Interviews with cool people!

One of the best things about my "job" is getting to meet and chat with interesting folk around the Brandon area. I write "community profiles", featuring people who live and/or work here and who contribute to the identity of the region; people who - by their presence - make the community tick.

Yesterday I spent both the morning and the afternoon in fascinating conversation. My morning interview - Althea - works with the emergency relief program at Nativity Catholic Church in Brandon - she's taking a call in the picture. I scheduled the interview to talk about the "St. Jude the Apostle Medal" award she received, but of course we ended up talking about her entire life - the story behind the story.

How do you write a 650 word "profile" of someone who moved to New York from Trinidad at 14, marched with MLK, married an ambassador, attended finishing school in France, lived 13 years in Africa, worked with the United Nations, served on dozens of high-profile boards, is an accomplished journalist, and now dedicates her considerable talents to helping those who live on the edge somehow keep their balance and make it to next week without falling into the precipice of destitution...?

So she made me a cup of tea, decided to trust me, and let me look into her soul so that I could try to learn enough to distill the essence of her huge story into a feature - a story the newspaper may or may not remember to print right away after I pass it on to my editor...

After a good lunch and another cup of tea with Rebekah, I met with Mike and Sherry Moore. Mike and Sherry host a radio program called Community In Touch. You can check out their website at communityintouch.org.

Community in Touch is - essentially - a radio version of my newspaper column! The show features people whose faith stories impact the community they live in. The hosts interview in a conversational style that is both informal and entertaining.

But I can't write a column about why Mike and Sherry are doing this without getting the deep background. So we chatted for almost two hours. They both have extensive backgrounds in the television industry; they both have profound stories to share about how God radically re-ordered their lives; they both feel called to ministry; they both understand that their gifts in media are the best way they can respond to that call...

How am I going to condense a conversation like that into 650 words? Well, I will, and I'm confident that I'll communicate enough of their story that readers will be informed, entertained, and inspired.

This is one of the ways that God feeds me. I am privileged to get to know - on a deep level - so many folk who live at the cutting edge of possibility. It gives me hope as well as inspiration. Because I know that so many amazing people are living committed lives as faithful disciples and that the world will never be the same because they have the courage to live their faith out loud.

Once in a while, you might want to pick up the newspaper you swore you'd never read again and give it another try!

- DEREK

Cold morning musings

Note: If you're not familiar with this blog, here's a short introduction. I tend to write these posts "stream of consciousness"; un-edited; absent of finesse. Consequently, I'll contradict myself from time to time, write things that disappoint those who want me to be more orthodox, and reveal myself as a rough-hewn work in progress. That's Okay; I'm fine with being imperfect. I'm honestly more interested with my general trajectory than in my writing "holding water" every time I post...

- DEREK

This morning I bundled up in my thickest sweater, pulled on my warmest coat, fished out a pair of gloves, and ventured out into the cold. I even donned an old tweed hat that I purchased years ago in England.

Don't laugh, friends from the frozen north, but it was 25 degrees here in Valrico and that's chilly at 6:30 in the morning wherever you live!

But the payoff - for getting up before light and walking three miles with an enthusiastic pooch - was huge. By the time we made it down to the 8th hole on the golf course there was enough light to catch the heavy, even frosting; the effect made the fairway and the green emit a pale, translucent, light.

I paused to read my daily Upper Room Devotional, and discovered these words from First Timothy: "Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future." -1 Timothy 4:8 (TEV)

Obviously, I've talked along this line before. But I hadn't run across Paul's particular take on the idea in his letter to Timothy, and it is helping me articulate something that's been on my mind recently in terms of contemplating the future.

Different seasons of my life have come with unique emphases. As a young person I was pretty much defined by physicality: strength, endurance, balance, speed, hand-eye coordination. Later I became more conscious of my intellect, powers of reason, clear thinking and communication; I didn't mature as a writer until I was in my forties, and then I didn't publish my first book until I was fifty because I really wasn't ready - it took that long to develop the capacity and the understanding and the insight to have anything "book-worthy" to say.

And now - approaching 54 - I am beginning to sense a spiritual coming of age that has been decades in the making. It is occurring to me that - maybe - this emergent stage of my life may be defined more by spirituality than by the physical or the intellectual.

Of course there is a lot of overlap - we are an integrated package, more complex and more interconnected than we realize. It's still important - maybe more than ever - that I take care of my body; and I am still learning how to utilize all the potential held in the phenomenal mechanism of the human brain and psyche. But I think there may be a significant shift in terms of emphasis.

