Pastor’s Ponderings

Stockton Elementary School Board

Well, I've handed in my petition to run for the local elementary school board. If elected, the end of my term with coincide with the beginning of my daughter's scholastic journey. I look forward to helping and supporting the school that will help and support our daughters. I try to encourage my students at Kean and the parishioners of Stockton to be involved in their community. So here is one attempt at combining belief with action. We'll see how it works out. If nothing else, there will be some blogging opportunities!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1026645512205061672-6558047557999317499?l=ponderingparadox.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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Community Garden

Tolkien described the Hobbits as people who 'liked things that grow'. Not that I am claiming to be a hobbit, but that description resonates with me. I want to be part of things that are growing. I want to see new life burst and spring forth around me.This year, Stockton residents will be gathering at the Prallsville Mill grounds to grow our first Community Garden! The Mill will be hosting the garden, with longtime Stockton historian and resident Karl Cathers acting as Master Gardener. The Environmental Commission will be networking volunteers who love gardening, or are ready to start loving to garden. If anyone grows their own plants from seed, we would welcome vegetables and herbs come planting time. In April, we will coordinate a schedule for planting and maintaining the garden. Thanks in advance for your excitement and participation!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1026645512205061672-982480871386687212?l=ponderingparadox.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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Deep Emotions: Jealousy

The second in my 2010 Lent sermon series on Deep Emotions. This sermon was delivered to the Stockton Presbyterian Church on 2/28/10. Scriptures used for the sermon were Exodus 20:4-6, Mark 9:33-37, I Corinthians 3 . We like to have our conversations about The Greatest. The Best. These are the discussions that fascinate us. We make our lists and debate the data. Our discussions about the greatest include... <ul><li>The 27 Yankees or the Big Red Machine?</li><li>The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?</li><li>Washington or Lincoln? </li><li>The Great Gasby or Ulysses (These are books, for those who don't know)</li><li>Casablanca or Citizen Kane (These are movies, for those who don't know) </li><li>Muhammad Ali…well, I guess if your nickname is the greatest that hinders discussion. </li></ul>The Gospel of Mark tells us about a who is the greatest discussion that was not beneficial or fruitful. “The disciples did not answer him because they were talking about which of them was the greatest.” To which Jesus answers: oh, that is an easy question to answer: none of you are. He brings a child to them and reframes greatness. Unlike many of our 'greatest' discussions, the disciples argument about which one of them was the greatest was rooted in jealousy. Jealousy is defined as Mental uneasiness from suspicion or fear of rivalry or unfaithfulness The secondary definition is Vigilance in maintaining or guarding something. Jealousy can be confused with its synonym Envy. Envy has to do with possession. HAVING what someone else has. Jealousy is about resentment. It is rooted in insecurity and anger. I think I am oversimplifying it, but generally speaking, envy has to do with things, and jealousy with people. The Apostle Paul, in his words to the church in Corinth, reminds people that they are to be about the Lord, not about one follower of Jesus over another. There should be no camps or teams in the Christian faith. The following 5 principles are taken from I Corinthians 3.WHY JEALOUSY DOES NOT WORK 1. Produces worldliness, not godliness (3:3) While God calls us to have love for people and creation, a basic generic understanding of the world, we are also commanded not to become like the world. That is, we are to become godly, like God. God is saying, “follow me”. Jealousy makes us want to become like other people. God is saying, "become like me". 2. Not based on reality, but self (ish) perception (3:4-7) I do not feel that all self-perception is selfish. But jealousy does grow our selfish perception. God is real. The twisted perceptions that grow when we allow jealousy to take root within us are not real. We can overcome jealousy be rooting ourselves in what is real. God is real, and God's kingdom is real. Let us work for that kingdom. We do not work alone. By working together: a common purpose guides you. 3. It destroys, not build up (3:10-17) Our jealousy burns, God’s judgment refines. Paul uses the image of fire to show that what is not building up God's kingdom is something not built upon a solid foundation, and will be burnt away. Our jealousy burns within us when we do not put it out. God's fire, rather than destroying, acts as a refining agent. The common illustration is that of gold, where fire burns away remnants in order for the gold to be made pure. 4. It is foolish, not wise (3:18-20) 5. You already have everything you need. (3:21-23) Jealousy decieves into thinking we need something, or someone else. But God has already provided for us. In that sense, if we have Christ, we have everything that we need. Today, our thoughts end with a different idea about jealousy, one which we have not often considered. But one of the names for God in Hebrew Scripture is Jealous. Our initial reaction is we might not know what to do with this name? Is God immature? Has God not developed emotional tolerance? Is God like a little child who cries when he doesn't get what he wants? Perhaps our second definition of jealousy is helpful here: Vigilance in maintaining or guarding something. Isn’t that what God is trying to do for us? His jealousy is all the things ours is not. God’s jealousy is: holy, real, building up, wise, offering all things Our jealousy is: worldly, perceived, destroying, foolish, nothingLike anger, jealousy is rooted in passion. Our understanding of God is that God is passionate, loving us, wanting us to love him, not bowing to idols that lead to an empty way of life. Protecting us from that which destroys us, maintaining health in our spiritual life. Let us free ourselves from jealousy. Let God be jealous, God is the only one who knows how to do that with righteousness. We are called to love: God and neighbor. That effort can take a lifetime of energy and devotion.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1026645512205061672-7223733740108669979?l=ponderingparadox.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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Deep Emotions: Anger

