The Personal Website of Richard H. Gross, MTS

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Two monks lived together in the desert for most of 40 years. Every day, they would work together and pray together. For four decades they had grown in faith and holiness, tending to each other’s needs and living in peace and harmony.

One day one of the monks said to the other that in all their years together, they had never really experienced the ultimate test of friendship.

“What do you mean?” asked the second monk.

“We have never had a fight,” the first monk said, “so we have never had to forgive each other.”

“You know, you’re right,” said the second monk. “But what can we do about it?”

“I think we need to have a fight,” the first monk said.

“Well, how can we do that?” asked the second monk.

“Look. Here’s a rock,” said the first monk. “I’ll say the rock is mine. You say the rock is yours. We can fight over the rock, and then we can forgive each other.”

“Okay,” said the second monk. “I suppose that will work. Go ahead – you start it off.”

The first monk stretched himself up to his full height, put his hands on his hips, and loudly declared: “This is MY rock.”

The second monk looked him right in the eyes and said, “well, if it’s your rock, go ahead and take it.”

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit; he who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. – Romans 14:7-19

Upon encountering this reading today in Morning Prayer, I could not help but reflect upon Paul’s statement and its implication for social justice and how it makes so clear that actively working for social justice is not only proper to the service of God, but is in fact necessary if we are to consider ourselves to be a friend of God.

That Paul discusses a kingdom at all makes clear that he has in mind a society. A society is made up of people, and a kingdom is a society ruled by a king – in this case, God Himself, the one King fit to bear the title. Therefore, since Paul is speaking of God’s Kingdom and is speaking of it not in terms of the Kingdom of Heaven – the Kingdom that is to come – but of God’s Kingdom before us here on earth – the Kingdom in which we live today – it is clear that Paul is writing of a society. He does not have in mind our heavenly reward but is in fact speaking of attitudes and actions that we are to adopt today.

God’s kingdom is “righteousness and peace and joy,” Paul tells us. Certainly, righteousness, peace and joy are all central to the mission of social justice. In fact, without righteousness there can be no justice. Without peace there can be no justice. In a state of justice, all can attain the joy that advances both peace and righteousness. Thus when we say that the Kingdom of God here on earth is righteousness and peace and joy, we are talking in terms of social justice and should do so with the understanding that if we are not actively working for social justice then we are working against the Kingdom of God.

To feed the hungry is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to the starving. To give water to the thirsty is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to the parched. To clothe the naked is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to the freezing. To shelter the harborless is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to the homeless. To visit the sick is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to the dying. To ransom the captive is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to the slave. To bury the dead is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to those who mourn.

To instruct the ignorant is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to those who are in darkness. To counsel the doubtful is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to those who are in despair. To admonish sinners is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to those who are redeemed. To comfort the afflicted is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to those who are suffering. To bear wrongs patiently is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to ourselves and advances the cause of peace and righteousness. To forgive wrongs willingly is a work of peace and righteousness; it brings joy to ourselves and advances the cause of peace and righteousness.

To pray for the living and the dead is a work of peace and righteousness; it reminds us of our dependence on each other, but most of all on God, from whom all blessings flow. It puts us in the presence of God, without Whom there can be no real or lasting joy.

Paul instructs that these things we should do in the Holy Spirit – we should do them because we are called to do them. There is no greater reason than this. Further, in doing these things and in all tasks that are at the service of social justice, we are acting in a way that serves Christ and is acceptable to God.

Let us then pursue what leads to peace and mutual upbuilding. Let us work for social justice.

For me, the stages of hunger are:

1. I could eat.
2. I need to eat.
3. Taco Bell sounds GOOD.
4. Stay away. I’m grumpy.

Of course, at any given time I’ve got a pretty good idea of where my next meal is coming from and I know how I am going to pay for it. Not all of God’s children are that fortunate.

In America in the best of time, there are almost 40 million people in this country who are undernourished.  That number only rises when times get harder and unemployment grows. More people in the unemployment lines – people who want to work but simply cannot find employment – means more people come to rely on government assistance programs, charity and other such means to put food on the table.

Add to this group of Americans who are unemployed or underemployed those individuals who through no fault of their own simply cannot work and the total number of potential American victims of this hunger epidemic is staggering. The entire population of the state of Missouri is only one-eighth the size of the population of America living in a state of hunger.

