Thanks to Ann Voskamp and Rachel Held Evans for speaking out....about refugees/immigrants

I applaud these evangelical women who are willing to speak out to their fans, members of their faith group...risking reputation and income to share their hearts and speak plainly and clearly. Insisting that that the current direction many evangelical Christians are headed in this country….this political party line they have accepted...no...embraced and celebrated…. is the antithesis to everything Jesus said….!

Rachel Held Evans is one of them. Here’s her recent Twitter feed.

And Ann Voskamp. Canadian author of several well known Christian bestselling books...was at the Prayer breakfast. Outside. Carrying a sign. In support of immigrants and refugees.

Here are two articles about it HERE and HERE. Some of the quotes in the articles….from Voskamp and other evangelicals make both articles worth reading.

Please do...and please read some of the information that gives an accurate facts based look at the vetting process for refugees. It is a much more thorough process than what they are telling you on Fox News. It really is.....

HERE, HERE and HERE

Fire Starter Christians? What Spirit Are YOU of?

I came upon the following quote on the Charisma website the other day….spoken by Terry Bates, an Assemblies of God pastor.

'We need 'Fire Starters,' like Elijah, who will call fire down from heaven to confront the culture and false religions with undeniable, uncompromising truth and without political correctness. It was at this point that I began to see people getting up, walking out, shaking their heads." Terry Bates

Totally mirroring Jesus’ response when the disciples wanted to bring Elijah’s fire down on the Samaritan village for not welcoming them….

Samaritans Reject Jesus51 And it came to pass, in the completing of the days of his being taken up, that he fixed his face to go on to Jerusalem, 52 and he sent messengers before his face, and having gone on, they went into a village of Samaritans, to make ready for him, 53 and they did not receive him, because his face was going on to Jerusalem. 54 And his disciples James and John having seen, said, ‘Sir, wilt thou [that] we may command fire to come down from the heaven, and to consume them, as also Elijah did?’ 55 and having turned, he rebuked them, and said, ‘Ye have not known of what spirit ye are; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save;’ and they went on to another village.

And that just might be why people got up and walked out of his sermon. Jesus is our example, no? We need more peacemakers these days...not more firestarters.....

A Moment of Hope in Dallas

THIS is what will change the world. 

Not Anti Cop. Not Anti Black.....

“You know, the hardest part of having a conversation surrounding police shootings in America, it always feels like in America, it’s like if you take a stand for something, you automatically are against something else. 

It’s either one or the other. With police shootings, it shouldn’t have to work that way. For instance, if you are pro black lives matter, you are assumed to be anti police. And if you are pro police, you surely hate black people.  

It seems like it's either pro-cop and anti-black, or pro-black and anti-cop, when in reality you can be pro-cop and pro-black, which is what we should all be. It is what we should be aiming for. You shouldn’t have to choose between the police and the citizens they are sworn to protect." Trevor Noah

Uh-huh, yes. That pretty much sums it up. I am not pro-black and anti-cop. I am not pro-cop and anti-black. I am anti perpetrators of violence.  I am pro black. I am pro cop.

To declare there is not an issue with the police abusing their power and authority….ever...or rarely..contradicts a shit load of evidence to the contrary. To declare all cops are corrupt and abusive equally misses the mark.

While I firmly believe that the majority of cops are good cops who deserve our support and admiration, there are bad ones too. And from what I’ve read, some of them are “swing votes.” Their behavior and ethics depend on their peers and the culture of their department.

On any given day, in any police department in the nation, 15 percent of officers will do the right thing no matter what is happening. Fifteen percent of officers will abuse their authority at every opportunity. The remaining 70 percent could go either way depending on whom they are working with. Quote taken from a Vox article and attributed to K.L. Williams who trains police in the use of violence.

Does the problem stem from peer pressure, the desensitization of empathy caused by dealing with criminals and violence every day? I don’t know. There is a problem, though, and it seems that minorities get the brunt of it. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong color…wrong guy?

