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Ninure Da Hippie


Last Updated: 7/2/2009

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July 9, 2009 - Thursday 

Current mood:  determined
Category: Life
I am sure that some of my Right-wing/Conservative "Brothers and Sisters in Christ" will probably disagree with "me" on this. For some odd reason, much of what the Bible has to say about how "we" are to treat our fellow humans seems to be viewed by them as "anti-Christian".

*sigh*

However as one who takes the Bible seriously - not literally, but seriously - I think that anyone who seriously attempt to follow Jesus must let their voices be heard on the side of rapid and effective reform of Health Care in the USA.

 
As one of God's children, I believe that protecting the health of each human being is a profoundly important personal and communal responsibility for people of faith.

I believe God created each person in the divine image to be spiritually and physically healthy. I feel the pain of sickness and disease in our broken world (Genesis 1:27, Romans 8:22).

I believe life and healing are core tenets of the Christian life. Christ's ministry included physical healing, and we are called to participate in God's new creation as instruments of healing and redemption (Matthew 4:23, Luke 9:1-6; Mark 7:32-35, Acts 10:38). Our nation should strive to ensure all people have access to life-giving treatments and care. 

I believe, as taught by the Hebrew prophets and Jesus, that the measure of a society is seen in how it treats the most vulnerable. The current discussion about health-care reform is important for the United States to move toward a more just system of providing care to all people (Isaiah 1:16-17, Jeremiah 7:5-7, Matthew 25:31-45).

I believe that all people have a moral obligation to tell the truth. To serve the common good of our entire nation, all parties debating reform should tell the truth and refrain from distorting facts or using fear-based messaging (Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:14-15, 25; Proverbs 6:16-19).

I believe that Christians should seek to bring health and well-being (shalom) to the society into which God has placed us, for a healthy society benefits all members (Jeremiah 29:7).

I believe in a time when all will live long and healthy lives, from infancy to old age (Isaiah 65:20), and "mourning and crying and pain will be no more" (Revelation 21:4). My heart breaks for my brothers and sisters who watch their loved ones suffer, or who suffer themselves, because they cannot afford a trip to the doctor. I stand with them in their suffering.

I believe health-care reform must rest on a foundation of values that affirm each and every life as a sacred gift from the Creator (Genesis 2:7).

Amen.
Signed by:
Ninure Saunders

I ask that if you can,  you would sign this creed at http://go.sojo.net/campaign/health_care/.


===================


Caretake This Moment
 
Caretake this moment.
Immerse yourself in its particulars.
Respond to this person, this challenge, this deed.
 
Quit the evasions.
Stop giving yourself needless trouble.
It is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now.
You are not some disinterested bystander.
Exert yourself.
 
Respect your partnership with providence.
Ask yourself often, How may I perform this particular deed
such that it would be consistent with and acceptable to the divine will?
Heed the answer and get to work.
 
When your doors are shut and your room is dark you are not alone.
The will of nature is within you as your natural genius is within.
Listen to its importunings.
Follow its directives.
 
As concerns the art of living, the material is your own life.
No great thing is created suddenly.
There must be time.
 
Give your best and always be kind.
 
~ Epictetus ~

Help end world hunger


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July 9, 2009 - Thursday 

Category: Religion and Philosophy
Having Impact

Excerpt from John 7: 1 -9
"Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil.'"

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

In John 7 we find Jesus talking with his brothers. They are after him to leave rinky-dink, nothing-ever-happens-here Galilee and head for the big city. Get on up to the big, public festival in Jerusalem if you want to make a difference, they tell him. Want to have an impact? You'd better work on your visibility. Get yourself where you'll be noticed by more people, noticed by the right people.

Jesus responds to their strategy suggestions as follows: "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil." Tough words. What in the world do they mean?

Jesus has a different strategy for making an impact. It's not about marketing or visibility or power-centers, it's about being faithful to God's will. Instead of asking, "How can I get more notice or more attention?" Jesus asks, "What does God want me to do and say?" Instead of putting a finger up to see which way the wind is blowing, Jesus opens his heart to God's will, even if it means saying things people don’t want to hear

When you wonder how you can make a difference, remember Jesus' strategy for making an impact: stay centered on God’s will and way.

