tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78826649856396831632024-03-03T15:45:49.386-08:00Chat&Chew ... by Tom Eggebeen"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." Desmond TutuUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger239125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-47302693458339366962023-11-25T06:57:00.000-08:002023-11-25T06:57:46.075-08:00In the Turn of Time - poetry<p> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px;">And, so, in the turn of time,</span></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the wheeling of the stars, if you can see ‘em,</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibomIpdLf5oj5UConw3O_zl6248MlhkqgRjQckApcfv9nfXzjwK0N7OOPgxTVA7q50qLIEd-sQtqlZsn4mrgnVeSqLPtGRmLycYtjFguP-Znmsw8ikjLQ8V7wX8fEG7Jw-1E88s7TUBSz6ChfoCuK9nYG1schAgnJ6tMexvBr2iGnVE7F1deylfgN4/s4032/IMG_4323.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibomIpdLf5oj5UConw3O_zl6248MlhkqgRjQckApcfv9nfXzjwK0N7OOPgxTVA7q50qLIEd-sQtqlZsn4mrgnVeSqLPtGRmLycYtjFguP-Znmsw8ikjLQ8V7wX8fEG7Jw-1E88s7TUBSz6ChfoCuK9nYG1schAgnJ6tMexvBr2iGnVE7F1deylfgN4/s320/IMG_4323.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the earth swinging around the light,</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and the light swirling amid the Milky </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">expanse of a small to middlin’ galaxy, </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">in one far corner of something</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">beyond imagination and grasp,</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">measured in time impossible, and distance</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">at the speed of light.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And, so, here I am.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A blip … a speck … a mote of dust.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Dust, would you believe?</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The Bible says God shaped the dust,</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and then blew something of God’s heart</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">into the dust, into it’s nostrils, the nose.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The nose knows, I suppose, what the rest of the body</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">has been trying to figure out forever.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Where did this stuff come from?</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">This dust, this breath, the nose, the madness.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m here, and so are you.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And we’re working at something called love.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Love one another” says Jesus.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And we can barely manage it.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What we do well is hate.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We do that with skill and cunning and brilliance.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For every love we might manage, we’ve got a ton</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">of hatred, ill-will, suspicion, and malice of forethought.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The nose still knows … the breath of God.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Like a dog on a walk, suddenly stopping</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">to sniff the air, we catch a hint of the original wind</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">that made this little heap of dust become a living being.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A soul, a <i>nephesh</i>, nearly divine, even as the dust</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">swirls around our feet, and fills our homes with</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">the past.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">DNA and tribal instincts makes us hate.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Original sin?</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We wanted … and we suspected God</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">cheated us.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We took it, and damn, if God wasn’t right.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Take it, and you’ll die, said God.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And we thought God was b-s-ing us.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But God wasn’t, not at all.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Death has been stalking us ever since, </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and to ease the burden on our minds,</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">we give death away by the handful, </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">every day … we give it away,</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and dress it up with our righteous hatreds,</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">and wonder why death still clings to us</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">like some kind of black mold in the corner</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">of the drawer.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ah, yes, so here I am … this little dust mote, </p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">a fly speck, some might say.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A smear of nonsense on the wall.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A stench to the earth and its water.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">A blot upon the snow.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The nose knows … and I pause for a moment</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">in the hush of the morning, and I lift my</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">head to the hills, just north of town.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">And I think of God … and hardly know</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">what to do with it.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">But God remains in my mind, stuck there,</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">like a nagging thought, that I am what</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I am, and then some … a bit more than</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">meets the eye.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Could be, I think, could be.</p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 18px;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-60945138250420687362023-05-01T11:15:00.003-07:002023-05-01T11:15:45.478-07:00Hell? Some thoughts about this hot topic<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic4pkLgsL171vC5Pv_PJwN4N4Km5nUk-jARiENFEi4u19ycCUQwRAsr6BwvMNf1OO1b5psjzBn4dweBknAs6U4k4qUVz0xIumRLX-o3nfA6wsQ5sOp01IiQ6aN8t3V6FD78f1xy23jUcqpIIYW_N_dzJ2g3sqG4tZXWncWQZ_BZIgk9_zcAgVSpQ/s1749/Hortus_Deliciarum_-_Hell.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic4pkLgsL171vC5Pv_PJwN4N4Km5nUk-jARiENFEi4u19ycCUQwRAsr6BwvMNf1OO1b5psjzBn4dweBknAs6U4k4qUVz0xIumRLX-o3nfA6wsQ5sOp01IiQ6aN8t3V6FD78f1xy23jUcqpIIYW_N_dzJ2g3sqG4tZXWncWQZ_BZIgk9_zcAgVSpQ/w351-h448/Hortus_Deliciarum_-_Hell.jpg" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;">A friend asked me about hell ... for a study group.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Here's what I wrote in reply ...<br /></span></p><br />1. In the end, only God … some will stand in that presence and be utterly <br />joyful … others will stand there, and it will feel like hell … for some, God-in-the-end will be the culmination; for others, it will be the last thing they want.<br /><br />2. In the end, it’s the culmination of our life’s trajectory … not just of our own doing, but a strange mix of our dirt and divinity, if you will … the primordial will of God to seek and to save the whole of God’s creation, and the day-to-day interaction of God with willful creatures who genuinely have a mind of their own, even when they’re not in their right mind. <br /><br />3. Like John Steinbeck says, in “East of Eden,” "there are monsters" - you allude to that. <br /><br />4. Question for me - will God be satisfied if any single creature will be forever barred from peace - as some have suggested: forever burning? Is God’s final will determined by sin, or is sin overcome by God’s final will? <br /><br />5. Shout what we know: God is love, of a kind more overwhelming than we can ever compute … more pure, more good, more expansive, and creative, than we can imagine or describe. <br /><br />6. What we don’t know is the fulness of God’s mind - after all, the “knowledge of good and evil” belongs only to God - when we try for it, we die … and then we start killing one another, in fact, or by words. <br /><br />7. Some forms of Christianity have used hell as a cudgel … a very effective cudgel, to get the sheep in line … but I don’t think it did much good, because it appeals to the basest instinct in human DNA - self-preservation … no matter the cost … in order to “preserve” the self, it feels good to damn others to some everlasting hell, or literally, to take their undeserving life and destroy it. <br /><br />8. Love is by far the gospel, but it takes a beating … something most American Christians want no part in - hence, the prosperity gospel, the comfort-stuff, and all the other nonsense that focuses relentlessly on the self. <br /><br />9. There’s a huge difference between covenant-centered Christianity (which generates confidence, peace, and hope) and conversion-centered Christianity (which generates anxiety, pride, judgement of others, and ever-greater self-centered efforts) … conversion-centered Christianity has always relied a great deal on the threat hell, the trump card, if you will. Covenant-centered Christianity relies a great deal on the trustworthy character of God’s love, God’s purpose to save, and the work of Christ to “take away the sin” - not just of the few, but the whole wide world, forever and ever … and that’s why Jesus declared in his final moments, “It is finished.” <br /><br />10. Sin is not an easy business - it takes an enormous amount of work on God’s part to undo its damages and set a new course - to straighten the road, smooth out the rough places, lower some of the mountains of pride and raise up some of the valleys of despair. Using traditional language, “the harrowing of hell” is God’s ultimate achievement. <br /><br />11. I’m a universalist … I believe that every last inch of God’s creation will be recreated and made new … <br /><br />12. Purgatory isn’t entirely a bad idea … for me, it represents a time-lag, if you will, in how it all gets worked out, some sooner, some later, maybe even much later. <br /><br /><br />13. The Devil’s in the details is evident in how Christianity has dealt with hell … parsing the human race … who’s in, who’s out; who’s saved, who’s damed … and so on … it all ends in a lot of mean-spiritedness … <br /><br />14. Our task is to love one another … and that means justice and peace … <br /><br />15. As God has made our eternal future secure (not something to fuss about or worry about), our energies are refocused on the here and now, caring for the Garden, and the needs of the neighbor, and the need, a huge need, to tell historical truth - about all the ills of the world - that’s why CRT is so important to me, and freedom of the press, and well-funded schools. <br /><br />16. I love the Heidelberg Q/A 1 - that I belong … in Calvin’s Book Three of the Institutes, there are some marvelous passages about “I am not my own, but belong to Christ” … <br /><br />17. Karl Barth corrected Calvin’s error with “double predestination” - some eternally damned for hell, others for glory, and that’s just the way it is. Rather, says Barth, all the saving and all the damning took place within Jesus the Christ … he was damned, and he was saved … for all the world. It’s our task, our joy, to approach the world with the good news (no fine print here) … some receive it, others reject it, many are somewhere in between. <br /><br />18. In the end, God! And all will be good … so, as the angels said to the disciples, “Don’t stand there looking up into heaven. Go to Jerusalem … power will come upon you, and then you can get to work.” <br /><br />I hope these musings make some sense. <br /><br />Let me know how it goes. <br /><br />Tom<div><span style="font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-81891216255403497352022-01-25T08:33:00.003-08:002022-01-25T08:33:52.867-08:00Protestantism on Lewis' "Main Street"<p>Published in 1920, Lewis nails it again and again - the arrogance of the Midwest, its self-satisfaction, it's hatred of socialists, organizers, and unions ... and in this "sermon," Mormons, too. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzcdmjUxibEEDi2orY2RwyMJAygUReLIRbWkvyA32vJDRPciBGdPLfXZiO2f842nxBqon_34fGP3OXV9fZa0CLgbM_nWRx3--lItvRtsG6INL6ayaGfMOhdvfCf4mZqIYfAatpEW7ILyBp5KSrKO1Tz2WK31xVEh4CjF09PcZza46AAGfGtw5bdQ=s329" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgzcdmjUxibEEDi2orY2RwyMJAygUReLIRbWkvyA32vJDRPciBGdPLfXZiO2f842nxBqon_34fGP3OXV9fZa0CLgbM_nWRx3--lItvRtsG6INL6ayaGfMOhdvfCf4mZqIYfAatpEW7ILyBp5KSrKO1Tz2WK31xVEh4CjF09PcZza46AAGfGtw5bdQ=s320" width="214" /></a></div><p></p><p>Is this a caricature?</p><p>Of course it is, but the very nature of a well-done caricature is to capture, in exaggeration, the nature of whatever's being described.</p><p>The easy cruelty of pompous religion, the vanity of dogmatic finality, tickling the ears of the already-convinced, ever so confident of their chosen status with Divinity, the rightness of their lives, and the truth of Capitalism, and how wrong everyone else is.</p><p><b>Chapter 28</b></p><br /><i><span style="font-size: medium;">With a rustle of starched linen skirts and stiff shirt-fronts, the congregation sat down, and gave heed to the Reverend Mr. Zitterel. The priest was a thin, swart, intense young man with a bang. He wore a black sack suit and a lilac tie. He smote the enormous Bible on the reading-stand, vociferated, “Come, let us reason together,” delivered a prayer informing Almighty God of the news of the past week, and began to reason.