There  is a viral video going around of a foul-mouthed mother slapping her son around when she sees him at the site of the riots in Baltimore. Violence in response to violence is not an appropriate response, especially for a mother. Sorry, but it  isn’t. If is was, America would be the most peaceful country in the world. We can all, perhaps, understand the mother’s impulse when she finds her son in harm’s way. But, perhaps, we can also look at this as a prime example of how violence in a family gets played out in school and on the street. No wonder a kid might develop a contempt for authority figures. I wonder what he is going to get her for Mother’s Day? There are many alternative ways for her to have dealt with her son. I hope she learns some of them after her media appearances on the talk shows.

Patchogue, New York

April 28, 2015

For the benefit of both the Suffolk County Police Department and the community it serves, we need to seriously and immediately begin to openly discuss and pursue the possibility of issuing police body cameras. There have been significant improvements in policing in the past few years since the hate crime killing of Marcelo Lucero. But they came after the subsequent strained relations between the community and the Suffolk County Police Department, leading to a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation. Existing technology would reduce the risk of future allegations of misconduct because they could be confirmed or negated by the use of body cameras on police officers.

We are currently in a time of profound civil disturbances involving encounters between civilians and police officers. Nassau County and other police departments across the country are issuing or actively considering the possibility of issuing “body cams.”

The Suffolk County Police Department had apparently adopted an unofficial “wait and see” attitude toward body cams. We cannot afford to wait until a tragedy occurs in our county as it has in so any others. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

We need and deserve a clearly stated position of the County Executive, local mayors, town supervisors and other elected and appointed officials as regards the use of body cameras in their respective communities in Suffolk County. There is evidence, to be disputed or accepted, that body cameras act to deter crime as well as to encourage police restraint.

There are obviously financial costs of providing body cameras and storing collected data. Perhaps body cameras are economically not feasible. But there have also been financial pay-outs of significant amounts (the most recent being $200,000) in allegations of police misconduct. Body cams would clarify such disputes, and such payouts could be used to defray the cost of implementing body cameras and would serve to benefit both the Suffolk County Police Department and the community it is dedicated to serve.

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Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter presided at the funeral of Marcelo Lucero in 2008. The Congregational Church of Patchogue church has hosted many community events, including the upcoming Community Forum on body cameras that will take place at the Congregational Church of Patchogue, (Long Island), New York, on Monday, May 4^th at 7:30 in the evening.

Dwight Lee Wolter

Email: dwightleewolter@gmail.com or

pastor@churchonmainstreet.org

Imagine not being able to afford toilet paper. I find it easy to imagine not being able to keep my son in college ~ but not being able to keep him with access to toilet paper is, well, unimaginable.

Now imagine I want to collect toilet paper because our food pantry and domestic violence shelter have run out and have asked for my help. And imagine I decide to build a mountain of donated toilet paper on the church chancel (stage) and have a “Blessing of the Toilet Paper” during service on Sunday, May 17^th.

Now imagine getting push-back from churchy people across the country because the blessing “seems a bit extreme” and because “I wouldn’t want to use a blessed article to fill the needs which are met with toilet paper.” And imagine another person chiming in that I should include feminine hygiene products. And then imagine an atheist posting about the “Blessing of the Toilet Paper”  saying that, “the whole notion of blessing an inanimate object is a bit curious because it elevates toilet paper to a level of idol worship.”

Now I am worshipping toilet paper?

What the hell happened? All I was trying to do was to bless the efforts of our community in caring for the most basic of needs of the most desperate of people in the most desperate of circumstances. I posted, “I thank you for your opinions, pontifications, corrections, additions, jokes and judgments. Now I want your toilet paper.”

Philosophy is of very little use when you don’t have what you need to go to the bathroom (if you have a bathroom to go to, that is). Two more people posted comments: a musician and a photographer. The musician said, “I like toilet paper… Blessing something, to me, is more of a recognition and a send-off to do well. A group of people coming together and blessing something doesn’t mean you are worshiping it. Once a year animals get blessed in some churches. It doesn’t mean that they have now become gods and are now to be worshiped…” The photographer said, “Someone is saying,’thank God for this…this toilet paper is a blessing’ ~ so why not bless it?”

Please contribute toilet paper (or cash to buy it) as soon as possible to the Congregational Church of Patchogue, 95 East Main Street, Patchogue, N.Y. 11772.  The church office number is 631-475-1235. We would like to have completed the mountain/pyramid  of toilet paper by the “Blessing of the Toilet Paper” on Sunday, May 17^th at 10am. By the way, we routinely collect feminine products, diapers, wipes, formula and baby food for our food pantry and local domestic violence shelter as well.

Peace & Other Blessings

(such as toilet paper)

Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter

Nick Russell, a young musician (my guess is that there is no way he is even 25), was having a CD debut party in Patchogue (Long Island) New York at a restaurant, virtually across the street from the church, at the exact same time that we were having “The Spirituality of Leonard Cohen” at the church as a fund raiser for our food pantry.

