tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2406440618564775322024-03-12T19:16:19.186-04:00Clifford SwartzMusings on life and "a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life." By an Anglican minister on the furthermost western corner in northern England, where it's true that no man is an island.Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-90873242709116124392012-06-09T04:48:00.003-04:002012-06-09T04:48:32.784-04:00On the theme of Father's Day, I will be preaching on <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2016:1-13&version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Samuel 16</a>, with these headings planned at the moment:<br />
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1. God is at work in our children’s lives in ways we do not see<br /><br />2. We must see how God sees our children<br /><br />3. Every man can be a son, every woman a daughter<br />
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And I think I am going to show this Volkswagen commercial, which I found rather touching, sometime during the service. When you see it, tell me if you don't have a little sniffle...<br />
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<br />Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-78199821257277943842012-06-09T04:43:00.003-04:002012-06-09T04:43:42.128-04:00<b>After a long haitus...here's a recent article for our local parish magazine:</b><br />
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Looking ahead to Father’s Day on 17th June, I have been thinking (again) about fathers. In part it is with thanksgiving for my own father, who passed away in recent months; and in part I have read about the rising cost from the diminished role of fathers in society. <br /><br /><i>The Council of Europe Directorate General</i> files lots of reports. It is an odd source to help grasp the place of men in spiritual life of a family or nation. The <i>Directorate</i> has no stake in promoting Christianity, somewhat the opposite. Their interest is social cohesion -- ie, communities sticking together and getting along. Religion is a factor. They don’t care about Christianity itself, but rather what effect it has on society. The research is startling:<br /><br />If a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife, only 1 child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of the practice of the mother, between 2/3 and 3/4 of their children will become churchgoers.<br /><br />This influence stretches to adulthood: young men and women (into their 20’s) conclude that Dad’s absence indicates going to church is not really a “grown-up” activity. Where the father is indifferent or just plain absent, children see that church is a “women and children” thing, they will respond accordingly—by not going to church, or going much less. <br /><br />This is not a condemnation of any individual, family or even nation. Rather, it shows the importance of men in the spiritual life of families. My own family’s situation is an example of this: my mother’s nominal Anglican belief became living faith when she was a mum with young children; however, only as my father was converted to Christ did the family really began to move in a new direction.<br /><br /><i>The Baptist Press</i> cites research showing that experience is common. If a child discovers faith and makes a Christian connection, about 3% of families will connect themselves. If the mum is first, then about 17% of families will . However, if a father is firmly switched on to faith in Christ, then 93% of the time, the whole family will follow his lead.<br /><br />I note those figures without a particular trust in statistics. I do trust that God in his grace is not troubled by 50 to 1 odds -- he can bring about life in any situation! Yet if these figures even marginally relate to Cumbria, then fathers can know that they have a big impact. If the children and teenagers in our villages are going to have a vital Christian faith, then, under God, it is largely down to these men. If we want the historic vitality of Christian life to ebb from our village in the next generation, then fathers need only stay home.<br /><br />Dads, meet the challenge! Come along on Father’s Day, to receive encouragement for the great task and responsibility we have before God. And to each of us, wherever we are in life, and with whichever family structure or background we have, there is the good news of the Gospel for all: ‘How deep the Father’s love for us’ (1 John 3:1). Please pray for fathers.<br /><br />Warmly in Christ,<br />Clifford Swartz<br /><br /><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Council of Europe Directorate General III, Social Cohesion, Strasbourg, January 2000<br />Polly House, Baptist Press, April 2003</span></i>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-68839822253322309702011-10-04T18:25:00.000-04:002011-10-04T18:25:01.052-04:00Footprints/Sandpeople versionThis is amusing.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sdsmith.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/sandpeoplefootprints.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.sdsmith.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/sandpeoplefootprints.jpg" width="203" /></a></div>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-57361833151398502662011-08-23T16:31:00.002-04:002011-08-23T16:31:42.818-04:00Arrived in the UKThinking this blog is ready to be closed down...<br />
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I'm ready to deploy internet time resources on new site for St Bees Priory on <a href="http://www.cloversites.com/f/cliffordswartz1">cloversites</a>.<br />
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Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-39621318136633790152011-05-05T10:17:00.000-04:002011-05-05T10:17:22.448-04:00Prayer is FreeMy friend Amy Julia Becker keeps a wonderful web journal reflecting on life and particularly on what she learns through parenting, and then especially through parenting one of her three children who has Down's Syndrome. This delightful girl, Penny, opens up a world of unexpected spiritual treasures to Amy Julia's readers. I commend the blog to you. This week, Amy Julia <a href="http://www.patheos.com/community/thinplaces/2011/05/04/want-some-help-praying-free-copies-of-a-praying-life-on-kindle/">noted</a> that a book sold at Christ Church's booktable is being given away free to those of you who use the kindle electronic book reader. You can get your copy <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Praying-Life-Connecting-Distracting-ebook/dp/B002L2GJR8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2">here</a>.<br />
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The book is on prayer, and has made a positive impact on a number of parishioners at Christ Church. The free book on prayer reminds me that prayer is always free -- both in the sense that we do not pay for it and that God freely accepts our prayer because Jesus invites us into His presence.<br />
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In the church calendar, we are still a ways from Ascension, yet the topic of prayer brings to mind how thankful we can be that our prayers don't bounce off the ceiling, but can be heard by God:<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-size: small;"><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-30029">14</sup> Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,<sup> </sup>Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-30030">15</sup> For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-30031">16</sup> Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. </span></b></i><br />
<h4><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">(Hebrews 4.14-16)</span></b></i></h4></blockquote>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-35290917424421902592011-03-18T14:52:00.000-04:002011-03-18T14:52:53.074-04:00et in Arcadia egoThe Authoress shared her joy for the play <i>Arcadia</i> with me earlier this month, when we saw a revival production on Broadway.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Catherine Ashmore, <i>New York Times </i></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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The play is set in Sidley Park, an English manor house. The action moves between 1809 and present day, with the characters in one time revealing things about those in the other time through dialogue that is full of wit, literature, mathematics and depth of observation.<br />
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The <i>Independent</i> newspaper review of the play holds that it is one of the most important of the 20th century, probing issues of the meaning of life. The summary of the issues is as follows:<br />
