Do This

December 22, 2012 Leave a comment

Do This

I write this in reflection of my previous two articles, “New Covenant”, and “I Cried too, Mr. President.” After discussions of whether taking communion is “real” or not, and considering the Sandy Hook school massacre of 2012, in which 20 small children and 6 adults were killed, the question on many minds is, “What are we going to “do” about these things?

Are we going to start arming guards to stand at schools as the NRA suggests? Are we going to stop teaching our culture of violence via children’s cartoons, video games, TV programs, and movies? Are we all going to repent and begin going to our churches, temples, and mosques again?

What are we going to do?

I really don’t know what we are going to do; these matters have set off some thinking processes in my mind which are perhaps appropriate at this time of year, the season some Christians appropriate to the Birth of Christ. (Others observe different time frames, such as early January, and some Christians do not observe days, times and seasons at all.) However, there is one observance that Jesus did actually ask us to do. It is an observance, not for a particular time and place, or time and season, but an observance we are asked to do as often as we choose to, which to some, is very often.

23For I have received from the Lord what I have also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the same night that he was handed over, took bread, 24and giving thanks, he broke it, and said: “Take and eat. This is my body, which shall be given up for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”25Similarly also, the cup, after he had eaten supper, saying: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he returns. 27And so, whoever eats this bread, or drinks from the cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be liable of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and, in this way, let him eat from that bread, and drink from that cup. 29For whoever eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks a sentence against himself, not discerning it to be the body of the Lord. 30As a result, many are weak and sick among you, and many have fallen asleep. 31But if we ourselves were discerning, then certainly we would not be judged. 32Yet when we are judged, we are being corrected by the Lord, so that we might not be condemned along with this world. 33And so, my brothers, when you assemble together to eat, be attentive to one another. 34If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not assemble together unto judgment. As for the rest, I will set it in order when I arrive. (I Corinthians 11, emphasis mine)

I am reminded of the words of Daniel Berrigan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Berrigan, a Pacifist Catholic priest active in nonviolence who was at one time vice chairperson of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, whom I quote below:

“At the Pentagon we are dealing with the insane, the spiritually insane. We are dealing with irrational power. ……
For us, mostly Christians, this is also and extension of our normal worship, Our tradition is sacramental. It is full of symbols: human blood, ashes, water, oil.
We look upon this as taking the body and blood from the table of the sacrament to the Pentagon in the same way Christ was taken from table to Calvary, all in one day. At the table Christ announced the breaking of his body and the shedding of his blood, thereby establishing this principle for his followers; you shed your own blood rather than the blood of others; your own body is broken rather than the body of others. This is the heart of the gospel. He said Do this! Do This! Which we understand to mean not only do this with symbols at the table, which can be very safe in the worst of times, but do this with our lives.
It is very interesting that the crimes that we are accused of at the Pentagon are the crimes of the altar. We have done this in obedience to Christ, and many of us have gone to prison for it, including my brother Philip and my sister-in-law Elisabeth.
Our conviction is that the sacraments, properly understood, are not merely a principle of worship but also a command of ethics and conduct.” (PEACE IS THE WAY, Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, edited by Walter Wink, Orbis Books)

Being a believer in the ethics of Jesus, those ethics of Peace and Nonviolence, and Social Justice, or being a Pacifist, Christian, or not, does not mean we do nothing about tragedies and injustices. Our nonviolence is not to be inactive, but active nonviolence. Doing something, doing this, is active.

Tragedies and injustices of war and poverty, and hatred should call Christians together in a bond of unity to do something. Do What?  If Jesus’ memory is real to us, we ought to do this…
Do this:
Come to the table…
Share our love for one another.
Share our love for the world.
Share our love with our children. (Hug them as President Obama advised, a little more tightly…)
Share our love with our enemies.
Share random acts of kindness, committed just because the love of God dwells in you…
Share love for the stranger among you, by telling a person from another nation you love them, even if you do not speak the same language.

  • Love is a language.
  • Love is a power.

Share our food…
Share our clothing…
Share our homes…
Share our time together…
Share a Hug with someone…
Share a Confession of our sins to each other… Ask for forgiveness…

  • I confess mine now… I have sinned in many ways, and still sin, and I am dependent upon the Grace and Forgiveness of God to be counted worthy.

Share Communion with a body of Christ….

It is the doing of such things that we remember Jesus… Do this, he said, in remembrance of me… For Christians, when we are trying to figure out what Jesus wants us to “do” about violence, and human injustices, war, Evil, and sins of commission and omission in our lives, to remember Jesus and what he told us to “do,” that is, “To love one another, as I have loved you,” is a very probable thing we should ”do” about it….
As a Christian, (better said, Christ follower…) (Sometimes one is chagrined by the historic baggage associated with the name, “Christian”) I would think that tragedies are not the time to go out and buy more guns, to lobby for putting guards in schools, but to see the need to confront our culture of violence, to realize we have been True Believers in the Myth of Redemptive Violence, which is the religion of fallen Powers. Our taxes support the crimes of violence we are speaking of, wars, drone strikes, etc., and we cannot help it, so we too are guilty… Before the table let us ask forgiveness, so we can be worthy, because we are forgiven…. by Grace, through Faith. We are sick, and we die, perhaps because we live our lives violently, unworthily, of the one we are to remember, Jesus. We cannot carry a gun and a cross at the same time. Our way is the way of the cross…, to the Cross… The Cross is the Way, Peace is the Way… The Cross resulted in God’s gift of Peace to mankind. God is not angry with man, He is at Peace with us, Jesus left his Peace with us, God loves the world. This should be Good News!
If there is something real about the symbols of communion, the gifts of the altar, if we really believe in the real body and blood of Jesus, if we believe he is in us and we are in him, I really think we will “do” these things in remembrance, real remembrance of Jesus. As we do these things, Jesus will become more real to us… We cannot bring our children back to life, but Jesus can, and said he would… When he returns.. It won’t be long now…. Before the lion dwells with the lamb, it won’t be long now…
Grace and Peace,
John Cooper

Filed under Christian, Grace, New Covenant, Nonviolence, Peace, Sandy Hook, Uncategorized

I Cried too, Mr. President

December 14, 2012 Leave a comment

I Cried too, Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

I cried too….

