I appreciate the Episcopal Bishop (redundant!) of Washington DC for calling out the cruelty of the GOP and The Felon’s administration.
I was recently talking to a friend and colleague and I lamented the lack of loud voices fighting for good from the world of clergy. Too many either cozy up to the government or spend their time preaching hate and get rich quick schemes. So if any of my fellow clerics read this, remember to use your collar (figuratively) to speak out.
Yes, that man did do a fascist salute at the inauguration yesterday. As they begin to tell you that you didn’t see precisely what you know you saw, you can trust me to hold your memory. And you, mine.”
Part of the American founding myth is that the Patriots told off the King and then refused to acknowledge or accept anything tied to the authority of the British government.
That’s an oversimplification, I’m sure, but it’s inspiration for me today. I do not accept the legitimacy of the Felon’s Administration. I do not recognize his appointments, either now or the first time he menaced our country. I only recognize three justices on the Supreme Court.
My perennial Memorial Day post
Every year I find myself cringing whenever most holidays roll around. Thanksgiving is plowed through to the great Black Friday celebration of cheap crap. Christmas is feted earlier each year as retailers try to increase our piety towards our greatest faith, Materialism.
I’m especially grumpy when Memorial and Veteran’s Day roll around. We don’t take war seriously, for most of us it’s a thing that happens to other people far away, and if we clap when we see military personnel walking through the airport or attach a bumper sticker to the car that’s our part done.
When I was a child, shortly after the earth cooled, we were taught in school all about the US constitution with emphasis in the rights spelled out in it.
I’ve never understood the contradiction in our Great Democratic Principles and the reality that seemingly every protest is treated like an affront to the Constitution itself.
And so we see, again for the billionth time, how student protests require a militarized police response because heaven forfend!
I enjoy documentaries. But historical documentaries are sometimes sharper than I’d like, by which I mean they reiterate the many pieces—the chain of bad decisions—that have lead to the human world as it exists today.
With the current violence in the Levant (but is there any time when there isn’t violence there?!) I am particularly aware of how we got from A to B.
Jews were expelled from Palestine by Empires, not in a single swift action but gradually as the territory was conquered and colonized, rinse and repeat, leading up to an ignominious obliteration of the center of Jewish religion, the Temple in Jerusalem, in 70 CE.
Loren McGrail, Israel/Palestine John 12:1-11
While the reading falls traditionally on Monday of Holy Week, this prayer may be used throughout the year.
Anointing and blessing God help us to recognize you in all your glory and humble disguises including the poor of the world who are your body.
When we meet you may we fall to our knees, offer you all that we have, meet your lavish grace with extravagant love.
Or so the old saying goes.
I was recently in a minor conflict with a…let’s say colleague? who has decided that I am Satan incarnate because…well I don’t know actually. She has a reputation for being terribly unpleasant. It’s sad because I see someone who, at the last phase of life, is miserable and in some kind of pain…emotional or physical or psychological or maybe a combination.
In the days of my youth I would have eviscerated her via email outlining the many ways she’s wrong and has incorrectly accused me of things that she, actually, is responsible for.
It’s universally taught across humanity that lying is wrong. So standard that it’s essentially cliche, and so easily ignored. This is especially true for adults (see my article “Suffer the Big Babies) who think that they can get away with it because they’re adults.
When I was a kid, nothing was more irritating to my dad than lying. It wasn’t until I grew up that I fully understood why.
Before I go on, let me be clear: I’m not talking about little white lies (“Gee, you DO look thinner!
Originally Posted: 2008-12-31
No matter the tribal/sectarian/nationalist label, the battle is always between good and evil, even sometimes within each side of a conflict, simultaneously.
Spirit, open our hearts and minds to do good in this world, and to end our senseless killing.