Traveling in Place

Relating to the Wilderness

On Monday, I took advantage of an empty calendar and good weather by driving up into the Adirondacks.  It’s still too early for the dazzling show of fall colors, but muted yellows, oranges, and reds are already in abundance.  I spent several hours in Hamilton County around Long Lake.  Owing to above-average rainfall, Buttermilk Falls are roaring thunderously.  I climbed over rocks above and below the falls and ventured out onto a tiny island that affords a view of their full breadth.  (They may be widest in the whole park.)  I also climbed up Owls Head Mountain, which looks across Long Lake toward the high peaks to the Northeast and Blue Mountain to the South.   The Owls Head trail is in good shape.  Hamilton County escaped the destruction wrought earlier in the month by tropical storm Irene.

On the 3.1-mile trail to the Owls Head summit, I pondered an interesting debate that is brewing among Adirondack hikers.  At issue are two dams, one of which was badly damaged by the Irene floods, the other of which was completely washed out.  Marcy Dam was naturally formed by melting glaciers, but for decades has been maintained by the Department of Environmental Conservation.  Duck Hole Pond Dam was constructed in 1912 by the Santa Clara Lumber Company.  Both of them have pooled water into still, picturesque ponds that reflect the surrounding peaks.  These spots have attracted scores of wilderness enthusiasts.

What My Faith Tells Me About the Death Penalty

I probably should have posted something about this earlier, but the injustice of it was so self-evident that I honestly didn’t think I could bring any clarity or new insight.

I’m speaking about the Wednesday night execution of Troy Davis in Georgia.  He was convicted of killing a police offer in 1989 on the strength of eyewitness testimonies from nine individuals.  Seven of the nine have since recanted their testimony.  Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable, especially when people of one race are identifying people of another.   Nevertheless, a federal judge ruled a year ago that the flipped testimony of those seven eyewitnesses only cast “minimal doubt” on Davis’ conviction.  Is this not a total reversal of our justice system?  You’re innocent until proven guilty unless you’re on death row, in which case you’re guilty until proven innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt?  Really?

Pleas for a stay of execution poured in from all over the country and as far away as the Vatican, but to no avail.  Davis was pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m., within seconds of pleading his innocence one last time.  The only good that can possibly come from this atrocious miscarriage of justice is a heightened public awareness of the need for absolute certainty (perhaps through DNA evidence) of guilt before we allow the state to end a person’s life.

Still Hoping for Peace

Since my sojourn in the Holy Land three years ago, I have maintained a keen interest in the peace process (and frequent lack thereof) between Israelis and Palestinians.  The latest chapter in this agonizing saga is that the Palestinian Authority has petitioned the United Nations for recognition of a Palestinian state.  Israel and the United States strongly oppose this move, arguing that the only path toward peace is a negotiated settlement, not one imposed by an international body.  But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas protests that negotiations have been on and off for 20 years and have yielded no progress.  He probably speaks for most Palestinians and most European leaders when he says the time for negotiation has passed.  Palestine will never be anything other than an occupied territory whose citizens are denied basic civil rights unless the international community steps in and demands an end to the occupation.

Abbas’ application for U.N. membership has put the U.S. in diplomatic check.  If we allow the application to go forward, we are abandoning a 63-year-old commitment to the security of Israel, when that security is perhaps as fragile as at any time since its founding.  The democratic uprising now known as the “Arab Spring” has destabilized the whole region and isolated Israel.  On the other hand, the U.S. cannot justify vetoing Abbas’ application after it has supported democracy in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, and Syria.  If democracy is good enough for other Arab countries, why not for the Palestinians as well?   The U.S. is in check, but still trying to avoid checkmate.

Confronting Reality in Worship

The latest U.S. poverty statistics are abysmal.  As of 2010, 15.1% of us lived below the poverty line, up from 14.3% in 2009 and the highest level since 1993.  The poverty rate for children under 18 is up to 22%.  For blacks and Hispanics, it is 27%.  Median household income continues to erode.  It is now $49,445, down for the third year in a row, and 7.1% below its peak in 1999.  The number of Americans who have no health insurance, just under 50 million, is the highest ever.

None of these numbers is surprising.  Unemployment remains stubbornly high and jobless claims are increasing.  Meanwhile, the federal government dithers in largely irrelevant political games.  Americans are sick and tired of the political paralysis in Washington.  My sense is that outside of the President’s political base, people have simply quit listening to him.  They generally like him, and they do not blame him for the economic mess we’re in, but many of the people who voted for Obama have decided he doesn’t know how or doesn’t have the political skills to fix the problem.  On the other hand, Congress’ approval rating has plummeted to around 12%.  The principal reason for this disdain is that the legislative branch is so ideologically polarized as to be incapable of getting anything done.  Furthermore, nobody in the field of Republican primary candidates looks like a national leader.  They seem to be competing for the title of most angry, most provocative, or most extreme.  Their rhetoric may stir up their political base, but does nothing to inspire hope in the political mainstream.  Our economic crisis is therefore exacerbated by a crisis of leadership.

