EmPulse for Week of January 31, 2011

genuine chocolate flavoring

Some things just don’t ring true, do they? Jumbo shrimp. Authentic reproductions. Fresh frozen. A definite maybe. Resident alien. Sanitary landfill. Working vacation. And my favorite— genuine chocolate flavoring. Not genuine chocolate, but genuine chocolate flavoring. Why!?! What makes it genuine? Is the chocolate genuine, or is it the flavoring that is? Why not Genuine Chocolate Syrup!? No, just chocolate flavoring. That just doesn’t ring true.

Too much of our lives are saturated with things that are almost authentic…; but not quite. Baking Soda Biscuits…, mostly pure. as Garrison Keillor often says. We have grown accustomed to accepting artificial ingredients, allowing for white lies, and settling for half-truths as if “the whole truth” really doesn’t matter anymore. (Truthiness, remember?) We live in those grey areas of our business practices because everybody does it. We even fashion our own “Designer Religion” to fit our fancy (Utne Reader).

All this casual acquiescence compromises our adherence to any ethical standard other than the ones we set to soothe our own conscience and to stifle that inner voice that condemns us of wrong-doing. What’s wrong with us? Have we lost our sense of right & wrong for the bottom line? Have we lost our commitment to commitment in lieu of a passing trifle? Or has compromise become the acceptable maxim of our era? It’s not about “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” Rather, we ignore what the writers of Christian Scripture Peter and Paul had to say altogether. Why? Because it makes us uncomfortable and lessens our pleasure during our forages into the edges of depravity. Corruption feels so good—especially when you can get away with it and nobody knows.

True, responsible citizenship is based on the right of each individual to stand up and be counted, to make a difference in the things that matter, and to live for what we believe in corporately, as human beings. The right to pursue a livelihood, to earn an honest wage. The right to care about the needs of others. The right to privacy, solitude, and, with adequate forethought, the responsibility of free speech. We have been designed by our Holy Creator God to make positive contributions to this world, to raise our young to accountable adulthood, and to be just in our dealings with ALL others, of whatever faith or politic.

We are called to be forgiving when wronged, merciful in places of power, and trusting first, extending a hand of friendship to any who ask.

These are not vain platitudes. They are principles by which all of us must live if we are to survive our own human race. Our predilection to judge and condemn, to shoot first and ask questions later, to accuse rather than to understand, is a roaring beast that growls within our breasts far too freely. It’s time we all take a look at our own souls, to see what animosities and anger we harbor that gnaws away at our hearts and grinds down our moral underpinnings. It is time we decide to stick to the moral principles that make this world a better place in which to live. It is time we reasserted our right to be committed to something, someone, a code of behavior, a spouse, or a family, even to God. It is time we plead the case for those less fortunate, both in our courts and in our daily practice of giving.

Genuine chocolate flavoring. What good is it? Why not go for the real thing? Become the real thing, as a man or woman of the twenty-first century. REAL Chocolate Syrup, REAL whipped-cream…, and a cherry! Now that’s something to believe in! You do get the point…, right!?!

Have a nice week,

Gary

EmPulse for Week of January 24, 2011

Conch shell

Walking a winter beach is different than walking a summer beach. In summer you are basically naked, wearing less than you would ever be caught dead in anywhere else. You are also striving to promote developing skin cancer through exposure to our sun’s gamma radiation. And, you are most likely laying under an umbrella stuffing in foods that will either lead you to obesity or kill you.

Not so on a winter beach. Walking a beach in winter will find you bundled up against the brutal cold, the stinging sand as it hits your face, and the sea foam freezing as it rolls ashore. Then there’s the wind—  the tornado-coiling, hurricane-force wind. Your clothes are a skimpy barrier against its powerful penetration. But you keep moving, buffeting the elements, as if you must prevail against god of the seas and the sand! More than once you wonder, This is nuts! Why don’t I head back to the warmth of the fire and a hot cup of tea!?!

Then your eyes fall on a conch shell at your feet. The sea conch is still inside. The sea gull tracks surrounding it reveal that you have blundered into a life ‘n death battle. Their beaks are not long enough to rout-out the living creature nestled deep within the shell’s spiral; so they peck at the shells hard surface, hoping to extract their breakfast. Some shells are destroyed, sea gulls satiated. Others remain intact…, and alive.

Our daily lives are more like a winter beach than a summer beach. If we chose to lay under the sun we eventually burn to a crisp, get fat, and die. That is why life’s summers are so short. But in those more likely winters of our lives we need to adapt to the aloneness, the bitter cold, and the constant pecking of our critics. We must learn fortitude. We must force our reticent will-power to life once more, stinging sand be damned. I am not nuts! What I am committed to is worth the fight. I can do this. But you might need some help, and a change of perspective.

