HELLO LUXEMBOURG

The other day I discovered this blog site tracks where all the visitors to my blog come from. In the last week 74 views came from the US. What country was number 2? Luxembourg. I thought this was a fluke so I checked to see how many view there have been since the beginning. 979 from US, 77 from the Netherlands and 59 from Luxembourg. This doesn’t make any sense to me. What do I write that is of such great interest to people in the Netherlands and Luxembourg. I mean they are very nice countries and very nice people, but still. I’m not sure if it is a bunch of people from those countries who are reading my blog, or just one person in each country who reads a lot of my blogs.  

It’s even stranger when I notice that I had two page views each last week from Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Estonia, Slovenia, and Slovakia. These must be accidents, people looking for something and my blog just happens to appear on a Google search. For example, if you search for Wade Eichelberger, my blog comes up #2.

Back to Luxembourg. It sounds like a very nice place to live. I see from Wikipedia that Luxembourg has the highest gross domestic product per capita of any country in Eruope. I like that it is the only country with a Grand Duke as its head. I like its motto: "Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn." "We want to remain what we are," which I’d express: “Leave us alone.” Makes sense for a country that has constantly had to contend with the French, Germans, Belgians and Dutch. Yes, I could make that my motto: Bug Off!

From what I can tell, the national language, Luxembourgish, seems to be a lot like Dutch so I supposed an English-speaker could learn to read it or understand it.  Just looking at the Grand Ducal Anthem De Wilhelmus, I see a few lines that I can understand.

Zwee Kinnékskanner, déi trei sech léif,
koumen ausenaaner, wäit an déif.
Zwee Kinnékskanner, déi trei sech léif,
hu gebaangt, op d'Gléck nach bléie géif.
Haut weisen si der ganzer Welt
an engem Feld
d'Goldlilie mat dem roude Krouneléif.
Haut steet ëm si voll Freed, Hand an Hand,
d'Vollék vun dem Lëtzebuerger Land.

Hand in hand, the folk of the Luxembourger Land.

I’ve listened to a recording of the anthem, and it is very stirring. They also have a national anthem, Ons Heemecht. In investigating the anthem, I discovered that there was an earlier anthem sung to the tune of “To Anacreon in Heaven.”  Are you familiar with that? You should be. It’s the tune we use for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”  They were much wiser than we in replacing it. (I’ve never understood why the United States can’t have an American tune for it’s anthem. How about, “This land is your land, this land is my land?”)

Now a funny coincidence is that the area of Chicago where I grew up once had a large Luxembourger community. They were primarily truck framers. They must have disappeared or blended in with the Germans as the area became urbanized.

Another coincidence. I was just reading an article about some sister of the Mount Benedict Monastery in Ogden Utah moving to  Saint Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota.Intermountain Catholic It seems one of the sisters is now the director of faith formation at St. Wendelin’s Church, in Luxemburg. That caught my attention. I had no idea there was a town of Luxemburg in Minnesota. Turns out that there are also towns of that name in Wisconsin and Iowa. Shows you those industrious Luxembourgers got around in the Midwest.  The only puzzle I have is how they let their church be named for St. Wendelin. He seems to be an obscure Scottish saint who was once a shepherd and who later founded the Benedictine Abbey of Tholey.  Very mysterious.

Speaking of which, if you are one of the mysterious Luxembourgers who happened upon my site, add a comment so I know who you are and how you found me. I appreciate your patronage.

May the Lord bless you on your journey, wherever it takes you, and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne




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I'M CONFUSED

“The European American Lutheran Association (EALA) will hold its first biennial meeting Oct. 28-30 at the Wyndham Milwaukee Hotel and Conference Center, Milwaukee. The EALA is the newest and one of six ethnic associations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).” 

In a denomination that is about 95% European American, I can’t help but wonder about the need for an association for European Americans Lutherans. Why would they need to have a separate group when most Lutheran Churches are full of European Americans?  I understand the value of the other ethnic associations: African American Lutheran Association, American Indian and Alaska Native Lutheran Association, Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage, Association of Asian and Pacific Islanders, and the Latino Lutheran Association. I am puzzled about the European American association.

