Seek the Truth

From Jim Winkler, General Secretary, General Board of Church & Society, United Methodist Church:

"It always amazes me when I meet people who obviously don’t pay attention to what is going on in the world, but are nevertheless eager to express their opinion. At the same time, I know that many others feel beaten down, disheartened by the course of life. Too often, they are hungry, poor and sick. Many feel powerless and disenfranchised about life.

"There’s no easy answer to these sad realities. Once you know something about the injustices surrounding you, failure to act is irresponsible.

"The citizens of Nazi Germany learned that the hard way. After the war, millions claimed they didn’t know what was happening in their own country. They may have been fearful. They may have tried to ignore reality, but they knew something bad was happening — even with Goebbel’s masterful lying.

"Disease, poverty, war, violence, hunger, racism and other social ills confront us. Don’t bury your head in the sand. Seek the truth. Pay attention, please. Follow Jesus and get to work."

To read the rest of the article, go here.

Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism

I know I am naive and idealistic. I do not have the experience or the ability to write about political issues as other bloggers do. Still, I want to live like the swami quoted in the post below and as shown by Jesus.

A few minutes ago I received in my email an article from July 28, 2008 about "Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism" that was written in horrifying adjectives and descriptors about Obama's plans to redistribute wealth from the "successful" to the "others." While labels like "socialism" and "Marxism" were thrown around, I remembered how a philosophy professor told me once how Christianity and Marxism are closely related, with the latter refuting God, but that the actions advocated were similar. Think of how Jesus told people to live through the Beatitudes, which are believed by most scholars to be actual words of Jesus, and the Golden Rule.

Yes, impossibilities for individuals, let alone communities and nations, to live by. But what about aiming for them? What about trying to look out for someone's welfare other than my own? Sure, I can only change myself, but I can change things about myself so that life may be more equitable for someone else.

But do I? Do I really want to? I think that's the problem when one starts to criticize the policies Obama suggests. . . . These are scare tactics, which then cause people to react against them rather than to consider them. However, if they could be looked at and even analyzed, possibilities might open up.

I'm glad these proposals are out for public discussion and even ridicule--I believe we need to think and talk about them! Let's do something positive rather than arguing about such things as homosexuality and marriage!

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Among Obama's proposed "investments":

• "Universal," "guaranteed" health care.

• "Free" college tuition.

• "Universal national service" (a la Havana).

• "Universal 401(k)s" (in which the government would match contributions made by "low- and moderate-income families").

• "Free" job training (even for criminals).

• "Wage insurance" (to supplement dislocated union workers' old income levels).

• "Free" child care and "universal" preschool.

• More subsidized public housing.

• A fatter earned income tax credit for "working poor."

• And even a Global Poverty Act that amounts to a Marshall Plan for the Third World, first and foremost Africa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maybe the adjective "free" is what upsets people. HOW will we pay for these things? It always goes back to higher taxes, which is not comfortable, especially as I age. Still, those proposals above are good things.

They would address the inequities that Missy posted about on July 27, 2008 (about the same time the above article was published!). Thank you to Border Explorer who made me notice this important post at Missy's.

Go and read Wealth and Poverty at Missy's and compare what she writes with the article about "Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism".

My wish

If you see good in people, you radiate a harmonious loving energy which uplifts those who are around you. If you can maintain this habit, this energy will turn into a steady flow of love.

Annamalai Swami 1906-1995

Going to Houston

Well, what was supposed to be a trip to see 23 year old son BJ in Houston and then to shop at the outlet mall near his house up in northwest Houston has morphed into a complicated trip. MJ's boy friend CS desperately wanted to go to the Houston Dynamos soccer team game on August 2, so it came about that he and MJ would go to that on THIS trip. (How convenient!)

CS even gave MJ a Dynamos shirt today to wear to the game.

Then MJ arranged with a friend from Laity Lodge Youth Camp that we would stay at her house, and this friend and her boy friend would also go to the soccer game. So tonight I call the friend's mother, who did NOT know that Margaret's mother is coming along! She thought only MJ and CS were coming. . . .

