Story Of The Day - Timing

There are moments when I'm
completely at peace, but it's usually
before my children wake up & they'll
have none of that.


♫Memories, memories....♫


From StoryPeople.

Howard Zinn's "People's History"

From Alternet:

On December 13th, a date I've basically had tattooed on my arm like the guy from Memento, The People Speak finally makes its debut on the History Channel. This is more than just must-see-TV. It is nothing less than the life's work of "people's historian" Howard Zinn brought to life by some of the most talented actors, musicians, and poets in the country. Howard Zinn and his partner Anthony Arnove chose the most stirring political passages in Zinn's classic A People's History of the United States, creating a written anthology called Voices of a People's History of the United States. Those "voices" have now been fully resurrected by a collection of performers ranging from Matt Damon to hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco to poet Staceyann Chin.
....

Certainly the lunatic right will howl to the heavens after seeing "liberal Hollywood" perform the words of labor radicals, anti-racists, feminists, and socialists. In fact, aided by the craven Matt Drudge, they are already in full froth, campaigning online to get the History Channel to drop The People Speak before its air-date. If it weren't so contemptible, their actions would be almost quaint, like a virtual book burning.

Be sure to watch the video trailer at the History Channel. As the commentary says:

Democracy is not a spectator sport. Using dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries and speeches of everyday Americans, THE PEOPLE SPEAK gives voice to those who spoke up for social change throughout U.S. history, forging a nation from the bottom up with their insistence on equality and justice. Narrated by Howard Zinn and based on his best-selling books, A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People's History of the United States, THE PEOPLE SPEAK illustrates the relevance of these passionate historical moments to our society today and reminds us never to take liberty for granted.

Tattoo your arm right now so you don't forget to watch the show, and pass the word to others.

Thanks to my Texas friend for the reminder.

The Affirmation Declaration

Introduction

This document presents a rebuttal to the now famous (or, in my case, infamous) Manhattan Declaration. I only rebut the portions of the Declaration that deal with same-sex marriage—specifically, the Preamble, the introductory portion of the Declaration section, and the Marriage sub-section.
....

Preamble

The Christian call to compassion is more than a religious obligation for the Christian. It is a byproduct of the beating heart of Christ at work within the regenerated spirit of all Christians. The charity that emanates from the heart of Christ does not make room for His children to pick and choose those to whom they will extend compassion. We are not afforded the freedom of being moved by the suffering of one group, while overlooking and/or causing the suffering of another.

Indeed, the inconsistency of such religiosity was one of the chief criticisms our Lord had against the Pharisees of His day that group of religious leaders who mastered the form of godliness, but who were quick to judge, condemn, and cruelly treat those they deemed unworthy of God's grace.

For far too long, members of the GLBTI community have been the recipients of the very oppression and suffering that the MDAs claim to fight through compassionate outreach. Our Lord would call such a claim hypocritical. As He did with the Pharisees of old, He would accuse these people face to face, and challenge the sincerity of their convictions. Unfortunately, many Christians are, today, so convinced that they alone uphold the blood-stained banner of Christian truth that they would reject any such challenge out of hand, being so blinded by religious ideology that the possibility of growth and change would be as practically impossible as Christ so often found it to be in the case of the Pharisees.

Still, as hopeless a cause as it must have seemed, Christ repeatedly challenged the Pharisees not to attack those He disagreed with, but, no doubt, in the sincere hope that somewhere, somehow their eyes would be opened and they would be able to see past their religious rhetoric and tap into the heart of God. In a manner reflective of Christ's own approach to religious contradiction and hypocrisy, we intend to directly challenge the claims of the Manhattan Declaration in an effort to compel the adherents of that declaration to uphold the standards set forth by their own pens in extending to the GLBTI community the compassion they so proudly held up to the world as a sign of their convictions.


The text of the Affirmation Declaration rebuttal.

Sign the Affirmation Declaration. I did. The sponsors of the Manhattan Declaration are busy gathering signatures, so let us be busy about supporting religious leaders who stand up for justice and equality.

Evening Prayer For Blessing During Advent

God of the watching ones,
give us Your benediction.

God of the waiting ones,
give us Your good word for our souls.

God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest.

God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
and of the angels in heaven,
and of the child in the womb,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest and rise
in the kindness of Your company.


From Celtic Daily Prayer: Prayers and Readings from the Northumbria Community

UPDATE: I "borrowed" the prayer from Image & Spirit.

Bible Too Liberal? Fix it!

From the Christisn Science Monitor:

Indianapolis – The Bible, it turns out, is too liberal.

At least the Conservative Bible Project thinks so. The group has set itself the task of "translating" the Bible in a more conservative way, so as to eliminate liberal "misinterpretations" and prevent liberal "misconstruals."

This is not a joke. Consider Conservapedia, the conservative perspective Wikipedia site that features this translation project.

When it first started, it was difficult to tell if it was an authentic conservative phenomenon or a parody along the lines of "The Colbert Report." Attempts to parody an extreme group often simply end up resembling an even more extreme, possibly very fringe, but equally real group.

But it has become clear that what looks like an attempt at satire is a real project proposed by people who don't seem to grasp the irony of their endeavor.

Now, with similar irony, the Conservative Bible Project plans to replace text in the Bible, which is often open to more than one interpretation, with new text that will be in accord with how the members of the project interpret the text; in some cases, what they think it really ought to say even though it doesn't.

Surely you won't be surprised that the "translation" is not a translation, but rather a rewriting of the Bible to conservative purposes. No attention whatsoever is given to the meaning of the words in the original languages. The goal is to make the Bible all that a proper conservative Bible should be. Whatever it takes, make the Good Book say what you want it to say.