⁹ I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”
¹⁰ My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

-Psalm 42:9-11 (Christian Bible)

And please lose the hard shell exterior. It may offer protection against your assailants, but it also may dissuade your friends from coming alongside you, not to mention God.

Have a nice week,

Gary

EmPulse for Week of January 17, 2011

stuck

Have you ever been stuck? Why is it that some experiences tie us up in knots…, Gordian variety? No matter how we try to push through, the blockade persists. A paper to be written for school. A problem in a project on the job. A messy relationship that needs cleaning up. An inner wall that constantly stops us dead in our tracks. It’s like spinning your wheels in Tennessee mud or sliding down an icy road in a New England snow storm…, sideways. Stuck. It’s not so much that you’re stuck, as not going anywhere, or going somewhere you don’t want to go. Either way your road is blocked, blind, or treacherous.

Getting stuck is often simply a corollary of personality. Where one person will sail through the storm, barely noticing there was one, another will capsize and hang on for dear life. The lesson should be obvious. Bring those alongside you who don’t get stuck where you do. If you’re already stuck, find someone with a different personality than yours and grovel before them for help. OR, just stay stuck, stubborn, and obstreperous; and let the mud set up around your ankles.

Developing a different perspective is one way to dig out. We oft do things the same way for so long that we become blind to alternative courses of action. It’s called tunnel-vision—the unconscious, gradual narrowing of our scope of imagination. You may just need a kick in the pants by someone who drives you crazy; or, you may just need to buckle down, gather the right team around you, and have at it. You’re already stuck; what have you got to lose?!  (OK, maybe your pride, your self-determination, and your ego-centric affinity to always do it ALL by yourself. So there. Slosh in the mire.)

It may also be that we need to actually ask for help. This can prove to be a positive thing. It honors the one asked, it is a great step toward resolving your situation, and, hopefully, you’ll get to share a great meal with the one who gave you a hand. Personally, I need a lot of help. Yes, a l-o-t of help. I’ve had to learn to depend on others to accomplish just about everything I have set my shoulder to in life. And more times than not I turn to prayer to seek guidance from above. It would be hard for me to summarize the myriad of times God surprised me with just the right people coming on board, just the right clarification to some aspect of an ambiguous impasse.

Don’t stay stuck. Don’t do the same things over and over expecting a different outcome. Talk through the predicament with a consultant, a friend, or even cuddling in bed with your wife/husband. Prayer wouldn’t hurt too much either. Just don’t leave it there. Get unstuck.

Have a nice week.

Gary

EmPulse for Week of January 10, 2011

Keep rowing…

One of the greatest men I ever knew was Steve Holbrook. We worked together as Princeton Management Associates—he, the founder and CEO, I the lowly peon and apprentice. He taught me many things but the one thing that stands above all was perseverance. Steve was tenacious; he simply would not accept no; he could always push through to a positive outcome.

He coined a little formula about making a difference in life that I have never forgotten—  row the boat. Set your sights on the finish line and row as if your life depended on it. He flushed out the phrase through a pneumonic phrase—  O-A-R.  Row the Boat.

1. OBJECTIVE- What is it you want to accomplish? How do you want to make a difference?

2. ACTIONS- HOW are you going to accomplish your goal? HOW are you going to make a difference? What specifically will you do to fulfill your dreams, your goals?

3. RESULTS- So, how did it go? To what extent did you make everything work? On a 1-10 scale, to what degree did your Actions achieve your Objective? Where did you fall short? How can you make it work the next time? Any changes?

A very simple way of assessing things, isn’t it? Unless we set goals, we flounder… , let the stream take us where it will. If we do not ACT on what we dream, plan, or aspire to, then we merely daydream. If we do not measure what we have done we will, more likely than not, settle for the mediocre.

So when you are simply at the end of your rope, beaten down, or floating downstream—  first, take a breath, r-e-s-t; get some solid input to build your spirit and inspire your soul. Then ask for some practical advice from a competent (older & wiser) friend. [NOT someone as stuck as you are.] Then, get back into the boat and keep on rowing. Odds are you are NEVER rowing against Niagara Falls. It just feels that way.

Since my time with my friend Steve I have often felt as if I were rowing against the current, constantly struggling to move upstream, only to be drowned at the foot of Niagara. To my surprise, I found that I overcame what challenges were set before me, whatever perceived obstacles melted into mere gullies. It was hard, discouraging, tedious, and exhausting. Had I to do it all over again, I would have chosen the same route. Well, maybe with a few less stupid moves on my part.

