Who are these?

A group of people who call themselves Christians are building a community that will be based on the laws of the God of the Old Testament. (Los Angeles Times, August 28, 2005. The Nation, A14 ‘Strategizing a Christian Coup d’Etat’)
Pat Robertson, a Christian leader, calls for the assassination of an other human being.
Paul Hill, an avowed devout Christian, kills 2 in an attack at an abortion clinic. The state imposes the death penalty (murder) on him. The very people he deemed evil enough to kill in the name of God, ask for his life to be spared.
The “Religious Right” Christians, run ads on television calling for the elimination of equal rights for gays and lesbians.
The president of these United States, who calls himself a Christian, declares a war, seeks revenge, protects the rich, refuses to entertain a living wage for the working poor, denies legal rights to enemy combatants, and ignores calls to work with other countries to relieve poverty and reduce pollution.

Who are these?
From where does their authority come?
What message are they claiming to follow?

Something that they follow appears to trump the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, so how do they call themselves Christian?
In all this talk of heresies, and separation from the “true” faith these days, it appears that the elephant in the room is being ignored. The Gospel is being held prisoner and hidden away from view. Christianity as it is being presented is void of Christ!!
The Coup d’Etat is underway folks. There are people out there, calling themselves Christian who have removed Christ from his position as leader of our church. Christ has been replaced and the Gospel removed from the bible. We have gotten so focused on the details, the minutia, that we failed to notice, we have veered from the message. We are all children of God. As sisters and brothers in Christ, we are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the prisoners. We are called to Love the Lord our God, with all our hearts minds and souls, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to love our enemies and care for them also. We are told it is harder for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, we are told to sell our goods and give the proceeds to the poor and follow Christ. We all fail in some ways, that is what makes this work, as we recognize our own failings, and work on those, we find it harder to pass judgment and easier to forgive, and it is in our forgiving, that we are forgiven. That is Christianity.

Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread,
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation.
Deliver us from evil.
Amen

Peace
Bruno

The power of darkness is fear

I watch the darkness creep ever deeper into our lives.
I watch as it rounds corners and dims the light.
The darkness cloaks the repositories of light,
grabbing hold and choking out lights life giving energies.
As the darkness grows ever deeper, ever stronger, the fear grows.
Fear that makes the darkness ever heavier, fear that longs for more darkness.
Fear grows deeper and stronger, becomes our way of coping,
inviting in even more darkness,
and life withers.
The fear of life withering grows more fear and more darkness, killing more life.
In the darkness we know only what is us, and we fear all that we cannot see.
Fear causes us to hide from what is in the darkness that is not us.
Fear causes us to dread what is the other.
The darkness keeps us from knowing the other.
More life dies.
The fear that grows in the darkness is heavy, a weight that keeps us stationary,
Movement becomes only a thrashing out, a lashing, spewing more darkness, more fears.
Welcome is a victim of fear, and darkness.
Community grows ever smaller.
Communion grows ever smaller.
Communion dies.
Darkness wins.

We are called to see, see God in all creation, see Christ in our brothers and sisters.
God calls us to welcome.
Christ calls us to communion.
With faith, we can dispel the darkness. With faith we can loose fear.
Just as Christ calls Peter from the boat, Jesus calls us out of the darkness.
Christ calls us to faith without fear to live boldly.
We are called to life without fear in faith.
God calls us to welcome.

God calls us to welcome.

Peace
Bruno

The fruit tells which tree bore it.

Sisters and Brothers,, have you ever eaten an apple from an orange tree? Perhaps a date from a fig? or maybe a sweet juicy watermelon from a pear tree?

Pat Robertson calls for the assassination of an other human being.

Jesus calls us to love our enemy..

Pretty much leaves out the Gospel as a source of knowledge or guidance for Robertson.

So what tree bore this evangelist? What news, what leader is he taking his lead from? Who is Robertson evangelizing for?
Maybe the Gospel misleads us on the message of Jesus, maybe not. Perhaps Christians are supposed to disregard the Gospel all together, and most of the New Testament too and instead focus on the few passages (taken out of context of the total book) chosen by Robertson as divine inspiration. Maybe not.

Read the Gospel, digest it. Don’t just read snippets, read as you would a novel, read about the authors, pray. Then decide where the fruit comes from, what tree bore it. A Christian is a follower of Christ, Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel is our guide, the only example we have to weigh our actions as we struggle our way through this world. Divine inspiration is given as we wander our way towards the fulfillment of God’s promise; we have the Gospel to weigh these revelations against.

Hear the words of those you would follow, compare them to the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus Christ. How do they compare? Make your decision on which you would follow. Then be brave, and claim which tree you are born of.

Peace and prayers
Bruno

We Support the War

Going about my day, when I venture out into the world about me, I see so very many of those bumper ribbons on cars “I support our troops” “I support the war” “W” etc.
Around town here, there are signs in yards that say “We Support the troops” (first I have to ask what troops, all troops? Is this a general endorsement of war?).

What does it mean to “support” the war, troops, etc?