While watching you cry on the Internet video, regarding the violence in Newtown, Ct.  I cried too, with tears streaming down my cheeks…., more than yours… Unashamedly, I admit this, contrary to the tough guy culture of Americanism, which would never admit to weakness, or emotion, or love and concern for our enemy.

I am reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King, a GREAT man, who was our predecessor… Dr. King was a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, as I am.  The Fellowship of Reconciliation is our nation’s largest and oldest interfaith Peace, Non-Violence, and Social Justice organization, founded in 1915, and proclaims the vision of Peace, Active Nonviolence, and Social Justice.

Dr. King read Tolstoy, and Gandhi, and Jesus, who believed in Peace and Nonviolence, and Social Justice, as I do….

May all Americans, and you also read them too….

May we Americans stop this madness….

May we stop training our children in violent games…

May we stop paying for and watching violence on TV and not purchase goods from those who support violence on TV by advertising.

May we American stop this culture of violence….

May we Americans repent now of our sins and transgressions….

of not Loving our enemies…

of not loving each other….

May we bring our young men and women warriors home?

May they work for a worthy cause?

May we also grieve for our enemies and their children’s sons and daughters killed in war, and drone strikes?

Mr. President, you too, could be a great man…, Like Dr. King….

You too, could help change this world for the better….  As you seemed to promise in your first campaign…..

May we invest in Peace, not in war, not in weapons of mass destruction, of which we are the King of the world regarding weapons of Nuclear war….

And, you, the King of Drones… Please repent….  Violence is not the way…. Peace is the Way…

May we rob the Military – Industrial complexes of their ill gotten gains and give the funds to the poor.

What would Jesus cut?  I believe Jesus would cut expenditures for war, killing, and destruction….

May we sacrifice our wants which are over our needs?

May you help cast the vision of a more just and more equitable society?

A much wiser man than I, or you, has said that if we take up the sword, we will die by the sword…

May we repent?

Please, Mr. President, cry some more.. Thanks for crying!

May we all cry out for Peace and Justice…

Grace & Peace,

John Cooper

https://jcooperforpeace.org/

Filed under Christian, Grace, Nonviolence, Peace, Politics, Uncategorized

New Covenant

December 12, 2012 Leave a comment

NEW COVENANT

I was in a Bible Study recently and we were discussing Matthew 26 and the subject of the New Covenant came up.  In the process of discussion I piped up with one of my typical off the top of my head smart aleck type of remarks, “most Christians do not know what the New Covenant is”, and I said that Jesus gave us a New Covenant, that we should love one another as He loved us”.  I immediately sensed a room full of blank looks from the room full of Christians.  I was not the teacher, so I let the subject drop.  The teacher, Dr. Phil Bishop, said, yes, “A new commandment I give you that you should love one another, as I love you,” which is actually the accurate and literal quote.

Which reminds me, speaking of literality, at another point in the discussion, I related my recent visit with my Aunt, Joan McCulley, a lifelong and dedicated Roman Catholic, when I went with her and some of our family to Mass at the Paris, Illinois St. Mary’s Catholic Church.  Normally, when I attend a Catholic church, if I want to, I will just go up to receive communion, termed “the gifts” in Catholicism.  To me, that is a good term…  This time, however, on the way to church, being the provoking type of person I can be, (in a good way I hope); I asked my aunt if it would be okay if I took communion.  Now I already thought I knew the Catholic beliefs on this matter, having been raised Catholic myself, that only church members should take communion.  Also, I had in the past asked Fran Viselli, a friend who is a Catholic deacon and also on the Advisory Council of Circles of Peace with me, the same question when invited to his church and he stated, “Well they cannot refuse it”.  Therefore, I take communion in the Catholic Church if I want to; after all, I have never yet been “disfellowshipped” by the Catholic Church as some groups in Protestantism are wont to do to you if you do not agree with their doctrines or beliefs.

Back to my Aunt…..Aunt Joan answered my questions that no, I should not take it, because non-Catholics do not believe the bread and wine (or elements) are the actual body and blood of Jesus (transubstantiation).  She said if I would “come home” I could receive communion.  I told her I was coming home, right then and there, but I did not want to come “home” anywhere I could not eat.  :):) My sister, Janelle, also a lifelong Catholic, piped up that “those are just symbols”.  Then my Aunt and my sister (who takes communion in Protestant churches when she wants), got into a discussion about these matters…..

I did not explain all this in such detail to the class at Grace Church, but I briefly explained it and asked the question about the statement Jesus made, “This is my body, take of it and eat, and this is my blood, God’s New Covenant, poured out for many people, drink of it”.  I asked, “Is it real, as the Catholics believe, or is it just a symbol”?  This enticed some confusion and more discussion among us.

Well, what do you think?  Is it real?  Is it a symbol?  Could it be both?  Which is it?  Also what about the New Covenant, which Jesus says this is?  Is the New Covenant real?  Is the New Covenant just a symbol of ideals of Jesus that are really for another place and another time, in the future?  Is the New Covenant only for believers, or is it for everyone?  Should everyone believe they should love one another, as Jesus loved, or should only Christians love one another, and not others who are not Christians?  Possible clue…Did God so love the world, all of it, or just part of it?

I admit, after piping up about most all Christians, and hardly any of them actually know what the New Covenant is, that I was rusty on the subject myself and I needed to give more thought to the words that had just popped out of my mouth since I confused myself a little also.  After all, it was in the mid 1990’s that I addressed such matters extensively when the church I was in (and became a pastor of) struggled in a New Covenant transformation, having formerly believed all Christians, and all people for that matter, should adhere to the Old Covenant (the Ten Commandments for instance) as well as adhere to the New Covenant (which, by the way, we did not actually know what the New Covenant was back then).

Whadda ya mean the Ten Commandments are the Old Covenant, Cooper?

Ex 34:28

“28 Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten Commandments.”