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<blockquote>The classical order – which mutated into the Enlightenment – believed the world was ordered and was governed by rules that could be slowly uncovered. The Romantics believed this was a suffocating cage in which humanity was being imprisoned, and sought to overthrow all rules in the name of individual creativity. You make up your own rules as you go along: every man is an artist. There is no order other than the one you invent.<br />
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Septimus Hodge is a brilliant tutor [and classmate of poet Lord Byron] who teaches his student [a thirteen year old girl named Thomasina who is a math prodigy] about Newton's laws of physics. They are clean, clear, promising an underlying, predictable order to the universe. Thomasina...spots a series of dark flaws in Newton. </blockquote><blockquote>She explains that...there is one equation that runs only one way: heat turns to cold. The same thing is happening everywhere, all the time: it's called the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The implications – only just being grasped by the generations after Newton – were plain, and bleak. "It'll take a while, but we're all going to end up at room temperature," says one character. Septimus – sobered by Thomasina's explanation – adds softly: "So the Improved Newtonian Universe must cease and grow cold." </blockquote><blockquote>These are characters who take the implications of their ideas seriously. Septimus and Thomasina are stricken by the realisation that instead of setting up a perfectly ticking and well-oiled machine, Newtonian physics exposed us as living in an irrevocably doomed world.</blockquote>The characters in the play <i>Arcadia</i> react to the world in different ways -- that there is inevitable decline and destruction seems unbelievable when there on the stage are young and vibrant characters -- two main reactions. One is to turn aside from science, and seek meaning and solace in romantic poetic ideals (what Dylan Thomas would later exhort, to rage against the dying of the light). The other is to see the desire to learn as the mark of a significant life. The <i>Independent</i> review continues:<br />
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<blockquote>In the most important speech in the play, Hannah suggests the answer lies in the process of trying to understand, while you can. You find meaning by questing on, even in the face of failure and extinction. She tells Valentine: "It's all trivial...Comparing what we're looking for misses the point. It's wanting to know that makes us matter...Better to struggle on knowing that failure is final."</blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/is-tom-stoppards-arcadia-the-greatest-play-of-our-age-1688852.html Independent 22 May 2009</span></i></div><br />
Yet it isn't really a pure quest for knowledge. Rather this noble pursuit is mingled with the desire for self-glory. One aspect that the reviewer, and many articles about <i>Arcadia</i> seem to miss out, is that the main characters in the present day are academics whose passion for their subject, for solving puzzles, for discovering links in history about Lord Byron, or the history of landscape gardening or literature, of mathematical proofs -- is that this pursuit of knowledge, even the pursuit of love, is mixed in the with the pursuit of self-glory. The characters have a refrain that drives them -- to publish their findings, and be lauded by their peers. Perhaps to the journalist or to Stoppard himself as those who publish work, this is not as self-evident as it was to me (whose seeking plaudits no doubt takes different form than the published word).<br />
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I had another reaction to the play -- it made me think about the presupposition we have about the world as we approach it -- is it fundamentally good or evil? Christianity sees it as good but fallen, beautiful yet corrupted. <br />
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This came to mind not only as I interacted with a biblical text in the past couple of weeks (on salt and light), but also in the Christian stance of hope, against the notion that life ends "at room temperature". An Anglican minister (writing about an entirely different subject, namely, church politics) made an observation that is apropos of the central issue in <i>Arcadia</i>. It is, in a sense, the Christian response to the despair or at least struggle in the musings of several of Tom Stoppard's characters. Charles Raven wrote:<br />
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<blockquote>One way to express the power of the resurrection is to say that it gloriously breaches the second law of thermodynamics. Our hope of a new heaven and a new earth is grounded in Christ's physical resurrection as a reversal of entropy - and that power of the resurrection is at work in the Church now, not through resourceful words or the control of money, but through faithfulness to God's Word and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit.</blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>http://www.anglicanspread.org/?p=432</i></span> </div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Et In Arcadia Ego</i>, Nicholas Poussin (Louvre, Paris), artinthepicture.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The paintings from which Stoppard's play draws its title (and theme) are two by Poussin (the later work is shown here) and one by Guercino: Et in Arcadia ego. This is the inscription on the tombstone happened upon by three shepherds and a shepherdess. There are some interesting articles on the meaning of the paintings and indeed the inscription itself, but however construed, there is the fact of death existing even in the midst of the beauty of Arcadia. This is true in the play, as tragedy frames the relationships, and even there in the midst of the beauty (whether ordered or disordered) of the English country house, death lurks. And so the Resurrection and the promise of life speaks a word of rebuke to death.<br />
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Gentle reader, your thoughts on <i>Arcadia</i> are welcome; and if you come to NYC to see it, I'll send you a discount code, perhaps we can meet up for coffee...Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-65061461096307930622011-02-17T16:27:00.001-05:002011-02-17T16:28:54.386-05:00Man BagGentle reader, apologies for the dearth of entries of late.<br />
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The photo below will appeal to fans of the Boston Red Sox, who will snicker at Alex Rodriguez being called out for knocking the ball from the opposing player's glove (a foul in baseball). <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/15/20821819_2a07722ab9_z.jpg?zz=1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/15/20821819_2a07722ab9_z.jpg?zz=1" width="320" /></a></div>An article in the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> struck home lately. It was on the subject of back pain that men have caused by carrying a "man bag". I have experienced this, when carrying my laptop, various commentaries/books/etc around in my leather attache. I call it a "messenger bag" and this is how it is advertised, rather than "man purse"! It looks like the bag I saw in the Wells Fargo museum, from the old Pony Express days.<br />
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In the <i>Telegraph</i> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8323765/Man-bags-lead-to-back-troubles.html">article</a>, two photos are provided, one of Jude Law carrying what seems to be a purse, the other of David Beckham carrying a suitcase and, slung over his shoulder, what looks to me like what I term a "messenger bag". But the article wishes to associate this with the purse in the first photo. I don't take David Beckham's fashion sense as the height of either style or masculinity, but surely there is a differentiation between the two? The point of the article is to say that guys are hurting their shoulders carrying around lots of stuff. True for me as I have the thing slung over my shoulder for a couple of hours a day sometimes. <br />
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The Swiss Army once used the bags pictured below for messengers carrying maps. And the next picture is of a bag for carrying ammunition.<br />
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What think the fashionistas among you? Is there any alternative to the square briefcase or the hiker's backpack? Is Jerry Seinfeld right, "It's not a purse, it's European!"?<br />
