We should be better than this.......

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rweb/top/a-small-slovakian-town-held-a-vote-on-accepting-refugees-97-percent-said-no/2015/09/28/1d29b1c0-6168-11e5-8475-781cc9851652_story.html

Just read this story from the Washington Post on how a small Slovakian town voted not to take in refugees. 

It frustrates me to see folks being turned away. These people are streaming out of their home country in search of a safe place to live.

I get really frustrated when I read about 'Arab' countries not taking in refugees. To be clear, Lebanon, an Arab country, I believe has taken in a million refugees from Syria and Iraq. I know Jordan, another Arab country, has also taken in huge numbers. There are NGO organizations working hard to assist with providing refugee families from both Iraq and Syria with homes, food and education. For example: 
http://frrme.org  This is the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East. I've had the distinct honor and pleasure of meeting Canon Andrew White. There are MANY people doing MANY good things to help with the refugees streaming out of Syria and Iraq.  But it's not enough.

So back to the question of Arab countries taking in or not taking in refugees. Well.....very opinionated stuff coming.....

What many people may not realize is that a number of Gulf Arab countries provide A LOT of money/benefits to their citizens to keep folks happy and to keep things running smoothly within those countries, in my opinion. Giving this same level of money/benefits to refugees is likely not economically feasable. There is actually high unemployment among young Arab men in a large number of Gulf countries. Check this article out: http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/15/youth-unemployment-in-rich-middle-east-a-liability-wef.html 
Refugees need to be in places that can actually handle the influx of new people into their populations.  If a large number of refugees move into an area with already high unemployment, what do you think is likely to happen to that country's government? It might not survive the influx. 

Economic powerhouses like the United States and Germany can handle more refugees than other countries because we have highly functioning big money economies.  With hard work on the part of the refugees, they will be able to find work and a safe place to live.  

Am I saying that the United States should take in a million refugees? No, I'm not. But, I do believe that we can do much better.  Fear of outsiders, fear of those who are different from us, marginalization of our fellow humans - these are the things that contribute to the rise of extremists. 

I found a number online that there are 320,000 churches in the United States. http://churchrelevance.com/qa-how-many-us-churches-exist/  If even 100,000 of those churches sponsored one refugee family from somewhere, wow....what a difference that would make. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pope-calls-on-every-european-parish-to-take-in-one-migrant-family_55ec205ee4b03784e276184e

Wake up folks....and smell the coffee....we should be better than this if we're going to call ourselves Christians. 

Peace. 

What were those senators thinking?????? Voting to allow bullying????

http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/senate-fails-to-pass-critical-protections-for-lgbt-youth?utm_content=bufferc3635&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=hrcsocialteam


I just don't understand how so many senators could vote down anti-bullying legislation? 

As a former teacher, I never would have allowed a child to be bullied based on their sexual orientation. Words like 'fag' were totally banned in my classroom. 

Not all teachers are kind. And let's admit it - it's not just kids who bully. Adults can bully as well. How on earth can anyone who cares about kids at all vote against this kind of legislation?  I just don't understand.

Peace. 

Just breathe people - gay marriage decision from SCOTUS

I just read a post from CNN :

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/18/politics/supreme-court-gay-marriage/index.html

The title of the piece is "Activists prepare for gay marriage decision".  

In the piece, there is talk over concern that folks like pastors could end up in jail for not accepting gay marriage if SCOTUS rules in favor of gay marriage. To me, things like this speak of the fear that some conservative Christians are feeling. This court case is not about marching into religious organizations, and telling them what to believe. What it is about is whether or not a gay couple can walk into a county clerk's office and obtain a marriage license. Who officiates at the wedding and signs the license is not being ruled upon by the Supreme Court. Churches refuse ALL THE TIME to marry people for all kinds of reasons. That will not change if the Court rules in favor of gay marriage. Just breathe people.....

I really deeply believe that there would not be so much fear about the whole gay marriage thing if various church leaders weren't whipping people up into a frenzy. When you preach fear, then folks are going to be fearful. And, fear is easy to sell. Peace and love are a hard sell - Jesus is certainly proof of that. 

