On Global Care

A familiar hymn begins, "Morning has broken," and this morning was a good morning, a very good morning. As the words of the hymn state, "Praise for the singing, praise for the morning, … ." May we appreciate this and every morning as a sacred gift.

When I was 14, it was June of 1967, I woke up to the news that Israel was carrying out surprise air strikes against what was then called The United Arab Republic. It was a quick (six days) and decisive victory for the newly founded nation of Israel. Israel wanted to control the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula in place of Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem in place of Jordan, and the Golan Heights in place of Syria.

What I did not know then was that The Jordan River was a huge part of Israel's modern strategic plan, and that the river is still a major factor in the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts in the Middle East.

Imagine that River.

Water is essential to Life. The first sentence of the Bible is about water. Our Jewish ancestors tell us that God was about to utter those unforgettable words, “Let there be light…, let the waters be gathered together…, Let the earth put forth vegetation…”

And there was life.

But not before there was water.

Water and wind were first.

Water and wind made up the formless void.

We thank you, God, for the clean air we breathe and the clean water we drink.

For the past two days, I have been away at the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Church in Delaware. At the close of the convention, a spokesperson for Episcopal Development and Relief in Delaware rose to speak; and as he did, he took a sip of water, clean and sparkling water. And he asked each of us (2 or 3 hundred people in the room) to raise our hands if we had had a drink of water that day. And we all did. And he asked if we had washed our hands that day. And we said yes. And he asked, did we know that 884 million people on this planet have no access to clean water—to drink, to wash in, to reflect on, as we do this morning, on what was present when God was said to have breathed life into this planet—884 million people who cannot imagine it because they have never known what it is like to have clean water.

884 million people have no access to clean water. Imagine a community where everyone has clean water except those on the other side of the tracks. Imagine your half-quadrant with no showers, no drinking water, no bathrooms at all. That is what it is like for the 884 million.

Brothers and sisters, reflect with me, if you will, on the story of Naaman, a commander of the Syrian Army, who suffered from leprosy, a highly contagious and debilitating skin disease.  I did a little research on Naaman and found that, in Bernhard W. Anderson’s extensive and scholarly work, Understanding the Old Testament, Mr. Anderson makes clear that the Syrians and Israelis were at war with each other in 850 BCE. The war was over water rights.

They are still at war! And the war is over water rights.

Water is life! Since the beginning of time, living things have organized their societies in places where there was water.

Around 850 BCE, a little Jewish girl was abducted by the Syrian Army and put to work in Naaman’s house. One day she said to her mistress, “I know a man who can heal my master Naaman. He is a holy man who lives across the Jordan River. He is the prophet Elisha and Yahweh is his God.” To make a long story short, Naaman, the Syrian army commander, was granted permission by his king to go check out this miracle cure. The doctor, so to speak, was the prophet Elisha, and Elisha simply wrote a prescription. Naaman was offended by this because he thought that he should be seen in person. Elisha declined to see Naaman, but on the advice of his servants Naaman decided to trust the prophet and so he washed in the Jordan River. Scripture says, “So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.”

Friends, I don’t know about you, but I want to live in a world where miracles like that can happen, do happen. I want to live in a community where the message from the wise and the faithful is one of hope and promise. The message of the Old Testament is that God is a God who makes covenants—promises, that both side are bound to keep. Jesus broke bread and poured wine on his last night with friends, as a sign of the new Covenant—a promise that God wants something better for you and for me.

Morning has broken, like the first morning is a reminder that we are living a sacramental existence, older than anyone reading this blog.

I remember hiking with my wife, Mary, before we were engaged to be married. We were young and had stronger legs than we do now. We were hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and we were thirsty. We had stumbled onto a stream. Parched and dry, we knelt to drink the cold, clear water at a place called The Basin, where the water flowed down from the mountain. It tasted great. It was refreshing beyond our imagination. Could we do that today? Is the water flowing in our planet’s streams safe or polluted?

