From the Global Peace Initiative of Women on their recent gathering in Aspen, CO:
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."
-- Jesus, according to the Gospel of St. Matthew
"If you want peace, work for justice."
-- H.L. Mencken and/or Pope Paul VI (depending on whom you ask)
The setting was perfect for the task at hand -- the pristine, alpine grounds of the Aspen Institute, freshly dusted with a coating of snow, in the offseason quiet of Aspen, Colo.
More than 150 religious leaders from diverse traditions -- monastic Christian, Sufi Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Native American and others -- gathered last week in the Colorado ski town to try to figure out how best to speak with one voice on the issue of peace (and justice), and how to encourage President-elect Barack Obama to make compassionate decisions in his new administration.
....
Obama's election was, for many of the leaders present, an indication not only of a shift in political power, but of spiritual power as well. Among the issues the leaders agreed were most pressing -- the economy, the environment, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, global poverty -- as the president-elect looks toward setting his agenda for the all-important first 100 days of his administration, was helping the nation heal from what many said was eight years of fear-mongering.
Some called Obama a prophet. Others spoke of him almost as a savior. But as the conference wore on, cooler heads prevailed. "This transformation is not about Barack Obama, it's about us," Brown Campbell said on the last day of the five-day conference. "We make heroes of people too quickly and . . . rest the responsibility on his shoulders [alone]. He's always said 'us.' Every time it's pointed to him he's said, 'No. It's all of us.' "
....
On Sunday afternoon, before they scattered to the four winds, the spiritual leaders held hands in three concentric circles for a Sufi zikr -- a prayer ritual. They chanted praise to God, asked for blessings of peace, and concluded by singing the Christian hymn "Amazing Grace" over and over again while dancing a simple side step.
"I once was lost, but now am found," they sang, "was blind but now I see."
It was both a prayer and a declaration of faith.
And it was also a hope, that we all -- including our elected leaders -- might work for peace and act with compassion and grace.
Read the vision statement of the group here.
With thanks to Holy Foolishness.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The Priest Understands...
Version I:
A new priest, born and raised in Texas, is nervous about hearing confessions, so he asks an older priest to sit in on his sessions. The new priest hears a couple of confessions and then the old priest asks him to step out of the confessional for a few suggestions.
The old priest says, "Cross your arms over your chest, and rub your chin with one hand and try saying things like 'yes, I see,' and 'yes, go on,' and 'I understand.'
The new priest crosses his arms, rubs his chin with his hand and repeats all the suggested remarks to the old priest.
The old priest says, "Now, don't you think that's a little better than slapping your knee and saying, 'No way. What happened next'?"
Version II:
The last quote is "No shit. What happened next?"
I posts 'em the way I gets 'em.
From my friend in Houston.
A new priest, born and raised in Texas, is nervous about hearing confessions, so he asks an older priest to sit in on his sessions. The new priest hears a couple of confessions and then the old priest asks him to step out of the confessional for a few suggestions.
The old priest says, "Cross your arms over your chest, and rub your chin with one hand and try saying things like 'yes, I see,' and 'yes, go on,' and 'I understand.'
The new priest crosses his arms, rubs his chin with his hand and repeats all the suggested remarks to the old priest.
The old priest says, "Now, don't you think that's a little better than slapping your knee and saying, 'No way. What happened next'?"
Version II:
The last quote is "No shit. What happened next?"
I posts 'em the way I gets 'em.
From my friend in Houston.
Sex Challenge
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
DALLAS — The pastor of a megachurch says he will challenge married congregants during his sermon Sunday to have sex for seven straight days — and he plans to practice what he preaches.
“We’re going to give it a try,” said the Rev. Ed Young, who has four children with his wife of 26 years.
Young, 47, said he believes society promotes promiscuity and he wants to reclaim sex for married couples. Sex should be a nurturing, spiritual act that strengthens marriages, he said.
