Dust

Dust is our beginning.

            It is also, most certainly, our end. "You are dust," said God to Adam, before tossing him out of the Garden of Eden, "and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19).

            Dust is a blessing and a curse.

Now, scientists tell us, dust is also a dramatic part of daily living. With every breath we take, we suck in tens of thousands of particles. Although we cannot see it, each of us walks the earth in a cloud of dust, shedding fragments of skin and bits of lint torn from our clothes through friction. One can measure it in microns, which is the type of measurement you can count on the head of a pin.

Some of it is harmless, but some of it is deadly. Dust has swept away whole civilizations, burying dinosaurs so fast that they never got off their nests and suffocating all those folks you see in Pompeii, caught forever with a cry on their lips.

            Science journalist for the Discovery Channel Hannah Holmes suggests that by age 6, our children have consumed at least a cup and a half of pollen, pesticides, lead, dander, and fibers.

            In her book The Secret Life of Dust, Holmes promises an exploration of the various lives of dust, or more exactly, particulates. Those who watch the popular television series Bones will remember that “the king of the lab” often refers to particulates. 

Some dusts menace the planet and its living residents. Some are beneficial to people, plants, and animals. Many are merely fascinating. All are going under the microscope. And the secret lives of dust are being revealed. 

She tracks the enormous dust streams that pour across from Saharan Africa, fertilizing South American rain forests, and that carry the Gobi, particle by particle, across the Pacific Northwest. She also reports that our every human action produces tons of the stuff, from tire dust to the invisible clouds that arise from cooking, vacuuming, gardening and powdering baby. A whole dust food chain lives off it, fungi to mites to cockroaches, and their decomposing bodies and droppings add to the mess.

In essence, dust is everywhere and unstoppable. Every breath you take brings 150,000 to 1 million specks—depending on the grubbiness of your environment—into circulation in your lungs. Many will wash out on the tide of exhalation, but not a lot of those industrial dusts, or asbestos dust, or quartz dust—all of which stay to kill you. Then again, Holmes is quick to admit, do not discount those dust bunnies skulking under the sofa that “contain everything from space diamonds to Saharan dust to the bones of dinosaurs and bits of modern tire rubber.” Then again still, dust fires the hydraulic cycle and gives birth to the stars and the heavenly bodies; every patch of the Earth is made of melted dust.

Did dust start the Ice Age? Did it end it? Does dust help suppress asthma? Does space dust form noctilucent clouds, which were first identified in 1885 after a volcanic eruption?

Dust might be vital to life on our planet (and may, in fact, even be responsible for it). Yet, she also refers to it as this "heartless little brute" that could also be responsible for the deaths of millions. She is not talking about dinosaurs. (Or at least not just yet.)

We are swimming in it. It covers us. We might very well have come from it, and--surely, eventually--we will become it.

Fascinating facts from the book:"...you breathe about 700,000 of your own skin flakes each day" "...a cup of flour... isn't legally filthy until it contains about 150 insect fragments and a couple of rodent hairs" "...the average child eats 15 or 20 milligrams of dust a day, and superslurpers eat 30 to 50 milligrams."

Dust. It is downright disgusting.

We live in a dusty, musty, and rusty world. The dust is here. It will not go away.

Allow me for a moment to take this natural reality and apply it to spiritual life.

Some dust is harmless. We do not need to have any concern about that.

Some dust will actually help us with some forms of disease. We need to pay attention to that and learn what we can.

Some dust is deadly. We need to learn to protect ourselves from it.

The prayer of Jesus in John 17:1-11 includes the prayer the holy Father would protect his disciples from contamination by the world. We part of a culture, rather than isolated from it. We have to take the risk of what involvement means. As long as we are creatures of the earth, we will not live in a dust free environment. The point is that the intimacy of the relationship between the Father and the Son moves us toward such an intimate relationship with Father and Son that we can discern what is contaminating in the world from what is not.

I guess that means we need to maintain that type of intimacy with God.