<br /><br />It proved that the only problems which America had to face were Mormonism and Prohibition:<br /><br />“Don't let any of these self-conceited fellows that are always trying to stir up trouble deceive you with the belief that there's anything to all these smart-aleck movements to let the unions and the Farmers' Nonpartisan League kill all our initiative and enterprise by fixing wages and prices. There isn't any movement that amounts to a whoop without it's got a moral background. And let me tell you that while folks are fussing about what they call 'economics' and 'socialism' and 'science' and a lot of things that are nothing in the world but a disguise for atheism, the Old Satan is busy spreading his secret net and tentacles out there in Utah, under his guise of Joe Smith or Brigham Young or whoever their leaders happen to be today, it doesn't make any difference, and they're making game of the Old Bible that has led this American people through its manifold trials and tribulations to its firm position as the fulfilment of the prophecies and the recognized leader of all nations. 'Sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies the footstool of my feet,' said the Lord of Hosts, Acts II, the thirty-fourth verse—and let me tell you right now, you got to get up a good deal earlier in the morning than you get up even when you're going fishing, if you want to be smarter than the Lord, who has shown us the straight and narrow way, and he that passeth therefrom is in eternal peril and, to return to this vital and terrible subject of Mormonism—and as I say, it is terrible to realize how little attention is given to this evil right here in our midst and on our very doorstep, as it were—it's a shame and a disgrace that the Congress of these United States spends all its time talking about inconsequential financial matters that ought to be left to the Treasury Department, as I understand it, instead of arising in their might and passing a law that any one admitting he is a Mormon shall simply be deported and as it were kicked out of this free country in which we haven't got any room for polygamy and the tyrannies of Satan.<br /><br />“And, to digress for a moment, especially as there are more of them in this state than there are Mormons, though you never can tell what will happen with this vain generation of young girls, that think more about wearing silk stockings than about minding their mothers and learning to bake a good loaf of bread, and many of them listening to these sneaking Mormon missionaries—and I actually heard one of them talking right out on a street-corner in Duluth, a few years ago, and the officers of the law not protesting—but still, as they are a smaller but more immediate problem, let me stop for just a moment to pay my respects to these Seventh-Day Adventists. Not that they are immoral, I don't mean, but when a body of men go on insisting that Saturday is the Sabbath, after Christ himself has clearly indicated the new dispensation, then I think the legislature ought to step in——”<br /><br />At this point Carol awoke.<br /><br />She got through three more minutes by studying the face of a girl in the pew across: a sensitive unhappy girl whose longing poured out with intimidating self-revelation as she worshiped Mr. Zitterel. Carol wondered who the girl was. She had seen her at church suppers. She considered how many of the three thousand people in the town she did not know; to how many of them the Thanatopsis and the Jolly Seventeen were icy social peaks; how many of them might be toiling through boredom thicker than her own—with greater courage.<br /><br />She examined her nails. She read two hymns. She got some satisfaction out of rubbing an itching knuckle. She pillowed on her shoulder the head of the baby who, after killing time in the same manner as his mother, was so fortunate as to fall asleep. She read the introduction, title-page, and acknowledgment of copyrights, in the hymnal. She tried to evolve a philosophy which would explain why Kennicott could never tie his scarf so that it would reach the top of the gap in his turn-down collar.<br /><br />There were no other diversions to be found in the pew. She glanced back at the congregation. She thought that it would be amiable to bow to Mrs. Champ Perry.</span></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-52119714083537673892021-09-20T15:35:00.000-07:002021-09-20T15:35:21.429-07:00A reply on a friend's page complaining about "illegals" ...<div><br />Thank God there are no "illegals" in God's Kingdom ... and on a more practical level, a nation that has <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Z_2y7u9ZSt61Zuk-2Ka1MBPIP6UxgrSsX78thkAqCaLsj8q2orFt0aTZCF0bbw4qPRMUEmzBS0PRDsbPQ3VySh9rFU2Oj-27rRGKakKnOXRdDPhoyqBh1R-Bf9hOlbm5dNoqqqi7KQ/s660/99dafd34-cb04-4200-99a1-c65fbb419517-MAIN.jpg.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="660" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Z_2y7u9ZSt61Zuk-2Ka1MBPIP6UxgrSsX78thkAqCaLsj8q2orFt0aTZCF0bbw4qPRMUEmzBS0PRDsbPQ3VySh9rFU2Oj-27rRGKakKnOXRdDPhoyqBh1R-Bf9hOlbm5dNoqqqi7KQ/s320/99dafd34-cb04-4200-99a1-c65fbb419517-MAIN.jpg.webp" width="320" /></a></div>spent trillions on war certainly can handle this. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's people, just plain people, looking for a better life. Driven by desperate circumstances, love for their children, hope for the future, seeking safety and refuge. </div><div><br /></div><div>God's arms are open; I pray that ours are, too. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sure, some will say, "Criminals are in their ranks," and that may be true ... but there are thousands of people willing to work hard, to make a contribution to our nation's future. </div><div><br /></div><div>When the Italians came, when the Hungarians and Irish came, when the Poles and Germans came, they were labeled "second class," "criminal," and "low-lifes." But millions came, and lifted up this nation, and their children went to school, to become doctors and scientists, ministers and teachers, librarians and engineers. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's all about the future. Some won't make it; some will make the wrong turn; but millions will become Americans - true blue Americans. </div><div><br /></div><div>And that's what makes this nation great.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-63560569840417213332021-09-20T08:02:00.002-07:002021-09-20T08:02:28.575-07:00<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsqzIjU__A9ZeiB770rhVYyk4VaOrXEl9q3_cNK5cEshQW8dp4hMk2MgvGZ8rBjFDvKd9zJoVdlCwuSqBL26R_wdj6LG5hdPXquSDn0TC4Pi411F1xoPOT5FrW_0BwH6XS7TEH4hJdg/s600/depositphotos_1626147-stock-photo-helping-hand.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsqzIjU__A9ZeiB770rhVYyk4VaOrXEl9q3_cNK5cEshQW8dp4hMk2MgvGZ8rBjFDvKd9zJoVdlCwuSqBL26R_wdj6LG5hdPXquSDn0TC4Pi411F1xoPOT5FrW_0BwH6XS7TEH4hJdg/w320-h218/depositphotos_1626147-stock-photo-helping-hand.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>9.20.21 - Happy to be Presbyterian</u></span><br /><br />1 Corinthians 5 ... I wonder what's up? <br /><br />Started reading through 1 Corinthians a few days back, and stopped for awhile this morning on the 5th chapter, wondering, and googling ... what were the circumstances? <br /><br />And how easily the women in question is dismissed - and the man so easily condemned.<br /><br />Sounds like a bunch of busybodies holding their noses without any regard for the two people in question, running off to Paul like 4th grade tattletales.<br /><br />It occurred to me: was she much younger than the man's stepfather?<br /><br />Was she abused?<br /><br />Was the son rescuing her?<br /><br />Were the woman and her "husband" divorced, or was she abandoned? Or had she run away?<br /><br />With the uneasy feeling that, then or now, women are treated as property ... women belong to the men, and in this case, the son is "violating" property law - stealing from his father, if you will.<br /><br />This morning, I wanted to ask Paul:<br /><br />"Don't you have bigger fish to fry? <br /><br />Have you looked into the matter? <br /><br />Or are you just going by what the busybodies offer?"<br /><br />I read Paul with the greatest respect - he gets a lot of things right, as I see it.<br /><br />But his easy condemnation of the man, with no interest in the details, or the possible suffering of the woman, and maybe the man's kindness to redeem her, leaves me uncomfortable. <br /><br />With years of ministry behind me: I know something of "sin," in my own life, and in the lives of others - there is sin committed with hubris, arrogance, and ego, power, and domination. <br /><br />Then, there is "sin" committed because there's no easy answer to so many hard moments in life. And what the community busybodies might label as "sin" is nothing less then folks caught up in a messy situation, not directly or immediately of their own making, working to make the best of it, to mitigate further harm, and to practice kindness, and to find a way through.<br /><br />Here, as anywhere, the ease with which the "righteous" condemn "sexual" immorality ... it's so easy to do, and it's so rewarding.<br /><br />Comments????<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-73866718888958731912021-03-03T07:24:00.005-08:002021-03-03T07:24:59.029-08:00Anti-Asian ViolenceLet me venture into dangerous territory - the growing incidence of anti-Asian terrorism across America. <br /><br />I raise this concern because Asians have often been touted as the Model Minority - images of hard work, education, drive, and moral discipline, are lifted up and celebrated, not only to mark Asian achievement, but, I think, to humiliate other minorities. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUdko3fxWKgrJ4rEpRmnAbB0aU5AIIJNIHWyP3b8xNkmmWAXu3HzAc-FhZzUcLHP5BBelhAN6px_u-Ts1zr0o2686r9L9PMlOJWyIMeP6uYya_bGoGO5NmOMGjfuv3hMNeVwadiULf6w/s2508/Hsu-AntiAsianViolence01.jpg.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="2508" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUdko3fxWKgrJ4rEpRmnAbB0aU5AIIJNIHWyP3b8xNkmmWAXu3HzAc-FhZzUcLHP5BBelhAN6px_u-Ts1zr0o2686r9L9PMlOJWyIMeP6uYya_bGoGO5NmOMGjfuv3hMNeVwadiULf6w/s320/Hsu-AntiAsianViolence01.jpg.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />One result of this elevation, at least in Orange County, has been a hard turn to the right in Asian politics - some of it driven by the memories of the Vietnamese who shudder at the mention of anything "communist," and some driven by the love of money and the self-righteousness induced by achievement and wealth, often believing, as did many a Jew in pre-ww2 Germany, that "assimilation" and "being a good German" would spare them. But it didn't. And now around the country, Asians are facing a White Supremacy threat of real proportions. <br /><br />What this domestic terrorism says, however, is this: "You're not a part of us, and you never will be. No matter your zip code, your money, your achievement, your hard work, you're not Amerikkkan, and you don't belong here. And we don't like you." <br /><br />What will this do to politics? Will it occasion a shift to the left? To something more in solidarity with other minorities? With a recognition that hard work and success is what rankles white supremacists who resent non-whites getting a share of the pie. <br /><br />I'm on dangerous ground, I realize, so please forgive any inaccuracies or missteps. But at the same time, I'd appreciate some commentary here, and especially from our Asian members. <br /><br />This much I know: terrorism against Asian-Americans is on a precipitous rise.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-32745382251067217162020-09-15T09:38:00.001-07:002020-09-15T09:38:36.271-07:00Finding Myself???<span style="font-size: medium;">Earlier today, I wrote: <br /><br /><i>The far-right is completely gone; they believe the Left is preparing for war against them; they believe they're the innocent victims of racism and discrimination; they believe all the lies offered to them about climate, race, economics and foreign policy. Evangelicals, social conservatives, and the rich, all have skin in the game; they all have something to gain by the collapse of democracy. Evangelicals, theocracy; social conservatives, white supremacy; the rich, unimpeded greed. <br /><br />Now is the not the time for nostrums and nosegays ... now is Jeremiah-time, a time for an honest appraisal of a nation long seduced by wealth and power, a nation full of idols crafted by religious interests as devious and duplicitous as the court-priests and prophets of Jeremiah's time, a time when the Divine grows tired of pleading with a people who turn a deaf ear to reason, and choose religions that sooth and satisfy the worst instincts of race, nation, supremacy, and greed. It was this very instinct that maddened the hometown crowd who heard Jesus preach, and, at first, thought it was terrific, but when Jesus made it clear that his people were NOT the center of God's purpose, they quickly cried out in anger and attempted to kill Jesus by hurling him off a nearby cliff. <br /><br />If you dare, read Jeremiah 13-17. As one friend put it, "holy moly." And then Luke 4.16-30. <br /></i><br />I have a hard time locating myself right now - my political nerves are edgy; my religious instincts turn to the darker themes of Scripture: Jeremiah, crucifixion, Paul’s imprisonment … the darker themes of history: the West’s embrace of white supremacy, and the failure of religion to address the various crisis of race, war, and greed. <br /><br />Yes, I know that religious history gives us greatness, too … but often times the women and men of faith, prophetic faith, paid with their lives, because the establishment can’t relinquish its hold on power … and power always needs to have the powerless, and no better way to create a powerless class than with economic inequity. <br /><br />I know what I believe, and I stand firm in “faith, hope, and love” … but reality doesn’t let me put on a happy face … truth be told, in the short run, it may not turn out well at all, though I hope for a Biden/Harris win, and I’ll do what I can, and bear what I must. <br /><br />Is there a God? <br /><br />I’m inclined to think there is. <br /><br />And the moral arc of the universe does bend toward justice … but not without the 400 years of Israel’s slavery in Egypt … yes, there is resurrection, but not without a rigged trial and execution. <br /><br />So, here I am … in a comfy, safe, place, with dear, dear, friends. <br /><br />I hope my SS continues, with some appropriate increases, along with my pension (Hallelujah and Amen!). I love Trader Joe’s and FarmFresh delivery … I love to cook, and have folks over now and then to share our table. <br /><br />'Tis the gift to be simple, Its a gift to be free, <br />'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be, <br />And when we find ourselves in the place just right, <br />Will be in the valley of love and delight. <br /><br />When true simplicity is gained, <br />To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed, <br />To turn, turn, will be our delight, <br />Till by turning, turning we come round right <br /><br />'Tis the gift to be simple, Its a gift to be free, <br />'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be, <br />And when we find ourselves in the place just right, <br />Will be in the valley of love and delight. <br /><br />When true simplicity is gained, <br />To bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed, <br />To turn, turn, will be our delight, <br />Till by turning, turning we come round right <br />Till by turning, turning we come round right</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-38819437383775260712020-07-01T12:27:00.000-07:002020-07-01T12:27:47.101-07:00I'm Tired<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="210v7-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="210v7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="210v7-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I am really tired of saying, "I'm a Christian."