April 23, 2022 – Words From Merton

Tasteless Crusts

“Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:1-5

“I have watched TV twice in my life. I am frankly not terribly interested in TV anyway. Certainly I do not pretend that by simply refusing to keep up with the latest news I am therefore unaffected by what goes on, or free of it all. It is important for me to know about them too; but I refrain from trying to know them in their fresh condition as “news”.  When they reach me they have become slightly stale. I eat the same tragedies as others, but in the form of tasteless crusts.” Thomas Merton (The Pocket Thomas Merton, p. 60)

Tasteless Crusts

Imagine only seeing television two times in your life. Imagine! The news media today is more interested in ratings than they are in giving us clear, accurate, and purposeful “news”. If a tragedy happens clear across on the other side of the world, the media can report on it almost immediately, with all of their speculations, postulations, and eventually back-tracking.  People watch every image, hang on every word, hoping to get a glimpse of some gore and forming their opinions on information that may be “fresh”, but may also prove to be clearly “wrong”. Although Merton has accomplished something I could never do, watching TV only two times in his life, still I find myself trying neither to jump to conclusions nor hang on the words of those who are reporting news “as it is happening”. Although I know that the news media would cringe at the thought of delaying the reporting of news until the “facts are secured”, perhaps we should delay our watching the news until the facts are presented rather than the “supposed facts”. Perhaps a taste for “tasteless crusts” instead of “juicy fresh news” might help us all gain a better, if not more informed opinion – and maybe level heads may actually prevail, finally.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, your words are 2000 years old, yet they remain as fresh to us as newly harvested peaches and apples. Help me to keep your word fresh while keeping the world’s news more like tasteless crusts. Amen.

Pastor Dave

April 22, 2022 – Words From Merton

Someone is Doing Our Thinking For Us

““Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.  “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.   “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.” Luke 11:42 -44

“When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water.  I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”  “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:14-21a

“This is one of the few real pleasures left to modern man: this illusion that he is thinking for himself when, in fact, someone else is doing his thinking for him. And this someone else is not a personal authority, the great mind of a final thinker, it is the mass mind, the general “they”, the anonymous whole.  One is left, therefore, not only with the sense that one has thought things out for himself, but that he has also reached the correct answer without difficulty—the answer which is shown to be correct because it is the answer of everybody.” Thomas Merton (The Pocket Thomas Merton, p. 59)

Someone is Doing Our Thinking For Us

Jesus was quick to tell the Pharisees how much he believed they were misleading the people – they would tell the people to live one way, while they were not following the same rules, laws and decrees. They had set up their own ways of living. One of the teachings of Jesus was for the people to put more faith and trust in G-d and to put less trust in religious laws, in superstitions, in things that distracted them from true faith. Thomas Merton writes (in the above tract) that people are losing, if not have lost, the ability to think for themselves. The lure of “group think” has become so strong and we can see it every week in cancel culture and Facebook driven character assassinations. Too many times in our history we see people fight for and embrace a leader or an ideology without ever critically thinking through the tenets of what that person or ideology stands for. Or, people see a small group forming on social media so they join the group feeling empowered and part of a “movement” as they yell and scream without having a clue what they are yelling and screaming about. And when asked why they are doing what they are doing, they cuss you out because you dare to question their motives and their means.   

Maranatha is an Aramaic phrase which occurs once in the New Testament (Let anyone be accursed who has no love for the Lord. Come, O Lord!”        1 Corinthians 16:22). It also appears in Didache 10:14. It is translated as “Come, O Lord”. I like to think if we begin each post and each thought with first imploring the “Lord to Come”, perhaps we would be more civil to one another, see Christ in each other, and be more critical in our thinking about who or to whom we will follow.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, we implore you to come – not only to our earth but to our very lives. Help me to know your presence today and to see you in everyone I meet. Amen.

Pastor Dave