March 28: "The Sunday Times," Sausages, Maunday Thursday

Billy Collins has breakfast . . . 

The Sunday Times

by:  Billy Collins

There's so much 

going on in the world

besides these sausages. 

It's so much easier to focus on the sausages instead of the latest from Ukraine or Washington, D. C.  Lot's of people choose simply to avoid the news, deeming it too depressing or slanted.  (I will be the first to admit that misinformation has exploded, thanks to AI, politicians, and general public gullibility.)  Of course, just focusing on the sausages on your plate hasn't always worked out for the best, historically speaking.  How many German citizens were preoccupied with their sauerbraten instead of what was happening at the Reichstag?  You see what I mean.

It is Maunday Thursday.  This evening, I played keyboard for a service at a local Lutheran church.  The narrative of the Last Supper was read.  Attendees were called forward by the pastor to lay hands on, bless, and give absolution.  Communion was distributed.  Then, at the end, we sang "O Sacred Head Surrounded" while the altar was stripped bare and sanctuary lights extinguished.  We left in silence.

It was a time to really pay attention to more than just the pizza you had for dinner or the mint sitting in the pocket between your gums and cheek.  I find all of Holy Week a pretty raw experience.  Because it's about examining your conscience and life.  It's impossible for me to attend these church services and not emerge bruised and more than a little bloody.

Introspection is difficult.  Nobody likes to think of their failings.  The Biblical story of Christ's passion is brutal, full of torture and death.  According to Christian tradition, that's the price Jesus paid for all the cruelties we inflict on each other day after day.  Things haven't changed all that much in 21 centuries.  We've just found better, more effective ways of hurting each other.  (If you don't believe that, you really do need to look up from your breakfast sausages.)

That's what the days of Holy Week are all about:  salvation from all the times we've fucked up our lives, relationships, and the world.  We need to be saved from our own myopic selves.  Just because Ukraine is 5000 miles away doesn't mean that what happens there has nothing to do with you.  If you call yourself a Christian, you're supposed to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the stranger and sick and oppressed.  Jesus is pretty clear about this in almost everything he says.

If you don't believe Saint Marty, try to find redemption in your oatmeal or bacon.