What the eye does not see

[W]E WILL ALWAYS be something of an exile in the present world. As lovely as it may be, it's not our final home, and worshiping God in spirit and truth always leaves us aware that there is more than what meets the eye.
Justin DuVall, from Praying with the Benedictines

Happy New Year

And on Earth, Peace and Goodwill to All Men.

Solstice at Newgrange
Credit: Photograph by Cyril Byrne - courtesy of The Irish Times


What kind of peace do we seek? ... Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children -- not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women, not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.

- John F. Kennedy,
American University speech, June 10, 1963.

DUCKS in HEAVEN

Three women die together in an accident
And go to heaven.

When they get there, St. Peter says,
'We only have one rule here in heaven:
Don't step on the ducks!'
So they enter heaven, and sure enough,
There are ducks all over the place.
It is almost impossible not to step on a duck,
And although they try their best to avoid them,
The first woman accidentally steps on one.

Along comes St. Peter with the ugliest man she ever saw.
St. Peter chains them together and says,
'Your punishment for stepping on a duck is to
Spend eternity

chained to this ugly man!'

The next day,
The second woman steps accidentally on a duck
And along comes St. Peter,Who doesn't miss a thing.
With him is another extremely ugly man.
He chains them together
With the same admonishment as for the first woman.

The third woman has observed all this and,
Not wanting to be chained
For all eternity to an ugly man, is very,
VERY careful where she steps.

She manages to go months
Without stepping on any ducks,But
One day St.Peter comes up to her
With the most handsome man she has ever laid eyes on
.... Very tall, long eyelashes, muscular.


St. Peter chains them together without saying a word. The happy woman says,'I wonder what I did to deserve being
Chained to you for all of eternity?'

The guy says,
'I don't know about you,
But I stepped on a
Duck.

Christmas in The East (ART AT OMSC)

http://www.omsc.org/art.html

chosen one

come saviour

light of life

christmas story

escape into egypt

Ode To Joy /The End of the Me Generation

perhaps we will see life differently after this crisis. Let's hope we have realized in time that a society based on excessive consumption, ever increasing debt, unbridled greed and unrestrained hedonism can not be sustained.

the future will be green and compassionate or it will be more difficult than it is needs to be.

LH

How To Survive This Economic Crisis?

Stay home and eat linoleum!

If Getting a Turkey for Xmas Will Stretch Your Finances This Year, You Could Try This

Ducking into confession with a turkey in his arms, Brian said, "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I stole this turkey to feed my family. Would you take it and settle my guilt?"

"Certainly not," said the Priest. "As penance, you must return it to the one from whom you stole it."

"I tried," Brian sobbed, "but he refused. Oh, Father, what should I do?"

"If what you say is true, then it is all right for you to keep it for your family."

Thanking the Priest, Brian hurried off.

When confession was over, the Priest returned to his residence. When he walked into the kitchen, he found that someone had stolen his turkey.

Peace is a Result of People Living for the 'Kingdom' (a 'Community of the Beloved')

Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous,
tranquil contribution of all
to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism.
Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty.

- Archbishop Oscar Romero

The Greatest Work

For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.
-Rainer Maria Rilk

If there is love.....

If there is love, there is hope to have real families, real brotherhood, real equanimity, real peace. If the love within your mind is lost, if you continue to see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education you have, no matter how much material progress is made, only suffering and confusion will ensue.
- The Dalai Lama

Is Barack Obama the American Messiah?

The election of Barrack Obama to the Presidency of the United States of America represents something very good and long overdue.
The suffering of African Americans is a tragic blight on the history of the greatest nation on the face of the earth. Prejudice of any sort is to be condemned and overcome and we should rejoice when we see its power diminishing in our lives. I have been very gratified to see and hear how people of colour everywhere are celebrating this latest milestone on the march to the promised land. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is closer to being realized. The symbolism in this event is powerful and important.

But this does not mean that an election victory will translate into lasting and concrete improvements for America and its citizens. Only responsible government of a responsible people will lead to an improved future. I hope that the commitments spoken of by Barrack Obama on the campaign trail will be realized. A good and decent life should be available to all citizens. The weak and disadvantaged should be assisted to a better life. Concern and compassion for our the fellow members of the human family should be our way of life. And fathers (black and white) should take responsibility for the children they sire.

A revolution of values is needed to see the Obama agenda realized. We will have to wait to see if this amazingly talented and charismatic man will lead us to that revolution of values or if it will be more of the same 'hedonism for all and damn the consequences' that has been the dark underside of our liberal/rights culture for several generations.

LH

When The Kingdom Seems 'A Long Time A Comin'.......

Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

- Martin Luther King Jr

Righteous Indignation

If we had been holier people, we would have been angrier oftener.
- John Templeton

dollar woes

What are they complaining about?
Our looney is worth only 87 of their cents today.