Food stamps are not enough. It is a widely-known fact that many of the poorest Americans make food purchasing decisions that are not the healthiest when using food stamps. However, the reason for this is not as widely know. It is not a matter of ignorance so much as it is a matter of desperation. If you have only two dollars to spend on food, the simple fact is that you can buy more calories worth of cookies for two bucks than you can get calories in carrots for the same amount.

The Society of St. Andrew provides more than 60 million servings of fresh fruits and vegetables to America’s hungry every year. This fine organization distributes food to more than 2,000 agencies nationwide that get the food to those in need at no cost to the recipient. Every fresh potato, every ear of corn, every single apple delivered to a hungry American represents not one but many people answering Christ’s call to feed the hungry.

Feeding the hungry is one of the corporal works of mercy. We are all called to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy by both natural and Divine law. Nowhere is this call made more explicit than in Christ’s teaching in Matthew 25:31-46:

“When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

“Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’

“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

“Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’

“Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Find out more about the Society of St. Andrew and how you can answer the Lord’s call to feed the hungry by participating in the work of this fine organization by visiting www.endhunger.org.

I get a daily email from a very conservative Protestant group that features news releases, blog links, and – perhaps most interestingly – a daily poll. I’m not quite sure how I ended up on this email list, since I am neither Protestant nor extremely conservative, but there it is every day.

This group seems to be very oriented toward politics, and no doubt there will be more and more political polls as we move closer to November. Today’s was very interesting to me: “What party ‘affiliation’ will you find most attractive in a congressional candidate this fall?”

The results of 483 responses were as follows:

Democratic Party, 1.24%
Republican Party, 37.68%
Constitution Party, 9.11%
Tea Party, 48.65%
Other, 3.31%

As I said, their target audience is conservatives and, especially, the conservative voter. It’s interesting not because 95.44% of the respondents answered with one or another “conservative” response (even being liberal and giving all 3.31% of “other” to non-conservative options, and I think that is exactly opposite of what it should have been); this is to be expected. It interests me because they were so split among the options.

I, frankly, was not even aware there was a “Tea Party” voting option; I thought it was more of a movement than an actual political party – but what do I know? Honestly, I think this might be the first time I’ve ever even heard of the “Constitution Party.” Sure, things will change (and probably dramatically) before the election, but if the conservative vote is split one thing is certain: the Democrats will maintain their congressional majority after the coming election and Republicans will be left wondering what happened.

My prediction is this: we are about to witness the ugliest, nastiest, most hate-filled, mud-slinging campaign America has ever seen. And that’s saying something.

The painting, "Jesus and the Woman of Samaria," dates from 1619-20 — a relatively early work for the self-taught Guercino. "Jesus and the Woman of Samaria" is not well known because it has never been exhibited — it was owned for decades by a private collector in Europe and believed lost. It was known primarily through copies and an old photograph.

FORT WORTH, TX.- The Kimbell Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, has acquired the painting Christ and the Woman of Samaria, dated to 1619–20, by the Italian artist Guercino, one of the foremost painters of his time. The purchase was announced today by the Museum’s director, Eric M. Lee. The painting dates from Guercino’s early, rarest, and most desirable period, when the artist achieved acclaim for the emotional power of his compositions. Also on exhibition is Michelangelo’s first known painting, The Torment of Saint Anthony, is now on view among the permanent collection of the Kimbell Art Museum.

Jaffa Gate during conservation work.

JERUSALEM (Israel Antiquities Authority) — There isn’t a Jerusalemite who hasn’t seen this site: an enormous black cloth that in recent months has concealed one of the most important and famous gates in the Old City of Jerusalem. Now after the Israel Antiquities Authority Conservation Department has completed the rehabilitation work there, it can be unveiled and we’ll be able to see the “facelift” the gate has undergone, and its beauty, as if it was rediscovered.

The Old City walls of Jerusalem were built in the sixteenth century by Sultan Suleiman, the ruler of the Ottoman Empire (1520-1566 CE), and they are some of Jerusalem’s most important cultural heritage assets.  As part of the “Jerusalem City Walls” project, which the Israel Antiquities Authority Conservation Department has directed since April 2007, with funding from the Prime Minister’s Office and administered by the Jerusalem Development Authority and the Jerusalem Municipality, extensive measures have been taken for the purpose of conserving and rehabilitating the Old City walls – in response to the effects of destruction, neglect and weathering that the walls have suffered from over the course of time. The conservation action was preceded by careful preparations and formulating a multi-year program of documentation, planning and execution of the conservation and rehabilitation measures slated to be implemented on the walls.