Friends, the planet is sick right now. Planet Earth has leprosy, and we are not doing enough to cure its disease. We are exploiting our fragile earth, our island home, in order to make temporary profits, profits that will pay a one-way ticket to oblivion and reserve a front row seat for our children to unknown suffering and disease.

Some say that small sections of the Jordan's upper portion, near the Sea of Galilee, have been kept pristine for baptisms, but the 60-mile downstream stretch is polluted. Environmentalists say the river might recover, but it would take decades to restore its quality to safe standards. In 2007, Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) named the Jordan River one of the world's 100 most endangered ecological sites.

I will finish with one last story. When a group of students and teachers visited South Africa two summers ago, we spent several days at St. Mark’s School in Jane Fyrse. At one of the morning chapels (they have one every day to start the school day), we were asked to share what we had imagined about South Africa before we came. Our students from America said things like: beautiful stretches of land, jungle animals and exotic birds. Then a student from St. Marks stood up to share, and she said one thing. There was one thing she imagined about America. Can you guess what it was?

Water.

“I imagine a place where everyone has plenty of clean water.”

Water is life. The Naaman story is a sweet reminder that The Jordan River has a mysterious power to heal. We must be mindful that for many nations and religions, The Jordan River represents Life and Spirit. In it Jesus was Baptized. I believe that it is our sacred responsibility to protect it and all our natural rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, seas and oceans.

"Morning has broken, like the first morning, … praise for the singing, praise for the morning, … praise for springing, ... ." Praise for courage to do all we can to ensure that future generations can stand and sing, "praise this new day."

Where is God's Voice in Today's Church

Where is God’s Voice in Today’s Church?

The Holy Scripture begins with God’s voice (Genesis 1). The Psalmist affirms that God’s voice is strong, majestic, powerful and confident (Psalm 29). The Holy Gospels describe God’s voice as parental, tender and loving (Mark 1). Holy Scripture teaches that God’s voice breathes life into things, brings light into dark places, and blesses all creation. God’s voice is central to everything.

Churches are places where there is quiet enough for communities to gather to hear God’s voice. The men and women who plan, build and maintain churches consider God’s voice central to the purpose and meaning for The Church. Every brick and beam they place and paint, creates sacred space for God’s awesome voice. 

Yet, one has to wonder: Did those who built the holy spaces for God before the Internet imagine the voices that would one day compete with God’s voice in this complex world? Let us, for a moment, count the ways that other voices tempt us from God’s tender call, demanding our attention and distracting us from the all powerful and loving voice that is God speaking from the heavens, “You are my son. You are my daughter. In you I am well pleased.”

These competing voices call to us from ipod and laptop, Skype and Foursquare. We stream our TV programs. We download lectures and music from itunes. We share and view video clips, send thank you notes and greeting cards on email. We can be reached anytime, day or night, in the car, at the supermarket, at graduations, weddings and funerals.

One online add I read just yesterday said: “With this app you can access sounds from anywhere.” 

Where is God’s voice in all of this noise?

The technology and education seminar I attended last week ended with a three-and-a-half-minute barrage of the voices that will revolutionize our intellectual and social landscape over the next four years. You can view this at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCsdFSt5bXI

Here are just a few of the messages from that video:

• 35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute; 

• Facebook has over 750 million active users; 50% go online every day; 

• Google is the fastest growing network in the history of the world; 

• Facebook tops Google in US visits and use; 

• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

• 1 in 5 divorces are blamed on Facebook; 

• If Wikipedia was a book, it would have 2.25 million pages. 

• Wikipedia is 80% accurate.

All this is happening as I write, and the media revolution is moving ahead at a rapid pace. 

By the end of the 3.5 minutes I was literally sick in my stomach, dizzy and nauseous at the thought of how this revolution is changing our social and spiritual lives.

The lesson of technology is: “Don’t sit around waiting for the storm to end. Learn to dance in the rain.”