Prayer
I confess, Lord, that too often my mind is not set on divine things, but on human things. Today help me to stay more focused on what you want and leave the outcomes up to you. Amen.

About the Author
Anthony B. Robinson is a speaker, teacher and author and President of Congregational Leadership Northwest.


Join us on i.ucc.org for prayer and conversation.



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Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
===================


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July 8, 2009 - Wednesday 

Current mood:  amused
Category: News and Politics
The split among conservatives over who's to blame for Palin’s early exit from the national stage is breaking out into the airwaves.


It's the Right-Wingers Who Are Unloading the Harshest Critiques About Palin’s Bizarre Departure
By Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America
Posted on July 8, 2009, Printed on July 8, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/141162/

Like frustrated welterweight Roberto Duran, who stunned the sporting world by walking away, mid-bout, from his 1980 prize fight against Sugar Ray Leonard with the memorable, muttered Spanish phrase for "no more," Sarah Palin's decision last week to walk away, mid-term, from her governorship stunned Beltway spectators and left bewildered Alaskans scratching their heads in amazement.

Palin's "no más" moment initiated lots of intriguing storylines, but, for me, the most fascinating one has been the visible split within the conservative movement over who's to blame for her early exit from the national stage. And specifically, how much culpability do the hated mainstream media deserve for the way Palin has been covered? For the way she's been smeared and attacked?

Seems to me 99 out of 100 times, conservatives would find common cause on an unfolding story like this and agree that the media, to a huge degree, are guilty of some kind of unimaginable double standard, that the press had stacked the deck against the Republican and treated that pol unfairly. That's been the go-to playbook for more than four decades now.

Palin herself led the utterly predictable anti-press charge over the weekend, claiming on her Facebook page that "[t]he response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the 'politics of personal destruction.' " Meanwhile, Palin's attorney, employing a unique reading of the First Amendment, lobbed red meat to the far-right base after he fired off a peculiar four-page letter warning reporters and pundits that they'd face legal action if they reported inaccurate facts about Palin, a prominent public figure.

Frothing right-wing bloggers cheered the legal threats and robotically stoked the anti-media fires. "The Palin-haters at MSNBC better watch it," warned Gateway Pundit. Conservative blog readers also lashed out at liberals and journalists for targeting Palin. At Power Line, a reader wrote: "[S]he seems to be saying that she can't serve Alaska effectively as governor any longer because she has become such a lighting rod for attacks from the Left." Another beseeched her to leave politics because "[t]he media has already rehearsed the destruction of your campaign. ... A run for President will not only be a torment for you and your family, it will be a torment for all of us watching."

At National Review Online's The Corner, Jonah Goldberg insisted that The New York Times, among others, has "gone after Palin and her family in ways that I think are particularly egregious." (Goldberg didn't bother to cite any evidence of egregious Times behavior to support his media critique.)

Meanwhile, unveiling an unlikely coalition, The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol announced that the liberal media were in cahoots with the "GOP establishment" to bring Palin down. (I kid you not.)

And just days before Palin announced her exit, The National Review's Jim Geraghty and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt huddled to discuss why liberals hate Palin so much; what is it about her that drives them to distraction? (It's because Palin's so pretty, Geraghty posited.)

So the familiar outlines were all in place and the pity party hummed in high gear: the unhinged liberal media had it in for Palin and wanted to drive her off the national stage. Liberals were smearing her.

But then a funny thing happened -- scores of conservative commentators broke ranks with the "liberal media" brigade and decided Palin's political problems were of her own making.

In other words, the beloved liberal media meme completely fractured under the weight of the Palin story. The front-line, knee-jerk troops were ready and eager to lob the ever-ready accusations, but it turned out that lots of Noise Machine generals weren't buying it, and instead of blaming the liberal media for Palin's disastrous weekend showing, they blamed ... Palin.

Shocking, I know. But the maneuver left the right-wing foot soldiers completely exposed. For instance, Brent Bozell's NewsBusters whined that biased reporters on ABC, CBS, and NBC had called Palin's Friday press conference "bizarre." But as Media Matters' Jamison Foser asked, what other adjective could journalists have possibly used? "Bizarre" perfectly captured the jaw-dropping media event staged on the banks of Alaska's Lake Lucille in Wasilla.

