The Parable of the Rich Fool

Shaun Attwood moved to America in 1991, initially visiting family just after finishing a business degree at Liverpool University. He came from small town Cheshire, and everything felt so big in comparison: the houses with swimming pools, the roads, the cars. He started working long hours as a commission-only stockbroker, earning nothing for the first few months. Over five years, his gross commission rose to more than $500,000 a year. He was the top broker in the office and had his own staff. Then he retired to trade his own capital online and earned even more. He moved to a million-dollar mountainside home complete with swimming pool and whirlpool bath. But he wanted more.

When he moved Shaun also took his love of the rave scene and drugs with him. His goal was to make enough money to bring Manchester's rave culture to Arizona. He threw raves across the desert region. He invested in club drugs. He went from being a normal lad from a working-class Cheshire town to living a Pulp Fiction lifestyle. The police knew about him and started a wire tap and eventually arrested him five months later. He was sentenced to nine and a half years in jail, of which He served almost six. In the 26 months while He was waiting to be sentenced, He went to the notoriously tough Maricopa County jail in Arizona. The gangs there had more control than the guards, and inmates were murdered. He says that this sequence of events over almost six years changed him as a person. He tells his story in schools and prison. He says of himself, as a stockbroker who threw raves and invested in club drugs, he landed himself in jail and deserved punishment. As horrendous as it was, I'm glad I went through the experience. Even though I'll always regret the effect it had on my family, how my world came crashing down, I don't resent what happened to me – if anything, I'm grateful for the new direction it has given me.

The teaching of Jesus in this morning’s Gospel doesn’t in some senses get more contemporary does it? For it is Shaun Attwood’s story, Nick Leeson’s story, but in many ways it is also my story as I long for a new Amazon Kindle e-reader or iPad or car or house or whatever it is.

This morning’s Gospel sits in a section where Jesus is journeying to Jerusalem and has been teaching about what it means to be a disciple. Jesus has just given us teaching about being faithful to God even in the face of persecution and then from the crowd is called out this facile question centred not on faith, but a family inheritance dispute.

Seeing the deeper issue (and Luke’s Jesus constantly warns against having too much and also God favouring the poor), Jesus warns then against all kinds of greed, and I start to feel uncomfortable. My problem is money. It's not that I don't have enough. It's just that I often think, and believe, and act like I don't have enough – enough money, enough time, enough stuff. More than that, I live in a culture that regularly tells me that I don't have enough. Television advertising and the internet all not only tell me that I'm insufficient, incomplete, and not quite right on my own, but they also promise me that if I only buy the product they're pushing – be it a tube of toothpaste, new laptop, or better car – then I'll be complete. Our culture unequivocally equates consumption with satisfaction, possessions with happiness, and material wealth with the good life.

And here's my problem: all too often I believe it. Don't get me wrong, I know it's not true. More than that, I know it's a downright lie. And I take as evidence not only the multiple biblical prescriptions warning about greed, but also all the studies that measure national happiness where the UK, one of the wealthiest countires in the world, ranks towards the bottom ten percent with regard to reported happiness. Further, in my own life I know that I have a lot more money and stuff now than I did ten years ago and yet in some ways I am no more happy than I was then. So I know that as a rule happiness doesn't make a person happy, and yet deep down I still secretly believe that I'll be the exception to that rule.



And then Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool and I feel scared. I identify with the rich guy. After all, he's not a cheat, or a thief, or even particularly greedy. He's just worked hard and made a lot of money, like most of us dream about. His mistake, in the end, doesn't have to do with the wealth; rather, he goes astray by believing that his wealth can secure his future, can make him independent – from others, from need, from God. And I catch myself dreaming that, too: "If I just had a little more in the bank, or if the this were paid off, or if the cash for the kids' university education was already saved,...everything would be okay." The allure of money is that it creates the illusion of independence. It promises us that we can transcend the everyday vulnerabilities and needs that remind us that we're mortal, created beings ultimately and always dependent on others and, most especially, on God.

The lip-smacking self-preoccupation of the rich man is what Jesus is ultimately warning against. He refers to himself eight times in two verses! 'What am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all my grain and my goods in them, and I will say to my soul: "My soul, you...".' God has provided him with land that produces so much, and yet God is not forgotten, he doesn’t even feature on this guys horizon.

Friends this is not, as Luke’s Jesus would like it to be, a ‘give all of your money and possessions away and especially to the church, and then you will find God’ sort of sermon but it’s not. Having possessions is fine says Jesus as long as they don’t get in the way of discovering true riches in God.

We have pretty much bought into the cultural assumption that equates money with personal worth and yet Jesus says our to riches should be found in God. Instead of filling our lives with stuff that has no intrinsic value other than the value that we give it, God challenges us to fill our lives with things that have eternal value. It’s not the wealth that Jesus has a problem with, it’s the fact that accumulating it outwardly reduces inwardly the God shaped space within us and if that space is filled already - when we need to show or receive love, when we long for a sense of inner peace - it passes us by and does not even feature on our landscapes. How do we earn the richness of God? You can’t. We cannot earn his favour or presence or love. Thank God we can’t because he longs to give it free of charge to us. The richness he longs for us to have costs us nothing but cost Him everything. To receive those riches, to know that we are loved eternally, to know that we can be forgiven for the car crash that we so often make of our inner as well as outer lives - we just need to sincerely ask Him to give it to us. This isn’t God and possessions fighting it out in capitalist democracy because God might be out of a job, no, it’s the story of a God waits and who will gladly put us together again when the beautiful palace we make our lives to be all too often comes crashing down. Friends we need to be people who are rich in God. So don’t buy an iPad, buy some I-God time - in prayer and in hearing of his love in the stories in the scriptures and rediscovering His eternal love for each of us.

Hell No, Fox doesn't require its hosts to base a story on facts, don't be ridiculous!

This is for bloggers like Linda, Silverfiddle, Pam Geller, Maggies Notebook, Malcontent, and trolls like lisa etc.,etc. These people defend Fox news, calling it truthful and factual.

