A couple of Photos

Ceremony, originally uploaded by CelticWander.

I have uploaded a couple of wedding photos...most of them are the posed ones...i will add more candids as the days come

First Thoughts Week 2

Exodus 12:1-14
Psalm 149
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20

Man, I feel like Sonny, Robert Duvall's character in The Apostle, when he is in his bedroom yelling at God.

"I don't know who's foolin' with me, you or the devil. I love you Lord, but I'm mad at you!".

The readings this week, particualarly the Exodus and the end of the Gospel reading are full of such promise for the followers of God. They assure us of God's presence among God's people.

"The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."--Exodus

"Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."--Matthew

Tell that to the folks living down in the Gulf of Mexico. Tell that to the residents of New Orleans whose entire town is gone. 90% of Biloxi, MS gone. These folks have every right to say, "I don't know who's foolin' with me, you or the devil. I love you Lord, but I'm mad at you!". Mad at you for breaking the promise. There were more than two or three gathered in your name, where were you? Do you not see the blood of the Lamb upon us? We asked and it was not done. I'm mad at you!

I have been praying and meditiating on these readings over the last 24 hours as the news down south worsens. I have been trying to find the silver lining in the midst of the chaos and destruction.

I think I have something. This morning I heard the governor of Louisana, Kathleen Blanco, and what she said reminded me of the promise of baptism. Through the death, burial and reseurction of Lord Jesus we have live anew. She did not bring up baptism, but the analogy she used reminded me of it.

There is a sense of hope in looking at this destruction through the image of baptism. Though the destruction is unfathomable and there is a sense of hell on Earth, through the grace of Baptism we are reborn stronger than before.

Paul give us more hope in the Romans passage, "For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near."

But it is damn hard to trust that things will be ok. DAMN HARD.

Listening to first person accounts of the hell in Dixie it seems that things will never be ok. The man who's wife slipped from his hand in the rushing water, he can do nothing but asume she is dead [Update 11:24 a.m.: the man's name is Harvey Jackson...God be with you, Mr. Jackson and all others in your same situation}. To see bodies floating by, life snuffed out in an instant. God I am mad at you!

But through faith we have to be living examples of the healing power of God. "Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law....Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."--Romans. We have to use the stregth and power the Holy Spirit enabled us with in baptism. We must be lights in this darkness. Full of grace and unconditional love.

We must take hope in the Lord:

"For the LORD takes pleasure in his people
and adorns the poor with victory."--Psalms 149:4.

May The Lord Give You Peace!

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Please feel free to leave your thoughs!

Kind of Cool

You are elegant, withdrawn, and brilliant. Your mind is a weapon, able to solve any puzzle. You are also great at poking holes in arguments and common beliefs. For you, comfort and calm are very important. You tend to thrive on your own and shrug off most affection. You prefer to protect your emotions and stay strong.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Brother Roger

Brother Roger, originally uploaded by CelticWander.

I fount this moving picture of Brother Roger in the Phillipines at the Taize Website.

Eternal Rest

Brother Roger

Here is a link to Brother Roger's funeral.

I found it at the Taize site.

First Thoughts Week 1

Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-27

If you look at the Romans passage, you have all you need. That is how you do it. That is what you need to know to be a good Christian. Simple enough. End of story.

It looks so easy on paper, doesn't it. Well at least the first part. "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers." That is not too bad. But look at what happens in the second part of the passage:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Bless those who persecute you? Live in harmony with one another? Do not repay evil with evil? Feed my enemies? You mean I can not call for the assassination of them?

The first thing that struck me was the line, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Wow, let me bring up the political realm here. For 12 years prior to our recent invasion of Iraq the United Nations had sanctions against Iraq. We currently have an embargo against Cuba. North Korea is sanctioned. Burma, Iran, Libera, Balkans, Lybia, Sudan, Syria, Zimbabwe...all sanctioned. We are starving our enemies. We are breeding hatred toward our country because we are avenging for ourselves. We are missing the last part of the above quote: for by doing this [feeding] you are heaping coals upon their heads. The heaping of coals is purification. Cleaning. We are breeding hatred by imposing such draconian means of punishment. People hate us because we are not helping to feed them. Imagine this...A country , say North Korea which is in famine, is doing something we do not like, but instead of inhibiting trade and supplies, we increase it. Imagine what could happen to the people inthe country. Joy, happiness, looking at us as people who care.

This goes for me, too. On a smaller scale. I am selfish. Rude, and arrogant. I think that is human nature. I work at trying not to be, but when approached by someone asking for help, I tend to be a priest crossinng to the other side, instead of a Samaritan helping a Jew. I am aware of this and working on it.

This goes into what the Gospel reading says, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

"For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done."