I, as a created being, am constantly learning the wonders of what it means to be human. More and more I'm realizing the limitless potential vested in aligning my spirit with the care and the purposes of the Creator. That understanding effects my spirit, my intellect, my physical body... and every as-yet-unrealized aspect of my life as a Child of God existing in the borderland of both time and eternity.

Good job I'm so young yet - so much still to learn!

Love and blessings - DEREK

Epiphany - and a year of fine cuisine!

Today is Epiphany. My first thought - as it was below freezing around Tampa Bay this morning - is for those hapless Greek Orthodox youths over in Tarpon Springs who will be jumping into the frigid waters to retrieve the cross. More power to them for their traditional celebration - I pray that they make the connection between this day and the continual interest God has in providing refreshment and reinvigoration to each of our lives every day of the year!

But what I really want to talk about is my scaled down "Julie & Julia" initiative. Christmas, as you may recall, was kitchen-themed in our house. We bought each other a compete set of "Emeril" pots and pans, stocked up our gourmet supplies, and generally rounded out the kitchen project.

One of my gifts to Rebekah came with a twist. I presented her with two new cookbooks, along with the promise that I would prepare a new recipe for one of the volumes, each week during 2010.

I'm starting out with "Cooking New American: 200 recipes from the Editors of Fine Cooking". Last night was "Seared sliced pork loin with quick pan sauce." There are seven pan sauces to ch0ose from and I went with the lemon-caper reduction sauce. Yes, you can start drooling now!

The book comes with clear directions and several color photographs for each menu. I followed the directions exactly! The pork loin juices worked in with the butter and olive oil and I set the meat aside to add the stock, lemon juice and capers. I've moved from regular salt to sea salt; I squeezed fresh lemon juice; I prepared organic veggies from the produce aisle; I sipped white wine while cooking (don't all gourmet chefs sip wine while cooking?).

And, I've got to tell you, the results were amazing! I'm a decent cook to begin with, but I had fallen into the pattern of twenty or so dishes I can fix without thinking too hard and the new kitchen simply wouldn't stand for such slouching!

Come to think of it; a brand new year spilling over with possibility and grace won't stand for slouching either. Why coast when you can push the envelope? Why settle for ordinary when we were created to be and do extra-ordinary?

There are several distinct aspects of our lives. Our physical person; our amazing minds; the core spiritual being that defines us; our relationships with other people; our work and our recreation; our response to the physical world; how we chose to engage the opportunity we all have to involve the presence and purposes of the Creator...

All these are in need of people committed to excellence.

As for Week One of the "Recipe Initiative", I'll chalk it up as a success. I prepared mashed potatoes, fresh vegetables, and whole-wheat bread to accompany the seared sliced pork loin with lemon-caper reduction sauce. I learned that - in the sudden heat and rush of a pan sauce - it pays to have a preheated oven and all the ingredients prepared and measured.

I'm already looking forward to next week - DEREK

Twelfth Day of Christmas - the gift of light and life

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my true love sent to me...."

Well, here it is: after almost two weeks of celebrating it's the twelfth and final day of the Christmas season. Yesterday I confessed that I had lost some enthusiasm for my re-interpretation of the 12 days. But that was simply a deficit in blog-posting; keeping Christmas front and center in my heart and mind has been fairly easy - because I have been crafting a more deliberate "God-consciousness", a fact of practice that stands in front of the vicissitudes of sentiment and emotion.

Let me explain.

Sunday morning one of our conversations centered around prayer. A women in my class confessed to an ongoing crisis in faith. "I don't pray that much anymore," she said. "It doesn't really work - so why bother?"

It was an interesting observation. "Explain 'it doesn't really work'", I said.

"God isn't going to make things happen just because I asked for them," she said. "I know I'm not going to get what I want just because I pray, so I don't bother any more."

Obviously there was a lot to talk about, and there are no pat answers for such deeply personal statements of un-faith. But I'd like to share some of my thoughts in this space because I believe it comments on my earlier observation that I'm crafting "a more deliberate God-consciousness" in 2010.

First off, prayer is the language of relationship, not a drive-through window where we bark our order into the microphone and then "drive round to the first window" to pick up the goodies. The real issue is my friend's statement "So why bother?" I bother with prayer for a number of compelling reasons.