</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="6t3k1-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6t3k1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6t3k1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="4v8qj-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4v8qj-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4v8qj-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">What difference does it make?</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="81qig-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="81qig-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="81qig-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Does it carry any weight with the evangenitals?</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="epe76-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="epe76-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="epe76-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Certainly not.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="1gqc4-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1gqc4-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1gqc4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">They would only call me a liar.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="4abjd-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4abjd-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4abjd-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="do4ta-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="do4ta-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="do4ta-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Does it carry weight with anyone else?</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7s3sd-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7s3sd-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7s3sd-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="6p3dn-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6p3dn-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6p3dn-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">If folks think of Christianity only as it shows in the</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="fnb9-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fnb9-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fnb9-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Evangenitals, then I hope it carries some weight.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="e3pcr-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="e3pcr-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="e3pcr-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7a6uk-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7a6uk-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7a6uk-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">If folks think all christians are just plain nuts, I hope that</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7pacf-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7pacf-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7pacf-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">My presence counters that a wee bit.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="9vneq-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9vneq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9vneq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="4rtg5-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4rtg5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="4rtg5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">On the other hand, maybe I'm nuts, too.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7ivu3-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ivu3-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7ivu3-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="3lc3l-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3lc3l-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3lc3l-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">But I'll say it again.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="mser-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="mser-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="mser-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">"I'm a Christian."</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="b5s5l-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b5s5l-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="b5s5l-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="cskem-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cskem-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="cskem-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And I'm not alone in this faith family.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="bkqhf-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bkqhf-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="bkqhf-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Thank God.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="fp955-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fp955-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fp955-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">There are plenty of folks who take the Christian Faith</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="fu7vc-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fu7vc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fu7vc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Seriously.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="fdhpb-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fdhpb-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fdhpb-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="23sge-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="23sge-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="23sge-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Not to hate, but to love.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7k5eq-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7k5eq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7k5eq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">No walls to build, but only bridges.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="bsipn-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bsipn-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="bsipn-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Who know when to be quiet.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="dcpme-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dcpme-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dcpme-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Like when </span><span blockkey="dcpme" class="_5zk7" contentstate="c { "entityMap": [object Object], "blockMap": OrderedMap { "210v7": c { "key": "210v7", "type": "unstyled", "text": "I am really tired of saying, \"I'm a Christian.\"", "characterList": List [ b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null 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"style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null }, b { "style": OrderedSet {}, "entity": null } ], "depth": 0, "data": Map {} }, "96p6q": c { "key": "96p6q", "type": "unstyled", "text": "", "characterList": List [], "depth": 0, "data": Map {} }, "d8dak": c { "key": "d8dak", "type": "unstyled", "text": "", "characterList": List [], "depth": 0, "data": Map {} }, "cdpf0": c { "key": "cdpf0", "type": "unstyled", "text": "", "characterList": List [], "depth": 0, "data": Map {} } }, "selectionBefore": b { "anchorKey": "dcpme", "anchorOffset": 32, "focusKey": "dcpme", "focusOffset": 32, "isBackward": false, "hasFocus": true }, "selectionAfter": b { "anchorKey": "96p6q", "anchorOffset": 0, "focusKey": "96p6q", "focusOffset": 0, "isBackward": false, "hasFocus": true } }" data-offset-key="dcpme-1-0" decoratedtext="#BLM" end="14" offsetkey="dcpme-1-0" spellcheck="false" start="10" style="background-color: rgba(88, 144, 255, 0.15); border-bottom-color: rgba(88, 144, 255, 0.3); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: inherit;"><span data-offset-key="dcpme-1-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">#BLM</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="dcpme-2-0" style="font-family: inherit;"> protestors march.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="96p6q-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="96p6q-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="96p6q-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="24eev-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="24eev-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="24eev-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I'm a Christian, and a universalist.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="3qsen-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3qsen-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3qsen-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">That doesn't answer all the questions.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="aej21-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="aej21-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="aej21-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">But it does answer a few.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="eqgmi-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eqgmi-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="eqgmi-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="6ho0f-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6ho0f-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6ho0f-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">But, heck, it's not about questions.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="41q48-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="41q48-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="41q48-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Or answers.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="cd54r-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cd54r-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="cd54r-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="dv63d-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="dv63d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="dv63d-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">It's about the simpler stuff of life.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7ri4b-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ri4b-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7ri4b-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Like wearing a mask.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="decqo-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="decqo-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="decqo-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And paying attention to the experts God has given us.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7abj4-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7abj4-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7abj4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="jsq-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="jsq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="jsq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And knowing when its time to change a flag and </span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="8m8hp-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8m8hp-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8m8hp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Remove a monument.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="elcgg-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="elcgg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="elcgg-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="a09l1-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a09l1-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="a09l1-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And a cup of cold water.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="aidov-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="aidov-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="aidov-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">A determination to live "all are equal."