Running with Derek Redmond

Derek Redmond was determined. He had to finish the race. Period. He was a young British runner, one who had sky rocketed to fame by shattering his country’s 400-meter record at age 19. Then, an Achilles tendon injury forced him to withdraw from the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, and he endured five separate surgeries. When the Summer Olympics arrived in Barcelona in 1992, Derek Redmond was absolutely aching for a medal. On the day of the 400-meter race, 65,000 fans streamed into the stadium, anxious to witness one of sports’ most thrilling events. High in the stands is Derek’s father, Jim, a faithful witness to every one of his son’s world competitions. According to ESPN, Jim is wearing a T-shirt that reads, “Have you hugged your foot today?” The race begins and Derek breaks through the pack to seize the lead. “Keep it up, keep it up,” his father Jim says to himself. Heading down the backstretch, only 175 meters from the finish line, Derek is a shoo-in to win this semifinal heat and qualify for the Olympic finals. Then Derek hears a pop. It is his right hamstring. He pulls up lame, looking as if he has been shot. His leg quivering, Derek begins to hop on the other leg, and then he slows down and falls to the track. Medical personnel run toward him as he sprawls on the ground, holding his right hamstring. At the very same moment, there is a stir at the top of the stands. Jim Redmond, seeing his son in trouble, begins to race down from the top row. He is pushing toward the track, sidestepping some people and bumping into others. He has no right, credential or permission to be on the track, but all he can think about is getting to his son, to help him up. He is single-minded about this, and is not going to be stopped by anyone. On the track, Derek realizes that his dream of an Olympic medal is gone. He is alone. The other runners streak across the finish line, with Steve Lewis of the United States winning the race. He is orphaned, as it were, a lonely figure on the track, friendless, parentless and alone.  Tears pour down Derek’s face, and all he can think is, “I don’t want to take a DNF.” A Did-Not-Finish was not even part of his vocabulary. When the medical crew arrives with a stretcher, Derek tells them, “No, there’s no way I’m getting on that stretcher. I’m going to finish my race.” He lifts himself to his feet, ever so slowly and carefully, and he starts hobbling down the track. Suddenly, the crowd realizes that Derek is not dropping out of the race. He is not limping off the track in defeat, but is actually continuing on one leg, in a fiercely determined effort to make it to the finish line. One painful step at a time, each one a little slower and more agonizing than the one before, Derek limps onward, and the crowd begins to cheer for him. The fans rise to their feet and their cries grow louder and louder, building into a thundering roar. At that moment, Jim Redmond reaches the bottom of the stands, vaults over the railing, dodges a security guard, and runs out to his son — with two security people running after him. “That’s my son out there,” he yells back at his pursuers, “and I’m going to help him.” Jim reaches his son at the final curve, about 120 meters from the finish line, and wraps his arm around his waist. “I’m here, son,” Jim says gently, hugging his boy. “We’ll finish together.” Derek puts his arms around his father’s shoulders and sobs. Together, arm in arm, father and son struggle toward the finish line with 65,000 people cheering, clapping and crying. Just a few steps from the end, with the crowd in an absolute frenzy, Jim releases the grip he has on his son so that Derek can cross the finish line by himself.

            “I’m the proudest father alive,” Jim Redmond tells the press afterward, with tears in his eyes. “I’m prouder of him than I would have been if he had won the gold medal. It took a lot of guts for him to do what he did.”

 

            Together, they kept a promise they had made to finish the race, no matter what.

Mission Statement Question

I am not very good at getting all the debate that surrounds mission and vision statements. I do get that if they are memorable, they can help us keep focused.

Here is one view of the mission statement that I at least found intriguing.

Kevin Starr has seen a ton of mission statements in his work as executive director of the Mulago Foundation, which matches investment dollars with socially minded businesses.

 

"Most companies, regardless of their sectors, have a mission statement. And most are awash in jargon and marble-mouthed pronouncements. Worse still, these gobbledygook statements are often forgotten by, misremembered or flatly ignored by frontline employees."[1]

If you want to receive some investment dollars from Starr and the Mulago Foundation, you had better have a clear and compelling mission statement. Fortunately, Starr gives some excellent advice to companies that seek his funding: They must express their mission in no more than eight words.

Starr also requires that companies follow this format: "verb, target, outcome." Start with a strong action word, name the target of the work and describe the outcome. Some good examples:

"Save endangered species from extinction."
"Improve African children's health."

 

Clear and compelling mission statements, using eight words or fewer, are not likely to be forgotten, misremembered or ignored.

All right, the mission of the United Methodist Church is to make disciples for Jesus Christ to transform the world. That is a ten word statement, so it already fails the test. It does have a verb “to make,” and a target, “disciples of Jesus Christ,” and a desired outcome, “to transform the world.” Alternatively, maybe the verb is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, there is no target, and the outcome is to transform the world.

I am not sure how vision statements fit into all of this. The vision of Cross~Wind is to be a loving presence for Christ through accepting people as they are, healing of mind, body, and spirit, involvement in the community, and connecting people with Jesus. Is that too long? Is it inspiring and uplifting? Does it do what vision statements are supposed to do?

I admit my confusion.

