Living These Days

Author: Mary Patricia Trainor

  • Sacred Song

    Stand By Me

    Mary Patricia Trainor 

    If  you’re one of those showing up at mainline Protestant churches yesterday, there’s a good chance you heard about Jesus walking on water. It was the Gospel selection from Matthew.

    Maybe your preacher rolled it into his or her sermon, as I did at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Coolidge, Arizona.

    Walking on water is Jesus’ splashiest miracle yet. Not only because no one else can do it, but also because many of the thousands of people he has just fed in the wilderness are watching. Talk about an eyewitness list!

    As spectacular as this aquatic miracle is, I am especially moved by how a hymnwriter in 1905 incorporated it into the words of Stand By Me, not to be confused with Ben King’s 1961 popular song of the same title. King’s work was essential to the popularity of the 1984 movie, also of the same title. It is also a soulful song that speaks to this same human need for human companionship and loyalty.

    But—for me—it doesn’t have the power of the hymn. Charles Albert Tindley wrote his Stand By Me, with a heart for the broken, the lonely, the aging. Everyone who has encountered defeat, loss of purpose, and discouragement.

    My favorite version is performed by Elvis Presley. Album: How Great Thou Art,Track 5.

    See what you think:

    https://ElvisPresley.lnk.to/listenYD

    Then choose YouTube.

  • Render unto Caesar

    We live in treacherous times. Actually, I suspect, all times are treacherous if we’re paying attention. Choose God or choose empire.

    When Jesus’ enemies ask whether it is lawful to pay taxes, Jesus knows they are trying to trap him into speaking against a primary mechanism of the Roman regime: Taxes.

    He asks to see a coin, which bears the image of the emperor. Then, the famous answer: Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and unto God, that which is God’s.”

    It’s a two-faced answer, depending on interpretation. We, of course, believe that everything is God’s. Our daily steps and interactions, our treatment of one another, our being a faithful member of the family of God. Oh, and paying taxes, too.

    Following Jesus is not a free pass to ignore rules that help sustain living as a community, many of which govern behavior mandated in the Ten Commandments. No killing, lying, stealing, and so on.

    So, love God, pay your taxes, uphold the Ten Commandments. And, here’s another: Vote, which is how we change things whenever specific leaders get out of hand.

    It’s a process that offers us the best hope possible. We don’t even need to remove any heads from our legal tender.

  • Sacred Text

    Luke 10:38-42

    Friends together

    Mary Patricia Trainor

    Tomorrow—July 29–we are offered the ever-appealing story of sisters Martha and Mary. They live along the path to Jericho, in a town called Bethany.

    Lazarus, their brother, lives with them in what the gospeler Luke describes as Martha’s house. All three siblings are friends of Jesus, though how the friendship began we are left to wonder.

    As Martha begins to whip up a dinner for their special friend, Mary follows him into the living space, sits on the floor, and listens intently to everything he says.

    Martha is annoyed. And probably overwhelmed by all that needs doing in order to have dinner. She appeals to Jesus to have Mary help her.

    But, no. He notes that, by sitting and listening to him, Mary has chosen “the better part.” He will not take that from her.

    I can understand both positions. Maybe you do, too: Being a good hostess versus being a good friend.

    This story often leads to conversation in which people—male or female—clearly identify with a particular sister. I’m a Mary. I’m a Martha.

    I once engaged in such conversation, too. Nowadays, I am much more content realizing that Jesus needs both types of people to carry his message into the world, to be him to the many who  suffer, who hunger and thirst, who crave even just a speck of hope, to know they are loved and are worthy of love. No matter what.

  • Sacred Text

    In the Garden

    Mary Magdalene

    Tomorrow, the church remembers Mary Magdalene.

    Some may identify her as Jesus’  closest confederate.

    Others honor her as Apostle to the Apostles.

    Still others perpetuate the falsehood that she was a prostitute prior to knowing Jesus.

    And there even has been plenty of inter-century speculation that her relationship with Jesus was perhaps more  domestic, perhaps even marital.

    A woman of mystery? Of intrigue? Here is a summary of research on the subject:

    For nearly 1,500 years, Mary Magdalene has carried a reputation the Bible never gave her. She was not a prostitute. Scripture never says she was sexually immoral, only that Jesus healed her and that she became one of his most devoted followers. The label was the result of a sixth-century sermon that merged several different women of the Gospels into one person—a conflation the Eastern Church never accepted and that modern scholarship has long rejected.