Deep Emotions: Anger The first in my 2010 Lent sermon series on Deep Emotions. This sermon was delivered to the Stockton Presbyterian Church on 2/21/10. Scriptures used for the sermon were the book of Jonah and Matthew 12:38-45 And there's always a place for the angry young man, With his fist in the air and his head in the sand. And he's never been able to learn from mistakes, He can't understand why his heart always breaks. His honor is pure and his courage as well --William Joel, poet, The Angry Young Man Today, we start a series of sermons on deep emotions. The purpose of these sermons is to name some common emotions that we all feel, identify some dynamics involved with them and then look at these emotions from a biblical perspective. The purpose of these sermons is not really to become overly introspective. We are talking about these emotions during LENT because, it is a season of reflection. And all reflection should point us toward God and good. The definition of Anger, according to Webster's Dictionary: Noun: strong feeling of displeasure aroused by a wrong Verb: to arouse strong feelings of displeasure Our current word is rooted in the 12th century, meaning to grieve, anguish or have sorrow This past week, I received an email forward about a man asking the nation to vote out every current congressman because they raised their salary in the midst of economic uncertainty. It was an angry email. Now, did this email writer, just figure out that congress gives themselves pay raises, or perhaps, the real issue is that something in his life changed to put him over the edge, and he is looking to blame someone/thing for the problem. And he found it. The problem in our society right now is that we could have picked any number of issues that make people angry. It is almost too easy to do. So regardless of what makes people angry, we certainly see and know the physical effects of anger… <ul><li>Blood pressure rising</li><li>Ready to defend or attack</li><li>Teeth grinding</li><li>Face turning red</li><li>Adrenaline kicking in</li><li>The Vein growing out of the forehead</li></ul>Whenever we are angry, there are also some things going on internally:<ul><li>Our emotional reasoning is not working</li><li>We find ourselves experiencing a low frustration tolerance</li><li>We have unreasonable expectations</li><li>We label people, keeping them in their packages</li></ul>We become angry because of real or perceived threats, past experiences, learned behaviors, our personality and our lack of problem solving skills. Anger is in this world because something is wrong. And humans like to assign blame to what is wrong. Sometimes, humans also identify a problem and then seek to solve the problem. That is anger at its best, to identify a wrong, contemplate a solution that is helpful to all parties, and then make the change. There is wrong in self, surroundings and society. The wrong in self is dysfunction. Something is not functioning within us. Often, we will flee these types of wrong, in order to protect ourselves from changing. The wrong in surroundings usually cause us to fight. This is because we are protecting ourselves against attack of our well being or comfort. The wrong in society is injustice. The system is in dysfunction, not just the individual. What do some of the verses in the Bible say about anger?<ul><li>In your anger, do not sin (ephesians 4:26)</li><li>Anger does not produce the righteous lifestyle that God wants (James 1:20)</li><li>There are multiple verses which site God as angry, and the more I think about that, it is ok. We work so hard to make God not look angry. But what about our definition? Anger is displeasure at what is wrong. Doesn't God's holiness justify anger...if someone is wrong, shouldn't we want God to move the world toward what is right? </li><li>Jesus said anyone angry with his brother will be subject to judgment (Matthew 5:22)</li><li>An angry man stirs up dissension and a hot tempered one commits many sins (Proverbs 15:1)</li><li>A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. (Proverbs 29:11)</li></ul>Then there is the Story of Jonah, which for our blog readers, I highly suggest you read in its entirety. It takes about 8 minutes to read and is a fascinating story. For our purposes, anger is revealed and grows in Jonah's life because...