Let's Hope All Is Not Lost

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.
-Billy Graham

Wall Street is proving that character lost can also lead to wealth lost. Unfortunately it is has too often been some-one-else's wealth lost when Wall Street barons become robber barons.

Some Quotes That Remind Me of HOW I, ONCE UPON A TIME, SAW THINGS FOR THE FIRST TIME

1 John 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.





Your beliefs will be the light by which you see, but they will not be what you see, and they will not be a substitute for seeing.
- Flannery O'Connor



God does not have hands, we do. Our hands are God’s. It is up to us what God will see and hear, up to us, what God will do. Humanity is the organ of consciousness of the universe ... Without our eyes the Holy One of Being would be blind.
- Lawrence Kushner

Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Sarah Palin and the Rabbi

An Open Letter to Sarah Palin
by Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith
From one parent of a child with Down syndrome to another.


Dear Mrs. Palin,

I'm sure you're pretty busy juggling your home and new baby, the state of Alaska and running for vice president. But I thought a few words of advice are in order, from one parent of a child with Down syndrome to another. This is one area in which I've got four years more experience than you.

1. First of all, a belated mazel tov! You and your family will get tons of joy and nachas from Trig. Of the cases of Down syndrome diagnosed by prenatal testing each year, about 90% are eliminated by abortion. I bet most of those parents would choose otherwise if they knew the tremendous blessing entailed in raising such a child.

Enjoy all of his the triumphs, big and small. Our son Yehuda just started kindergarten; he is included in a regular class in one of Jerusalem's best schools. He speaks two languages, is learning the Hebrew alphabet, and is excited to be going to the same school as his two older brothers.

2. Realize that Trig is not defined by his disability; he is first and foremost a person like anyone else. Every person has a unique mission and purpose in this world. Trig does too, and your job as his mother is to help him bring out his full potential, whatever that may be.

3. Don't put a limit on Trig's potential and sell him short. Expect the most. As his best advocate, inculcate in him and in those around you the belief that with hard work and determination, Trig can do anything, until proven otherwise. Don't confuse accepting him as he is with resignation.

4. Don't feel sorry for him because he has a disability. Treat him like your other children, setting limits, giving discipline and lots of love.

5. Trig needs loads of early intervention that will strengthen his muscles and work his brain. Get started on this immediately. Too busy campaigning? Make sure Todd or some primary caregiver is spending hours a day working with him. Everything you do now pays off in the end.

6. Trig is going to have greater needs than everyone else in your family. But be sure not to neglect your husband and other kids (good advice for anyone running for vice president). Making sure your marriage stays strong and vibrant is your top priority.

7. Appreciate his strengths -- chances are he'll have an awareness of people's feelings and a compassion streak far greater than other kids his age. But don't overcompensate and turn Trig into some kind of saint. He's just a boy, with strengths and weaknesses like everyone else.

8. Things go a lot slower for a kid who has Downs. In order to enter Trig's world you're going to need an abundance of patience and force yourself to slow down. If you don't have that trait now, start developing it. God doesn't make mistakes; He gives us the specific challenges we need to bring out our own potential. You need Trig as much as he needs you. His birth can be a catalyst for personal growth for you and your entire family.

Your nomination has already challenged people's perception of Down syndrome. Whether you win or lose, we look forward to great strides in the advancement of benefits for the disabled everywhere.

With thanks to Gershon Lewis and Chaya Malka Abramson, two inspiring parents of children with Downs.

Author Biography:
Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith is the co-editor of Aish.com and director of Research and Development for Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem. He is the author of Shmooze: A Guide to Thought-Provoking Discussion on Essential Jewish Issues.

What does it mean to be human? (view previous picture to see what it means 'not to be human' in our crazy culture!

"Whether we....... accept responsibility for the unborn child depends on our view of humanity. Do we believe that humans were created in God's image? Or do we believe, as the secularist does, that humans are just one more example of evolution's chance handiwork, no different in kind than lice and lungfish?
If we believe that life evolved by chance, humanity must invent its own reasons for being, and the ethics by which we govern ourselves. That means, whose lives we value become a matter of what can be done to produce the greatest happiness for everybody, but that is a deeply dangerous view—for unborn children, the handicapped, the elderly, or the simply inconvenient."

Chuck Colson



I believe we are a product of evolution just as televisions are the product of a manufacturing processes. That does not mean, as two polar opposite interpretation of the process would have us believe, there is no plan or intelligence behind the process.

The ultimate religious question, the one we all have to answer for ourselves, the question I believe is best answered by Jesus' life and teachings, is...........'WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?'.

How we answer this question may well determine if our future will be better or unimaginably worse than the present.

