Advent Reflection by Archbishop of Canterbury

This is just fun!

It Gets Better: Bishop Mark Hanson, ELCA

A wonderful message expressing God's love for all of God's Children.

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen

Barefoot in Jerusalem: Ana Sakni Hon...

My friend Elly's first post on her new blog about her new life in Jerusalem working for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land.

Barefoot in Jerusalem: Ana Sakni Hon...: "These past weeks I have been waiting for the time to write a proper ‘first blog post’. I kept thinking the time would present itself. I ke..."

Poems

I read these two poems at the Persistent Voice Poetry reading at Wartburg.

They speak a little to where I am at the moment.

Mother to Son

By Langston Hughes

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

The Peace of Wild Things

BY WENDELL BERRY

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Recent Sermons at Fidgeting with the Word

I just posted about a month and a half of sermons over at Fidgeting with the Word so I decided I would give a little link message here to ease reading.

Palm Sunday

Maundy Thursday

Easter Sunday

Fourth Sunday After Easter - Psalm 23

Fifth Sunday After Easter - Phillip and the Eunuch



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Congressmen Visit Gaza

A Link from Congressman Brian Baird's congress website. Baird (D-Washington) and Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) just got back from visiting Gaza. Here is Baird's report.


E

Gone Going (Gone)

I don't know about you, but when I hear this song, I tend to pick up the last line of the chorus, "Gone people All awkward with their things Gone." I hear the song talking about the unnecessary spending that goes on today. About people who go out and buy "And cars and phones and diamond rings Bling, bling." This has been a trend that has died a little in the last year as more and more people became aware of their spending trends because of the economy.

I am a supporter of the Economic Policies of President Obama, and see that Government Spending in the right areas could help those who do not currently have the resources to spend their money get back into the economic loop.

One of the most often comparisons that people (read conservatives) have been making is that this stimulus package is a new New Deal and that in fact the New Deal was a failure that actually extended the recession of the 1929-33. But the recession was actually over in 1933, what they tend to be talking about is the unemployment rate returning to normal.




In an article found in the Guardian, a British Newspaper, Michael Tomasky talks about this issue, and how those who think this are wrong. Here are the last two lines of the article.

So the New Deal worked pretty doggone well. It didn't solve every problem. Yes, there are other legitimate criticisms to be made of Roosevelt. But the New Deal kept millions from starving and gave them jobs. And it generated economic activity – rural electrification, for example – that brought society tremendous benefit. And how might only tax cuts or doing nothing have done?

I can't believe we have to reargue these points. It's not that the Republicans don't know anything about economics. It's that they don't want to know anything about economics, and don't want to reckon with evidence. They have their ideology, chiseled into Pharaoh's obelisk, impervious to fact. How does one erase it?

Read the rest here.


Enjoy another version of the song rewritten with the Black Eyed Peas.

New Idea

So, I have a new idea to maybe get me to blog more. I listen to music a lot, so I thought I would comment on what I am listening to and then go from there.

The idea started from my last post about the song, od yavo Shalom, Peace will come.

this one is short since it is late and I have not thought about it that much,

Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek

This is the album version on YouTube, I personally like it better than other versions, but it is being blocked from embedding into posts. So here is a live version.

Od yavo' Shalom

This song was on a CD that was made during my time in CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education, Chaplaincy Education). I have always enjoyed the song, and never knew the name of it. Today I decided to look up the meaning and the translation of the song.

I found that it was written as a peace song, and is now a anthem for peace between Israel and Palestine.

The combination of Hebrew Shalom (peace) and Arabic Salaam (peace) made me want to know the background of the song.

For more here is a Wikipedia Article on the Song.

Here is a good version of the song on Youtube.

#	English translation	Transliteration	Hebrew
1	Peace will come upon us	Od yavo' shalom aleinu	עוד יבוא שלום עלינו
2	Peace will come upon us	Od yavo' shalom aleinu	עוד יבוא שלום עלינו
3	Peace will come upon us	Od yavo' shalom aleinu	עוד יבוא שלום עלינו
4	and on everyone.	Ve'al kulam (x2)	ועל כולם
5	Salaam ('peace' in Arabic)	Salaam (Salaam)	סלאאם
6	On us and on all the world	Aleinu ve'al kol ha olam	עלינו ועל כל העולם
7	Salaam, Salaam	Salaam, Salaam (x2)	סלאאם ,סלאאם