So after various phone calls, it is finally worked out that MJ, CS, and I are all staying at this friend's home in southern Houston, near 610 and 59. That is quite far from BJ's home, so he may or may not come and meet us around there. BJ lives in northwest Houston--by 290 and 8.

Through the telephone conversations, I jokingly told her we were becoming "new best friends," which is a term used on the first night of the Walk to Emmaus. It turns out that she and her husband have been on Walks, and we bonded as we talked of those team experiences, especially when I told her that I'd been a Lay Director in 2001. We've been invited to go to church with the family on Sunday morning.

Sometime on Sunday we'll drive to northern Houston to see BJ's house that he shares with two college friends and his energetic Brittany Spaniel Troy. Finally on Sunday afternoon I guess we'll go shopping.

MJ and CS are wanting to be together as much as possible, because he'll be off to Stanford University in the fall. CA and TX are very far apart. Their imminent parting is this coming Wednesday, the night before our family leaves for Washington State.

Friday Five: Lock Me Out, Lock Me In

From RevGalBlogPals:

1) How do you amuse yourself when road construction blocks your travel?
It’s easier when I am alone—listen to the radio or cd in my car. If my husband is driving, he’s complaining. Eventually, I end up praying, “Bless CB, change me.”

2) Have you ever locked yourself out of your house? (And do you keep an extra key somewhere, just in case?)

Once I had to break a little pane of glass on the backdoor to turn the deadbolt in the door to get in. No key is hidden outside.

What was much worse was when I took our big black Lab to the vet about five blocks away about seven years ago. I ran back to our house to get a key for the car, and I ran under/into a low branch of a mesquite tree! Suddenly I was on the ground, with blood pouring down. I didn’t realize that I’d been “scalped”! Someone in a car drove by and asked if I needed help, and I said no. I got home and was shocked to find blood pouring down on me. It wasn’t that bad really—looked worse than it was; blood flows easily from a head wound. My husband came home from work and took me to the doctor where I had 12 stitches.

(You can see how low the branches of a mesquite tree lean down.)

3) Have you ever cleared a hurdle? (And if you haven't flown over a material hurdle, feel free to take this one metaphorically.)
A landmark hurdle was when I learned to dive into a swimming pool in 7^th grade. When I was in 1^st grade, I’d fractured my skull. So for several years afterwards, I was warned not to dive into pools, and the fear instilled in me stuck. Finally, a swimming instructor kept urging me to try at the swimming pool at Yokosuka Naval Base, and I did it! It was a freeing experience that I still remember.

4) What's your approach to a mental block?

Go for a walk; do research on the internet; read a book.

5) Suggest a caption for the picture above; there will be a prize for the funniest answer!

(I'm not very funny--only unintentionally, it seems.)

What's the password?

Run, run, gingerbread men!

All Smiles!

We're all smiling because of the delicious dinner that MJ and boy friend CS cooked for us tonight! Homemade lasagna with their own garlic bread and a salad. We all had seconds! Their nutritious meal ended with chilled watermelon. What a lovely evening.

Think of God as the Hinge

You brood in the night in its fearfulness,
You dawn the day in its energy,
You move at the edge of night
into the margin of day.
You live at the hinge between fear and energy.
You take the feeble night and give us strong day,
You take our fatigue and bestow courage,
You take our drowsy reluctance and fashion full-blooded zeal.
What shall we say?
You, only you, you
You at the hinge--and then the day.
You--and then us,
from you in faithfulness,
us for the day,
us in the freedom and courage and energy,
and then back to you--in trust and gratitude.
Amen.

Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth, 5.

A Mirror of Questions for the End of the Day

At the End of the Day:

A Mirror of Questions

By John O’Donohue (1953-2008)

What dreams did I create last night?

Where did my eyes linger today?

Where was I blind?

Where was I hurt without anyone noticing?

What did I learn today?

What did I read?

What new thoughts visited me?

What differences did I notice in those closest to me?

Whom did I neglect?

Where did I neglect myself?

What did I begin today that might endure?

How were my conversations?

