The Veep

The Veep
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

Have you heard the one about the mother who had two sons? One went to sea; the other became Vice President of the United States of America.

Neither was heard from again.

A storyteller of great repute, Alben Barkley was especially fond of telling that story. What's that? Who's Alben Barkley? Funny you should ask . . .

You've probably heard people in the media refer to the Vice President of the U.S. as "The Veep." There's even a TV show by that name. What you may not know is that Alben Barkley was the first Vice President of the United States to be called "The Veep" (suggested by his grandson while he was in office; it became a hit with the press and started its journey into enduring use)

There is some AMAZING stuff on Google about The Veep. He was a very interesting guy, politically speaking: District Attorney, Judge, House of Representatives, Senate (Majority Leader for 10 years during the FDR Presidency), and Veep. He was Truman's Vice President. It has been argued that Truman could not have won---SHOULD not have won---without Barkley on the ticket. And pretty much everyone knows how the Chicago Trib messed THAT one up.

At 71 on Inauguration Day, he was the oldest Vice President to hold the office. He was the last of the old time Vice Presidents to regularly preside over the Senate, one of the few Vice Presidents to regularly meet with the President's Cabinet, and the very first Vice President to become a member of the National Security Council. It was whispered that Truman could not have governed without him; and it may have been Truman who started that rumor!

The reason I have an interest in The Veep is that his home, when not in Washington, DC, was my hometown: Paducah, Kentucky. I grew up surrounded by all things Barkley; his name and visage were all about. There is, of course, a statue; but there’s also a street, highway, dam, and lake among other things. And, as you might expect, there are things about Alben Barkley that we Paducans just knew, but which are not common knowledge, even on Google.

There IS a lot of information about him on the Internet. But buried in all that information---buried pretty deep; I really had to look for it---is one thing NOT very well known about Alben Barkley: he was a man of faith, a longtime member of his church, and a great fan of reading the Bible. The Veep was also a prolific speaker, well regarded for his warmth and sincerity. He made so many speeches during the Truman Presidential campaign, the press dubbed him "Iron Man." And because he was a man of faith and well versed in the Bible, he was fond of quoting and paraphrasing scripture.

In 1952 when in the usual course of things he would have run for President, big labor let it be known that they could not support him because of his age; they wanted a candidate they could depend on to serve a full eight years; something that, at 74, they did not believe he could do. And so Barkley "retired" in 1952 . . . to host a national TV show on NBC ("Meet the Veep"), to write his memoirs, and, of course, to make many, many speeches!

But after a while he got bored with so little to occupy his time; so he ran for office in 1954; and, at 76 years of age, became the Junior Senator from Kentucky. Things were a little different from his "glory days" of being one of the most powerful people in the nation. On April 30, 1956, while speaking at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, Barkley was asked about this.

In response, Barkley, who was 78 at the time, reminded the audience, “I was a junior congressman, then I became a senior congressman, and then I went to the Senate and became a junior senator, then I became a senior senator, and then Majority Leader of the Senate, and then Vice President of the United States, and now I’m back again as a junior senator. I am willing to be a junior. I’m glad to sit on the back row, for I would rather be a servant in the house of the Lord, than to sit in the seats of the mighty.”

It seems fitting that this paraphrase of Psalm 84 should be among Alben Barkley’s last words. Immediately after speaking them, he collapsed from a heart attack and, shortly, passed away.


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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt

Proper 16 (21) (August 26, 2012)
1 Kings 8: (1,6,10-11), 22-30, 41-43
Psalm 84
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
Psalm 34:15-22
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:56-69

If you want to hear the end of Barkley’s last speech, access this URL on the Internet:
http://www.who2.com/blog/2010/05/one-minute-of-historical-audio-alben-w-barkley

Lord willing, I will be at Lex Break this Friday! So happy to be able to attend for a change :-) If you can join us, find us at a horseshoe-shaped table at Cafe Cappuccino (downtown Waco, on 6th near the Courthouse) at 8:00 for some scripture, discussion, and eats.

See you there?
Steve

Not Quite What I Was Planning

Not Quite What I Was Planning
(a Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

I've been rereading "Not Quite What I Was Planning," that wonderful little book of six-word memoirs edited and published by Smith Magazine. These short summaries range from the ridiculous ("I was a Michael Jackson impersonator.") to the sublime ("Learning disability, MIT. Never give up."), from the humorous ("Catholic girl. Jersey. It's all true.") to the heart-breaking (Hemingway's famous six-word story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."), and just about every thought in between.

This little tome is packed with such bon mots as comedian Tracey Morgan's self-descriptive phrase ("At the end of normal street" ) and Janelle Brown's confession ("My second grade teacher was right."). There is bathos ("We were our own Springer episode.") and there is pathos ("I still make coffee for two."). There are commentaries on life ("It's like forever, only much shorter.") and on its absurdities ("Time to start over again, again.").