LH

Life (according to Pablo Casals)

Sometimes I look about me with a feeling of complete dismay.
In the confusion that afflicts the world today I see a disrespect for the values of life.
Each second we live in a new and unique moment of the universe.
A moment that has never been before nor will ever be again.
But what do we teach our children in school?.
We teach them that two and two is four and that Paris is the capital of France.
When will we also teach them what they are.















We should say to each of them
"do you know what you are?
You are a marvel you are unique.
In all the world there is no other child exactly like you.
In the millions of years that have past there has never been another child like you.
And look at your body.
What a wonder it is.
Your legs, your arms, your cunning fingers, the way you move.
You may become a Shakespeare, a Michael Angelo, a Beethoven.
You have a capacity for anything.
Yes you are a marvel
and when you grow up
can you then harm another
who is like you a marvel.
You must work,
we all must work
to make this world
worthy of its children."


Pablo Casals

like or are? an important distinction

We should not serve the poor like they were Jesus. We should serve the poor because they are Jesus.
- Mother Teresa
In My Own Words

the future?

Give Me Back The Berlin Wall
Give Me Stalin And St. Paul
Give Me Christ
Or Give Me Hiroshima
Destroy Another Fetus Now
We Don't Like Children Anyhow
I've Seen The Future, Baby
It Is Murder"

leonard cohen

Honouring The Convenience of Death

The Order of Canada is being conferred on Dr. Henry Morgentaller. It is sad and strange that we should honour such acts as are performed thousands of times a year in this man's clinics.













How can abortion be celebrated?











Has it become a virtue?

Is it worthy of praise?


Abortion may be a choice but how can we be so callous as to celebrate and promote it?


http://www.informz.net/pfm/archives/archive_693793.html
Once you get past the rhetoric of choice, what’s left is a bloody and, for most people, disreputable business.
Someone who understands what abortions really mean is Stojan Adasevic, a Serbian doctor who performed 48,000 abortions in 26 years. Studying medicine in communist Yugoslavia, he was taught that abortion was simply removing a piece of tissue.
Then he began to have nightmares about a field filled with children playing and laughing. When they saw him, they ran away in fear. In the dream, a man in a black and white habit explained to Adasevic that these were the children he had aborted. The man in the habit was St. Thomas Aquinas.
Adasevic insists that he had never heard of Aquinas. In any case, he knew what he had to do. He stopped performing abortions.

taken from
Walking and Talking
Pro-Choice as Rhetoric
by Chuck Colson
Break Point


May Henry M. receive this mercy also.

the gospel is social...how did we ever forget that?

It is not a matter of engaging in both the gospel and social action, as if Christian social action was something separate from the gospel itself. The gospel has to be demonstrated in word and deed. Biblically, the gospel includes the totality of all that is good news from God for all that is bad news in human life—in every sphere. So like Jesus, authentic Christian mission has included good news for the poor, compassion for the sick and suffering justice for the oppressed, liberation for the enslaved. The gospel of the Servant of God in the power of the Spirit of God addresses every area of human need and every area that has been broken and twisted by sin and evil. And the heart of the gospel, in all of these areas, is the cross of Christ.

- Christopher J. H. Wright
International director of John Stott Ministries (from Knowing the Holy Spirit Throught the Old Testament)

ONE

Hi,

I just signed a petition asking the G8 take urgent action against extreme poverty, and I'm hoping that you'll join me.

Sign the petition now at: http://www.one.org/international/g8

There has been a lot of progress against extreme poverty in recent years, but, as recent headlines about the global food crisis and natural disasters like Cyclone Nargis in Burma will tell you, there is still much to be done.

When we unite with one voice and call upon our leaders to take action, we can and will solve these problems.

Thanks

LH

http://www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com/

http://www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com/

James Dobson doesn't speak for me.

He doesn't speak for me when he uses religion as a wedge to divide;

He doesn't speak for me when he speaks as the final arbiter on the meaning of the Bible;

James Dobson doesn't speak for me when he uses the beliefs of others as a line of attack;

He doesn't speak for me when he denigrates his neighbor's views when they don't line up with his;

He doesn't speak for me when he seeks to confine the values of my faith to two or three issues alone;

What does speak for me is David's psalm celebrating how good and pleasant it is when we come together in unity;

Micah speaks for me in reminding us that the Lord requires us to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with Him;

The prophet Isaiah speaks for me in his call for all to come and reason together and also to seek justice, encourage the oppressed and to defend the cause of the vulnerable;

The book of Nehemiah speaks for me in its example to work with our neighbors, not against them, to restore what was broken in our communities;

The book of Matthew speaks for me in saying to bless those that curse you and pray for those who persecute you;

The words of the apostle Paul speak for me in saying that words spoken and deeds done without love amount to nothing.

The apostle John speaks for me in reminding us of Jesus' command to love one another. The world will know His disciples by that love.

perhaps you would like to go to the website
http://www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com/
to sign the document and to let the Right Wing of our faith know that they don't speak for many of us.

