I’ve heard a lot about political signs disappearing from the streets of Evergreen as election day gets nearer.  Maybe it happens elsewhere too. But I’ve heard this for at least the last 12 years about political signs in Evergreen.  I too have wondered why do I not see the signs of yesterday and how this can be happening?  I mean.  The signs that disappear are always the signs of the losing candidates. I cannot believe that that is pure coincidence.

It’s not hard to deduce who is behind this.  You just need to drill it down:

1.  This is not ad hoc behavior.  It is a planned, consistent activity based on the election cycle.

2.  It’s not going to be the political candidates as they change every election cycle.  They don’t have time to learn every election cycle how to pick up the signs.  It is going to be some group with years of experience that has access to lots of volunteers and/or money to pay a little for the ‘pickup’ service.  I wouldn’t be surprised that the people picking up the signs don’t even know it is illegal. But their bosses know.

3. Ask:   ‘Who has a lot of money invested in political ads to oppose  candidates they don’t support? Just review the attacks ads, attack mailers and the like that you receive or see on TV or  online?  These groups have a lot to lose if their candidates lose so they have incentive to ‘go the extra mile’ as it were.

4.   You can remove your skepticism by reviewing whose signs are disappearing.  One can be certain they are the signs of candidates not supported by this heavily invested organization or organizations if they are in cahoots with others.

5.  At this point, I suggest the FBI or the Federal Elections Commission or whoever is the local responsible entity investigate this using a little more sophisticated police research technique.  They should be able to resolve this in less than a week.  It is not rocket science and a lot of people know.

6.  I assume their are heavy fines and penalties for interfering in elections in this way.  But I am not necessarily interested in a financial or penal retribution.  I would prefer that the legal authorities make public who the leaders are behind this activity and find a way to keep them away from us.

7.   I would like to participate in public demonstrations with all Evergreen residents at their offices and headquarters and their Board meetings to interrupt their daily business routines in the same way as they have interfered in our free election process. And I would like the legal authorities to remind this organization that they should not protest our activities as we are only showing them what they have been doing to the Evergreen public over many years.  It’s a “we the people” thing which is probably something they wouldn’t understand.

The Voter wants to believe in a free and open election process.  Candidates have the right and the responsibility to make their positions known, to communicate with the public so we can make our decisions. All candidates should be allowed to articulate their candidacy as well as publicly speak.  That’s not rocket science either.

8.  It is quite possible that the election outcomes would be the same.  Maybe not.  Needless to say, it should be the voter who decides who wins without the manipulation of these other entities.  

9.  Lets get this monkey off our backs so we don’t have to comment at the approaching election day:  “Whatever happened to the signs out there?”.  I want to join you in saying: “That was a fair and open election process.  May they all be like that!”

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Every election.  They arrive just before I have to get up and cast that ballot.

Wow!  They are expensive-looking things.  One I got had the preferred Democratic slate on one side.  All smiling. Happy. Looking good.  On the other side was the demon they were attacking.  Looked almost like a confused Halloween costume character who had gone awry.  Who would want to vote for “that guy”?  Read all the stuff about him and you would know that he was hell-warmed over.

I guess that stuff will sway a few who had a few too many beers the night before.  But really?

You have probably shaken my hand at some time and it didn’t destroy your persona. You probably hold some political positions that I would not support but being seen with me won’t destroy your integrity.  Apparently not so if you are running for office.

I don’t dislike Democrats, Republicans, Independents, or anyone who wants to serve the community through elected office. It is a tough job to lead in the community and I admire them for wanting to do so.

Okay, the candidates will say they aren’t responsible for what political action committees do. But candidates do have some responsibility for the company they keep. You rarely hear of any one of them denouncing the twisted truths and lies written about the ‘opposition’ on their behalf.  

It surely troubles me that many of these attack ad mailers in our area come from Unions proudly bearing the name of the City’s Fire Department or whatever.  When you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on each campaign candidate I suggest you not call me for a contribution to support your favorite charity project. My recommendation to you would be to take the money you spend on this junk mail and use it for a good cause to help the people you say you want to help.  

Unions are great institutions when they advocate for the workers.  When they push political candidates at the expense of worthy alternative candidates they are doing a disservice to the workers.  That is, the Union institution does NOT determine how an individual union member votes in the election. But they do spend the Union member’s money!!