It is one of those little books that, every few months, just seems to call to me; and I find I can't resist taking another dip. I always find one I missed (or, at this age, may just have forgotten), and I always come away from the experience somehow bettered, happier with my life as it is.

After reading this week's Lectionary passages, I wondered if we might wish for some of those phrases as personal memoirs; something like: "Sowed in tears, reaped with joy" or "Gave a garland instead of ashes." Perhaps "Came to testify to the light" or "Gives thanks in all circumstances; still." Or consider "Filled the hungry with good things" or "My spirit rejoices; God my savior."

"What would you write," he asked?

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Third Sunday of Advent (December 11, 2011)
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126 or Luke 1:46b-55
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28

As usual, if you are in Waco on Friday morning, you are invited to join us at Cafe Cappuccino (downtown, near the Courthouse, on 6th) at 8:00 for breakfast and some fun with scriptures ;-)

Blink

"Blink" (a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

I found myself chuckling while reading John Chapter 9, one of this week's Lectionary passages.

Now, if you did what I think you did, you jumped out and read the passage ... and are no doubt wondering if I have lost my mind. How could it be, you might be pondering, that I would think a story about a blind man is humorous? What could possibly be funny about a man who was born blind? A story about a man who, now an adult, has spent his entire life in actual darkness; how is that funny? What's so humorous about a man who was ostracized all of those years because it was commonly believed people with disabilities had brought the situation upon themselves? You're right. There is nothing funny about any of that.

What IS funny to me is how everyone ELSE acts after Jesus restores the man's sight (Jesus rubs mud in his eyes and sends him off to wash in Siloam's fountain). And the reason I find it funny is this: Several decades ago, I married into a family that includes several people with visual challenges. Over the years they have been gracious enough to teach me this key lesson: blind people are just like everyone else; they just also have a visual challenge to deal with. I know blind people who would, upon reading this story in John Chapter 9, be chuckling and shaking their heads; identifying with their fellow "blink". They would readily recognize the words and actions of the sighted people in this story as similar treatment to which they have been subjected.

When blind people socialize, it is common to share stories about the stupid things sighted people do and say upon encountering people who are visually challenged. For example: asking if the blind person knows sign language. The only reason a blind person would need to know sign language is if they were also deaf (like Helen Keller). Among the more vexing is a person who acts as if the blind person cannot speak for himself, and/or, similarly, referencing them in the third person as if they were not actually present.

I was lucky to be present on some occasions when Uncle JQ (a wonderful man who was both blind and a hilarious raconteur) told this tale of a cross-country airplane trip. The stewardess (they weren't called "flight attendant" until later) came by to take orders for alcoholic beverages. JQ was in the center seat. After taking orders of the two men seated to either side of him, she asked the man sitting on JQ's left, someone JQ did not know and had never even spoken with, if JQ would like some juice. To which JQ replied (and he would already be cackling with joy at this point as he related the tale to us), "No, I would NOT like a juice. *I* would like a scotch on the rocks!"

Something like that is happening in verses 8-33. The people are talking about the formerly blind man as if he is not present. They are debating whether THIS man is the same man who used to sit out here and beg. Back and forth, back and forth. And the entire time, the man keeps saying, "I am the man!" But no one is listening.

After the local folk finally decide to hear him, they switch to interrogating him about the process of his miracle. Isn't that just like people? Standing before them is a miracle; and instead of rejoicing that the man's sight has been restored, they want to pick the thing to pieces. Finally, after squeezing all the details out of him, they ask him to point them to where Jesus is. In other words, "If you're so special that someone restored your sight, point him out!" The scripture records the man replying, "I don't know." But you can bet he was thinking something like, "Hello-o! Blind guy! How could I tell you where he is? *I* didn't see him!"

Later, when the Pharisees are grilling him about the miracle (and not believing what they are hearing), they turn to his parents(!) for confirmation, as if he were a child. Imagine being these parents and having to say, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age.(!) He will speak for himself."

The final chuckle, which has everything to do with lack of vision and nothing to do with lack of sight, comes when the former blind man says, astonished, "You (the religious leaders of Israel) do not know where he (Jesus) comes from, and yet he opened my eyes!" Blind people have learned through experience that sighted people will often say and do some pretty asinine things to and around blind people. They've also learned that, sometimes, you just gotta laugh about it.

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This week's passages are all about vision, light and dark, seeing correctly. I especially liked Ist Samuel 6:7 and Ephesians 5:8-10.

READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fourth Sunday in Lent (April 3, 2011)
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Psalm 23
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 9:1-41