Future Wisdom.

The Future always looks impossible when viewed from the present.

George Gilder
Wealth and Poverty

Give Me Christ Or Give Me Hiroshima (hyperbole?, probably?). Love's The Only Engine Of Survival(Straight up? I think?)

Leonard Cohen
The Future (1992)
The Future

"Give Me Back My Broken Night
My Secret Room, My Secret Life
It's Lonely Here
There's No One Left To Torture
Give Me Absolute Control
Over Every Living Soul
And Lie Beside Me, Baby
That's An Order!

Give Me Crack And Anal Sex
Take The Only Tree That's Left
And Stuff It Up The Hole
In Your Culture
Give Back The Berlin Wall
Give Me Stalin And St. Paul
I've Seen The Future, Brother
It Is Murder

CHORUS
Things Are Going To Slide In All Directions
Won't Be Nothing
Nothing You Can Measure Anymore
The Blizzard Of The World
Has Crossed The Threshold
And It Has Overturned
The Order Of The Soul
When They Said Repent
I Wonder What They Meant
When They Said Repent
I Wonder What They Meant
When They Said Repent
I Wonder What They Meant

You Don't Know Me From The Wind
You Never Will, You Never Did
I'm The Little Jew
Who Wrote The Bible
I've Seen Nations Rise And Fall
I've Heard Their Stories, Heard Them All
But Love's The Only Engine Of Survival
Your Servant Here, He Has Been Told
To Say It Clear, To Say It Cold
It's Over, It Ain't Going
Any Further
And Now The Wheels Of Heaven Stop
You Feel The Devil's Riding Crop
Get Ready For The Future
It Is Murder

CHORUS

There'll Be The Breaking Of The Ancient
Western Code
Your Private Life Will Suddenly Explode
There'll Be Phantoms
There'll Be Fires In The Road
And The White Man Dancing
You'll See The Woman
Hanging Upside Down
Her Features Covered By Her Fallen Gown
And All The Lousy Little Poets
Coming Round
Trying To Sound Like Charlie Manson

Give Me Back The Berlin Wall
Give Me Stalin And St. Paul
Give Me Christ
Or Give Me Hiroshima
Destroy Another Fetus Now
We Don't Like Children Anyhow
I've Seen The Future, Baby
It Is Murder"





I love what this guy does.
He is a Jewish Mystic,
a Bhuddist Monk,
a Christ Loving poetic genius
and
a Sensulaist (who aches in the places he used to play)....
which makes it hard for me not to be intrigued by him.

The Future

Our faithfulness will depend on our willingness to go where there is brokenness, loneliness, and human need. If the church has a future it is a future with the poor in whatever form.

- Henri J.M. Nouwen
Sabbatical Journey

Hopeful Healing in Him whose "name" is both Love and Justice

Psalm 72:

7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.

8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

Malachi 4:2
But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.

Dealing with the past, healing the future.

Some Long Unfinished business is finally addressed.

A shameful legacy in Canadian history is being acknowledged today. Let's hope it leads to reconciliation and new future for Canada and its aboriginal peoples.

From Cape Breton Post

11/06/08

Canada apologizes for trying to ’kill the Indian in the child’
After more than a century of torment that saw the federal government strive to silence their languages and snuff their culture, aboriginal people packed Parliament to hear the prime minister say it for all Canadians: “We are sorry.”
Stephen Harper made the historic apology Wednesday in the House of Commons for generations of racist policy meant to “kill the Indian in the child.”
Eleven aboriginal guests of honour sat before him on chairs arranged in a native restitution circle, some trembling with emotion.
Above them, survivors of unspeakable abuse in federal schools geared to “Christianize” them clasped each other’s hands, bowed their heads, and cried.
“The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history,” Harper told the extraordinary session of the Commons, reading from a text he helped draft with input from native advisers.
“The government of Canada sincerely apologizes and asks the forgiveness of the Aboriginal Peoples of this country for failing them so profoundly. We are sorry.”
Applause repeatedly rained down on aging survivors of the church-run schools as they sat a few steps from Harper.
But the most thunderous ovation was reserved for Assembly of First Nations national chief Phil Fontaine, who endured repeated sexual attacks as a little boy at the Fort Alexander residential school in Manitoba.
Wearing full Ojibway regalia and headdress, Fontaine was belatedly allowed to respond to the apology in the Commons after days of contentious resistance by the Conservatives. He made it one of his finest moments.
“Brave survivors, through telling their stories, have stripped white supremacy of its legitimacy,” he said to jubilant shouts and the rhythm of drumbeats. “Never again will this House consider us the Indian Problem just for being who we are.
“We are, and always have been, an indispensable part of the Canadian identity.”"Finally, we heard Canada say it is sorry," Fontaine said.
Fontaine said. "We heard the government of Canada take full responsibility."
He said the apology will go a long way toward repairing the relationship between aboriginals and the rest of Canada.