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Or perhaps I've been in a metropolitan setting too long, and need to get a grip.Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-37634512765695301422010-12-20T10:37:00.001-05:002010-12-20T10:37:44.378-05:00Genealogy of Jesus: the Golden Thread of SalvationYesterday at Christ Church we had the genealogy of Jesus from Matthew chapter one. It is the sort of passage that I love to preach on -- at first glance, it seems just that sort of dry and dusty bit that makes the Bible seem boring. So it is great to have the conviction that the whole of the scriptures are the Word of God, because it gives an encouragement to stay with a passage and dig into it. And so often there are surprising treasures!<br />
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<blockquote><sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23146">1</sup> The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.<br />
<sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23147">2</sup> Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23148">3</sup>and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23149">4</sup>and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23150">5</sup>and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23151">6</sup>and Jesse the father of David the king.<br />
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And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23152">7</sup>and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23153">8</sup>and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23154">9</sup>and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23155">10</sup>and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23156">11</sup>and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.<br />
<sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23157">12</sup>And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23158">13</sup>and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23159">14</sup>and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23160">15</sup>and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, <sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23161">16</sup>and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.<br />
<sup class="versenum" id="en-ESV-23162">17</sup>So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.</blockquote><br />
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The genealogy of Jesus tells us many things, not least that God is patient and faithful in bringing his promises to fruition. This gives us confidence in other things he promises, that we can trust them to be brought to fruition, too. As Jesus is described as the king in David's line, we are encouraged to look to him as the leader of our own life. Finally, the experience of exile is historical for God's people, but also experienced as our ultimate home (ie, heaven) is not this world. The "shady ladies" (Gentiles, with various sexual histories) and the variety of examples of men (David, who killed his old comrade Uriah to cover up an affair; Abraham, with his wonderful faith but also his betrayal of his wife's safety to save his own skin; many others) show that no one is beyond the reach of God's loving grace, and indeed can be used to bring about his purposes. It is also encouraging to see a bum like Manasseh come to repentance late in life and have a strong grandson like Josiah, though a warning that a great man like Josiah's own grandson would be a bum (Jechoniah). We need to pray for our kids and our community earnestly!<br />
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I hope next year to teach the children this wonderful song during Advent, with kudos to singer/songwriter/author Andrew Peterson for his making the passage vibrant for children in song and animation:<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">With thanks to <a href="http://thevicarswife.wordpress.com/">"The Vicar's Wife"</a>, a blog that the Authoress views and sends my way on occasion.</span></i>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-5115222676298250302010-11-26T12:22:00.000-05:002010-11-26T12:22:56.155-05:00Thankgiving Decree<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The <i>New York Times</i> noted the tradition of Thanksgiving Proclamations by politicians in American history. These are still made today. I have been moved by the Presidential decrees proclaiming national days of Thanksgiving in the past (particularly by Lincoln and one of Franklin Roosevelt's decrees). </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I hadn't really been aware that state governors also issued such proclamations, and found myself moved by the lofty one issued by the Governor of Connecticut in the midst of the Great Depression. He was a retired Yale professor, incidentally, which makes me glad such men enter public service:</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Time out of mind at this turn of the seasons when the hardy oak leaves rustle in the wind and the frost gives a tang to the air and the dusk falls early and the friendly evenings lengthen under the heel of Orion, it has seemed good to our people to join together in praising the Creator and Preserver, who has brought us by a way that we did not know to the end of another year. In observance of this custom, I appoint Thursday, the twenty-sixth of November, as a day of Public Thanksgiving for the blessings that have been our common lot and have placed our beloved State with the favored regions of earth -- for all the creature comforts: the yield of the soil that has fed us and the richer yield from labor of every kind that has sustained our lives -- and for all those things, as dear as breath to the body, that quicken man's faith in his manhood, that nourish and strengthen his spirit to do the great work still before him: for the brotherly word and act; for honor held above price; for steadfast courage and zeal in the long, long search after truth; for liberty and for justice freely granted by each to his fellow and so as freely enjoyed; and for the crowning glory and mercy of peace upon our land; -- that we may humbly take heart of these blessings as we gather once again with solemn and festive rites to keep our Harvest Home.</div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A bit more significant than flirting with gluttony and a having an intense focus on sales in the shops, eh? I found Wilbur Cross's statement most encouraging. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When I pray with the children at night, we pray the Lord's Prayer, then for concerns of the day. And we try to have most of it giving thanks, always including a standard statement, "Thank you, Jesus, for loving [Number One Son, etc]". That is the great reason to be thankful, that our Creator not only made the world, nor even that as Preserver he continues to sustain life, but that we can relate to him personally through his Son. Astonishing. Puts even the poetic notions of the beauty of the stars into perspective. </div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A recent photo from the Hubble Space Telescope encourages reflection on Psalm 8:3-4</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzA4HtWBOt556nXkmgFkdLuTjjIIYb374ihJNvvRJwsobY-uXbxUl1ZKJtn3TgD252UF_EKOAKSPq5DKf2vQRokZTOq-UrE-8jITipL9bXLxKxMwiucqt-UVCwKym09ktQUaSFdiZX1QO/s1600/hs-2004-10-a-print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzA4HtWBOt556nXkmgFkdLuTjjIIYb374ihJNvvRJwsobY-uXbxUl1ZKJtn3TgD252UF_EKOAKSPq5DKf2vQRokZTOq-UrE-8jITipL9bXLxKxMwiucqt-UVCwKym09ktQUaSFdiZX1QO/s400/hs-2004-10-a-print.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><blockquote><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,<br />
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,<br />
4 what is man that you are mindful of him?</div></blockquote><br />
So, yesterday's turkey, mince pie (and pumpkin...), autumn squash vegetable dishes and so forth -- all evidence of God's care. And a pointer, to the greater provision by God, which brings us to Advent Season this Sunday...<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sources: http://www.jud.ct.gov/lawlib/history/thanksgiving.htm</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/pr2005002f/</span>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-81334538569166662032010-11-18T12:27:00.001-05:002010-11-18T12:27:36.121-05:00Epiphany a bit early?New York City never ceases to amaze. Outside the building where our church administrative office is located, I came upon these three camels. Illegally parked.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPk9M0EUYzIKMMdJ8YMjC8pEI7PqbRyRIvFUAefv3v_0W1rLKe4umV1OK4x669j3EjHpVFDE114y9MTAfqoc_lTdmTUvYIfKEteCL71SuFmde1WPlCFXmVDWDcXOhlhzVIxXtORpwYdec6/s1600/IMG_1690_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPk9M0EUYzIKMMdJ8YMjC8pEI7PqbRyRIvFUAefv3v_0W1rLKe4umV1OK4x669j3EjHpVFDE114y9MTAfqoc_lTdmTUvYIfKEteCL71SuFmde1WPlCFXmVDWDcXOhlhzVIxXtORpwYdec6/s400/IMG_1690_2.JPG" width="380" /></a></div>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-49311716205390503822010-11-12T13:01:00.008-05:002010-12-31T12:28:01.920-05:00The First Existentialist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.listal.com/image/793185/600full-woody-allen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://img.listal.com/image/793185/600full-woody-allen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>At Christ Church, we've started a month in Ecclesiastes, around questions of meaning. I've found the book to be utterly contemporary, though it was penned by Solomon (I believe, and edited) some three thousand years ago.<br />