And sure enough, "bizarre" was the exact word conservative Times columnist Ross Douthat used to describe Palin's presser:

But last Friday's bizarre, rambling resignation speech should take her off the political map for the duration of the Obama era.

For some reason though, NewsBusters didn't write up Douthat for a liberal media bias infraction. In fact, the website was forced to give a pass to conservative Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer for calling Palin's move "erratic" and "delusional," and to Karl Rove for admitting to being "perplexed" by Palin's unorthodox "no más" move. And that wasn't the half of it from the conservative chorus:

"Giving up on an executive job a year and a half early isn't the best way to persuade voters you're ready for the more demanding rigors and scrutiny of the White House. ... Some Alaskans, including many of her admirers, can be forgiven if they conclude she bugged out when the going got rough." [editorial, The Wall Street Journal; 07/07/2009]
"
If this is geared for her run for the presidency in 2012, it is one of the most politically tone deaf decisions that we've seen." [GOP consultant Stuart Roy, ABCNews.com; 07/05/2009]

"She dashed her chances of winning the 2012 nomination. ... Forget about Sarah Palin as the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 and probably ever." [Fred Barnes column, The Weekly Standard; 07/05/2009]


See the glaring contradiction here? How can it be the so-called liberal media's fault that Palin gets bad press when conservatives were out front giving Palin bad press? How can right-wingers argue that liberals are obsessed with taking Palin down, when it's conservatives who are elbowing each other to reach the front of the get-Palin crowd? In other words, shouldn't the question be: Why do conservatives hate Sarah Palin so much? (And, is it because she's so pretty?)

Of course, the right has been propping up this media straw man on Palin's behalf for months now. Back during the campaign, The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Henninger penned an angry column titled, "Hatin' Palin," in which he bemoaned the "stoning" the former VP candidate has had to withstand from "the media." "The abuse being heaped on Sarah Palin is such a cheap shot," he lamented.

Of course, Henninger wouldn't say so, but it was GOP pundits who seemed to be unfurling the most "abuse" at Palin: conservative commentators such as Peggy Noonan, George Will, David Brooks, David Frum, and Kathleen Parker -- who all came clean about Palin's glaring deficiencies as a candidate. In fact, Brooks went so far as to call her a "cancer" on the GOP, while Noonan claimed Palin's candidacy symbolized a "new vulgarism in American politics." Yet Henninger played dumb and pretended "the media" were guilty of taking pot shots at Palin.

And so it is today: Right-wing media activists are trying to whip up righteous indignation at how nasty and unfair the liberal media are being toward Palin and her decision to step down as governor. Truth is, conservative commentators are the ones unfurling the harshest critiques.

In other words, when it comes to fighting the GOP's bruising Palin civil war, leave the press, and liberals, out of it.


FAIR USE NOTICE:

This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc.

This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

IMPORTANT NOTICE

You may have noticed the increased amount of notices for you to notice. Some of our notices have not been noticed. This is very noticeable. It has been noticed that the responses to the notices have been noticeably unnoticed. This notice is to remind you to notice the notices and respond to the notices, because we do not want the notices to go unnoticed.

Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, "Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
- Matthew 26:6-11

An act of love, a voluntary taking on oneself of some of the pain of the world, increases the courage and love and hope of all. - Dorothy Day


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July 8, 2009 - Wednesday 

Category: News and Politics
As Good As Your Word

Excerpt from James 5:12-19
"Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your 'Yes' be yes and your 'no' be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation."

Reflection by Shawnthea Monroe

In 1974, my father-in-law, Eldor Mueller, got a loan with a phone call. He was moving the family back to South Dakota and needed the money to renovate an old farmstead. Rather than going through a local bank, Eldor called the president of his hometown bank, a man he'd known since childhood. Eldor explained what the money was for, and the banker said he'd send the paperwork and a check the next day. He knew Eldor was a man of his word.