    The real Mary Magdalene needs no embellishment. She stood at the cross. She waited at the tomb. She was the first witness of the Resurrection and the first person commissioned to proclaim, “I have seen the Lord.” Far from diminishing her, the Gospels present her as one of the most courageous and faithful disciples of Jesus.

    And, for me personally, I will always remember her as the woman in the garden, grieving for his loss, when he speaks her name, “Mary.”

    Can you imagine the joy she felt? Let’s just say, it changed the world.

  • A detour to lesser concerns 

    In a world of war and death and hunger and injustice. In a world where we grapple almost everyday with democracy on the brink of—what—extinction? 

    Truthfully, sometimes I long for a little escape. Something trivial, perhaps, or just something of no lasting concern.

    So, I want us to take a little dive into something that mystifies me—but at the end of the day is of little to no consequence.

    I’ve noticed what I believe to be an increase in a couple of unusual fashion choices (mostly) by women and older girls.

    We all know that hem lines go up or down every decade or so. The legs of women’s pants go from narrow to flared and everything in between. Makeup to be noticed as makeup, to makeup not to be noticed.

    But there are a couple of current popular body amendments that I don’t understand.

    Granted, this comes from someone of the older persuasion, as well as from someone who has never been cool. Foolhardy, maybe, but never cool.

    Have you noticed an increasing number of older girls and women paying for 1.) enlarged lips; and/or 2. enlarged buttocks.

    God did not bless me with full lips. But I was convinced awhile back to have my lips colored permanently (really about six months). I’m lazy and I was drawn to the idea of having a permanent makeup look. But I’m over that now. Not in my budget, one; and, two, not something I care to do again.

    Like other fads, big lips and big tushes will likely move over for something else. 

    I feel the need to say that never before in my lifetime have I known anyone who wanted a bigger behind. 

    And I’m guessing that dumping them once you’re tired of them might be a bit more complicated than lowering or raising a hemline. What do you think?

    Mary Patricia Trainor

  • Poetry

    Dear friend,

    Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed by the world and its woes, I turn to the arts for help.

    I’m especially drawn to poetry, in which I find beauty and answers.

    Today I went directly to the work of my favorite U.S. woman poet, Emily Dickinson.

    May its simplicity bring you comfort as well.

    ***

    If I can stop one heart from breaking,

    I shall not live in vain;

    If I can ease one life the aching,

    Or cool one pain,

    Or help one fainting robin

    Unto his nest again,

    I shall not live in vain.

  • Public Square

    Drowning in commitment?

    Was he just born bad? I doubt it.

    Did he always intend to use his dog rescue operation as a cover so he could shoot, kill, and bury a bunch of dogs, then hide them in mass graves, away from public view? I doubt it.

    A heart-breaking story is still developing in Northern California, where officials continue their sweeping investigation of a rescue—ironically listed as a no-kill rescue—and its owner. Incidentally, when I started this blog entry the rescue and its owner were named. My guess is, conditions became volatile, and safety became a concern, so now officials are dealing with it anonymously.

    I’ll admit that the mistreatment of animals is something I can only read about sideways. It’s too painful for a square-on look.

    So, I have to leave the story, the case, to braver people, investigators, who have their hands full with the many  avenues of abuse that allegedly were rooted at this rescue.

    ***

    What’s left for me, then? For you?

    Let’s look at this as a cautionary tale. Call it, “When love is not enough.”

    God knows, and we do, too, that any form of animal welfare work is heartbreaking. It wears people down. Eventually cuts off how much their hearts can feel. Relentlessly. One horrifying case after another. Abandonment after neglect. Dumping. Starvation. Untreated illness.

    In the dog and cat rescue world, even the good guys and gals can fall apart when their network of support dwindles.

    Most likely we’ve read about dog and cat hoarding situations. An old man, an old woman, cooped up with too many animals. Things got away from them. They can no longer manage the endless repetition. The weight of the work carries on, but they no longer can. Animals die. Neighbors eventually call authorities.

    Love has become a burden. Money is in short supply. Outside help dries up. The need is endless. And, then, there you are, the very picture of what you gave your life to prevent.

    It’s a common enough trajectory for us to notice. And there are things we can do to help.

    If you’re in this work and nearing the overwhelmed point, please reach out.

    Comment on this blog and I will follow through.