What did I do today for the poor and excluded?

Did I remember the dead today?

Where could I have exposed myself to the risk of something different?

Where did I allow myself to receive love?

With whom today did I feel most myself?

What reached me today? How deep did it imprint?

Who saw me today?

What visitations had I from the past and from the future?

What did avoid today?

From the evidence—why was I given this day?

Tuesday in Corpus Christi

Husband CB and I ate dinner at the Yardarm Restauarnt tonight, which is in a house on the water side of Ocean Drive a few blocks from our house. We went out because MJ was not going to be home for dinner.

She and her boy friend CS cooked dinner for his family tonight: almond chicken, zucchini and rice. I wonder if they'll ever do the same for MJ's family (us)?

I have a date for the arthroscopy surgery on my right knee--August 27. That will be after we get back from Washington State and have moved MJ into her dorm at Trinity University in San Antonio.

AND the mosquitoes are starting to swarm when a mammal comes outside!

"I cannot live without books."

With so many blogging friends and the ease of the internet, I just ordered more books, as if I needed even one more. My "excuse" is that I want to have them to read on the airplane and during our trip to WA State, which starts next Thursday, August 7.

So I just ordered:

Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy
which Quaker Dave is reading on his vacation right now.

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
which Sherry recommended.

And then I happened to see a new book by Macrina Wiederkehr-- Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day which I can only blame on myself.

I have been saving a book Yolanda suggested for the trip, too--
When Crickets Cry, the only novel of this bunch!

They say confession is good for the soul, so there's mine for literary greed!

Prayer

"Do not place your happiness in what you can hear or feel of God in prayer but rather in what you can neither feel nor understand. God is always hidden and difficult to find. Go on serving God in this way, as though God were concealed in a sacred place, even when you think you have found God, felt God or heard God. The less you understand, the closer you get to God.

"Prayer will teach you, too, that God is nearer to you than you are to yourself. After passing the fiery crucible and stepping through the narrow doorway where you can bring nothing with you, enter the cave of your heart that contains God, whom the universe cannot hold."

~~Pierre-Marie Delfieux
The Jerusalem Community Rule of Life

Life After Life

"Meister Eckhart says emphatically, 'There is but one NOW.' In other words, This is it! For Eckhart, to limit the understanding of eternity as life after death is rather strange. When we pray, are we not in the presence of God's eternity, God's fullness? Rather than life after death, it would be better to speak of life after life. In other words, the God who is present now, and the God who will be present then (i.e., after death) is simply present--now and always. God is not limited to time and space. It is not that God lives an endless number of years and can be everywhere at the same time. The eternal presence of God is like our very breath. We cannot touch it or measure it, but without it there is no life." (18)

Pierce, Brian J. We Walk the Path Together: Learning from Thich Nhat Hanh and Meister Eckhart. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2006.

**Another quote from this book is in the post below.

Listen attentively under the tree

Brian J. Pierce, OP, author of We Walk the Path Together: Learning from Thich Nhat Hanh and Meister Ekhart, writes:

"I was invited to take part in an indigenous religious ceremony with the Lenca Indians in Honduras several years ago. Mixing ancient Lenca rituals with Christian prayers, the elderly rezador, or shaman, performed the ceremony while holding a freshly cut pine bow in his hands. I later approached him and asked about the symbolism behind the frequent use of pine branches in Lenca worship. He looked at me with his wide, dark eyes, and said:

"Oh, you do not know? Then let me tell you. If you sit quietly beneath a pine tree in the early morning hours, before the sun rises, and listen very attentively, you will hear the pine tree singing to God." (9-10)

Psalm 96:11-12
"Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lenca Indians
"The Lencas are one of the seven largest ethnic groups in Honduras. Numbering 100,000, they live in the central department of Las Paz, and the western departments of Lempira and Itibuca, as well as in some smaller communities in the northern part of the country. Their homes are made form bahareque a mixture of mud and bamboo. Their communities lack all of the basic services such as running water. Roofs are made of clay tiles or nylon. In a twenty square meter room there is a bed and a kitchen. The bed is made from pieces of plywood tied to posts and sunk into the dirt floor. Eight people usually occupy one bed. At night the cold mountain air seeps through the cracks in the walls and results in frequent respiratory illnesses. Many Lencas work on coffee plantations and harvest. "

Green Faith

A Powerful Mission

GreenFaith is New Jersey ’s interfaith coalition for the environment. Founded in 1992, we inspire, educate and mobilize people of diverse spiritual backgrounds to rediscover their relationship with the sacred in nature and to restore the earth for future generations.