Media Matters: Conservatives' perpetual dishonesty machine
Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh regularly tout their supposed accuracy and often claim their critics never prove them wrong. Fittingly, this in itself is a complete falsehood. Limbaugh and Beck are wrong for a living, but have been rewarded for their perpetual wrongness by assuming the role of the two most important cogs in the conservative media.
Every day, the conservative noise machine -- Fox News, Beck, Limbaugh, and other prominent conservative talk radio hosts and bloggers -- hurl false accusations with the hopes of damaging the Obama administration, Democrats, and progressives politically. Make no mistake: this is the primary motivation for the majority of the stories they promote. Pesky things like "facts" and "reality" are, at best, a trivial concern.
Often, these attacks are baseless, easily debunked, and laughably absurd -- yet conservative media outlets rarely (if ever) offer corrections when they are proven wrong. Instead they either double down on their attacks or simply ignore that they were wrong in the first place and move on to the next overhyped bit of nonsense.
While it may seem like a minor story in the grand scheme of things, one example from this week perfectly exemplifies the utter lack of journalistic standards endemic to conservative media.
Early this week, conservatives were in their usual panic mode over what they claimed was evidence that the Obama administration "backed" or "preferred" the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the terrorist better known as the Lockerbie bomber. As we pointed out, reports -- often the same reports these conservatives were linking to in order to make their arguments -- indicated that the administration wanted Megrahi to remain imprisoned, with the stipulation that if he were to be released, he should remain in Scotland rather than risk him receiving an "extremely inappropriate" "welcoming reception" upon being transferred to Libya.
Fox News twisted reality to claim that the "U.S. Backed Freedom, Not Prison, for Bomber." Matt Drudge splashed a huge headline across his website announcing that the "White House Backed Release Of Lockerbie Bomber." Pam Geller -- whose deranged rantings have earned her frequent appearances on Fox News and bylines on Andrew Breitbart's "Big" websites, Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller, and the American Thinker -- called for a "special investigation" and a "charge of treason" for Obama.
Rush Limbaugh -- while bragging, as he often does, that he was "executing assigned host duties flawlessly" with "zero mistakes" --claimed that Obama "backed the release" of the Lockerbie bomber because he wanted to "make nice with the Muslim world."
Late Monday, when the State Department released the administration's correspondence with the Scottish Ministry of Justice, it confirmed in unambiguous terms that the administration was "not prepared to support Megrahi's release on compassionate release or bail," and that "it would be most appropriate for Megrahi to remain imprisoned for the entirety of his sentence."
So, after this story completely fell apart, did conservative media figures correct the record and let their readers/listeners/viewers know that the administration did not "support" or "prefer" the release of the Lockerbie bomber?
Of course not.
Conservative blogger Jim Hoft -- whose ongoing popularity and influence in conservative media says a lot about their complete indifference to accuracy and credibility -- linked to the letter and proclaimed that the administration "preferred" his release. This was akin to pointing at the ground and saying "this is the sky."
Fox Nation, almost 48 hours after the story had completely fallen apart, still had the following headline and image on their front page:

And you can be sure that in a few months, whenever Sean Hannity or anyone else in the noise machine decides to twist a news story to claim that the Obama administration is "weak on terror," they'll point to the time the administration supposedly "preferred the release of the Lockerbie bomber" in order to buttress their point.
It's a perpetual dishonesty machine.
If this were an isolated incident, perhaps it would be possible to (partially) excuse conservative media outlets for their shameless performance "covering" this story. But as we detailed this week, the right-wing media routinely promote fake stories (for example, the epic freak-out over the imaginary Obama proposal to "ban sport fishing.")
For another good example of how the perpetual dishonesty machine works, have a look at this segment from Tuesday's Fox & Friends. In it, Glenn Beck, Steve Doocy, and Peter Johnson Jr. seized on reports of the U.K. supposedly "admit[ting] its socialized health care is a mess" in order to attack health care reform. They rehashed some old favorites from conservatives' misinformation campaign about health care reform, claiming that we "modeled" reform on the British system and fear mongered about imaginary "death panels." Neither of these attacks were true when they appeared last year, they weren't true this week, and they won't be true the next time Fox's hosts bring them up.
This pattern is undeniable, and at this point is just expected behavior for the conservative media. The larger problem is that "mainstream" outlets still frequently treat garbage from conservative media figures as newsworthy, and ombudsmen at major newspapers like The Washington Post regularly chastise their colleagues for not seizing on conservative nonsense faster.
It says a lot about the state of the media when Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, and other prominent media conservatives can be caught pushing a blatantly false story, offer no correction, and have their behavior met with a collective shrug. Conservative media outlets retain their unfortunate power and influence over the public discourse because they are able to lie largely without consequence.
They did it all this week, they did it all last week, and they'll do it again next week.

Pam Geller is imploring her readers to listen to Sean Hannity! LOL. This pieceofshitwannabejournalistHannity on his July 30th show....

Hannity and panel pin recession that started in 2007 on Obama

Part V The Charity of The Listener

The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." -Hosea 3:1

Authenticity is a good. The practice of confessing leads us to this and other goals. I think that most Christians would be willing to be a bit more authentic. So what stops this from happening? I suspect this does not happen because there are few who are willing to listen, not because there are few who are willing to speak.

I entitled this blog the “Charity of the Listener (aka the Confessor).” By charity, I do not mean that the listener gives away money or something. I mean it terms of Christian Charity, which is Love that surpasses our conventional thinking of love. Christian Love goes beyond loving what is similar and good in order to love what is alien and ugly. It loves that which normally unloveable. A Biblical example is the symbolic marriage of Hosea to a prostitute. God loves Israel like Hosea loves his wife. God loves that which is alien and ugly, so Christians must be willing to do the same. We have to love sinful people -most of all sinful Christians.

Hearing, and really listening, to someone accuse themselves of sin is an act of Christian charity. It means not responding with judgment and not with quick fixes. However, this act of charity begins long before a friend comes to you and says, “I have sinned.” We need the reputation as the loving listener long before because who would think to come to us otherwise? I have decided that I want to be the kind of Christian who listens. I want to have a reputation of patience and charity. This is reputation that will be hard earned. The first step to do so is to avoid harsh “tough-love” rhetoric. Judging is easy, but graciousness is hard.

Before you think of commenting on what I have said so far, please do this thought experiment with me. Before you start, try to be in a private environment and take a few moments of introspection. If you’re ready, please try this with me: think of one of your worst sins. Think back to a time when you did something or thought something that made you feel ashamed, guilty, and filled with regret. This might be a moment of envy of someone else good blessing. It might also be failure to look out for the needy. Maybe you lost your temper and became hateful. I am not asking you to tell me or anyone else what it is, but think about. Then think about how it made you feel after you realized it was sin.

With that in your heart, imagine meeting a pastor or another Christian who had this to say in a sermon:

Some of you guys are a total joke. I have no respect for you at all. You can’t get a job, keep a job, you can’t keep your hands off a girl, you can’t stop downloading porn… (source)

Or barring that, how about a message like this?

Have you ever thought that there are people who go to hell today that never thought they’d go there? You indulge in your favorite sin…You don’t want to be like God. You just want people to back off when they reprove the thing that you are in love with! (source)

Now do these approaches make you feel like being more open about your sin, or hide it more? If you are anything like most people, these are likely to make you defensive, frustrated, and possibly even a little bitter. If it makes you feel more open, what motivates you to serve God? Fear of reprisal? Guilt? Need for an authority’s approval? How long will such appeals remain effective?

What kind of approach would make you feel comfortable in being open about your sin?

I admit, There was a point in my Christian life were such rhetoric and language really made sense to me. Think though, of how it made you feel. I know I no longer have a positive reaction to this kind of stuff. If I did not have a good reaction to this than likely most other people did not either. I realized that I could not stomach this kind of thing much longer, and decided that I would repent -yes repent- of such behavior and make a conscious effort to do the opposite. I would rather be the kind of person who reminds people of God’s forgiveness, than the one who accuses them of sin.

Christian Charity means a few things. We must put our love and compassion for a sinner above a zealous tendency to renounce sin. We have to replace open contempt with patience. We must drop petty justifications for harboring resentment towards (other) sinners. We must learn to be like God who loves things that are ugly. As God listens the prayers of sinful people, so might he make us able to be listen to them too.