<ul><li>Ran away from what God had said (whole problem could have been averted)</li><li>He is dishonest with crew members (stemming from his personal dysfunction)</li><li>Jonah is greatly displeased that God’s plan is different from his expectations.</li><li>He then displays faulty emotional reasoning: "I knew you would be nice to them" which strikes me as speaking irrationally and internal dysfunction is exposed.</li><li>He cannot answer truthfully God’s questions: Do you have any right to be angry?</li><li>This is followed by the story of the vine, and Jonah's anger at a gift given/taken</li><li>The story ends with God’s concerns being identified, which lead to salvation. </li></ul>I had a humorous incident occur when preparing this sermon. A book I had needed was not on my shelf. My immediate reaction was to blame. "Someone must have taken it", I rationalized to myself (as if people had nothing better to do with their lives than come and misplace the book they thought I might need for a sermon that week). Rather than taking a step back, and thinking about other options, I saw myself start to blame, and the seeds of anger were growing. I caught myself before the anger grew too powerful, and laughed at the absurdity of my thinking when the book was in the next room, right where I had left it. Putting the anger aside, and using creativity to think of an alternative solution allowed that solution to present itself. A problem arose, I wasn’t able to solve it, I blamed others, however irrational that was, and then took a step back, came up with a solution, and solved the problem. This leads me to Good’s Guide to Putting Anger in its place… 1. Take a breath and a step back. 2. Ask yourself, Is my anger based upon imagination or reality? 3. If it is reality, will I internalize or address the anger? 4. If I choose to address the anger, is my solution a positive action. I think it is appropriate to mention that internalizing does have its place. We are so quick to reject the idea of internalizing anger. Yet, are we better off saying everything that comes to our mind? I do not think so. The problem is that if we nurture our anger long enough, we end up as the man Joel describes at the end his song, “well, he’ll go to the grave an angry old man”. Anger is rooted in passion. Anger is justified against evil. But be careful, for we are not judges of the human heart. Perhaps love, a passion for the good, should replace anger in our lives. Perhaps being concerned with what God is concerned about is what we should be doing and being. “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. But Ninevah has more than a 120,000 people and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1026645512205061672-1446705103757056652?l=ponderingparadox.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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Kean University Students

Hello Fellow Historians, Thank you for visiting my blog. All of the lecture notes (which includes material for potential exam questions) are found in blogs posted in February 2010. You do not have to go anywhere else in the blog to find History 1000 material. This is my personal blog, and includes a variety a material, some of which is not representative of a state university curriculum. I will not use class time to talk about anything found in this blog other than the lecture material. In my journey, I am fascinated by both history and faith. And I also strongly affirm the seperation of Church and state. This blog helps me explore and communicate the things that interest me to a diversity of people that my path intersects with. Thank you for taking my class at Kean. I love teaching at Kean and I hope your time at Kean is one of growth and much learning.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/1026645512205061672-966236723982424421?l=ponderingparadox.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
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Stockton Presbyterian Church