During the preservation work at Jaffa Gate, extensive conservation treatment was carried out on all of the gate’s facades and its interior: stones were reinforced and hazards that endangered the safety of the visiting public were removed, the bullet damage to the gate was preserved, weathered stones and decorations were treated and the gate underwent a thorough cleaning. Among other things, the gate’s dedicatory inscription, which was in a severely deteriorated physical state and was quickly becoming detached from the structure, was completely dismantled and conserved.

Jaffa Gate was first inaugurated in 1538. It constituted part of the city walls and in fact it was only toward the end of the nineteenth century did it become a center of bustling and prosperous activity. The period culminated in the year 1898, when it was decided to breach a wide entrance in the city wall of Jerusalem (as we know it today) and thereby allow the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II and his wife, Augusta Victoria, to enter the city in their carriage. Thus, for the first time in the history of modern Jerusalem, carts could enter the Old City.

In the War of Independence the gate was the focal point of some very harsh battles. During the war Jaffa Gate was completely blocked by an armored vehicle that had been damaged in the fighting and was wedged in the opening. In the cease-fire agreements between Israel and Jordan Jaffa Gate stood at the opening to the no man’s land that stretched from Jaffa Gate to Zahal Square and the Mamilla neighborhood and separated it from Jordanian controlled Jerusalem in the east. Consequently, the blocked armored vehicle was not removed, and the gate remained closed the entire period that the city was divided. The remains of the bullets that pierced the stones of the gate are clearly visible on the upper parts of the structure.

A Liebermann painting in the crossfire of critics

"The Twelve-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple," by Max Liebermann (1847-1935)

Exhibition curator: Dr Ute Haug; academic advisor: Henrike Mund

The exhibition The Jesus Scandal at the Hamburger Kunsthalle centers on an oil painting of pivotal standing, “The Twelve-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple,” 1879. One of most important works by Max Liebermann (1847-1935), it is being highlighted to mark the 75th anniversary of the artist’s death.

When the artist showed the painting for the first time in 1879 at the Munich International Art Exhibition, it sparked a scandal. Contemporary critics took offence that the Jewish painter should dare to address the Christian theme of the “twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple”, especially as he depicted the Saviour as a “Jewish urchin” off the streets. Liebermann was admonished for having strayed too far from the traditional portrayal of the young Christ as a divine youth and of his intellectual superiority over the Jewish scholars. Yet the anti-Semitically tinged accusations failed, on the one hand, to acknowledge that Liebermann led his life as an assimilated Jew. On the other, they misjudged his artistic intention of seeking to render the scene in the most realistic way possible. The outrage this painting excited upset Liebermann so much that in the following years he overpainted the figure of Jesus.

“The Twelve-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple” is one of the few religious paintings by Liebermann, as well as one of his earliest. Today it has lost none of its relevance and fascination, and with a subject that strikes at the roots of both religions, Judaism and Christianity, remains highly controversial. This work from the collection of the Hamburger Kunsthalle still raises numerous questions concerning its origins and history and in terms of the scandal and Liebermann’s own position in the context of the religious debates and social changes in the late nineteenth century.

Alongside Liebermann’s paintings, sketches and studies, the exhibition will also show works by other artists on the same iconographic theme – a woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, various etchings by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, but also renderings of this subject by Liebermann’s contemporaries, such as the oil painting by Heinrich Hofmann or the pastel drawing by Adolph Menzel. Liebermann is known to have modelled his painting on several of these depictions and made close studies of them. The exhibition will comprise altogether 25 works of art, among them nine loans (incl. the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin; the Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf; the Stiftung Saarländischer Kulturbesitz/Saarland-Museum; Kunsthaus Zürich; Thomas LeClaire Kunsthandel, Hamburg).

In addition, documentary exhibits will shed fresh light on the history of the work and the scandal. The Hamburger Kunsthalle purchased the painting in 1911, then sold it for political reasons in 1941, and finally re-purchased in 1989 with the support of the Campe’sche Historische Kunststiftung and the Kulturstiftung der Länder.

The exhibition, which until March 2010 was previously shown at the Liebermann Villa in Berlin, albeit in a somewhat different constellation, is documented in a catalogue published by the Max-Liebermann- Veranstaltungs GmbH.

This is a story about crime, punishment, and vengeance. It is autobiographical. Maybe these are not the topics that might be expected from someone who claims to write about “theology, Christian living, and liturgical art,” but bear with me for a moment.

At the time and place where I went to junior high school, corporal punishment was still in use. It consisted of a teacher – usually the principal or a coach – hitting you with a wooden board about three feet long. You would receive one to three “licks,” depending on the severity of your crime. I received this punishment twice; once it was very much deserved and the second time it was not.