Those were the days. No one does business like that any more; it's too risky. The last time I applied for a mortgage I practically had to submit a DNA sample. Although I promised to repay the loan, the loan officer needed proof and documentation. My word was not enough.

The letter of James is not a great theological work. The author is more concerned with right practice than right belief, which is why James exhorts the Christian community not to swear oaths or make grand promises. Instead, he simply wants us to be as good as our word. "Let your 'Yes' be yes and your 'No' be no." People whose actions match their words are trustworthy and reliable, two commodities that are in short supply these days.

I'll never get a loan with a phone call, but I'd like to be worthy of such a risk.

Prayer
Gracious God, help us to be reliable and trustworthy people, and may your Spirit inspire our words and actions. Amen.

About the Author
Shawnthea Monroe is Senior Minister of Plymouth Church, Shaker Heights, Ohio.


Join us on i.ucc.org for prayer and conversation.



Live simply. Love generously.
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
===================


Help end world hunger


"I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain."


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My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
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July 7, 2009 - Tuesday 
1:28 PM 
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July 7, 2009 - Tuesday 

Category: Religion and Philosophy

When you build bridges, you can keep crossing them. – Rick Pitino

Something I have never understood is why some folks burn so many bridges in their lives. I understand in severe cases like abuse that permanently severing contacts with the abuser may be the safest and healthiest option. I am referring, however, to those instances when reconciliation is a real possibility—if only we would pursue it.

And why don’t we cross the bridge of reconciliation? Sometimes we can’t—or won’t--release the hurt someone has imposed upon us. Sometimes we just might realize that we bear some of the responsibility for whatever situation has led us to be on “opposite sides of the Great Divide,” so to speak; and our pride will not allow us to cross the bridge. Maybe sometimes we don’t trust that the bridge of reconciliation is strong enough to bear the weight of the situation, and we fear falling into the abyss of pain and rejection.

Unfortunately, there are folks who harbor these same feelings about their relationship with God. That is, maybe we are angry at God because God has not responded to us in a way we understand and/or appreciate. Maybe we realize we have distanced ourselves from God, and feel certain that God would never consider loving us again.

The good news is, in Romans 8:38-39, we read where God has built a permanent bridge for us to cross whenever we choose. These verses tell us that nothing at all can ever separate us from the love that God has for us. So, whatever situations we are facing today that seem impossible to reconcile, know that our most important relationship of all—our relationship with God—does not have to be on that list. And once we realize God is always there waiting on the bridge waiting for us, we just might be surprised at how many more bridges we are able to cross.

Besides, it can get pretty lonely trying to stand by ourselves on “our side” of those “Great Divides”—even when we might be “right.” Amen?

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Dan
Holy Covenant MCC
Brookfield, IL



When you come upon your enemy's ox or donkey going astray, you shall bring it back. When you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden and you would hold back from setting it free, you must help to set it free. - Exodus 23:4-5

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. - Martin Luther King Jr.

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. --- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)


===================

Help end world hunger



FAIR USE NOTICE:

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This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

IMPORTANT NOTICE

You may have noticed the increased amount of notices for you to notice. Some of our notices have not been noticed. This is very noticeable. It has been noticed that the responses to the notices have been noticeably unnoticed. This notice is to remind you to notice the notices and respond to the notices, because we do not want the notices to go unnoticed.

"I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain."


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Books on Relgion and Spirituality


Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

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July 6, 2009 - Monday 


http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4ce7f...

..

The songs just depend on whom you're singing them to.

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July 6, 2009 - Monday 

Category: Religion and Philosophy
Standing in Judgment
John 8:21-30

Bible Excerpt
[Jesus said:] "You will die in your sins, unless you believe that I am what I am." "And who are you?" they asked him. Jesus answered, "What I have told you all along. I have much to say to you—and in judgment. But he who sent me speaks the truth, and what I heard from him I report to the world."

Reflection
by Christina Villa

When I was growing up, a local kids' TV show featured Ranger Andy playing the banjo and singing songs--among them, "You'll Find it in the Bible, So You Know It's True." Many of us are convinced of the truth to be found in the Bible. But we're reading it from the perspective of knowing how it all turns out. In today's scripture, Jesus addresses a crowd of people who don't know—and they're divided. "'He is a good man,' said some. 'No,' said others, 'he is leading the people astray.'" What if you or I were in that crowd? How can we be sure what our reaction to Jesus would have been?

