THE ROAD AHEAD

This is an excerpt from last Sunday's sermon, "Motorcycle Meditations."  Podcast available at: 

(http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/madison-avenue-baptist-church/id280293489)

 

     We were on the last day of our recent cross-country motorcycle trip; trying to get to the Sioux Falls airport so I could catch a flight back to NYC. Running a bit late, of course we found ourselves behind a line of traffic on a tiny country road. One by one the cars passed around the slow driver. Finally we came up behind the impediment: a beat-up old pickup truck. All you could see from behind were two hands on the steering wheel, a tuft of white hair and next to that -- two pointy ears.


     As we passed I had to laugh. The truck was being driven by a tiny little woman who was laughing and talking to her companion, a scruffy brown dog. But my laughter was not so much from the image of the driver and her passenger, but from something surprising about the truck itself: there were no rearview mirrors – only a few wires hanging out of the sides where apparently mirrors were once attached.

     As I got on the plane and prepared for the onslaught of LaGuardia, I thought about this tiny little woman driving this beat-up old truck; how she was totally oblivious to the traffic turmoil behind; how her only focus was the joy of her companion beside her and the gifts of the road in front of her.  It's not a bad lesson.

     Given all the baggage we tend to carry around about the past, it made me wonder: How might our lives be different if we took off our rearview mirrors? What would happen if we stopped worrying about what has been and started enjoying what is here and now? Perhaps we might find a little joy like that woman in the truck.   It wouldn't take that much effort.  All we would need to do is forget what's behind us and focus on the road ahead.



We Be of One Blood, Ye and I

Taken from my blog on Psychology Today: 

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/laugh-your-way-well-being/201109/we-be-one-blood-ye-and-i

I am not a blood kind of person. I don't like Steven King movies, I've never read Twilight, and I don't watch CSI. That said, last week I may have changed my mind.

I noticed a piece last Wednesday in the New York Times about a surprising impact from hurricane Irene. In addition to the downed trees and power outages, one of the unexpected ramifications in New York City was a shortage in the local blood banks. Due to the shutdown of the MTA, many of the local blood drives had been cancelled. Consequently, the blood supply was in "dire need" of resupply. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/urgent-call-for-blood-donations/

Wondering how such a crisis was handled, I did a little research on the Red Cross website. While most blood supplies are maintained locally, when communities aren't able to sustain sufficient levels they sometimes have to look for outside help. This may mean help from another city or state, or even from another country. Last year, for example, the American Red Cross sent emergency shipments of blood to Haiti to help the earthquake victims.

The realities of blood sharing offer a poignant lesson on the common bonds of humanity, especially when you consider these two questions: Where does the blood come from and who does it save?

Blood types don't break down along racial or ethnic lines. They don't follow bounds of politics or religion. We not only share the same blood as our families, but we share the same blood as those who we believe to be strangers: those from a different culture, those who speak a different language, even those who worship differently than ourselves. Who knows ... a pro-choice, anti-war, feminist Wicca priestess might give blood in Height Ashbury and save the life of a right wing polygamist in Utah.

Blood crosses all boundaries; it bridges all barriers; no matter who you are or where you come from, blood is the one thing we all share. It's like Mowgli's famous line in the Jungle book: "We be of one blood, ye and I."

As we all know, this week marks the tenth anniversary of 9/11. In a world where separation, fear and judgment are the norm, we must find a tangible way to remind ourselves of this shared human bond.

One way to do this? Give blood.

Beginning this week, a special nationwide blood drive will be held. But this is not just any blood drive, this is a blood drive sponsored by the Muslim community entitled "Muslims for Life." http://muslimsforlife.org/ / In an attempt to collect 10,000 units of blood in the month of September, Muslim groups across the country are offering open blood drives to honor the victims of 9/11. It's not only a way to offer the gift of life; it is a way to make a statement about human solidarity.

I've changed my mind; I am a blood kind of person. And on this tenth anniversary of 9/11, perhaps you will become a blood kind of person too. Remember this shared connection. Remember our common bond. In the end, our conduct as human beings comes down to two basic choices: do we give blood or spill it? Let it be the former, for "We be of one blood, Ye and I."