So, keep rowing, and rowing, and rowing. You can get there! Giving up will make you less of what God has designed you to be and to do. And yes, learn to be wisely stubborn, tenaciously so. J Remember, the people who tell you it can’t be done aren’t doing it—you are!  Keep rowing. And don’t be surprised when your power motor kicks in!

Have a nice week,

Gary

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus

[ Isenheim Altarpiece , Matthias Grunewald (painted 1506-1515)]

SANCTUS, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.

HOLY, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Some of the most prophetic works of art given us by the Medieval Period were numerous alter pieces. Most of these elaborate STORIES were created for churches that were popping up all over Europe in the last days of the Great Plague and the Spanish Inquisition, preceding the co-emergence of the Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment. Some were designed to be portable—so that the picture story of the Risen Lord could be transported to rural communities and hamlets across the coalescing city-states. They were deemed to be HOLY religious objects, as sacred as the ancient relics.

In great contrast is our culture today. Very little, in developed nations, is held as sacred or holy. Almost everything has been reduced to the lowest common denominator—from language to faith, beauty to vocabulary (dude), commitment to individual integrity. About the only commodity to rise above our daily banality are experiences that pump the adrenalin and give us a momentary spurt of ecstasy. We are not, in general, given over to the Holy in any natural way.

So I ask you, no matter your faith, non-faith, or business ethics— What do you hold as Holy? What do you consider to be precious, sacrosanct, or hallowed? What days or celebrations or individuals do you revere as most sacred? If your reply is nothing, then you have placed yourself on a very unstable pedestal. If your answer points to things, BMWs, Caribbean cruises, promotions, or notoriety, for example, then your enjoyment will be short lived; though, truly, it will of-a-truth be pleasurable.

What entity, in and of itself, deserves to be held in highest esteem in our lives? Integrity, honesty, bravery, truthfulness, innocence, purity? What of beauty, creation, sacrifice, devotion or unwavering commitment? Does your faith compel you to hold anything above all others as holy, set apart, or sacred?

However you answer, please, keep yourself in a proper place and embrace something outside your great, mediocre, or small life to be truly Holy. Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus.

Have a nice week,

Gary

EmPulse for Week of December 27, 2010

you can’t get there from here

Road maps. Signs. MapQuest. Garmin. TomTom. Google Maps. Travel guides. Why is it that, no matter how strictly we follow them, we still get lost? The first time we visited a friend in New England he sent me a map with the “most-direct-route.” MOST DIRECT ROUTE?!? “…take a sharp right onto the dirt road that goes around the cow pasture toward Rupert Dump Road. Turn left past the dump.” I thought he was kidding. He wasn’t. Now that we live in New England we understand the phrase—  you can’t get there from here, and its corollary—you don’t want to go there.

There are many road signs whose intent is to guide us to our destination, sometimes, even efficiently (baring traffic and the occasional herd of cows). Road maps are printed in most locations to reflect accurately what actually lies out there, on the real-road. The same is true for spiritual guides—  the Christian Bible, Islam’s Quran, the Hindu Vedas (vaidika dharma) and their Bhagavad Gita, even the Analects, a collection of Confucius’ teachings compiled by his students. In more recent times there seems no end to self-help guides, seminars on success, personal awareness, cleansing the soul, overcoming just-about-anything, executive management, home management, dealing with teenagers, etc. All these—  road maps & signs to help us along the way.

But how do we decide which guidebook or self-help course will work best for us? How do we decide which ones are genuine, which ones are fads, fakes, or just plain exploitive scams? History doesn’t offer much clarification; every world religion, every self-help course, has, at one time or another, gone very astray. So where can we verify that one course or guidebook is better or more true than any of the others? Might I suggest an examination of their polar representations. First, look at the origin, their founding documents—  what was the character of the person who founded the religion, pioneered the movement, or laid down the “primary principles” to which its later adherents would dedicate their lives. Secondly, examine the contributions the followers of these creeds or philosophies have made to our world. How have they contributed to the good of mankind? What have they done to alleviate our world’s pain, feed its hungry, or to bring about peace? In what ways have they made a difference? These religions, or movements, or courses, will most likely have more to offer as you dig deeper into their inner workings. AND, you will, somewhere along the line, start to light up about their life-principles. If you don’t, well, you’re probably on the wrong road. Time to back-track, get a better map, follow a different route.

And try not to get m-o-r-e lost. Maybe you just need to bring a Navigator alongside. You can get there from here. But it is going to take some exertion on your part.