Christ tells us to follow him with all we can. The image I have is of the traditional Mexican Cross. The cross is covered with items. Items from what represent life before Christ. Vices. When we take up our cross we are putting all of the junk on it. When we loose our lives to Christ, only the, can we begin to do the things Paul states in the Romans passage. There are still things that I want to keep in my pockets instead of putting on the cross. I am working on listening to the call.

This is where I totally understand Moses, Who am I that I should go to Pharoh? Who am I that I should love my enemy. But God's response is a response I need to trust. I, being a 21st Century American, a cynical, broken person have a problem believing it. I do, but I alway say but...God says, "I will be with you"...I just need to accept that.

God will be with us. We need not worry about what others think. God was with Moses when he confronted Pharoah. God was with Christ when Christ was nailed to the tree. God was with the apostles when they were beset with grief. God was with Paul in prison. God is with us when we act counter culturally and do the thinks expressed in the letter to the Romans.

May the Lord Give you Peace!

Please leave comments. Let me know where you sit with these readings.

First Thoughts

I am going to be trying something as a spiritual discipline. I am going to try to look at the coming week's lectionary readings, and offer my thoughts on them. These will be gut reations, and probably ramble a little. They are me working through the readings. I have no theological training, just a life long church goer.

I will be using the RCL as found on the ABC-USA site. Although, the schedule will be determined by the ABC-USA RCL, you will see the readings coming from, here.

BS Bush

CORRECTION BUSH, originally uploaded by CelticWander.

President Bush and the Wingers are doing what they do best. Sliming all in their way. They are trying to slime Cindy Sheehan, but it is not working. Now, anyone who opposed the war are weakening America and not what the majority of people...since when is 54% not a majoity?

Shoot, if your 51% election win was a mandate...wtf is this?

Oh yeah, Mr. Moyer above is harming America, too. You know..he was one of the people in attendance at your speech...the one where you are taking a vacation from your vacation.

(via Kos via Atrios)

Who Said It?

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of addaddination, but if he thinks we're trying to addaddinate him, I think that we really ought to go a head and do it...It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war...and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

Go ahead and guess.

Yup...the stalwart of the pro-life, religious right...Pat Robertson. He said it about Hugo Chavez, Presidend of Venezuela.

An E-mail

Below is an email written to Larry Northern, the patriot who mowed over the memorial crosses at Camp Casey. The email was written by Iraqi war vet, Perry Jefferies from Operation Truth, the 2005 version of Vietnam Vets Against the War.

The email:
Mr. Northern:

I am a Veteran of the Iraq war, having served with the 4th Infantry Division on the initial invasion with Force Package One.

While I was in Iraq,a very good friend of mine, Christopher Cutchall,was killed in an unarmoredHMMWV outside of Baghdad. He was a cavalry scout serving with the 3d ID.Once he had declined the award of a medal because Soldiers assigned to him did not receive similar awards that he had recommended. He left two sons and awonderful wife. On Monday night, August 16, you ran down the memorial cross erected for him by Arlington West.

One of my Soldiers in Iraq was Roger Turner. We gave him a hard time because he always wore all of his protective equipment, including three pairs of glasses or goggles. He did this because he wanted to make sure that he returned home to his family. He rode a bicycle to work every day to make sure that he was able to save enough money on his Army salary to send his son to college. At Camp Anaconda, where the squadron briefly stayed, a rocket landed inside a tent, sending a piece of debris or fragment into him and killed him. On Monday night, August 16, you ran down the memorial cross erected for him by Arlington West.

One of my Soldiers was Henry Bacon. He was one of the finest men I ever met. He was in perfect shape for a man over forty, working hard at night. He told me that he did that because he didn't have much money to buy nice things for his wife, who he loved so much, so he had to be in good shape for her. He was like a father to many young men in his section of maintenance mechanics. They fixed our vehicles with almost no support and fabricated parts and made repairs that kept our squadron rolling on the longest, fastest armor advance ever made under fire. He was so very proud of his son-in-law that married the beautiful daughter so well raised by Henry. His son-in-law was a helicopter pilot with the 1st Cavalry Division, who died last year. Henry stopped to rescue a vehicle belonging to another unit on what was to be his last day in Iraq. He could have kept rolling - he was headed to Kuwait after a year's tour. But he stopped. He could have sent others to do the work, but he was on the ground, leading by example, when he was killed. On Monday night, August 16, you took it upon yourself to go out in the country, where a peaceful group was exercising their constitutional rights, and harming no one, and you ran down the memorial cross erected for Henry and for his son-in-law by Arlington West.

Mr. Northern - I know little about Cindy Sheehan except that she is a grieving mother, a gentle soul, and wants to bring harm to no one. I know little about you except that you found your way to Crawford on Monday night in August with chains and a pipe attached to your truck for the sole purpose of dishonoring a memorial erected for my friends and lost Soldiers and hundreds of others that served this nation when they were called. I find it disheartening that good men like these have died so that people like you can threaten a mother who lost a child with your actions. I hope that you are ashamed of yourself.