NIV

Many Christians do not know the Ten Commandments are the Old Covenant, especially not in Alabama, apparently.  Well then, we know the Old Covenant is at least real, written on stone, and all of that, but what about the New Covenant?  Is it real?

Speaking of commandments, the New Commandment Jesus gave us was this:  “A New Commandment (covenant?) I give you that you should love one another, as I have loved you.”  This covenant, this commandment is a gift, like the Catholics refer to the “elements” of bread and wine as “gifts”.  Jesus is said to have written it on our hearts this time, not on stone… Really?  Is this Covenant real to us?  We cannot really love one another, nor certainly can we love the enemies of our own selves unless we have this gift living in us.  I like to term this gift as being that the Spirit of Jesus has infected us.

It is real!

This is a real infection, not to make one sick, but to make one well.  It is an infection that we as Christians need to consider at this time of year, Christmas, when we give lip service to love, peace, non-violence and social justice for one or two days, then revert back to the default mode of our spiritual enemy of hatred, greed, selfishness, war, killing, etc. in many ways (now I do not say all ways).

I say these things to challenge us all, including my own self, to greater acts of love for each other and of love for our “enemies.” That this New Covenant, the very flesh and blood and spirit of Jesus which should really be living inside of us, caused by a Spiritually Divine and Spiritually real infection of our hearts and minds, should really be shared with all mankind in honor of Jesus, who loved us first and gave His life for us that we may live in an eternal kingdom now, where the lion and the lamb dwell together, where Blacks and Whites, Orientals and all humans live together, where nations live together and mothers and children live in managers, and homeless live on streets, with no place to lay their heads, but human beings smile at them, and tell them they love them.  Why don’t we, the next time we receive the “gifts” (communion, The Lord’s Supper, etc.) believe they are real.  They are meant to be shared as an offering from God to us.  A New Covenant, not in any way dependent on us or our own agreement with it (Jeremiah 31), but a Covenant and way of life and way to live peacefully and nonviolently in love for each other,  with one another.  It is all about God, all about a divine being living in  mankind, and in Jesus, incarnate, one might say, and in us, and celebrated by Christians at Christmas.

May our celebration of this Covenant, of this Communion and Love for one another, last longer, forever.  May it be real.  May it begin now, if it has not already begun, in your life.

Love & Peace,

John Cooper

https://jcooperforpeace.org/

Filed under Christian, Grace, New Covenant, Nonviolence, Peace, Uncategorized

Dreams for Sale

October 28, 2012 Leave a comment

Dreams for Sale

I was in touch with my past again this past week.  There are times when we get in touch with our past via dreams and other times when we meet those who have been a part of our past experiences in person.

This past week I attended the funeral of Sarah Campbell Benson, who died from cancer at the age of 43.  Her husband is Rick Benson.  I have known both of them from their very young ages.  We were all a part of the Worldwide Church of God, formerly a cultish church group founded in the early 20th Century by Herbert Armstrong as a break off church of the original Adventist movement.  The church has experienced transformation and is no longer considered a cult.  However, this church has experienced severe decline in membership and has split many times itself as a result of the majority of its membership discovering its former cult status or disagreeing with its New Covenant Grace based Theology.  Most who remained loyal to the original visions of Herbert Armstrong have left for splinter groups.  This division mainly occurred beginning in the early 1990s.

It is certainly not that we do not like each other as individual human beings.  Almost all I know, and certainly on mine and my wife’s part, still love each other from our past experiences in life.  Seeing each other from so long ago, as when we meet each other for funerals and other life events, can be a bittersweet experience.  Of course funerals bring sorrow, along with the joy of seeing those you have not seen for so long, as well as their children you may have known as little boys and girls and now have wrinkled faces and children and grandchildren of their own.

Many times such movements and church groups, and even governments are founded upon dreams for a better world and a better future for mankind.  I well remember the dreams for a Kingdom of God to return to this earth with Jesus as its head, where Peace would flourish, the Lion would dwell with the lamb, swords would be turned to plowshares, and men would not learn war anymore.  I still dream of this future…  I think the problem comes when dreams that should be shared are dreams that are sold as a pyramidical marketing scheme to aggrandize the dreamer.

I gave a lot to these types of dreams.  I was a True Believer.  I remember after having quit college because of ethical decisions I had made, I received a letter from my Mother asking me not to discontinue my education, but to return to school…  This was probably in about 1969.  I advised her that I would, that in 1972, I would return to school for 3-1/2 years to complete my education.  What I did not tell her was I had envisioned this continued education to occur in Petra, an ancient ruin the old Nabataean  Kingdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabataeans where such “True Believers” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Believer as I was would be in a “Place of Safety” in the midst of Tribulation the rest of the world would experience.  It was to be in this Place of Safety I would continue my education in preparation for Jesus’ return in 3-1/2 years.  After all, this Tribulation was thought to perhaps occur in 1972.

A dream… A pipe dream I eventually found out somewhere after 1972, then 1984 :):) that was not to occur….  If all the religious groups who believe in such dreams and market them for sale where to be in Petra, it would be quite a crowded place.  http://otagosh.blogspot.com/2012/10/petra-atlantis-of-desert.html

After all these years, I now understand that the Spirit of God (Whom Christians believe is portrayed in Jesus) is not elucidated in being set apart from other human brothers and sisters in protection,  or good health, or having plenty of material goods and superior knowledge.  The Spirit of God (or Jesus) is elucidated in communal suffering for mankind and in dreams of the betterment of all mankind, and of a “Beloved Community.”  If the end of time is to occur to us, personally, (as it may have done to Sarah), if war is to overtake the world and nuclear weapons be used to vaporize humanity, let us suffer together.  Let us give and share our last bread, our last clothes, our last hugs, our last prayers, and our last dreams.