I’ve heard/read a lot of stuff about the shootings this past week or so. Conservatives vs liberals; both bandying about polar opposite views. Perhaps the single most impacting story of all for me emerged from the news conference with the medical team from Parkland Memorial Hospital. Particularly from an emotional Dr. Brian H. Williams. He was the trauma surgeon who tried to save the lives of the wounded Dallas police officers.

What makes his story unique is that he has one foot in both worlds. He is a respected doctor who deals with the police on a daily basis but also as an average everyday black guy in street clothes who fears the police.

"I will defend you and I will care for you," he said. "That doesn't mean that I do not fear you."

From the CBS news article:

He's been stopped by police himself over the years and said he is mindful each time that he must act and speak in a way that doesn't seem threatening. He lives each time in fear that he could be killed. He sees the news about other black men killed by police.

In one traffic stop, he ended up "spread eagle" on the hood of the cruiser. In another, when he was stopped for speeding, he had to wait until a second officer arrived. Just a few years ago, he was stopped by an officer and questioned as he stood outside his apartment complex waiting for someone to pick him up and drive him to the airport.

He doesn't have such encounters every day but when he does, he's on his guard and, "I'm always just praying for the encounter to end."

He said this about the cops he couldn’t save…..

I think about it every day. That I was unable to save those cops when they came here that night," Williams said. "It weighs on my mind constantly. This killing. It has to stop. Black men dying and being forgotten. People retaliating against the people who were sworn to defend us. We have to come together and end all this.

Not anti cop. No anti black but rather anti perpetrators of violence.

Take a few minutes and watch the videos....HERE and HERE. They are very impacting.

Bathroom Privileges....for everyone.....

If not for privilege, we would not be discussing the bathroom thing….

In many countries around the world, the biggest bathroom issue is just finding someplace safe to go…. behind the nearest bush….or a pit dug in the ground. Even in countries that have indoor facilities, the conditions are far from sanitary or safe.  

Here’s a bathroom in Africa….

And another one in China.

If you want to be truly thankful for the bathrooms you have access to at home and in public places like, oh say, Target….google it. No, really….google it. Image search…..and just take a good look at some of the pictures. Since we live in a privileged, spoiled country like America, we can spend hours….and days...and resources squabbling about bathroom rules and who should and should not have access….and how our sincerely held beliefs are being eroded.

So the American Family Association’s latest boycott is Target. 700,000 people have signed the petition to boycott Target. Target is the bad guy because they think this bathroom of your birth gender rule is ridiculous and they said so. At Target, you can use the bathroom of the gender you associate with. They said it loud and clear….and it’s really not a policy change. What do you think trans men and women have been doing all along? They’ve been using the ladies room if they identify as a women….and the men’s room if they identify as a guy. They are doing it at Walmart, at the mall, at the movies, at your favorite restaurant and maybe even at your place of employment. Target just verbalized it. They are standing up for their sincerely held beliefs….but somehow that is not okay with the 700,000 people who’ve signed the petition.

I want you to google something else. Here….I’ll do it for you. Just click the link.

Trans Women - Guys, would you feel comfortable in the men’s room with one of these women. I read a quote somewhere from a trans women who said, "People like me die in ladies rooms."  

Trans men - Ladies, would you feel comfortable in the ladies room with one of these guys? How would you explain this to your daughter...that these people who so clearly look like men are really women?

Can’t we just let it alone? It’s been going on for years. There have been trans people for years and years and believe me, they’ve been peeing in the stall next to you all this time.

And anyone who is going to pose as a women so he can get a peek or a feel is not going to be deterred by an open door next to a sign that says “Ladies Room.”

Even though I strongly suspect many of the folks who signed the boycott Target petition really just want trans people to go away but they're not going to. They just aren't. They have to pee somewhere...really they do. I know Ted Cruz offered his oh so practical solution. That they need to use their own bathrooms at home. As if....

Some well known Christians like John Pavlovitz and Rachel Held Evans and probably many others have...or will have...reasonable responses.

Uh-oh...'Tis the War on Christmas Season....

Today, on Facebook, I happened upon a post called Top 10 Reasons Christians Should Stop Whining About Secular Xmas. This time of year I usually write about the oft lamented but fictitious “War on Christmas.”  This blog post was obviously written by a kindred spirit. It was from the Patheos Blog called “irreverin.”