Perry Jefferies, First Sergeant, USA (retired)

Last Night

Last night I went to the peace vigil outsid of St. Gertrude's Church up in Roger's Park. Last night there were 1,625 registered peace vigils outside of churches, schools, on street corneres, parks. Last night at least 100 people were gathered at the corner of Glenwood and Hood. Tears were shed. The Holy Spirit was present.

Ginger, who's son is currently in Iraq, organized the gathering, and we opened with a couple of songs and she told us her son's story. Then the meeting was run as a quaker meeting. People spoke if moved by the spirit. One person invoked the recent Peasant revolt in China as an example of what can happen, and how the peasants did what they did at the fear of death, at least we have the bill of rights to protect our actions. Another person invoked the saints and especially the late John Paul II. Though he did not agree with all of the pontiff's postitions, the one that was most overlooked during all the news stories surrounding his death was his ABSOLUTE horror at this war. A student from Loyola brought the sad news of the murder of Brother Roger, and invoked his name and the work of Taize as an example of living for peace and justice. After her, someone spontaneously broke into the the Taize song "Jesus, remember me/When you come into your kingdom." 100+ voices then joined. An older lady spoke on behalf of the children who are loosing brothers and sisters in this war, and how the death of her brother during WWII forever changed her life. Some one offered a prayer for all the innocent victims in Iraq. Someone offered a prayer to the Creator to send the Sprit upon us and make us instruments of peace.

Ginger will be joining Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, TX this weekend and will be taking a letter of support signed by all present to her.

The winds of change are moving. These kind of actions will do much more than the loud protests (which have thier place), but this meeting was different in that the Spirit was present and working. We ended with this song:

Well, I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield,
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside.
I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield,
Down by the riverside,
I'm gonna study war no more.

I ain't gonna study war no more,
I ain't gonna study war no more,
I ain't gonna study war no more,
I ain't gonna study war no more,
I ain't gonna study war no more,
I ain't gonna study war no more.

Let me close with this verse from one of my favorite songs:

Cure Thy children's warring madness;
Bend our pride to Thy control;
Shame our wanton, shelfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in sould.
Grant us wisdome, Grant us courage,
Lest we miss Thy kingdom's goal,
Lest we miss Thy kingdom's goal.

The Other War

Monday night when Mae and I got home from the Sox/Twins game we had a very cryptic message from our friend, Sherry. The message said, "I assume you have heard about 'S'. If not, stop by the [Uptown] ministry tomorrow and talk to Pastor Bob." Mae and I were trying to figure out who S was (I am not usinging his full name). She remembered he was one of the kids she worked with at the ministry.

Yesterday, she spent the day going through photos with Sherry for S's visitation and funeral this weekend. S was the victim of a drive-by shooting on Sunday. His mother, a dear friend of Mae, did not find out until 3 hours later. By the time she got to the hospital her son was dead.

Dead. 18 or 19 years old.

This is the war going on our own land. Gang warfare has taken so many lives so soon.

How can we confront this? How do we fight it?

I think a major thing that can be done is to make this news. I could not find any archival reports about this murder in any of the local newspapers.

The other is to continue the fight for civil rights. While Blacks and Latinos and other minorites have made great strides in the last 50 years, there is still much to be done. But, there is a new 'ism that is emerging. Especially in the urban areas. Classism. We have the super rich and the super poor. There is such a disconnect between the two groups that reconciliation seems impossible. We need to open our heart and minds and arms to those less fortunate than us. We need to be employing people from within our neighboorhoods instead of outsourcing jobs. We need to work to created community businesses instead of mega low marts opening up and putting all the mom and pops out of business. We need to work to developed poor areas, using people who will live there to build, union workers. We need to control housing costs.

There is so much that can come together to end this war, we just need to start.

Brother Roger Slain

Brother Roger, the founder of the ecuminical community Taize, was slain during a service yesterday.

Brother Roger and his Taize community are a strong influence in what my Christian walk has become.

This is a sad time.

Borther Roger touched so many, even Pope Benedict XVI:

Visibly shaken and speaking extemporaneously, the Pontiff said this morning that he “received very sad, terrifying news; that Brother Roger, founder of the Taizé communities, was killed in a knife attack, most likely by a deranged woman”.

“This most sad news strikes me even more because just yesterday I received a letter from him,” the Pope said, “a very moving and loving letter in which he was wholeheartedly one with the Pope and all those who were in Cologne” for World Youth Days, an event that to which he could not come because of his health conditions, but in which he was “spiritually present”.

Benedict XVI also noted that, in his letter, Brother Roger said he intended to come to Rome and that the Taizé community wanted to walk with the new Pope.