The purpose of the group seems rather different from the other ethnic associations. The article I’ve quoted from continues: “‘The purpose of the EALA is to dismantle racism, white privilege and white power by recognizing and confessing our individual and corporate sin and addressing institutional racism in the church,’” said Kathy B. Long, EALA president, Redmond, Wash.” Dismantling racism is a noble goal, but when that includes “addressing institutional racism in the church,” I am forced to wonder why that isn’t a goal of the whole church. Maybe it is, but why then do we need a special association to do that, especially when it is a group that identifies itself as separate from all the other ethnic associations which probably includes most of the groups who have suffered from racism.
                       
Maybe the explanation to all of this is about “confessing our individual and corporate sin.” I don’t think that refers the general confession we use most Sundays. It refers to the specific sin of racism. Confession of racism is a good thing. The problem is that it can be difficult for people to see that they are guilty of racism. There are a lot of people who are prejudiced, but lack the power to act on that prejudice in a way that could be considered racist. They don’t employ people, they don’t rent property, they don’t run public accommodations, etc. The power issue is important to look at. The way to combat racism is to keep an eye on misuse of power. It can be very, very difficult to change attitudes.  Focusing on racism’s use of power can bring about real change. Look at what was accomplished by the U.S. Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts.

Ah, but there is something else to confess, “white privilege.”  My pea-brain has more trouble understanding this one. I don’t deny that many, many “white people” have advantages that others do not have. I also think it is important for us European Americans to see where we have had these advantages simply because of our ethnicity. I want to be careful, however, in equating these advantages with sin that ought to be confessed. There is a complexity that needs to be considered.
   
The essential problem I have with “white privilege” is  the assumption that some people are getting advantages they do not deserve. What I see is rather that some people are being deprived of rights or opportunities or freedoms that they should have. That is racism. That is the sin.

Allow an example. I have talked with several African Americans who tell of going to schools where they always received old, used text books. Years later they discovered that students in white schools received new text books and it was their used books that were being passed on. That is plainly the result of racist school policies. It was wrong, wrong, wrong. But what about the white students who received the new books. Did they do anything wrong by receiving them? No. They should acknowledge that an injustice was done toward the African-American students, but those white students had no power to control that situation.  And I ask the question, was the injustice that some students received a privilege they did not deserve, or was the injustice that some students were denied what they had a right to expect? And what would have been a just remedy–taking away the white students' new books or making sure all students had new books?

I also have to bring up again the issue of class. How much of apparent privilege is due to class differences rather than race? When I was growing up in Chicago, there was no question that a person had more opportunities if they went to one of the suburban high schools like Maine Township East (where Hillary Rodham Clinton attended) than at a city school.  There was a lot more money for schools in the suburbs. On the other hand my grandmother would have been surprised to be told how privileged she was as a European American since her family was so poor she was taken from school while in fifth-grade and sent to work as a servant.

I am concerned that making people feel guilty about privilege substitutes for the needed work of fixing problems. How do we overcome the racism that still holds so many back? How do we fix problems that keep the poor in poverty? What do we do for kids in families where the parents are drug addicts?  What happens to kids at 18 who age out of the foster care system and have no adults to guide them? What do we do for the 1,700 homeless kids who live in my county? Some of these problems involve race, and some cut across racial lines.

I’d like to see a lot less shoveling on guilt and a lot more solving problems. If someone would like to send me a check equivalent to the money spent on 60 people attending the EALA meeting at the Wyndham Milwaukee Hotel ($293 X 60= $17,580) I’d be glad to send it on to Food4Kids. Around 700 European American, African American, Latino, Native American, Arab, and Asian children could have something to eat every weekend this month. 

May the Lord bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne









14611

WARNING! POLITICAL RANT

People are disgusted with politics as usual. I’m one of them. Here’s my latest rant. This week Peter Diamond was one of the winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics. That’s quite an accomplishment. His work led the other two winner to investigate and explain why employers and employees sometimes have difficulty connecting. Seems to me that’s an important piece of work right now with high levels of unemployment.  

Dr. Diamond has been nominated by the President as a Governor on the Federal Reserve Board. At his hearing he explained: “In all my central research areas, I have thought about and written about the risks in the economy and how markets and government can combine to make the economy function better for individuals.” That sounds like the sort of knowledge we ought to have at high levels in the government. Oh yes, Paul Bernanke, the present head of the Federal Reserve was one of Dr. Diamond’s students.  