The final election results will most likely show that not all members of the slate won in their run for office. That’s because the electorate is astute enough to know what they can and cannot believe is fact about the candidates.  

Personally, I would love to see these poor excuses for campaigning disappear.  They could be replaced with facts, positions, and what the candidates plan to do while in office.  That would be difficult for some of them because they have no plan and they really don’t know what they will do in office.

So. Congratulations to all the winners.  May you serve the community well. And I guess those political action committees will give us hell again next time around. Just don’t spend so much money on this stuff.  It’s not edifying.

John Goldstein

Pastor

Grace Church of Evergreen

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Halloween, the Day of the Dead are similar celebrations beginning October 31 encouraging us to remember our ancestors.

The Mexican tradition called the ‘Day of the Dead’ is spread over three days.  James Bond helped to spread the tradition around the world when one of the recent movies started with the ‘Day of the Dead’ parade in Mexico City.  The parade was staged for the movie.  It was not part of the Day of the Dead celebration but was liked so much that it has become an annual tradition that continues to this day!   

The Mexican family traditionally makes a Day of the Dead altar at home with photos and symbols to remind them of the recently departed family members.  Photos are a modern invention so other symbols serve as the representation of older generations. It depends on the family and what seems important in the particular year and what is available. The tradition is a blend of Pre Christian and Christian symbols brought together in a simple yet profound way to remember and give thanks to those who preceded the current generation and gave life to us,  the living.  

We are here because of those who came before us.  We build on what they struggled to accomplish, great or small.  Reviewing the Day of the Dead altar may empower us to be thankful for what appears to be small accomplishments borne out of tremendous struggle and experiment of our predecessors.  Louis Gates’ PBS hour program “Finding Our Roots’ provides a marvelous picture of the thread that exists through generations. We are the result of the accomplishments of previous generations.  Almost magically, we build on what they accomplished and the threads can be identified in who we are and what we do.

The Day of the Dead celebration has been more secularized and mainstreamed as ‘Halloween’ In the USA.  Sometimes it is hard to recognize any spiritual or significant roots to this American tradition but it does draw from the same tree as the Day of the Dead. ‘Halloween’  took on other dimensions of life – and death along with it.  Some are not so edifying I might add!

So how do you remember your ancestors?  Do you know who they were?  Can you name them?  Can you say anything about them and their lives?

I like having costumed children come to my front door on Halloween Night. They can’t wait to say ‘Trick or Treat’.  They are so proud of their candy prize for saying those three words. And as they take off they cry their sweet greeting,

‘Happy Halloween!”.  Their ‘thank you’ words of ‘Happy Halloween’ captures the spirit of what Halloween is meant to be.  

Halloween should be a happy time remembering the passing of those who preceded us.  They gave life and traditions and culture and laughter and song and story.  Perhaps our ancestors gave hopes and dreams to be accomplished by those who followed them.  Our turn will come to do the same thing too.

Ancestors do not leave all good news of achievement or accomplishment.  Ancestors represent a compendium of the challenges of the life journey.  I guarantee that the more you learn about your ancestors the more you will understand about yourself.  Who knows?  You may be just like one of them but living in a different time confronting similar challenges and opportunities.  

Are you willing to take their life and your life to another level?  Or are you going to mope around thinking that you are so unique and unlike anyone else that has ever lived?  

We all have something to offer in our generation to our generation.  Knowing about our ancestral past we have a few extra tools to help move ahead with a little more optimism, encouragement, holding our ‘chin up high’. 

That’s why the kids are saying ‘Happy Halloween’. They may not know it yet but they have a treasure trough of stuff to learn from the ancestors.  We do too.  Another reason to live yet another day and say, ‘Happy Halloween’!! 

John Goldstein, Pastor

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In other words, you can thank the autocrats for letting you play your sport in their stadium. The ‘stadium’ referring to ‘the world’ that you live in.

It was an ominous commentary made to a powerless audience gathered to celebrate sport.  But that is how Dictators and autocrats function.  They own the worldview.  They pronounce their version of reality and demand all to acknowledge and eventually submit to their views. 

