Sermon from "The Bishop's Wife"

From one of the most delightful Christmas movies, and one of my all time favorites. And starring some of the best there ever were: Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven, Elsa Lanchester, and Monty Woolley.

Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking.

Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child's cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven't forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts.

But especially with gifts. You give me a book, I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry can do with a new pipe. For we forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled, all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. Its his birthday we're celebrating. Don't let us ever forget that.

Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most. And then, let each put in his share, loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth.

God in the Details

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass; it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.

Henry Miller

Some highlights from last night

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.


It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled -- Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.


It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.


The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there.


As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn -- I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.


This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time -- to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth -- that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:


Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America."

Even Pravda Gets It

"Eight Years of Hell Are Over"

The US presidential race, the grand American soap opera that continued for almost two years, became the most scandalous, dramatic, unpredictable and the most expensive campaign in US history.

The candidates have spent about $2.4 billion on their fight for the White House despite the global economic crisis at the time, when hundreds of thousands of US voters were losing their jobs and homes.

Other records of the campaign include the unusual activity of young and Afro-American voters. These electors vote for Obama. The Illinois Senator became an honored member of the 12,000-strong Indian tribe in May, during one of his pre-election trips. The Indians named their new brother as Barack Black Eagle.

Eight years of George W. Bush’s presidency marked a crucial era for America and the whole world.

September 11, 2001. Terrorist attacks took place in New York and Washington. The Pentagon declared the war on terror.

October 7, 2001. Washington launched a military operation in Afghanistan at the approval of the UN and overturned the Taliban regime in the country.

The fall of 2001. The US Patriot Act came into force. State-run structures were given access to private information of US citizens.

January 2002. Bush used the term “axis of evil” towards Iran, Iraq and North Korea. The list was then added with Cuba, Libya and Syria.

September 2002. The Bush’s doctrine was presented. The USA is ready to act single-handedly, without the approval from the international community.

March 2003. The White House launched a military campaign against Iraq. Over 4,000 US servicemen died there during five years. The war cost the USA its global reputation and triggered massive protests inside the United States.

July 2003. CIA agent Valerie Plame was disclosed. The story looked like a premeditated affair against Plame’s husband, former US diplomat Joe Wilson, who accused White House officials of manipulating the intelligence information about the situation in Iraq. It became one of the biggest political scandals during Bush’s presidency.

2003. The president initiated the tax reduction program, which made it possible to overcome the economic setback. However, the reform resulted in the budget deficit.

2004. The notorious Abu Ghraib scandal hits the world.

March 2004. Then-Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon withdrew troops from Palestinian territories at the mediation of the United States. The event marked landmark success in the regulation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

January 20, 2005. Bush takes his second term as POTUS. Condoleezza Rice replaced Colin Powell as the US Secretary of State.

August 2005. Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. The actions of the US administration were later considered incompetent.

November 2006. Republicans lost the mid-term elections. Democrats control the two houses of the US Congress.

February 2007. The relations between the United States and Russia took a turn for the worse. Putin slammed the NATO expansion and the missile defense program during his speech in Munich, Germany.

March 2008. Bush officially supported John McCain as a presidential candidate.

August 2008. A military conflict between Georgia and Russia occurred. Bush threatened Russia with international isolation and promised a billion-dollar-worth humanitarian assistance to Georgia.

I called it the day I met him

We were there...sort of

"The ultimate color line has been crossed"

Time for cake and champagne!!!!!!!!!!

How sweet it is!

We're partying early with our buddies Karen and Lynne, but no cake or bubbly till it's a done deal.

Buckeyes and other bellwethers

What an interesting study these states and counties would make. What is it about them? (h/t to Charles Mahtesian and Josh Kraushaar of Politico)

Among the 50 states, Missouri has a record of picking presidents that’s hard to match — the Show Me State has voted for the eventual winner in every election since 1904, with the exception of 1956, when it voted for Adlai Stevenson. Ohio’s not a bad predictor, either: It is almost always close to the national average, and no Republican has ever been elected president without carrying the Buckeye State. In fact, in the 14 presidential elections since 1952, Ohio has gone with the winner 13 times. Just three other states can boast that record of accuracy: Missouri, Nevada and Tennessee.

