Gay Marriage by Keith Olbermann

I found this over at Presbyterian Gal's and was moved to tears.

Whatever your opinion about gay marriage, watch/listen to this!

Also, Quaker Dave has copied an editorial by Leonard Pitts that is worth reading in connection with this issue. Go here.

Needlepoint Kneelers

Today 12 needlepoint kneelers were introduced and dedicated to First United Methodist Church of Corpus Christi, TX. They are beautiful; just one is pictured above. This is a project that has been ongoing for the past four years. Each stitcher who created the kneeler walked in a procession to the front of the sanctuary and placed the pillow in its particular spot.

I went today because a good friend MW worked diligently on kneeler #4: God Called the Dry Land. Perhaps someday I can post a picture of "her" kneeler.

Nancy Keating of Atlanta, GA, designed them. Pictures of other kneelers she designed can be seen here. She was also in the congregation today!

It was thrilling to see the kneelers and their creators, as well as experience the joy of the congregation today. I'm glad I could be there, especially for my friend.

Still, I find that I missed the liturgy and Eucharist of my Episcopal Church. I yearn for that weekly worship experience.

Prayer Reminder

The less I pray, the harder it gets; the more I pray, the better it gets.

Martin Luther

Who would Jesus torture?

This says it all. It's from LesEnrages.org, and I do hope you'll go and read this piece posted on Nov. 12, 2008.

Please urge newly-elected President Obama to issue an executive order by endorsing the Declaration of Principles for a Presidential Executive Order to Ban Torture.

Also, spend some time looking at the website National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

Friday Five: Remembrance

Sophia posted today's Friday Five for the RevGalBlogPals blog:

Earlier this week the U.S. celebrated Veterans' Day, known in many other countries as Remembrance Day. At this time last year I was commuting to a postdoc in Canada, and I was moved by the many red poppies that showed up there on people's lapels in honor of the observance. Unlike a flag lapel pin, which to me has political connotations and implies approval of our current war, the poppies simply honor the sacrifice and dedication of those who have followed their consciences by serving--sometimes dying--in the military.

This week's Friday Five invites reflection on the theme of remembrance, which is also present in the feasts of All Saints, celebrated in many liturgical churches on November 1, and All Souls--known in Latin@ cultures as the Day of the Dead--celebrated in some the following day.

1. Did your church have any special celebrations for All Saints/All Soul's Day? I've thought about posting about my church's All Saints Day celebrations and am glad for this opportunity. I was surprisingly gifted with the holiness of the communion of saints that day.

Our interim priest arranged for an inter-generational event between the services that Sunday--making paper chains, with each loop bearing the name of a departed person we loved. When I arrived, mostly teenagers were noisily stapling the bands of paper together on which the office staff had printed those who had died since the church's foundation in 1950. I did not expect any feelings at all when I started to write out the names of my parents and then friends who died in the past. I was surprised at the feelings of love I felt as I wrote more and more names, including Joe and Len, friends who died in 2008.

Before the late service, the youth wrapped the long chain around the altar. This contributed to the feelings of connection, even though my mind scoffed at the idea. My heart knew!

The music was the homily for the day, with the choir singing the Te Deum. Before that, the priest solemnly read out each name of a member of All Saints Episcopal Church since its beginning. Though I knew very few of the people named, I was totally attentive and appreciative of each person. That still surprises me; I can only thank God for the gift of awareness I was given. I did not try--and know that during other years of services, I could be antsy during the long reading of names.

What a gift of remembrance I was given.

2. How about Veterans' Day?
Not much was done on this day, except me remembering my parents and praying for soldiers.

3. Did you and your family have a holiday for Veterans' Day/Remembrance Day? If so, how did you take advantage of the break?
No.

4. Is there a veteran in your life, living or dead, whose dedication you remember and celebrate? Or perhaps a loved one presently serving in the armed forces?
Both of my parents were Marines in WW II. In fact, they met in Hawaii at a dance on the base. I am proud of my mother volunteering to be a woman Marine at that time. I am proud of my father serving in the Marine Corps for 24 years; for rising from a private through the ranks to retire as a Major; for receiving the Silver Star and Purple Heart medals in the Korean War/Conflict.
(Even though I am for peace, I grew up on Marine bases and still have pride in the U.S. Marine Corps.)

5. Do you have any personal rituals which help you remember and connect with loved ones who have passed on?
They are mostly "food" rituals! Until my mother died in 1992, she spent every Christmas with me. She struggled with leaving my dad for Christmas, but finally realized that he didn't care much about Christmas and did not mind her leaving WA for TX.

My mother always made wonderful cookies for Christmas, something I continue to do. She also made cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning, which both MJ and I have been doing since my mother's death. My mother would bring the pieces of a gingerbread house for the kids to put together and decorate every Christmas. That's one tradition I always want to do, but do not always plan enough to get it all together.