These biblical crowd scenes make me personally uneasy because I imagine myself in the crowd, not sure what to believe. What if I'd been on the wrong side? This keeps me from being self-righteous, which is always a temptation. Especially when I think I'm far too fair-minded and compassionate to ever pass judgment on the foolish error of somebody else's actions or beliefs. "I have much to say about you--and in judgment," says Jesus to the crowd. Wouldn't it be great if we could leave judgment about other people's beliefs to Jesus? How different would life be, in the church, and in the world?

Prayer
Help me find a way to you, through the wilderness of all I don't know and never will know, and remind me to leave others alone to do the same. Amen.

About the Author
Christina Villa is Minister for Stewardship Resources, Local Church Ministries, United Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio.


Join us on i.ucc.org for prayer and conversation.


Live simply. Love generously.
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.


===================



NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this Blog without warning, warrant, or notice.

They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.


"I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain."


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My YouTube Channel
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God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

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http://jmm.aaa.net.au/
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July 5, 2009 - Sunday 

Category: Life
Instead of the usual morning Devotion, I thought this poem would be a great way to start the day....





The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down,
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?


~ Mary Oliver ~

(New and Selected Poems, Volume I)



People often say with pride, “I’m not interested in politics.” They might as well say, “I’m not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future, or any future.”
— Martha Gellhorn, writer/journalist (1908-1998)

Live simply. Love generously.
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. --- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)


===================

Help end world hunger



FAIR USE NOTICE:

This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc.

This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

This material is distributed without profit

IMPORTANT NOTICE

You may have noticed the increased amount of notices for you to notice. Some of our notices have not been noticed. This is very noticeable. It has been noticed that the responses to the notices have been noticeably unnoticed. This notice is to remind you to notice the notices and respond to the notices, because we do not want the notices to go unnoticed.

"I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain."


Add to Technorati Favorites



Books on Relgion and Spirituality


Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

11:40 AM 
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July 4, 2009 - Saturday 

Category: Religion and Philosophy
Saturday, July 4, 2009

What’s Freedom For?

Excerpt from Matthew 8:18-22
"'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' And Jesus said…'the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’”

Reflection by William C. Green

Freedom from Great Britain meant freedom for the United States. What we were against demanded no more than what we were for. As costly as the Revolutionary War had been, no less costly was the development of the Declaration of Independence and subsequent debate and division over what kind of nation this would be. A century later the Civil War was fought.

Getting away from what we don’t like may be hard. Getting into what we’re for is no less difficult. "Freedom from" a bad relationship, personally or politically, can be the easier part, despite the cost. "Freedom for" a good relationship may mean that we sacrifice certainty and find there’s nowhere to “lay our heads” without returning to some version of what we left. 

Following Jesus is not just freedom from a life we had been leading. It’s freedom for a life that makes new demands, not all of which come easily, many of which are puzzling, most of which are, at least, humbling. Becoming forgiving? Loving our enemy? Relying on prayer instead of what makes quickest sense to us? Amid it all, living with uncertainty, never sure we’ve got it quite right? 

We can learn from our nation’s history. We did not just gain freedom from something we didn’t want. We gained freedom for a nation seeking liberty and justice for all, however uncertain and elusive these ideals can be. 

Prayer
Gracious God, remind me that uncertainty is better than dead certainty. May I find freedom for what your strength and guidance make possible. Amen.

About the Author
William C. Green has served in the local, Conference, and national settings of the United Church of Christ



Live simply. Love generously.
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
===================


Help end world hunger

"I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain."


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John Mark Ministries
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July 4, 2009 - Saturday 

Category: Life


..



People often say with pride, “I’m not interested in politics.” They might as well say, “I’m not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future, or any future.”
— Martha Gellhorn, writer/journalist (1908-1998)

Live simply. Love generously.
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls. --- Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)


===================

Help end world hunger



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July 3, 2009 - Friday 

Current mood:  hyper
Category: Music
Strange....U'm just now "getting it".