Last week, I was given a glimpse into a thundering storm, with a dissonance so loud it knocked me off balance. I heard nothing but noise. Tempted by must-have technological creations, I asked myself: “What if God were to speak again? Would God’s voice be heard?”

Once upon a time, long ago in the human understanding of God, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually …  and it grieved God’s heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created--people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’”

And God caused a great flood, and only a remnant was preserved.

Is God sorry about the Covenant made with Noah? 

Is God troubled about today’s social media frenzy? 

Did the scoffers and doubters who witnessed Noah’s alternate path think his ways were passé? Did they laugh and say, “What’s all the fuss about a storm? Come dance in the rain!”

In the town, where I live, a group of clergy meet once a month at a local Starbucks. You will not be surprised to hear that many of our conversations are about what some fear is a storm rising in The Church: Interest in parish life is falling off, pledges are down, Sunday School attendance is at an all-time low, young parents and children spend more Sunday mornings at the fields and gyms than in church. Sometimes a priest will call attention to this or that “other” church—the one with a big screen video, a rock band, 5000 members that meet in small groups made up from all the “best” people, especially those in thriving local businesses and politics. 

And the question is: “Should we become like them?” That is when I hear the still small voice of Jesus say, “Lead us not into temptation.”

Dear reader, I do not fear for the Episcopal Church in today’s social media revolution because I know that when I go to church or lead a service, there is only one voice, one focus, one reason to come: To hear the voice of God, the only voice that really matters. And I know that, as long as there are people who truly search for God, they will seek that still small voice. 

Now don’t get me wrong, the social media revolution offers many wonderful, useful, awesome and life-changing opportunities to access God’s voice. Just as the Bible was a more practical and compact way to compile, organize and package scriptures and scrolls, our ipads and smart phones give us easy and practical access to a world-wide “Bibliothèque.” Perhaps we should name this media revolution the Software Standard Version, having already been bitten by The Apple.

The Gospel of John opens with these words: “In the beginning was the Word,” reminding us that God’s voice was in the beginning framing life and naming things into being. Later God would say to Noah, “Never again will I curse the ground … this is my sign, a bow in the sky;” and when Jesus came to John at the Jordan, God spoke and said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”

As long as there are human beings who venture forth in faith and with courage, they will come to church; and as long as churches remain true to a mission of love, and a purpose of service to others, their doors will invite us to hear again the only voice that matters.

Christmas Giving

On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, the National Center on Family Homelessness released its “America’s Youngest Outcasts 2010” report, documenting the number of homeless children in each state and their wellbeing. According to their report, there are 1.6 million homeless children in the United States, most of whom are under the age of seven.

What can you do?

If you are reading this, I hope, when you are finished, that you will make a small donation to Family Help, Inc. (FHI). Perhaps you will consider giving a gift of money in another person's name—a superb way to give a gift that won't collect dust, but will put food on a table or provide shelter for a child.


FHI is in its second year of service to the homeless of Middletown, Delaware. Many of you contributed money to the project last year, and several school athletic programs raised money for Christmas presents. I’m proud to report that many teams contributed again this year.

The generosity of those of us who have more of life's advantages is supporting four families with children, who live in transitional housing units on West Lake Street in Middletown, Delaware. Each family receives food and clothing as well as counseling that will, with God’s help, lead each family to more a stable and independent future. Two families have already moved on from our facility and new tenants have moved in.

The generosity of many individuals and groups has allowed FHI to meet an important need in our community, but, in order for us to continue this noble work, I am asking you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help FHI continue its mission. Your donation will be used to maintain four apartments, provide basic needs for four families, and continue programs to help them create a better financial foundation for themselves and their families.

In these challenging economic times, FHI needs your support. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of homeless families in Middletown.

Checks should be sent to Family Help Inc. If you would like to get involved in other ways, tour the property, or ask questions about the program, please contact Board President Harvey Zendt at 302-528-5685.