"Prime Minister, Chief Justice, members of the House, elders, survivors, Canadians, for our parents, our grandparents, great grandparents, indeed for all of the generations which have preceded us, this day testifies to nothing less than the achievement of the impossible."

The End is Nigh!

One day Sven & Ollie, local pastors, were seen pounding a sign into the ground, that said: "DA END ISS NEAR! TURN YERSELF AROUND NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE"

As a car sped past them, the driver leaned out his window and yelled, "Leave us alone, you religious nuts!"

From the curve we heard screeching tires and a big splash...

Rev. Ole turns to Pastor Sven and asks, "Do ya tink maybe da sign should yust say 'Bridge Out'?"

The yearbook entry for these guys said "Most Unlikely to Succeed."

What a bunch of low draft picks



Henrik Zetterberg#40Left WingDetroit Red Wings Height: 5-11
Weight: 195
Shoots: Left
Born: Oct 9, 1980 - Njurunda, Sweden
Draft: 1999 - 7th round (210th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings


Pavel Datsyuk#13CenterDetroit Red Wings Height: 5-11
Weight: 197
Shoots: Left
Born: Jul 20, 1978 - Sverdlovsk, USSR
Draft: 1998 - 6th round (171st overall) by the Detroit Red Wings


Valtteri Filppula#51CenterDetroit Red Wings Height: 6-0
Weight: 189
Shoots: Left
Born: Mar 20, 1984 - Vantaa, Finland
Draft: 2002 - 3rd round (95th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings



Nicklas Lidstrom#5DefenseDetroit Red Wings Height: 6-1
Weight: 193
Shoots: Left
Born: Apr 28, 1970 - Vasteras, Sweden
Draft: 1989 - 3rd round (53rd overall) by the Detroit Red Wings


Johan Franzen#93CenterDetroit Red Wings Height: 6-3
Weight: 218
Shoots: Left
Born: Dec 23, 1979 - Vetlanda, Sweden
Draft: 2004 - 3rd round (97th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings


Tomas Holmstrom#96Right WingDetroit Red Wings Height: 6-0
Weight: 202
Shoots: Left
Born: Jan 23, 1973 - Pitea, Sweden
Draft: 1994 - 10th round (257th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings





And retreads and prodigal sons who had hit bottom


Darren McCarty#25Right WingDetroit Red Wings Height: 6-1
Weight: 210
Shoots: Right
Born: Apr 1, 1972 - Burnaby, British Columbia
Draft: 1992 - 2nd round (46th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings
(Addicted, Broke and Divorced...he was given a second chance)

Daniel Cleary#11Right WingDetroit Red Wings Height: 6-0
Weight: 210
Shoots: Left
Born: Dec 18, 1978 - Carbonear, Newfoundland
Draft: 1997 - 1st round (13th overall) by the Chicago Blackhawks
(high draft pick that some said was washed up and uncomitted...he was given a second chance)

Kris Draper#33CenterDetroit Red Wings Height: 5-10
Weight: 190
Shoots: Left
Born: May 24, 1971 - Toronto, Ontario
Draft: 1989 - 3rd round (62nd overall) by the Winnipeg Jets
(purchased for the princely sum of $1 from the Winnipeg Jets...how humiliating)


Chris Osgood#30GoaltenderDetroit Red Wings Height: 5-10
Weight: 176
Shoots: Left
Born: Nov 26, 1972 - Peace River, Alberta
Draft: 1991 - 3rd round (54th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings
(underrated, underappreciated, seldom respected...this 3 time Cup Winner may yet be a Hall of Fame Goalie)



Humble beginnings for many and almost humble endings for others
yet they all found a way to make it happen for themselves and their fans.


What a Team.


According to some this is the house that love and humility built (by an unassuming Papa Ken Hollands).

Long may she stand.

THE YEAR'S BEST [actual] HEADLINES OF 2007:

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
[No, really?]

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
[Now that's taking things a bit far!]



Miners Refuse to Work after Death
[No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so!]


Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
[See if that works any better than a fair trial!]


War Dims Hope for Peace
[I can see where it might have that effect!]


If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
[You think ?]


Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
[Who would have thought!]

Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
[They may be on to something!]


Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
[You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?]


Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
[he probably IS the battery charge!]


New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
[Weren't they fat enough?!]


Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas
in Spacecraft
[That's what he gets for eating those beans!]


Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
[Taste like chicken?]


Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
[Chainsaw Massacre all over again!]


Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
[Boy, are they tall!]


And the winner is....

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
[I wasn't much good in Biology but I think my teacher made it perfectly clear that this just isn't going to work.)]

Young Pens will have their day but today belongs to us Old Birds

Way to Go Redwings....Let's do it again next year.

