Reclaiming The F Word

My Testimony, My Vote

Christian leaders on the far right have been supporting conservative, mostly Republican candidates for decades. At her Florida parish a few weeks ago, my mom said they were all handed fliers during Mass with instructions from the diocese about how to vote on various issues (read here "candidates").

Well, this video message from Bart Campolo popped up in my inbox this morning:

God On The Bus

The headlines at the UK-based online newsletter Ekklesia today led to this story:

A Bit Of A Breather

In the middle of a nasty campaign, some laughter. A bit of a breather. A sign of health.

Make Something Good

Chicago-based religion writer, Cathleen Falsani, notes that "we've reached the ever-vicious 'culture wars' phase of the presidential election, with, essentially, four Christian candidates attempting to out-Jesus one another and otherwise impugn one another's character (moral and otherwise) as a threat to our culture and the soul of the nation." 

In response, she is inviting Christians today to "...create something. Something small. Something huge. Something good. Put it out there. Make culture, rather than simply complaining or consuming it. Become the poet who changes the world."

It's worth a read.

And worth thinking about.

A Bridge To Somewhere

In a blatant and desperate attempt to build Obama his own bridge-to-nowhere, John McCain has been accusing the senator from Illinois with asking for $3 million in federal funds to buy an "overhead projector" for "a planetarium" in "Chicago." He did this again during the so-called "town hall" on Tuesday night. The way McCain said it was so drenched in mockery and disdain, he made me wonder:

Would Pastor Pitbull Be Ok?

An interesting and inevitable outcome of the Sarah Palin nomination? Trouble in the ranks of conservative Christian denominations who are being called out for hypocrisy over the issue of women's ordination. 

This is from a current article in the Christian Century: 

Swing Low Sweet Stanley

OK, so maybe a Cubbie appearance in the playoffs didn't signal a new day dawning. But this might. This is a radio ad running in the red (but swinging) state of Virginia featuring Ralph Stanley who, according to folo is "the survivor of the Stanley Brothers, one of the few remaining figures of the first generation of bluegrass musicians. He’s from the part of the mountains the Carter Family came from..." In other words, he's a good old boy from Appalachia. And he's endorsing Barack Obama as "the change we need."   

Is this a sign that the politics of division and fear --- where candidates win because they promise to protect "us" from "them" --- are in the last days?? Could it be that we are seeing the beginning of a "we" era, in which we all know that we need each other to figure out solutions to the problems we face? 

Hmmm...I'm enough of a cynic (and a Lutheran) to think: Probably not. People are dumb. There's no getting around it. And until the kingdom comes in all its glory, we'll keep being dumb.

But it's a very hopeful sign.

Thanks to my friend Sandra - who hails from Appalachia, herself - for pointing me this ad. The blue hills have to be a little brighter these days.

Woo Hoo!

So I'll be cheering like a crazy person for the Cubs this October, even if they end up in a final show down with the southsiders --- but, for the moment, I'm loving the both/and of this baseball season. 

Hell is getting colder by the minute. 

Which makes you wonder: If this, what other wild and wacky dreams might one day come true??