It was such suffering that was spoken of in Sarah Benson’s funeral.  She suffered immensely from this dreaded disease, cancer, but all those who saw her spoke of her caring and love and spirit, of her concern and love for others in the midst of her own suffering.  Several of her friends including Rick, her husband spoke at the funeral of these sacrifices.  It is only when we can give up our lives with concern and love for other humans, that we will realize the dreams God has for each of us.  I remember Sarah’s smile and gentile spirit more than anything else about her and I can dream she is gently smiling now.  If death is state of unconsciousness or sleep (soul sleep) until the promised resurrection, one can still dream while sleeping.  We are told the Spirit returns to God who gave it.  Things like this, the state of the dead before the resurrection, time and eternity, are things to wonder about that only a wonderful God knows about for sure….   Perhaps Sarah is dreaming now….  Perhaps Sarah is not dreaming, but smiling now…gently smiling…

Whichever, this I believe: It is when dreams are sold to others for gain that problems occur.  Dreams of Politicians of Peace through domination, dreams of American Exceptionalism, dreams of Peace through war, dreams of adding 2 Trillion dollars more than asked for in military budgets while cutting the deficit and not raising taxes either are dreams being sold.  It is voodoo arithmetic, and the dreams are voodoo dreams.  It just is not going to happen.  If you believe it, you are the True Believer.  If you believe in these dreams and the Myth of Redemptive Violence, it is you who are the True Believer.  It is your choice.

Life choices…. Do not disparage the path which your Divine Being has called you to trek… I do not disparage the path I have trekked… In comparison to Eternity, if we have trekked the path of a non standard religion, or even a standard system of religion, which is in many cases historically worse, life goes on…  Dreams are never stopped… Also, consider Nationalism, nearly the same thing as religion…  Try not to trek the path of Nationalism…  We must eventually learn to live beyond systems…  Do not disparage any of the people you meet on the path you have taken or are taking.  Love them.  It was hugs all around at Sarah’s funeral…. We cannot just cast aside the people we love because of their choices in the past or their choices now.

Living beyond systems is to live in the Beloved Community….. http://www.thekingcenter.org/king-philosophy.  This is one of the dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King.   He had a dream… Dr. King’s dream is not for sale to the highest bidder… His dream does not require your monetary input, but the input of your heart, the input of your love, the input of your dreams for all of humankind.  None of us can dream a better dream than this, or of that dream of Jesus, that we “love our enemies”….

Dreams are given, not to be sold…  Hugs are free… Dreams are free… Don’t let nobody charge your for them…:):)  “Don’t let nobody tell you God don’t love you, cause He do”…:):)  A quote, If I recall correctly, from Billy Sunday… A double negative, for sure, but don’t, don’t let nobody charge you for dreams….

Love & Peace,

John Cooper

Filed under Christian, Grace, Nonviolence, Peace, Politics, Uncategorized

6 Par

October 15, 2012 Leave a comment

6 Par

Now any self respecting golfer knows that according to the rules of golf, there are only 3 pars, 4 pars, and 5 pars. There is no such thing as 6 pars.

Case Closed?

Not so fast….

I am reminded of one of our most outspoken political personages, former United States Agriculture Secretary, see Below:
“At the 1974 World Food Conference in Rome, Butz made fun of Pope Paul VI’s opposition to “population control” by quipping, in a mock Italian accent: “He no playa the game, he no maka the rules.”  A spokesman for Cardinal Cooke of the New York archdiocese demanded an apology, and the White House requested that he apologize.  Butz issued a statement saying that he had not “intended to impugn the motives or the integrity of any religious group, ethnic group or religious leader.”  Through a spokesman, he stated that media outlets had taken this portion of his statement out of their original context, which was that of retelling a joke. “(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Butz)

“He no playa the game, he no maka the rules” :):)
6 Par… A new game.. I play golf, so I can make some new rules!

These rules are made so I, who am still having difficulty walking, let alone hitting long golf shots, can enjoy golf, and also for my friend, Ray Willkie, who is in Stage 4 of cancer of the larynx, which has metastasized.

Here are the rules:

“Fellow competitors” (I may have more to say on that term later), play according to these rules I have invented because of my torn Patella tendon injury which has made me unable to play golf in a regular way and also created the rules for my friend, Ray Willkie, mentioned above, ride up to the green area in a golf cart. The par is 6 on any hole. The first shot is hit from the fringe or rough where the cart stops with a wedge. The players gear is limited to two clubs, a wedge of their own choice, and a putter, and limited to three balls. The wedge shot counts as one stroke. If one person misses the entire green with the wedge shot, he can use a wedge again to arrive on the green, but this takes away the free throw to be described next.  Next, both competitors throw one ball to the hole either underhanded or over handed as chosen with the loft desired in accordance with the playing conditions toward the hole. This throw does not count as a stroke, but helps develop hand eye coordination. The next ball is thrown to another area of the green for a long putt. The fellow competitor follows suit attempting to duplicate the other player’s shot and throw. Then each player plays his ball until it is putted into the hole NO GIMMIES.

One can also play this game by oneself. Par is 6 on any hole. A Birdie is 5, and an Eagle is 4 and a hole in one is three. If playing as partners, the loser gets the opportunity to start the next hole. If your fellow competitor scores better than you for three consecutive times, then he must play left handed (or other handed) until you score better for three rounds in a row. This helps level the playing field.

Talk to each other. Listen to each other… Learn from each other. Have fun!

For those who believe in God, I am thinking of some lessons to learn….

We are all fellow competitors in life as a golfer is a fellow competitor against the golf course, and the ball is played as it lies, so are we fellow competitors in life, “not against flesh and blood”, but against higher powers and principalities, otherwise known as evil forces of the universe, or in ancient lore, such as the book of Job, sea monsters, or Leviathan. We are all in this game of life together, and we all must realize the end goal is not to make it out of this life alive, but to give our lives in service to each other and to make some kind of contribution to society and to each other as human beings created in God’s image. Let’s live this life together, not fighting one another, not participating in the Myth of Redemptive Violence foisted upon us for the past thousands of years as the solution to our problems… Look for instance, at most political parties, including those in the current United States Presidential “game”… Both parties think violence is the solution to Evil… Which one will defeat this Evil with the violence they purport? It just has not worked for thousands of years… why not try something else?