Yes.  These two powerful national leaders.  One who cannot field a national team at the Olympics because of his State sponsored doping of athletes.  Two powerful leaders who persecute minorities, suppress information, poison or disappear political adversaries, drop barrel bombs on civilians and destroy hospitals. Terrorize civilian populations until they acquiesce to the demands of cowardly bullies. The Russian invasion of Ukraine was a logical next step.

Autocrats, Dictators, Emperors, Czars all fall into the cesspool filled with the drugs of power and control.  They love it.  They want it.  They can’t get enough of it.  You don’t need to be at the supreme level of governance to have this addiction to power and control. But the power and control obsession is extremely dangerous at the supreme level of governance. These Dictators make war and kill at will and use others to do it for them. And they plead innocence.

The biblical stories are filled with examples of individuals who became great leaders and squandered leadership through their abuse of power and control. King David, granted great prominence in contemporary conservative Christian narratives, leaves much to be desired as a leader and community builder.  He ensures that the husband of the woman that he desired was killed in battle so he could add her to his harem.  And much of his great accomplishments as a leader were lost in the mire of his immersion into the cesspool of power and control.  The Bible contains these stories to remind us of the fragility of our capacity to lead well. There is constant threat to efforts to enhance integrity and honor in our world views.  

The autocrats and wanna-be autocrats of our world need to learn that only like minded monsters share their personal thirst for power and control.  We don’t want to help make them richer, more powerful, more elitist.  The main stumbling block for autocrats is that they believe their own deceptions and there is no one voice strong enough to convince them differently.  The Biblical voice suggests how to eventually collapse and destroy these corrupt ways of thinking and living.

In contrast, most want to share in the freedom of learning how to grow themselves, be creative and love and serve each other.  When we are at our best too we want all to have freedom to live magnificently different lives.  

I prefer to learn these truths from the biblical examples than to have to live the sordid tragedies  again in our time.  And the Bible witness helps us to envision a different world without experiencing the holocaustic tragedies of the past.  Making people suffer, destroying others, causing pain and death is godless human absurdity. 

The belief in God challenges us to a higher calling in life.  We are not here just for ourselves but for all generations, past, present and future.  And the Bible shows us so we may learn about this higher calling from each other and the goodness of life as gifts from God.

Pastor John Goldstein

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Throw the conspiracy theories and repetitive opinion statements derailing facts into the mix and it sure led to a confusing time.  It is certain that anyone listening/watching only the sound bites surely got a discouraging world view filled with distrust and anger.

The dissension from ‘The Right’ became downright angry and unclear to someone like myself.  The complaint was a mix of Christian religious destiny theory, a deaf eared Congress with dark motives and feared loss of individual rights.  Those who stormed the Bastille, I mean the Capitol, did so as if they were trying to take back the democracy that had been stolen from them.  And like stereotypical marauders they sure left a mess along with lots of fear and disgust.  (My apologies if I got all this wrong.)

The past four years and the last two weeks (which seemed like an additional four years) struck me with the thought of how much America has transformed over the past 50 years.  The anger of dissent was the reflection of the reality that many don’t feel like they are on or that they want to be on the ‘post 1965’ America train. 

Before 1965 America was a white majority country where there was an assumption that the  ‘white’ race was superior to all others.  At least, that is what the majority white people repeated to each other.  The laws requiring ‘separate but equal’ were cracking. But efforts were made to downplay opportunity or accomplishments of ‘other than White’.  This of course, gave more opportunities for white peoples.  Not that they were necessarily conscious of this.  They just had the upper hand and a bigger playing field.

The big sea change came in 1965. It came from the most conservative place I can think of:  The White House wagging the Congress.  It was a legislative revolution.  The Voting Rights Act and the Immigration Act of 1965 were passed by Congress.  In the same year.   

These two Acts represented revolutionary changes in American perspective.  Yes.  Huge sectors of black and white citizens were going to have access to voting.  Until that time, white wealth dominated voting rights in many states. It would no longer be so easy to disenfranchise the common guy and gal.  Threats and intimidation still worked. It works today too as does gerrymandering.  