• I find that talking with God has the effect of aligning my essential being with the force that created and sustains the universe.
• I love God; the deliberate choice to spend regular and focused time in consideration of who God is and what God means to me has the effect of deepening that love.
• I have noted a correlation between time spent in prayer and devotion and the tendency of my way of living to be more Christ-like.
• When - to use an idea I introduced in my posting about my cousin Linda's response to her terminal prognosis - we can't tell anymore where we end and where God begins, we tend to make decisions and nurture thoughts and cultivate desires that are more recognizable as compatible with the will of God.
• I have noted an increase in creativity and productivity and life-satisfaction when I spend more time in prayer...

These are just a few of the reasons that I "bother" with prayer. None of them - and this is very important - none of these reasons have anything to do with prayer "working" in the sense that I get what I want or that God does what I beg for. Instead, what I want tends to shift and I become a part of God's plan rather than God being recruited as an ally for the furtherance of my plan.

This is what I mean when I talk about "crafting a more deliberate God-consciousness". The sacred rhythm of celebrations such as the 12-days-of-Christmas help a great deal when it comes to living faith as a day-to-day routine. That's why I am a strong believer in following the "Ecclesiastical Calendar" - at least to the extent that I am exposed to facets of faith on a routine basis that I might miss on my own.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the 2009-2010 Christmas season. My heartfelt prayer is this - for me, my family, and everyone who I'm in touch with via this blog:

• "May the light and the life that God planted into the heart of human experience at Christmas continue to fill each one of us with hope, peace, love and joy throughout the coming year. Amen!"

Day 11 - So much to learn

Today is the "Eleventh Day of Christmas". I'm still celebrating the fact that Christmas is very much alive, but I've lost a little enthusiasm vis-a-vis blogging my own version of the "12 Days of Christmas." A couple of my entries have lacked imagination. So, if I was uninspired by my writing - well I can just imagine what it did for the rest of you!

So this morning I'm writing about the new study my adult Sunday-school class launched this weekend.

The name of the class is "Everyday Christianity"; it's a reinvention

of the "Practical Christianity" class I taught for 12 years, and continues the theme of looking at faith in relation to the reality of everyday life. My friend Charles Willard is picking up a lot of the teaching, bringing his PhD, his status as an ordained minister, and years of top-flight scholarship to the table.

My teaching style tends to settle with material and concepts I'm already familiar with, a kind of "re-stated, comfortable orthodoxy." Simply put, my Sunday morning teaching has been fairly predictable of late.

So I was glad when Charles wanted to tackle a project that will expose us to different ways of thinking, push us to consider ideas outside of the box, and help us to develop a reinvigorated faith via learning from those outside of the Christian mainstream.

The book we're using is titled "Without Buddha I could not be a Christian." The author, Paul Knitter, is a Catholic scholar who has been wrestling with some of the really HUGE questions (such as - if God is perfect, unchanging, in need of nothing, and by definition "other", then how could God possibly value relationship...?).

That's not all that unusual; anyone who is a thinking Christian is going to struggle with the difficult questions raised by faith. What's unique about this study is Knitter's exploration of Buddhism and how what he learns helps his Christian faith.

I'm at the front end of this conversation, but this is what I've picked up so far. It may or may not accurately reflect the content of Knitter's book, but it is already an emerging truth as regards my faith journey...

...I have already articulated the idea (several times over the past year) that I believe all creativity is generated by the Holy Spirit; that life and newness and regeneration is the work of God no matter where it blooms; that music written by a Christian believer is no more intrinsically "Holy" than music written by an agnostic; that art created in a Tibetan monastery is no less an extension of the Creator's joy than a painting of Mary in a great cathedral.

(Let me throw in this caveat: both Christians and non-Christians are also capable of producing mediocre, uninspired, non-creative and generally crappy work - music, art, writing, talking etc).

It follows, therefore, that inspirational and revelatory thought is also God-inspired. (I'm not arguing the integrity of the biblical "Canon" here, I respect and accept the general Christian position regarding the scope of the authoritative scriptures.) But what I am suggesting is that more than Christians alone have been and continue to be inspired and blessed by God's Spirit in terms of creating original thought, and in contributing to our evolving understanding of what it means to be spiritual beings, and how we might grow.

The author we are reading, Paul Knitter, has found help from Buddhist thinkers as he struggles to experience his very real Christian faith. He is not becoming a Buddhist with a Christian twist; he is not suggesting that all religions are the same but with different terminology. What he is saying - at least this is what I'm getting from it so far - is that we can learn something about spiritual life from those who developed their religious practices in another place and within another culture.