“God says sex should be between a married man and a woman,” Young said. “I think it’s one of the greatest things you can do for your kids because so goes the marriage, so goes the family.”
Young said he will deliver his seven-day sex challenge while sitting on a bed in front of his Dallas-area church campus.
Although it may be "one of the greatest things you can do for your kids", one hopes he will not "give it a try" on the bed in front of the church.
Actually, since there's only a limited amount of sex available, he's probably right to "reclaim sex for married couples" before the supply runs out.
DALLAS — The pastor of a megachurch says he will challenge married congregants during his sermon Sunday to have sex for seven straight days — and he plans to practice what he preaches.
“We’re going to give it a try,” said the Rev. Ed Young, who has four children with his wife of 26 years.
Young, 47, said he believes society promotes promiscuity and he wants to reclaim sex for married couples. Sex should be a nurturing, spiritual act that strengthens marriages, he said.
“God says sex should be between a married man and a woman,” Young said. “I think it’s one of the greatest things you can do for your kids because so goes the marriage, so goes the family.”
Young said he will deliver his seven-day sex challenge while sitting on a bed in front of his Dallas-area church campus.
Although it may be "one of the greatest things you can do for your kids", one hopes he will not "give it a try" on the bed in front of the church.
Actually, since there's only a limited amount of sex available, he's probably right to "reclaim sex for married couples" before the supply runs out.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Lulu and Lola
From the Daily Mail:
A woman has forked out a staggering £40,000 on tiaras and tutus for her pampered dogs.
Louise Harris, 29, was a self-confessed dog hater until four years ago when her sister took her to look at some Yorkshire Terrier puppies called Lulu and Lola.
She fell in love with the pair and has not looked back since.
The correspondent who sent this in and who shall be nameless, asked, "Next stop breast enhancement?"
Gun Sales On The Rise
From the Advocate:
Baton Rouge gun stores are seeing the same spike in weapons sales as their national counterparts.
They attribute the increase to president-elect Obama’s position on gun control issues and the questions opponents raised about his motives and his fitness to be president.
Jim McClain, of Jim’s Firearms, on Siegen Lane, said business is up 30 percent from people buying the semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity clips subject to the federal assault weapons ban, which was in effect from 1994 to 2004.
McClain said Obama is on record supporting reinstating the ban, and that a number of semiautomatic weapons popular with law-abiding gun enthusiasts were included in the ban, particularly the AR-15.
“People have a legitimate concern for the next four years of losing our Second Amendment rights for certain types of firearms,” McClain said.
Thank you, John McCain. I thank God every day that you were not elected to the presidency. Although you were not elected, you will leave behind an ugly legacy. I hope that you're pleased with yourself. Honestly, I don't know how you sleep nights.
Obama, along with a large number of police officials and of ordinary citizens, want the ban on semiautomatic weapons reinstated. Who needs to own a semiautomatic weapon? The US is awash in guns. May we redraw the line at semiautomatic weapons?
Even if the ban is reinstated, those who have the weapons, will very likely be permitted to keep them.
Baton Rouge gun stores are seeing the same spike in weapons sales as their national counterparts.
They attribute the increase to president-elect Obama’s position on gun control issues and the questions opponents raised about his motives and his fitness to be president.
Jim McClain, of Jim’s Firearms, on Siegen Lane, said business is up 30 percent from people buying the semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity clips subject to the federal assault weapons ban, which was in effect from 1994 to 2004.
McClain said Obama is on record supporting reinstating the ban, and that a number of semiautomatic weapons popular with law-abiding gun enthusiasts were included in the ban, particularly the AR-15.
“People have a legitimate concern for the next four years of losing our Second Amendment rights for certain types of firearms,” McClain said.
Thank you, John McCain. I thank God every day that you were not elected to the presidency. Although you were not elected, you will leave behind an ugly legacy. I hope that you're pleased with yourself. Honestly, I don't know how you sleep nights.
