We Need to Love like Starbucks

    I try so very hard not to get wrapped up in the political tension that sometimes arises, but my humanity comes into play and I sometimes fail and release some of that tension among friends on social media.  Thanks to a clergy colleague I had a nice discussion about this and a re-focusing of my attention.  In short, as an Episcopal priest I feel called to love and support all of God's people and that includes people from both sides of the political aisle.

     Parishioners who hear my sermons will know I have only once preached a sermon that went "political" and leaned ever so slightly, but noticeably, to one side.  That brought forth the tension in that congregation and showed me who was Democrat and who was Republican merely by the responses I received which were, thankfully, all surrounded with love and allowed me to dialogue with each of the people which was a good result.

   One of my frustrations, which my friend helped me to temper, is how many Episcopal clergy wear their allegiance to the Democratic party on their sleeve.  Mind you, this is not about the party.  My parents were staunch Democrats as I was growing up.  I cast my first vote for Jimmy Carter (who was beaten by Ronald Reagan in that election) and my daughter interned this past summer for Hillary Clinton. As you can see I do have some comfort with the political left. Having said that, I encountered President "W." Bush on a few occasions and he, while serving as our President, did an unasked for kindness to one of my children.  I am also a fan of W's dad, and have even corresponded with "H.W." and thought well of Mitt Romney back when he was running.

   My point is not that I flip between parties but that I try to find good in people though I may disagree with their politics.  And sometimes I find that a person from another political party might have the best characteristics for a job.  Long ago I gave up using my political party as a Team Sport, and I think my fault is in my desire that other people would do the same.

   Still, and respectfully, I think my Episcopal clergy friends fall short in this category.  If you are not a Democrat they then put you into as close to a category to "Hitler" as they can.  News flash - not everyone can be "Hitler," and my same friends who post on social media their frustration over their sinking parish attendance are the same ones who I read quoting MSNBC in the sermons more than the Gospels.

    Then there is Starbucks - and believe it or not I am getting close to both my conclusion and my point!  Starbucks who has made it very clear that they are trying to be "the other thing" in people's lives.  Now that "church" is not the place for everyone to gather socially, or do good volunteer work, etc. Starbucks actively competes to be that place for people.

    Recently the company took out a full page add showing negative words on one side of a page like "Exclusion," "Vitriol," "Cowardice," and more.  On the other side were words like "Leadership," "Respect," "Courage," and more.  The point of the add and a followup comment I saw quoted from the CEO of Starbucks elsewhere was the call for us to wake up and look at what this election season is pulling us towards, reminding us that we are better than this, and that we have a choice on how to engage the other in better, more civilized, ways.

    Yet while this post is shared occasionally on social media with "likes" and affirmative comments I watch my Episcopal clergy friends and their congregants continue playing to the "other" side of the page....for instance in the same post decrying Donald Trump's mean-spirited ugliness I read as a good Episcopal parishioner referring to Trump as a "big fat jerk!"

Hello pot...let me introduce you to the like colored kettle.

     So whether you like their coffee or not it is Starbucks, that competitor in being "that other place" for folks, who is stepping up and saying "let us not play into this and reduce all of our selves down to the lowest level."

   Yet should not this be coming from the original other place...our churches, and most importantly our clergy?   Yes we need to uphold people's rights including their sexuality and gender choices, we have to reach out and help the disenfranchised, but even Jesus who said that everything is about "love" reminds us to "love our neighbor," and when queried by a lawyer Jesus reminds us that our neighbor is actually that person who we do not like.

Hello...Democratic Episcopalian...meet your other, Donald Trump. Now, love him.

Hello...Republican Episcopalian...meet your other, Hillary Clinton,  Now, love her.

What a wonderful world it will be if we can serve as an example of our faith to others.

What a wonderful church we will be if we do the hard work of showing love towards those whose policies and actions we hate.

What a wonderful opportunity that clergy have to show their flocks how to live Christ's love.

How sad, in this case, that a coffee house company does better than the church.

So, friends, the Good News is that God never gives up on us, and the world provides us plenty of opportunities to live our faith.  So drink your cup of coffee, wake up, and be the church!

Love,

Your EpiscoPAL - Peter+

Just Writing to Write!

   I have not been writing more than I have to at the moment.  In my priestly vocation I am coming upon a tremendously busy time, and I still have two sermons to compose for next week.  Add into that a brief out of town trip with Marie, and the fact that I slept for 13 hours last night are all of my excuses for not writing.  Frankly I do not have much to say, but writing books which I have read remind me that a writer "writes," so to get to doing it. That brings me here.