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In fact, it seems to be the case that Ecclesiastes largely anticipates a number of later philosophical works, including Kierkegaard and other existentialists. The book also engages with Aristotle on the point of whether acquiring wisdom is the most fulfilling endeavour for a person.<br />
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I don't know if you have twenty-five minutes to fill in a commute or run, gentle reader; but if so, here is my sermon on Ecclesiastes chapters 1 & 2, which you can read <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%201-2&version=ESV">here</a>.<br />
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The sermon is <a href="http://td2243.imperial-web.com/cliff/2010-11-06%20-%20Clifford%20Swartz%20-%20Ecclesiastes%201%20&%202.mp3">linked</a> to this post. It starts off with my accidentally shouting into the microphone, until the sound man rescued me...<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo: Woody Allen www.listal.com </span>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-25394156589159796102010-11-03T00:06:00.000-04:002010-11-03T00:06:41.093-04:00Kipper & A Club<div class="separator" style="background-color: #45818e; clear: both; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://pics3.city-data.com/businesses/p/1/8/3/1/5791831.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://pics3.city-data.com/businesses/p/1/8/3/1/5791831.JPG" width="320" /><span></span></a></div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I live in New York City, and things are <b>always</b> happening. People come here from great distances and at massive expense to attend meetings that I skip because there are ten more such opportunities in a single week. The options in New York City can become something of a crushing overload, even as the possibility of going to, say, a director's cut of <i>Once Upon a Time in America</i> (a film four hours long) or seeing the artifacts of Robert Scott's doomed mission to the South Pole, thrills me. (I have done both these things, the former as a single man long ago, the latter with my kids, twice.)</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It can be hard to think and process life in the midst of the pace of city life. I do see people tune out with their iPod headphones, but it's just not for me. It <b>is</b> a glorious thing to be able to pray while hurtling downtown on a subway line or walking along an avenue, but it's still <b>doing</b> something (in this case, something extremely valuable).</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Many New Yorkers need to get out of the city occasionally in order to enjoy it. As it happens, circumstances have kept me in the city almost straight since the end of August. So two things today struck me as a relief from the pace. </div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #45818e; clear: both; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.onlykent.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/kipper-the-dog-celebrated.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static.onlykent.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/kipper-the-dog-celebrated.jpg" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The first: <i>Kipper</i>.</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Kipper the Dog is an animated character of Mike Inkpen, who also has illustrated/written some Bible stories we have for the children. The beauty of <i>Kipper</i> episodes is that nothing really happens. He meets up with his friends, Tiger (the terrier) and Pig (the pig) and they chat, play and get up to various adventures of minimal scope. Postman Pat is also a bit like this. Very little action, but a lot of involvement with the characters and their pleasant meanderings. <i>Kipper</i> is currently Top of the Pops for our two year old, but we all sneak a peak whenever it's on.</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="background-color: #45818e; clear: both; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdquEuogBPMjpOtKdS5KDIP1_TezZrsDF36DcO500OHNc7JLZjoaQU-z9yN9l1_U7yTcRPlJMer2vI4E68QmBSLJgg1oJompBpcOlVLBjyIsWaRc9_mHdU4pXPCVrNMES_H270hUye2QQ/s400/joanna-goddard-wedding-downtown-association-reading-room.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdquEuogBPMjpOtKdS5KDIP1_TezZrsDF36DcO500OHNc7JLZjoaQU-z9yN9l1_U7yTcRPlJMer2vI4E68QmBSLJgg1oJompBpcOlVLBjyIsWaRc9_mHdU4pXPCVrNMES_H270hUye2QQ/s320/joanna-goddard-wedding-downtown-association-reading-room.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The second: A Club</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I lead Bible studies for people who work in finance and other professional jobs. These occur during the course of the work day, which brings a whole different slant on the issues. I had this experience myself when working for a bank -- how different cracking open the Bible was at work rather than after work or on the weekends. Anyway, some of the meetings happen in a posh club off Wall Street. I typically meet up with guys to chat and pray afterwards, and today had a few minutes in between conversations. And so I sat in a wood-panelled room with an enormous stuffed and mounted elk's head on the walls, and sank into a leather chair. And read through <i>Country Life</i> magazine, which is essentially a giant advertisement section for lovely country houses and antiques in Britain, mixed in with a few articles.</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u>Silence</u>, except the turning of my pages, and the creaking of the leather chair. <b>Bliss</b>.</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I know that the heavenly city is, well, a city. But even so, we read in Revelation 8:1 that "there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." And I was glad for my five minutes.</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="background-color: #45818e; color: black; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What do you think, gentle reader -- Is full throttle in NYC sustainable for the soul? Positively good for it, or a mixture? </div>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-11247729749861473422010-09-28T22:13:00.000-04:002010-09-28T22:13:17.376-04:00Phillips BrooksPhillips Brooks is probably best known as the author of the Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem". He was a clergyman who served in Philadelphia and Boston, as rector of Trinity Church. One fact that caught my attention when I first came across him (apart from the Christmas carol) was that he was much beloved of Harvard students as an honorary (more or less) chaplain to the university. On his death, he was carried in a sturdy coffin three miles from Cambridge to Boston, in part by the Varsity Eight rowing squad. This was impressive as Brooks was 6'3" and weighed 300 lbs! His sermon to newly arrived freshman on their college life and living in general is inspiring.<br />
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Below is a meditation on John 10:10, in which Jesus says: <sup class="versenum" id="en-KJV-26492"> </sup><br />
<i>The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.</i><br />
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<blockquote> "...the danger of men is not in too much life but in too little. It is deficient vitality, not excessive vitality, that m<span class="text_exposed_hide"></span><span class="text_exposed_show">akes the mischief and trouble of the world. Below the question of whether a being is living well or living ill there is the deeper question of whether he is living at all. The great hunger everywhere is for life. All unliving things are reaching up towards it. All living things are craving an increase of it. Into this world comes Christ and announces himself as that world's savior and satisfier..."</span></blockquote><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo: www.philadelphia-reflections.com </span>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-41290369520483412432010-09-22T15:53:00.000-04:002010-09-22T15:53:50.008-04:00Richard Wilbur, "Games Two"The last few lines of this poem seem to capture the nature of Christian hope wonderfully. <br />