At the local level, according to Dave Leip’s Election Atlas, six bellwether counties have voted for the winning candidate in every presidential race dating back to 1960: Ferry County, Wash.; Eddy County, N.M.; Lincoln County, Mo.; Logan and Van Buren counties in Arkansas; and Vigo County, Ind.

Handsome Young Dems

This is personal

Before I get back to work, I'm going to indulge in a short review as my personal reminder of what the past 12 or so months have held:

October 2007
Gracie, almost died from a rare herniated diaphragm. After emergency surgery, outlandish vet bills, and lots of TLC she is fine.

November 2007
Gordon, who gave me my first job out of college and was like a father to me, died.

December 2007
Two days after Christmas, I suffered a very bad fall and back injury that laid me up for weeks.

January 2008
My only aunt, whose family and mine had been "estranged" for 12 years, died. At her wake, I saw dear loved ones I'd missed terribly for years. This all ends well in terms of relationships reborn, but the anticipation and resulting emotions were unlike any I'd felt before.

and
The increasing frailty of my parents and the realization that they would not be able to live in their home much longer becomes a regular topic of discussion for my brother and I.

March 2008
My father turned 80 and a week later my mother began her final journey with a trip to the ER, resulting in a hospital stay, inpatient rehab, subacute rehab...and a recurring cycle lasting for nearly seven months.

April 2008
After months of preparation and anticipation, I entered into covenant membership with the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters. My plans were that this commitment would be the defining moment of my year. It was far from it.

and
My 80-year-old father was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

July 2008
My dearest friend in the world died after a long battle with cancer. Lucille was like a mother to me. She had just turned 83.

and
My mother suffered a heart attack after being home for only a few days and left her home of the last 47 years for the last time.

September 2008
My 72-year-old mother died two weeks before my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. I was on vacation in Wisconsin, called back home, and made it in time to be with her for nearly 24 hours before she passed...with me as her only witness.

and
My Cubbies imploded...again.

November 4, 2008
I know it in my heart...my year will be redeemed in one day.
This day.

Sarah Palin's VP Qualification (intentionally singular)

I'd heard about this one, but Paul Krugman actually saw it:

On my way to teach, this morning:
Vote for the hero and the hottie.
Yes, it was on a pickup truck.

Computing the Odds

I hate numbers. Avoid them like the plague. But just for today, I will grant an exception and follow along.

Found this on the NYT Opinionator blog. Written by Chris Suellentrop.

What would John McCain’s victory map look like? Nate Silver, the electoral
math wizard at FiveThirtyEight.com, used his computer to simulate the
presidential election 10,000 times on Sunday. McCain won 624 times. In the most
common result (occurring 169 times), “Obama wins everything that either Al Gore
or John Kerry won,” Silver writes. “McCain wins everything else.”

In the rest of McCain’s potential maps to victory, some patterns emerged. Silver writes:In each and every one of the 624 victory scenarios that the simulation found for him this afternoon, McCain won Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Indiana and Montana. He also picked up Ohio in 621 out of the 624 simulations, and North Carolina in 622 out of 624. If McCain drops any of those states, it’s pretty much over.

A Pleasant Distraction for Today from the NYT

What One Word Describes Your Current State of Mind?

Be sure to check out the Obama and McPain tabs.

h/t to kbr

So It Has Been Written

Got up at 6, voted, got my free Starbucks, had my breakfast, took the bags out for Amvets, updated my punkin', updated my Blog...what the heck? I'm usually not even awake yet...up perhaps, but not awake.

I've Never Been Much for Dolls

Only one other doll could possibly catch my eye...a Julie Andrews Sound of Music action figure.

Got my "action figure we can believe in" at Borders in Wheaton, Illinois, but you can also find it at JailBreak Toys.

Now little Barack and I are going to have a tea party. Want to come?

Focus on the Fear

Have you read that fictitious letter that Dobson's organization wrote? I won't give them the exposure by reprinting it, but I'll gladly include Jim Wallis' response as published on The Huffington Post:

James Dobson's "Letter From 2012 in Obama's America"

James Dobson, you owe America an apology. The fictional letter released through your Focus on the Family Action organization, titled "Letter From 2012 in Obama's America", crosses all lines of decent public discourse. In a time of utter political incivility, it shows the kind of negative Christian leadership that has become so embarrassing to so many of your fellow Christians in America. We are weary of this kind of Christian leadership, and that is why so many are forsaking the Religious Right in this election.