Nick has previously played at one of “The Spirituality of Popular Music” series events. I went to his party to purchase his new CD. He insisted on giving it to me for free.  Right next to where he was selling his new CD, there was a large, plastic jar with a sign on it indicating that they were taking donations for the food pantry at our church.

Think about it: can you imagine hosting a really big event in your life and encouraging people to contribute to and attend an event across the street and soliciting contributions for their cause instead of or in addition to your own?

Later that evening, during “The Spirituality of Leonard Cohen” a woman approached me with a plastic jug and told me that Nick Russell asked her to deliver it to us. There was $155 in it to help us to assist people who need groceries. And at “The Spirituality of Leonard Cohen” we raised an additional $1,605 in a little over two hours through the unpaid efforts of musicians and an audience ~ 80% of which were non-members ~ but 100% of which believe in and are eager to support what our church is doing for our community.

It is a “sin” to allow selfless acts of compassion and kindness to go unheralded.

In times when it seems all we hear about is the gunk in the world; in an era when fewer and fewer people go to church ~ let us be reminded that there are still good people who support each other in their attempts at being good people.

By the way, Nick Russell is a fine musician, and we can’t wait to have him back.

if everyone on earth jumped

at the same time
would we move the world?

if everyone on earth loved
at the same time
would we move the world?

what on earth is stronger:
gravity or love?

love is the gravity
that keeps us all
from floating away.

~ Dwight Lee Wolter

If you were to draw a circle around who is important to you ~ who would be inside it? You and your lover, family and friends? Your community or parts of it? Your country? The world? Just how large are you willing to draw the circle?

On Friday, May 8^th at 7pm at the Congregational Church of Patchogue, (Long Island), 95 East Main Street, NY, 11772, ~ we will draw an intentionally diverse group of people into a circle of peace and joy. With the sharing of food, stories, music, silence and many other delicious treats for the mind, belly and soul ~ we will craft a creative response to the small circles of hate and fear that some people and groups draw in attempts to confine and define us. This gathering is the second in an ongoing series that began in response to terrorist and other hideous acts around the world. Music by Jack’s Waterfall; food offerings by Enrico Imperiale, and more to be announced. There is no admission fee, but donations to defray expenses would be gratefully received in advance (hopefully) or at the event.

My heart and soul go out to the grieving mother whose letter/plea was published in this newspaper but it is my observation that this heart-rending plea misses one important and, I believe, potentially significant point: many people, including myself, believe that addiction has a spiritual component. A co-founder of AA, for example, stated that recovery is based on maintaining your “spiritual condition.” In this long and pain-filled plea, there is not a whisper of that aspect of addiction and recovery. Spirituality is not the panacea either. But its omission from the conversation is potentially fatal.

http://www.mpkpress.com/2014/03/25/34950/heroin-epidemic-a-mothers-plea-to-parents?utm_content=buffere9de5&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

That  was what a Facebook post stated. It was written by a music promoter whose work I respect. But I see things somewhaat  differently while acknowledging the pain and anger that religion seems like a  magnet to attract. Religion, for me, is often a delivery system. What a religion chooses to deliver is part of whether or not the world without it will be “more advanced.” The church of which I am the pastor has delivered over 100,000 meals and bagged over 100,000 parcels of food for those who have a place to prepare it. What many people choose to do and say in the name of religion is akin to what many non-religious people do in the name of “freedom” and “love.” But the world, similarly, would not be “5,000 years more advanced” without freedom or love. My religion has freed me to love more deeply, to see more clearly, to trust more sincerely, and to act more decisively.

Easter is here! But like much in life, Easter is more paradoxical than it seems. Jesus was loyal but was betrayed; lived a spiritual life but died a political death; and preached a gospel of non-violence but died violently. Perhaps the most paradoxical part of the Christian story is that in killing Jesus, his persecutors inadvertently triggered a resurrection that changed the world forever. And the resurrection proved that before we can be healed, we have to be wounded; and before we can experience the joy of what has been resurrected, we have to experience the grief of what has been lost. But now there is the joy of new beginnings! And the blessed lesson of starting all over again right now!

I went to the restaurant alone for a quick lunch before going to a meeting. I was seated by the hostess and soon greeted by the waitress who slid into the opposite side of the booth. She wrote her name, MADISON, in black marker on a paper napkin and said she was my server and to call her if I needed anything. She cooed the specials to me and asked if I was on my lunch hour. She left and came right back with my drink and asked if I have given much thought to the specials. By then I was beginning to feel a little confused. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to order food or ask her to dance. I opted for the shrimp and she excitedly cheered my choice. Less than an hour later, reeking of garlic shrimp, I asked for my check, left a large tip, and headed for the door. On the way out, I heard her speaking almost the exact words in the same way to yet another male customer. My first thought was that she was cheating on me. My next thought was that some schmuck owner or manager trained her to act like that to all male customers eating alone. Having to be a sexy and sultry order-taker of garlic shrimp in order to feed yourself and possibly your young child is demeaning, I suppose, to her, and embarrassing, for sure, to me. If I said anything to the boss, she might get in trouble. If I don’t go back out of protest, she will lose money. What is a poor lunch guy to do?