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<blockquote>:<br />
Still, As pilgrims on a hill<br />
Fallen, behold<br />
With failing eyes from far<br />
The desired city,<br />
Silence will take pity<br />
On words. There are<br />
Pauses where words must wait,<br />
Spaces in speech<br />
Which stop and calm it, and each<br />
Is like a gate:<br />
Past which creation lies<br />
In morning sun,<br />
Where word with world is one<br />
And nothing dies.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote> -Former Poet Laureate Richard Wilbur (born 1921), “Games Two”</blockquote>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-18984388845693698242010-08-26T15:39:00.000-04:002010-08-26T15:39:59.902-04:00City on a Hill, Law & Love<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mass.gov/Eoaf/images/bsb/charles_bulfinch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.mass.gov/Eoaf/images/bsb/charles_bulfinch.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br />
In preparation for an upcoming series in the Christ Church "More to Life: Wall Street Ministry", I was reading some English and American Puritans. The seventeenth century spiritual giants have a lot to say to us!<br />
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John Winthrop was aboard the Arabella from England to America in 1640 when he wrote a sermon that used the phrase "a city on a hill" (from the Sermon on the Mount) to describe his hopes for the new land. This phrase was quoted by John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan in significant speeches to show their hopes for America. <br />
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Kennedy and Reagan both made inspiring speeches (they are both worth reading, especially Reagan's farewell speech in 1989), casting their vision for America that was full of integrity, courage and good judgment. Both, however, missed Winthrop's point.<br />
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Interestingly, Winthrop's use of that phrase "a city on a hill" was in his summation of his whole sermon, which was on the topic of Christian charity. He enjoined the colonists to love one another with brotherly affection, and to treat one another with mercy and justice. So, far from being a statement of (merely) American exceptionalism, it was a statement that summed up Christian aspiration for mutual love. It is a good example of the Puritans having a solid understanding of human nature (that love rather than external laws changes a person). Winthrop wrote:<br />
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<blockquote>Soe the way to drawe men to the workes of mercy, is not by force of Argument from the goodness or necessity of the worke; for though this cause may enforce, a rationall minde to some present act of mercy, as is frequent in experience, yet it cannot worke such a habit in a soule, as shall make it prompt upon all occasions to produce the same effect, but by frameing these affections of loue in the hearte which will as naturally bring forthe the other, as any cause doth produce the effect.</blockquote><br />
So, gentle reader, what think ye of Winthrop: a man can be led to do something once by argument, but a habit only grows from love?<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The full text of Winthrop's sermon may be read <a href="http://www.winthropsociety.com/doc_charity.php">here</a> (link to the Winthrop Society).</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Portrait of John Winthrop, Massachusetts State House Art Collection.</span></i>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-81897594143699395652010-07-29T10:53:00.000-04:002010-07-29T10:53:19.497-04:00Word CloudAfter about twenty months, these are the words/topics that have appeared most frequently on this weblog:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFy9FEeHoRDu2bfHBnloh1gYHrPWg-zHde4G2yUL3kZ-QbAjAHoeXtzRPc05twOcxZaY02J1iWdKhzT6i0pXEOogRUSxj0K-B3pJLGuycnSZlwRlkCL_j0u0-VqrF21RQxsx4mYpbAFw_C/s1600/Word+Cloud+Blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFy9FEeHoRDu2bfHBnloh1gYHrPWg-zHde4G2yUL3kZ-QbAjAHoeXtzRPc05twOcxZaY02J1iWdKhzT6i0pXEOogRUSxj0K-B3pJLGuycnSZlwRlkCL_j0u0-VqrF21RQxsx4mYpbAFw_C/s320/Word+Cloud+Blog.jpg" /></a></div>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-22131278510799393612010-07-26T16:50:00.003-04:002010-07-26T17:02:36.246-04:00Mad Men, redux<div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID19516/images/MadMenBarbie_copy.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 440px; height: 321px;" src="http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID19516/images/MadMenBarbie_copy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mad Men Barbie doll collection, image from amctv.com</span></span><br /></div><br /><br />I sent out the following invitation to some guys for a "Beef, Bible & Beer" evening, which I share so that I can see if you feel the same way about <span style="font-style: italic;">Mad Men</span> and contentment. Beyond what's below, it would seem that the fourth series of the show is at that moment when the everyday features of life (particularly clothes, but behaviors, too) were still hanging onto the 1950's, but were about to give way to what is popularly conceived of as the 1960's (which is really 1968 onwards).<br /><br /><blockquote>Gents --<br /><br />It's been observed by many that the television show <span style="font-style: italic;">Mad Men</span> uses light and darkness on camera to show that life at the office is bright and exciting while life at home is dark and dreary. Many men experience this: work hard at the office and get rewarded for it at the office; work hard at the office so that home can function and be rewarding, but come home and everything is actually hard. Many a man who doesn't, or is made to feel that he doesn't, meet expectations among family or friends, drives himself more at work -- which rewards him for it and encourages him with a sense of success.<br /><br />The root of this cycle is a lack of contentment in what we've been given (in terms of relationships, abilities or even amount of time). And a lack of contentment in our circumstances leads to, initially, a "chasing after wind" as termed in Ecclesiastes, with wealth and pleasure our goals. Like the first couple seasons of <span style="font-style: italic;">Mad Men</span>. Lack of contentment leads eventually to self-destruction, or what the Apostle Paul termed "glorying in shame" in Philippians 3. Like the last season of <span style="font-style: italic;">Mad Men</span>, and where this season seems to be going. Who is Don Draper? A man who needs grace, and who needs to learn the secret of contentment. Next Sunday, we'll be looking at Philippians 4 at Christ Church. This Thursday, we can chat through the passage together in greater depth.<br /><br />Come along to Beef, Bible & Beer this Thursday...</blockquote><br />What do you think? Are there any spiritual questions arising from Mad Men beyond these? It seems like the alienation and destruction is fairly universal among the main characters. Of course, it is their deep flaws that draw us in -- I just wonder if they'd be so interesting if it wasn't for the cool clothes!<br /><br />I need to admit that I haven't watched too much of the show -- but the few episodes I've seen have pretty much shouted out: "This is life without God...this is life lived only for now!"Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-27727758181997217732010-06-26T21:49:00.003-04:002010-06-26T21:54:31.431-04:00Tube MapI found this rendition of the London Underground map by artist Barbara Kruger fascinating, with thanks to my contemporary art historian sister who noted it to me:<br /><br /><img src="file:///Users/cliffordswartz/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot.png" alt="" /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVyh7YWSQUXxLserBfETcKVmafJrhjC1Cur563pT1jquWWX8UgijFy8LaxLcddV6TtF3thWJDCWLXCLUqJ_CmmeNTh9mkPakgjURBahRlTTWq3KvHixI9aYny2EZtbCmYXXr2tEcVpHvg/s1600/Barbara_Kruger_Tube_map_cover_May_2010.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 397px; height: 798px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVyh7YWSQUXxLserBfETcKVmafJrhjC1Cur563pT1jquWWX8UgijFy8LaxLcddV6TtF3thWJDCWLXCLUqJ_CmmeNTh9mkPakgjURBahRlTTWq3KvHixI9aYny2EZtbCmYXXr2tEcVpHvg/s1600/Barbara_Kruger_Tube_map_cover_May_2010.