This letter offers nothing but fear. It apocalyptically depicts terrorist attacks in American cities, churches losing their tax exempt status for not allowing gay marriages, pornography pushed in front of our children, doctors and nurses forced to perform abortions, euthanasia as commonplace, inner-city crime gone wild because of lack of gun ownership, home schooling banned, restricted religious speech, liberal censorship shutting down conservative talk shows, Christian publishers forced out of business, Israel nuked, power blackouts because of environmental restrictions, brave Christian resisters jailed by a liberal Supreme court, and finally, good Christian families emigrating to Australia and New Zealand.

It is shocking how thoroughly biblical teachings against slander--misrepresentations that damage another's reputation--are ignored (Ephesians 4:29-31, Colossians 3:8, Titus 3:2). Such outrageous predictions not only damage your credibility, they slander Barack Obama who, you should remember, is a brother in Christ, and they insult any Christian who might choose to vote for him.

Let me make this clear: Christians will be voting both ways in this election, informed by their good faith, and based on their views of what are the best public policies and direction for America. But in utter disrespect for the prayerful discernment of your fellow Christians, this letter stirs their ugliest fears, appealing to their worst impulses instead of their best.

Fear is the clear motivator in the letter; especially fear that evangelical Christians might vote for Barack Obama. The letter was very revealing when it suggested that "younger Evangelicals" became the "swing vote" that elected Obama and the results were catastrophic.

You make a mistake when you assume that younger Christians don't care as much as you about the sanctity of life. They do care--very much--but they have a more consistent ethic of life. Both broader and deeper, it is inclusive of abortion, but also of the many other assaults on human life and dignity. For the new generation, poverty, hunger, and disease are also life issues; creation care is a life issue; genocide, torture, the death penalty, and human rights are life issues; war is a life issue. What happens to poor children after they are born is also a life issue.

The America you helped vote into power has lost its moral standing in the world, and even here at home. The America you told Christians to vote for in past elections is now an embarrassment to Christians around the globe, and to the children of your generation of evangelicals. And the vision of America that you still tell Christians to vote for is not the one that many in a new generation of Christians believes expresses their best values and convictions.

Christians should be committed to the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of America, and the church is to live an alternative existence of love and justice, offering a prophetic witness to politics. Elections are full of imperfect choices where we all seek to what is best for the "common good" by applying the values of our faith as best we can.

Dr. Dobson, you of course have the same right as every Christian and every American to vote your own convictions on the issues you most care about, but you have chosen to insult the convictions of millions of other Christians, whose own deeply held faith convictions might motivate them to vote differently than you. This epistle of fear is perhaps the dying gasp of a discredited heterodoxy of conservative religion and conservative politics. But out of that death, a resurrection of biblical politics more faithful to the whole gospel--one that is truly good news--might indeed be coming to life.

Jim Wallis is the author of The Great Awakening, Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners and blogs at http://www.godspolitics.com/.

Toot's Legacy

My very first thought when I saw this photo...I love that man. I believe in him. I trust him. In a year that has brought me much disappointment and grief, he gives me hope in the goodness of my country and my fellow man...and I'm not easily inclined in that direction of late.

God, wrap this man in your loving kindness and grace tonight, and protect him for what I believe is his destiny.


h/t to Beth at Mannheim for the photo

Best Halloween Costume Ever...Even Though It's for a Dog

Thanks to the Huffington Post for this one. You can see it better there, but here's what his van reads:


Joe the Plumber
Unlicensed...$Cheap$
Screw Plumbing...hire me for:

• Robocalling
• Staged Media Interviews
• Naughty Burlesque
• Barmitzvah's

All Hallow's Eve

Thanks to Beth at Mannheim for the Seasonal Fun link...I found a pumpkin design even I could handle!

Don't Go Breakin' My Heart

In memory of "CubFanLois," and in honor of my hero Ron Santo, I will not lose my cool over tonight's playoff performance by our boys in blue. However, if the Cubs pull a 2007 implosion again, there is only one thing that will salvage my otherwise annus horribilus.

And if he loses, I'm moving to Sweden or Bali or Scotland or someplace with no professional baseball and no Republicans.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Julie.