Finally, please pass this plea on to others who are in a position to support FHI's effort to help those in need. On behalf of the FHI Board, I thank you in advance for your support.

Faithfully yours,
Dave

Accountability: The Key to a Good Education

When I imagine the community I live in coming together as one body of students, teachers, staff members, family members, parents and friends, I imagine us centering around the school motto: Faith and Learning; and I ask myself this question: Is this a theme worth pursuing and a quest we are willing and able to make together, or are we just kidding ourselves as we allow ourselves to be drawn deeper and deeper into the widening abyss of greed and power that threatens to engulf our best selves?

When you have spent the better part of your life teaching and learning in an Episcopal school, as I have, you witness more than your share of the good side and the bad side of people. After 30 years, I have come to the conclusion that the most important thing I can teach, or ask of myself and others, is accountability.

Accountability, accountability, accountability.

I cannot think of another word that is so closely associated with schools than Accountability.

At the heart of the lessons read in our chapel today, from Zephaniah to Matthew, is accountability.

“I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, "The LORD will not do good, nor will he do harm. Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste.”

This is a stern warning to all of us that there will be a reckoning one day, because our God is a God who searches our hearts, and knows what motivates us.

In today’s lessons we are warned that complacency is an attitude that disappoints God.

That is why Jesus focuses attention on the one person who has the least. Jesus wants us to understand that God mourns when any one of us becomes paralyzed by fear so that we choose complacency over right action.

Fear changes us. Pride blinds us. Anxiety cripples us. Lack of faith makes us hesitate.

Fear makes us do the things we know are wrong. Pride blinds us so that we do not see that what we are doing is wrong. Anxiety directs us to act in ways that are contrary to our faith and reason. Lack of faith turns our heads away from the salvation that would liberate us, and points us toward the greed and power that would enslave us.

Thus, we must hold ourselves, and each other, accountable for every thought we have and every action we do. When we see something that is wrong, we must be proactive, and we must do something about it.

It is not enough to note a wrong in our minds, or pass along the information to another. We must follow through, persevere to the end, finish the job.

The headmaster of the school where I serve wrote an important piece on the recent situation facing Penn State University. In it, he proclaimed that human beings have a sacred trust to honor and protect each other, and that we have a responsibility to confront others when they violate that trust. We are responsible forever.

In contrast to this responsibility, one born when the school established its mission of faith and learning, students are being raised in a secular culture that teaches just the opposite. We are counseled to lay low, make no waves, bury the truth. We are counseled to misrepresent ourselves on job applications, cheat a little here and there on tests, hold back information about ourselves, in order to present a favorable portfolio.

The worst thing is that some of advice is given to us by people who are supposed to be role models— parents, mentors and team leaders.

Some of these folks, in turn, have gotten by on the clever tactics they have learned along the way: reporting abuse to the next higher level, passing the buck, doing just enough to stay afloat.

And so I ask, where is the moral base? If we do not see one, then isn't it our sacred responsibility establish one?

The man who hid his talent was doing just enough to stay afloat. As far as I know, there were no radar devices back then, but if he were here today, we would say that he was flying under the radar. Too bad for him because God’s radar is better than ours. God saw through his clever ploy.

A small dodge of responsibility, like the one he made, if you made it today, might get you a reprimand. A big dodge, however, will cost you your career. Just ask Joe Paterno. Mr. Paterno was a teacher and a coach for over 40 years at one university. Some say that he was Penn State University. With a record 409 wins as coach of a first-rate college football team, and in his fifth decade as a career college professional, there can be no doubt that Coach Paterno knew the importance of accountability, and I am sure that he held hundreds if not thousands of others accountable to him and to themselves for their actions and deeds during his five decades of service.

But one thing brought this legendary coach down, tarnishing his reputation: He failed to hold himself accountable for something he knew was wrong. He passed the buck. He did not follow what his faith should have told him was right. The suffering of the victims, we must assume, was somehow not worth his energy.