 

Have a nice week,

Gary

Dear Fellow Deep-Freezers,
Unless you live south of the Equator you have just lived through one of the coldest pre-winters on record. Cold enough for you yet!?! As the temperature outside drops into the teens & the snow continues to fall I want you to picture me sitting in our “fire-room,” feet resting on an ottoman, in front of a glowing wood stove fire. It’s the ONLY way to handle winter’s deep freeze.
We’ve seen a lot of changes around NEED’s ministry over this past year. We have definitely moved deeper into the forest of our postChristian community. No less than one-half of our time is spent challenging, debating, and counseling with people who never have a Christian thought. They find it somewhat curious that a genuine Christian, who actually believes in absolute truth, right and wrong, and a God-Who-Created can even exist in the midst of their society. When I tell them that Christ can give them a life they could never imagine, they usually respond, “You’re right… . I can’t imagine it!”
Therefore, we are re-gearing our efforts to connect with a wider community of Christian and postChristian people. Even NEEDNEWS is giving way to newer forms of communication. Our WEBsite grows it’s audience daily. EmPulse, our weekly brain-teaser designed more for our secular audience, is being referred to people with whom we have no prior contact . What a sur-prise! And my personal relationships in Amherst, MA continue to deepen among those who are definitively NOT Christian. Our levels of conversation about the Christian faith still amazes me. One 31 year old grad-student wonders that I journey with him and don’t judge him. I merely tell him that God is the judge of us all. He’s not sure about that. Yet.
PARADIGM LOST: Christians living in a post Christian culture, is being scrutinized by the cohesiveness editor and near publication…, finally.
One of the purposes of this end-of-year letter is not only to update you on NEED’s minis-try, but also to seek your financial support for our ongoing efforts to make a difference in the emerging field of culturally sensitive evangelism. Simply put, we need to learn the language of the people we are trying to reach with the Gospel. NEED trains believers how to do just that. To continue to do so requires financial supporters like you. Please, in these very difficult times of re-cession, consider a financial gift to this ministry that will make a difference. I promise we will use it with Godly graciousness and New England frugality.

Merry Christmas
Gary
Dr Gary Davis
President

EmPulse for Week of December 20, 2010

of coarse…

Sense and Sensibility, Remains of the Day, The Scarlett Pimpernel, even Surprised by Joy…, all bespeak of another era, another time when courtesy, refinement, gentility, and chivalry were the fabric of society. There existed a decorum that pervaded cultured civilization. It was assumed that a man would open a door for a lady, that he would pull back her chair for her to be seated. It was commonplace for children to show respect to their parents, their elders. A gentleman’s hand was his word. But two World Wars, an unresolved Korean conflict, the dissolution of the safety found in traditional families, and the rise of moral deconstructionism has changed all that. Gentility is viewed as pretense, refinement as metro-sexual, and chivalry as simply ridiculous. Common courtesy has been supplanted by a cultural crudeness that drags most of western society to its lowest common denominator.

We live in a exceptionally coarse culture. Clothing styles appear to have lost any semblance of modesty, especially among teenagers. The workplace has become so casual that some places are instituting dress-up Mondays. No one would ever think of writing a formal Thank you note; just text it. The English language, even among Americans, has succumbed to a montage of mispelings, run-on sentences, and a grammar from hell. [Not to mention texting-shortcuts (omg, lol, lyao).]

Vulgarity in the arts (theater, film, paintings & sculpture) seems to have sunken to further degradation. Not that this is new; rather, its offensiveness continues to strive to surpass itself. As evidence I offer the photograph accompanying this commentary. It is titled Piss Christ. The photograph, measuring roughly 3’x 5’, is of a plastic crucifix submerged in the artist’s own urine. It was part of a series of objects the artist submerged in milk, blood, & urine. This particular image, created by Andres Serrano (in 1987) was first displayed in 1989, and won the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art‘s “Awards in the Visual Arts” competition (along with the $15,000 prize), which is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

If ever there were a culture that needed redeeming it is ours. We have become a nation that has risen to its lowest moral point in history. Children born outside the protection of the marriage bond is accepted as normative. Marriages that last past 5 years, a curiosity. Business contracts are too oft full of loop holes or wiggle-room; hidden escape clauses, personal enhancement codicils.

What our culture needs are men and women who will stand firm for what is right, for what reflects the ethical/moral threads woven into our very being. Men who will be faithful to their families, with integrity in their business practices, and interpersonal relationships; women whose strength does not need a sexual overtone, who contribute to the strength of their communities, the workforce, and the world politic. We need people of faith who will live by the principles they say they believe in; who honor God and their fellow man as one act.

