation Proclamation. However, he at first averred slavery would be preferable to the disintegration of the Union and the Proclamation did not free all slaves just those in the states of the Confederacy. The Committee could maybe have a disclaimer added as a placard around his statue’s neck.

Andrew Jackson committed adultery, captured Seminole Indians under a flag of truce and as president created The Trail of Tears. On the other hand, he was a courageous and victorious military leader. A short bronze bust could replace his heroic sized statue.

As for Mount Rushmore the Committee would have to remove at least 3 of the 4 figures. Of course, Teddy Roosevelt had a penchant for shooting animals which might upset the ASPCA; so all 4 might have to be erased.

Right here in Posey County, Indiana we have a dilemma about what to do with our most famous citizen. Alvin Peterson Hovey was once Posey Circuit Court Judge, a Civil War general for the Union and our only governor. Unfortunately, he also was instrumental in helping to cover up the murders of seven Black men in October 1878. One of those Black men was shot and stuffed into a hollow tree on a farm owned by Hovey. Will the Committee have to remove the glowing patina from Hovey’s bronze in the Indiana State House?

One might look to Jesus as the paragon of virtue but even he got angry and threw the moneychangers out of the temple. He, also, voiced his hope that the cup of his great travail might pass from him. On the other hand, apparently no one knows what Jesus looked like unless one believes the Shroud of Turin is a clue. I guess the Committee would not be able to find any statues of Jesus to modify.

It appears that history has not provided us with any perfect examples to honor. Maybe the Committee will have to suggest that all statues be modified by substituting feet of clay.

Picture by Peg Redwine

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Filed Under: America, Circuit Court, Democracy, Females/Pick on Peg, Gavel Gamut, Judicial, Law, Males, Posey County, Slavery, War Tagged With: Abraham Lincoln, abuse of women, Alvin Peterson Hovey, Andrew Jackson, ASPCA, Bill of Rights, Civil War general, Constitutional Convention, Emancipation Proclamation, emperor, feet of clay, flag of truce, George Washington, governor of Indiana, Indiana State House, James M. Redwine, Jefferson Memorial, Jesus, Jim Redwine, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, moneychangers, monuments, Mount Rushmore, murders of seven Black men in October 1878, paragon of virtue, Posey Circuit Court Judge, Posey County Indiana, Rome, Seminole Indians, Shroud of Turin, slavery, statues, Teddy Roosevelt, the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones, The Trail of Tears, Thomas Jefferson, Union, Valley Forge, Washington Monument, William Shakespeare

Cultural Cleansing

August 20, 2017 by Jim Leave a Comment

A nation is its culture and experience, its history. That is what determines its character. The same is true of the world. We learn or do not learn from the mistakes and accomplishments of ourselves and those who have preceded us. If we learn, we can accomplish more. If we do not learn, we may repeat mistakes. To learn from the past we must know and understand it. If we hide the past, we do not change what has happened but we may live to regret that we no longer remember it.

ISIS or ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq or the Islamic State of Syria, has been culturally cleansing the ancient Middle East for several years. Its members are offended by statues, monuments and artifacts that once, before ISIS destroyed them, carried within them thousands of years of human knowledge and culture. ISIS could not bear to allow memories of ancient or even contemporary peoples who had the temerity to have different beliefs from ISIS. This is particularly puzzling with religious differences since ISIS’s belief system is based on its particular interpretation of Islam which could not have existed before Mohammad who lived from 570 A.D. to 632 A.D. Yet ISIS viciously attacks the artifacts and history of cultures thousands of years old.

Of course, ISIS as all such denigrators of history, is not changing the facts of history. ISIS is merely proving their own ignorance of it. Such actions are much as children who put their hands over their eyes or duck their heads under the covers in an attempt to convince themselves that because they do not see something it never existed. Or as ISIS and some other people do, they destroy historical artifacts and try to convince themselves and others that a certain history never happened. Of greater concern is the very real possibility their actions will lead to the loss by future generations of an opportunity to learn from that history.

To preserve and observe a historical artifact, a temple to Baal that was 5,000 years old or a Christian church that was 2,000 years old for example, is not to worship Baal or Jesus but is to build upon and learn from history. To destroy artifacts of a nation’s past does not change that past but it may result in the nation repeating past errors because those errors are out of sight and therefore out of mind.

History teaches us that power waxes and wanes and that who is on top today may be oppressed tomorrow. The burning or banning of books, say the Bible for example, does not invalidate a book’s content. It does validate the lack of vision of those who arrogate to themselves the sole interpretation of truth or history.

Each of us has the right to venerate or denigrate whatever philosophy, religion or creed we wish. However, just because what happened in history may be offensive to us does not mean we should attempt to establish such history never occurred. Haven’t we lived through enough of such culture destroying behavior to recognize the danger in such a course?

Perhaps next week we can revisit such a revision of history that occurred right here in Posey County, Indiana and delve into what that revision might mean to us today

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Filed Under: America, Democracy, Gavel Gamut, Middle East, War Tagged With: artifacts, Bible, Christian church, cultural cleansing, ISIL, ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq, Islamic State of Syria, James M. Redwine, Jesus, Jim Redwine, Mohammad, monuments, nation's culture and experience, statues, temple to Baal

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