time to reflect
Taking time to reflect is a gift
everyone should receive. Since Saturday of last week, I' reflected on time
since I said, "I do."
Anniversaries and birthdays are for
me a time to reflect. Last Sunday my companion and I passed the eighteen year
mark of sharing laughter, tears, hard decisions, walks on the beach, adventures,
and space. We call ourselves companions because it best describes who we are
and how we go through life together. Yes, we are married. Yes, from time to
time we use the term spouse or husband or wife more than we would like. These
words define, describe roles in relationship. Language shapes reality just as
context shapes language. We are a couple, state sanctioned in marriage and
religiously blessed. Beyond definition and description we are
companions.I don’t know how long
you have been in a consenting committed adult relationship, state sanctioned and
religiously blessed or not, but here are a few things that have changed in the
world, in my understanding of the world, since we stood before family and
friends and said, “I
do.”Seminary
graduation and ordination for both of us. Sixteen years serving in ministry for
each of us.Lisa
completed her PhD and has taught at Lexington Theological Seminary for 12
years.Computers have
grown from TRS 80 and Commodore 64 that people rarely used to
something as small as a PDA, single desktops with power enough to fly the space
shuttle, and my Mac Powerbook G4 that at 1 gigahertz is now very slow at 2.5
years old. Video phones exist across the internet rather than phone
lines.Cell phones get
smaller and more multi-functional every six
months.Dial-Up is
giving way to DSL as the normative way to connect to the internet which barely
existed as an option for the public in
1989.One war began and
ended. Another war is still in country. War began the voyeurism that we call
“reality TV” under Bush
41.Everyone gets on a
plane today. The planes are smaller, more crowded and depending on the length
of the journey one might be able to get their by car just as
quickly.Rev. Dr.
Michael Kinnamon was too liberal for some to become our denomination’s
General Minister and President (though theologically he is neo-orthodox), but it
appears he is thoughtful and ecumenical enough to become the General Secretary of the National Council of
Churches. The
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) elected our first female General Minister
and President. My denomination has stopped leading by example for equality and
unity in public and private venues. We are joining the multitude marching
toward not requiring ATS accredited seminary for ordination forgetting or
disregarding that we ordain persons into Christian ministry for the whole
Church, and not simply our brand of Christian witness. Isn’t that the
lesson Jim Jones taught. Aren’t we doing a disservice to the Church by
requiring less?People I
loved and learned from have died: George and Maudie Ferrier, Sara Davison,
Barnie Wilson, Robert Ferrier, Dr. M. Jack Suggs, Rev. Margaret Harrison, Dr.
Kenneth Teegarden, Dr. Darrell Schmidt, Dr. Ambrose Edens, Dr. Ken Lawrence,
Mother Teresa, Rev. Wil VanNostrand, Rev. Wally
Reed.A nephew and two
nieces have grown up and found their own state sanctioned and religiously
blessed companions.My
sister’s kids are growing up and our parents retired this year. They are
traveling in their motor coach. I am sure they have thought this same thing,
“Can our kids be . . .?” I’ve thought, “Are my parents
really . . .?”And that is
what time does. It doesn’t move too fast or slow. I think it moves at
the speed and mood of your living. To borrow a phrase, “I’m the luckiest man on the face of the
earth.”
Filed Wed - October 17, 2007, 10:00 AM in
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