As students and teachers at a top school, we are the folks with the 5 and 10 talents. Therefore, a lot is expected of us. We have to be trusted even more than those who have less. If we have five talents, then we are accountable for all five talents. If we have ten talents, then we are accountable for all ten—not nine, or eight, but all ten! If we have only one talent, or as some have confessed to me personally, “Mr. D, there is nothing I am best at or even good at.” I say this: We are accountable for what we do have, and to the full measure, all the way.

Accountability is what it says it is, an accounting. When you hold a person accountable, it makes sense to both of you, and when the reckoning occurs, neither side goes away mad. We just shake hands and go away justified. If you call me out for a mis-deed, I must fix it. If I call you out because you did not do your job to the best of your ability, you should correct the flaw and do it right from then on. Holding ourselves and others accountable is a good thing and it breeds respect.

As students and teachers at a fine school, we are called to more accountability than others, and we should be proud of that higher standard. We know more, have more, and continue to acquire more every day. The world is counting on us.

What do you think? Can you be counted on to be an example for others, to live the kind of life that makes this world better? Then do it, for God’s sake! Speak out. Address issues with faith and learning and always with truth, justice, love and faithfulness.

May God bless us in fulfilling this sacred mission.

Family Help, Inc. Needs You

December 11, 2011


Dear Friends,

I am writing on behalf of homeless families everywhere, but especially those being helped by Family Help, Inc. (FHI).  

FHI is in its second year of service to the homeless of Middletown, Delaware. Many of you contributed money to the project last year, and it was through your generosity that four families with children received food, clothing and a roof over their heads last winter. With continued care and counseling, each family is learning to build toward a more stable and independent future. Two families have already moved on from our facility and new tenants have moved in.

The generosity of many individuals and groups has allowed FHI to meet an important need in our community, but, in order for us to continue this noble work, I am asking you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help FHI continue its mission. Your donation will be used to maintain four apartments, provide basic needs for four families, and continue programs to help them create a better financial foundation for themselves and their families.

In these challenging economic times, FHI needs your support. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of homeless families in Middletown. 

Checks should be sent to Family Help Inc. If you would like to get involved in other ways, tour the property, or ask questions about the program, please contact Board President Harvey Zendt at 302-528-5685, or just come and ask me.

Finally, please pass this plea on to others who are in a position to support FHI's effort to help those in need. On behalf of the FHI Board, I thank you in advance for your support. 

Faithfully yours,

Dave DeSalvo

The Rev. David P. DeSalvo, Chaplain, St. Andrew's School, 350 Noxontown Road, Middletown, DE 19709, (302) 285-4309

Double Standards

Today I looked at my list of new math students and saw a familiar face. Later that face was erased. I do not know why, but I suspect that the young person's parents asked for a change.

Schools are weakening. Parents are part of the weakening process. In the case above, there are two children in a family of educators. The older is the wonder child, brilliant, magical—a gift. The second child is finding his way and wonders if will ever measure up in the eyes of his parents.

Of course. He already has. A parent's love is unconditional, but does he know this?

Parents want the best for their children, but what they do not realize is the constant, unconscious set of  messages they send: our number two child is different, unsure, less self sufficient. To make up for their anxiety at having to work harder to convince a second, third or fourth child that he or she is valued, parents go out on a limb to pull strings, sometimes hoping that the younger child knows about this. They want to be seen as parents who are "fair" and parents who "really care."

But the truth of the matter is that children know that the best thing would be for parents to stay out of the way and to let children weather the realities that life creates.

When it comes to secondary and higher education, it is not about the parents but about the children. If a struggle presents itself, then celebrate, rather than weaken the situation, which, in the long run, weakens the child.

But, and I say this with trembling knees, maybe parents intend this all along. After all, the firstborn has traditionally been a special child, and parents seem to do what they feel is dignified and noble to ensure that the world is aware that this first offspring really is a gift.

God help us!

Amy Tan TED Talk

http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_tan_on_creativity.html