Victory is reconciliation not destruction

The world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not ideals, nor programs, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue, but only God's perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love genuinely lived, that does this.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Meditations on the Cross

This love of God for the world does not withdraw from a reality into noble souls detached from the world, but experiences and suffers the reality of the world in the harshest possible fashion. The world takes out its rage on the body of Jesus Christ. But he, tormented, forgives the world its sins. Thus does reconciliation come about.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Meditations on the Cross

Healing for our time.

I sense that a new spirituality is being born in the church today, flowing from the wounded hearts of the weak and broken who are crying out for friendship. This friendship is also a source of healing for those who answer their cry.

- Jean Vanier
Spiritual Journeys

The Mercy Seat (Lyrics and Music by Nick Cave)

Mercy Seat
It ALL began when they come took me from my home
And put me on Death Row,
a crime for which I am totally innocent, you know.

I began to warm and chill
To objects and their fields,
A ragged cup, a twisted mop
The face of Jesus in my soup
Those sinister dinner deals
The meal trolley's wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this weighing of the truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.

I hear stories from the chamber
Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
He died upon the cross
Might I say, it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that's what I'm told

My kill-hand's
tatooed E.V.I.L. across it's brother's fist
That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.

In Heaven His throne is made of gold
The ark of his Testament is stowed
A throne from which I'm told
All history does unfold.
It's made of wood and wire
And my body is on fire
And God is never far away.

Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And anyway I never lied.


And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this weighing of the truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is burning
And I think my head is glowing
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all this twisting of the truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway there was no proof
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is glowing
And I think my head is smoking
And in a way I'm hoping
To be done with all these looks of disbelief.
A life for a life
And a truth for a truth
And I've got nothing left to lose
And I'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is smoking
And I think my head is melting
And in a way that's helping
To be done with all this twisting of the truth
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
But I'm afraid I told a lie.

By Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds






By Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
sung beyond the grave by Johnny Cash on Solitary Man

God's Report Card (Under-achiever?)

As we take a quick look around the world it is a stretch for us to say that God is all powerful and all loving. 

The question of  why is suffering so common and indiscriminate has no good answer.  Some, like Rabbi Harold Kushner in his book "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People", try to save God by claiming that He is Good but not all Powerful. In this framework God is involved and is caring but is limited and often can do no more than suffer along with His creation. I struggled for a long time with this apparent diminishment of God. I tried writing Theodicies to make God no less than what theologians and preachers have claimed He is, but God can not be saved by any trick of language or sophistry of reason from a hack like me or a genius like (insert name of your favourite theologian or philosopher here)................................................. 

God stands before us as nakedly proud and overbearing as Job's encounter describes Him.  We, like Job, can demand an accounting but we will not get one.
So we are left with a clear choice...we either accept the ambiguity and the confusion of a world at odds with the simple faith of our youth and bow before this mystery...mouths closed...hearts broken, yet still hoping
or we must forfeit our faith and the hope of a redeemer who will stand with us upon the earth and someday give meaning to the trail of absurdity that we have unwillingly walked upon.

I am closed in between these two options and I only slightly favour the way of faith over resignation.
I can never be sure if the thread by which my faith hangs will hold but as it holds I remain in the church and remain a Christian.


Absurdity is so evident that I can not deny it, I can not rationalize it, I can not mitigate it. Therefore I tentatively embrace it and say that the evidence of our lives tells of a God who is unknowable and who favours the unexpected and the unexplainable. The evidence suggests that He is a connoisseur of the bizarre. As such I can even make peace with monumental natural and human disasters because beauty is no longer in the eye of this beholder it is only in the Eye of The Beholder.

And the Beholder apparently loves the deformed, the damaged, the odd and the poor.....after all, He made so many of us.  The ugliness and suffering of this world must have a beauty and a reason far above our ability to perceive it.   So we must simply accept the world we have and continue to love mercy and to live life as if  Love is eternal and powerful.

If what God wants for this world is as simple as we thought it was, then this world is a testimony to an Under-achieving God....but, if we examine it as the art of the creator and curator of curiosities and mysteries whose ways are beyond our finding out it is truly a place of wonderful and bewildering beauty . Such a world is not evidence of an under-achieving God. It is evidence of our under-perceiving.

Lord give us eyes to see and hearts to perceive the beauty in the ugliness around us and faith to embrace this life even when we can not perceive the beauty beneath.

LH

God as underachiever...not if He is Curator and Creator

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89).

Pied Beauty


GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

Words of Woodsy Wisdom (God as an Underachiever)

Woody Allen Quotes



I am at two with nature.

It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there
when it happens.












If it turns out that there is a God, I don't think that he's evil. But
the worst that you can say about him is that basically he's an
underachiever.

Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends.

More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One
path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total
extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.

My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.

I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam;
I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me.

It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly
not desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off.