    Also, please check out the article, When Love is Not Enough. Resources are mentioned there. Link here.

    Mary Patricia Trainor

  • Sacred Scripture

    ‘…and your neighbor as yourself.’ Luke10:25-28

    Love God.

    Love neighbor.

    Change the world.

    Sounds good—even easy—when you first hear Jesus answering the lawyer’s question about finding eternal life.

    The lawyer knows the right answer. I know the right answer. Maybe you do, too.

    And even if I could love God every moment, seeking to follow and share God’s love twenty-four-seven, I know I will fail on the “neighbor” half of the equation.

    I want to be that person, but I’m just not. I try, over and over. Sometimes I get it right. But sometimes I turn my back because—why?—they’re on the wrong side of the street. Inconvenient.

    My church is looking to start a food pantry. I’m not sure what the schedule will be. I’ll wait and see. But what about the people who are hungry today?

    That guy on the street corner. He looks too clean, probably a fake, there to take advantage.

    So, in the course of a day, a month, a year, I talk myself out of any responsibility for some of my neighbors.

    And then I recall kindnesses done for me at a cost to the kindness-doer.

    Fifty years ago, I ran out of gas on Interstate 10, heading to work. I was driving my new-to-me Fiat 124, and had yet to master the fuel reading. You know, when it’s on E, how much farther could I go?

    As I pulled over to the side I wondered: Could I have found a more isolated spot to be stranded?

    Wait, a car is pulling over. Praying it’s the Good Samaritan and not the Boston strangler, I held my hand out with a fuel can in it.

    The man seemed nice. I gave him all my money—$2—and off he went.

    Time slowed to a standstill. Was he coming back? Why was I so gullible? This guy could be miles down the highway.

    I sat in the driver’s seat and waited.

    Then, there he was. Pulling his car in behind mine, he opened the gas can and began to pour it into my thirsty little tank.

    It was all so quick, then he was gone, and I was on my way to work.

    But for fifty-plus years, I have carried this story with me, solid proof of the kindness of strangers, that good exists, and to try to be a blessing myself whenever I can. Oh, and to not let the needle even get close to E.

    CreditChatGPT for artwork

  • Sacred Verse

    Matthew 15:29-39

    Not counting women and children…

    Scripture offerings for today include Jesus’  feeding of the 4,000–not to be confused with the feeding of the 5,000.

    Some of the takeaways from each are similar, for example, Jesus feeding stressed, burdened, forsaken people looking to catch a break.

    We know these stories, right?

    Well, I thought I did. Until, as a freshly minted priest in 2006, someone pointed out the “trick” in Matthew’s version of the feeding of the 4,000. 

    A side note, Jesus affirms that there were, in fact, two mass feedings in the wilderness: The one for 5,000 occurred in Jewish territory; and the one for 4,000 occurring in Gentile territory.

    The “trick” we see spelled out in the 4,000 miracle meals should also be assumed for the 5,000, as the data for estimating attendance was the same. For census and other official counts, they only counted the men. Not the women and children.

    BUT that’s not how these crowd calculations were done. See it for yourself: 

    “Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.”*

    So, my math says, for an all-inclusive household total calculated at 5 to 7 people, there were more like 24,000 to 30,000 human beings whose hunger was addressed in the two meals.

    Mary Patricia Trainor

    *Megan McKenna, Not Counting Women and Children: Neglected Stories from the Bible (Orbis Books, 1994).  

  • Sacred Text

    SACRED VERSE

    Mark 8:34-38

    Hardest when clearest?

    I tend to agree with Mark Twain that it’s sometimes hardest to follow Jesus’ wishes the clearer they are stated.

    We can struggle all over

    the place with passages that are complex, their meaning obscure. I don’t feel any pressure to define it when better minds than mine haven’t been able to do so over the centuries.

    But when it’s clear, such as today’s Gospel from Mark, I have little excuse. So let’s take a look.

    Jesus says to follow him requires three things:

    • Deny myself and place him above all;
    • Pick up my cross—following Jesus costs me something; and,
    • Prioritize his values over my own.

    Now, of course, I realize the trap of clarity. If we don’t understand something, it’s no wonder we may miss something. Perhaps I can be excused for that.

    It might be enjoyable to pick one of these for a study conversation. And “too hard” is not an acceptable answer!

    This can make for a rousing conversation, especially if our guard is down. And, remember, that carrying a cross does include any burden associated with a mother-in-law’s visit!