</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="3b00c-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3b00c-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="3b00c-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="1ajm2-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1ajm2-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1ajm2-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I believe in a woman's right to choose her medical treatments.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7foc-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7foc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7foc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I believe in a man's right to have a decent job.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="cnc80-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cnc80-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="cnc80-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I believe in child's right to have a good education.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="edmqe-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="edmqe-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="edmqe-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="28p42-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="28p42-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="28p42-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I believe that Rumpy is evil</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7nps4-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7nps4-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7nps4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">McConnell even more so.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="fd7ot-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fd7ot-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fd7ot-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And all the evangenitals just plain crazy.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="eculc-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eculc-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="eculc-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="b1fqn-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b1fqn-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="b1fqn-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I'm tired.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="9mqec-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9mqec-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="9mqec-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Really tired of all the lies and deceptions.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="2muh-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="2muh-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="2muh-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I'm tired of the GOP.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="1j95d-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1j95d-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1j95d-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And all the rest of this perverted gang of thieves.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7mjmn-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7mjmn-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7mjmn-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="7ullg-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="7ullg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="7ullg-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And because I'm tired of them.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="37vrl-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="37vrl-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="37vrl-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Really, really, tired.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="28k1l-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="28k1l-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="28k1l-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">I'll put up with being tired of saying:</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="50h00-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="50h00-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="50h00-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">"I'm a Christian."</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="8948b-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8948b-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="8948b-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="5regb-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5regb-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5regb-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Which I am.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="uf3a-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="uf3a-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="uf3a-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And for that I give thanks.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="43mo9-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="43mo9-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="43mo9-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Evan as I give thanks for friends who are</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="fg59k-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fg59k-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="fg59k-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Muslims.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="1ubvq-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1ubvq-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="1ubvq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Siks.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="6riip-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6riip-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="6riip-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Jews.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="5khbp-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5khbp-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5khbp-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Atheists.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="u99c-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="u99c-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="u99c-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And whatever else the human spirit comes up with.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="50l4j-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="50l4j-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="50l4j-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">And even the</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="74d6i-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="74d6i-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="74d6i-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Evangenitals.</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="b5d55-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="b5d55-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="b5d55-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="92sdt-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="92sdt-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="92sdt-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">Who, if nothing else, serve the purpose of making it clear:</span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="cpeef" data-offset-key="5gt4-0-0" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5gt4-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative;"><span data-offset-key="5gt4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;">What NOT to be.</span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-33620852413860613782020-06-02T07:49:00.001-07:002020-06-02T07:49:28.340-07:00Political Parties, Politicians, All Alike<p style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin: 0px 0px 6px;"><font size="2">To a post complaining that the parties are all the same, I wrote the following:</font></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin: 6px 0px;"><font size="2">True certainly, but not entirely accurate ... there was a difference between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, between Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, between Hoover and FDR ... Goldwater and Johnson, Hillary and Trump. </font></p><p style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; margin: 6px 0px;"><font size="2">Historically, our choices have always been limited, but such is life - we have to parse the differences, and go with the differences that have a better chance of calling forth som<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">e of our better angels. </span></font></p><div class="text_exposed_show" style="caret-color: rgb(28, 30, 33); color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif;"><font size="2"><p style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 6px;">Every president has caused problems, and solved problems - some have catered to the Oligarchy, some have remembers the people.</p><p style="font-family: inherit; margin: 6px 0px;">Our present darkness is unique to Rumpy. Hillary might very well have created her own set of problems that we would protest, but the current configuration of wealth and religion would not have occurred with a Hillary administration.</p></font></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-23014817288650118452020-05-24T09:20:00.000-07:002020-05-24T09:20:15.787-07:00Jesus Was Clear<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Jesus was clear, painfully clear, I’m sure, that only a few of the religious leaders sitting on top of the social, religious, financial, heap called The Holy City would give him the time of the day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The rest would be happy to see him go away, and if not going away voluntarily, they’d be more than happy to help him on his way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Jesus didn’t spend a lot of time trying to convince the inconvincible. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">He understood the human tragedy, that power and wealth are more than enough to undo the soul and create monstrous ideas and behavior. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Some can resist the allure of wealth and the power it bestows, but most succumb, in one degree or another. Some maintain a balance, but a lot of folks dive into the money bin like old Scrooge McDuck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Jesus addresses the question of wealth multiple times, not so much to convince the Oligarchy, but to trouble them, disturb, distress, and discomfort them, compelling them to do their worst, to reveal to them, maybe, and to reveal most certainly to the world, their naked villainy (thaniks to Shakespeare for the phrase) and rapacious ways. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Jesus knew the likely course of events, and remained true to God’s calling, to be faithful, to be truthful, and, as needed, to put his life on the line, which, in the end, he had to do. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It was die, or lie. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Satan was hoping that Jesus would choose the lie, but much to Satan’s disappointment, Jesus chose instead to die. Believing, hoping, wondering, if his death would finally mean something. But whatever it might or might not mean, Jesus turned from the lie offered so eloquently and so richly adorned, to die between two thieves, two more men deemed “useless” and “dangerous” by the ruling elite, who washed their hands of the whole thing, because they had better things to do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So, Jesus spent most of his time with the disciples, in whom he had great hopes … maybe. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And time, too, with those deemed by the Oligarchy as worthless, dangerous, sinful; the down-and-out who deserved their sad lot in life, for whatever reasons the rich and the powerful so decided. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The rich and the powerful always need folks on the bottom so that the rich and the powerful might congratulate themselves on their own faith, their moral character, their god, their energy and their abilities, while dropping a few coins into the charity box, making them feel even more superior, and even more wonderful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Jesus spent his time with those who had a chance to be real.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Jesus sought the lost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Healed the broken.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Lifted up the downtrodden.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Gave hope to the desolate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Walked with the lonely.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Visited the stranger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Crossed boundaries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Went fishing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Made breakfast on the beach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Gave life to the dead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And light to all the darkened corners.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">He spent his time where there was hope for a better day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">With people who were eager to hear his message, even though they most likely didn’t understand much of it, but they knew that he was tweaking the noses of the proud and the pompous, and the crowds loved him for that … and also the food and the fellowship … and even their own ill-formed hopes of some kind of a Messiah, who might just help them throw off the chains of Rome, chains forged by violent leaders and a brutal military police, aided and abetted by the Jerusalem elite who were more than happy to see their own people suffer even as they enjoyed their resorts and golf courses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">All right, they didn’t play golf.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">But they would’ve if they could’ve.