LEAVE IT TO PEEVER

Monday, October 15, 2018

'They're Doing Us Like They Did New Orleans': Anger at Trump Inaction as Hurricane Michael Leaves Millions Without Power and Basic Needs

'They're Doing Us Like They Did New Orleans': Anger at Trump Inaction as Hurricane Michael Leaves Millions Without Power and Basic Needs

WE CAN'T DEPEND ON ANYTHING FROM THE GOVERNMENT WITH TRUMP IN OFFICE. SHORT OF A BUNCH OF NONSENSE.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

BENEDICTION

WHAT DO I DO AT THE END OF THE DAY?
DID I HELP ANYONE OTHER THAN MYSELF?
HOW ABOUT THE HUNGRY.
THE HOMELESS.
THE SHUT-IN'S.
THE DISABLED.
THE PRISONERS.
THE ONE'S THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL NO LONGER HELP.
AM I TOO COMFORTABLE TO EVEN SEE THE INJUSTICE? THE PAIN?
FOR THAT MATTER, DO I EVEN CARE?
GOD, I AM FILLED WITH DOUBT.
WALK ME THRU MY INDIFFERENCE AND APATHY TO A BETTER PLACE.
ONE FILLED WITH HOPE AND RENEWAL.
ONE FILLED WITH ACTION AND DEPARTURE.

AMEN

SUNDAY MORNING HYMN: Steve Winwood // Blind Faith - "Can't Find My Way Home"

SUNDAY MORNING SERMON

I met an angel. She was a waitress at the Waffle House. Those bright eyes and that infectious smile. She must have been about 23 or so. I heard her tell someone she had two children. I didn't hear her say anything about a husband. She wants to go to college. Pre-med. I think she can do it. An angel can do anything.

SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER: WHEN LIFE CRASHES

We have known forever that you call to obedience,
                                     that our obedience to your purposes
                                          brings well-being,
                                     that our departure from you may
                                          bring trouble,
                                     that life proceeds on a tight calculus
                                          of expectation and requirement,
                                     that in your awesome rule there is rigor
                                          along with generosity.

We have set out to be your faithful people
and then we fall into an unintended brokenness.
   We know about alienation from you and loss;
   we know about shame before our neighbors
               and embarrassment in the family;
    we know about the will to hide and become invisible,
    and we are consumed by depths of remorse.

When we are able, we come out of hiding long enough to face you.
                               We know all the cadences of confession and
                                         repentance.
                                   and that we have no secrets not already
                                         known to you.
                                We sense before you our deep dread of failure
                                      and our last shred of innocence gone.

We ask forgiveness and wait,
     at times before your presence we wait a very long time
        as we know of your silence and absence in our bottomness.

But we know more!
We know of your unfailing love,
                     your willing generosity,
                     your readiness to remember our sin no more.

And so,
      after shame before neighbor,
      after embarrassment within family,
      after dread before you,
we wait and then eventually you appear,
                                             you reach,
                                             you speak,
                                             you touch.
You give yourself to us without judgment---
          after we have judged ourselves.

You invite us to your presence,
            to the table of your feast,
            to your walk of companionship,
            to your mission of well-being.
We take timid steps toward home and are welcomed.

Now, in this hour of free-fall,
    be your good self again,
    meet us not according to our flaw
    but according to your generous self-giving;
    Be our Christmas,
       and start the world again;
    Be our Easter,
       and draw us from death to new life;
    Be our Pentecost,
       and breathe on us to begin again;
    Be your full, generous self toward us;
       we will begin again in obedience,
             and as we can obey,
        we will begin again
             in wonder, love, and joy.

Walter Brueggemann

Saturday, October 13, 2018

THE ALCHEMIST

The alchemist was seeking to turn base metals, usually lead, into gold. It ends up the process lead the alchemist to the possibility of seeking a better life. The lead may not have transformed into gold, but the alchemist transformed into a better person.
In a similar fashion, chaos theory, applied to social change, attempts to do the same thing the alchemist did, transforming not lead, but the status quo, into disharmony, or chaos. In doing so, he or she is hoping that the resulting balance that the community, society, comes back to will be better, more enlightened, than the previous state.
The alchemist must be prepared to be ridiculed and dismissed as a threat to the prevailing conventional wisdom and power structure. A provocation of the status quo will result in a strong unwillingness of the public to change. This is the alchemists work, to stir static, entrenched, retrogressive ideas into new, progressive, creative, and hopefully more enlightened solutions to life's many problems and issues.