I honestly did think that there was that much to Michael Jackson. Perhaps it was because I grew up with him. - I  was/am 5 years older than he. I remember how impressed I was with little kid in 1980's., but confused at by his strange transformations. I remmber feeling embarassed by hiw weridness and frightned by the accusations against him as if they somehow reflected on ALL African-Americans.

I quit listening at some point, but perhaps I should listen again.  Because I do remember the way some of his songs made me feel,  I remmeber when he made me feel happy... 

Sightings 7/2/09
The Way You Make Me Feel
-- Kathryn Lofton


You’re tired of it already: the inundating coverage, the progressively whitening chronology, the recollection of malfeasance.  Make it stop, you think.  Let us move on to better problems, to anything but this.

I’m with you.  Make it stop.  But first, before the casket closes, take a moment, and download “The Way You Make Me Feel.”  Listen.  See what you do.  See what your five-year-old does.  And think, briefly, about what sort of sublime work a pop song does.  

The memorializing vocabulary describing Michael Jackson mirrors the confusions of his life.  Described simultaneously as “childlike” and a “troubled soul,” Jackson seems to possess qualities of someone both old too young, and young too far into old.  The desolation of Neverland became a metaphor for his inner fetal rocking, but also an eerie embodiment of his uncanny set of skills.  Despite his gestures to stock manliness (the crotch grab, those video damsels), his exclamatory rock falsetto endures as his signature.  To the archive of transcendence he donates the flight of that sound, of his voice reaching for high-flying punctuation.  The transitioning body, too, slunk in ways supernatural, no matter what fedora or sequins or epaulets flashed.  Cultural memory will conjure him as a tragic infant divine, never quite managing to keep the best of little Michael into the multimillions of an international reign.  Yet divine his muscularity remained, pulsing and pouncing through screens and stages with an impetus that had no obvious natural source.  

Divine parallels prove limiting, however, since it was the case that Michael never moved by magic.  He invented that stage.  He choreographed his dance.  He hustled his single-glove wares.  In this, he was not so incomparable.  Something happened to the celebrity icon in the Eighties.  Scholars identify this as a decade of exponential magnification of the paparazzo’s lens, and the multimedia diversification which created a new sort of permeating brand identification.  But the iconic shift noteworthy here is the differential work ethic.  Marilyn and Jackie O. did work, but by the Eighties they seemed rather indolent when posed alongside the laboring stagecraft of other single-name celebrities.  Consequentially the icon’s eroticism calcified: Ms. Ciccione, Mr. Jackson, and Ms. Winfrey were working too hard to be sexy.  Indeed, they worked too hard to be believed.  The Eighties celebrity became a machine, one known as much for its handlers and backstage rigging as it was for its productions.  The celebrity was no longer the demigod of Olympian descent; it served as its own deus ex machina.

On the subject of Michael Jackson and the specific machina of his religious meaning, one might consider the invocations of religion or religious meaning in his music (i.e., “Human Nature”), the role of religion in his biography (from Jehovah’s Witnesses to errant rabbis to flirtations with Islam), or the religion of his fans (all those screaming Japanese armies).  Such commentaries are unlikely to provide much interpretive heft.  Michael Jackson was not, in the end, a terribly thick subject for religious consideration: he dallied and discoed on the smooth tip of substance.  Someone named “God” did, as he testified, inspire nearly every lyric.  Pressed on the point, he mostly repeated himself, or offered vague dismissals of patriarchic doctrine.  His cited divinity offered verbal mortar for his explanatory limits.

What is most tugging to those questing for the religious Michael Jackson is not to be found in biography.  Rather, it is, always and forever, in the deus of those songs.  It is difficult to think of another singer who has produced more music that serves such ritual function, be it Halloween (“Thriller”), peace summits (“We Are The World”), or the midnight club surge (“Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”).  This musician knew how to capitalize upon the liminal gap between fear and pleasure, between acrimony and unity, between exhaustion and electricity, between rape and desire, between genders, between races, and between ages.  He performed on the rite de passage.  Perhaps righteously, the reporters and detectives found in that wobble foul play.  But in the dancing delight of our most sentimental rites—at the wedding, at the middle school dance, or in the child’s bedroom—such talk of Michael’s molesting grotesque seems sacrilegious.  Or it seems to miss the point: the glory of this voice, and the beats he pulled with a snap, was in its denial of this world, of its codes and clarities.  The way you make me feel, you really turn me on, he sang.  You give me fever like I’ve never, ever known, and you knock me off my feet.  And so it was.  And so it ever will be.