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-40394144093323816142020-05-13T09:24:00.001-07:002020-05-13T09:24:56.303-07:00Conservatives Love CategoriesConservatives love categories ... racial, nation-of-origin, color, religion, class, gender, orientation, age, size, intelligence, shape of the head, or whatever else can used to divide and conquer, leading to social discord and war.<br /><br />All of these categories, for the Conservative, define who's in and who's out, who counts and who doesn't, who has rights and who shouldn't have any. And if of a christian bent, who's going to heaven, and who's going to hell.<br /><br />These Covid-19 Days have seen added to the mix of categories: the elderly, the health-compromised, and the incarcerated.<br /><br />It's ok for the elderly to get sick and die ... and the health-compromised, too ... and surely the incarcerated. What are they doing in prison in the first place? Shame on them.<br /><br />The Conservative Mind is rigid with its distinctions and more than willing to cast off those deigned inferior, dangerous, or undeserving.<br /><br />If you're a Conservative and don't like what I've written, ask yourself Why? <br /><br />Do you rely on these kinds of categories to distinguish yourself from others? Believe yourself (humbly, of course) to be morally superior, spiritually higher in rank, closer to God, more deserving of life, privilege, and comfort?<br /><br />In the realm of God, which is important to me, and sets the standard, or so I believe, these sorts of distinctions are a script from hell, and not of Christ, nor of the Hebrew Prophets.<br /><br />To Christ, and to the Prophets, I look for guidance ... as best I can. I may be mistaken, but I think a life lived with with open arms is a whole lot more peace-inducing and rewarding than a life lived with arms folded in a defiant rejection of others.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-42577693437350026532019-11-08T13:18:00.000-08:002019-11-08T13:18:09.457-08:00Common Ground?<br />Some folks talk hopefully about finding common ground ... at this point in the unfolding debacle of American History, I'm wondering about such pollyanna dreams.<br /><br />Was there common ground in the run up to the Civil War?<br /><br />Was there common ground when lynching and burning-crosses were de rigueur?<br /><br />Was there common ground at the Edmund Pettus Bridge?<br /><br />Was there common ground when Sen. McCarthy was fomenting fear and hatred with his alcoholic rantings?<br /><br />Was there common ground when Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers?<br /><br />And let's take a trip to Poland, 1939 - was there common ground when Nazi bombers pummeled the Polish People?<br /><br />Was there common ground when the Nazis built the death camps?<br /><br />Sure, maybe things aren't quite that bad, so let's return to the States.<br /><br />What about common ground in Charlottesville?<br /><br />Common ground at the Border where children are snatched from parents and caged?<br /><br />Common ground with those who believe that LGBTQ persons are the spawn of hell and the death of America?<br /><br />Common ground with those who believe that women have no right to choose their own level of health care?<br /><br />Common ground with those who believe in White Supremacy?<br /><br />I don't know ... I'm really sad about all of this.<br /><br />What it means to me, however, is to keep on trying for some common ground, but not to be fooled by illusory prospects, nor to lessen my own commitment to justice and the things of a better world, as I see it: marriage equality, universal health care, abortion rights, environmental commitments, DACA, abolition of student debt, support of unions and collective bargaining, tight regulation of Wall Street and banking, full funding of public schools, the repair of our infrastructure, job re-training, renewal energy, and a ton of other needful things.<br /><br />The divide is deep, the divide is real.<br /><br />Maybe you can help me here.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-14377784271442536872019-06-03T11:06:00.000-07:002019-06-03T11:06:14.281-07:00I Yet Have HopeSo many of our present-day ills are the results of third-rate men and women taking on first-rate responsibilities. <br /><br />We are presently governed by folks mean in spirit, vile in character, given to lies, deceit and self-aggrandizement, twittering away their time, frittering away our social capital.<br /><br />This mess hasn't happened overnight, but is the result of a long and steady slide into political mediocrity, where slogans prevail over common sense, decency and knowledge.<br /><br />We've handed the reigns of government over to the wealthy, who, by instinct and character, are given to seek their own interests, believing in their wealth as proof-positive of a divine imprimatur, to do as they will, and that their wellbeing is the wellbeing of the nation.<br /><br />The wealthy tell us that climate change is a hoax, even as the earth continues to display signs of enormous distress.<br /><br />The wealthy profit from our interminable wars.<br /><br />Conservatives dance on the grave of women's rights.<br /><br />Fools build walls.<br /><br />Idiots cheer on the chaos.<br /><br />White supremacy licks its chops.<br /><br />The narrow-minded grow ever more fearful of civil rights, voting rights, transgender and LGBTQ rights ... dashing freedom agains the rocks of conservative idealism.<br /><br />A paroxysm of all the worst elements that can shake a nation to pieces ... <br /><br />Yet, I have hope ... in the last months of my 74th year, that we will find a way through the mess, that better people are in the wings, that youth see the light of day beyond the darkness spun by their elders, that those now so cowed by the powerful will gain their courage and confront the lies.<br /><br />That truth-tellers will hike up their pants, so to speak, women and men alike, to change the political landscape, to recover our fundamental values of liberty, and of the Spirit, faith, hope and love.<br /><br />The recovery from the long slide into the present crisis will likely exceed my lifespan, but so it is with the vast movements of history. <br /><br />Others will take up the cause, the pen, the hope, to right the present wrongs, to undo the present evils, to insure that every American is cared for, that all will have access to health care, education, birth control, security in employment, and assistance in need.<br /><br />I yet have hope.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-50290035682150142342019-02-15T08:25:00.000-08:002019-02-15T08:25:09.221-08:00"The Final Days" - Goodreads reviewWell written tour de force through an American debacle ... with Nixon at the center, a man of so many flaws - hard, arrogant, manipulative. And at the end, broken ... wisely seeing that a protracted trial would add to the nation's woes and accomplish very little. <br /><br />As one observed at the end, "This was the real Nixon. Too bad he couldn't show that early on."<br /><br />If there's anything to be learned, it's that lies cannot endure, that the truth, mangled and weary, will emerge out of the mix of deception, whatever the motivation may have been. Nixon always believed his motives to be laudable; only at the end were there bits of admission of his own wrongdoing, though even at the end, he waffled between hints of remorse and then bewilderment, that his "small" mistakes should be worthy of his being hounded out of office.<br /><br />A worthy read for the day in which we live. And a reminder to those in power, that lies will be exposed. As corrupt as great power is, there is at work in all the structures of the mind and the corporate craziness of Washington DC, a sense of justice, too, and what's right and what's wrong.<br /><br />There are always women and men of conscience, in spite of the disease of power, who can yet speak of the truth, and who strive to do what's right.<br /><br />Damage was done, and some of the damage reveals itself today in the maniacal behavior of the current occupant of the White House, and in the toadies who so obsequiously serve him while furthering their own interests.<br /><br />Nixon's politics were dirty, and the filth of his days continue to play havoc in our land. <br /><br />His international interests and skills were surely laudable, but in the long run, he was a mediocre personality holding the highest office of the land. He deserves our attention, if for no other reason than to learn of how power corrupts; this book has certainly added to the depths of my understanding.<br /><br />I can only hope that history does repeat itself, and that soon the lies that have characterized the current administration will bring about its complete failure, ending, I hope, in the disgrace fitting a man of lies.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-11779299522700291212019-01-23T08:35:00.005-08:002019-01-23T08:35:56.360-08:00The Ransom of the Soul - study materials<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Study Group, Monday, January 21, 2019, Pasadena</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Hosts: Dean Thompson and Tom Eggebeen</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Study: Tom Eggebeen</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Reading Peter Brown's book, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ransom-Soul-Afterlife-Western-Christianity-ebook/dp/B00W98ZW7M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1548261200&sr=8-1&keywords=ransom+of+the+soul" target="_blank">Ransom of the Soul</a>" (2016) - the first six centuries of Christianity, with a focus on the place of wealth in this life, and as a bridge to heaven.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Enhanced further by Brown’s, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Through-Eye-Needle-Christianity-350-550-ebook/dp/B009EYPOCC/ref=pd_sim_351_2/146-8547688-8235035?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B009EYPOCC&pd_rd_r=9b3821e5-1f2c-11e9-8398-b3ecd3f33b25&pd_rd_w=F64Sx&pd_rd_wg=M6BRI&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=3JQN1Q3VCT6EXYCHSTSS&psc=1&refRID=3JQN1Q3VCT6EXYCHSTSS" target="_blank">Through the Eye of a Needle</a>.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>Personal note: I wish I had read all of this 40 years ago … but neither of these books then existed. As I read, I kept jumping back to the Bible, seeing, I think, how much of the New Testament especially, was written in the light of Empire values and behavior - I think of the Banquet Parable. Brown is a remarkable writer, often taking issue with “traditional” scholarship on the Roman Empire, and incredibly generous in praise for a new generation of scholars. There is so much here, I cannot begin to do it justice, but, for me, this is some of the best reading I’ve done in years. My initial interest was tweaked by a brief review of the book, “Ransom of the Soul.” I then secured from the library, “Through the Eye of a Needle” which is Brown’s “big fat book.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Let’s begin:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Then, or now, nothing is ever really settled.</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Rising stars and people of influence, each with their own take on things, some prevailing, enduring, both for the cogency of their ideas, and when the powers-that-be decided that some ideas were likely to enhance their own place of privilege, while adding to the civic good. Then or now, privilege, power, wealth and influence, religion and rhetoric, flow together like some kind of a huge, muddy, river, feeding the land, sometimes flooding it, and always moving along, carrying history with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Some voices, like, Tertullian and Cyprian in Carthage, and later, Augustine in Hippo and Ambrose in Milan, achieved a degree of lasting influence. But for every voice in one direction, there were others moving contrapuntally.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The move to Christianity, in spite of Constantine’s conversion, was neither immediate nor widespread. But in bits and pieces, here and there … in the meantime, before the final “victory” of Christianity, Pagans, Jews and Christians lived together much of the time without distress (post Constantine, of course), often in dialogue with one another, sometimes in agreement, and sometimes not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In all of this, Christianity emerges with some unique ideas that were to shape ultimately the Western World.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In the quest for justice (ideas shared by both Jew and Christian) ... much of the writing and preaching of the fourth and fifth centuries was an effort to promote alms-giving - to remember those so easily forgotten, the poor. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Pagan focus was primarily on caring for one’s own kind, not only those of one’s own social status, but of one’s community, i.e. a rather profound civic mindedness, but one restricted to “citizens,” only rarely crossing the boundary to do something good for the rabble.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">For Christians, the question of wealth remained a challenge, and ultimately wealth, rather than being rejected, was linked to heaven, the afterlife ... something that Pagans, Jews, and Christians pondered, with alms-giving a tool in the remission of sins, and then also a means of social security for the poor. Both categories of people, the poor and the dead ought not to be forgotten, and wealth was the means by which the memory of the dead and the living poor could be “kept alive.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>In the mix of all of this, the parable of the Rich Young Man played a vital role, to sell all and give it to the poor.