It seemed the world was divided into good and bad people. The good ones
slept better... while the bad ones seemed to enjoy the waking hours much
more.

Life is divided into the horrible and the miserable.

What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I
definitely overpaid for my carpet.




What if nothing exists and we're all in somebody's dream? Or what's
worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?

Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it.

To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.



Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering - and it's all over
much too soon.

Interestingly, according to modern astronomers, space is
finite. This is a very comforting thought-- particularly for
people who can never remember where they have left things.

Most of the time I don't have much fun. The rest of the time I don't have any fun at all.





(To most of this I can only say an ironic Amen.)

What if God is as much Curator as Creator? (Seeing the World as a Divine Curiosity Shop may save God from Woody's charge)

Pieces taken from MOBA The Museum of Bad Art

"Indeed, it is not an easy thing to struggle against mighty forces like the giant orange cat consuming humankind. The artists here do not stoop to common human endeavors and limitations and only sometimes rise up to them."

from
museumofbadart.org
(Now, that is bad enough to be good.)

Creator or Curator? (Seeing the World as a Divine Curiosity Shop makes Woody's assessment seem slightly misguided.)

Ted Turner takes a turn

"I regret anything I said about religion that was negative. … Religion is one of the bright spots as far as I'm concerned, even though there are some areas, like everything else, where they've gone over the top a little, in my opinion."
Ted Turner, announcing $200 million anti-malaria partnership with Lutherans and Methodist denominations. The media mogul who once called Christianity "a religion for losers" says he now prays for sick friends, explaining, "It doesn't hurt."

Oscar Got It Right

Nothing is so important as human life, as the human person. Above all, the person of the poor and the oppressed... Jesus says that whatever is done to them he takes as done to him. That bloodshed, those deaths are beyond all politics: They touch the very heart of God.

- Oscar Romero
March 16, 1980

Al Queda Dreams My Nightmare

I was depressed last night so I called Lifeline.

Got a call center in Pakistan ...

I told them I was suicidal.

They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck or fly a plane !!!

Jesus Against the Rapture

To watch is to be prepared for the unexpected. It is to give up the illusions of straight-line extrapolations, the silly assumption that current trends will continue. It is to abandon the calculations of the pundits about the swinging of some invisible pendulum. In this time, particularly, it is to accept the fact that life will not go on as it has. A change is in the offing, but no one knows what direction it will take. History is the realm of contingency, the unexpected. The proper eschatology is watchful expectancy for the Abba's work and will, and a wary guardedness about the rebounding perversity of humankind. The danger is to preempt the future with our own agenda and our own eagerness to be proven right by history.

- Robert Jewett
Jesus Against the Rapture

Happy Re-Birthday Israel

When I was a card carrying member of the evangelical, charismatic, biblical inerrancy crowd I believed that the rebirth of the Jewish nation was a miracle.
I still see it as a type of miraculous event but we can scarcely know what this miracle means especially when we consider that modern Isreal was birthed in the extermination camps of Nazi Germany. The unspeakable atrocities committed there forced the Western (dare we say Christian) World to come to grips with our history of anti-semetism. The guilt we felt was the goad that finally pushed the cause of a Jewish homeland to the top of the world's agenda. In 1948 the miracle of rebirth was realized. Its continued existence takes on almost miraculous aspects when one considers how it has been the object of the military, political and spiritual wrath of nearly all its neighbours and much of the rest of the world.
No doubt this amazing land inhabited by a remarkable people has not lived in perfect righteousness since its founding but they have striven to make a good life, ruled by law, democracy and compassion.
In my simpler days I took comfort in the sign of Israel's rebirth and its miraculous existence. I hoped that the return of Jesus would follow fulfillment of ancient prophecies about regathering God's people from the four corners of the earth. I even calculated that there could be no more than 70 years from the time of the formation of the modern state of Israel till Christ's long awaited Parousia. The prophecy of the 'greening of the fig tree' and Christ's promise that the generation who saw this greening of the nation of Israel would not pass away till He comes in power seemed to point to a soon coming King who would put an end to this present darkness.
I reasoned that a generation could be interpreted as 3 score and 10. '4 score for reason of strength' seemed like an exception and not a definition so I told a few confidants that if Christ did not come back by 2018 then all my literal interpretations of scripture and prophecy would have to be rethought. I guess my rethinking has been a little ahead of schedule. For several years I have not been able to find a reasonable coherence of interpretation that allows a simple literalistic treatment of the scripture to stand and so I no longer cling to my old ways of seeing and believing.
I celebrate the miracle of Israel's existence and pray for peace in Jerusalem and all the nations surrounding her but I do not see the miracle as a portent of the second coming any longer.
I have to trust that Jesus has come in power as prophesied and He did so in the generation of his first followers and that coming in power was a spiritual transforming experience that has always seemed weak and unimportant in natural terms but is like the leaven in the dough of our violent self justifying hearts which will continue to do its job until the kingdom of peace and love preached by Jesus has come in power and glory.