Kathryn Lofton is an assistant professor of American studies and religious studies at Yale University. Her first book, Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon, is forthcoming from University of California Press.


Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Submissions policy
Sightings welcomes submissions of 500 to 750 words in length that seek to illuminate and interpret the forces of faith in a pluralist society. Previous columns give a good indication of the topical range and tone for acceptable essays. The editor also encourages new approaches to issues related to religion and public life.

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Columns may be quoted or republished in full, with attribution to the author of the column, Sightings, and the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
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Please send all inquiries, comments, and submissions to Jeremy Biles, editor of Sightings, at sightings-admin@listhost.uchicago.edu. Subscribe, unsubscribe, or manage your subscription at the Sightings subscription page.

Moreover I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work.
- Ecclesiastes 3:16-17

Never stop making the connections between sexism, racism, militarism, nationalism and all forms of violence.
- Marge Tuite,
Dominican Sister

FAIR USE NOTICE:

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Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!! 
Feed a hungry person today:

God is still speaking


John Mark Ministries
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July 3, 2009 - Friday 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b9BPaQLjHk

A Friend just sent this Video to me. I can imagine that somebody somewhere is going to claim that that "this was taken out of context", but I can't imagine what of context this could possiibly justify THIS.

11:55 AM 
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July 3, 2009 - Friday 

Category: Religion and Philosophy
.Let me in…

Excerpt from Jeremiah 7:1-15
"Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

The people have been telling themselves that God lives in their temple and will always do so, no matter how they act. Enter the prophet.

Jeremiah lets loose like a good prophet: do not oppress the orphans and the widows, do not shed innocent blood, do not worship other gods, do not act unjustly with one another. If you do (you know what's coming here), then God will no longer be in your temple.

But get this: Jeremiah says that the reason God won’t be in the temple isn’t that God will leave, or will punish the people. Jeremiah says that God won’t be in the temple because the people won’t let God be. Jeremiah pictures God outside the temple, asking, "Let me in!" It’s like Jesus saying, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock."

Apparently, our behavior has something to do with whether there’s room for God in our lives-and our temples-or not. Apparently, God won’t shove God’s way in where people’s behavior declares that God is not wanted. Apparently, our acts of justice and worship and mercy are the very things that open the door to God.

So the question is, just how much do you want God in your temple?

Prayer
Holy God, love me so much that I might shape a life that has plenty of room for you in it. Amen.

About the Author
Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister, Old South Church, Boston, Massachusetts.

Join us on i.ucc.org for prayer and conversation.



Live simply. Love generously.
Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.
===================


Help end world hunger


"I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain."


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July 2, 2009 - Thursday 

Three Moral Issues of Health Care
by Jim Wallis 07-02-2009

Good health is the will of God for each and every one of his children. Death, disease, and pain did not exist in the Garden, and Revelation tells of a “new heaven and new earth,” where once again they will not exist. We live in a fallen world where injury and sickness are a fact of life. In fact International Classification of Disease now identifies 68,000 distinct diagnoses. Every year in our country there are about 119 million ER visits, up to 902 million doctor’s office visits, and about 3.5 billion prescriptions filled.

Perfect health will never be achieved and physical death on this earth will never be overcome, but the scriptures paint a clear picture that this was God’s intent from the beginning and will be the goal once again in the end. This means that on a personal, national, and global level the physical well-being of all God’s children is close to God’s heart and should be close to ours as well.

There is not a religious mandate or God-ordained system of health care or insurance. No amount of biblical exegesis or study will lead you to a policy conclusion on health care savings accounts, personal versus employer provided insurance, single payer public systems, or private insurance plans. Luke might have been a physician, but he still never commented on whether or not computerizing medical records should be a national priority.