But after 1965, immigration was based on family unification and attracting skilled labor into the U.S.  No longer would preference be given to the wealthy European white immigrant.  This is boring stuff except that the immigration bill changed the make up of the American population and created the rich, diverse, ethnic and racial populations we have today.  It is no longer majority white with white focused self understanding.  Some want it to come back.

Today, we have large major ethnic minorities. And the Civil Rights Act gave most Americans a voting voice and saw their votes truly count in 2020.  Some voters are stunned to see this sea change.  I guess this is where the ‘stolen election’ idea comes from.  The one who lost is emphasizing that elected representatives are not representing!   

It is clear that the philosophical, social, economic  and religious needs of many are not getting addressed.  We continue to be in the throes of an economic sea change.  Elected officials need to start paying attention. We have lots we could fight over.  But endless argument and division ultimately pulls us down.  It does not build up.  

Religion at its heart provides the space to share ideas and grievances and the pains of a transforming time.  Religious faith should unite us.  Not divide us.  Just as it provides private space for personal  and spiritual renewal.  It is discouraging to find religious leaders hijacking religion to defend indefensible positions that encourage hatred and division. Religion will not save or salve a lost worldly power.

America could destroy itself from within if it continues to seek ways to ingest deceit and lies as truth with intent to separate and divide.  I found it remarkable that in stark contrast to the divisive actions of some, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement brought people from all races together. Albeit to protest as a sign that all lives do matter and that belief is reflected in our common humanness.  Who could have imagined that!

Perhaps a similar notion of being ‘created equal’ will occur again in our political and self understanding. This will give us the tools to grow together again as a nation.  One nation under God. Indivisible. With liberty and justice for all.

Pray that the rest of 2021 will provide at least initial steps to bring us together.

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It related to the devastatingly destructive fire that burned through Rome in A.D. 64.  Emperor Nero was preoccupied. He was focused on playing his fiddle.  He was a hated Emperor by the end of his reign, so they say.  True or not, it came to summarize the reign of a self indulgent Emperor, distracted and unwilling to be involved in the tragic sufferings of the people.

January 6 2021 events in Washington DC play a similar tune.  It was the day that the President fiddled and burned Rome too. 

The President, fixated on a lost election, incessantly repeated baseless fraud stories to ensure that truth got lost in innuendo and conspiracy theories.  People started to question seriously whether the man would or should actually leave office.  

Meanwhile, the individual American is trying to get a grip on the Covid-19 pandemic with its grim reaper that is getting dangerously close to home, vaccinations that don’t appear to getting near to enough arms, kids out of school, job insecurity.  Well.  You know the story.

The symbolic heart of American democracy under attack in DC.  Where is this leader?  He is fixated to convince the world as he has convinced himself that he won an election that he lost. At some point, you wonder:  Does anyone really care?

Leadership makes a person greater than they truly are.

England’s King Charles II of the 17^th Century was also an unpopular leader. Probably is up there with Nero and other self indulgent monsters. London caught on fire. It was horrific and out of control driven by high winds and destroying homes of all.   The unpopular, hapless King rode into the city, took charge.  With a strategy he organized people. The King helped put out the fire. His reputation soared.  You cannot lead without serving the people around you.  Doesn’t matter if people like you or not. Doesn’t matter what your political philosophy may be.

We all desire a decent, able leader of good moral character with a little integrity thrown in, who will show us a reasonable future.  More so if we have children and an extended family that loves us.    We want our children to fulfill our dream as they build their own.  Future, realized potential, gives energy to our hope. 

Leaders are identified when they are willing and able to fulfill the role.   Leadership demands the ability to create a vision of the future that we can all be a part of;  that all can help create. Leadership shows us that working together we accomplish more.  Leaders get us to work together on building a future that is better for all of us.  Politics at any level, whether it be a President or Pastor, becomes a circus when it is just about ‘ourselves’. 

Jesus never wrote any books about how to be a good leader.  He set the example by serving others and teaching others to serve others.  Jesus had ‘everyone’s back’ as we might say today.  He healed and fed and showed others how to do the same.  He had a religious practice and lifestyle that enabled him to keep himself together. It taught him compassion and empathy, patience, friendship and love.  He taught others how to pray and ways to live without dictating rigid rules or lifestyles.  He brought people together to feel and believe as one.  That helped to make him a great Leader.  Someone worth following.