    My mother's package arrived with many items in to help prime the pump for the book I am writing about her and my father, and maybe me and my vocation and I have yet to open it; knowing that I will have questions aplenty to begin writing down, so I am waiting until the quiet time post Easter.  In the meantime I will try to keep writing here and there to keep my fingers nimble.  Until I open the package and determine what is inside, and what questions I have, that will probably help form where my next steps go, especially the structure of the book.

    Recently I saw a post from the fine mystery author Lawrence Block on Facebook inviting people to apply to him for an audible.com copy of his book on writing in trade for reviewing it.  I am listening to it during this "down time" in my composing, and though this work of his is about fiction it still serves to inspire me as that is where I would like to go as well.  So, we shall see.

    If you are reading this, just know that you helped me, because I like to write for "you," whoever you may be.  Though I might not have much to say, this is a good way to practice keeping me at this craft that I love.

Opening Up the Past

I mentioned to my mother a few weeks ago that I was working on a book about growing up in the family that were so top of their show biz status when I came along that my birth was announced in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter back in the day.  Like a good mom she cheered me on, but said that she could not be of much help as for her the past is the past and memories fade.

And that is a-okay with me!

Then I received a surprise.

My mother dug into some old files and found notes that she thought that she had discarded.  Some from a published project of hers, and many others from a non published one.  She spent some time scribbling notes upon and around the already written recollections and sent them packaged on its way to me.

In our weekly phone call my mom and I had one of those chats that a mother and son do not normally engage in; one where we were both open with not only our hopes and fears about the project at hand, but at what I saw and witnessed as the "quiet one" in the family.  In fact, I provided  mom with the key about why I think, upon the end of Bewitched and the divorce of "Uncle" Bill Asher (director and producer of the show) and "Auntie" Liz Montgomery (the star), Liz stopped speaking to we Ackermans altogether, and no longer let their children associate with us (I did not see them again until we celebrated Bill Asher's 70th birthday sometime in the early 1990's, I recall).

I think I put the puzzle piece in place for her as it was always a mystery. Interestingly enough my sharing of that with her, along with what I witnessed happen on the set of that show between Liz and a man, which seemed strange at the time to a boy, who I later learned was her lover, opened the valve to some memories of my mom's that were long since buried.

Who knew that there was so much left for me to mine!

In a generosity which is characteristic of my mother she invited me to, as I write and as I peruse what she sent to me, to merely write down any questions that come up, and she will write to me all that she can recall.  What a gift.  This, like any modern day package came with a warning.  As she told me from her previous writing experience (In the Kitchen with Elinor Donahue   http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Elinor-Donahue-Favorite-Hollywood/dp/188895292X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457375682&sr=8-1&keywords=in+the+kitchen+with+elinor+donahue ) "Once you open up Pandora's Box, you cannot close the lid."

Thankfully, I believe this opportunity has come to fruition at a good time in  my life, where I have experienced much growth and maturity. I think beyond what I witnessed, known and unknown to my mother, during my growing up in Hollywood, God  knows that I am ready to confront anything that comes forth.  I am grateful for that.

I will continue with this blog, of course, as it helps me to remain in touch with writing, but soon I will post less so that I can write the book, and not just write about writing the book.  As my friend Herbie J. Pilato told me on more than one occasion, "You have a story to tell.  Tell it!"

So, again, here goes nothing!

I lost a friend and family member this week.  Cooper began experiencing some health problems earlier this year, and though after we followed the Veterinarian's orders things not only got better, but Cooper thrived like never before. Alas, I believe that whatever it truly was that ailed him when into remission and then came back with a vengeance last Thursday.  By Monday morning after our walk at Fort Ward Park I was convinced that my wife and I had to take him to the Vet for a final "goodbye."

It was rough, and it has been since.  Yet Marie and I and our adult children are continually buoyed by the love available to us from others that truly lifts our souls and spirits.  The following is what I posted on my Facebook page at the conclusion of that difficult day...

"Thank you all for the outpouring of love today. Marie and I were fairly certain that this was Cooper's last weekend and that was more evident this morning. I am grateful that he and I had a final walk together in his favorite park (Fort Ward) where he on wobbly and unsteady legs, looked longingly at the sights and I saw him actually savor the smells that his hound's nose drew in. I am certain that he knew it was his last outing. So he and I ended like we began together. On a walk. My favorite moment today was one of his usual in park visits. He loved walking through the original fort's gate. I let him know that this is probably what the gateway in heaven looked like so if he headed for that he would be in good hands. An hour or so later, in the vet examining room, as he fought injected prep sleep Cooper heard from Marie and me in mere words that which he showed us in being for the 8 of his 11 years we had him; "I love you." Thus now the sun goes down on a sad day, yet one warmly fragrant in love. Thank you, all. Bye Coop. Til we meet again."