Honestly, I am puzzling over these matters, but I probably need more help.

I am wondering if my friends and colleagues can help.

---

[1] Harvard Business Review (October 22, 2010).

Healthy Heart Matters

            The Mayo Clinic has some simple advice regarding a healthy heart: eat well and exercise regularly. You need both. You cannot compensate for a bad diet by exercising more. I have jokingly said that I like to run in order to eat the desserts I like. Well, a health person on television this week said the body does not work that way. The point is, you really need both.

I have come across many statistics. I will not bore you with them. For example, in 2006, 631,636 people died of heart disease. Heart disease caused 26% of deaths—more than one in every four—in the United States.¹ White people die of heart disease at a greater rate than either African-Americans, Asians, or Native Americans. Death rates due to the heart are highest in Mississippi and lowest in Minnesota. Lowering cholesterol and blood pressure levels can reduce all forms of heart issues. The greatest risk factors involve inactivity, obesity, and high blood pressure, while smoking and high cholesterol are lower on the list. Finally, you put yourself at more risk when you do not eat breakfast.

            Your heart is an important muscle. I guess the point of all this is to care for the heart, and you will care for your whole body.

All of this stimulated some thinking on my part about preachers and teachers within the Christian tradition referring to the “heart.” At least one way to think of the heart spiritually is to think of getting to the “heart” of the matter. What ought to be the core beliefs and values that guide my life? What will I do with my life in terms of a vocation? Most of us want our work to be something we genuinely enjoy and toward which have some passion. What is that for me, at this stage in my life? Such questions deal with the heart spiritually, and a good response will have a positive influence upon your whole life.

            Such spiritual questions are weighty. May is a month for confirmation and graduation. Many young people wonder what they will do their lives. For me several decades after such graduation moments, it makes me think of what I have done with my life, and what I will do with the rest of it. These are weighty questions, and I hope among those we ask our young people.

Just as we can do things that endanger the heart physically, we can do things that endanger the heart spiritually. It will threaten your ability to be a follower of Christ. Medicine has been helpful in saying that a proper diet and exercise will be the type of self-care you need for a healthy physical heart. Being a follower of Jesus addresses the heart of the matter spiritually.

What I want us to focus upon is what we can do to heed this command of Jesus: Do let your hearts be troubled.

Let us be honest: Is it even possible, as follower of Jesus in an extremely screwed-up world, to heed his command and have an untroubled heart? Really?

I have come across a few bits of wisdom about worry.

 

I have developed a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time. -Charlie Brown.

As printed in a church bulletin: Don't let worry kill you - let the church help.

 

Some suggestions on how to keep from worrying:

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles ... by the ears, by the heels or any other way you can manage it. -Mark Twain.
For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe.
-Author unknown.

 

These words are some wise counsel for gaining perspective on what worries us.

 

            In John 14:1-14, we read of Jesus advising his disciples: Do not let your hearts be troubled. These are powerful words, often said in a funeral setting. Yes, the threat of life ending is always present.  Yet, that does not get to the heart of the matter spiritually. The threat of never becoming what we could be, the twin threats of emptiness and lack of meaning, are always present as well. As Kierkegaard put it in The Concept of Anxiety (1844), too many rush headlong into life, continuing to rush forward, and yet, never find life. In fact, he says, the rush of a modern life does not give one pause to reflect upon matters related to meaning. In fact, if we are not careful, we will say “goodnight to all meaning in life.” If this was true in the time Kierkegaard, it is true at a greater level today.

Well, if such advice from the Mayo Clinic is good advice for the physical heart, maybe we can apply it to the spiritual heart. What would it mean for us if we had a good diet and exercise program spiritually?

            Today, followers of Jesus have a healthy spiritual diet by making Scripture and being with the people of God a regular part of what we spiritually consume. Of course, time is precious. The temptation to feed our minds and fulfill our need for companionship in other ways is large. Yet, Christ has said that he prepares a place for us in the house of the Father and that he will not leave us as orphans. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ is present.

            Today, followers of Jesus need to find ways of exercising their faith. Faith, far from being inward, longs for outward expression. The exercise of our faith occurs when it influences every facet of our lives. We have not divided the sacred and the secular. We have exercised our faith when our faith influences every aspect of our lives. We need to give some time in reflection as to how this is happening now and how it can happen at deeper and broader levels. The exercise of our faith may need to expand in family, in relationships, in the church, or in the community. If we are to do greater works than Jesus (verse 12), what will they be?

            Eating well and exercising is not just good for the physical heart. It applies to the spiritual heart as well.