Posts
My friend Bryan Berghoef models wise and courageous preaching in these
difficult times ... Check out last Sunday's sermon here, in Holland, MI.
Inspiration from our Next President
"Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of
-
Before Obama, before MLK, there was Langston
Before "Yes, we can!" before "I have a dream" there was "Let America be America Again".
Langston Hughes, the renowned African-America poet, was a man who dreamed of hope in a country that treated him as a second-class citizen. The powerful poem below remind us of the America's struggle to become "a more perfect union" and a hope that is now embodied in our president-elect.
Let America be America Again
Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek-- And finding only the same old stupid plan Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one's own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean-- Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream In the Old World while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That's made America the land it has become. O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home-- For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore, And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa's strand I came To build a "homeland of the free."
The free?
Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we've dreamed And all the songs we've sung And all the hopes we've held And all the flags we've hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay-- Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again-- The land that never has been yet-- And yet must be--the land where every man is free. The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME-- Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose-- The steel of freedom does not stain. From those who live like leeches on the people's lives, We must take back our land again, America!
O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath-- America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers. The mountains and the endless plain-- All, all the stretch of these great green states-- And make America again!
The Matthew 25 Network
I was recently left baffled by a Christian friend who wrote and e-mailed to his friends a rebuke of Obama (based on reviews of anti-Obama books). In my search for a response, I came across the Matthew 25 Network, a genuine group of Christians trying to spread the word about the real faith and religious beliefs of Barack. If you have friends or families who don't trust the faith of Obama, have them check out the Matthew 25 Network.
The Universal Rule
Believe it or not, Christians don't have the market on the Golden Rule.
In fact Jesus wasn't even the first world religious leader to use it.
In fact Jesus wasn't even the first world religious leader to use it.
The Madman of Africa
"We are not going to give up our country for a mere X on a ballot. How can a ballpoint pen fight with a gun?"ROBERT MUGABE, President of Zimbabwe, refusing to cede power to opponent Morgan Tsvangirai regardless of the results of the June 27, 2008 runoff election.
Meanwhile, America stand by silently as this paranoid madman holds hostage the lives of millions of people in Zimbabwe. Maybe things would be different if Zimbabwe had oil. Congo, Darfur, Somalia, and now Zimbabwe, when will American foreign policy care about black Africans? Hopefully policy will change January 2009.
Dalai Lama’s 18 rules for living
- Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
- When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
- Follow the three Rs:
- Respect for self
- Respect for others
- Responsibility for all your actions.
- Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
- Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
- Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
- When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
- Spend some time alone every day.
- Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
- Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
- Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
- A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
- In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
- Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
- Be gentle with the earth.
- Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
- Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
- Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
"A Death in the Family"
For those of us who consider ourselves newsbuffs, we lost a family member today, with the passing of NBC Washington Bureau Chief, Tim Russert.Russert was a man who came across as both hard-nosed and fair. He taught us how to be prepared for any debate and how to be a good listener. He taught us how to remain committed to your faith and your family amidst the pressures of the cutthroat lifestyle within Washington.
He was always passionate about politics and he exuded every time he was on air. We all knew how respected a newsman he was, but as we learn about his work and personal relationships behind the scenes, he apparently was a beloved friend, boss and mentor.
He was one of a kind in today's media and he will be missed.
What America Lost 40 Years Ago
- "What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black." Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968 Announcing to the crowd that Martin Luther King had been assassinated.
- "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
- "Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital, quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change."
- "The sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of country."
- "Men without hope, resigned to despair and oppression, do not make revolutions. It is when expectation replaces submission, when despair is touched with the awareness of possibility, that the forces of human desire and the passion for justice are unloosed."
- "There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were and ask why not."
- "Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
- "At the University of Natal in Durban, I was told the church to which most of the white population belongs teaches apartheid as a moral necessity. A questioner declared that few churches allow black Africans to pray with the white because the Bible says that is the way it should be, because God created Negroes to serve. "But suppose God is black", I replied. "What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?" There was no answer. Only silence." South Africa, June 1966
- "What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black." Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968 Announcing to the crowd that Martin Luther King had been assassinated.
- "Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it." From his last speech, June 5, 1968
- "Laws can embody standards; governments can enforce laws — but the final task is not a task for government. It is a task for each and every one of us. Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted — when we tolerate what we know to be wrong — when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy, or too frightened — when we fail to speak up and speak out — we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice." June 21, 1961
Two Questions
Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was,
‘Did you bring joy?’
The second was,
‘Did you find joy?’
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