Out of the ten reasons, these two are my favorites....

1- Season’s greetings,” refers to that broad expanse of time from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. Multiple holidays=holiday season. It’s nothing against Jesus, really.

7 - Speaking of shopping–if you are bothered by all the secular expressions posted around malls and big box stores this season, might i gently suggest that you spend less of your Christmas season at the freakin mall? If you don’t like the signage, spend more time serving the poor, going to worship, getting out in nature, and spending time with the people you love. I’m pretty sure the birthday boy would be all for it.

Check out the blog post (written by Rev. Erin Wathen) for the other eight reasons…..

Which Kingdom?

I came across one of John McNaughton's paintings a few years ago. I found it offensive then....I find it offensive now. Apparently, I am not the only one. If you go to his website, he addresses a laundry list of criticisms about his painting, One Nation Under God. He's gotten complaints from far left, far right and everywhere in between.

Complaints about who is in the painting and who is not. There are not enough minorities represented. Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Payne (who he recognizes as Deists) were included. There are complaints about who is standing where. There are complaints about the quality of the artwork, that he explains too much, says too much and that some of this should be left to the imagination of the viewer.

There is not a lot of ambiguity in the symbolism he uses in the painting. A white and gold robed, glowing Jesus is standing in the middle of the painting, in the forefront, and he is holding the constitution of the United States of America.

Yes, really. Jesus is an American, didn't you know? But He is getting fed up with our liberal nation that has taken prayer out of schools, removed nativity scenes from government property, passed Obamacare and now...now....gays can marry. This nation has gotten on his last nerve. And it has gotten on McNaughton's last nerve too.

I spent an hour or so on McNaughton's website this morning. Many of the paintings are interactive so when you rest your cursor over an image in the painting, a paragraph or so pops up on the right explaining the symbolism and his beliefs. McNaughton is very opinionated.

The opinion that shines through in paintings like Obamanation, One Nation Under Socialism (he's burning the Constitution), The Demise of America (Washington is burning in the background), Wake Up America (Obama is giving a speech and the audience is in chains) is that Obama is a terrible president who is doing irreparable harm to America. Some of the symbolism he employs is oblique and vague. Some of it is in your face right wing propaganda.

A more recent painting, Separation of Church and State, shows Jesus (still glowing) sadly leaving a joint session of Congress to boos and jeers. The flag is ripped from top to bottom. Yep....just like the veil that separated the Most Holy Place in the temple. Below is McNaughton's description and inspiration for the painting from his Facebook page.

Separation of Church and State, by Jon McNaughtonOnce a year, the President of the United States makes a speech to a joint session of Congress, reporting the condition of the nation and outlines the priorities of his administration. It is called, “The State of the Union Address." 

I envisioned Jesus speaking to this joint session where all the leaders of our country are gathered. He looks at them from the pulpit; He pauses, and then begins to address the assembly. 

He reminds them of the covenant which was made with the Founders of our Nation that He would protect and bless us if we would remember Him; and then Jesus opens the Holy Bible to Psalms 33: 12, and reads the verse:“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD.” 

At this moment the Chamber erupts into shouts of anger and disgust, as the body of the joint session turns into a hostile mob - reminiscent of the mob that shouted out to Pilate, “Crucify him!” 

Jesus, with a countenance of gentle peace, although saddened by the rejection of his offer, looks across the assembly at the angry mob. He turns and begins to exit the pulpit. The large American flag rips from top to bottom, like the veil of the temple ripped as He hung on the cross and said, “It is finished!” 

A woman, unable to bear His glance holds her face in shame. Words of mockery, angry shouts and venomous threats fill the hall. 

Above the torn flag, engraved in the marble stone of the Congressional Chamber of Congress are the words, “In God We Trust.” Oh, the irony! A shaft of light from the Courts of Heaven shines upon the word “God” as a reminder of whom they have rejected. O, America – why have you abandoned the rock from whence you were hewn! 