Let us help each other out… If our fellow competitor is losing, let us drop his ball closer to the hole, making it easier on him, not more difficult… Oh, and let us love one another, even our enemies, in this game of life….

God, (or Jesus, if you are a Christian), has a perfect right to change the rules of life… So must we change the rules of golf if those rules become too difficult for us… If we can’t walk so well, if cancer is harming our bodies, let us change the rules… Jesus did… He did it for us… The Law, and even the 10 Commandments, the heart of the law, were changed by Jesus to their Spiritual intent in a New Covenant he made, not in agreement with us, but in agreement with himself, that our only rules in life should be based upon the premise that we love each other as Jesus loved us, including loving our enemies. It is not that those rules are any easier, or that it is any easier to make par 6 according to the above rules, than par 3, 4 , or par 5, but that we can still play the game. We do not have to be a mighty warrior, but can be an old man, an old woman, or a little child playing by a golf hole, or the hole of a snake, or a child petting a lion…. that is what it means to walk in this Kingdom , there is no hurt, no pain, no suffering in this Kingdom, and every tear is wiped away… I am reminded of the Kingdom of Shivas Irons…http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Kingdom_of_Shivas_Irons.html?id=gsuxw1kYjRQC, only this Kingdom is so much better, and Eternal too..

Let’s make par 6’s if needed, Let’s love one another and die for one another, not kill one another, nor send out Drones to kill each others families sleeping in bed, including women and babies, and children playing with toys… http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6yMOzvmgVhc#!Let’s drop the ball closer to the hole… Golf balls, that is, not Drones…  Hopefully our enemies, if we have any after they understand this Divine love, will understand and join us…. Walk together to the green… Let us not develop nuclear weapons, let us ask forgiveness for ever having used them, let us disarm ourselves of nuclear weapons, ALL nations, that is… and submit ourselves to the risk of living this life and dying out of Divine love, not human greed and hate, or of our “right to exist”… After all we have sinned, we have no “right to exist”, except my Grace of God…. Our new life will also be according to this same Grace of God.
Believe… Believe we can walk at Peace with God and each other, with nature, hearing the birds chirp and sing, and believe that God is at Peace with us… It just does not matter what score we make in life… or, on a particular segment or golf hole… Enjoy the journey… Accept suffering… Be Joyful… We are ALL already forgiven… Just believe…

Oh, and try out my new game… 6 Par, some time… You will like it!

John Cooper
Tuscaloosa, AL

Filed under Christian, Golf, Grace, Nonviolence, Peace, Politics, Uncategorized

1 Iron

October 6, 2012 1 Comment

1 Iron

I just heard today that a dear friend of mine, one with whom I have spent many hours playing golf, has cancer.

I was reminiscing a little, as fishermen and golfers are wont to do, about some of our experiences together.

As human beings we are witnesses together of each other’s more significant feats and life experiences. We witness birth, baptism, conversion, marriage, graduations, and yes, sickness, and eventual death. According to the Christian Bible, we will also be witnesses to each other’s eventual resurrection, no one of us to precede the other. My friend is Ray Willkie. I one time witnessed his 195 yard hole in one struck with a 3 iron on hole number 9 of the Tuscaloosa Country Club Golf Course. It cost me money too…. I recall I was $2.50 up on #9, according to our friendly wager. Then, suddenly, I was $97.50 down due to a standing $100 wager we had on the fellow competitor’s hole in one. He had to buy the drinks though…. 🙂 🙂

Another friend of mine, Jimmy Patton, witnessed one of my golfing accomplishments, a 120 yard hole in one with a Pitching Wedge on Hole #17 of the same course. Another hole in one I had was witnessed only by God, since I was playing alone. This reminds me of a golfing adage, “Only God can hit a 1 ion.” A 1 iron used to be my favorite club. Ray Willkie has been a witness some of my most memorable shots with a 1 iron. One time we were playing together at the old Tannehill course and I chose to lay up on hole #9, a 325 yard hole, with a 1 iron. Somehow I hit the club just right and my tee shot ended up nearly on the green. A 1 iron is difficult to hit correctly, especially the forged blade types of clubs that I play with. “Only God can hit a 1 iron,” it is said in golfing lore.

When one has serious problems, such as cancer, the tendency is to look to God for comfort and ultimate solutions. Only God can strike a 1 iron, and only God can strike to the heart of our some of our problems in life. Healing is one of those instances, where even with the assistance of modern medicine, ultimately, we must rest upon the promises of Divine healing. Even if Doctors and medicine can help in some way, for some period of time, and bring such things as Cancer into remission, ultimately, we must look to God for our resurrection to life, since no one has gotten out of our common human existence without dying first.

Witnesses…. The Apostles of the New Testament were witnesses to the life events and accomplishments of Jesus the Christ. They risked their lives to tell the stories of his feats. They witnessed Jesus’ resurrection to life and wrote of that resurrection in the Gospels… The Gospels are called Good News. They are Good News because there is hope for a life to come, beyond the pain and suffering we experience in this life. The Apostles were witnesses to the miraculous healings of Jesus. They were witnesses to his walking on water, feeding 5,000 with only a basket of bread and fish. They were witnesses to Jesus’ Divine love and healing for even his enemies. Why, one time, he even placed an ear back on a Roman soldier, his enemy, and healed him…  All these feats, and accomplishments of Jesus offer us far more hope for the future than sickness and eventual death can muster against us.

We will all face up to the Divine calling of Jesus, if not in this life, perhaps at our resurrection…. In my view, it is better to face up to and accept it while alive now. We should view this life as all our being in it together, both friends and enemies, as witnesses of each other’s life story and accomplishments. Perhaps one day we will realize we are all brothers and sisters, when we are all at peace with one another, and the world is at peace. I feel that is one of our callings, to be Peaceful witnesses…. We are not called to condemn, to hate, or to judge one another.  Those who are call themselves Christians are actually called to Peace, but not that many seem to know it yet.. They will know it…

Only God can hit a one iron…. Only God can provide healing… Only God can forgive sins and provide peace. Let us rest in this hope…

Love & Peace,

John Cooper
Tuscaloosa, AL

Filed under Christian, Golf, Grace, Nonviolence, Peace, Politics, Uncategorized

Reunion

September 23, 2012 Leave a comment

Reunion

I attended the 45th reunion of the Marshall, IL high school class of 1967 this past weekend. The reunion brings back a lot of memories, and has me thinking again about human relationships.