These policy questions are still of vital importance and will be debated and discussed in the coming months at the White House, in Congress, in the press, and I hope in our churches. With an issue like health, deeply personal but of great public concern, I believe that the faith community has a unique and important role to play. That is, to define and raise the moral issues that lay just beneath the policy debate. There will be a lot of heat, maybe even a few fires, over the weeds of the policy, and the faith community has the opportunity to remind our political and national leaders about why these issues are so important — why they speak to our values.

There are, I believe, three fundamental moral issues that the faith community can focus on and call our political leaders back to, lest they forget. They are: the truth, full access, and cost.

The Truth

For decades now, the physical health and well-being of our country has been a proxy battle for partisan politics. When Truman tried to pass a national health insurance plan, the American Medical Association spent $200 million (in today’s dollars) and was accused of violating ethics rules by having doctors lobby their patients to oppose the legislation. In the 1970’s when Nixon tried to pass a national health insurance plan, strikingly similar to what many democrats are proposing today, the plan was defeated by liberal democrats and unions who thought that they would be able to pass something themselves after the mid-term elections and claim political credit for the plan. In the 1990’s the “Harry and Louise” ads misrepresented the Clinton health care plan but was successful enough PR to shut down that movement for reform.

Already, industry interests and partisan fighting are threatening the opportunity for a public dialogue about what is best for our health care system. As a resource for congregations, small groups, and individuals, Sojourners has worked with its partners to publish a Health Care tool kit [click here to download] to help frame and guide this necessary debate. This guide gives an overview of the biblical foundations of this issue and frequently asked questions about it. What we need is an honest and fair debate with good information, not sabotage of reform with half-truths and misinformation.

Full Access

The second fundamental value question is that of quality and affordable full access to health care. About 46 million people in our country today are uninsured and many more find themselves without adequate coverage for their medical needs. Many of them are working families who live in fear of getting sick or injured. Some delay seeking medical attention at the risk of their own health and increasing cost later on, or use emergency room services instead of primary care physicians. An estimated 18,000 people a year die unnecessarily, many from low-income families, because they lack basic health insurance. As a father, I know how important the health, wholeness, and well-being of my family is to me and is to every parent. Seeing your child sick is a horrible feeling; seeing your child sick and not having the resources to do something about it is a societal sin.

Cost

The third issue is cost. An estimated 60 percent of bankruptcies this year will be due to medical bills. Seventy-five percentof those declaring bankruptcy as a result of medical bills have health insurance. The costs of medical care stem from varied sources. Some of these costs come from malpractice lawsuits, some from insurance companies with high overhead and entire divisions of employees hired to find ways to deny benefits. Someone who thought they were insured could find out that their benefits were terminated retroactively because the insurer decided that there was a pre-existing condition. In the end, some are paying too much for care and others are making too much from these present arrangements.

There is a lot of money, to say the least, wrapped up in health care. The faith community needs lift up the concerns of those who have no lobbyists on Capitol Hill or PR firms with slick advertising campaigns.

These are pressing issues for our country, lives are at stake, and it is a debate we must have and take seriously. For the month of July, we will be taking this discussion to our blog and having some of our regular writers and guests give their opinions and perspectives.

There are a myriad of special interests groups who will be promoting their own self-interests during this process. The faith community has the opportunity to step in and speak for the interests of the common good and those who would not otherwise have a voice. I am sure that every one of the 18,000 preventable deaths that will happen this year from a lack of basic health insurance breaks the heart of God. And, it should break ours too, because healing is at the very heart of the Christian vocation.


================
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This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE

You may have noticed the increased amount of notices for you to notice. Some of our notices have not been noticed. This is very noticeable. It has been noticed that the responses to the notices have been noticeably unnoticed. This notice is to remind you to notice the notices and respond to the notices, because we do not want the notices to go unnoticed.

"I trace the rainbow through the rain and see the promise is not in vain."


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Books on Relgion and Spirituality


Every 3.6 seconds a real person dies from hunger somewhere in the world!!!
Feed a hungry person today:
http://www.hungersite.com

My YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/Ninure

God is still speaking
http://www.stillspeaking.com

John Mark Ministries
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

9:11 PM 
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