Now it is time for your comments...

...or the start of the series.

Nothing has changed, the GOP are still obstructing assholes!

This post was born out of my frustration with our mealy mouthed Democrats not forcefully speaking out, but I'm editing to add this.....

WASHINGTON — A bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened by World Trade Center dust fell short in the House on Thursday, raising the possibility that the bulk of compensation for the ill will come from a legal settlement hammered out in the federal courts.

The bill would have provided free health care and compensation payments to 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who fell ill after working in the trade center ruins.

House Republicans late Thursday were able to corral enough votes to defeat the bill.

Anthony Weiner goes ballistic....


and this...

Republicans blocked a bill Thursday that would have opened up lending for small businesses. The fund would have been available to community banks with less than 10 billion in assets to help with lending and also it would have provided 12 billion in small business tax breaks. But of course its political games playing as usual. Republicans are saying the bill is too much like the huge bailout of the financial industry. What a joke! The Dems are saying the banks should be able to use the lending fund to leverage up to 300 billion in loans which will help loosen the tight credit markets. But NO, these idiots in Washington care more about their standing in the polls and what they THINK voters want them to do, in the meantime Americans must suffer more.....

Democrats had wanted to pass the bill before Congress leaves town for summer vacation, but that won't happen with the House scheduled to adjourn Friday. The Senate is in session for another week, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said there would be no more votes until Monday. Crybaby Mitch McConnell said Dems were blocking GOP amendments and Reid said the GOP demands kept changing. Changing to slow things down is more like it. The usual obstructing to hurt democrats but in the end they are hurting the country. Do they care? Hell NO! The back and forth childs play is sickening!

Now back to my original posting. This is what I want to see more of from our elected leaders. I want to see fighting for us, not fighting between them!

One of the greatest voices in Americas history. I believe this was from '07, Senator Ted Kennedy bellowing on the Senate floor. We have no voice today like the voice of Ted Kennedy, we don't seem to have the passion and determination in the party like we did back then. If you want to get fired up and fight the obstructing do nothing republican party then listen to this video. Damn, I miss this man so much...




I found this comment while reading the news stories last night. I loved what this woman said...

"The entire country is being played with, just like a cat with a mouse, by the republicans and the corporate sponsors.

It's a mean little game for them, to show the country "who is boss." They want nothing to be gained by this administration so that history will reflect an ineffective administration, and they will destroy people's lives in order to attain their goal.

The United States will soon become an evil empire thanks to the ill-informed people who believe that the republicans have any regard for the people in Middle America."

Rethugs are poised for war........again

I saw this on a rightwing blog and had to bring it to you word for hideous word. WTF is the rightwing of our country trying to do?? This should be enough to turn your stomach and NEVER ever allow the thugs to have power in our country, EVER AGAIN!

House Republican Resolution will give green light to Israel for a military strike on Iran.

Put that in your coke pipe and smoke it Obama. When Republicans take back the House in November your Muslim-Marxist agenda is so over.

Nearly one third of the Republican congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced a resolution that would support Israel’s right to use “all means necessary to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by Iran”, including military force. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Louie Gohmert [R-Texas] and 46 co-sponsors.
House Resolution 1553 “condemns the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its threats of ‘annihilating’ the United States and the State of Israel, for its continued support of international terrorism, and for its incitement of genocide of the Israeli people.”
It “supports using all means of persuading the Government of Iran to stop building and acquiring nuclear weapons” and pledges that the U.S. will ensure that Israel “continues to receive critical economic and military assistance, including missile defense capabilities, needed to address the threat of Iran.”


In addition, it “expresses support for Israel’s right to use all means necessary to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by Iran, defend Israeli sovereignty, and protect the lives and safety of the Israeli people, including the use of military force if no other peaceful solution can be found within a reasonable time.”
Iran lobby alarmed The National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a pro-Iranian lobby group, is up in arms over the proposed resolution.
“Obviously we are reaching silly season in Washington with the elections in November,” NIAC’s founder-president Trita Parsi told RN, a news venue that focuses on Russian issues. He added that “there have already been some signs that Israel is going to be a major element that some Republicans will use to get both voters as well as finance, donations to campaigns, away from the Democrats.” (Silly season, indeed. You guys are peeing your pants)


However, Parsi said, “even silly season has real repercussions on the real world.” The resolution would send “a dangerous signal” to Israel, that some in congress would welcome military action by it against Iran, while the White House and U.S. military oppose such a strike, he argued. (‘Dangerous signal’ to Israel? Don’t dream)
NIAC’s website warned that the “game plan” behind HR 1553 was spelled out earlier this month by former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton in the Wall Street Journal, when he wrote: “Having visible congressional support in place at the outset [of an attack] will reassure the Israeli government, which is legitimately concerned about Mr. Obama’s likely negative reaction to such an attack.”


“The Obama Administration quietly resisted Congressional efforts to pass unilateral economic sanctions for over a year, before ultimately giving in to Congressional pressure,” NIAC wrote. “Now that  (hardly)‘crippling’ sanctions have been put in place, the far-right wing and Iran-hawks have begun openly advocating for what has always been their ultimate objective: war with Iran.”


NIAC warned that an attack on Iran would ignite a regional war that would put the lives of “innocent Americans, Iranians, and Israelis” in harm’s way, as well as risking the pro-democracy movement in Iran, U.S. national security and the stability of Iraq and Afghanistan and the global economy, which relies on oil from the Persian Gulf.
NIAC denies allegations that it is used as a tool by the Iranian regime, citing its condemnations of human rights abuses in Iran. (Talk is cheap) Israel National News

are you horrified, terrified?? The warmongering rightwing is on the march.... will it ever end?

Queensrÿche - Resistance (Live '91)

Loving this band's back catalogue in part at least... I am particularly enjoying again their most recent effort American Soldier...

Enjoy, if you like that kinda thing, and I am all over again at the mo...

I'm Sorry

Nabbed the text of this post from Revd Lesley's blog. It moved me. I needed to share it.

I once heard a story about a woman who was a high powered executive. She was planning to take early retirement and had been training for five years as a practitioner of a particular type of massage therapy. She was planning to practice this in her retirement as it gave her great pleasure and she had now mastered the art. These plans were thwarted when she tripped over a poorly laid piece of carpet in her workplace and damaged her knee, meaning that she could no longer do the massage, as she needed to be able to kneel for this particular therapy.

She sued the company, and it went to mediation, and the mediator asked her what she wanted. Her reply surprised him. She did not mention money, she said she wanted an apology, for them to acknowledge how badly this accident had messed up her life. The mediator encouraged the company to apologise, and reluctantly they agreed. When they met with her they said, 'We're sorry that your fall stopped your little hobby'. Needless to say she sued them for a lot of money and their failure to apologise cost them tens of thousands of pounds.