I don't know about you, but I still have much to learn. I am thankful that God is willing to teach me via people and cultures that don't always look familiar. I am thankful to live in a world where everyone does not think like me and look like me and act like me.

I am most thankful that God loves me so much that he sent Jesus to a humble family in the Middle East 2,000 years ago, and that because of Jesus I can have an ongoing relationship with my Creator- a faith that constantly heals and restores.

Keep thinking, keep praying, and keep believing - DEREK

A Unifying Vision of New Year Promise - Christmas Day Nine

“Where there is no vision, the people will perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)

I’ve never been one for resolutions, but I do like to launch each New Year with a sense of clarified vision.

Many of us believe our resolutions fail because we have “bitten off more than we can chew.” But the opposite is closer to the truth: our resolutions don’t go far enough. It’s not so much that our goals are difficult as that they are too limited in scope.

Consider the following January cliches: “Jog three miles a day.” “Lose ten pounds.” “Read a new book each week.” “No more yelling at my kids...” These kinds of ideas are resolved and failed in rapid succession by thousands upon thousands of well-meaning people. Maybe we're a part of that crowd...?

Simply put, goals like this remain mostly unattainable because they’re attempted outside the greater context of a unifying vision. In short, goals work better when they are subordinate to a deeper sense of purpose.

• A pledge to healthy living is more likely to lead to daily exercise and lost pounds than “I resolve to lose weight.”
• The spiritual discipline of simplicity will result in less waste than a promise to “spend less at the mall.”
• A commitment to love my family is more effective than “less yelling….”

“Derek,” someone said to me at a recent party, “I bet your New Year’s resolution is get your column syndicated.”

Well, no. My goal at the beginning of this New Year is to own a renewed sense of faithfulness to God’s purpose for my life. I’d LOVE to reach more people via this column; but, outside the context of an authentic faith, it’s not important at all.

The specific goals that we tend to isolate each January are simply clues to a deeper and more complete story that remains to be told. Cosmetic resolutions fail to stand the test of time.

• Deal with spiritual poverty, and the drinking will take care of itself.
• Address depression, and overeating might not be such a temptation.
• “Curse less in front of the kids” would become “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

It often takes fear, or adversity, or tragedy to shake our consciousness into the realm of what’s really important. But we don't have to wait for a reactive realignment of our souls; rather, we can chose to enter the New Year as Pilgrims in Progress.

My prayer for 2010 is this:

• May we all turn our hearts, our wills, and our intentions to that which is consequential and solid.
• May we remember not only who we are, but who we belong to.
• May our faithfulness be evident.
• And may we live in terms of the purpose for which we were created.

Take on a resolution like that, and the details will take care of themselves.

Love and blessings - always - DEREK

Happy New Year - the 8th Day of Christmas

Happy New Year, everybody - also known as the Eighth Day of Christmas. So here it is, January One, a brand spanking new year, ready to be written on by each one of us.

We spent yesterday afternoon and evening over at Joe's house in Orlando (Rebekah's plumber brother). Pretty much all Rebekah's sibs were there - Joe, Jesse, Rachel and Rebekah - the only MIA was her oldest brother, Roy. Then add an assortment of spouses, cousins and parents - and I have to say the place rocked!

Most interesting - always - was watching various uncles and cousins try to blow the rest of us up via firework mayhem. More than one explosive "got loose" and ran amok.

And there was laughter; good spirits and genuine joy. It's a real tonic to set up the beginnings of a fresh calendar in the context of such genuine love and warmth and unbounded goodwill.

We drove home fairly early because Andrew had to get up this morning in good time to make his flight:

Tampa - Charlotte - Frankfurt - Bahrain. It will be a long day and a half for him before he arrives "home" again in the Middle East Saturday evening. But is was a great visit with much joy and giving and feasting and love.

So it is a bittersweet New Year's Day. The gift this 8th day of Christmas is very much family, very much the joy of such positive relationships with our adult children, very much understanding and grasping - more than ever, the depth of the goodness that this life can be...

...But at the same time there is the difficulty involved in any letting go, any releasing into the unknown, any sense that this is all so vulnerable. Not vulnerable in its quality or in terms of tenuous relationships - but vulnerable inasmuch as we live and love in this broken world - a place in which, while we may be agents of positive change, we are at the same time are exposed to everything that defines that brokenness and need for redemption.

So travel safely Andrew; live an eloquent testimony to the veracity of the Gospel; witness to the light by living as light. And may God keep you, always, in the palm of his hand....