Notes from my Knapsack 10-29-20

Notes from my Knapsack 10-29-20

Jeff Gill

Nothing is over until we say it's over

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It is entirely possible that by the time you read this, the winning vote has been cast. 

Over 25% of the total anticipated ballots had been cast by two weeks before Election Day (which is still 6:30 am to 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 3rd), so it's anyone's guess how many will have been cast before the polling places open. 40%? Half? Even more than half?

But even if you read this after November the whatever, we may not know. Various states limit how much of those early totals can be added up beforehand, and once we see the envelopes ripped open and scans processed and everything else sorted out, I still recall 2000 all too well, with "Bush v. Gore" lumbering through the courts into December, and Dan Abrams running down the steps of the Supreme Court (kids, reporters didn't read press releases off their phones in that far off year). The point being: we've been here before.

As Senator John Blutarski said (in college, years before his distinguished career in public service), "Nothing is over until we decide it is!" While I don't always agree with him, in this case I have to concede the point. There's no date, no event, no election even, that means life changes in the US or Ohio or Our Fayre Village. We move on when we, ourselves, decide it's time to move on. If we want to keep wrangling over an election for a while, we will; when the body politic gets tired of politics, even the loudest national pundits can't keep us going back to that brackish well.

In no way am I saying there's no difference between candidates or platforms, but I would say in the presidential election I can't really point to where there's been much of a substantive discussion (let's not say debate) over actual practical outcomes. Lots of stuff about character and tone and personal example, which is all important, but so very little touching on policy or pragmatic issues. 

What we do tend to see is a flurry of actual governmental action in the first (sigh) eighteen months of a new president in office. Yes, a year and a half of actual governance and crafting of useful initiatives with real outcomes, and then two years of dog paddling then a year of running for re-election. Honestly, I have this vague sense that even re-elected presidents don't do much of substance in their second term, so whether four or eight years, you only get their actual heart and soul in the arena for that first year and a half.

Sure, appointing judges and other executive branch matters have weight, but in general it's reacting to events and running for office, with very little practical leadership. Do I sound jaded? Then I sound jaded. Or perhaps its just that my expectations are low so I have room to be surprised. With low expectations you're never disappointed.

What I do want to persist with is caring. I want our elected officials to challenge us, and inspire us, and lead us. I look forward to caring less about the electoral battles, and more about insisting and empowering our elected leadership to lead, and not just run again as soon as this one's settled. The election will be over, and the engagement with leadership will begin, when we as citizens say it is time. Past time, even.

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's already voted, so that's done. Tell him what you'd like to hear from our leaders at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.

Faith Works 10-24-20

Faith Works 10-24-20

Jeff Gill

TEOTWAWKI isn't what you think
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My, my, my.

So many people making apocalyptic pronouncements about current events. Talk about the end of the world if this or that happens. Well.

There's a phrase, more than an acronym, really, that goes TEOTWAWKI, or "the end of the world as we know it." The last part being key, I think: "as we know it."

And the truth is the world as we know it changes all the time.

With all due respect to REM, who made a song about it in 1987, or those who have more recent associations with TEOTWAWKI whether a natural disaster or personal turmoil, I think the deeper problem is that we don't face honestly the ends of the world that come at us all the time, so we are open to manipulation when someone tries to put a political campaign or social movement in front of us as "the end of the world."

Cancer is the end of the world as one knows it. Jeff Bridges, Rush Limbaugh have both recently shared their changed perspectives and situations due to the presence of cancer in their lives. 

Less mortal ailments can end the world as we've known it. I've written here about adjusting to the permanence of my spasmodic dysphonia as a new world I'm living in. A speech disability, or the loss of mobility even just in one joint or limb, and people have to make changes, many are needed to make accommodations, as the world of movement and opportunity change.

Even just the seasons changing, which happens four times in each year from summer to fall, autumn to winter, and so on . . . we get out different clothes, new household implements (ice scrapers, snow brushes for the car, shovels for the drive), and even the view from certain windows change. Days get shorter, and we have to move around more in the dark, as the world we knew during the summer changes.

Don't get me wrong, I know elections have consequences. The person in the Oval Office does have an impact on our lives, sometimes long after they've left office. It can be a pretty big change from one president to the next. I'll have seen a round dozen in my lifetime, some who looked different when in office than they do now to me in retrospect. Some left due to term limits, others to defeat, one resigned. Each change was trumpeted as a major shift, and I'm not sure any of their departures really meant half as much as I was told at the time.

Meanwhile, in due consideration of the end of the world as we know it, I'd suggest that it's coming, it's real, and in many cases we can do something about it. We can give blood if we're able, because without a pint available people die. That's the end of the world for them, isn't it? Or we can learn CPR: I've had three occasions to use those lessons in my life, and I know I'm very fortunate that two of the three lived. In reality, CPR success isn't 66%, and even in my situation, I've watched as the professionals took over, and told me later "he never had a chance." That felt like the end of the world.

Now that I'm not doing pastoral care seven days a week, I find myself thinking about pastoral care, and praying for those who are providing that kind of caring support. A parish minister most often is having to respond to three things: death, loss, and change. We preach about good news, and the Gospel, and new life, and hope eternal, but in the moment, we are helping people dealing in the here and now with death, loss, and change. 

Often, the challenge for people facing change is to realize it's not death, and the loss may be less than it seems just now. And loss can be hard, but it helps to put our earthly losses in the context of death. Death, though, that's the great mystery, the high barrier, the veil through which none return.

I preach, even in my more limited fashion now, the Good News of Someone who ducked back through that veil to let us all know it's going to be okay on the other side. Beyond the end is a new beginning, and ending the world as we know it now, that's actually a pretty good thing. Which helps to put any immediate TEOTWAWKIs into their proper place.

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's happy to leave apocalypticism in the Book of Revelation where it belongs. Tell him about your endings and new beginnings at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.