One of the best things that faith encourages us to do is to say 'I'm sorry, forgive me'. I consider myself able to say these words as I sit here now. But often the moment comes when I think to myself, 'Now I need to say sorry', and it is incredibly hard to say. The moment comes when I am still feeling angry, or hurt, or misunderstood. The moment comes when I am feeling abandonment fears. The moment comes when I am feeling lousy about myself and want to bolster my pride. The moment comes when I want to be held and reassured and I fear the impact of an admission of guilt.

My friend, the mediator, says he is often amazed by the power of an apology. I guess it is in hearing an apology that we feel no longer misunderstood and isolated. The other is no longer trying to get one-up, but has taken a stance that is one-down. It takes courage, though.

It also made me think of this song by King's X



The lyrics read:

If I hurt you, I
don't mean to
Please forgive me
Got no excuse

Over and over again
Over and over
Over and over again
I let you down

I will hurt you,
it's what I do
Please forgive me
You don't have to

Over and over again
Over and over
Over and over again
I let you down

Word as Wordle - Trinity 9

Well folks, here is the wordle of this coming Sunday's gospel reading from Luke 12:13-21...

'...Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God...'

Marillion - Splintering Heart

I love this band...

I never loved this song really until I heard it live...

This is a particularly special version...

I was at this gig...

Happy memories...

Got this from the Amistadeal blog - the blog of the breeders where our wonderful puppy Hetty (in the picture) came from. Just the sort of thing needed for Sunday night...

WHERE DO PETS COME FROM?
It is reported that the following edition of the Book of Genesis
was discovered in the Dead Seal Scrolls. If authentic, it would
shed light on the question, "Where do pets come from?"

And Adam said, "Lord, when I was in the garden, you walked
with me everyday. Now I do not see you anymore. I am
lonesome here and it is difficult for me to remember how much
you love me."
And God said, "No problem! I will create a companion for you
that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my
love for you, so that you will know I love you, even when you
cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish and childish and
unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you
are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourself."
And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam.
And it was a good animal. And God was pleased.
And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and he wagged
his tail. And Adam said, "But Lord, I have already named all the
animals in the Kingdom and all the good names are taken and I
cannot think of a name for this new animal."
And God said, "No problem! Because I have created this new
animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a
reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG."
And Dog lived with Adam and was a companion to him and loved
him. And Adam was comforted. And God was pleased. And Dog
was content and wagged his tail.
After a while, it came to pass that Adam's guardian angel came to
the Lord and said, "Lord, Adam has become filled with pride. He
struts and preens like a peacock and he believes he is worthy of
adoration. Dog has indeed taught him that he is loved, but no one
has taught him humility."
And the Lord said, "No problem! I will create for him a companion
who will be with him forever and who will see him as he is. The
companion will remind him of his limitations, so he will know that he
is not always worthy of adoration."
And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam. And Cat
would not obey Adam. And when Adam gazed into Cat's eyes, he
was reminded that he was not the supreme being. And Adam
learned humility.
And God was pleased. And Adam was greatly improved.
And Cat did not care one way or the other.

St. James and Hospitality

Today is the Feast of St. James, but what do we know about him? James, son of Zebedee (died 44) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke state that James and John were with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them to follow him. According to the Gospel of Mark, James and John were called Boanerges, or the "Sons of Thunder” - reference to their temper perhaps? James was one of only three apostles whom Jesus selected to bear witness to his Transfiguration. The Acts of the Apostles records that Agrippa I had James executed by sword.

His remains are said to be in Santiago de Compostela in Spain and Saint James is the Patron Saint of Spain. The traditional pilgrimage to the grave of the saint, known as the "Way of St. James", has become the most popular pilgrimage for Western European Catholics from the early Middle Ages onwards. In 2008, 125,141 pilgrims registered as having completed the final 100 km walk (200 km by bicycle) to Santiago to qualify for a Compostela. When 25 July falls on a Sunday, it is a ″Jubilee″ year, and a special east door is opened for entrance into the Santiago Cathedral. In the last Jubilee year, 2004, 179,944 pilgrims received a Compostela.

According to ancient local tradition, on 2 January of the year AD 40, the Virgin Mary appeared to James on the bank of the Ebro River at Caesaraugusta, while he was preaching the Gospel in Iberia. She appeared upon a pillar, Nuestra Señora del Pilar, and that pillar is conserved and venerated within the present Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, in Zaragoza, Spain. Following that apparition, St James returned to Judea, where he was beheaded by King Herod Agrippa I in the year 44.
The 12th-century Historia Compostellana commissioned by bishop Diego Gelmírez provides a summary of the legend of St James as it was believed at Compostela. Two propositions are central to it: first, that St James preached the gospel in Iberia as well as in the Holy Land; second, that after his martyrdom at the hands of Herod Agrippa I his disciples carried his body by sea to Iberia, where they landed at Padrón on the coast of Galicia which tradition says was covered in scallop shells, and took it inland for burial at Santiago de Compostela.

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

Notes:

A friend - Cycling sabbatical trip from his home to Santiago de Compostella.
To qualify for a Compostella - the shell symbolising the pilgrimage, you have to have walked the 100 kms (or cycled 200kms) and traditionally relied on the hospitality of others, getting your pilgrims passport stamped en route.

Connexion between the scallop shell, the symbol of St James and the symbol worn by Pilgrims to Santiago and Baptism. Baptism as pilgrimage to a particular and specific place - to God through the landscape of life. The grooves in the shell, which come together at a single point, represent the various routes pilgrims traveled, eventually arriving at a single destination: the tomb of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela. The scallop shell is also a metaphor for the pilgrim.

There is a strong connexion between pilgrimage and hospitality - Hebrews 13:1-4: Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Mutual love - the love between people. 3 types of love: Philio - love of fellow, Eros - erotic, romantic love, and Agape. Agape goes the extra mile, love that is self giving, love that takes us out of our comfort zones, the love of God...

Hospitlaity is not just about entertaining guests... In Ancient Greece, hospitality was to be under the protection of Zeus, the chief God of the Greek pantheon. Zeus was also attributed with the title 'Xenios Zeus' ('xenos' means stranger), emphasizing the fact that hospitality was of the utmost importance. A stranger passing outside a Greek house could be invited inside the house by the family. The host washed the stranger's feet, offered food and wine, and only after the guest was comfortable could ask his or her name.

Hospitality of Abraham and Sarah to the Lord at Mamre on their way to Sodom (Genesis 18)... The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favour with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said, ‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said, ‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’Then the men set out from there, and they looked towards Sodom...

Hospitality and transformation - the equalising of the status of stranger and host. The Greek concept of sacred hospitality is illustrated in the story of Telemachus and Nestor. When Telemachus arrived to visit Nestor, Nestor was unaware that his guest was the son of his old comrade Odysseus. Nonetheless, Nestor welcomes Telemachus and his party lavishly, thus demonstrating the relationship between hostis, "stranger," and hostire, "equalize," and how the two combine in the concept of hospitality. Also, in a sense Abraham and God changed through hospitality

Hospitality and us - the receptionist and the company. The warmth of our welcome, the quality of the coffee and biscuits, the genuineness and friendliness of our conversation echo that story and the story of God in Jesus who was prepared to go the extra mile in coming amongst us, revealing the love of God to us, and dying and rising to show us that not even death can separate us from the love of God. Offer hospitality, welcome, love. abundantly, freely without limit, for we might indeed might be welcoming St James or God himself unawares.