Still Grieving 9/11

Ten years ago, on the Sunday after 9/11, I preached about disillusionment.  The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington suddenly and cruelly stripped us of the illusion of invulnerability, and we were faced with stark and horrifying evidence of the dangerous world we had always lived in.  I said that dis-illusionment often leads to fear and anger – two responses that would be strong temptations for our nation but which we as people of faith must avoid.  The better response, the one commanded by Jesus, would be to stand firm in our faith and witness that the only true source of strength and security is God, who is indestructible.

The decade since then has not been a good one for America – and I am not referring only to the high price of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where we have sacrificed twice as many American lives (and left deep scars on thousands more) as were lost on that one day of terror.  Putting aside the debates for and against the wars and how they have been prosecuted, we should all be deeply concerned about the tenor of our national debate; the tone of our national conversation; the state of our national character.  In the days immediately following 9/11, Americans expressed a determination to emerge from that tragedy stronger and more united.  Today, we are in fact weaker and more divided.  Our economy is fragile.  Partisanship is meaner.  Political rhetoric is more vitriolic.  Religious bigotry is on the rise and confidence in the future is falling. 

The Privilege of Living in God's Creation

It’s raining hard – again.  This time Tropical Storm Lee is moving at a torturously slow pace up the Eastern seaboard, bringing unwelcome downpours to places that are cleaning up from the massive flooding of Irene a week ago.

Water is necessary to life.  Two-thirds of our body mass is water.  It cleanses, refreshes, and renews.  We Christians baptize with water.  But like all good things that bring life, water is a powerful force of nature that can do great damage.  The ability of water to find the slightest crack in a foundation and flood a basement is not only annoying – it’s also impressive.  The power of water to alter the natural landscape by pushing back a shoreline, redirecting the route of a river or stream, crumbling bridges and roadways, and washing away buildings, reminds us how small we are in comparison with nature.

The Empty Nest

Our nest is empty.

On Thursday, we moved our youngest son Nathaniel into Elmira College, a school that drips with tradition.  The opening convocation included a “beanie ceremony” (who else does that anymore?), when all the freshmen came forward, introduced themselves to the crowd, and received a beanie to be worn throughout their four-day orientation.  They all sang the school’s Alma Mater, led by the orientation leaders.  The convocation ended with “the Elmira Hug,” when parents and their children embrace one final time and say goodbye.  This lasted only about a minute before the freshmen were directed to assemble behind the college president, who lifted the class banner and led them all in procession across campus into their orientation activities.

Our hugs with Nathaniel were tight and tearful.  We let go so he could leave, following the very clear instructions being given by the Director of Student Affairs over the loudspeaker.  Martha and I mournfully began our trek to the car.  We stopped when we heard music and turned around to see the parade of young men and women – some looking confident, some nervous, others slightly bewildered – making their way into a crowd of cheering upperclassmen across the street on the north side of the campus.  We decided to look for Nathaniel one last time.  He

Coping with Irene's Destruction in the Adirondacks

Irene was “only” a tropical storm by the time she roared into the Adirondack Mountains, but the devastation there and in New England is like nothing any current resident of those parts has ever witnessed. 

After I read about the destruction in the town of Keene, where I often go for my hiking adventures, I called my friend Anne, whose family has lived there for 200 years.  Her house, built in 1853, sits on high ground, so she’s still at home.  I asked her if she was stranded there.  “Actually, I can get out with some difficulty,” she said.  She lives at the end of an unpaved road at the foot of Baxter Mountain.  The bridge on that road held in the storm, even though the road on both sides of it washed away.  But family members have already backfilled it, so she can get to town. 

The stories from this storm will be told for decades, I’m sure.  Half the fire hall is gone.  People are finding Fire Department supplies scattered all over the area, and are bringing them back.  The local hardware store inventory was ruined by two feet of water.  A barn across the street is totally destroyed.  Eight large trailers parked at a popular camping ground have disappeared.  No one has yet found any sign of them.  The campground owner doubts he will try to re-open because there’s just too much damage.   One of Anne’s neighbors lost 16 cords of wood, washed away by the Ausable River, which has inundated roads in every direction. 

Roaring Brook, which runs into the Ausable near Route 73, not only flooded, but also redirected its path, demolishing the highway in the process.  Anne says this road may not be repairable, since the underpinnings go down over 50 feet, where the Brook now flows with great force.  That means the route from the South, one of the most beautiful drives in America, may be permanently removed.  Because the waters remain high and rapid, road underpinnings continue to deteriorate, bridges are still collapsing, and commerce has come to a standstill.  All the hiking trails are closed.  Some of them are literally inaccessible because there is no open road to the trailheads.  This includes some of the most popular trails in the Adirondacks.

The power of Irene was impressive.  But even more impressive to Anne is that not one single resident, not one horse, one dog or any other domestic animal, was killed.  “God’s hand was somehow in that,” she said.  The local church sustained no damage, and so Sunday’s worship, she anticipates, will be a time of tremendous praise and thanksgiving.  “We can replace stuff,” she said.  “We can’t replace people.”

Copyright 2011 by J. Mark Lawson