Maybe, since the military is having trouble meeting its “numbers” for recruitment (even though age requirements have been extended, and education requirements have been lowered so that a larger segment of the population are now eligible for the armed services), those who support the troops can trade in their bumper ribbons for 4 years of service in Iraq! That would free up those who are serving there, and don’t support the war, to come home. At the very least it might help the armed services approach their number goals. That would show true support of the war!
For those who support the troops, maybe with each ribbon would come the name of a family who has a bread winner serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, this would allow them to assist the family financially till the person serving comes back and can find employment to support their family. I am sure that those who have these stickers are already writing letters to their congress member and representatives in the government demanding better provisioning and perhaps special tax hikes to fund services for our troops and their loved ones. I know that these people must already be taking time out of their busy day to visit one of the many families who have a member serving overseas, and helping them with tasks that the troop did when they were here. I would imagine also, that for the families that have lost a member to the war effort, there is a large extended family that visits and helps pick up the slack emotionally, physically and financially. That would be support, and I am sure that is what these stickers mean.
President Bush compares the war on terror with the world wars, so I imagine that we will see rationing of fuel and other commodities, it only makes sense that since we are all in this struggle we will all have to make sacrifices. Fuel rationing will make great sense, limiting the number of gallons each household is allotted will help reduce our dependency on Middle Eastern oil; I am sure we are all wanting that as part of our future. We will all have to tighten our belts a bit, what with the transportation of non essential goods being reduced so that precious fuel is reserved for the war effort. This war is going to be a long struggle, so we should get prepared for some long term changes in the way we live, but by the number of stickers and signs I see, we are prepared for these sacrifices.
Bye bye and buy bonds!!

Forgive us our trespasses…

I read the news today,, oh boy!
The list of casualties climbs, casualties, what a polite way to say murders, killings.
Souls screaming out in pain, anguish and fear.
Loved ones wailing, inconsolable.
Indignation and anger rising.
Other souls, giving up,
Withering hope.
Death.
For each.
Who once
Held ideals
Hopes for peace
Dancing with praise
Joy in a future of justice
All die, piece by piece, death.

I read the news today, oh boy! The news read, their casualties are higher than ours! Not in so many words, but that is the press release. From “we don’t count Iraqi casualties, to counts that compare, theirs vs. ours. A football game for all,,, rah rah, cheer the home team on! Put an other ribbon on your car! Fly a bigger flag. Our body count is lower than theirs, God must be pleased?
I don’t get it!
The score, kept in bodies, lost lives,, no change that to murders, a bullet ripping flesh from bone, a bomb shattering a creation of God, is nothing less that murder a killing. The commandment, Thou Shall not kill, is rendered invalid, is broken. How is this pleasing to God?
The Good News of Christ, the Gospel as some of us know it, is the news that we, all of us, are children of God, the ONE GOD. There are no teams, no boundaries, no borders, no man made division that allows an Us vs. Them attitude. Every sparrow every hair of your head is counted by God. We, ALL of us, are children of God, we are sisters and brothers, we are ONE body, in need of all its parts. We are called to love our enemy, share the wealth of our God given gifts, to know that we are judged as we judge others, BUT that we are forgiven, in, and only in the way that we forgive others.
Question for leaders of the world who want their followers to think they are guided by the teachings of Jesus, How, Please tell me how, murder equates with love your enemy?
What is that you say? That part of the bible doesn’t count in a reality based world? Hmmm.

Peace

Bruno

A must read

Thanks to Fr Jake, over at Jakes place.
here is the link
http://frjakestopstheworld.blogspot.com/

Peace.
Bruno

Far from perfect

That is what I am, I admit it, no news to anyone who knows me, and I fail miserably many times at many things I do or rather attempt to do.

Far from certain, that is also a description of me. So it is with great trepidation that I write letters to the editors, letters to governments, this blog, etc… So here I stand less than - . It must be pretty wonderful to know that one has the whole perfect truth, and to be so certain in that truth to consider oneself anointed.

Yesterday at lunch with some wonderful people of faith and journey, we began to talk about how difficult it is to respond with Christian charity when one is being attacked by anger and hate. How demoralizing it can be to listen to others who shout and condemn, how heart breaking to listen to those voices who want you gone.

The rancor in the ECUSA and the Anglican Communion over those of us who are of same sex orientation is truly heartbreaking. Aside from the hurt being caused to people of faith and the stumbling blocks put in the way of people coming to Christ, the fact that people of faith are wishing the other side would just go away, be gone, disappear, has to be the most damaging and dangerous thing in Christianity. Especially to the Anglican ethos.

“AND” has to be the defining word to the idea of Anglicanism, especially to the ECUSA branch of the Anglican Communion. We are both Catholic AND Protestant for example. Both, And, beautiful words are these. The Book of Common Prayer AND The Bible are our guides, both of them, along with Reason. When these three are used together how beautiful the faith blossoms. Common, as in “In Common” is what we should be focusing on, what it is we have in common with our sisters and brothers? If only we could look at the world through those eyes. We pray to one God, The Father, The Almighty, Maker of the Heavens and the Earth, of ALL things, seen and unseen. Pretty potent stuff that. How then can we Christians be divided? When Jesus sat at the table with Judas for the meal, how can we say there is no room at the table of the Lord for those we disagree with?

The servant doesn’t tell the master who to invite to his table. The servant doesn’t refuse to serve who the master invites. The humble person does not proclaim himself as master. Let us be humble servants to the Lord. Let us not proclaim ourselves as God’s masters, let us not deny the feast to who the Lord calls to supper. God needs no protectors, we need God to protect us, let us remember that. And lets all pray together, unceasingly, in all we do.
Peace
Bruno