The first time, I received one “lick” for leaving the school without permission. I didn’t actually leave the school grounds; just the building itself. See, a fight broke out at lunch one day and the combatants managed to push each other out the front door of the school and into the parking lot. About 50 other students, myself among them, followed the fracas watching in the amazement that always accompanied a fight on school grounds.

The fight was broken up and the brawlers were taken off to the principal’s office; those of us who had left the cafeteria and gone into the parking lot were each given one “lick” for our infraction of the rules. I deserved that one, and in hindsight do not think it in the least unjust. I should not have left the cafeteria; I certainly should not have followed the mob; I should not have taken pleasure in watching two people brawl.

The second time I received corporal punishment in junior high school was very different; it was entirely unjust – I knew that at the time and I know it now. You see, the second time I received three “licks” because I didn’t like football.

I know that sounds far-fetched and just about impossible to believe, but that is the case. That’s not the reason the teacher gave for inflicting this punishment, of course, but the fact remains. That’s why I got it. Let me back up and introduce the cast of villains.

In addition to myself, there was a good friend of mine who received the same punishment and under the same pretext. And for the same reason. I suppose I should change the names to protect the guilty, and so we’ll call him Comrade. But for no other reason than because we were friends. There’s no deeper meaning there; there might be a deeper meaning behind what I’ve selected for the teacher’s name. There was also the teacher, though I use the term loosely. We’ll call him Coach Jackass. Because, well, that’s what people called him. Or just Jackass; that was fine, too. He was the assistant football coach and he earned his nickname by knocking one kid on his butt while demonstrating to the football team how to block. This caused one of the players (not the one recently knocked on his butt) to remark: “Wow, Coach. When you played you must have been a Jackass!” [One of the benefits of changing the names to protect the guilty is the one telling the story gets to pick the new names.]

The circumstance was this: Jackass, in addition to coaching, also had to make a pretext of teaching in order to keep his job. So they gave him Social Studies, which is where I ran into him. I did not keep secret my distaste for football, nor would I agree to play it even when repeatedly asked if I would like to “go out” for it. I was pretty good size in junior high school, which made me the kind of kid they wanted on the team. I wanted no part of it. I was perfectly happy being one of those weird, nerdy kids that the other kids don’t like very much because he prides himself on marching to the beat of a different drum machine.

I don’t know whether Comrade was ever asked to play football or not. If so, he must have given the same answer I did because he didn’t play. He didn’t seem to think much of it, either. We were quite close, then, and I’m afraid he might have been punished on this particular occasion for the high crime (and misdemeanor) of being my friend.

This social studies class, which put Jackass, Comrade and myself in the same room, took place right before lunch. Jackass would always run out of wind and desire a good five to ten minutes before class ended, so all of the students would end up watching the clock in silence for the last minutes of class, waiting for the bell to ring so we could be first to the cafeteria. The bell would ring and off we would dart.

One day, Jackass asked me again in the hallways why I wouldn’t go out for football. Having already made my lack of desire clear on more than one occasion, I gave a particularly smart-mouthed answer. I don’t remember exactly what it was; I do remember it included the phrase “bread and circuses.” The next day, class played out like always, the bell rang, everyone jumped up to run to lunch. On this day, however, Jackass called Comrade and me back.

He accused us of standing up before the bell rang. For this transgression, we were to receive three “licks.” The whole class was poised like sprinters to be off the instant the bell rang; this was the drill every day. It had been for months. How he could have possibly spotted Comrade and me jumping the gun (although I dispute that it even happened) in the midst of that chaos – chaos created by his own action, or more exactly, lack thereof – is impossible to even imagine. Nevertheless, that was the official accusation. However, had it even happened, how such a transgression could possibly have merited corporal punishment – much less the dreaded “three licks,” and without even a warning – is a question that cannot be answered.

Comrade and I received our punishment. I think we took it bravely. Though certainly I can’t speak for both of us, for myself I think that as bad as the pain of the act was, the humiliation of having it known among the student body that I had gotten the dreaded “three licks” was equal, if not worse.

It bothered me for a long time after that, as anyone who is punished unjustly or who is bullied is bothered by that fact. After a time, the memory faded, of course, and I didn’t think of it often. But from time to time I would remember it and think once again how unjust the whole act was.

