The First Sunday after Easter

Growing up Presbyterian, your Humble Blogger knew that God did not view missing Sunday services as a Sin, mortal or otherwise. We did attend, religiously you might conclude, because our Pastor, Dr. Lawrence, gave one Hell of a Sermon weekly. Additionally, the Youth Group had more pretty girls attending than good looking guys, so I liked those odds. I still remember returning home the last weekend of November 1963, and hearing late in the day that Lee Harvey Oswald's fatal shooting had been seen live on TV that very morning. My reaction then was that indeed God did protect the faithful, as I imagined that seeing someone murdered on TV would be an emotionally disturbing trauma.

Little did I anticipate the trauma of watching thousands of Americans murdered on live TV September 11, 2001, a psychological scar for which last weekend's observances did little to sooth, and in some senses, made fresh yet again. Now, don't mistake me, experiencing again those searing emotions of loss, anger and jeopardy for family and nation, while deeply painful, was necessary in my judgment. We as a nation in 2011 again have become too self centered, possibly too complacent, as well. George Bush can look back with some satisfaction that America proper did not get hit again during his tenure, but he was totally wrong in calling upon us to "start shopping again", as the most patriotic contribution to the war effort everyday Americans could take after 911.

My clarion call, then as now, is for all Americans to become actively involved in supporting the troops, their families and in opposing the efforts of the radical jihadists to subvert our western civilization's freedoms. On the forefront of this war this week will be the Palestinian's demand for statehood recognition by the United Nations. This assault on Israel's existence is just another murderous turn in the "Arab Spring" triumph of fundamentalism over co-existence with the west. As Dr. Lawrence showed me in the early 1960's, always leave your congregation wanting more, so I'll have to return to the existential threat posed by a Palestinian State to a future blog. Cheers.