Sunday, April 6, 2014
SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER-WAYS OF WELL-BEING SUBVERTED
In your Holy Presence,
we confess that something strange and ominous
is happening among us,
so strange that we cannot understand,
so ominous that we cannot control.
We are like Dazzling David and Smooth Solomon
who presided over social transformations
that soon were out of hand.
We are like them as we watch wave after wave
of new power and new money,
while our infrastructure disintegrates,
and the poor grow more desperate
amid our surpluses.
We are like them as we participate in social differentiation
of class and mass---
we the educated, the privileged, the entitled,
and we scarcely know or notice
the lesser ones who remain unnamed
and nearly invisible.
We are like them as we sort out tasks and assignments;
we sit in our air conditioning and move paper
but sweat only a little---
except at leisure.
And they sweat and work and sometimes seethe,
fearing the paper we move that disenfranchises them.
We are like Dazzling David and Smooth Solomon
on the way in this great economy and this great church,
We are like them, grateful, but unnoticing. Sometimes we wonder
if we will learn anything soon enough.
Good, hard, demanding, generous God;
we do not ask to be dazzled,
we do not ask to be made smooth in success.
We ask rather for courage to be faithful,
to submit our privilege and entitlement to you,
before it is too late.
It is your holiness that subverts our best convictions,
and so we submit to your haunting as best we can,
haunted as was Jesus by purposes beyond his own.
Prayers for a Privileged People, Walter Brueggemann
we confess that something strange and ominous
is happening among us,
so strange that we cannot understand,
so ominous that we cannot control.
We are like Dazzling David and Smooth Solomon
who presided over social transformations
that soon were out of hand.
We are like them as we watch wave after wave
of new power and new money,
while our infrastructure disintegrates,
and the poor grow more desperate
amid our surpluses.
We are like them as we participate in social differentiation
of class and mass---
we the educated, the privileged, the entitled,
and we scarcely know or notice
the lesser ones who remain unnamed
and nearly invisible.
We are like them as we sort out tasks and assignments;
we sit in our air conditioning and move paper
but sweat only a little---
except at leisure.
And they sweat and work and sometimes seethe,
fearing the paper we move that disenfranchises them.
We are like Dazzling David and Smooth Solomon
on the way in this great economy and this great church,
We are like them, grateful, but unnoticing. Sometimes we wonder
if we will learn anything soon enough.
Good, hard, demanding, generous God;
we do not ask to be dazzled,
we do not ask to be made smooth in success.
We ask rather for courage to be faithful,
to submit our privilege and entitlement to you,
before it is too late.
It is your holiness that subverts our best convictions,
and so we submit to your haunting as best we can,
haunted as was Jesus by purposes beyond his own.
Prayers for a Privileged People, Walter Brueggemann
Wait, What? On Hobby Lobby's Lived Out, Deeply Held Religious Convictions, Unless They Can Make Some Money, In Which Case Oops Never Mind | Common Dreams
Wait, What? On Hobby Lobby's Lived Out, Deeply Held Religious Convictions, Unless They Can Make Some Money, In Which Case Oops Never Mind | Common Dreams
BOYCOTT HOBBY LOBBY. (Ends up I'm boycotting about every business in America).
BOYCOTT HOBBY LOBBY. (Ends up I'm boycotting about every business in America).
Thursday, April 3, 2014
In 'Blow to Democracy,' SCOTUS Strikes Down Campaign Contribution Limits | Common Dreams
In 'Blow to Democracy,' SCOTUS Strikes Down Campaign Contribution Limits | Common Dreams
RIGHT-WING SUPREME COURT DEALS DEMOCRACY A FATAL BLOW. THE REVOLUTION IS AT HAND.
RIGHT-WING SUPREME COURT DEALS DEMOCRACY A FATAL BLOW. THE REVOLUTION IS AT HAND.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there
are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that
of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let
them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
The “Billionaire’s Primary”: Meet America’s New Political Bosses | Common Dreams
The “Billionaire’s Primary”: Meet America’s New Political Bosses | Common Dream
OUR ELECTION PROCESS HAS BEEN BOUGHT. BYE, BYE, MISS AMERICAN PIE.
OUR ELECTION PROCESS HAS BEEN BOUGHT. BYE, BYE, MISS AMERICAN PIE.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Clapper Confesses: NSA Searching Americans' Calls and Emails | Common Dreams
Clapper Confesses: NSA Searching Americans' Calls and Emails | Common Dreams
We owe Edward Snowden an apology. He did us all a favor. Our invasion of privacy by the government is unrelenting and unforgivable. No freedom of speech. No privacy. no democracy.
We owe Edward Snowden an apology. He did us all a favor. Our invasion of privacy by the government is unrelenting and unforgivable. No freedom of speech. No privacy. no democracy.
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