He led Mother Teresa to write the following:

“If you pray, you will have faith.

And if you have faith, you will love.

And if you love, you will serve.

And if you serve, you will have peace.”

Give us ideas based in truth that make rational sense. Model those ideas and call us to service to implement those ideas and we shall follow.  Nothing satisfies a follower more than an able leader.

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We bring out lights to shine in the darkness!  It’s all part of our religious belief.  Whether we practice religion or no.

Light and dark are to be taken seriously.  Darkness can threaten life. Bad characters in movies are usually in black to imply the power of evil or destruction.  Boo to you Darth Vader….!!

The Hindu festival of Diwali and the Christian festival of Christmas both tackle the power of darkness that surrounds us in life. Christian and Hindu stories intertwine similar portrayals of the evil of darkness and the significance of light to us humans.  

Diwali is a religious festival that celebrates the victory of the god of light over the god of darkness. Light displays, social events and food focus on light in contrast to the darkness.  The god of light kills the god of darkness in this Hindu story.  Light prevails!!!!  Thank God.  Humans cannot live without light.  

Christians draw the same conclusion about the significance of light in their Christmas Story with a twist.  The baby Jesus is born in the darkness of ‘mid winter’ so the carols sing! And accounts of Jesus’ birth story is one of light illuminating in the darkness.  

There is no violence in the Christian story.  The Christian God of light does not kill the god of darkness.  In fact, there is no god of darkness to kill from the Christian perspective.  Darkness is not the dominion of any god.  It is never destroyed nor killed.  Darkness is overcome by turning on the light.   It literally disappears when light appears.  And we humans play a role of bringing the God of light into the human arenas of darkness. This is not a battle of the gods.  It is a challenge for humans to recognize light and to share it. Isn’t it refreshing to see light in the midst of darkness?The Hindu perspective recognizes the violence of our world as depicted in the violence of the gods.  The gods kill each other as humans do.  And we give thanks that the good god prevails.  May the good god of light always prevail.  

The Christmas story focuses on the human desire for life and peace in the world. Angel choirs sing to poor shepherds of ‘peace and goodwill’. Divine messengers bring good news of God’s human presence among us in spite of the violence within the human experience.  

This theme of peace is a thread that begins in the creation stories and is integral to the Christmas story.  The God of creation makes everything from chaotic matter and describes it as good when the living spring from it.  There are no warring gods to decide who is the most powerful.  There is no other power!  This creative God is all powerful and yet pacific.  And when God determines to create, it is done so without harming or destroying other forces.  This sentiment pours out from the globally sung Christmas carol  ‘Silent Night’.  The song is loved by people of many religions:

‘All is calm.  All is bright. Sleep in heavenly peace.”

The God of light offers light to hope and human possibility.  

We are tempted to ignore religious story and adopt a corrupted view where the evil god of the world needs to be killed and destroyed over and over. In such a world, evil has new emissaries every day and they must be weeded out before they take control. Or we live by a corrupted Christian view where the world is darkness and light does not enter.  Evil is like the cloud cover that never lifts. We blindly continue in the darkness fighting the conspiracy of darkness.  Nothing much we can do! So it implies.

Either corruption encourages us to view others with suspicion.  What kind of emissaries are these ‘others’ I see?  They walk the streets and I don’t recognize them.  They drive in my neighborhood and I don’t “recognize the car”.  I cannot trust them in the darkness of my world.

The world of darkness accepts suffering and death as ‘fait accompli’.  Darkness seeks to divide us.  Warring factions kill on command.  Refugees are abandoned on land borders or left to drown in oceans.  Resignation is granted to prejudice and hatred of others for race, origin, language, social place. Darkness makes us powerless to foment change, feel safe or that we can intervene.  This is the world of darkness which we pop in and out of daily, mentally and spiritually.  

I prefer to see light brought into our midst so we can see more clearly.  It provides the hope that the world can be transformed. I want to know why my neighbor is so angry and troubled.  Doing so would help me understand why I am angry also.  I am part of the transformation from darkness into light.  One can never see darkness. One can only recognize the dark life when light overcomes it.  May we see light dissipate the darkness! 