Founded on Shared Beliefs

GreenFaith’s work arises from beliefs shared by the world’s great religions:

• Caring for the earth is a religious value. Environmental stewardship is a moral responsibility.
• Spirit - We grow spiritually through our relationship with the earth.
• Justice - Everyone has the right to live in a clean, safe environment.
• Stewardship - People of faith have a vital role to play in restoring healthy ecosystems around the world.

Our programs are built around these three core values: Spirit, Justice and Stewardship in relation to the earth.

Making a Difference

GreenFaith makes its impact by:

• Inspiring: We help people of faith rediscover their relationship with the sacred in nature.
• Uniting: We bring people of diverse traditions together to care for the environment.
• Supporting: We provide practical tools to help religious institutions put belief into action for the earth and all life.
• Transforming: We help faith communities grow through deepened spirituality and a renewed commitment to a healthy environment.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Although Green Faith started in NJ, they have resources for the USA. I typed in my zipcode on scorecard that showed pollutants and conditions for Nueces County, where I live in TX.

The link to this scoreboard was found on their JUSTICE page, which has other resources, too.

My priest sent me the link to Green Faith, and I urge you to check it out! Scroll down on this main page and you'll find a site index.

Anglican Church Around the World

About ten days ago, the BBC News put out this info about various Anglican churches worldwide. I'm a little late, but being way off in Texas in the USA, where the only news I hear about the worldwide Anglican communion is through various blogs, I found this to be quite interesting. To see the world map, go here.

This may be too elementary for most people, but it helped me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Anglican Communion - the Anglican Church around the world - is in turmoil over the issue of homosexuality.

Traditionalists are strongly opposed to the ordination of gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex relationships whereas liberals are urging tolerance and change.

A rift developed in 2003 after the consecration in the US of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson. The ordination of female priests is also a contentious issue.

In June 2008 some 1,100 traditionalist Anglicans gathered in Jerusalem at the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) to form a network to combat modern trends in the Church.

---

England
Primate: Dr Rowan Williams
Number of Anglicans: No figures are available for England (rather than the UK) but the most recent national Social Trends survey found 22.2% of people identified themselves as Anglican when asked. This would give a UK figure of about 13.4 million. However, the Church of England puts the number of regular churchgoers at 1.7m.
Total population: 50.8m (60.6m UK)
History: English Christianity emerged from the missionary work of St Augustine, sent from Rome in 597, and from the work of Celtic missionaries in the north. Separated from Rome in the 16th Century and became Protestant.
Stance on gay issue: The issue came to the fore in 2003 when a gay canon was elected Bishop of Reading. Before he could take up his post there was an outcry and he was persuaded to resign by Archbishop Rowan Williams. Some senior clergy voiced dismay at this. Under Church of England guidance, gay priests can enter civil partnerships as long as they remain celibate.

---

Australia
Primate: Dr Phillip Aspinall
Anglicans: 3.9m
Total population: 20m
History: Founded in 1788 with the arrival of the first emigrants from the UK.
Stance: No official stance on homosexuality however Dr Aspinall said he felt "sadness" about the Gafcon rift and added that there was room in the Church for different views.

---

Canada
Primate: Fred Hiltz
Anglicans: 642,000
Total population: 32m
History: First church building was St. Paul's, Halifax, in 1750.
Stance: A statement issued after Gafcon says: "We are committed to constructive dialogue on all issues facing our beloved church and the Communion, including the blessing of same-sex unions. We remain convinced that as contentious as this issue may be, it should not be a Communion-breaking issue."