What are the odds?

Fareed Zakaria just said actuarial tables state a 1 in 5 chance that Sarah Palin could end up President if McCain is elected. God forbid, on both accounts.

A sorrow shared

My poor 80-year-old father, painfully lonely after the death of my mother not two full weeks ago, is sound asleep in my recliner. This dear soul lost his soul mate just weeks short of their 50th anniversary.

Yesterday he called me at work and left a message: "Please call me before 4 p.m." There was such sadness in his voice. He said he was really having a hard time...could he come over sometime? So tonight he came over for dinner and some TLC.

When he first came in, he slumped onto the couch and hardly moved for quite some time. Then he finally started talking...about Mom. Her last days. How he loved to visit her and help her with her meals. How he would say, "I love you" when leaving after a visit at the nursing home, and how she'd say, "I love you, too." He just needed to talk about her. I did, too.

Dad is still sound asleep, pulling the afghan up closer to his face, resting peacefully and not alone for at least one night.

What a way to ruin a Saturday afternoon (or bumper stickers part II)

We three Sunnyside girls were driving (in the Prius proudly bumper-stuck for the Chicago Cubs and Barack Obama) south on Naperville Road to the Danada Equestrian Center for a afternoon walk. Suddenly a car (beige, maybe a Buick) cut in front of me and slowed down. We were engaged in conversation, so I was slow to notice that the dude was also sporting his own bumper-tude: Chicago White Sox, Marines, and NoBama.

I changed lanes to get away from him, but he saw that and cut right in front of me again, waving his middle finger with great purpose and energy in my direction. Well I didn't do what I usually do, which would have been nothing at all. Avoid engagement with road raging lunatics at all costs. No...my hormones are sputtering, my temper is short, my nerves are shot, and my patience is spent. So I stooped to his level and waved back with equal gusto. Oh yeah, that's making my mother proud.

A moment later I got a grip, retracted the offending digit, and slowed down, keeping my distance and regaining my composure. At a stoplight we ended up side by side. He rolled down the window. I didn't look his way, totally keeping my cool, talking to Beth calmly.

Then the light turned green and he pulled away first, yelling out his window, "Go vote for your n****r."

I was in shock and felt physically ill. Beth started to cry.

What in the bloody hell did he wish to accomplish? Was he hoping he would intimidate me into not voting for Barack Obama? Did he want me to engage him in a shouting match, ending with an accident and perhaps hand-to-hand combat?

The (hopefully) few, the (inappropriately) proud, that racist-bigoted-nasty-hate-filled Marine. I feel sorry for him. What a miserable life.

God protect Barack Obama. God protect us from ourselves.

Time lost and sad ironies

9/23/08
Dad and I went to the cemetery today to see where Mom was buried last Saturday. We had not been before, as Dad did not want a procession or graveside service to drag out an already difficult experience.

The cemetery is in Clarendon Hills. Not close to them. Not close to me. We found the unmarked spot, obvious with its dark black soil mound and flowers not yet dried. It's a nice location, for whomever that matters. A beautiful, tall, wide-reaching tree stands guard and offers shade. (Next time I'll have to make note of the type of tree.)

And not ten feet away, in a grave not all that much older as these things go, lies my aunt, my mother's sister Arlene. This irony cannot be lost on anyone who really knew these two women.

Arlene was eight years older than my mother, Lois. I don't know why that was the case, but I wouldn't recommend it to any prospective parents who have a choice in the matter. It's hard enough to be sisters in a disfunctionally cool and unemotional German/Czech home in the 1930s and 40s. Separate them by what feels like an eternity to them both, and you're setting them up for sibling relationship issues.

In the interest of honest reporting and to honor the departed, I'm going to leave out everything between then and the beginning of this year. No one can say what happened between these two women over 70+ years, save they themselves and their God. On January 23, 2008, Arlene passed away. The sisters had not spoken in some 10 years or more.

Lois had, up until then, held her own health wise in spite of serious and complicated health problems. But something was changing at the end of 2007 and early 2008. By March 17, Lois was to begin her final journey with the first of many trips to the ER, hospital, nursing home, rehabilitation centers, Marianjoy, etc. Just short of eight months from Arlene's passing, on September 17, Lois died.

So now their bodies rest in eternal peace within not much more than an arm's length of each other.