Honoring God and those around us is at our core. What is in yours?

Have a nice week,

Gary

EmPulse for Week of December 13, 2010

ice storm

Ice storms in New England are infamous! The snow storms are great, soft white, blanketing the countryside with peace & gentle tranquility. Albeit, in recent years, not deep enough for this writer. But the ice storms…, well. What’s the Simon & Garfunkel lyric? Slip-slidin’ away, slip-slidin’ away. It seems the nearer you’re destination the more you’re slip-slidin’ away. Ah the joys of four wheel drive! And even then… .

Unless you are a competent, experienced driver, ice storms pose a veritable threat to anyone on the road. Inexperienced drivers pose even more of a threat. Too frequently they assume driving on ice is only marginally different than driving in rain. Thus the predictable “first accident.” I recall one such ice storm found me returning home from Boston at night. The car to my right started skidding into my lane. I hit the brakes and immediately put my car into a 360 . I hit a snow embankment at about 40 mph, launching me, still spinning, into the air. Somehow I landed between two trees, suspended above a ditch, motor still running. “Interesting.” I thought. The reality that I might just have been killed never occurred to me. That dawned later; as did the realization that God had kept me alive for some weird, mysterious purpose.

Spinning around in the air in an ice storm will do a number of things to one’s psyche. So will the loss of a parent, or a child. Being unemployed for a long period of time will make you doubt your abilities, your worth, whether you have a purpose in life at all. Being fired from a job, be it your first employment as a teenager or as a long-standing COO or manager of a major corporation, can be devastating, and costly.

Establishing your foundational core on your vocation and employment can be as dangerous as  New England ice storm; slippery, unmanageable, with little time to react when things go out of control. It is better to frame your foundational core in something other than what you do for a living. Not things like human relationships—they too can be like an ice storm, and just as unpredictable; or stress-relieving techniques, that bring a mechanical, albeit genuine, yea, temporal, re-centering of your core. You know that will come back around on you again! Something more foundational, more primal.

Might I cautiously put before you that seeking a new depth with the God who made you just could be the most foundational foundation you’ll ever find. Notwithstanding the sins of the church and many of those who allege to be “Christian,” I have found my foundation in my friend, Jesus Christ. Where are you looking?

Fortifying and refining your core foundation will go a long way to help you stay the line and stay on course when the ice storms hit. Slip-slidin’ away.

Gary

EmPulse for Week of December 6, 2010

Actionable atheism

No, really…, there’s a lot to be said for atheism. Just think of it—

• No theological squabbles about which religion is the true one.
• Since there’s no after-life one only need be concerned for this life— so go for it! Go for it all!
• Morality is self determined (or a social agreement). There’s no reason to fear a future judgment.
• Friendships can come and go as utilitarian affairs. [Actually, sexual affairs should be considered as merely utilitarian as well.]
• Without a deity in the picture, self-reliance & self-determination are far simpler matters.

To be sure, though, there is a down side to atheism.

• Belief in God has merely been replaced by belief in non-god; which is an odd definer.
• Being concerned for just this life-span must view death as the final resting place. Whereas, from another viewpoint, death is the one aspect of life that does not fit in with the rest of life’s accomplishments, dreams, and aspirations.
• Morality, without an external reference point, like the Ten Commandments, the Code of Hammurabi, or the US Judicial System, becomes somewhat capricious, if not socially destructive and life threatening.
• Friendships more readily become utilitarian; the primary question being “What can I get out of it?” rather than striving for a deeper bond thru trust and transparency.
• Touting self-reliance and self-determination feels a tad arrogant for any species on one planet in one solar system in the myriad of galaxies that populate our universe. [No insightful thanks to “Man is the Measure of all Things“- Protagoras of Abdera ( c. 480-410 B.C.)]

Then there’s the question of what to celebrate? Christmas? NO. Chanukah? No. Thanksgiving? No. Definitely not Easter, or Ramadan, or Mahashivaratri.  Ah…, the Super Bowl. Fourth of July. Labor Day. There must be more.

Actionable Atheism, that is, atheism that effects the daily lives of its adherents, is tough to implement. It takes more work to NOT believe in God than to believe in Him. Sure, some scientists assert that someday science will be able to explain everything; but that is not the case as of this writing. It takes a great deal of faith to believe an assertion of that immensity. So what makes an ath

eist’s faith in someday any different than a Christian’s faith in someday soon, or in the God who is There? Let’s not rewrite history or reinvent the future just yet.

Have a nice week.

Gary