The nomination still has not been voted on in the Senate because Senator Shelby put a “hold” on it. Here’s the explanation of a hold that I found.  "hold - An informal practice by which a Senator informs his or her floor leader that he or she does not wish a particular bill or other measure to reach the floor for consideration. The Majority Leader need not follow the Senator's wishes, but is on notice that the opposing Senator may filibuster any motion to proceed to consider the measure."  HOLD

So a hold is a threat to filibuster an action. And with that threat, one Senator can block any nominee. Earlier this year senator Shelby blocked 70 nominations.

I don’t know if Peter Diamond is a good candidate for the Federal Reserve. The Senate Banking Committee approved him by a vote of 16-7 back in July. So why can’t the Senate just vote yes or no on him? Why can one person tie up the work of the government like this? I heard that there are 200 nominees for various offices that are on “hold.”  

I hate this political maneuvering that uses parliamentary tricks to prevent things from getting done. What is so bad about honest, out in the open votes yea or nay? I have the same reaction to these “ear marks” that get slipped into bills without going through proper hearings and waste millions of dollars on dumb stuff.

And I am also tired of the dingbat candidates for office who are talking about cutting a billion from prisons and a billion from schools, but refuse to say exactly how that is going to work. Whose going to guard the prisoners? Whose going to teach the kids? Maybe the prisoners are going to teach the kids. That would teach those prisoners to commit crimes. Stop talking in election slogans and give me some solid proposals that add up properly.

STOP PLAYING POLITICS AND GET THINGS DONE FOR THE SAKE OF THE PEOPLE, ALL THE PEOPLE, NOT JUST THE FEW ON TOP!!!!!!

Sorry. Got carried away. Election Season gets me worked up.

In all seasons, may the Lord bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne


14535

GETTING ON AND ON AND ON

I’m back. We’ll I haven’t been gone, just busy with many things. With September the church program gets under full swing and there are all the little details with the new building that’s going up.

I did have the opportunity to hear Dr. David Yeago of LTSS speak a few weeks ago. Among other topics, he talked about virtue which some of my readers might recall is an interest of mine. I won’t try to summarize what he said. Actually I can’t because I am getting a little slower digesting these heady theological matters. I’ve finally crossed that line where all the great theologians are younger than me.

As a matter of fact most people seem to be younger than me. I was ushering at the theater a few weeks ago and one of the youngsters in the orchestra notice my Golden Troupers shirt. I had to explain, “This is for old farts like me who can’t remember lines, so the only acting they let us do is while reading from a script . . . far away from the theater where hopefully no one will associate us with the real actors who perform here. (By the way, some of the actors on stage that night should consider joining us Golden Troupers since they couldn’t remember their lines either and most of them are a LOT younger than me. But as I say, most people are younger than I am.)

Still on the subject of the Troupers, we were rehearsing a skit for this week’s performance. One of the actors is performing the role of the crazy old professor. The director asked him to wear a white wig because he doesn’t look old enough. Wait a, minute, I thought. They never make me wear a wig to look older when I play that part. And I’m younger than everybody else.

Sigh. It’s been like that lately. A few weeks ago I got the senior discount at the pizza parlor without even asking. Then I got the free invitations to a luncheon where they sell you hearing aids.

The final insult came when my sister emailed me to ask about the pictures I had posted online with the ground breaking for the new building. She wrote: “Who was the pastor guy. Why didn't you do it?” I thought she had confused the acolyte with another pastor, and explained who he was. Turns out she didn’t mean the acolyte. She was looking at the picture of me and didn’t recognize me. “I thought it was some other old guy,” she wrote.

No, wait, that wasn’t the final insult. I just opened my mail. I got an invitation from someplace to a free dinner about protecting my estate from losses and probate. I also have another one I am not going to open from the Neptune Society.  It says on the envelope, “Free Pre-Paid Cremation. Details inside.”

I’m not dead yet! I’m feeling much better!!! Except for this tendinitis in my heel. And the arthritis in my knees, hips and shoulders. Now if I could just remember where my glasses are I might be able to find that bottle of Tylenol. Or is they Tidy-Bowl I’m looking for? Or maybe it was my bowling ball. No, I just remembered. I’ve never owned a bowling ball. So maybe that round black thing over there is a cannon ball. Or a black cantaloupe. No, I haven’t bought a cantaloupe since last summer. Of course if that is the cantaloupe I bought last summer, it would be black by now.

Has anyone seen my what-a-ma-call-it? You, know, the thingamajig that you put the whosis into. Oh, forget it. I found the Port left over from Christmas. A little of that and some aged cheddar cheese and   . . .  


May the Lord bless you on your journey and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne






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