FOR GOOD MEASURE: Volume 20, April, 1994 

by Paul F. Bosch


Eight Radio Meditations (189-196)
originally composed by ELCIC pastor Paul F. Bosch
for CFCA-FM, Kitchener, Ontario.

These meditation appear in speech-line form. 
With a little bit of editing, 
they may be rendered in paragraph form 
for use in newsletters and guides to worship.
Be sure to credit the author for his work.


189)  Sabbath blesses the whole week...19:54
190)  The dangers in choice: heresy...19:60
191)  When you grow old, you're more so...19:44
192)  "To the bath, to the word, to the meal..."  19:4
193)  Sign and signification...19:1
194)  Women and men in intimacy...19:34
195)  "Sex is dirty...save it..." 19:33
196)  "I need...can't...hurt..."  19:33




189)  
I heard a provocative comment recently
     about the Sabbath,
     the seventh day of Jewish piety,
     the day we are to honour,
     according to the Third Commandment.

The speaker said
     "The Sabbath,
     the seventh day of the week,
     blesses the previous six:
     their work and their leisure,
     their sense of stewardship and vocation."

The Sabbath,
     the speaker said,
     lasts a week; 
     it spills over both before and after:
     every Thursday and Friday is a preparation for the Sabbath;
     every Monday and Tuesday is 
     Sabbath's working out. 

It's a day, 
     for you,
     not to do, but to be.




190)  
I read an interesting critique 
     the other day
     of our North American infatuation
     with choice,
     with the freedom to choose.

The writer was reflecting on 
     some of the dangers
     of choice
     that I hadn't thought of.

Granted that choice is often wholesome
     and desirable;
     it can also be mischievous.
     
Consider the following:
     Choice erodes commitment;
     Choice takes too much time;
     Choice awakens us to our failings;
     Choice leads to inept consumption;
     Choice causes political alienation;
     Choice erodes the self;
     Choice reduces social bonding.

I'd like to hear more about all that.

Perhaps it's no accident that
     the Greek word for choice is Haeresis,
     we get our word heresy from it.




191)  
I heard a wise person 
     speak of old age
     the other day.

He said
     "When we grow older,
     we are what we always were,
     only more so."


If other people,
     that is,
     perceive unfamiliar traits in me
     as I age,
     it's probably because those traits
     were always there,
     but hidden to me,
     or somehow repressed.

That's a sobering thought:
     As I grow older,
     I'll continue to be myself,
     but more so.

I'll be myself,
     writ large.

I'm not sure that's altogether
     good news.

I do know it's good news
     I have a God
     and I have friends
     who continue to accept me, 
     warts and all.




192)  
A friend of mine,
     who makes a hobby of crawling around old churches,
     says he came upon an nifty inscription
     on an old church bell
     in a Danish congregation.

The church bell had this inscription:
     "To the bath,
     to the word,
     to the meal,
     I call every seeking soul"

That was nifty, 
     he thought,
     and I think it's nifty too.

The bath: that's baptism.

The word: that's preaching and reading scripture.
The meal:  that's Holy Communion.

And that old church bell
     calls every seeking soul
     to all three.

You could hardly find a better
     call to worship, eh?




193)  
I have a teacher 
     who says our worship,
     as Christians,
     is made up of equal parts of
     sign and 
     signification. 

Sign:  
     that's the sacramental action,
     the ritual gestures of our worship;
     the eating of the bread,
     the drinking of the cup in Holy Communion;
     the washing of baptism.  

And signification:
     that's the interpretive word,
     that's the word that comments on
     the action,
     interprets the sign,
     clarifies it,
     brings its meaning home to you.

And it's our job,
     it's the responsibility of every generation,
     to recover both:
     powerful sign;
     powerful signification.

We'd be poorer without both.




194)  
Someone pointed out to me
     the other day
     how men and women are different
     in what you might call intimacy.

You could picture female intimacy
     this way:
     two women 
     looking into each other's eyes.

But the picture of male intimacy
     would be 
     two men
     standing shoulder to shoulder
     looking out,
     looking ahead.

Male intimacy, 
     the speaker said,
     is more task-oriented:
     it has an agenda.

Female intimacy
     apparently doesn't have that agenda 
     -- doesn't need it, perhaps.

Women simply enjoy each other's company.

Maybe women can teach men
     something about friendship.

Hey, guys: 
     You don't need a task,
     an agenda all the time.

You can just take pleasure
     in another's company.




195)  
I heard a speaker say recently
     that our North American society
     sends out mixed messages about sex.

He said he can remember
     two messages about sex
     from his own growing up.

First, "Sex is dirty";
     second, "Save it for someone you love."

We're apparently very ambivalent 
     about sex,
     in Canada and the USA.
 
On the one hand,
     we want to affirm that sex is good.

On the other hand,
     we're frightened of sex,
     and want to surround it with taboos.

I'm not certain
     what's the humane way 
     out of that problem.

I am pretty certain 
     that our mixed messages about sex
     are not very convincing
     or very helpful.




196)  
I heard a speaker the other day
     identify what he called
     the three most difficult words
     a North American male can speak.

Here they are:
     "I need..."
     "I can't..."
     "I'm hurting..."

Apparently North American males
     find those three statements
     almost impossible to speak.

To admit, 
     as a man,
     that I need something;
     to admit, 
     as a man,
     that I can't do something;
     to admit, 
     as a man,
     that I'm hurting:
     that's too much for us to confess.

And we're less than whole,
     us men,
     we're handicapped 
     in living a full and productive life,
     as a result.

Hey, guys:
     there's your homework.