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Some took this be a universal dictum for the rich, and some, in fact, divested themselves of their wealth, but even then, unloading a vast fortune of estates, material wealth in ivory, gold and silver, and villas wasn’t easy. As best as we can tell, such “divestiture” likely involved selling to family members and friends of similar social standing, or, giving it to a church, all to secure treasure in heaven, while still receiving some income from distant estates, not so easily divested. Some then founded their own monasteries, and while living austere lives (especially the emphasis on owning everything in common and being humbly dressed), they did so in the comfort of villa-like buildings. What was built for God was to be glorious, even as were the villas they once built for themselves and their image in the community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Treasure in heaven was a reality that few of us can imagine. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">But it moved money away from the usual display of wealth expected by Roman society into the coffers of the church, and much was done to relieve the suffering of the really poor, the non-citizens of the Empire, people on the bottom of the economic heap.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>A perfect system?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Clearly not, but a system that addressed two concerns: the afterlife, and life here-and-now, with a special focus on the poor, not so much to change the conditions creating poverty, but as a means by which the wealthy, and the not-so-wealthy, could secure their salvation through alms-giving, to relieve immediate suffering. "Lay up alms in thy storehouse; it shall deliver thee from affliction" (Ecclesiasticus 29:12). </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The church soon realized that wealth was not going to go away, so the church found ways to tame that wealth, to keep the wealth from damaging those who possessed it. Roman philosophers shared this concern, and like the Christians who followed, often decried, not wealth, but avarice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Much preaching was against the "Roman Games" wherein the rich would showcase their wealth and power by supporting gladiators and funding the carnivals. It was exorbitant, to say the least, but it secured the social position of the sponsor and also earned them the goodwill of the people (citizens: what we might call the middle and the lower-middle class), who sometimes protested when the “rich” failed to provide for the welfare and the entertainment of the city. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Clearly, there was massive wealth throughout the Empire, and much competition among the rich to display it. Yet, it was governed by a sense of civic good deeds, an idea well-developed in the Empire with its philosophers. Reputation meant just about everything, and a person of wealth needed to secure his or her presence through magnificent buildings, bridges, public baths, and entertainment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Christianity, with its broader focus on the poor, was able to enter into this Roman world of values and build upon it a specific Christian ethic regarding the place and function of wealth, and the need to include all people, all classes, all needs, material and spiritual.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Augustine centered in on alms-giving for the sake of the poor, rather than the “Games" as a means of display, and, then, of course, in Rome (a growing clergy group) and Milan (Ambrose), monies were funneled into the churches, the tombs of the saints (special locations, sacred, where heaven and earth were bound together, where miracles occurred - even as the saints prayed for our salvation), and then the monasteries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">None of this happened over night, but it happened slowly and surely as the church grappled with what the earlier Pagan culture did: i.e. what’s the place of wealth, and how shall the wealthy behave?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><b>Then, or now, wealth was a conundrum</b> - Pelagius suggested that the only way through wealth was for the Christian to give it all away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Augustine suggested that wealth was a tool for good, and that a Christian could be wealthy, but only by alms-giving, a steady discipline throughout one's life: to secure "treasure in heaven" by providing treasure for the poor, through the the coffers of the church, it’s buildings and its tombs for the martyrs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">My reading makes clear just how challenging it all was ... to find the ways and means of dealing with the one thing that preoccupies most of humanity most of the time: money!</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Today, Augustine would lament how the wealthy are inclined to build towers to themselves rather than securing "treasure in heaven" by providing for the poor. Augustine would likely see much of America as nothing more than a Roman Carnival, replete with all the trappings of wealth, clamoring for entertainment, while ignoring the plight of many who “really don’t count.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Then or now, no system is flawless, but we can't give up the effort, and because the church is no longer the "central bank," so to speak, the government has to function in that regard, and taxation is the tool to bring about a humbling of the rich, and redistribution of wealth, even as alms-giving was the tool then.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And we needn't worry about the rich giving up their desire for wealth. It's in their character, and they'll do it no matter how much they pay in taxes, but in the end, taxes will "save their souls" (if high enough to actually be real giving), whether they know it or not, and in the end, the poor will be comforted, their lot improved, and society changed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Questions/Thoughts:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">1. What is the place of wealth in the United States? How do we think about it? What’s the purpose of wealth? </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">2. The WASP establishment seemingly had a sense of civic duty - what’s happened to this?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">3. In Western Michigan, the VanAndels and the DeVoses poured tens of millions into the revitalization of Grand Rapids, including medical research and a host of other means by which the common good of the city is enhanced. I believe this was done out of the goodness of their hearts, and with a sense of Christ, and a commitment to civic good. Yet what I know of their political allegiances (for them, all tied up in their religion) strikes me as inimical to the foundations of democracy, and contrary to much of my Christian faith. <b>What do we make of people such as this?</b> And others of great wealth who dominate the world, who often show up in their “carriages” as did the ancient wealthy, on their way to parties held in honor of the Emperor, to display their wealth and privilege, competing with one another for the largest this and the most beautiful that. <b>Can the church offer anything to this? Other than baptizing it, or condemning it?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">4. Augustine and Ambrose were able to challenge people to think eternally - for the Pagan, to mount to the stars; for the Christian, to be with the saints in heaven with Christ. They spoke easily and convincingly about the “transfer of wealth,” from here to there, by giving it to the church, and the church, in turn, caring for the poor, which it most earnestly did, even as it acquired great wealth for itself. <b>What, if any, tools are at our disposal to thinking about wealth today?</b></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-9676643830261495502019-01-04T09:37:00.000-08:002019-01-04T09:37:18.836-08:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifarQiOTR2uS0F75F0plxFjktYHA9baTiLd5prLqR1tPoAdwJndBzE-IdhAIQEVAycSt9xGIrTQ4GHZJCfAH9UbXhRB2fJWxgBjKky1zN6tTl1pgvshQ6fSokLY2Twp1TmAkHBgXiEkw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2019-01-04+at+9.29.20+AM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifarQiOTR2uS0F75F0plxFjktYHA9baTiLd5prLqR1tPoAdwJndBzE-IdhAIQEVAycSt9xGIrTQ4GHZJCfAH9UbXhRB2fJWxgBjKky1zN6tTl1pgvshQ6fSokLY2Twp1TmAkHBgXiEkw/s400/Screen+Shot+2019-01-04+at+9.29.20+AM.png" width="400" /></a><br />
On a recent visit to the Norton Simon Museum, a stroll through the South and Southeast Asian art and sculpture collection.<br /><br />I've seen it before, usually in haste, but on this visit, more stopping and examining ... and then for the last week, pondering.<br /><br />The hope evident in the art ... the peace and the love ... wisdom and guidance ... every artist giving expression to something of the deeps in the human story.<br /><br />I'm sure the "reality" of life was quite different than the spirit offered in the art, as is true for much of Western art, too - a world portrayed far better than the reality, but in the portrayal of something ideal, an encouragement to the beholder, to strive for the better, the higher, that which is sublime and beautiful.<br /><br />For much of Western History, dominated by the Christian Tradition, other religions were usually looked upon as wayward and wrong, and even evil.<br /><br />Lots of evangelicals still hold to such bias, but the shrinking world no longer allows any one religion to encapsulate itself, and from the behind the walls of safety, despise what lies beyond.<br /><br />This collection of art moved me deeply ... as most art does ... as it should.<br /><br />With a reminder that we all have more in common than not, and that no religion, certainly not mine, can claim any high moral ground of superiority.<br /><br />Rather, I believe, God is diluting our protective boundaries, so that we have to hear and see and touch others, and their world-views, their faith, their religion, their icons and philosophies.<br /><br />I think this all means the end of "evangelism" in the older sense of "converting" others to the Christian Faith. If evangelism means anything today, it's this: that we offer to others what we have, and it's not all that much, and with eager hearts, receive what others have to offer, which, after all, isn't all that much, either.<br /><br />We all possess bits and pieces of divinity, of truth, of hope and love, and there's no need to discard what we have, any more than there is a need to disparage what others have.<br /><br />Today, it's has to be humility before the mystery of the Creator's love revealing itself in other times and places, other cultures and other religions.<br /><br />A time for Christians to face up to our own dirty stories and failed projects, yet to affirm that in our art, perhaps, and in our best thinking, we year for what others yearn, as well.<br /><br />We're all in this together ... and to put it into perspective, Luther's phrase says it well: "simul justus et peccator."<br /><br />In our realities, we are less, and oftentimes tragically less, than what we ourselves would like to be, and in our art, and oftentimes gloriously so, we hold before ourselves what we could be, and what we are sometimes, and what the journey needs to forever seek - perhaps like the Star leading on the Magi ... <br /><br />Is it not true that every human being longs for the Star ... and that every religion reflects this longing in its art?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-37658743124804863482018-11-19T08:13:00.000-08:002018-11-19T08:13:44.281-08:00Luke's Wicked Sense of HumorGood ol' Luke.<br /><br />I suspect a twinkle in his eye many a time as he wrote the gospel, tweaking the noses of the know-it-alls, and catching the proud (and who isn't?) off guard.<br /><br />Today's lection, the rich man (Oh Lordy, listen to the trumpets and watch the security detail in their black SUVs) and, oh wait a minute, does the rich man have a name?<br /><br />And Lazarus, a stinking little man full of sores and sorrow, groveling on the ground for a few of the rich man's crumbs ... friendless, a companion of raggedy street dogs ... <br /><br />But, wait, he has a name, a real name, and later in the story, this sad mess of sores gets to sit on the lap of Abraham, while the rich man, a critter without a name, a self-serving bag of pride, goes without a name, and he's hot and he thirsty, and still expects Lazarus to come a-running to wait upon him.<br /><br />He's not worth naming; his worth is in himself, his possessions and his power. He has what he wants, and so he's lost his name. Like all the rich, so full of themselves, a dime a dozen as God sees it.<br /><br />But it's Lazarus, the man with nothing, who smells to high heaven with sores and disease, likely condemned by the rich man for being lazy, or stupid, why, he has a name.<br /><br />Precious in the sight of the LORD. <br /><br />A name.<br /><br />I think Luke was chuckling to himself when he wrote the story, recalling how Jesus so often tweaked the noses of the rich and the powerful. <br /><br />Recalling the moment, perhaps, as Luke witnessed it, or more likely, as Luke heard it from others, that Jesus, too, had a twinkle in his eye, a wicked sense of humor, as he made it clear to those who worked so hard to make a name for themselves, that in God's realm, they have no name at all; they've traded it away for goods.<br /><br />And the stinking man, licked by the dogs, beneath the table of the rich, well, pay attention folks, because he has a name!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-34706887254596131682018-11-17T05:10:00.000-08:002018-11-17T05:10:03.622-08:00Psalm 149Reading the text is always an unpredictable process ... sure, we can sort of determine what the "original" intent might have been, sort of, but it's our response that's most telling.<br /><br />I've read Psalm 149 a good many times, with thanksgiving and with reservation, because of the violence ... biblical violence in the hands of the powerful is, at best, dangerous; but perhaps it can be read in another way, and that's what struck me this morning.<br /><br />V.6, "Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands."<br /><br />Yes, in the eager hands of the already-powerful, such a verse can be disastrous. The Erik Princes of this world love this kind of stuff, and exult in the love of "arms for christ."