Can we stomach another impeachment trial??

Bachmann: If GOP wins the House, 'all we should do is issue subpoenas'. 

Yesterday, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) spoke to the GOP Youth Convention in Washington. One attendee asked Bachmann about what the Republicans will do if they win back the House:

QUESTION: I might be putting the cart before the horse here, but assuming the Republicans win the House back this next cycle, how do you feel about the chances for a little oversight and a little accountability now that the Republicans would have the subpoena power? How aggressive do you think?
BACHMANN: Well I think that’s all we should do. I think all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another and expose all the nonsense that has gone on. And it’s very important when we come back that we have constitutional conservative leadership, because the American people’s patience is about this big. [...]
And this is the year, this is it. All of our chips are on November. If we don’t get it back and then starve the beast, the House – we have the power of the purse – so we can starve Obamacare, we don’t have to fund any of these programs. And that’s exactly what we need to do: defund all of this nonsense and then unwind it.

 Steve Benen, Political Animal: July 23, 2010

INVESTIGATING IS EASIER THAN GOVERNING.... The political world may not fully appreciate just how ugly it might be next year.

To be sure, it was farcical on the Hill in the mid- to late-'90s. Rep. Dan Burton (R) of Indiana and his House committee on administrative oversight launched pointless investigations into every wild-eyed Clinton-related accusation unhinged activists could manufacture.

And I mean "every" quite literally. In one instance, Burton held hearings -- for 10 days -- on the Clintons' Christmas card list. In another, Burton fired a bullet into a "head-like object" -- reportedly a melon -- in his backyard to test his conspiracy theories about Vince Foster. Over the last six years of Bill Clinton's presidency, Burton's committee unilaterally issued 1,052 subpoenas -- that's not a typo -- to investigate baseless allegations of misconduct. That translates to an average of a politically-inspired subpoena every other day for six consecutive years, including weekends, holidays, and congressional recesses.
A Republican House majority in the next Congress would likely take this even further. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has already made clear that he intends to make Burton look like a meek, submissive toady, leaving "corporate America" alone, so he can attack the White House relentlessly.
For that matter, let's also not forget that some Republicans, including two members of Congress, have raised the specter of presidential impeachment once there's a GOP majority. One of them is Bachmann -- who thinks "all" Republicans should do in the next Congress is launch witch hunts.
As Paul Krugman noted recently, "[W]e'll be having hearings over accusations of corruption on the part of Michelle Obama's hairdresser, janitors at the Treasury, and Larry Summers's doctor's dog."
If this seems like a joke, now would be a good time to adjust your expectations.

 Are you ready for it? Let's pray the GOP loses in 2010 because it will be a circus, you can bet your bippy it will! Bachmann is not pulling any punches, there will be subpoenas flying around Washington like we have never seen before. It'll make the Clinton impeachment look like a schoolyard prank! We can only hope the republican party destroys itself or we are doomed to repeat the past. There really is no stopping the evil train wreck called the republican party...

Part IV What it Gives us

Now, at long last, we can finally get around to things mentioned in the first blog. That is, our quest for authenticity, community, and humility. Those of you have been patient enough to follow this series from its beginning very likely see where this is going. Hopefully, everything I say in this blog will be mere re-affirmation of you are already thinking and feeling.

Authenticity is surely very obvious here. Authentic Christians are Christians who do not put of a front, do not wear a mask, and do not attempt to hide their sins and their struggles. The practice of confession takes it a step further. It encourages Christians to expose their sins to one another, in order that they may be healed. Interestingly enough, authenticity does not mean a violation of privacy. Those who hear eachother’s sins are assumed never to gossip about them. I myself have a group of a few friends who I confess to and vice versa. I have heard some of their dark secrets and they have heard some of mine. There is no doubt that we keep all this all between us.

Little else will encourage humility more than telling another Christian that you have done something that you are ashamed of. If one is doing the act of confession, you are not in a position to excuse your behavior or otherwise lie to yourself about the mistakes you have done. Interestingly enough, the person hearing the confession also practices humility -by biting his tongue. He must admit to himself that he cannot understand someone’s actions as well as the person who did them. He must be slow to speak and quick to understand. This is not easy for many people to do, especially if they are the person who is used to being heard.

Finally Community both precedes before and comes after the practice of confession. Think of the people who you trust most to tell them the things that you are ashamed of. You are no doubt confident that these people love you deeply. If this is the case, then you are very likely already in a good Christian community. This community is deepened as we become closer to each other, when we choose to love each other as Christ loves us.

There will be one last blog, which points to Christian Love.

Paycheck Fairness Act

 Have you read about this bill, the Paycheck Fairness Act?
This is what the fuss coming from the right is all about....

The National Committee on Pay Equity supports two bills in Congress aimed at curbing wage discrimination. The bills work on different aspects of wage discrimination, and both are needed to fully close the wage gap.

The Fair Pay Act (S. 904, H.R. 2151) is sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). It seeks to end wage discrimination against those who work in female-dominated or minority-dominated jobs by establishing equal pay for equivalent work. For example, within individual companies, employers could not pay jobs that are held predominately by women less than jobs held predominately by men if those jobs are equivalent in value to the employer. The bill also protects workers on the basis of race or national origin. The Fair Pay Act makes exceptions for different wage rates based on seniority, merit, or quantity or quality of work. It also contains a small business exemption.

The Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R.12 and S.182) was introduced January 2009 by then-Senator Hillary Clinton and Rep. Rosa DeLauro to strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963. The bill expands damages under the Equal Pay Act and amends its very broad fourth affirmative defense. In addition, the Paycheck Fairness Act calls for a study of data collected by the EEOC and proposes voluntary guidelines to show employers how to evaluate jobs with the goal of eliminating unfair disparities. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives on January 9, 2009, ADD and action by the Senate is pending, under the lead sponsorship of Sen. Christopher Dodd.

Paycheck Fairness Act Fact Sheet (pdf)

Legislative Remedies to the Wage Gap (pdf)

President Obama has issued a statement endorsing a gender pay equity law,  covered in today's USA TODAY.
Here's the statement:

In America today, women make up half of the workforce, and two-thirds of American families with children rely on a woman's wages as a significant portion of their families' income.
Yet, even in 2010, women make only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn. The gap is even more significant for working women of color, and it affects women across all education levels. As Vice President Biden and the Middle Class Task Force will discuss today, this is not just a question of fairness for hard-working women. Paycheck discrimination hurts families who lose out on badly needed income. And with so many families depending on women's wages, it hurts the American economy as a whole. In difficult economic times like these, we simply cannot afford this discriminatory burden.