I remember that in High School, and not too long after I graduated from high school, that I began to experience a conversion experience and was being called from my wayward way of life to what I believed was a more ethical and Godly way of life. I left high school and traveled with my Uncle William McCulley, and brother, Joe Cooper in my uncle’s new 1967 Ford Pickup to Birmingham Alabama, in the days not long after Dr. King was there, where I was to live with my Aunt, Gladys Lemeron, and uncle by marriage, Dr. Everett Lemeron, who taught accounting and business classes at Samford University. I was to attend Samford University. All these were new and exciting experiences for the poor farm boy I was, who had attended Marshall High School.

The first year I attended Samford, although I was being called by God at the time, my life was not the epitome of righteousness, by any means…. In high school, I had been contemplating my religious upbringing, and thinking about War and Peace, and other ethical precepts. During these days of the Vietnam War, these and other beliefs were brought to crucial and decisive points. During college, I made decisions to follow what I believed and still believe are the Peaceful and Nonviolent ways of Jesus. Not knowing of the works of such Catholics as Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day who were fellow Catholics, and before the second Vatican Council and the allowances in 1970 for Catholics to be Conscientious Objectors to war, I left the Catholic Church and associated with an Historic Peace Church, the Worldwide Church of God, which was an offshoot of the Church of God, 7th Day, one of whose leaders, A.N. Dugger, had obtained Historic Peace Church designation for the Church of God, 7th Day in the early 20th Century. The Worldwide Church of God (WCG) also retained that Peace tradition. I also, due to my beliefs at the time in application of the 10 commandment as normative for Christians and mistakenly believing all people, began to observe the Sabbath, as a member of this Church, on Saturday, the actual 7th Day of the week.

The reason I am explaining this short bit of history, is that my Peace and Nonviolent beliefs, and especially my Sabbitarian beliefs resulted in my Aunt’s giving me a choice to give up this “foolishness” or get out of the house. I chose to follow my beliefs and I got out. One Sunday morning after an ultimatum from my aunt, I packed up my possession, mostly books, in my VW Beetle, and left. I think I had two trips in the VW to get it all.:):) In time, I could not afford to continue all the way through college, and a few of us young men in the WCG joined forces and rented a house together. We liked to make wagers with each other on occasion. I will share with you a couple of relevant wagers… I was a bookworm, and Donny Parker, realizing this, dared me, since I was changing my way of life, to throw away all the books that were valuable to me, just to show my commitment to this new way of living. I did. I threw away most of my college textbooks, except the ones that were propping up a used bed I had in place of a broken leg. I threw away at his dare also, my 1967 Marshall High School Annual. I forget just what the wager was that time, but another time, he made a wager with me that he would give me all his Bibles, (he had quite a collection) if I could do 100 pushups. Since he was a couch potato, and could barely do one, he thought he had a sure bet. I however, had been a farm boy, throwing around bales of hay and working hard on the farm, and I whipped the 100 pushups right out and won his Bibles. I still have them.

At the 40th High School reunion, the one before this last one, some of my High School friends, knowing that I no longer had an annual, found one for me and several of them signed it as they had done years ago in 1967, making notes of wishing me well, as they had done before. I referred to it before going to the 45th reunion to familiarize myself with people I had not seen in such a long time.

What I am getting to, in a roundabout way, is lessons one can draw from Reunions….

Never dispose of the ones you love, or hate for that matter, regardless of their race, religion, or nationality. God, for instance, did not so love the “Americans”, that he gave his only son… He loved the whole world. I wonder sometimes if religious folk and politicians really believe that….

So, I have another 1967 High School Annual, given to me by those who love me, yet know of my sins, some of them, anyway, and they still hopefully love me anyway, like God loves me. This class of about 110 people, we know, but do not know completely, all with different interests in life, with children and grandchildren, or no children, all live together in Eternity now, which Eternity does not begin when we die. One reunion each 5 years will never allow us to really know each other, but if we all live in and continue to live in Eternity, there will be time to continue, even after we die, to know and love one another as well as everyone who has ever lived and died.

We have time.

We have time forever more to be the person we were imagined to be by a Divine being who created us all… Our time does not end when we die. From Eternity past, before time began, the essence of our being, the essence of our spirits given to us by God, resided with God, and will return to God when we die. Upon our death we will anticipate a reunion with God, our resurrected body, and with each other. We were not just “included” in his love, but our human spirits which can only come from God, “are” actually expressions of his eternal love. It appears that it is our free will choice that the expressions of the Divine in us continue to be included in that Divine love. There is a Hell, according to the Bible, but perhaps what we might ask ourselves, once one is resurrected and sees the unfathomable love of God, Will anyone choose to be in it? Hopefully, nearly everyone will chose reunion with God who has promised to draw all men unto Himself.

We anticipate this grand reunion of the universe that will occur someday, a reunion of much larger scale than that of my 1967 High School reunion, a grand reunion where all spirits are joined together, even all things under heaven and earth, and in heaven (which may even include fallen angels and fallen humanity) under the feet of the Lord, whom Christians call Jesus. It is wonderful to imagine this upside down Kingdom, this upside down reunion, where the poor are made rich, and the rich made poor, where those in ill health made well, where prisoners are set free, and debts are forgiven, where little babies who died, and perhaps even aborted fetuses are given a thousand figurative (or real) years to live and choose God for Eternity. A time where we can all learn to know and love one another, and know better the God who loves us so much.

Reunion….

Will you be there? You have been invited…. See you there?

Just thinking about reunions…. There may be another Annual to look at and think on, one much larger than that of 1967 Marshall High School Annual… Could it be entitled, “The Book of Life”?