Obama, along with a large number of police officials and of ordinary citizens, want the ban on semiautomatic weapons reinstated. Who needs to own a semiautomatic weapon? The US is awash in guns. May we redraw the line at semiautomatic weapons?
Even if the ban is reinstated, those who have the weapons, will very likely be permitted to keep them.
The KKK Lives On
From the Times-Picayune:
A Tulsa, Okla., woman who traveled to Louisiana to join the Ku Klux Klan was shot to death by the leader of the group's Bogalusa chapter Sunday after she tried to back out of initiation rites at a remote, sandbar camp in northeastern St. Tammany Parish, authorities said Tuesday.
....
The woman apparently learned about Foster's group, the Sons of Dixie, through the Internet and applied so she could recruit others in Oklahoma, Strain said. Investigators have recovered the woman's application to join the Klan and noted that she had requested that the organization waive its typical membership fee.
The woman came to Louisiana by bus on Friday to begin her initiation into the group, Strain said. After several rites, including a head-shaving, she was taken to a camp on a sandbar, accessible only by boat, in the Pearl River Canal near Sun.
The initiation continued at the campsite, with rituals that consisted mainly of lighting torches and "running around in the woods," Strain said.
Sunday night, the woman decided she wanted to leave the camp, sparking an argument with Foster that soon turned violent, Strain said. Foster pushed the woman down and, as the argument continued, he shot her with a .40-caliber handgun, the sheriff said.
--- Belongings set ablaze ---
Foster immediately moved to cover up the crime, Strain said. He quickly flipped the woman's body over and tried to dig out the bullet with a knife before ordering his followers to destroy evidence, Strain said.
During the night, Klan members set fire to the woman's belongings as well as the campsite and dumped her body near Lock No. 3 Road, about a half-mile from the shooting site, Strain said.
Read the rest of the article on the whole vicious and bloody affair. This is sickening, but hardly surprising. At the moment, I have no words to express my horror.
Obama's election showed the best of us, but it will, at the same time, bring into the light the worst of some of us, not just in Louisiana, but around the country.
This should serve as a warning to anyone thinking about joining the Klan. If you say you want in and then reconsider, you could be dead.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
A Tulsa, Okla., woman who traveled to Louisiana to join the Ku Klux Klan was shot to death by the leader of the group's Bogalusa chapter Sunday after she tried to back out of initiation rites at a remote, sandbar camp in northeastern St. Tammany Parish, authorities said Tuesday.
....
The woman apparently learned about Foster's group, the Sons of Dixie, through the Internet and applied so she could recruit others in Oklahoma, Strain said. Investigators have recovered the woman's application to join the Klan and noted that she had requested that the organization waive its typical membership fee.
The woman came to Louisiana by bus on Friday to begin her initiation into the group, Strain said. After several rites, including a head-shaving, she was taken to a camp on a sandbar, accessible only by boat, in the Pearl River Canal near Sun.
The initiation continued at the campsite, with rituals that consisted mainly of lighting torches and "running around in the woods," Strain said.
Sunday night, the woman decided she wanted to leave the camp, sparking an argument with Foster that soon turned violent, Strain said. Foster pushed the woman down and, as the argument continued, he shot her with a .40-caliber handgun, the sheriff said.
--- Belongings set ablaze ---
Foster immediately moved to cover up the crime, Strain said. He quickly flipped the woman's body over and tried to dig out the bullet with a knife before ordering his followers to destroy evidence, Strain said.
During the night, Klan members set fire to the woman's belongings as well as the campsite and dumped her body near Lock No. 3 Road, about a half-mile from the shooting site, Strain said.
Read the rest of the article on the whole vicious and bloody affair. This is sickening, but hardly surprising. At the moment, I have no words to express my horror.
Obama's election showed the best of us, but it will, at the same time, bring into the light the worst of some of us, not just in Louisiana, but around the country.
This should serve as a warning to anyone thinking about joining the Klan. If you say you want in and then reconsider, you could be dead.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)