Us humans, we fear that which we do not understand. We fear what we don't know about. Ignorance breeds fear like nothing else.  But, I deeply believe that as Americans we are very very good at not letting our ignorance get the better of us. We're really good at staying calm and non-violent when compared to a number of other places around the globe. There's a mentality that I see here in the States that I've never seen anywhere else of 'we're all in this together' (now a few folks from the UK might disagree with me, but I digress....). No matter what is happening, we stay focused in this country on getting through whatever we perceive to be difficult things.  

We have an election in this country, and we don't see violent protests. We accept the decision of the voters and go on with life.  Well, I sincerely hope that with whatever decision is made by the Supreme Court on gay marriage, we as a country can accept peacefully and move on. Do we have to like it? No of course not. Can we continue to find peaceful legal ways to work for changes? Yes, of course. But let's do what we Americans do so well of remembering that we are all in this together. 

Peace. 

The Reading List - Christianity and Leaning to the Left

I get asked occasionally what I read. Well, I read quite a bit. I love to read some fictional books over and over again - particularly ones from my childhood. Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond remains one of my all time favorite stories. Only now, it only takes me a couple of hours to read it.

I decided to start keeping track of what I do read mainly to satisfy my own curiosity of how many books I do actually consume. It turns out, I mainly read non-fictional theology type stuff. I only actually read two new fiction books this last year.

So.....just in case you were wondering.....here's the approximate list of what I've read over the last year, or so. Along with a few thoughts.

Hospice Whispers by Carla Cheatham (great true stories, made me laugh and cry)

A Letter to My Congregation by Ken Wilson (another way of approaching LGBT 

                   rights in the Church)

How We Sleep at Night by Sara Cunningham (a mom's personal story about her gay 

                   son)

“Mom, I’m Gay” by Susan Cottrell (kinda a how-to on how to handle your kid 

                  coming out)

Written in my Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon (fiction)

Same-Sex Unions in PreModern Europe by John Boswell (a classic, couldn't 

                  put it down)

Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim (what it's like to teach at the Pyongyang

                 University of Science and Technology)

Undamned: My Escape from the Old Testament by L.E. Kinzie (a personal 

                 spiritual journey)

The Nazi Officer’s Wife: How one Jewish Woman Survived the

            Holocaust by H. Beer (amazing true story)

Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality by John Boswell (another classic, 

            couldn't put it down)

Torn by Justin Lee (written by a gay Christian and what it's like to be a gay Christian)

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness (fiction) [MOM - This is the last book in the 

             I said you should read. Totally entertaining stuff without being TOO much

             cotton candy for the brain!]

Killing Jesus by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard ('meh')

Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the

            Church by Jack Rogers (very very well researched and written by a  

            Presbyterian minister)

Women in Late Antiquity: Pagan and Christian Lifestyles by Gillian  

            Clark (a classic, couldn't put it down)

The Book of Mormon: A Biography by Paul C. Gutjahr (respectful and interesting

            read for a non-Mormon)

Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible

            And Why by Bart T. Ehrman (I LOVE Ehrman's work, always thought 

            provoking)

In Search of Paul: How Jesus’s Apostles Opposed Rome’s Empire

            With God’s Kingdom by John Dominic Crossan and Johnathan

            L. Reed (lots of new ways of thinking about Paul's writing in the 

            New Testament, great read)

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We

            Never Knew by Bart T. Ehrman (super book, couldn't put it down)

See Me Naked: Stories of Sexual Exile in American Christianity

            By Amy Frykholm (an interesting group of stories)

I buy what I can at Half Price Books, but having the Kindle app on my iPad is seriously dangerous to my budget.

Peace. 

What's the deal with daughters??????? (Social media is nuts)

Ok folks. What's the deal with social media posts about daughters? Recently, I've posted on social media pictures of my kids and awards they've received.  But it never fails, posts about my daughter always get more 'likes' and more positive comments. Really??????? I've noticed this with others' social media feeds as well. The son can do something beyond awesome and will get like 10 'likes'.  The daughter just stands there 'looking cute' and gets like 100 'likes'. What's the deal?