Grace and Peace,

John Cooper
Tuscaloosa, AL

Filed under Christian, Grace, Nonviolence, Peace, Uncategorized

Jesus for President

September 7, 2012 1 Comment

Jesus for President

Now that I watched much of the Republican National Convention, I also watched this past week much of the Democratic National Convention. My initial suspicions were confirmed, I have heard it all before. All the promises which will never be fulfilled, and even admittedly on Mr. Obama’s part have not yet been fulfilled, from four years ago. It grows old. What about Mr. Obama’s promises for Peace four years ago, for instance? I can remember these campaigns back as far as the Eisenhower days. It was Eisenhower who warned us against the Military Industrial complex that has sapped so much of our nations vigor, and the vigor of our young men and women in the military.

I liked Mr. Clinton’s and Mr. Obama’s speeches, and thank them for their preparation and dedication in their attempts to do what they believe is best for our country from their point of view. But, I still do not care to vote. I still could not choose either candidate. I cannot agree with Mr. Obama’s opinion regarding abortion and same sex marriage, although I do not see those sins as being any “worse” than those who have been so affected by this world’s culture of violence, that they kill in war, or my own sins, for that matter….

I nominate Jesus for President!

Now, I am not the first or only one. Shane Claiborne, another radical peace loving pacifist guy,http://www.thesimpleway.org/index.php/store/product/jesus-for-president/, has actually already nominated Jesus, so I am seconding the nomination.. :):) Here is a review of the book you may be interested in reading:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zack-exley/jesus-for-president-a-boo_b_93078.html.

It is us crazy, insane pacifists that apparently are stirring up the pot again and causing all kind of consternation among mainstream Christians who know what Jesus said, but cannot follow him in regards to his politics or nonviolent teachings. Shane Claiborne is one of those who has captured the vision of the young.

But, I have digressed…. Speaking of vision though, I did like Mr. Obama’s references to Hope. We needed that. Thanks! About this “hope” thing, this “bootstrap” hope thing that Mr. Obama referred to…, where does a person get it? Where does a nation get it? Where does the world get it? To me, Hope is a spiritual gift from God. I am viewing this from my personal Christian perspective, and I am sure there are other ways of viewing it, but let’s at least consider this:
From Romans 15, not far after Romans 13, the chapter most Christians believe command them to kill and go to war at the States’, any States’ command: [emphasis mine]
“7-13 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God’s purposes, reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result, the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scriptures that will come true in what we do! For instance:
Then I’ll join outsiders in a hymn-sing;
I’ll sing to your name!
And this one:
Outsiders and insiders, rejoice together!
And again:
People of all nations, celebrate God!
All colors and races, give hearty praise!
And Isaiah’s word:
There’s the root of our ancestor Jesse,
breaking through the earth and growing tree tall,
Tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!
Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!”

What does this mean? What should it mean? To me, it means this root for outsiders and insiders, for Jews and Gentiles, for Everyman, all nations, all races, as it clearly states, is Jesus, in whom we have hope. It means hope is a gift of the Holy Spirit, a gift of this root, this Eternal King, whom we need to nominate for our President… Really… This is the larger vision. This is the real hope.

It is unfortunate that it was such a big deal to get God back on the Democratic platform… God should be on every nation’s platform. Every nation should look to God for Hope. Jesus was not really a Christian, he was a Jew, but a really visionary type of Jew who did not limit his Spiritual gifts, such as hope, only to Jewish insiders, but freely gave it and still gives it to us outsiders, and to the whole world. Where else do you think it comes from? If not from God, through the Son, tell me, from where else do you believe the Holy Spirit proceeds? From where else does Hope proceed? From where else does Peace proceed? From where else does Love proceed; From our own “bootstraps”?

The Quakers, a Historic Peace Church, (HPC) believed there was a spark of God in everyman… I do too.. I believe this spark is a Spirit of God that dwells “with” everyman, and returns to God at death. I believe this Spirit dwells “in” those who unconditionally give their lives to God. With, or in, I do not believe this Spirit will limit Hope to any particular nation or peoples. All can have hope. I believe it is an inalienable gift, similar to the inalienable rights in the United States Constitution to the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…

It is to set this common Hope as a vision for our nation, and all nations, that I believe is one of the things Jesus would do if he were President. This is the bigger idea, the larger vision that I believe we need today. We need Jesus as President, if not of the United States, then the whole world. If not of the United States or the world, then let him start here, and be the President of your life, of my life, and President of a Kingdom that is not of this world, a Kingdom that is among us, a Kingdom that is in us, as Tolstoy, and Jesus, would say.

Is that OK with you? If not, speak up….

John Cooper
Tuscaloosa, AL

Filed under Christian, Grace, Nonviolence, Peace, Politics, Uncategorized

Defeating Cosmic Sea Monsters

August 31, 2012 Leave a comment

Defeating Cosmic Sea Monsters

I watched the 2012 Republican Convention this week, staying up late way past my normal bedtime at the instance of my Aunt, Joan McCulley, who is an avid conservative. I had previously told her I was sick of politics and was not going to vote, and that I had heard all these promises before, none of which had come to pass.

I must say the speeches were quite good, heavily scripted, excepting Clint Eastwood’s one, and addressed the issues needed by the Republicans, mainly issues of trust, of women’s confidence, of trust in Mr. Romney’s religious beliefs, of trust in relationship to the Hispanic community, etc.

At one point in my life I would have jumped right on the band wagon, cheered, and held out high hopes for the future of the United States and our future generations… Not this time…. As interesting and plausible as the logic seemed to be, although I appreciated the skill and preparation of the speakers, I sat in wonderment…. What exactly is going on here? I thought to myself…. Haven’t we heard this before? Where?

My thoughts went back to what is believed to be the oldest book of the Bible, the book of Job….. Amidst the self-admitted talk of American Exceptionalism,[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalismI was reminded of the “Myth” of cosmic sea monsters spoken of in the book of Job. Or, are they really a Myth, after all? Is American Exceptionalism actually a myth? [1] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/10/11/the_myth_of_american_exceptionalism?page=full

Speaking of Myths, what about the Myth of Redemptive Violence,[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_redemptive_violence that I have previously written of? If you wish to look into these things, the footnotes I have attached will be helpful. Most people in the world, including, obviously Americans, have little interest in exploring these ideas. Certainly those in political office or running for political office do not seem to wish to do so.