As Jesus exits this unholy chamber he turns to gaze at you, the viewer of this painting, and asks the question, “What will YOU do now?” 

The painting is meant to be a symbol of our government’s abandonment of God and His Covenant; for surely, He has not abandoned us, but we have abandoned Him.

This is all kinds of messed up. Mixing and matching patriotism with the kingdom Jesus revealed is like mixing oil and water. News flash...The United States of America is a kingdom of the WORLD, a political system. Jesus' kingdom is an entirely different place/realm/reality. Mixing His spiritual kingdom with a political system bastardizes it.

“I believe a significant segment of American evangelicalism is guilty of nationalistic and political idolatry.” Greg Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation

Idolotry, indeed. We all have our idols that we hold near and dear. But there is hope for all of us....because buried within everyone is that "hole in every heart" that longs for the kingdom. THE kingdom. Not the kingdoms of the world....not political regimes or totalitarian governments, not democracies, theocracies, republics....but THE kingdom that Jesus came to model, proclaim and establish. The one he calls us to live in.

Another one of McNaughton's paintings caught my eye. It is called Peace is Coming. It was inspired by Isaiah 2:4 that reads, "They shall turn their swords into plowshares…neither shall they learn of war anymore." 

Again there is a white and gold robed, glowing Jesus standing front and center on cobblestones. The background is dark....like a lot of McNaughton's paintings. Jesus is surrounded on both sides by kneeling soldiers and warriors. They are from every era and country. There is a Roman Centurion, a WWII Pilot, a Union soldier, an Egyptian soldier, a Knight, a Conquistador, a Viking, a Spartan, a Samari, a Palestinian.....

And they are all bowing, relief and awe on their faces, hands over hearts, overwhelmed with emotions.. every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Check out McNaughton's website...HERE.

Thank You For Making Me a Mother.....

I've been "journaling" here and there, now and then throughout my life...stuff too private or boring for a blog post. I've also been hanging out on Pinterest quite a bit lately and it seems as if there are several million journaling/writing prompts to choose from. I've randomly picked ones that strike my fancy. Yesterday the one that caught my eye was....

What decision or choice had the biggest impact on your life?

I thought my answer might make a good blog post in honor of Mother's Day. 

What an appropriate question (and answer) for this particular day (that just happens to be Mother’s Day!) Without a doubt or moment’s hesitation, the decision to have children was the choice that had the biggest impact on my life. Matthew, Beth and Emily. For me it was a north pole/south pole life changing event, as showstopping and breathtaking as the demarcation between BC and AD. Before Children. After Delivery.

There were so many unparalleled heights and depths of emotions; doubts, frustrations, anxieties, worries, joys, surprises, dreams, disappointments, fears, discouragements, encouragements, inspiration, annoyances, elation, drudgery and downright life altering delight that entered my life when I became a mother.

“The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat….,” That was the tagline from The Wide World of Sports, a TV show from yesteryear. It applies to mothering just as much as it applies to the guy on skis wiping out. Mothers enjoy victories. Mothers endure defeats. There are times we tumble painfully, head over heels, down Motherhood Mountain. But thank goodness there are times we have reasons to pump our fists in the air…. victorious, proud of our accomplishments and our children.

I’ve known both the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory. I’ve had some pretty big mothering fails….but I’ve had some victorious fist pumping moments too.

When Matthew was born, I was stunned to find out there was a kind of love, a depth of love I never knew existed. before I became a mother. An “I’d die for you,” kind of love that made my comfort, my feelings, my well being secondary to his. And for about 21 months….almost two years….he was the sole recipient of my love.

When I found out I was pregnant with Beth I had this nagging concern that my supply of mommy love was already almost all used up on Matthew. Silly me. I didn't realize until after she was born that motherly love is not a finite thing. It grows exponentially to encompass and include every single child. I loved her just as fiercely and passionately and maternally as I loved Matthew. By the time Emily came along, I knew there would be plenty of love to go around….and indeed there was.

Motherhood changes you. It deepens you. It broadens you. It enlarges your heart in unexpected ways. It awakens your instincts, tries your patience, builds your endurance, and increases your empathy.