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />As a parlor game, and out of interest, I put blank labels into the New York City subway map for guests at a recent party to fill out. Or rather, to "Manhattanize" the map with inspiration from Kruger. What sort of phrases/words do you think were included? People seemed to take care to attach certain phrases to places in New York.Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-2020332658402468992010-06-25T12:48:00.003-04:002010-06-25T12:59:00.559-04:00Manute Bol<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/06/20/alg_manute_bol.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 339px; height: 254px;" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/06/20/alg_manute_bol.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />A stimulating article appeared in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span> about the late Manute Bol's charitable work in the Sudan, and his sacrificial giving to alleviate the suffering of his people. The writer contrasts the meaning of the word "redemption" with the term's usage among sports writers. I hadn't known of Bol's activities or his faith until reading in an article that the death was announced by a friend's husband, who leads a Christian reconciliation and development <a href="http://www.sudansunrise.org/">agency</a> in the Sudan (which I encourage you to support).<br /><br />The contrast of the word redemption is below and the full article can be read <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704853404575323043046894012.html?KEYWORDS=JON+A+SHIELDS#printMode">here</a>:<br /><br /><p></p><blockquote><p>What does redemption mean in the world of professional basketball and sports more broadly? It involves making up for—or, yes, "atoning"—for a poor performance. When the Lakers beat Boston, for instance, Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times called the victory "redemption for the Celtics' 2008 Finals beating." </p><p>More often, though, sports journalists use the term to praise the individual performances of NBA superstars. Thus, the Associated Press reported that Kobe Bryant "found redemption" after he won a title in 2009 without the aid of his nemesis and former teammate Shaquille O'Neal.</p><p>Manute Bol, who died last week at the age of 47, is one player who never achieved redemption in the eyes of sports journalists. His life embodied an older, Christian conception of redemption that has been badly obscured by its current usage.</p><p>Bol, a Christian Sudanese immigrant, believed his life was a gift from God to be used in the service of others. As he put it to Sports Illustrated in 2004: "God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart so I would look back."</p><p><br /></p></blockquote><p></p><p>An <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/opinion/24kristof.html?ref=nicholasdkristof">article</a> by Nicholas Kristof in the <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span> gives further insight.<br /></p><p>Three cheers for Manute Bol, a faithful servant of peace and the Prince of Peace.<br /></p>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-38964440658660965352010-06-01T14:21:00.010-04:002010-06-03T08:34:35.370-04:00Head in the Boat<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.axisglobe.co.uk/NewSite/Newsletters/March2010/oxford_cambridge_boat_race.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 171px;" src="http://www.axisglobe.co.uk/NewSite/Newsletters/March2010/oxford_cambridge_boat_race.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I was watching the footage of the Boat Race recently, which is the epic struggle between the oarsman of Cambridge and Oxford Universities that takes place on the Thames in London each year. Something I saw in the race reminded me of Paul's words in Philippians 3.<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;" class="verse-num" id="v50003012-1">12 </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. </span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="verse-num" id="v50003013-1">13 </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, </span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="verse-num" id="v50003014-1">14 </span><span style="font-style: italic;">I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. </span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="verse-num" id="v50003015-1">15 </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. </span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="verse-num" id="v50003016-1">16 </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Only let us hold true to what we have attained. (Phil 3.12-16)</span></span><br /></blockquote><br />The course is one that I've raced in the other direction in the "Head of the River" race in London, and it is a tricky stretch of river. There is a tidal flow in the center of the river, and an umpire (always an old rowing Blue) decides where the course is, directing the crews away from each other if they clash oars. The four mile race is grueling and has twists and turns that advantage one crew for a time, but equal out in the end.<br /><br />The Oxford crew went out well and gained the lead. Having the benefit of the first long bend of the river making their course shorter, they were unable to shake Cambridge, who always stayed in touch (overlap of their boat to the other). Losing touch, as it were, makes it very hard to come back, especially as the other crew slightly steers in front of your boat, and you have the difficulty of rowing in their wake. While already biased towards Cambridge over The Other Place, I would note that the Light Blues showed great heart in hanging onto Oxford around that long bend in Oxford's favor. This was a heroic effort.<br /><br />One other thing I noticed on reviewing the video -- the discipline of the Cambridge crew when behind versus that of the Oxford crew when they fell behind. Now, these men are champions and show extraordinary discipline -- just to make it to the Blue Boat for their university is an amazing achievement. Which makes the looking out of the boat by at least one (maybe more) of the Oxford crew the more surprising. When racing, you keep your eyes in the boat. Always. Always. You trust the cox and keep your head and eyes pinned on the guy in front of you. To look out means you cannot be pulling as hard as you might, and you disrupt the rhythm of the boat. Furthermore, the guy behind you sees you look out and is tempted to look out himself.<br /><br />With two minutes to go in the race (at 16:32 in the race, or 16:46 on the BBC video), it's possible to see an Oxford rower looking over at Cambridge. I didn't note any Cambridge heads out of the boat throughout the race. <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/rowing/8572343.stm</span><br /><br />When I think of Philippians, the image Paul uses is athletic, and that of running. For the rower, the dynamic of the image is similar and different. As in running, looking aside to one's surroundings is full of peril. Unlike running, the rower does not see his goal, but trusts the voice of the coxswain and has an awareness of what he has already gone through as an encouragement to press on (in London, the Hammersmith Bridge is an example). So in some ways, the rower is more like the experience of the Christian, who has the voice of God (in the Bible) but does not have God in physical view. Such analogies always have weaknesses, but the point to the Christian from Philippians through the lens of the Boat Race is...trust the words of the one leading you to the finish, row the race with diligence with a focus on pressing on rather than on the adversities...and maybe throw in something there for good measure about seeing what you've gone through as an encouragement to yet press on.<br /><br />Or something like that.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.shropshirestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/SD3451428@Rowing-2010-Xch.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 186px; height: 123px;" src="http://www.shropshirestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/SD3451428@Rowing-2010-Xch.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">The Cambridge stroke, Fred Gill, did an amazing job leading his crew. Huge amount of heart in that race. They crossed the line at a very disciplined forty one strokes per minute.<br /><br />p.s., there are probably some shots of me with my head out of the boat somewhere...<br /></span>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-68491522283222075172010-04-21T11:43:00.005-04:002010-04-21T15:46:11.589-04:00Existentialism and Film Music<div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/media/galleries/philosophy/modern_late/Sartre2-In%201945.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 241px; height: 400px;" src="http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/media/galleries/philosophy/modern_late/Sartre2-In%201945.