American Pie (taxes) from "Christian Century"

"In the course of discussing tax policy with an unlicensed Ohio plumber, Barack Obama suggested that "spreading the wealth around" a bit more would be good for the country. Obama was trying to explain why he wants to impose a modest tax increase on people who make more than $250,000 a year while reducing taxes on those making less than that amount. John McCain and his supporters immediately seized on Obama's remark as a sign that Obama favors a socialist form of income redistribution. "The notion that a progressive income tax is a form of socialism is ludicrous. Since the time of Teddy Roosevelt, Americans have recognized that those who are flourishing most in society should pay a proportionately higher share of tax. After all, they are the ones benefiting most from the social stability and infrastructure that government provides. Talk of socialism would be laughable except that it is part of a larger, disturbing reality in American politics: it has become almost impossible to talk about the disparities in wealth that have arisen over the past three decades and about how this stratification undermines democracy and fosters unequal outcomes in other areas of life, including educational opportunity and access to health care. "Since the late 1970s the share of national income going to the top 1 percent of Americans has doubled and the share for the top 0.1 percent has tripled. More than 40 percent of total income goes to the wealthiest 10 percent—their biggest share of the nation's pie in at least 65 years. The very wealthy have become enormously wealthy, while middle-class workers have seen their wages stagnate—barely keeping pace with inflation—and at the same time have had to deal with sharp increases in the costs of health care and education. "In light of this trend, the dispute between McCain and Obama on taxes is minor: Obama wants to return the top marginal tax rate to 39 percent, where it was under Clinton, while McCain wants to keep it at 35 percent. Both men, in other words, would maintain the mildly progressive tax system that currently exists. The current system is actually much less progressive than it was in earlier decades—under Eisenhower the top tax rate was 91 percent, and under Nixon it was 70 percent. Those were hardly socialist administrations. "Though tax rates are not the only factor shaping economic conditions, they are an important measure of how the burdens of common life are being distributed. The warnings about socialism should be seen for what they are: a blunt effort to block any discussion of the ominous fact that the U.S. has become a nation of increasing inequality and, for many, of declining opportunity."

by the Century editors article printed from: The Christian Century Magazine http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=5678

Harold Loukes

An act of love that fails is just as much a part of the divine life as an act of love that succeeds, for love is measured by its own fullness, not by its reception.
--Harold Loukes

This quote went along beautifully with the third chapter in Gerald May's book, The Awakened Heart--"Freedom and Intention." So I brought it to our Tuesday Wisdom Class for the opening meditation. I was surprised that the ensuing conversation was preoccupied with whether love could be measured, while I thought (and still think) that the whole point of this saying is that one is to love no matter if it is rejected or received, thwarted or rewarded, denied or affirmed. The point is to love with abandon, as God loves us, and not to stop when it appears that nothing happens. --Or to try to love as God loves us.

This made me wonder who Harold Loukes was; all I knew till now was that he was a Quaker. He was born in 1912 in England and died there in 1980. He was a headmaster for over a decade in India and continued to be involved with education on his return to Great Britain.

Meeting in Houston

Corpus Christi is where husband CB and I live. Daughter MJ is going to college in San Antonio. Son BJ lives and works in Houston. And now daughter AE from Seattle will be in Houston this weekend! Though AE does not like TX very much, we're glad she'll be down here for a few days. She will be attending a conference in Houston.

Friday night we will meet for dinner, minus DC and wife AA who cannot come from Austin. Thanks to a friend telling me about Ziggy's, we have a restaurant that is recommended for "mixed families with both vegetarians and carnivores." That's us! And such a restaurant may lessen each child's strident desire for his/her own type of food, since both will be offered.


I am grateful that 19-year-old MJ will drive from San Antonio to Houston on Friday and then drive me back to Corpus Christi on Saturday. She'll have a lot of driving to do, with another trip from Corpus Christi to San Antonio on Sunday. This way she and I can stay longer in Houston on Saturday, because my husband must drive back to Corpus Christi early on Saturday morning, which is earlier than I want to leave.

Marine Corps Birthday

(To better view this cartoon, go here and choose Nov. 10.)

Today is the Marine Corps Birthday. When I was a little girl, my dad would take me to the Officers' Club to see the HUGE cake for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. I was promised that when I was 16, I could go to that. . . .but by then my dad had retired from the Marine Corps. Since we lived far from a Marine base, no more Birthday Balls. I never got to go to one. I like remembering how beautiful my mother would look, dressed up for the balls, and my dad in his dress blues.

Acedia

Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer's Life
by Kathleen Norris

Last night I found this book among my piles, having bought it way back in August, before various trips. It is exactly the right book for me to read at this time! It fits in so many ways--for my marriage and my life.

Today I am going to church and then will walk in the CROP Walk. Other than that, I am reading this book, so I will not be visiting blogs.