My Administration has already begun to address this problem. In my first week in office, I signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women who face wage discrimination recover their lost wages, and in my State of the Union Address, I promised to crack down on violations of equal pay laws. Today the Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force will present its recommendations, which include ways to better coordinate among enforcement agencies and inform employees about their rights. These steps support women, and they also support businesses that are doing the right thing and paying their employees what they deserve.
We cannot do this work alone. So today, I thank the House for its work on this issue and encourage the Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, a common-sense bill that will help ensure that men and women who do equal work receive the equal pay that they and their families deserve. Passing this bill is one of the Task Force's key recommendations, and I hope Congress will act swiftly so that I can sign it into law.

I'm really not sure why the right would defend inequality, John Boehner called the equity bill a cruel hoax. He is worried about trial lawyers clogging up the courts with junk lawsuits. He says these laws will make it hard for businesses to grow and hire! That is friggin laughable!   Don't you see Mr. Bonehead, if there was equality in the workplace there would not be lawsuits based on gender discrimination. Of course the righties want the companies to do as they please no matter who it hurts, no matter who is discriminated against. OH God-forbid the government steps in to help the helpless stand up to big crooked business practices!

This is the point of view from a conservative blogger...

The Obama administration demonstrates again that they have no clue as to how to conduct business, nor can they grasp common-sense concepts regarding how businesses operate and succeed in order to employ all those minorities, woman and others. This is frankly another political move to extract yet another fistful of power (and more than likely, substantial fees and fines) from small businesses. 
Things are not always as they appear to be on paper, so the opportunity for misunderstanding and error looms. Not all jobs are equal, nor are their responsibilities and stresses. This will limit the rewarding of excellence and reward possible mediocrity under the guise of equality. This is just one more decision taken away from the employer and placed with the Federal government...plain old garden variety "interference" under another name. No one supports discrimination anywhere, and blatant discrimination of any kind should be ended, but this is just so over the line of what the responsibilities of our government should be, This is big brother taking liberty away from private business owners and saddling them with business-destroying regulation and taxation. Will any area of our lives be left intact when the Obama crew finally (please God)packs it in and leaves Washington?


what you have here is a delusional Beck watching, Limbaugh quoting, Heritage Foundation worshipper. Sorry rightwing nut, progress marches forward, equality for ALL Americans FINALLY!!

 Thank God for our democratic president who understands the abuses we have endured for far too many generations. Thank you Mr. President!

Bill Viola - Rites of Passage

I was excited to find this video excerpt of The Messenger on YouTube. Bill Viola's piece excited me when I first saw it and a continued engagement with his art over ment years now, led to my MA dissertation which you can read here which I called "Rites of Passage: A Theological Reflection on the Contemporary Video Artwork of Bill Viola.

The summary of the project reads: It is clear that our culture is experiencing a time of crisis. Some have put this down to the death throes of Modernity giving way to Postmodernity. This paradigm-shift has led to the death of meaning, unregulated interpretation, and assertions of the will to power which disregard the Other. It is also a time where the sublime is re-presented. The postmodern sublime arises out of the gap between conception and imagination. There is a yearning to be able to bridge that gap, but not by longing for a non-existent Golden Age, but rather by re-presenting the unrepresentable with a disfigured form of the signifier itself. This whole project may be put down to a corporate crisis of Self.

It seems that the struggle we are witnessing today is not between moral beliefs or the legal system and individual freedom; it is between our inner and outer lives, and our bodies are the arenas where this is being played out. I will show that the mind-body problem is reaching crescendo latterly, as an ecological drama where the realisation that the environment and our bodies are one and the same. This ‘making strange’, which implies a distance between subject and object, has been the basis of Viola’s work. It is at this point of risk where art and science may be unified with all created activities. It is a point of theoria, transfiguration, and personal transformation where art recreates the viewer and moves us beyond the postmodern flux of the self.

Viola’s work is a meditation on states of consciousness and being in which dream and reality are indistinguishable but where what lingers in the mind is a state of confusion in terms of what is seen and in registration of external data. Viola demonstrates that states of mind and vision are one and the same.

I will show that a critique Viola’s work is based on the understanding of the confusion in postmodern culture between transcendence and the sublime. I will also show that the anthropology that underlies his work, and postmodern culture in general, is a sense of abjection – that is repulsion of the Self and the Other. This does not lead to a theoria, but rather a self-deluded postmodern narcissism in the guise of theoria. This is not in line with a Biblical understanding of the self, based on the Imago Dei in Genesis.

Whilst his work revolves around spiritual themes, I will show that this fascination with the Other is due to the tension in the Self. A critique of Viola’s project will involve a reclamation of the power of the Incarnation that incorporates the Other in the Self, which may heal the wound of gaping abjection in our culture. (I can't believe that I wrote this...???)

His work gets all the more beautiful and dramatic...



Truly an artist and his art in a liminal space

Metallica - Enter Sandman

Long time no hear! I heard this on the radio this morning. Takes me back to a transitional place in my life.

This came out in 1991. I left school in 1991 having failed my A levels. My parents had moved South from Lancshire where I had grown up, and I stayed on in Lancs with a friend and his family to finish off my Upper 6th. I had spent much of my later teens playing drums in the rock band 'Tom Foolery' (I know I know...), sometimes known as 'War and Peace', and if you were around the Blackpool rock scene then you might have come across us. I suspect that my mind was concentrated on the band rather than the revision...

After getting my exam results, I joined my parents in Somerset, where they still live, and decided what to do next. I was in a dark place. Uncertain of my present. Uncertain of my future. I had planned to have a year backpacking before so I decided to travel anyway. That in itself was a transformative time as it is then that I really became aware of the presence of God myself and I became a Christian.

This song is about childhood nightmares and the liminal space where the monster under the bed, the Sandman dwells. The places where the darkness that surrounds at night is transformed into a place of fear because of the presence of the Sandman.

It is all too easy for us to find ourselves as adults surrounded by darkness and to allow that darkness to be a place where we become fearful because of the presence of all sorts of things that frighten or worry us.

The song marks a transition for me from being a teen to being an adult. From being a non-believer to being a Christian. The dark that surrounds us like a cloak is a liminal place - but I have come to know those dark places of uncertainty in my life to be places where God dwells.

The GOP.......LIARS when it comes to deficit worry

THE BUSH TAX CUTS DID NOTHING FOR THE ECONOMY!!

Right Wing Economist Laffer Bashes Greenspan For Calling For End Of Bush Tax Cuts

Last week, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan called for allowing the Bush tax cuts he championed in 2001 to fully expire, as scheduled, at the end of the year. His reversal dealt a blow to Republicans who are calling for an unpaid-for permanent extension of the cuts for the rich, even falsely claiming that they increase government revenues.
Unsurprisingly, Greenspan’s comments have irked some right-wing pundits. The strongly discredited economist and former member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board Arthur Laffer criticized Greenspan on the Fox Business network, questioning his patriotism and accusing him of practicing “bad economics.” Media Matters has the transcript:

HOST: Hey, Alan Greenspan says let [all the Bush tax cuts] expire. The former Fed Chairman. Let ‘em all expire.
LAFFER: Good for him. I mean there he goes. Well, I guess he’s out of power. He’s a little old. I don’t think he has any kids. Heck, what does he care? You know, I have six kids. I have eleven grandchildren. You know, I really care about the future of this country and I really don’t want to be taxed into poverty. I really don’t think it’s smart in this day and age, with this type of unemployment, to tax people who work more and to pay people who don’t work more. That just is silly. It’s bad economics.