---

Central Africa
(Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe)
Primate: Post vacant
Anglicans: 600,000+
Total population: 36m
History: The first Anglican missionary to Malawi was Bishop Charles Mackenzie, who arrived with David Livingstone in 1861.
Stance: Former Archbishop Bernard Malango said the appointment of Gene Robinson "brought darkness, disappointment, sadness and grief" to his province.

---

Kenya
Primate: Benjamin Nzimbi
Anglicans: 2.5m
Total population: 32m
History: Mombasa saw the arrival of Anglican missionaries in 1844. The first Africans were ordained to the priesthood in 1885.
Stance: Archbishop Nzimbi has consistently and strongly spoken against admitting homosexuals into the church.

---

New Zealand
Primate: William Brown Turei
Anglicans: 584,800
Total population: 3.9m
History: The Anglican Church in New Zealand had its beginnings in 1814 when the Maori chief Ruatara agreed with the Reverend Samuel Marsden to give protection to three missionaries and their families at Oihi in the Bay of Islands.
Stance: No stated policy.

---

Nigeria
Primate: Peter Akinola
Anglicans: 15m
Total population: 134m
History: The rebirth of Christianity began with the arrival of Christian freed slaves in Nigeria in the middle of the 19th Century.
Stance: The church remains strongly and vocally opposed to homosexuality, regarding it as taboo and contrary to the teachings of the Bible.

---

Southern Africa
(S Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland)
Primate: Thabo Makgoba
Anglicans: 2m
Total population: 65m
History: British Anglicans met for worship in Cape Town after 1806 and the first bishop was appointed in 1847.
Stance: No official stance. Archbishop Makgoba attended Gafcon but said he hoped for reconciliation within the Church on the "thorny" issue.

---

Sudan
Primate: Daniel Deng Bul
Anglicans: 5m
Total population: 38m
History: The Church Missionary Society began work in 1899 in Omdurman. Christianity spread rapidly among black Africans of the southern region.
Stance: The previous Archbishop Joseph Marona, who retired in December 2007, said the Church should tackle the effects of war and poverty before homosexuality. "We have much worse things to face," he said.

---

Tanzania
Primate: Valentino Mokiwa
Anglicans: 2m
Total population: 36m
History: The Universities Mission to Central Africa and the Church Missionary Society began work in 1864 and 1878 at Mpwapwa.
Stance: Archbishop Mokiwa has said homosexual practice is a sin and has spoken of a "leadership failure" at Canterbury over the issue and the ordination of women priests.

---

Uganda
Primate: Henry Luke Orombi
Anglicans: 8m
Total population: 26m
History: After its founding in 1877 by the Church Missionary Society, the Church grew through the evangelisation of Africans by Africans.
Stance: Strongly opposed. The Ugandan church severed ties with its US counterpart over the election of Gene Robinson.

---

United States
Primate: Katharine Jefferts Schori
Anglicans: 2.4m
Total population: 290m
History: Anglicanism was brought to the New World by explorers and colonists with the first celebration of the Holy Eucharist in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.
Stance: The first church to elect an openly gay bishop - but only after long and heated debate.

---

West Africa
(Ghana, Gambia, Liberia, Sierre Leone)
Primate: Justice Ofei Akrofi (Ghana)
Anglicans: 1m
Total population: 31m
History: The Church of the Province of West Africa divided to form the Province of Nigeria and the Province of West Africa in 1979.
Stance: The Church broke ties with its US counterpart over the confirmation of Gene Robinson. The archbishop called homosexuality "unscriptural, unnatural and totally incompatible with Christian values".

---

West Indies
(including Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago)
Primate: Drexel Gomez
Anglicans: 777,000
Total population: 5.3m
History: The Anglican Church arrived in the West Indies with the original English settlers in the early part of the 17th Century, the clergy for the most part being state chaplains to the English officials and planters.
Stance: Archbishop Gomez has said the confirmation of Gene Robinson is incompatible with scripture.