I really think that in our society we tend to brush our sons to a degree under the rug. Yes, women are still not fully equal with men in our society, but why do we reward a 'cute dress' so much more on social media then we do an awesome accomplishment? Do I enjoy reading friends' comments about how pretty my daughter is? Sure, of course I do. But, the chirping of the crickets is deafening when I post some great accomplishment of my son. 

And it's not just me. Another mom I know will post stuff about her son's athletic accomplishments, but the daughter in a dressy dress always gets more 'likes' and comments. What kind of a message do we think we're sending to our kids with this? It's like 'Ooooooo....pretty clothes are so important!!!!' but getting a major award, nah...... Seriously, this is the message!!!!! 

Yes, we all enjoy nice pictures. But, we really need to stop and think about what we are 'liking' on social media. Yes, we're letting a friend or family member know that, "Hey, that's cool!" But, we're also leaving a very real record of what we appear to approve of. When that very real record of approval shows a preference for what's nice looking over substantial achievement, then what does that say about us? 

And on a lighter note..... Max Kitty above just wants to let all the girl kitties out there know, "Hey ladies! It's all for you!" 

Peace. 

Thoughts on Changing Churches

See these fish? I took this picture recently doing some river snorkeling. I'm like that really confused looking fish that's looking into the camera as if to say, "Gee, which way am I supposed to swim?"

I've posted previously that I'm staying in my current church even though I don't feel it really 'fits' my spiritual needs and my family's spiritual needs anymore. Well....that might be changing.

I'm just not comfortable being surrounded by so very many conservative Christians. So let's tease this out, with 'Why'.

I was asked recently to listen to a bit of a book called The Good Girls Guide to Great Sex by Sheila Wray Gregoire (basically a sex book written for Christian women). Now, this might be a totally great book, but I couldn't even handle listening to the intro/first chapter. I couldn't get past the whole 'good girl' thing.  In the eyes of a number of Christians I've been around, I'm not a totally 'good girl'.  I never have been, and I never will be. I'm sooooooo not perfect.  How can I get into what might be a really great message when all I'm hearing in my head is, "You are not good enough. You will never be good enough. Screw you. You are never invited to have lunch with us. You are never invited to do anything with us. You so don't fit in with us. Screw you."  Yeah, harsh, but so true. 

But lately, what really gets to me is when I see the 'church face' and then the 'real world face'.  Which means, when someone is one way at church and then a totally different way outside of church. Or, it means, to me at least, when someone just really really seems like they are totally not keeping things real. I sincerely hope that with me, what you see is what you get. I'm not perfect, but I work hard, I'm loyal, and I love God. 
I've had times in life when I've gone to church and came home thinking, "Wow. I love God. I love the church. What a totally awesome morning."  Then, there have been other times when I've gone to church and came home thinking, "Wow. That was not not nice. I'm just feeling so angry and touchy and just plain old pissed off. That was just totally utterly miserable. I feel REALLY far from God now."  When I come home from church feeling just plain old pissed off it usually means that God is pushing me to be elsewhere where I am of greater service to God. And mostly right now, I come home from church feeling just plain old pissed off.
My family visited a new church for us this last week. It was a great experience. Even my kids went, "Wow, the time went by so fast." And when you're talking about a communion service, to my mind that says that there was some good connecting going on for my kids. 
Will we change churches and thus denominations? Only time will tell. But in the meantime, I'll continue to pray, I'll continue to read my Bible, and I'll continue to try to not feel pissed off. 
Peace. 

Swimming with the Fish

Well, we got to sneak on out of the suburbs with the family for a few days.  There's a little stretch of river that's about a 5 hour drive from where we live, but it is so worth driving to! At first, we thought there was going to be ton of rain over the weekend, but then the skies cleared long enough for us to get to go play in the water. 

In this little video I took, you'll see the husband swimming in the background. But what I loved about this video was the inquisitiveness of the fish. They kept coming right on up and looking at the camera. 

So....enjoy the video and hope you are having a happy peaceful day!

Peace.