We were all younger then (Blog Cross-post)

We were all younger then

BY LEONARD PITTS JR.

LPITTS@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Once upon a time, on a snow-filled day when we were young, we saw a man give a speech from a podium in front of the Capitol building. Do you remember?

He had just taken the oath of office to become our president and now he faced us for the first time in that role. And he had hair, remember that? A thick helmet of brown hair. You noted it because we had learned to think of presidents as having gray hair, or none at all.

But here was this new president, this John F. Kennedy, and he had dark hair and a beautiful wife and two little kids. It was 1961 -- Jan. 20, 1961, in fact, half a century ago this week. It was the space age, the transistor age, the rock 'n' roll age; we had outlasted the troubles of the '30s, defeated the great menace of the '40s, escaped the grim, gray '50s and now, here we were, fresh and energized, embarking on this new era, ready to take on the world.

So it just felt right, just seemed to fit, on a snowy day when we were so young, to have a brand new president who was so young, too.

Have you ever noticed how nobody remembers what a president says on his first day on the job? He delivers this big speech that is supposed to lay out the themes for the four years to follow, but it is rare that the speech proves memorable.

Does anyone recall what Obama said? Or Clinton? Or Coolidge, Hayes, Grant, Jackson or Pierce?

Yes, we remember what Franklin Roosevelt said: ``We have nothing to fear but fear itself.''

And we remember what Abraham Lincoln said:``With malice toward none, with charity for all . . .''

As it turned out, we would remember, too, what John F. Kennedy said on that snowy day when we were young.

``The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century . . .''

``We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe . . .''

And, most famously: ``Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country.''

Sounds odd 50 years on, doesn't it? We have grown used to presidents extolling the things we can have. Here was a president imploring us to give.

It had a bracing effect upon us, for it gave voice to an invigorating ideal: that we were more than just flotsam in the current of human events, more than just impotent witnesses to the triumphs and tragedies of our day, that we had an obligation to our nation, and that in meeting it, we could change the world. It drove us into military service, it drove us into public service, it drove us into the Peace Corps, to live and work in the undeveloped world. Suddenly, the air was charged with the understanding that we could do.

And maybe that last sentence sounds incomplete to you. But see, the lesson wasn't about what we could do, or how we could do, but that we could do, that transformation lived within our hands.

We were so young on that snow-filled day.

This was before we learned that Kennedy was fooling around with Marilyn and anyone else in a skirt. It was before we knew he was debilitated by bad health. It was before the riot in Watts, before the plumbers burgled that DNC office in the Watergate complex, before a helicopter plucked our people from a rooftop in Saigon, before we were held hostage at an embassy in Tehran, before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It was before the Ambassador Hotel, the Lorraine Motel. It was before Dallas.

More to the point, it was before we learned to lower our expectations and wear cynicism like armor into an often disappointing world. We have come a great distance from that snow-filled day half a century ago. We are young sometimes, still.

But we have never managed to be quite that young again.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/19/2022544/we-were-all-younger-then.html#ixzz1BbNGtaJh

Daily Deliberation and Prayer - 01/20/2011

What is It That We Ask of the Lord?

1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; 5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?" 9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. 11 She made this vow: "O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head." 12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, "How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine." 15 But Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time." 17Then Eli answered, "Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him." 18And she said, "Let your servant find favor in your sight." Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer. 19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, "I have asked him of the Lord."

1 Samuel 1:20

This lectionary segment from today’s reading is a long one, and is filled with so much that a distinguished orator could expound on its truths for quite some time. Since I do not consider myself an especially “distinguished” preacher, I’m just going to touch on one of the themes that could be drawn out from this sacred text. Well, okay, actually two important points will be addressed, which are both so intertwined that one does not subsist without the other (at least as I see it in this passage). And these two elements both are exhibited in the person of Hannah: unwavering faith and persistence before her God.

The personal faith and belief of Hannah is certainly demonstrated in this narrative handed down to us. This complete devotion and trust which she has in her God didn’t, however, provide her with any kind of exemption from the emotions and feelings she struggled with in regards to her great need. She so desperately desired, like most wives then, and today, to be the vessel that would nurture new life; new life that in itself would bring forth future generations. But try as she may, that blessing seemed to elude her throughout all the rapidly fleeting years. She surely consulted with whomever she felt she could in her family – maybe her mother, an older sister. She may have even discussed her quandary with a village Wiseman (or better yet, Wiser-women). But try as she may, motherhood seemed always to evade her.

But, she always believed, with all her heart, that anything was possible with, and by, the God of her ancestors (who, if we remember the story, suffered the same fate as Hannah, generations earlier). And so Hannah prayed, despite the emotional ups and downs with each passing hope of conceiving. Hannah reached out to God with every ounce of faith she had, to deliver her from her inability to become “heavy with child”, and to allow her to deliver forth that life which she longed to nurture in her own womb. The narrative makes clear that despite the long years of waiting; despite the many sacrifices, and the annual pilgrimages to worship at the Temple; despite the endless nights of crying herself to sleep, Hannah never stopped praying for the relief she sought.

And that is the second important lesson to draw from today’s scripture reading. Even the strongest of personal faith requires a persistence before God. Hannah prayed unceasingly, and always prayed the same concern. Repeatedly – without fail – day after day, and year after year, her prayer was for the intense inner desire to mother a child. Nothing stopped Hannah – not the provocation from others in her family, because of her condition – not even her own depression could keep her from her appointed times of pray, or from again crying out to God with her need.