Road Crossing

"We become neighbors when we are willing to cross the road for one another. There is so much separation and segregation: between black people and white people, between gay people and straight people, between young people and old people, between sick people and healthy people, between prisoners and free people, between Jews and Gentiles, Muslims and Christians, Protestants and Catholics, Greek Catholics and Latin Catholics.

"There is s a lot of road crossing to do. We are all very busy in our own circles. We have our own people to go to and our own affairs to take care of. But if we could cross the road once in a while and pay attention to what is happening on the other side, we might indeed become neighbors."

~~Henri Nouwen

Copied from Roberta at Spiritually Directed.

Cat Tail Signals

I've always been a "dog person," but when little daughter MJ wanted a kitten from her first grade teacher, I relented. That kitty (named "Pumpkin" by MJ but "Psycho" by older sister AE, which is the name that stuck) suddenly died when she was 7. So we got another kitten for MJ, thinking she was heartbroken--that is Gracie. Oddly, Gracie likes me best of all, especially when I'm reading--that's when she wants me to pet her. MJ and Gracie are indifferent to each other.

So I need this info about what signals cat tails give you, as I don't really know!
Your cat's tail is an indicator of its mood and if you observe the tail's movements, you can learn many things from these signals. There are a number of tail signals that the cat can display:

• Tail curves gently down and then up again at the tip:
  This is a peaceful, relaxed cat.
  
  
• Tail raised slightly and softly curved:
  Something has caught your cat's interest.
  
  
• Tail held erect but with the tip tilted over:
  Your cat is in a friendly, greeting mood but may have some reservations.
  
  
• Tail fully erect with the tip stiffly vertical:
  This is a very intense greeting display and has no reservations.
  
  
• Tail lowered fully and possibly even tucked between the hind legs:
  The cat feels defeated or submissive.
  
  
• Tail lowered and fluffed out:
  The cat is showing fear.
  
  
• Tail swished violently from side to side:
  This signal indicates that the cat is very angry.
  
  
• Tail held still, but with tip twitching:
  This signal shows the cat is mildly upset.
  
  
• Tail held erect with its whole length quivered:
  The gesture appears to show happiness or friendliness usually given to its owner as a greeting. It is also the same type of gesture used in territory marking (used by whole males).
  
  
• Tail held to one side:
  This is displayed by a female cat in heat.
  
  
• Tail held straight and fully bristled:
  This signal is one of an aggressive cat.
  
  
• Tail arched and bristled:
  This signal is one of the defensive cat.

Found here.

Friday Five: What you absolutely, positively can't leave home without

Singing Owl wrote the Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals today:

We will be at a chaplain's convention when you all are answering the Friday Five Questions. I'll look forward to reading your answers next week when I get home. At the moment we are trying to get the car loaded so we can hit the road, so this will be a simple F.F. This running around madly in order to leave has me wondering: what are the five things you simply must have when you are away from home? And why? Any history or goofy things, or stories?

You all remember having kids continually ask, "Are we there yet?" With four children, one is still known for doing this frequently and continually on trips--third child and son BJ. We all remember him at 4 or 5 years old, asking insistently,"Are we there yet?"--and we had not yet left the Corpus Christi city limits!

Family car travels these days are only with husband CB and me. So we do not need all the snacks and activities from by-gone days.

1. Cooler with water and cans of soda--I have to have my TAB, and CB wants his Diet RC and/or Fresca. Trash sack is necessary, because on any and every trip I save all the cans and bottles to recycle when I get home. (I was thrilled on a trip a few years ago when rest areas in CA had recycling bins at them.)
   
2. Books--I always take two or three just in case I finish one! For the car, I also need my "reading" sunglasses for my old eyes.
3. My pillow--I only like to sleep with this pillow.
4. White noise machine--because CB snores very loudly.
5. Notecards and address book, because I like to send mail, especially POSTCARDS on trips.
   

USA visits and beyond

Though I've seen this before, I got the idea this time from Fran.


visited 39 states (78%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

Then I continued to copy Fran by trying out for the world, but my daughter AE would have many more countries to check off.


visited 14 states (6.22%)
Create your own visited map of The World or determine the next president