Here is a story of the desert fathers from the book:

". . . the early Christian monks staked their survival on their willingness to be as God had made them, creatures of the day-to-day. They regarded repetition as essential to their salvation, and valued perseverance in prayer and manual labor as the core of their spiritual discipline. . . .

"'Abba Moses asked Abba Sylvanus, "Can a man lay a new foundation every day?" The old man said, "If he works hard, he can lay a new foundation at every moment."'" (86)

YES!

I took this from someone's blog who belongs to RevGals, but I forget where it came from, except that it is by Bill Keane! Thank you!

The Death of Those We Love

Remember when my friend Joe died? His widow is a special friend of mine and today shared this beautiful quote from Henri Nouwen:

"The death of those we love and who love us opens up the possibility of a new, more radical communion, a new intimacy, a new belonging to each other. If love is stronger than death, then death has the potential to deepen and strengthen the bonds of love.

"It is only when we have died that our spirits can completely reveal themselves. The spirits of love, once freed from our mortal bodies, will blow where it will, even when few will hear its coming and going."

From Becoming the Beloved by Henri Nouwen

Friday Five: Funny Papers

Bill Watterson

After an exhausting election here in the states it's time for some spirit lifting! Join me with a nice cup of tea or coffee or cocoa and let's sit back and read the Funny Papers!

1. What was your favorite comic strip as a child?

I loved reading comic books, especially all the Walt Disney ones.

2. Which comic strip today most consistently tickles your funny bone?

Zits! It describes my life as a mom.

Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

3. Which Peanuts character is closest to being you?
Probably Charlie Brown, because I am pretty insecure, though growing out of that, too. He tries so hard even when prospects look poor.

4. Some say that comic strips have replaced philosophy as a paying job, so to speak. Does this ring true with you?

For ordinary people, this is probably true. It's a way to reach more people. Like Jesus, comic strips can often speak as a parable--leaving one to wonder and question, sometimes in outrage.

5. What do you think the appeal is for the really long running comic strips like Blondie, Family Circus, Dennis the Menace as some examples?
Basic experiences of life, especially middle class family life.

Bonus question: Which discontinued comic strip would you like to see back in print?
Look at the top of this post and that will tell you--"Calvin and Hobbes."

Marriage Equality in CA

Vote No On 8 issued a final statement, which I endorse by posting here:

The road to freedom is a difficult, hard road. It always makes for temporary setbacks.
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tuesday’s vote was deeply disappointing to all who believe in equal treatment under the law.

All Americans are harmed when any of us are discriminated against or have our fundamental rights taken away.

Make no mistake, this fight is not over.

We remain committed to ensuring full equality under the law, just as the thousands of same-sex couples who joyously married in California are committed to each other.

While it is understandable to be angry that a deceptive campaign could lead to such an unfair and wrong outcome, we need to keep focused instead on the progress we have made.

Thousands of volunteers and contributors gave selflessly to this fight for equality. Political leaders—Democrats and Republicans alike–took strong stands and spoke out against the distortions against us. Clergy, labor, educators and business leaders eagerly joined our cause. And we came within 4% of making history and protecting marriage equality in California.

The momentum is clearly on our side.

So, as disappointed as we are, we know that there is still hope and there is still love and, yes, there is still work to do. With our continued effort and by building on the support generated in this campaign, we will prevail. There will be equality. For us all.

Ultimately, America’s answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.
—Robert F. Kennedy

~~~~~~~~~~~

Even better is a blog posting at Caught By the Light.

Advent Conspiracy

Advent Conspiracy

Catherine of Come to the Table blog invited me to join the "Advent Conspiracy" on Facebook, which caused me to look up the above site. These are the stated positions:

1. We should worship Christ more meaningfully.

2. We should refuse our culture's hunger for consumerism.
3. We should give relationally to our friends and family.
4. We should love all by giving to those most in need.

This sounds like that book about unplugging the Christmas tree (or Christmas machine!)--for less consumption and more relationships. A few years ago I read Bill McKibben's book, Hundred Dollar Holiday. All this reading seems to indicate that I read more than putting what I've read into action.

It's good to get these thoughts into consciousness at this time of year, weeks before Advent and Thanksgiving.

A challenge!

We are the ones for whom we have been waiting.

Hopi Elders To receive such quotations every day, subscribe to Word for the Day at Gratefulness.org.

To check data about the election

FIVE THIRTY EIGHT

"What is the mission of this website? Most broadly, to accumulate and analyze polling and political data in way that is informed, accurate and attractive. Most narrowly, to give you the best possible objective assessment of the likely outcome of upcoming elections."

Guess I'll be checking this frequently tomorrow, Election Day

Thanks to Watergate Summer for this website!

And remember Hope--Hold onto the Hope!

One More Day! Here's Les Misbarack!

Old, Fat, Naked Women for Peace!

From a dear blogging friend:



And I am an old, fat, (not) naked woman for peace!