Silent night, holy night

Son of God, oh, love’s pure light

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord at Thy birth

Have a meaningful season of light and a Blessed Christmas!

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It has been many centuries since Halloween was a Christian celebration. 

It’s been so long that some Christians call it a satanic event.  It is what you determine it to be.  Today, it is a quintessential American tradition that has gone in many directions.  Some quite discouraging.

Halloween was once one of my favorite American traditions.   I enjoyed spending time with my children and grandchildren. They are in costume, filled with anticipation and story, imaginations running wild with excitement.  

I got to walk the streets with the children and visit neighbors whom I rarely see except on the way to work or some weekend chat. We actually talk, share stories and do so without any pretense or agenda! ‘Hey!’ ‘You live down the street!’ ‘I didn’t know that.’ ‘And these are your kids?’ ‘Wow! They are growing up so quickly!’

It is also a time to reconnect with children of all ages and to be reminded that they, like myself are filled with excitement about life and its surprises. ‘Trick or treat’ the littlest ones try to say. They are amazed that the words magically trigger smiles, laughter, and best of all candy treats!

Little kids can barely ‘trick or treat’ now. They are confronted by too much horror filled costumes and displays that generate fear and anger.  Some of the displays focus on perverse cruelty and shock.  One year I dressed myself in a sesame street costume and discovered that children gathered around me for protection of a fun clean, friendly character in contrast with the costumery of violent characters from war trilogies, destructive evil characters and unsettling faces and designs   Most of this is unsettling to an adult too.  I can’t imagine how the children remember it.  Shutting down ‘trick or treating’ due to the pandemic may provide a breather space for people to rethink the purpose of costumery and displays.  Halloween in its roots was not designed for a ghoulish ‘shock’ factor.

Halloween maybe an American celebration. But it draws from the supermarket of world celebrations to create a fun evening of costumery, celebration and reminder that life is filled with all kinds of mysterious and unanticipated aspects that have no power over us. 

Halloween has its roots in ancient beliefs and practices. It is most easily traced back to pre-Christian England and Ireland and celebrations to remind the living of their link with their deceased ancestors. The ancient celebrations were ‘Christianized’ by the Christian conquerors as they contained elements of essential truths about life. The elemental truths are found in most cultures and religions throughout the world. 

Religion is not shy to consider the profound issues of life and death, meaningful existence, relationship with our ancestors and our descendants, life values and purpose. Religion discusses them using such terms as ‘reincarnation’, ‘incarnation’, ‘resurrection’, ‘eternal’ even ‘caste’ or ‘social place’. 

Interest in ‘ancestors’ and the ‘forces that give way to life’ also gives rise to questions about the existence of spirits and other kinds of ethereal beings that work for good or evil. The Christian view is that evil does not exist as a god force.  Evil is overcome by turning on the light of truth in the midst of darkness.  Darkness disappears in the light. Costuming is one ancient method to show that feared entities have no power (and in most cases) no existence beyond the imagination. Dress up as the ‘evil one’ and see that you can play the part as well as anyone! Because it is a part that can be dissipated and eliminated by good and kind and righteous people!

Be ‘Spiderman’, ‘Superman’ and discover in your imagination that you are as powerful as the creature that you portend to be! It is a simple method to allay fears of creatures that do not exist and even if they did, they have no power or control over you – only the power and control you give to them.   Turn on the ‘light’ in the midst of the darkness so the Christian would say!

Okay.  This doesn’t sound like Halloween anymore!  But the roots of the Halloween celebration  head in a direction that we all long for.  We all need a path to confidence and courage when we are confronted by life situations and experiences that make us fearful and afraid.  There is no need to cower in fear at the forces we don’t understand.  Indeed. We should be mindful of our predecessor generations that survived to give us life and a life story to tell.  But they don’t have power over us. 

Halloween would be better if we could discover and rediscover how fun, light hearted events can help make life safe, secure, anchored in the inheritance from previous generations.  Fun for self and the people that surround us. 

I’ll probably take a breather this year.  But I do love seeing the children in costume.  Maybe we will all rediscover the power of children asking, receiving, laughing, having fun dressed up as someone that they respect or admire.  We were children once.  Remember a costume only has the power you give to it.

Have a fun Halloween.  If that’s possible!

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