<br /><br />Yet as I read it this morning, it reminded me that our praise of God can never be separated from the tasks at hand, the tasks of living and caring for what it is right and good, promoting the wellbeing of a society, and especially defending those whose voices have been muted by the powerful.<br /><br />The text goes on: "to execute vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters and their nobles with chains of iron...."<br /><br />I think of Bonhoeffer's fateful decision to participate in the bomb plot to kill Hitler, which, of course, is an extreme measure, but Bonhoeffer knew full well that love for the nation, for the Jews, now required a dramatic move to remove the source of the nation's ills.<br /><br />I think of Martin Luther King, Jr., who made clear that violence was never to be offered to violence. But the text makes clear, I believe, that in the struggle for right, there can be no laying downing and simply taking it.<br /><br />The Civil Rights demonstrators, while refraining from proactive violence, made it clear to the nation that Black People would not longer "take it," but in their determination to cross the bridge or to order a coke at the local drugstore counter, they "violated" the social boundaries and put chains on the powerful. <br /><br />Lots of folks told them to go back to church and pray, put it into God's hands, and God would sort it all out. But it became evident that God's hands were tied by the powerful representatives of the Jim Crow, and all the prayer in all the world wouldn't open up voting rights or french fries at the local lunch counter. But only a forceful presence that dared to cross the lines and confront the lies.<br /><br />Well, the upshot of this is both complex and simple: to praise God with our voice is meaningless unless the sword is in our hand, ready to clear the way, make straight the way of the LORD, and put into chains those forces and ideas that make a mockery of religion and love to hurt the weak.<br /><br />And, that a sword in the hand, always dangerous, has to be linked to praise, lest the sword become a law unto itself, and violence for good simply becomes violence. <br /><br />So was my reading this morning of Psalm 149.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-80195074724282251032018-11-11T05:15:00.000-08:002018-11-11T05:15:18.931-08:00Armistice DayIn 1954, upon the urging of American veteran groups, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day.<br /><br />While it's right and good to remember our veterans, it's also right and good that we remember the larger event, Armistice Day, when "the war to end all wars" came to an end, at the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month.<br /><br />It was a war of fools, as most wars are - blunders into violence, the love of tactics, and the mindless belief that nations can really conquer nations, that might prevails, and "god is on our side." Everyone fought everyone else with chaplains chanting prayers and the leaders of the nations fiercely weaving a bloody tapestry of faith and nation.<br /><br />When the war ended, with untold millions dead, nothing was resolved - but only from sheer weariness of killing and dying did the combatants lay down their arms, and while the allies were "victorious," they took it upon themselves to punish Germany (and sow the seeds of WW2) and to redraw the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire (sowing the seeds of today's Middle East chaos).<br /><br />Armistice Day deserves to be remembered with tears and reverence for the millions of soldiers who were ordered to advance by generals far removed from the front. The solider, with friends and family back home, his face covered in mud and his body crawling with vermin, didn't fight for "god and country." They fought to stay alive, and to protect one another. And millions didn't make it, because of the foolhardiness of the nations.<br /><br />Let's remember our veterans, but let's not make light of their suffering and death by draping their broken bodies with bunting, but covering them with our tears, and a fresh resolve to see the insanity of war, to work mightily to unmask the craven purposes of the arms industry, and give no heed to the mindless babbling of nations who speak of their own greatness.<br /><br />Let 11.11.11 be our prayer, our purpose, our work every day of our life, until war be no more.<br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-66701918829252895352018-08-01T06:20:00.000-07:002018-08-01T06:20:39.411-07:00Infant Baptism: The Great EqualizerInfant Baptism is the New Testament version of Circumcision, the ancient rite practiced by the Israelites as the mark of God's love in their lives, the claim of God upon them, that they, and their children, belong to God, not by their own efforts, or their own choice, or their intelligence or spiritual sensitivity, but rather by the sovereign declarations of God, that "I will be your God, and you will be my people."<br />
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God made it clear, from the covenant made with Sarah and Abraham, that children, too, belong, right from the start, and while the ancient rite belonged only to the male child, the New Testament expands the rite to include girls, too - the purpose, the intent, of the respective rites, are the same, but now in Christ, it's clear: all children belong to God, and nothing says that more clearly, and directly, than baptism, the great equalizer for us all - that in Christ, there are no more the distinctions that humans love to make: neither Jew nor Gentile, neither male nor female, neither slave nor free: ethnic, gender and social.<br />
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No one choses their baptism; it's chosen for them, by their families, by the community of faith around them, and ultimately, by the love of God, the primal moving of the Holy Spirit, the <i>a prior</i> grace of God, that moves and works and creates anew, before we know anything about it, before we ask for it, or claim it, or do anything at all on our part.<br />
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Hence no one can point to their baptism as a self-affirming sign of any sort of spiritual decision, as in "I did this, I chose to be baptized, I went forward at a revival, I felt the leading of the Spirit, and welcomed it." Or, "I felt the leading of the Spirit, and resisted it for a long, I fought against God [this is the stuff of testimony, the stuff that gets the juices flowing] and then I could no longer resist, and so I surrendered to God."<br />
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Notice the dominate of the pronoun "I" in all of this?<br />
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There is no "I" in infant baptism; the "I" doesn't exist, because infant baptism is of God, through the community, through the family; it's primal, it's basic, it's not of our own decision, and for the rest of our lives, as with circumcision, we are marked by the water of baptism, in the eyes of God, in the eyes of the community, and in our own eyes, too, though we may do our best to deny it, to forget it, to live contrary to it, but no one can undo the mark of circumcision, and no one can wipe off the water of baptism.<br />
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Believer's Baptism, on the other hand, is all about the "I" ... and that's the cause of so much dissension and distress in evangelical communities, creating a spiritual rivalry in which the believer is made the central actor, and when it comes to worship in such communities, "stars" are born who have the most spectacular stories of conversion, resistance, surrender, and then victory over the dark forces of Satan, and so on.<br />
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If we begin with the "I" in all of this, that's where we end, and there's nothing more deadly to the work of God than when the "I" assumes control, even when masked with the language of surrender and humility, as in "God has done it all," when in fact, the believer makes it clear that it was their decision, their moment of surrender, their will, their moment to decision, and though God played a part, it was the believer who finished the deal and subsequently plays the central role through prayer, Bible reading, witnessing, fellowship and faith. All of these are important, of course, for all of us, but evangelical communities, these are the tools the believer uses to maintain faith, whereas in reality, these are the gifts of the Spirit, and like John put it, "I must grow smaller, and he must grow larger."<br />
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When the "I" is dominant, we have rivalries, dissensions and distinctions - as I heard years ago, "Me graduate school Christian; you kindergarten Christian. What's wrong with you?"<br />
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The "testimony" trail in evangelicalism provides the platform of stardom, the "witness" of the "saved," who tell their stories with flourish, and, I suspect, plenty of embellishment, to eager crowds, crowds looking for encouragement, for thrill, for confirmation of their own ego in the spiritual realm.<br />
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When it comes to testimony, what did a Jew say, other than "I belong to God, and that's not my decision, it's God's"? ... maybe adding, "I wish God would leave me alone."<br />
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What can a Christian say, except the very same thing?<br />
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"I belong to God, and that's not my decision, it's God's decision, God's work, God's purpose flowing through the width and breadth of history, from the beginning, and reaching to the very end, however that will be."<br />
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And because it's God's decision, from before the foundation of the earth, there is nothing now that can separate us from the love of God in Christ ... what God establishes, God protects; what God initiates, God finishes, and to God be the glory.<br />
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And in a weary world where "our glory" plays the central world, much to our sorrow and much to the harm of our world, the message of grace, sovereign, full and complete, becomes the glass of cool water in a hot and thirsty world.<br />
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The message of grace, resplendently portrayed in the moment of infant baptism, when this little squiggling, squirming, diaper-pooping, child is touched with the water, and the minister says, "In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit" ... in the name of all that is good, all that is God, all that is right and beautiful, hopeful and redeeming, "you are baptized! Now and forever more, you belong to God, not because of this baptism, but because of God's decision, made in the heart of God, for sake of God's purposes, God's creation, God's work. And what God has done is revealed and confirmed in waters of baptism."<br />
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And, of course, for those who come to faith later in life, it's really all the same - the same intent on God's part, the same purpose, the same grounding - not in the believer can any of this be found but only in the mercy of God. Whereas we're often tempted to point to ourselves in these matters, baptism erases all such efforts to glorify ourselves.<br />
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For the adult being baptized, the language is the same: "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. By the mercies of God, full and complete, you belong to God, now and forever more. not because of this baptism, but through the work of the Spirit, who does it all, the giver of life, unto the glory of God."<br />
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Yes, to God be the glory!<br />
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And for me, there is no clearer statement of such power than in the moment of an infant baptism.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-67718421852925498532018-07-22T05:28:00.000-07:002018-07-22T05:28:36.464-07:00I Was Feeling Good Until ... Joshua 6.21It's a good morning.<br />
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My wife is back in town, and me little heart is happy.<br />
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As with most mornings, the Daily Lectionary ... the Bible ... you know, THE BIBLE ... which I've studied for most of my life, taught to so many, and from which I've preached endless sermons, some of which were even pretty darn good. Ha!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0d5Bvp71VB5L3Dh_-XXpLqMh-paldM5YpAmXY2YIsQSbEzZ6C9u78k3TnJU2HK_lb_kbTdV4khiEqUJE_42eMkW26NFBcxsttJmadE-GuvbE6tO_XeMGIBoJ-MOlGkqE6WQkyesP3_A/s1600/fall-of-jericho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="962" data-original-width="1600" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0d5Bvp71VB5L3Dh_-XXpLqMh-paldM5YpAmXY2YIsQSbEzZ6C9u78k3TnJU2HK_lb_kbTdV4khiEqUJE_42eMkW26NFBcxsttJmadE-GuvbE6tO_XeMGIBoJ-MOlGkqE6WQkyesP3_A/s320/fall-of-jericho.jpg" width="320" /></a>But, as of late, I'm reading with careful eyes ... and things are hitting me hard ... like this morning's piece from Joshua, with Jericho in ruins, and Joshua says: <i>Take all the valuables, the gold, silver and bronze, and we'll put them into the LORD's treasury, but as for everything else, everyone else, man, woman and child, dogs and cats, cows and goats, devoted [what a word to use] for destruction. Death, m'boys, death; carnage and destruction, kill 'em all ... they don't deserve life; their land is our land. Preserve Rahab and her family; she helped us. But as for the rest, kill' em. As for the city, burn it. As for the future, cursed be anyone who tries to rebuild it. </i><br />
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Oh dear, what can I say?<br />
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There was a time when I would have said: <i>Blood and terror, but such were the times.</i><br />
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These days, I simply say, <i>Blood and terror ... and horrible and hideous ... yes, this happens; this is what nations do to one another; and every nation says that it's their god who commands it, who commends them for it; a god of unrelenting violence who finds blood rather tasty. And for those who care at all about this earth, about life, a word of rejection is needed here. A word that puts material like this into a museum, into a display of sadness, titled, this is what people do when they misconceive god.</i><br />