I took a number of writing classes in college; in one particular short fiction class, I wrote a story, largely autobiographical in its beginning, about a boy who was punished unjustly by a teacher; who suffered pain and humiliation, and then ten years later, as a man, ran into the teacher who had wronged him. The assignment for the story was to write about bullying.

In the story, the boy – now a man – met up with the teacher by chance one day. Now fully grown and of good size, he invited the teacher to take another swing at him. He backed his former teacher into a corner. He basically humiliated the teacher, showing to all present the cowardice of the teacher. In the end, though, he turned out to have learned his lesson well in that he became a bully just as bad as the teacher.

I got an ‘A’ on the paper and life imitates art.

By chance, I ran into Jackass in the grocery store one day. I wanted so bad to take my revenge. I wanted to insult the man, and challenge him to hit me. I wanted to remind him that he got away with the first one, but he would have to pay for the next one and invite him to screw his courage to the sticking place and take that shot.

However, I said nothing. I was in the best shape of my life then. I could do a 40 mph sprint on my bicycle and could leg-press six reps at 1500 pounds. In short, I could have cracked him open like a walnut. But I said nothing, and he did not recognize me. There was no reason he should have; it hadn’t been ten years since the incident… it had been much longer than that, and I wasn’t the only one who had aged.

I wish now that I could say I didn’t call him out that day because I had forgiven him. It would be far better if I could say that; I cannot. The simple fact was that it just seemed sort of pathetic to try to pick a fight with an old man. It just didn’t seem worth it to bother holding a grudge anymore. I don’t know whether or not I ever learned to be a bully, but maybe I did at least learn to let things go.

Christ teaches that we are to forgive our enemies and to bless those who curse us. This incident brought home to me the reality of there being a time factor involved in the forgiving of our enemies. If you wait too long to forgive, you’ll find yourself robbed of any merit in forgiving them. Time is the great equalizer; there may be those who will read this today and recognize the people involved. Maybe. In a hundred years should anyone bother to read it, certainly they will not recognize the people involved. In time, all wrongs are – if not forgiven – at least forgotten.

However, the truly Christian man forgives before time erases all memory of past wrongs and robs him of the merit of the act of forgiving. The truly Christian man forgives because he cooperates with grace and allows it to work in his life instead of holding onto past wrongs until he himself is made the bully… or the jackass.

In life, we have many teachers. Some of my teachers have been excellent… some of them have been jackasses. The task of the student is not to absorb every lesson with which he is presented; the task of the student is to filter through what he is presented and decide what he shall embrace. This is what makes the students into the master, this ability to recognize true teaching from the braying of a jackass.

NEW YORK (REUTERS) – The art market plummeted with the onset of the global financial crisis but experts, fund managers, collectors and auctioneers are rallying on signs the once-hot investment is on the verge of solid recovery. Less than two years after an unusually long-lived art boom came to an end with lower prices and a decreased supply, bidders have returned to salesrooms, prices are mostly ticking up and records are being set once again.

The art market is  similar to market for gold, which has appreciated 50 percent since November 2008 and which, like art, is an unleveraged, irreplaceable real asset which investors turn to during unsteady economic times.

Strong results at February’s impressionist, modern and contemporary sales in London, where Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti’s Walking Man, I set the record for any work sold at auction with a $104.3 million price tag, seem to bear out the optimism.

In the art world, solid results boost confidence, encouraging owners of top-quality works to re-enter the market. The availability of rare or fresh-to-the-market pieces stokes bidding, which drives up prices, and a cycle is born. Conversely, when sellers hold back, mid-range, often second-rate works tend to flood the market, drawing scant interest and tepid bidding, if any. The result was the alarming drop-off in 2008 and 2009.

A remarkable collaboration between institutions in the UK, Germany, Egypt, and Russia has succeeded in reuniting virtually more than 800 pages and fragments from the world’s oldest surviving Christian bible, Codex Sinaiticus. For the first time, people around the world will be able to explore high resolution digital images of all the extant pages of the fourth-century book, which was written in Greek on parchment leaves by several scribes and had its text revised and corrected over the course of the following centuries.

To mark the online launch of the reunited Codex, the British Library staged an exhibition, From Parchment to Pixel: The Virtual reunification of Codex Sinaiticus, in the Folio Society Gallery at the Library’s St Pancras building. Visitors will be able to view a range of historic items and artifacts that tell the story of the Codex and its virtual reunification, along with spectacular interactive representations of the manuscript and a digital reconstruction of the changes to a specific page over the centuries. In addition, they will see on display in the Treasures Gallery, for the very first time, both volumes of Codex Sinaiticus held at the British Library.