Just How much does it cost to Praise God and Worship in today’s so called modernistic society?

24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

- Matthew 6:24
I have written about the value of a human life in some previous postings and now I feel the strong need to address this particular issue.
It’s appalling to me that we place an inordinate amount of responsibility on a simple piece of paper and give it power over every aspect of our lives, even giving for the proliferation of some supposed secret word of love and hope. How can we, even as human beings, turn a blind eye to what is going on around us. In Houston, Texas, the poverty rate of the school children is 80 percent, at least that is what HISD is telling us, and all the facts and figures associated with that very large and seemingly hopeless school system. The teachers teach a test in order to propagate some funding metric from the state, instead of teaching reasoning and logic skills. Kids slip through the cracks, the dropout rate is 40 to 50 percent, and there is no incentive to learn….anything at all, just pass a test, and that will give you everything you need in life.
Well, coming from an educators standpoint, it’s not necessarily the teachers complete responsibility to guide each and every student to the trough of knowledge and wisdom, that responsibility lays in the laps of the parents and families of the children also, perhaps more than the teachers themselves. There is a very old adage, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink!” Well, for me, I would drink, but I’m not a horse, I don’t think I am at least, but then, I had the want to know feeling about who and what I am and how I can impact myself and the world around me. There is a wonderful experience in my life, studying with a great mentor, perhaps an icon of artistry and intellect, Mr. Robert Marcellus. In many peoples eyes and in mine, was one of the greatest and most prolific of the performing artists of the day. As I ended a rather exhausting lesson experience with him (as a point of reference, the second one I had with him), he, in his unobtrusive way made the statement “Jere, There is nothing I can teach you, you already know all there is to know. If you ever want to learn from me, let me know, I’ll be glad to share with you my knowledge and teach you my ways of doing things.”
I believe I will leave this topic here for now for further exploration, perhaps when someone wants to ask about the outcome, or perhaps share from their lofty perches that they place themselves and others on.

The Valueless Life?

I keep reading, with utter dismay, of all the conflicts in the world that seem to drive up the price of essential commodities that promote human life.

In Russia and the Ukraine, people are freezing to death, and there is a fight. In the Middle East, there are wars on top of wars that seem to regulate the price of Oil.

Around the world, people are freezing, unable to afford the very thing that could prevent that, meanwhile the price of Oil keeps going up so the Oil Barons can get richer. To what end do these riches yield? "What value does a man have, if he gains all the possessions in the world and loses his soul? Praise the Dollar as God Himself!"

I question the bailouts in the US, for bailing out the ones that spend money foolishly and care nothing about the common man, I question the Oil Barons, who speculate on the price of a necessary commodity in this day and time, as if they were shooting craps at the casino. Guess what folks, there is an eventual crap out, where the house takes all the table stakes and your left with just a little bit in reserve, perhaps to speculate some more a push for more wealth, no matter what the personal cost is.

In Houston, Texas, as a disabled vet on limited income, the energy companies here don't hesitate in the heat of summer or the dead of winter to cut the necessities of life for not paying the entire extravagant bills they send. There is no heart and soul in these actions, only dollar signs, and human life is not even worth a penny to them if it's not in their pockets.

What's happened to the world? I really don't know, and I question all humanity on this issue. What happened to the days when people actually cared about other people, and would belly up and provide for each other, no matter what the cost. Have we become that selfish and self centered as a society? How about just sitting with someone, perhaps that person on the street, laughing with them, giving them your smile…..it doesn't cost you a penny, but it does take about 5 seconds of your precious time. Sounds pretty cheap to me, except….time is the most precious commodity we have to give each other. To bad, in this hectic world, we take that for granted and spend the time we have chasing the almighty dollar that sharing God's Love with each other.

Who knows, in an ideal society, there would be no hunger, no greediness, no lack of self worth, no suffering, no loneliness……perhaps we would be one people, together, with full lives and no worries about today.

"But of these, three remain faith, hope and love…but…the greatest of these is Love!"

Thank You God, for the precious gift of time (love) You give to me….I pray I give enough time and love back to You through human compassion and kindness……

Today’s Sordid Judgementalness

Today, I am praying for guidance in a seemingly tempestuous world, a world that is consumed with credentializing every aspect of life, proving or not proving what is and what is not.

Do we really have the right to judge others by our personal criteria? What are the metrics of success we expect everyone around us to adhere to? Perhaps we should drop our perceptions of what we expect of others and learn to look at people as individuals with gifts, talents and skills that have been developed differently than our personal ones and learn to accept the person as a unique individual and not depend on some mundane paper trail of life.

Do our preconceived perceptions and societal norms rule our decision making process? Can we actually look at someone without these preconceived quantifiers and actually see the person? Are we interested more in social/societal value or in the human/spiritual traits standing right in front of us…questions of life to ponder on a regular basis?

I challenge you to a task, take a dollar bill out of your pocket, loot at it, admire it, look at the picture of the President and pay appropriate homage to that picture. Now, recognizing the power of the piece of paper you hold in your hand, very gently and with reverence, tear it into pieces, feel the feelings as you tear up and icon of wealth and security. Let it put itself back together, stand there and watch it struggle to become whole again. I’ll wait patiently. Eventually, you will pick up that dollar bill and try to tape it back together, and make it acceptable in everyone’s mind, but it’s still just a piece of paper that holds some astronomical power and control in our lives.

Without human hands and minds that piece of paper doesn’t exist or cannot exist, it is something created by man, with this piece of paper you are holding in your hand is created by man, the gift and the blessing is the person standing there in front of you that wrote this and shared it with you, by whatever means possible and probable.

As we prepare to walk through these days we have on this earth, it’s my prayer for us to look at people just as they are and not expect anything else. The blessing is the human contact we share, one to another, where every aspect of a person’s reality and life is shown. “The proof is in the pudding, not the pudding in the proof!”

Sacred or Secular?

I am in the process of preparing for some solo recitals and possibly getting back into the seasonal soiree's so encompassing for performing artists. What a relentless conundrum of exhaustive practicing and meticulous technical work!
In the course of this re-development of the musical arts, I am in a quandry as to what actually denotes sacred and secular music/performances and actions. Posting to the internet I have asked for input on these concepts and a bit of the discussion (with annotations in the proper places) seems appropriate at this time.
Let's take the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, K. 622 for Clarinet in A. The second movement is considered a movement full of melancholy and very intense emotions when performed a certain way. Is that what Mozart intended for this movement? Perhaps, looking at it from a different aspect, it can be interpreted as a movement showing love and adoration of a spiritual nature for expression on the concert stage around the world, or in a church service for meditation, prayer and thought about the Love of God and how it is shared.
Of course, there is the cadenza in the middle of the piece, where it is left up to the performer to give their own interpretation, unaccompanied, of the thematic materials of the piece or the freedom to interject various aspects of the spirit of the day in which it is performed.
I am considering, for a sharing experience in the sacred service of life at church the following, for the cadenza, a Pete Fountain, jazzy rendition of "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" or some some other soulful and fulfilling interjection of spirtual faith and love.
A bit out of character with the Concerto itself? Perhaps not, who's to know, so I ask the question of anyone out there, "What Would Mozart Do?"