Actually, Laffer’s recent suggestion to suspend all federal taxes should be called “bad economics,” not Greenspan’s recognition that his suggested policy didn’t work. As Media Matters’ Walid Zafar points out, “No serious economist on the left, center or right actually believes this stuff [Laffer is saying]. It’s quackonomics. It resonates well with the Tea Party crowd, but is without a foundation.”

In the past, Laffer held a different view of Greenspan and his policies. Laffer “supported Alan Greenspan being reappointed [as Fed Chairman] twice” and, in 2004, called Greenspan’s work “exquisite,” saying that he “ha[d] done one of the best jobs on monetary policy ever.” Yet, now that Greenspan is “out of power” and “a little old,” Laffer apparently thinks his economic prowess is gone.
The Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo asked a prescient question last week: “Greenspan at least seems to be coming around to the notion that the conservative economic philosophy is a big sham that doesn’t work in practice. Will the rest of the GOP ever follow?” Apparently not.
–Charlie Eisenhood


 THE ONLY PLAN REPUBLICANS HAVE

TO GROW THE ECONOMY AND CREATE JOBS IS..............

TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH!!!!

TAX CUTS, TAX CUTS, TAX CUTS, THAT'S ALL THEY HAVE! DOES IT TRICKLE DOWN FOR YOU??  NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Marco Rubio wants to make the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy permanent----at a cost of nearly 700 billion over the next ten years---with no offset. Rubio recently claimed the tax cuts would pay for themselves.....they won't

Top Senate Republican Jon Kyl insisted that Congress should extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans regardless of their impact on the deficit, even as he and other rethugs have consistently voted NO on unemployment extensions citing deficit concerns....

Republicans pretend to care about the deficit but they don't really. If the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire it would mean a reduction in the deficit by about 4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years and more after that. So prove it GOP, prove you care about the rising debt by allowing the tax cuts to expire without a fight!

VOODOO economics

If you are an Independent and sitting on the fence trying to decide which way to go, left or right, please watch this clip of Rachel Maddow talking about the republicans belief in economics and tax cuts for ONLY the rich which they claim trickles down to the middle class and poor. I think Rachel read my last post on this subject! :-)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Part III Things Luther Said

Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ. -Martin Luther

Now that the Catholic blog is out of the way, it is time to discuss the story of Protestant’s golden boy, Martin Luther. Yes, Martin Luther had problems with the confessional, but it was not the confessional itself that was the problem. His personal struggles, and his reading of the Bible both lead him to a particular understanding of Grace and the priesthood that encourages us to play the role of either penitent (he who confesses) or the confessor (he who listens) for each other.

You may already know about Luther’s personal struggles. Luther once confessed that he could not love God, because he hated him. This was because Luther’s perception of God was that of a painful taskmaster. Luther knew he could be forgiven, but was constantly stressed –to the point of obsessive anxiety- over his sins. Luther could walk out of mass, in which all sins are forgiven, but then he would worry about sins he forgot to confess! Luther was on perpetual treadmill of personal holiness, and he knew he could never measure up.

Luther’s understanding of Grace, based on a reading of Romans and (what I think) a personal spiritual experience lead him to an enlivened understanding of grace. The idea is that a Christian is forgiven. This does not mean that a Christian is forgiven if that Christians pays alms, does the right penance, shows the fruits of the spirit, walks morally upright etc. A Christian is forgiven. There is no kind of “if” clause. There is no qualification. God cancels the debt of all sins, and there is nothing more to be said.

The Christian, will of course, continue to sin. They will always succumb to temptation. So a Christian, based on their behavior, will in many ways look like their same old unregenerate self. Nonetheless, God sees this person as spotless and clean. The Christian wears Christ’s righteousness, which is freely given to him. In Latin, the phrase Simul Justus and Peccator -at the same time justified and sinner- sums it up. Another famous metaphor is that we are sacks of garbage, but that God smells roses. This of course does not mean that a Christian should avoid seeking good and doing good, only that the failure to do so does not affect one’s standing with God and neither will more good deeds earn someone brownie points in the hereafter.

That is the grace of God that is extended to us. How might we extend this same Grace to our neighbors, especially other Christians?

There is another aspect of Luther’s works that is emphasized less: the Universal Priesthood of All Believers. Part of the reason why we forget this is not knowing what sacredotalism is. Sacredotalism is the belief that there is a special group of individuals (priests) who have a special kind of access to God that the ordinary Christian does not. In Catholicism, the priest, and only the priest (with some exception) may perform certain sacraments such as the Lord’s Supper, Baptism, and of course Reconciliation of Sins. The priest plays a mediator type role between individuals and God. Protestantism does not endorse sacredotalism and is said to have abolished it. I reiterate that this partially correct.

Evangelicals may consider it an offense that anyone can intercede between a Christian and God. Luther, however, did not find this as so offensive. He believed, as many Protestants still do today, that God placed us in church for a reason. That reason is that the work of the Holy Spirit is frequently done through other Christians. That Christians represent Christ to each other. How does this differ from sacerdotal teaching? Luther’s believed that there need not be a special group of consecrated individuals. Instead, he said that any believer is potentially a priest for any other. Thus, the priesthood was not abolished in Protestantism, but was expanded to include all.

This means that protestants need not go to a priest or even their pastor. All Christians are potentially priests for eachother. We are able to find people we trust and confess privately to them. Likewise, we have the chance to earn the trust of other people in hopes that they will fill free to confess to us.

Two very good things follow from this. If Christians are really “the same time justified and sinner,” then it encourages all Christians to look at each other in this light. Hearing someone’s confession encourages us to develop this kind of attitude. We can develop churches and communities in which the worst of us can feel accepted. If God really wants to work through us then it puts a huge responsibility on our part to do so. Christians know how our behavior affects our reputation with the world, and we protect our reputation with eachother. Would not people want to join our communities more if we developed a reputation for treating each other better than any other community?

At the beginning of this series, I pledged to connect Confession of Sins to authenticity, humility, and community. Already, you can see where all this might be leading. The specifics though, will be the subject of other blogs.

Thanks for keeping reading.

The GOP is demanding the tax cuts to the rich STAY as is!

If you missed today's State of the Union with Candy Crowley on CNN you can read the transcript here. Her guest was the say-nothing-do-nothing Mitch McConnell. His attempts at justifying the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy and why they must not to be allowed to expire is just plain ridiculous. What have those tax cuts done to middle America and why do republicans think trickle down economics works when we can see clearly it does NOT.

This Donna Brazile article was in my small town paper today, she calls it "Cake for the rich and NO crumbs for the Poor". While GOP leaders like Jon Kyl and Mitch McConnell are championing extended tax breaks for big oil, big banks, and Wall St, "You never ever use taxes to offset spending" McConnell said, they were also working like crazy to obstruct Democrats from extending benefits to the unemployed.  Republicans say the jobless will become dependant on the UI benefits and stop looking for work.  America's jobless are the very same taxpayers whose personal paycheck taxes bailed out Wall St  and the banks. Those "handouts " didn't seem to stop those guys from recovering! The GOP economic philosophy helps the rich escape paying their due and puts the burden on the vast majority of hardworking Americans. Tax-dodging is right in line with what some repubs are now demanding. They do not want to bring back the fair share of taxes on the wealthy, it's un-American they say!

