Through the ebbs and flows of the neurotransmitter dopamine, our emotions motivate us to seek tangible rewards for ourselves and our families. Dopamine should guide us, but it often ends up controlling us. Logic and rationality hardly stand a chance in overcoming emotionally driven money habits mediated by dopamine.
I’d like to tell you some fancy things about the spirituality of walking. I enjoy thinking I’ve become an expert in humble walking. I cut several paragraphs where I tried to deliver the thousandth (and best) lecture on the cultural and religious importance of the Camino. You don’t need the lecture. Walking is simpler and humbler than any fancy spirituality.
People who follow no religion compose about fourteen percent of the American population. Their numbers more than doubled–from 14 million to almost 30 million between 1990 and 2001. Together with those who profess a faith other than Christianity, they compose practically twenty percent of the American population
The Diocese of Washington is proposing that the Episcopal Church add the name of Thurgood Marshall to its sacramental calendar. The proposed date is May 17, the anniversary of his victory in the landmark school desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. But you can use these resources at any time.
It is easy for us to say that we love our neighbor, and in fact, many of us repeat those verses every Sunday. It is easy to strike our chests and claim we have given a certain amount of our money to the local shelter, a hospice in Guatemala or even for the Millenium Development Goals, but would we be willing to leave the ease of modern life and share all we have with the miserable? No, we would not.
It seems to me that if we are going to make sense out of Jesus’ silence, if we claim any right to play at the empty tomb on Easter morning, we need to remember his companions in suffering. We cannot in good faith re-encounter the silence of Jesus in these latter days without encountering the silence of the victims who came after him.
The Presiding Bishop said: “We cannot triumph over global poverty . . . unless we also address climate change, as the two phenomena are intimately related. However, a third critical element is missing from the discussion. Unless we take an honest look at industrial animal agriculture and the food choices that support this system, our progress in mitigating world hunger and climate change will be significantly hampered.
Treatment costs less than incarceration. Treatment also diminishes recidivism and prevents future crimes associated with addiction, not to mention offering health to the one who receives treatment. Nevertheless, socially conservative legislators have consistently blocked efforts to provide appropriate treatment to wrongdoers. As a retired military chaplain, I found the attitude of those legislators surprising and confusing.
Here are three names to remember: Genarlow Wilson, Stepha Henry, and Edith Isabel Rodriguez. Each of these names has been in the news recently. Each tells a different story but with a very familiar theme. I invite us to remember them now because each name will probably disappear soon as other stories emerge with other names.