Motherhood impacted my life in so many ways .I know more and I love more. I am a better person because I am a mother and the thrills of victory have more than made up for the agonies of defeat. It has all been worth it....so worth it.

A special thank you to Matthew, Beth and Emily for making me a mother....for putting up with my defeats and loving me through it all....

Love is a tenet of the Christian Faith

The other day, I listened to a sermon by Adam Hamilton entitled, Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin. He used an illustration about an encounter between Billy Graham and the Clinton’s that took place at a public event during the firestorm of the Monica Lewinsky/”I did not have sex with that woman” debacle….

My father is so accepting, so nonjudgmental," says eldest daughter, Gigi Graham Tchividjian. During the height of the Clinton scandal, she was her father's date at the 75th anniversary celebration for Time magazine. The Clintons were also in attendance.

"Daddy sat with the Clintons and was so warm and gracious," Tchividjian told Charisma. "In the limousine going back to the hotel, Daddy and I were talking about how difficult it must be for the Clintons with so many people gossiping and judging them. His comment was: "It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict; it's God's job to judge; and it's our job to love."

The excerpt above is from a Charisma article

I love that exchange…

I never really paid that much attention to Billy Graham in my BC - before Christ life. Oh sure, my grandmother used to watch his crusades on her little black and white TV when I spent my summers with her. She would cry during his altar calls when folks came forward in droves. I didn't pay much attention to him after I became a Christian. He was getting old. His crusades were fewer and farther between.

A few years ago, I came upon an article on one of those cult watcher blogs about a conversation between Billy Graham and Robert Schuller that smacks of universalism. It resonated so I wrote about it in a post called A Vortex with a Different Name.

I remember other here and there reading about Billy Graham; his reaction to a close call on an airplane (he was very afraid but trusted God with the outcome). And I’ve been reading snippets this morning, my curiosity piqued by this story of his encounter with the Clintons. He had/has his critics. Many criticized his seemingly lukewarm commitment to integration. Others point out that he was either too involved or too UNinvolved with politics. I’ve read some quotes, perhaps taken out of context, that are questionable. Sometimes he seemed to waffle back and forth on some issues.

But the encounter above illustrates a key component of Christianity. As Billy Graham points out, a Christian’s job is to love. You know, the greatest commandment...the command that sums up all the law….love God, love your neighbor as yourself.

Greg Boyd repeats this same sentiment in a video from 2012 during the time a vote on a gay marriage amendment was taking place in Minnesota. Greg Boyd is not one to back away from controversial issues (as he is accused of in the comments) and has taken infinite slack about his opinions and beliefs.

(Probably) More of this rambling, somewhat disjointed discourse to come…..

“CYA” is not a tenet of the Christian faith

“The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes. Change is the one quality we can predicate of it.” – Oscar Wilde

Well, yes and no….

In the recent and ongoing battle taking place in Indiana, we see a spectrum of human nature on display. Unfortunately a lot of it is just ssdd….same shit, different day. Different decade...different bias, but at the heart of it is the human tendency to sort people into categories….us and them.

Are Christians being treated unfairly in this country….even persecuted? One big issue I have with this persecution thing is that it seems many Christians are crying wolf. For so many years, Christians were the king of the hill. Now, when the law requires them to extend the same rights they enjoy to others, some cry persecution. Not being able to force our views and beliefs on others is not persecution. Having to give equal rights to religions and lifestyles we disagree with is not persecution.

But let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that Christians are losing their rights these days and they are being persecuted. Why does this comes as such a surprise…..an outrage to Christians. It’s not like Jesus did not address this when he said, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you”(Jn. 15:20).

The recent law in Indiana is meant to protect religious folks from being sued for refusing service that goes against their sincerely held religious beliefs.  When it is factored down to its lowest common denominator, it seems earmarked to protect Christians who refuse to provide their services to gays….specifically at a gay wedding. The law is vague and there are tons of loopholes that seemed to allow businesses to refuse service almost on a whim. There is an amendment in the works that is a bit more specific but it still seems to be motivated mainly by prejudice and a “cover your ass” mentality.