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >Jean-Paul Sartre, 1945</span><br /></div>A friend recently made a film and wrote for permission for use of some popular music to score the film. This reminded me of another filmmaker friend who employed the opposite process. He made a short film and passed it along to a musician, who composed music to fit the film. It turned out to be something of a reverse music video, that is, the music expresses the film short rather than the other way around.<br /><br />You can see that reverse music video, entitled "Smile Around the Face" <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY4VbtaoKW0">here</a>, and I pay tribute to Dan Wilde for his creativity.<br /><br />As it happens, Dan and I both studied philosophy and theology at Cambridge, and rowed. During outings, an occasional philosophical issue might arise that would prove stimulating for our conversation (and a bit boring to other guys in the boat). As I think about the "what came first" issue in film and music, my mind goes to existentialism, and here's why:<br /><br />Jean Paul Sartre gave an example of typical philosophical outlooks: a manufacturer has an idea of a product, and then creates that product. Suppose he thinks about making a new paper cutter. The essence of the paper cutter is in his mind, then he brings it into existence by making it. This is a way of describing how God conceived of creation and brought it into existence. Essence precedes existence. Sartre denied this as true to reality, and said instead that human beings begin with existence, and then subsequently determine their essence.<br /><br />The standpoint of his existentialism began with a hopeful seed, of radical human freedom. Sartre believed we were determine ourselves and our essential reality through our choices. Having come of age in the midst of his nation's occupation in WW2, perhaps we can sympathize with the freedom Sartre describes, at a time when actual freedom was thin on the ground. He had a crisis of choice in whether he should leave French North Africa, which would harm his mother, or remain, which would harm his sense of duty to fight with the Free French.<br /><br />A Christian knows that optimism for humanity is based strongly on pessimism about our capabilities to choose freely. We are enslaved to our desires and only become free by means of the transforming power of the grace of God, to whom we render grateful service. An optimistic view of human nature leads to a pessimistic view of life, which I think afflicted Sartre. He did not decry morality, but purpose in life was ultimately absurd since we all die. The cruel joke on humanity is awareness of our existence in the face of the certainty of death.<br /><br />I must hasten to note two things: one, Sartre is said to have privately come to Christian faith just prior to his death (tragically and absurdly, dying in a car accident but found with a train ticket for the same journey in his pocket), but he made no public renunciation<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00655/news-graphics-2007-_655263a.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 151px; height: 112px;" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/00655/news-graphics-2007-_655263a.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> of his atheism so it is not possible to say. Second, not all existentialist philosophies are atheistic. Kierkegaard is called an early existentialist and there are other modern philosophers who call themselves Christians and existentialist. But for my money, no hope for an eternal future but awareness of death means sitting in a Parisian cafe in a black turtleneck and beret, while chain smoking and suffering through life is pretty much the right reaction if existence precedes essence.Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-64500317680919177792010-04-16T09:39:00.004-04:002010-04-16T10:08:37.504-04:00ResurrectionIt may be that I am a contrarian by nature. At Easter time, I have noticed more and more spiritualizing of the Resurrection, with preachers and writers noting that "merely" giving the reasonable historical account of the resurrection doesn't matter to people anymore. In the <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times</span>, an important journalist writing on Easter Sunday and building off the work of an Oxford don, danced around the notion of whether the Resurrection was historical or metaphorical. <br /><br />But the fact remains, whether by preacher, journalist or professor, the resurrection is drifting to meaning over fact. The post modern punter demands this, and the consumer is king. I had a teenager say to me, "well if Jesus did rise from the dead, so what?". He meant, what does it mean for me.<br /><br />In part, I want to confront the me centered universe with what is asked for, and the Bible does so: the Resurrection preaching and teaching in the New Testament is that Jesus rose according to God's plan, for the forgiveness of sins to be proclaimed to the world. Easter not only confirms the Cross of Good Friday as accepted by God, but also marks Jesus out as God's appointed judge of the world.<br /><br />But still, the response in a narcissistic era comes: "Yes, that's all very nice about Jesus, but please start talking about me again."<br /><br />And so my contrarian tendency is to take the emphasis of the Gospels on the Resurrection, which is to say it happened. And then to line up with Paul who said it happened, and if it didn't, then Christianity and indeed life is pretty useless.<br /><br />So I was a joyful preacher beginning my sermon on Easter with this paragraph:<br /><blockquote>Jesus Christ is Risen. He is Risen and is physically alive today in his resurrected body. Having defeated death, he cannot die. If we are Christians, or as the Bible says, if we are in Christ, we share his resurrection life today, tomorrow and for eternity.</blockquote><br /><br />In response to that, and also to teaching 1 Corinthians 15 in our Wall Street Ministry this Eastertide, two guys sent me this poem by John Updike<span style="font-size:85%;"> (thanks, Sam and Greg)</span>. I don't know if Updike has a precise insight into the nature of a resurrected body, but he sure gets the physicality and historicity of the resurrection right!<br /><blockquote><br />Make no mistake: if He rose at all<br />it was as His body;<br />if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules<br />reknit, the amino acids rekindle,<br />the Church will fall.<br /><br />It was not as the flowers,<br />each soft Spring recurrent;<br />it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled<br />eyes of the eleven apostles;<br />it was as His flesh: ours.<br /><br />The same hinged thumbs and toes,<br />the same valved heart<br />that–pierced–died, withered, paused, and then<br />regathered out of enduring Might<br />new strength to enclose.<br /><br />Let us not mock God with metaphor,<br />analogy, sidestepping, transcendence;<br />making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the<br />faded credulity of earlier ages:<br />let us walk through the door.<br /><br />The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,<br />not a stone in a story,<br />but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow<br />grinding of time will eclipse for each of us<br />the wide light of day.<br /><br />And if we will have an angel at the tomb,<br />make it a real angel,<br />weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,<br />opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen<br />spun on a definite loom.<br /><br />Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,<br />for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,<br />lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are<br />embarrassed by the miracle,<br />and crushed by remonstrance.<br /></blockquote><br />—John Updike, “Seven Stanzas At Easter,” 1964Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-55322915172463284022010-04-06T10:15:00.004-04:002010-04-06T10:38:14.237-04:00A Mighty One Has FallenThe Rev Mark Ashton died this past Saturday, firm in the resurrection hope of Easter and with assurance in the Cross of Christ from Good Friday. I did not know Mark well, but wish to pay tribute to a man who had an influence on me through his preaching, steady witness and vitality as a Christian man and minister of the Gospel. Mark ministered for many years at the Round Church in Cambridge, which grew and moved to the larger building of St Andrew the Great (then planted another congregation back to the Round Church!).