Currently the United States is fighting its own global war, with tens of thousands of troops stationed in over 170 countries. Any reasonable person, though, can see that this continuous warfare has not resulted in true, lasting peace any place it is being fought. In a recent speech at the United Nations, President Trump noted that the U.S. “is a compassionate nation” who “will forever be a great friend to the world.” These words could not have rung more hollow to those who actually listened.

From “Saint Martin of Tours: the first veteran for peace” by paul dordal and john david kudrick in the new people (nov. 2019)

Find the full article on Page 11 here.

Speculative fiction that reimagines the president’s “9/11 Address to the Nation” from 2001:

“Commitment to justice, liberation, or the overthrow of oppression is not enough, for all too often the means used have brought in their wake new injustices and oppressions. Love of enemy is the recognition that the enemy, too, is a child of God.”

Walter Wink
from Jesus and Nonviolence

Recently listened to a message and heard these quotes in the context of offering hope to those who might feel unloved or unaccepted:

“If you in this room have given your life over to Jesus, I have crazy good news for you. Are you ready? You’re already loved.”

“If you have given your life to Jesus, in Christ you are already accepted.”

Sooooo, then what about the opposites?

Let the pondering begin.

God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense …

Does this popular acronym for grace do it full justice?

Why not something a little more far-reaching?

God’s Richness At Creation’s Entrance …

Fourth Flash Fiction

Waving a small US flag, the little boy skipped along behind his mom and older sister as they headed across the park for the start of the big parade. The boy saw an old woman sitting alone on a park bench, throwing seed to pigeons on the sidewalk in front of her. As he came closer to her, he noticed that she wore mostly gray clothing—no red, white, and blue like all the people making their way through the park.

The boy stopped in front of the bench, scattering the birds. “Happy Fourth of July, ma’am!” he said.

The old lady smiled at him. “And happy Thursday to you, young man!”

Can we envision the Gospel as a message of liberation, like Jesus … and even Springsteen?

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus of nazareth
from luke 4:16-19

A Short Story

Bruno, the week’s hall monitor for Sunday school, stroked the right side of his bushy mustache as he stood just outside the little kitchen in the church basement. He still had no idea where he’d picked up the habit of stroking the one side of his mustache when something intrigued him, but there it was. No changing now. Not at almost sixty years old.

He shifted and leaned hard on his cane, again thankful for the new hallway carpet that provided at least some cushion for when he found himself standing long enough that his hips and knees began to moan at him. Oh, they were already starting to whine now, but he ignored them. Pretty much ignored the hall as well, except for a quick glance left and right to see if any wayward kids had decided to start roaming the building instead of staying in their assigned classrooms.

“Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.”

Thomas Merton
from “Peace—A Religious Responsibility”
in Thomas Merton: Selected Essays

A Short Story

Two friends, Jordan and Taylor, sat huddled behind a tall stack of fold-up tables in the church fellowship. They’d been told by their Sunday school teacher that all the elementary-age children needed to go outside after church service while the youth and adults gathered in the fellowship hall for a special time together with a guest of honor, who would then visit the younger kids outside after finishing inside.

“Hell with that,” Taylor had whispered to Jordan. “Let’s check out the adult gathering.”

Nodding, Jordan gave Taylor a little smile.