As far as I can tell, Jesus never taught this. “CYA” is not a tenet of the Christian faith.

I’ve wrangled with this since the day it was announced and Facebook and the internet lit up with indignation. I’ve read articles and blog posts both pro and con. This is a big topic that goes beyond the situation in Indiana. It deals with what it means to be a follower of Jesus. I plan to share some of the stuff I’ve been reading, with my two cents worth thrown in at no additional charge.

More to come…...

Picking and Choosing Scripture - Err on the Side of Love.....

At the beginning of the year, in an effort to get my web meanderings in some kind of order, I decided (among other things) to focus on several “preacher-teachers” whose sermons resonate with where I am on my spiritual/human journey. Adam Hamilton was one of them. (also Nadia Bolz-Weber)  I know I’ve mentioned Adam Hamilton numerous times here on this blog.

At the Church of the Resurrection website, there are archives of all his sermons from the present to yesteryear, along with sermon resources etc. At the gym yesterday, I used a version of the “eenie, meenie, miney, moe” method to choose which sermon to listen to. It was entitled “Making Sense of the Bible.” That is also the title of his newest book. He has gotten some slack about it because it takes a good hard “look-see” at what evangelicals hold near and dear; perhaps nearest and dearest….the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture.

In his opinion, because of the enlightenment and several subsequent movements that have “dissed” scripture, fundamentalists pushed back in a Newtons Law kind of way…...for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. As a result, many evangelical denominations have moved scripture up to the top slot on their faith statements. I googled some well known evangelical churches and found that the Church of God, the Free Methodists and the Baptists all mention scripture FIRST in their faith statements. They mention it before they mention God. They mention it before they mention Jesus. They mention it before they mention the Holy Spirit. I’m sure there are other churches who stick to this hierarchy.

The Bible is not the word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1) The Bible CONTAINS the word of God and when we read it, listen to it, pray it and sing it, God speaks to us through it. When we pay attention, God uses the Bible as an instrument of his speaking.

Hamilton suggested using three “buckets”or categories to sort scripture.

The first, and by far the largest, bucket holds the sections of the Bible we read and know beyond a doubt “fit God.” They fit the image of God revealed to us in Jesus. There is no clearer image...no closer representation, no truer benchmark than Jesus. This bucket is easy to fill and the verses contained within console, convict, comfort, caution and clarify. They edify, enlighten and educate. These verses, stories and instructions are timeless. They reveal the heart of the Father that is exactly the same heart Jesus showed us.

The second bucket holds the scriptures that are clearly for another time, culture or situation. Keith had shrimp last night at Red Lobster. Uh-oh….abomination. My blouse was a polyester cotton blend. Uh-oh...abomination. He was sporting a haircut (He does have a beard but he often trims it) A lot of the abominations had to do with cleanliness. There was no Purell water-less hand sanitizer. No antibiotics. No thermometers to make sure food reached a safe temperature to kill bacteria and other nasties. Some of the abominations were to set Israel apart from other nations. Some abominations and OT directives have spiritual implications.

The third bucket is the sticking point for many “God said it, I believe it, That settles it” Christians. It is for scriptures you just don’t know what to do with. Oh, some folks try to explain them away, spiritualize them, justify them. Others ignore them. They are verses that don’t match the character and nature of God revealed in Jesus. They do not match up to any of the Gospel stories….nor to the “summation of the law” that Jesus gave us about loving our God and loving our neighbor. The passages that no how, no way fit the “golden rule” verse in the Bible….

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12.

Genocide, war, violence, stonings, beheadings, trickery. Everyone is familiar with those verses that just don’t make sense.  

Aaaaaaaah….but that is picking and choosing scripture, no? But we all pick and choose. Even those who deny picking and choosing do, in fact, pick and choose. We don’t stone our rebellious teenagers. We don’t stone the folks who commit adultery.  We allow remarried people to worship in our churches. We RE-marry couples in our churches that clearly do not fit the “biblical criteria” for divorce and remarriage. We cut our hair. We don’t cover our heads. Some of us get tattoos. We allow women to speak in church….some churches allow women to preach in church. We eat pork. We don’t banish menstruating women to the shed in the back yard. We all pick and choose.