<br /><br />Mark was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago, and did his dying well. He was firm in faith, longing for heaven but not unaware of how his death affected others (in his family and his congregation).<br /><br />He wrote in his church's magazine:<br /><blockquote><p>I have realised what a very great privilege it is to know that I do not have much longer to live (unless the doctors are completely wrong!). We, all of us, have an invisible sell-by date stamped on us, and I guess we would all live slightly different lives if we knew what that date was. I am convinced that I am fortunate to know that I need to get myself ready for departure.</p> <p>I think there are three things that means for me particularly: (1) I need to fight sin more fiercely; (2) I need to tell others about Jesus more clearly; (3) I need to look to Jesus more and more with every new day.</p> <p>Knowing that it will not be all that long before I am removed forever from the presence of sin means that I should tolerate it less and less in my life now. It has no place in the presence of God and I need to prepare myself for that.</p></blockquote><br /><br />In an update on his health in March, Mark wrote the following (which, although not published like the magazine article, has had wide viewing, and so I trust is for public encouragement):<br /><br /><blockquote>There is a lovely song, which will I hope be sung at my thanksgiving service, a modern version of nineteenth century lyrics, which went like this: <br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">It is not death to die, to leave this weary road</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And join the saints who dwell on high</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Who’ve found their home with God.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">It is not death to close the eyes long dimmed by tears, </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And wait in joy before your throne delivered from our fears. </span><br /><br />But the real comfort we have in death as Christian believers is not joining the other saints in heaven above rejoicing in the presence of God but in the final vindication of His glorious purposes for us. So the glory is all His. </blockquote><br />Here is a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7Y_GJMnj_4">link</a> to Mark speaking to members of his church about dying. He has no fear, but only consolation and even excitement as he approached his death.<br /><br />Well done good and faithful servant. If you are a praying person, please do pray for Mark's widow, Fiona, and their family, as well as the people of St. Andrew the Great in Cambridge.Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-10584416574324249182010-04-01T15:51:00.005-04:002010-04-01T16:06:09.469-04:00April Fools' Day"April Fools!" -- in our household, soap covered toothbrushes, red colored "strawberry" milk at breakfast, the news that we had a new dog, a fake mustache, shower head loosenings all were greeted with this gleeful cheer of April Fools'.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I do like the creative jokes that are taken to rather extreme measures. And while News Corp may have a point that Google is thieving content from other providers (or might not), Google does seem to have a sense of humor. They ran their </span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/landing/translateforanimals/">Animal Translator</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (Beta version), which purports to help humans to understand animals by translating it into English (link </span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/landing/translateforanimals/">here</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">).</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The sober National Public Radio also gets into the act. One year they echoed the Charlton Heston anguished line in this April Fools' promo: "Support for </span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR" title="NPR" class="mw-redirect">NPR</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> comes from the </span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent" title="Soylent">Soylent</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Corporation, manufacturing protein-rich food products in a variety of colors. </span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green" title="Soylent Green">Soylent Green</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> is People."<br /></span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.resimmotoru.com/data/media/643/amc_gremlin_1974.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 304px; height: 229px;" src="http://www.resimmotoru.com/data/media/643/amc_gremlin_1974.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It was unfortunate, but prophetic, that the AMC Gremlin was launched on April 1, 1970.<br /></span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bnp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/npenguins101.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 409px; height: 215px;" src="http://bnp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/npenguins101.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But the greatest April Fools' prank, in my view, is still the BBC flying penguins (link </span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dfWzp7rYR4">here</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">).</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-240644061856477532.post-30931087341613905922010-03-03T15:47:00.007-05:002010-03-03T16:43:56.850-05:00Tommy Hilfiger & Michael Foot<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Politics/Pix/pictures/2003/07/21/Foot_Centph_DonkeyJacket_1981.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 163px; height: 225px;" src="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Politics/Pix/pictures/2003/07/21/Foot_Centph_DonkeyJacket_1981.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/91/26/TOMMY_HILFIGER.0.0.0x0.300x400.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 179px;" src="http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/91/26/TOMMY_HILFIGER.0.0.0x0.300x400.jpeg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I came across two gentlemen today. One was Tommy Hilfiger, the fashion designer, who strolled past my building. The other was Michael Foot, the leader of Britain's Labour Party in its most socialist days, who died today and is being mourned in parliamentary speeches.<br /><br />Hilfiger and Foot have nothing in common, except the former's appearance, even on a morning errand, was rather natty. The latter was, somewhat famously, somewhat rumpled or even scruffy in appearance.<br /><br />Foot's dress and sometimes his mane of hair got him into trouble in the press, particularly one one occasion when he was attending a Remembrance Sunday event to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph (veterans' memorial in London). He was accused of wearing a "donkey jacket", though he later said that the Queen Mother complimented him on his appearance. The incident became a campaign issue in the early 80's as Foot stood against Margaret Thatcher in the general election.<br /><br />In some ways, the image of his less formal attire became an icon of Labour's troubles. Foot would have none of it, and in the pre-airbrushed age when male politicians wear make-up, he stood his ground on shabbiness, that he was a common man of the people. It turned out that the People did not want someone who dressed like they did to be Prime Minister. And so Foot was given a sound thrashing by the electorate and Thatcher was elected with a strong majority. There were other issues, like the nationalization of industry and the victory in the Falklands War, too...<br /><br />Foot's passionate speeches are still studied, and his humor in parliamentary debate was famous. But in the end it was the clothes that did him in. History might have been different if Foot had been dressed by Hilfiger.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Politics/Pix/pictures/2008/08/28/borisflag.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 139px;" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Politics/Pix/pictures/2008/08/28/borisflag.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />More recently, the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, offended his Chinese counterparts in an Olympic ceremony (Beijing handing off the Olympics to London, symbolically) when Johnson did not button his suit jacket for a ceremony. It was thought to lack decorum and was perceived as disrespectful.<br /><br />Do clothes make the man in our materialist, appearance conscious, image saturated age?Clifford Swartzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07656909559762991833noreply@blogger.com1