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Sadder, still, what this bloody business engenders in many who read it ... the Puritans and early Americans who saw the Indigenous Peoples as Israel looked upon the citizens of Jericho ... and down through the ages, as European Christians colonized the world, wiping out tens of thousands of people in a heartbeat, if not by sword, then by disease, and enslaving millions, devoting to a life of unrelenting cruelty and sorrow. Yuppers! <i>The LORD is on our side, and the sword is the way of the LORD. </i><br />
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I'll not do a Thomas Jefferson on the Bible, with cut and paste ... to make it more "sanitary" and pleasing. No, this is part of the Sacred Text, it's there, and I have to deal with it.</div>
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But no longer will I offer justification for it, or try to make it a metaphor, or allegory, or anything like that No, not at all. </div>
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It's just horrible, hideous, miserable and unworthy of the Creator of the World. That ancient Israel should conceive of itself in this kind of blood, and by the sword is not unusual; this is how nations behave. But it's not what God commands or commends!</div>
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But that Jews today, and Christians, and anyone else, of whatever creed, who read this for justification of violence and domination, is the greater horror, and the greater crime against God and God's Creation.</div>
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It was hard to read today ... I was feeling good, and then this dirty little ditty, if you will ... that the way of the LORD is the way of the sword ... and if Joshua had the temerity to curse those who would try to rebuild the city, perhaps a curse upon those who take up these texts of violence and use them to justify their laws, their guns, their violence, their domination.</div>
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But, then, no curse is needed.</div>
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Because those who live by the sword die by it. The Bible says that, too, sort of. Whoever wrote that piece (Aeschylus) knew the story, and when Jesus quotes it (he quotes a Greek philosopher, rather than someone from his own religious tradition), he, too, knew the story, better than any of us. </div>
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Now is not the time for me to say: the sword is the device of hell, not heaven; that "death to all" is the cry of the demented, and not the Word of the LORD.</div>
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<i>For God so loved the world, that God gave</i> ... upon this hangs all the Law and the Prophets ... and by such is how I read the Bible.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-327280398014938882018-05-19T09:49:00.000-07:002018-05-19T09:49:08.782-07:00Thinking about "Dear God""Dear God," I've said a million times and then some.<br /><br />"Dear God," <br />"watch over my children,"<br />"keep my wife,"<br />"help me,"<br />"be with my friend,"<br />"bless our world."<br /><br />"Dear God" ... sweet words, words of hope, humility, and longing.<br /><br />Words that have meant the world to me over the years, without question, simple and direct, personal and poignant, "Dear God."<br /><br />My sadness about the word "God" is how this precious word has been sullied and stained by certain religious elements that have lost all imagination, replacing it with dogma ... religious elements that have ceased thinking, elements without humility before the great mysteries of life, death, love and eternity. <br /><br />Sadly, my own inner spirit has been hurt by these elements - their brutality, their insistence, their misplaced confidence in what they know, their disdain for the poor, for immigrants, and for people of other faith-traditions. <br /><br />I have been taking a daily bath in their filthy water for some years now, trying to figure it out, trying to find words to counter their evil influence, wanting to shine some light into the darkness and madness of their violent thoughts and behavior. Compounded by the filthy water of wayward politics, linked to these religious elements, with a horrible and heinous progeny populating our churches, our schools, our sense of being and identity. Bathe in filthy water, and there is no cleansing, but only more filth, more despair, more disappointment and discouragement, until the soul itself is compromised by the principalities and powers of death.<br /><br />Great music, poetry, exalted preaching, novels and film ... birds and bees and children laughing and crying ... all of this, and more, cleansing ... clean ... clear ... hope anew, courage to believe, to imagine, to see the mountain, to hear the world, to engage the powers of life, and be a human being fully alive, which is, after all, the glory of God.<br /><br />"Dear God" ... two words that have meant the world to me ... dear, close and kind ... God, high above and surrounding all that is, making life, and holding us dear, as only Dear God can do.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-73587444947038013142018-05-18T09:03:00.001-07:002018-05-18T09:03:41.608-07:00SpeechlessIf ever there were words that describe my present mindset, it's these of Jeremiah: "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak."<br /><br />Jeremiah chalks it up to his youthfulness. <br /><br />But me? I'm no longer young! <br /><br />I've been around the Horn any number of times, rough seas and craziness; hurt, sorrow and pain; under attack and betrayed; lied about and despised. The stuff of ministry. Yet, plenty of good stuff in the mix, as well: love, hope, peace, encouragement, friendship, humor, loyalty, and victory ... and a wife without peer, and a family of adventure ... rich experiences and travel ... and looking back, I'm satisfied with the years. And now, here I am.<br /><br />These days, nonetheless, words fail me.<br /><br />Jeremiah is often at a loss for words, too ... his world is a mess ... politics and religion in shambles, shady characters and greed all around ... what to say, what to say?<br /><br />He rants and he raves ... he cajoles and condemns ... he comforts and holds up hope ... and when nothing seems to work, he choose silence ... says that God set him up and left him twisting in the wind. For the time being, Jeremiah is on leave.<br /><br />As I am right now, but the words of God boil away in his guts ... he cannot escape the task ... but who doesn't need some time for the guts to boil, for the churning and stirring of thoughts and hurts and sorrow and despair and anger and alienation? Who doesn't need to tell God off? Who doesn't need to shut up now and then? To declare that's it's not worth my time; to turn around and walk away? Who doesn't need that now and then? <br /><br />But as Jeremiah learned, his silence can hold only for a while ... because of how it all began. In the beginning, the Words of the Lord ... <br /><br />When the words of the Lord came to Jeremiah, out of the blue, a wild affirmation: "You're mine. Even before you're conceived in your mother's womb, way before then, I knew you ... and already in my mind, you were appointed as a prophet ... to the nations."<br /><br />Never just to Judah, but to the nations ... because Judah, while important enough, isn't the sum-total of God's care, but always the nations, the world, everyone and everything. Something to keep in mind, lest one simply hides in the church, talking pious mush and ignoring just how much of the religious enterprise is a house of cards.<br /><br />So, to the nations ... and it's God's determination.<br /><br />The bedrock ... you're mine! Which is something the Apostle Paul understood so well, and so did Calvin, but those are stories for another day.<br /><br />The bedrock love of God.<br /><br />Warms the cockles of my Calvinist heart ... the a priori love of God ... which is the only place for me to begin, and should I forget to begin there, things seriously unravel for me. Even with that, they may unravel, because unravelling is sometimes needed, so God can reknit the whole deal with longer sleeves, or something like that.<br /><br />And as St. John of the Cross suggested to young monks all wrapped up in themselves, in such times as these, when things are unraveling, deconstructing, and I have no idea what God is doing, it's because God obscures God's work in order to keep me "in the dark," lest I rush in and tell God what God ought to be doing. When it's done, however, I'll know. When it's done, God will step back and pull off my blinders: "Here'; this is what I've been doing."<br /><br />Like Jeremiah, I'm pretty much speechless these days.<br /><br />But the fundamental affirmation of God's love for me remains, though I can forget it now and then, lost in the wilds of idiocy besetting nation and world ... yet this morning, as I write, it's consoling ... like taking a deep breath after a long time of shallow breathing ... the body settles, the mind slows down, nerves relax a bit. Nothing yet clear, but the bedrock remains ... and a house built on the rock withstands the worst of the storms. <br /><br />I find consolation in my friend Jeremiah, a friend since seminary days - an honest man who cannot sever his connection to God, though he tries, because God won't allow it. It's that basic. <br /><br />I like Jeremiah every much ... he's a friend, indeed, for times such as these.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-44777166503900842332018-05-01T06:32:00.001-07:002018-05-01T06:32:57.282-07:00Evangelicals Have Imprisoned Themselves<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
The entire evangelical enterprise has been derailed by anti-abortion thinking.</div>
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"It's murder" they shout, and that's the end of the argument. They've boxed themselves with an inflammatory rhetoric that brooks no challenge, fails to see the human dimension, and plunges ahead like a runaway train.</div>
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There is no way in hell that an evangelical caught up into anti-abortion hysteria will see the moral and spiritual bankruptcy of such thinking. And it is, in my judgment, the way of hell; if there is a Devil, as evangelicals mostly claim, then such a Devil is laughing like mad as evangelicals destroy themselves with fanatic opinions about abortion, and too often linked with hatred for LGBTQ persons and, yes, the Original Sin of America, racism.</div>
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How ironic, that a movement boasting of its loyalty to Christ, its devotion to Scripture and its reliance upon the Holy Spirit, should become so crippled by partisan politics and controlled by rightwing interests who are using the evangelical tradition to further their own greed and power by weakening the government in order to give their version of capitalism a free hand to loot and pillage the economy and the environment.</div>
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All of their vaunted talk about Jesus seems to be mostly hot air, as they buy into the Ayn Rand condemnation of the poor, the Neo-Con vision of a world dominated by America, and the Southern Strategy of Nullification. If ever there were a moment in American History where logic goes berserk, as it did in Nazi Germany, and with Joseph McCarthy, it's now with evangelicalism and its surrender of the mind and the heart, and the Gospel, for a bowl of fame-porridge, while seated at the table of the wealthy, the profane, the NRA, the Klan, and the worst of the worst.</div>
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Evangelicals have imprisoned themselves, and only miracle can set them free.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7882664985639683163.post-84250394187325631462018-04-25T07:20:00.004-07:002018-04-25T07:20:59.228-07:00Exodus 33.2 - Hideous IdeasI used to read a passage like this serenely:<br /><br /><i>I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites</i> (Exodus 33.2)<br /><br />But, alas and alack, no more serenity. <br /><br />In the light of what White Europeans did to the inhabitants of North and South America, and to the peoples of Africa, and with the continuing plague of racism in the United States, a plague rooted in the American South and American evangelicalism, to read of peoples displaced by none other than God, for the sake of the few, disturbs me deeply. <br /><br />We're talking here of people, children, families, hopes and dreams, and all the rest ... and without batting an eye, the Text speaks of an angel driving all of them out, lock, stock and barrel ... and where did they go? What happened to them? <br /><br />Sure, I know the story - much of this never happened, and the Promised Land remained populated by its original inhabitants. But at best, an uneasy relationship, punctuated by conflict and war, not unlike modern-day Israel and the Palestinians.<br /><br />Whatever happened is one thing, but the thought is another. And the thought is this: here are a people whose lives do NOT matter, people of no account, people who have something we want, and we'll not buy it from them, we'll take it from them, and god is on our side.<br /><br />In just a few words, all the horror and sadness of history is encapsulated.<br /><br />Ultimately, as the story plays out, God abandoned the land business, closed out and locked up, with a sign: "No More!" It was too costly, and it compromised God and God's people as well.<br /><br />And if God apologized, God did so through the Prophets and through the Christ, with a vision of love and hope and peace for all the world, all its peoples, all its creatures, great and small - every rock, river, and tree.<br /><br />Perhaps, now, the Spirit of God speaks through the tragedy: "Is this what you think? Is this what you want? Is this how you conceive of me and yourself?"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0