“In this moment of sadness we can only commend to the Lord’s goodness the soul of His faithful servant who has reached eternal happiness,” the Pope added.

Thank God for Brother Roger

A Mother's Eyes

There has been a good conversation going on over at Tripp's blog about Camp Casey in Crawford, TX.

For those who do not know about it, Cindy Sheehan is a mother of a KIA soldier in Iraq, Casey. She is staging a sit in at President Bush's Crawford ranch. She just want to meet with the president one on one to ask him some very important questions. "What is the nobel cause my son (our kids) died for?" and "Why did you kill my son?" She believes that the war is illegal and immoral...which it is.

She is the new face of the anti-war movement. Not the long haired radicals, but the sad eyes of a mother who lost a child for no good reason.

The discussion over at Tripp's turned to the effectiveness of such a protest. He see no use in it because the president will never meet with her, and even if he did would not take anything she said to heart...so why do it? This, I believe, is a short sited and lazy way to look at protest. (Tripp is far from lazy, but this argument is.)

I, on the other hand, believe what is going on is Crawford is one of the best things that has happened for the anti-war movement. I know, too, that President Bush will not meet with Cindy. I know that if he did he would sweep it under the rug. I have seen her being smeared by the right wing pundit class who know how to fight a war eventhough they have never been. I have seen her refute those smears with grace and love. Here is an example of an exchange that happened the other day as reported by Jodie Evans at CodePink:

The first question of the morning pool came from a young soldier who had just returned from Iraq. He was polite, addressing her as Ms. Sheehan. Surrounded by cameras he told her he was sorry for her son's death, he said he had lost many friends in the Iraq War also. "Death is a part of war and what we are doing is more important, bringing freedom to the world. Think of all the people who died for the freedom we enjoy. So your son's life is just a drop in the bucket."

Those of us standing behind the cameras gasp, but Cindy's face continued to listen to him calmly and openly. Forced by the gasp he quickly said "but I feel for your son."

At this moment Cindy put her arm on his shoulder and holding him to her side they walked out into the field together, she asked the press to give them some privacy. They honored her in a way that I have never seen before, they were still shooting photos as the 2 walked away. Cindy drew the young man close like a mother, they spoke for about 5 minutes during which the shift in his feeling was palpable. He stepped away and pulled a book he had written about his experiences in Iraq and gave it to her. Then they hugged a long deep embrace, you could see the conversation continuing.

She walked back towards us and the press as he left. Yet again, this woman had made me cry with her strength her love and her courage (oh I forgot to mention everyone else in the camp had tried to keep this young man from confronting her). As we walked back to our make shift office in Casey's camper I was pouring my heart out in awe of her, she stopped me and said "do you know what that young man said as we were hugging? He said his mother agrees with me. She told him that if he had been killed in Iraq she would have done the same thing ...and then he called me Mom."

This is the new face of the anti-war movement.

But, why do I think this protest is a good thing. I see something happening that has not happened since the war began. I see people talking about it. Really talking about it, not just lip service. No, I see and hear people talking about the wast of life. I see right wing people look begining to take off the rose colored glasses. I see the left wing people opening their arms and hugging those who need it. It see the middlle of the road people discussing it. This is what the protest is doing now. These discussions will come up again in 2006 when people go to the polls to elect members of congress. Remeber, the civil rights movement grew out of people in Motgomery, Alabama just wanting to change the way segregated seating was handled on the busses (not get rid of segregated seating, just change the was the ruels were enforced), but it grew from there to fighting for de-segrated seating to the voting rights act.

Ms. Sheehan is changing the direction of the wind. Something that has needed to be done for a long time.

Who Says?

There has been a lot of nay saying about Howard Dean and his leadership of the DNC and his courting of the Netroots community. Well, yesterday in Ohio they had a special election to fill a vacant House seat, and a repbulican won. But there are NO tears being shed by Netroots and Democratic party...well the party maybe, becausse the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did nothing until it looked like Iraqi War Vet Paul Hackett might actually win. The Netroots were behind him from the begining raising over $30,000/day in the last week and a half of the the campaing. What does this have to do with Chaiman Dean? Well you see the 2nd District of Ohio is 70% republican. In fact the the reuslts from 1998-2004 have been about 75% for the Republican candidate and 25% for the Democrat candidate. That is why the DCCC did not give a hoot about this race. BUT, Dean's strategy is that every Republican seat in the House is up for grabs. He is giveing the power back to the states and allowing them to choose thier candidate and letting the people build the candidate. Not letting the establishment in DC pick the candidate (something they started doing in the Clintion era, and we see how good that has worked.).

So, what happend in a 70% Republican district when the people are allowed to run a campaing...The Democrat lost by less than 4,000 votes or about 4%...hell of a lot better than the 50% margins of the last elections...

This is a new democracy!