Sabbath Messages | Sabbath Message: May 22, 2004

Good Sabbath

May 22, 2004

May has welcomed Spring; all of that beauty revitalizes our spirits as it turns into summer; for summer is vacation and lakes and ocean, boating down the river, theme parks and general contentment. Bob Passavoy, his splendid heart still heavy with loss, visits family in Austin as his smile penetrates the telephone, and it makes Fran and me very happy; I wonder about Tim Larrick and his trip to Kansas City and how he fares in his battle against cancer; Tom Carter returns from Italy as his enemy is in remission; Fran's tests go very well, thank God; she is a wonder as full maturity slows down everything except mind, will and body!

"We cannot make God visible to us, but we can make ourselves visible to Him. So we open our thoughts to Him."

Yesterday, I browsed through a rather fabulous store (SoLo), created by Carole Cardin (another ex-Texan), in Solana Beach. Among the treasures she has collected is an outstanding section on architecture and its ancillaries.

Since I love reading best, next to Franny, I picked up a few that stroked my interest: Dirk Sutro's "San Diego Architecture" reminded us of why this place ranks as one of the world's most beautiful creations of Mother Nature and mothers' children; Phaidon's "The House Book", a more global survey of places and shelter that strike the senses; and Particia Schultz's "1,000 Places to See Before You Die". a serious/humorous journey of the marvelous reminder, "life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the places and moments that take our breath away." (Anonymous).

Books are vital to our equilibrium and to take us away from TV pomposity, radio's narrow mindedness, and media in its everlasting infancy.

I am insulted by the introduction of "religion" into the presidential campaign, which is any thing but presidential. The audacity of a columnist to write that "God must be a republican" earned the clever rejoinders of many people, my favorite was: "God may be a republican, but Jesus beyond a doubt, is a democrat." I don't know and I don't care except that God and Jesus care for all of God's creations, care a great deal, and work to bring justice into His creations' minds. Without justice, politics becomes meaner until it corrupts both common sense and objectivity; destruction must follow when we dehumanize each other. Human beings can rationalize even the most insane subjectivity and make it into faith, which itself becomes corrupted by this transgression.

What we need, in this season of Spring, is to reason with mind, forgive with soul and learn what to teach the next generation. Peace is the ultimate blessing from which humankind always faces in the opposite direction.

"Malice can always find a mark to shoot at and a pretence to fire."(C.Simmons)

"I will tell you what to hate: hate hypocrisy; hate intolerance, oppression, injustice." (F.W.Robertson)

I shall add "holier than thou", the worse pretension of loving God. As this century runs its course through a young millennium, we must gather our wits to cause the next generation to be kind, to be loving--yes, to be vigilant, for there is evil--but also reflective on what ever good that Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, or Buddha taught. A lifetime of love and kindness is too brief to change human nature, but it is a fine beginning.

Be so human today that even God will admire the improvement, and it will make Him happy!

sandy