The author of the article, James F. McGrath, an associate professor of religion at Butler University in Indianapolis, says:

These "translators," if they are serious about what they are proposing to do, are exalting themselves above the Bible and, from the perspective of conservative Christianity, above God.

If nothing else, the project illustrates the fact that "conservative" and "Bible-believing" are not the same thing, despite what you'll often hear.

Whaaat! Say it ain't so. What do you think? Here are the guidelines from the folks at Conservapedia for their ideal Bible.

As of 2009, there is no fully conservative translation of the Bible which satisfies the following ten guidelines:[2]

1. Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias
2. Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, "gender inclusive" language, and other feminist distortions; preserve many references to the unborn child (the NIV deletes these)
3. Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level[3]
4. Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms to capture better the original intent;[4] Defective translations use the word "comrade" three times as often as "volunteer"; similarly, updating words that have a change in meaning, such as "word", "peace", and "miracle".
5. Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction[5] by using modern terms for it, such as "gamble" rather than "cast lots";[6] using modern political terms, such as "register" rather than "enroll" for the census
6. Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.
7. Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning
8. Exclude Later-Inserted Inauthentic Passages: excluding the interpolated passages that liberals commonly put their own spin on, such as the adulteress story
9. Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels
10. Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word "Lord" rather than "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" or "Lord God."

I don't know about you, but I'm pre-ordering my copy. Gimme that ol' time conservative Bible.

Thanks to Chris for the link.

Please Pray

Sue-z who has the bad taste to actually live with me(!) has a date with a surgeon next week. We are about to go to the pre-op testing lab. There is a small but statistically significant chance we are dealing with a malignancy here, albeit the chances are it is not. What? Me worry? 42 years into a marriage I worry about anything and everything.

Please add her to your prayers.

FWIW
jimB

....


Grandmere Mimi -

Could I ask your online community for prayers for my friend Eva's brother Wolf? He will be having a procedure on a blocked artery tomorrow morning at 9 am German time - she isn't sure whether they will be trying to put in a stent or what, but it involves inserting something at his groin and then moving it up from there. Wolf is a man in his 70's who has had serious cardiac problems before and his sisters are very concerned.

Thanks again for being our cyber-grandmere!

Aitchellsee

Lord, hear our prayers.

Diane Jardine Bruce - "I Am Humbled And Honored"

From Episcopal Life:

The Rev. Canon Diane Jardine Bruce became the first woman elected a bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles on Dec. 4, pending the required consents.
....

Bruce received 134 clergy votes and 237 votes from the laity. The ballot required 132 votes in the clergy order and 202 in the lay order. The results of all the ballots are available here. Bruce was elected from a field of six candidates, three of whom were from the Los Angeles diocese. Two candidates were openly gay.

"I am humbled and honored," said Bruce, a native of Pequannock, New Jersey.

"Diane is a skilled pastor and a proven leader," said Los Angeles diocesan Bishop Jon Bruno. "Her gifts and expertise are major assets in this diocese and the wider church and I am delighted with the opportunity for us to continue to serve together in new ways."

From the LA Times:

Delegates praised Bruce for her strong resume and personal qualities.

In addition, said the Rev. Warren Nyback, a retired diocesan priest and convention delegate: "It's an indication that the diocese is getting tired of male bishops. There's been a yearning for a long time, especially among women clergy."

Indeed! Thank you, Warren Nyback, for your words. I fear that too many of your fellow men will not echo my thanks.

In an interview after her election, Bruce said she hoped to use the position to "keep people connected, to listen to where the spirit is moving." Choking up, she added: "You never expect something like this."
....

An Irvine resident, she has specialized in interfaith work, social-service outreach and multicultural ministries, according to the diocese. She speaks Spanish and Mandarin and holds a master of divinity degree from the Claremont School of Theology and a bachelor's degree in linguistics from UC Berkeley.

The bishop-elect, who prefers to be called Diane, is an excellent choice as a suffragan in Los Angeles. Her election is overshadowed by the more controversial election of Mary Glasspool, a partnered lesbian, more's the pity. I long for the days when the election of a lesbian or gay bishop will be no more controversial or newsworthy than the election of any other bishop.

Word Verification Is On

More spam is coming in than I can handle, and I've turned on word verification. I don't like it, but I must do it. Sorry.

Uganda Drops Death Penalty And Life Sentence For Gays From Bill

From Bloomberg:

Uganda will drop the death penalty and life imprisonment for gays in a refined version of an anti- gay bill expected to be ready for presentation to Parliament in two weeks, James Nsaba Buturo, the minister of ethics and integrity, said.
....

The Ugandan government supports the bill because homosexuality and lesbianism are “repugnant to the Ugandan culture,” Buturo said. Still, it favors a more refined set of punishments, he said.
....

In addition to formulating punishments for the gay people, the bill will also promote counseling to help “attract errant people to acceptable sexual orientation,” said Buturo.

More refined? Even without the death penalty or life sentence, it's still a terrible bill. Read more commentary at Box Turtle Bulletin and Fr. Jake's.

Please Pray

From MadPriet:

But I do ask for your prayers for my wife and myself. I am surprised that I have lasted as long as I have but what is going to happen in the next little while was inevitable from the start. Unfortunately, evil works through what appear to be coincidences as much as God does. But OCICBW... will continue. I know my duty to my friends and to my God.

From Paul the BB:

I would also like prayers for our friend Mark (Mapko) who has been in hospital again.

From Ann:

for our niece Ellie who has ITP.

From cathy:

also, if anyone's got 30 seconds, could they possibly squirrel in a brief prayer for me - my monster 24-hour nonstop flight back from Oz to London is tonight and it would be nice if it all went OK.

Lord, hear our prayers.