Now, too, their spirits are at peace. And I like to think there is more. I like to picture a young girl waiting at that gate for her little sister. Her sister runs to her arms, they embrace, cry with joy, and look at each other as if for the first time. And for Lois, there is a piano and a puppy and "a new bod," just as she had always wanted.

I like to believe there is now happiness and joy and love for these two sisters who accomplished in death what they could not in life...the reuniting of their two families.

I am grateful for their unintentional gift.

I love this look...who is your decorator?

I've been saving blodder (fodder for my blog) for quite some time now, so I may just date my entries with the date I originally wrote them instead of the date assigned. It will help me anyway.

9/23/08
My dad had two doctor appointments today. The first is with his primary physician. As we sit in the waiting room, we notice a pharmaceutical rep (female) anxiously waiting to talk to someone. She's pulling out samples from her trusty briefcase on wheels. Preparing packets of information, unwrapping big blue pens to hand to the ladies behind the counter. Finally she is granted an audience with one of the women and they chat like old friends. Pharma rep #1 leaves and within mere moments #2 (male) arrives on the scene. Hmm. Same trusty briefcase. He waits, he preps, he unwraps...are those pens? No, some kind of clip thing. Then he chats it up with the staff, flatters, winks, and disappears to pick up the trail left by #1, no doubt.

And then I actually look around. Am I in a doctor's office waiting room or a sample room for a point-of-purchase cardboard display manufacturer?

On the window sill there are no fewer than 14 pharmaceutical displays of one type or another. On the table in front of us there are 2, the end table to the right has 4, the end table nearest the door--3, the coffee table to the left--6. The counter has pen cups from someone, tissue holder from someone else.

I see familiar icons...balloons inflated like tiny full bladders, a pretty green moth, and lots of purple. And many names familiar to anyone who watches TV, surfs the Web, or reads pretty much anything. Femcon, Enablex, Lunesta, Vytorin, Lovaza, and on and on.

Did I take my medicine this morning? Did Dad take his? Are we done with Gracie's antibiotics yet?

And then we go down the hall (literally) to Dad's next appointment. The waiting room is quiet, calm, reassuring, well lit, and entirely sans cardboard.

On the way home, we stop at Walgreens to fill Dad's new prescription from the first visit...some new pill for his blood pressure. I wonder what color it is?

Before you stick that on your bumper...

So I'm driving down Roosevelt Road, heading to LaGrange Park to spend some time with my dad. Along the way I notice a car with an Obama bumper sticker not unlike my own. It's a long ride, and I enjoy the kinship we've just established, we two strangers with apparently similar world views.

I try to keep up with him...yeah, people will see there are two of us, two DuPage County dwellers who are out to turn our county blue! He in his...whatever, it was black...and me in my Prius. Yes, he's my homey, my bud; we'll watch the debates together; yep...a guy I can have a beer with.

Then my new friend lets me down with a tiny thud.

I hadn't noticed he was smoking, although the window was open. I guess I was blinded by my new adoration, but how I missed the smoke pouring out of his window is a mystery.

Anyway, there it was. A butt...no, bigger than a butt...it was nearly half of that cancer stick flying out his window, onto the pavement in front of me, rolling towards me still burning and glowing.

I close my window to avoid the puff of smoke he'd been kind enough to share, and I slow to a crawl and change lanes. I don't want anyone to think I know the guy.

Starting with an ending

I'm not even sure why I'm doing this blog thing, but rather than stall any longer, I will dive in now and think later...not what my mother would advise, I'm sure.

My mother died exactly one week ago tonight.

Mom was not an easy person to know, and although I always thought I knew her pretty well, now that she's gone I doubt that. Several years ago she decided to start writing a memoir of sorts; recollections of her life for her "offspring." Sadly, about all we have is several pages of notes, and one page of prose. An introduction and the following teaser never to be fully explained:

My life was usually lived in a safe manner. My family was not one to take chances.

What I wouldn't give to have the pages that were to follow. Did she mean the family with her parents, or our family...or both? Both would make sense, but I'd give anything to have her elaborate. Why start her memoir with that observation? Was that something she was proud of, comfortable with, or somewhere deep inside did she wish she'd had a slightly more interesting life...and what risks would she have taken? I'd give anything to know.