May His Kingdom Come
His will be Done
In earth as In Heaven.
forever and ever
Amen!

LH

Winston Churchill on Our Spiritual Heritage

"There's an extraordinary passage by Churchill in a speech he gave in Jerusalem in 1921, which dumbfounds me every time I read it. He said,
'We owe to the Jews in the Christian revelation a system of ethics, which, even if it were entirely separated from the supernatural, would be incomparably the most precious possession of mankind, worth in fact the fruits of all other wisdom and learning put together. On that system and by that faith there has been built out of the wreck of the Roman Empire the whole of our existing civilization.'

That's an extraordinary thing to say, especially in public."


and it could bear saying again......

Let There Be Light (this guy is on to something)

He Qi, a prominent Chinese painter, believes Christian art should be bright. "I read the first chapter of Genesis, the creation, and God says, 'Let there be light.' So God's creation is a very, very colorful world." This idea goes against the centuries-old tradition in Chinese academic art — minimalist still lifes and landscapes usually done in black ink on white paper.

    

                                                                                                                            

Gideon and the Angel
David and King Saul

Jonah
Solomon's Judgement
Elijah and the Ravens

(Can you tell which biblical story is being represented by these brilliant pictures? I gave you an easy one first.)

More Good Stuff from beyond the sun

He Qi, a prominent Chinese painter, believes Christian art should be bright. "I read the first chapter of Genesis, the creation, and God says, 'Let there be light.' So God's creation is a very, very colorful world." This idea goes against the centuries-old tradition in Chinese academic art — minimalist still lifes and landscapes usually done in black ink on white paper.

Moses strikes the rock

You know who in the Bulrushes

The Walls Come Down

Moses and Pharoah

May this banner wave over the home of the free (Go Wings)

Red Wings building manager Al Sobotka, was informed he would face a $10,000 fine if he spun an octopus over his head at a hockey game.

 
"It's disappointing. You know, we don't do anything to harm anyone, or anything like that, it's just for fan excitement; fans love it, and I love it, so they shot it down, so, that's it. We don't want to let them mess with Hockeytown; we'll try to see what we can do."

Gary Bettman faces the inky outrage of sport writers and fans everywhere.  

Join the freedom train and sign the petition today.

 Watch the videos and you will know what to do.

At long last we have moral clarity.

Let the octi swing!

LH

SAMSON'S RIDDLE (out of the lion's belly, may yet come sweet)

Rare brain disease gave scientist "a torrent of creativity"




































POSTED BY CORY DOCTOROW, on Boing Boing a directory of wonderful things

Dr Anne Adams was a Canadian scientist who died of a rare brain disease -- frontotemporal dementia -- which caused her to give up her lab and engage in an ecstasy of creative effort (and an agony of frustration as her mathematical ability slipped away), mostly centered on Ravel's Bolero, a composition he wrote in the throes of the same disease.

What a Friend We Have......Because......What Friend We Need

What comfort and strength is ours to know that in the midst of all our mischief, amid our scheming and bad speculations, regardless of our shaping, misshaping or reshaping of life, with all of our activities and failures, God is among us. God is not a graven image of our own longings and shortcomings. Rather God, through Christ, is among us as friend, advocate, savior, and above all as our living Lord, to correct, to forgive, to comfort, to love, and to heal.

- John A. Stroman
The Thunder from the Mountain

the ressurection can be a scary prospect

Felt Cutout Saints

"A blur of romance clings to notions of "publicans," "sinners," "the poor," "the people in the marketplace," "our neighbors," as though of course God should reveal himself, if at all, to these simple people, these Sunday school watercolor figures who are so purely themselves in their tattered robes, who are single in themselves, while we now are various, complex, and full at heart.... Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no one but us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in the earth, but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent fathers are all dead—as if innocence had ever been.... But there is no one but us. There never has been."

- Annie Dillard
An Annie Dillard Reader

This quote from Annie Dillard seems to sum up much of what I found hard about being an evangelical Christian. The idea of the perfectibility of our spirits was a goal that inspired my spiritual quest when I was new to the faith but now chokes me and leaves me condemned for not being anything like the perfect 'felt cutout saints' of Sunday School and the Sunday sermon.



Annie's acceptance of our humanity, warts and all, seems to be the only way we can live authentically and spiritually in the world.

I am at least momentarily inspired to keep trying to live in contact with the God of Abraham, Issac , Jacob et al, (even, if truth be told, I am more than a little doubleminded.)

LH

For Those of You Who Know Life Can Be One Darned Thing After Another

in the drink
out of the drink

back in the drink

out of the drink

all together now

back in the drink

(I hope someone learned something from this)