• Faith: in the One who can do all things, even blessing with a miracle, against all odds.
• Persistence: never failing to keep acting upon that faith and belief, held so dear to the heart and spirit.

The two must be unequivocally linked in our journey with our God. Unwavering faith in the face of all that would turn us otherwise. And, a persistent demanding of the wholeness that this divine relationship represents. God expected a lot from Hannah, as a child of Israel, and Hannah unrelentingly expected a lot from God, as they intimately journeyed together towards the Kingdom, which awaits even us.

Almighty God: I declare your almightiness from the depths of my faith, which knows that all things – anything – is possible through you. Hear my persistent prayers – my daily obstinacy in seeking fullness of life with you, and the blessings of wholeness in my life, and in the lives of countless others for whom I pray. Hear my prayer this day – and everyday. Again.

Amen.

Rev. Michael Kirchhoff

Sargent Shriver: Another Giant Has Fallen (Blog Cross-Post)

(Cross-Posted from Sojourners)

Sargent Shriver: Another Giant Has Fallen

by George Mitrovich 01-19-2011

Sargent Shriver was one of the most attractive, dynamic, and accomplished men of his time. When President John F. Kennedy chose Mr. Shriver to create the Peace Corps in 1961, it was a brilliant choice. That Mr. Shriver was the husband of the president’s sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, didn’t hurt, but Sargent Shriver was his own person — and then some.

Fifty-years later it’s impossible to capture the excitement brought by the Kennedy administration to American public life, but it was huge and it was real and it captured an entire generation of young men and women, who, coming of age during the seemingly lifeless years of Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency, were ready for something that engaged their interests and excited their imaginations, and the young president did that — so too did Sargent Shriver.

In the most memorable inaugural address ever given, President Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”  It was a challenge no president before or since had put before the American people, and the Peace Corps became a means of answering that call to service — and thousands did.

It was everything good about America — an embodiment of our ideals, the promise inherent in our beginnings as a nation come to life — and the dynamic of Sargent Shriver’s dazzling persona was the perfect fit.

Mr. Shriver spent five years leading the Peace Corps, and while other able public servants would follow, no one would ever again equal his stature. Sargent Shriver as the Peace Corps’ first director gives lie to the spurious claim that “no one is indispensable.” Yes they are — and Sargent Shriver was.

He would follow his unforgettable run as head of the Peace Corps by becoming, at President Lyndon Johnson’s behest, leader of the war on poverty in the new Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO).

Patricia Sullivan and Emma Brown, writing in the Washington Post, said of Mr. Shriver’s leadership, “The OEO developed and implemented signature anti-poverty programs that still exist. Among them are Head Start, which aims to prepare poor children for kindergarten; Volunteers in Service to America, the domestic Peace Corps; and Job Corps, a youth job-training program.”

In the context of our time, when programs to help the disadvantaged and poor are being slashed from the White House and Capitol Hill to state houses and city halls across America, read Ms. Sullivan and Ms. Brown’s paragraph again.

Sargent Shriver would continue his extraordinary service to the United States by then becoming our ambassador to France — and no envoy to America’s oldest ally since Benjamin Franklin would excite the French people as much as Sargent Shriver did — and Eunice being a Kennedy made it all the more exciting.

When South Dakota senator George McGovern chose Missouri senator Thomas Eagleton as his vice-presidential running mate in 1972, no one foresaw the political disaster that would soon follow, as senator Eagleton was forced off the ticket. In the rush to find a replacement and minimize a damning political situation, two names quickly surfaced – Maine’s Edmund Muskie and Sargent Shriver. In the end, Mr. McGovern would select Mr. Shriver –- who once again accepted his party’s call to serve.

That didn’t end well, for either of the two Democratic candidates, as Richard Nixon was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term. Neither, however, did it end well for America, as Mr. Nixon would be forced from office in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.

Scott Stossel, Mr. Shriver’s biographer, in an interview with the Washington Post, said, “It’s hard to find another American figure where the disproportion between how much he accomplished and how little he is known is so large. For 12 years, Sarge was always at the center stage, or just off center stage, of American history.”

It’s not easy to marry a Kennedy and hold on to your own identity, but Sargent Shriver did.

Sargent Shriver and Eunice’s marriage would form a powerful alliance in behalf of the poor and would help the world see the physically challenged in a new prism of pristine and transforming light. Without Mrs. Shriver’s energy and her husband’s unwavering commitment there might never have been a Special Olympics.

In his passing at age 95, Robert Sargent Shriver of Maryland , and Eunice Kennedy Shriver of Massachusetts, leave a remarkable legacy. Not simply in their accomplishments and service to men and women the wide world over, but in their gifted children, who, like father and mother, continue the family’s commitment to public life, of reaching out to the least among us and giving them hope.

Their daughter, Maria Shriver, was most recently the first lady of California. Her brother Bobby is mayor of Santa Monica, her brother Tim heads Special Olympics, and Mark Shriver, who served eight years in the Maryland House of Delegates, now leads Save the Children.

In his first speech as candidate for vice-president, Sargent Shriver closed his remarks in the most memorable of ways, by quoting the great French Jesuit, Teilhard de Chardin:

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity,
we shall harness for God all the energies of love, and then,
for a second time in the history of the world, man will have
discovered fire.

Now, Sargent Shriver is gone — and another giant has fallen.

George Mitrovich, a San Diego civic leader, played a key role in George McGovern’s choice of Sargent Shriver as his vice-presidential running mate.