I like this quote from Carl Gregg's blog

Second, we should not be surprised that everyone engages in “picking and choosing” because if you survey what the Bible has to say about, for example, anger, wealth, adultery, disobedient wives and children, marriage, and divorce it becomes clear that the Bible is simultaneously both contradictory and enormously demanding. In other words, it is essentially impossible to obey all that the Bible literally says because some parts of the Bible are mutually exclusive of other parts. Does this mean that we are free to choose willy-nilly which parts of the Bible to follow? To quote the apostle Paul’s repeated refrain from the epistle to the Romans, “By no means!” However, from the perspective of progressive Christianity, Jack Black as Jesus is right when he says, “If you pick and choose, why not choose love?”

Indeed….why not err on the side of love?

‘There are many more peace mongers than warmongers"

According to Rueters on February 21st

More than 1000 Muslims formed a human shield around Oslo's synagogue on Saturday, offering symbolic protection for the city's Jewish community and condemning an attack on a synagogue in neighboring Denmark last weekend.

And this act of solidarity was not a “CYA” kind of thing. The number of Jews is tiny compared to the number of Muslims in Norway.

Norway’s Jewish community is one of the continent’s smallest, numbering only 1000. The Muslim population numbers 150,000 to 200,000 and is growing.  

"There are many more peace mongers than warmongers," Abdullah said as organizers and Jewish community leaders stood side by side. "There's still hope for humanity, for peace and love, across religious differences and backgrounds.

I love stories like this. Perhaps these isolated incidents of peace on earth, goodwill to men could be the leaven that starts to affect the whole lump.

“Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matthew 13:33).

Check out some of the coverage and photos of the gathering here and here and here and here…..

What I want to be when I grow up

I am in the process of figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. Nevermind that I am already almost old.. I’ve let life bounce me along - REacting instead of acting.

Cathy Walker posted the following on Facebook today-

“Be an atmosphere changer…..be the thermostat not the thermometer.”

I’ve mostly been the thermometer; rarely, the thermostat. And I’ve just kind of bobbed along in the sea of life.  

This past year, in an effort to help Emily cover college expenses, I started an etsy shop and relaunched a craft business from yesteryear. It was not a success. If you are interested, you can read about it on my other blog, It’s Personal.

Even though I have all kinds of ideas and the best of intentions, I’ve pretty much ignored this blog. I haven’t done much organized reading. I haven’t journaled or smashbooked or studied the Bible.. (Damn, I’m feeling more and more like a loser) I’ve focused too much of my attention on the never ending (NEVER ENDING, I tell you) list of chores and errands. That is going to stop!  

So for the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve been assessing my coulda’, woulda,’ shoulda’s. I’ve come across all kinds of suggestions about goals/resolutions/missions. Some are very helpful. Some are idealistic. Some are just dumb.

In my web travels, I came upon the following list from Pope Francis. He did not frame these suggestions in the context of New Year’s Resolutions but rather as his “do these ten things” pre-Christmas advice to Vatican employees. I like some of them a lot and decided to share them here on Mercy. .

– “Take care of your spiritual life, your relationship with God, because this is the backbone of everything we do and everything we are.”

– “Take care of your family life, giving your children and loved ones not just money, but most of all your time, attention and love.”

– “Take care of your relationships with others, transforming your faith into life and your words into good works, especially on behalf of the needy.”

– “Be careful how you speak, purify your tongue of offensive words, vulgarity and worldly decadence.”

– “Heal wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness, forgiving those who have hurt us and medicating the wounds we have caused others.”

– “Look after your work, doing it with enthusiasm, humility, competence, passion and with a spirit that knows how to thank the Lord.”

– “Be careful of envy, lust, hatred and negative feelings that devour our interior peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people.”

– “Watch out for anger that can lead to vengeance; for laziness that leads to existential euthanasia; for pointing the finger at others, which leads to pride; and for complaining continually, which leads to desperation.”

– “Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker … the elderly, the sick, the hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.”