Think people, think! Clinton balanced the huge deficit repubs left for him and handed a multi-million dollar surplus to GW Bush, he also taxed Wall St, big oil and big business. Bush took those taxes off and what was the result?
 According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities "two-thirds of the nations total income gains from 2002 to 2007 flowed to the top 1 percent of U.S. households and that 1 % held a larger share of income in 2007 than at any time since 1928. The taxes removed from the rich enabled the top 1% to corner two-thirds of the nations increased wealth. Ya know how the righties are always crying about redistribution of wealth? Well, during the Bush era, republicans undertook a massive redistribution of the nations wealth by robbing from the poor and giving to the rich! So now our president wants to level the playing field and the right is hysterical!
The Congressional Budget Office says the Bush era tax cuts increased the deficit by $539 billion just in 2005. Between 2011 and 2018 those tax cuts will cost the government $3.28 trillion in lost revenue. Just one-half a days worth of these taxes would likely pay for six months of jobless benefits. At the rate cited above these restored taxes would finance health reform for decades!  But alas, the GOP says "no worry", these tax cuts to the wealthy won't hurt government programs. They still argue the tax breaks for the wealthy are NECESSARY for the country to recover economically! The last time they tried that ended in 2008 when the economy nearly cratered for good!

Thanks to Donna Brazile and her insight into today's GOP idiocy.

You on the right who cry and complain about taxes, why aren't you looking at the big picture and demanding the top 1% pay their fair share? It makes no sense to me. Trickle down my ass!

Listen. Learn. Live!

There couldn’t be a more appropriate gospel reading this morning as we prepare to host Leverstock Green’s 2nd Big Lunch later on today. A number of gardens locally have been growing things, a number of kitchens have been busy preparing things as we prepare to share lunch, conversation and friendship.

Lunch today will not involve any social nicities so to speak - grab what you’d like to eat and get on with chatting with others. I have only had one meal where I have not been sure which set of cutlery or which wine glass to use next. Those sorts of meals are governed by all sorts of unwritten social codes and etiquette. But actually all meals are enjoyed most when diners do things that are expected of them. We teach them to our children - always say please and thank you. Keep your elbows off the table. Eat with your mouth closed and never talk with it full etc...

Martha welcomes Jesus into the home she shares with Mary her sister. Jewish meals, in fact Jewish life was bound by all sorts of social and religious rules. Luke has placed the story in a particular place in his account to alert us to something special about Jesus’ ministry. Jesus is redrawing boundaries between men and woman within Israel – blurring the lines which had been clearly laid down; redefining what it means to belong to God.

The real problem between Martha and Mary wasn’t the workload Martha had in the kitchen. The real problem was that Mary was behaving as if she was a man. In that culture, as in many parts of the world to this day, houses were divided into male ‘space’ and female ‘space’ – and male and female roles were strictly demarcated. Mary had crossed an invisible but very important boundary within the house – and another equally important boundary within her social world.

The public room was where the men would meet; the kitchen, and other quarters never seen by outsiders, belonged to the women. Only outside, where little children would play, and in the marital bedroom, would male and female mix. So for a woman to settle down comfortably among men was bordering on the scandalous. Who did Mary think she was?

To sit at the feet of a teacher was a decidedly male role. We hear about the Apostle Paul sitting at the feet of Gamaliel in Acts 22. He wasn’t gazing up adoringly and thinking how wonderful the great rabbi was; he was listening and learning, focusing on the teaching of his master and putting things together in his mind. To sit at someone’s feet meant, quite simply, to be their student. And to sit at the feet of a rabbi was what you wanted to do if you wanted to be a rabbi yourself. Mary had the audacity to quietly take her place as a would-be teacher and preacher of the kingdom of God. And what is astonishing is that Jesus completely affirms Mary’s right to do so.

Jesus affirms Mary’s decision to step away from household duties and to sit at his feet and listen to his words of eternal life. She has completely understood what it means to be a disciple. Martha though is jealous - I believe that is why she complains to Jesus. She wants to be where Mary is, but whether she feels more bound by the rules and expectations of others or not, she allows her provision of hospitality to Jesus to be distraction for her from her heart’s desire - to learn from him. That is surely why she invited him into their home in the first place. Jesus, I want to be where Mary is, but I won’t allow myself... How often are we like Martha? Full of good intentions? Lord I will pray more, but first I need to... I will spend more time bible reading when I have first done... Jesus again and again when he teaches, says that we need to place God first in our lives. When we do, the rest will follow. If we want to deepen a friendship or strengthen a relationship we need to spend time with, talk to, listen to and give undivided attention to and be with that one person. The same is true with God. How often do we have Jesus to ourselves so to speak, and instead of taking the opportunity to listen and learn from him, to experience the love of God through him, to be a disciple, do we instead confine Jesus to an hour or so of worship on a Sunday morning? He longs to be with us and for us to be with him. Are we willing to put away the distractions of the tv, the computer, and like Mary, to make and take opportunities to meet with Jesus?

Over the course of this encounter, both Martha and St Luke the Gospel writer refer to Jesus as Lord on a number of occasions. This isn’t just more social etiquette. Lord or Adonai, is a respectful title of a distinguished guest, but the title was also used in place of the name of God - YHWH - written in the Old Testament scriptures. The Lord that Martha and Mary initially encountered was Jesus the Rabbi who would teach them about God and His ways. Later they and we are left in no doubt that we are being asked to discover this Lord is the same Lord who brought all things into being. The power of Almighty God, YHWH himself, is at work in and through Jesus of Nazareth. Where are we this morning? Are we hear to learn things about God from a good teacher, or are here to sit at Jesus’ feet and develop a relationship with him. A relationship for which he longs.

Jesus reassured Martha by her name. In Jewish society, what you are called or how you are named sometimes said things about you and your parentage, social standing, and family trade. When God reveals to Moses His name - I am that which I am - on Mount Sinai, God reveals everything conceivable about himself to successive generations. What's in Martha's name? Martha means 'Mistress.’ Our names are deep and precious to us, chosen carefully for us by those who love us. It is the things that are deep and precious in us that define who we are - our moral codes, how we speak or behave speaks volumes about us. To know someone’s name still, is to know something about them and invites them into a relationship with us.

Jesus called Mary and Martha by name into a living relationship with God through Him. It is a relationship that transformed life and death when their Jesus raised their brother Lazarus from the dead. Jesus clearly dearly loved them. Jesus clearly and dearly loves each of us. He longs to go from being our teacher to being our Eternal Friend; from being recognised by us a provider of information about God, to us recognising the power of God at work in Him. This morning he calls us by name away from our distractions and beckons us over to sit at his feet. He asks for some of our time, not His Sunday time, so we can not only learn about eternal life, but as his disciples, can learn to live it. Amen.