It seems the world’s politicians, including our own, believe they can defeat all these Evils all by themselves. Oh, especially the United States, the most “powerful” military force in the world, is so obviously capable of defeating these Evils all by ourselves…. “Make my Day”, it is said. We have heard this before, and Evil still reigns, and has not been defeated. Although it is attacked as the Sea Monster, Behemoth,[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behemoth with spears and arrows, and in the United States’ case, even nuclear weapons, the Sea Monster and the Evil it represents always returns, again and again.
Even Popeye cannot defeat it. Nor, do I believe our politicians will defeat it with warfare and rhetoric.

Job 41
I Run This Universe
1-11″Or can you pull in the sea beast, Leviathan, with a fly rod and stuff him in your creel?
Can you lasso him with a rope,
or snag him with an anchor?
Will he beg you over and over for mercy,
or flatter you with flowery speech?
Will he apply for a job with you
to run errands and serve you the rest of your life?
Will you play with him as if he were a pet goldfish?
Will you make him the mascot of the neighborhood children?
Will you put him on display in the market
and have shoppers haggle over the price?
Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion,
or drive harpoons into his huge head?
If you so much as lay a hand on him,
you won’t live to tell the story.
What hope would you have with such a creature?
Why, one look at him would do you in!
If you can’t hold your own against his glowering visage,
how, then, do you expect to stand up to me?
Who could confront me and get by with it?
I’m in charge of all this—I run this universe!

It seems that it is God who runs the Universe, and who is the one to defeat evil, not us, not the United States either. Why, even in the Lord’s Prayer, we give lip service in the words, “Deliver us form Evil”. Not so, American Exceptionalism, the United States is God’s gift to the world, a shining light on a hill, to defeat all Evil, ourselves, that is. Why, it has been mentioned in the Republican Convention, that apparently the military budget is sacrosanct… Don’t mess with that one… I recommend reading at least the 38th thru 42nd chapters of the book of Job.[1] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%2038&version=MSG

Now, Job was quite a successful guy… Some even believe he was Cheops or Khufu, who built the Great Pyramid… Just build it…., it is said. He was quite successful, very rich, a worshiper of the one true God, a religious type of fellow too… Perhaps he was just a little arrogant though… Perhaps he needed some correction; perhaps we do also… He was also quite the speaker…..

Job 42
Job Worships God

 

I Babbled On About Things Far Beyond Me
1-6 Job answered GOD: “I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!
I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”

Therefore, I too, will shut my mouth. It is time in this nation to listen, not to speak, to repent and ask for forgiveness for all we have done in our view of our own Exceptionalism, not to make it our campaign platform…

Just some of my thoughts on the Republican National Convention…

John Cooper
https://jcooperforpeace.org/

Filed under Christian, Grace, Nonviolence, Peace, Politics, Uncategorized

Trading Away Blessings

August 26, 2012 Leave a comment

Trading Away Blessings

I attended Grace Church today and Pastor Fred Shuckert’s message was titled “Trading away the blessings of God”. He has been going through a summer series based upon the Kings of Judah.

Sensing perhaps that some may be getting a little weary of this subject, he said:

“There may be something we can learn from this.”

I began thinking about his statement, and what follows are my thoughts and what I learned from this, probably not exactly what Pastor Fred had in mind…:):)

One of the things that could be learned from this is that God does not want his Spiritual followers, Jewish or Christians to have our allegiances to kingdoms of this world more than the Kingdom of God.

When Israel demanded a king, God told Samuel they had not rejected Samuel, but had rejected God. Their young men would be drafted to war and the king would take a tenth of their income….

To me, these kings were just murky shadows of the King to come and the Kingdom to come, as is the whole Old Testament, for that matter.

Israel was dispersed to live beyond any specific kingdom of the world and early Christians were also dispersed to live within kingdoms of this world and live within political systems but to look beyond these kingdoms, politics, kings and earthly leaders to a Kingdom not of this world.

We must look past the shadows of the Old Covenant, as prosperous and powerful as they sometimes have seemed to the reality expressed in the exact representation and being of God revealed in the light of Jesus. In the brilliant radiance of Jesus, we see the image of God. We look beyond the shadows, the shadows cast by Old Testament kings and beyond the shadows of nationalism in today’s world. We serve no master, no Lord, but Jesus.

One of the signs of having our allegiance misplaced as followers of God is the placement of our trust in political systems. Another is going to war to fight and kill others created in God’s image, and the confiscation of our productiveness to pay for these wars. Actually, more correctly, we are borrowing against the future productiveness and blessings due our children to conduct our attempts to dominate others through warfare.

The things the church and all humankind needs to cry out in repentance for are the worshipping of false Gods Jesus came to publicly display and defeat…. gods of politics, gods of nationalism, gods of materialism, gods of war.

In the United States, and much of the rest of the world, it appears we have already traded away most of our blessings for these little gods mentioned above, owing in the United States $16 Trillion that we have borrowed against the assets of our children to trade or swap the our blessings of God for the “blessings” of materialism, domination, war, abuse of our environment, and political systems.

I think all us on this formerly abundant and blessed earth we are to dress and keep should take a longer term view of our duties to an Eternal Being. Perhaps that vision should include an awareness that we are not going to die, then begin living in eternity, but that we are already living in eternity. How could it possibly be otherwise? Eternity does not “begin” when we die. Our decisions also have eternal consequences now. We can choose to continue to trade away our blessings, or we can choose as human brothers and sisters to live a way of peace exemplified by Jesus, the projected King, and begin to care for each other, and this blessed earth NOW, not trading those blessings away for trinkets of temporary and temporal satisfaction, or aggrandizement of our own dominational egos.

Just my take on what we need to learn from this….

John Cooper

www.jcooperFORpeace.org

Filed under Christian, Grace, Nonviolence, Peace, Uncategorized

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