Rick is supporting the "Day Without a Gay" protest on Dec. 10 by declaring a holiday on his email, websites, and Facebook (not boycotting already hurting stores).

Rick is supporting the "Day Without a Gay" protest on Dec. 10 by declaring a holiday on his email, websites, and Facebook (not boycotting already hurting stores).

To learn more: http://www.daywithoutagay.org/

I think that boycotting anything right now is NOT a good idea, in light of the economy. WHAT I PLAN TO DO is post a reply on my email, websites, and Facebook stating that they will not be active on Dec.10 in support of the 'Day Without a Gay' protest against Prop 8 and discrimination against people who...  Read More cannot marry the person they love because of it. This will get the message out to millions if we all participate. Please join me in this Internet-email protest!

--
"Violence is anything that denies human integrity and leads to hopelessness or helplessness."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

What are supporters of Prop 8 so afraid of?

On Sunday afternoon, I put up a "No on 8" sign in my front yard. I intentionally placed it more than 15 feet inside my property line so that no one could get to it just walking by -- they would have to come well onto my property to get to it. Hpwever, within 24 hours it was gone, and a neighbor about a block away had the same thing happen. By now there are hundreds of such stories -- it is obvious that there is an organized effort to make sure that "No on 8" signs do not remain in place very long. And this is in S.F. Bay Area suburbs -- not in Modesto!

This suggests several things that are quite disturbing:

1. Those stealing the sign have little or no ethics -- regardless of the great likelihood they are from conservative religious groups.
2. They must be very uncertain, even desperate, with regard to the chances of winning at the polls, as other people's opposition seems threatening to them.
3. They have little or no respect for other people's rights of free speech or for the process of democracy and free elections. (Yet they oppose "socialism," right?)
4. They seem to regard their own understanding of "God's law" or "God's will" as overriding any civil laws or responsibilities. This is known as "theocracy."
5. Many of the church groups supporting the gay marriage ban are in support of "theocracy," which even though they may deny it, undermines democracy.
6. Many of them are quite outspoken about their claim that the U.S. is a "Christian nation" and therefore only Christians should be elected as leaders.
7. Some of the same people have demonstrated a belief that they are above the law (and the stealing of opposing campaign signs is just one example).
8. Certain religious groups have very restrictive and "proprietary" doctrines about marriage (calling it a sacrament of the church, etc.) negating others' views.
9. Thus far they are only saying gays should not have the right to marry -- but they also beliwve that Jews and Muslims are less entitled to God's blessings.
10. Why are they so opposed to other citizens desiring to have legitimate and secure marriage relationships, instead of simply living together as many do now?

For years, gays have been condemned by the religious right for being "promiscuous" (a stereotype, of ciurse, as not all are). but now when some gays desire to be in committed relationships, they are also condemned for that. Where is the sense of fairness and honesty in that? Or is it really just an outpouring of hate of a group that does not share their religious beliefs?

I have suggested that those removing the signs are afraid of something. I think it's fear that those they disagree with will continue to be recognized as having equal tights under the law -- of having FULL citizenship without meeting the requirements of a "moral watchdog" group -- self-appointed as usual, of course.

But I think those planning to vote for Prop 8 should be afraid of something far more dangerous than equal rights for tax-paying homosexuals. They should be afraid of the very leaders of the churches supporting this constitutional amendment that is itself clearly unconstitutional under the equal rights protection clause of the U.S. constitution -- or do they plan to gut that from the federal bill of rights as well?

The avowed intent of some religious leaders to establish a "theocracy" of "Godly rule" under the watchful eye of conservative religious leaders is probably the most dangerous threat to our freedoms that have been proposed in a long, long time. One person, one vote -- but a Bible verse overturns them all? Is that the kind of democracy we are willing to settle for?

I don't think so, and I don't think the majority of you are willing to let that happen either. We need to firmly reject this attempt to strip one group of constitutional rights. The age-old question is still very appropriate. Who will be next?

Would Jesus Kill Jesus? - a poem by Tim Pennington-Russell

"Would Jesus Kill Jesus?"
by Tim Pennington-Russell

I found this poem on Tim's blog, Peace Poems, at http://peacepoemsbytimpr.blogspot.com.

Would Jesus Kill Jesus?

Would Jesus Kill Jesus?
   I wonder

if Jesus goes to war in uniform of bone, muscle, skin
   with no regard for border or flag

On fields of blood marching
   would Jesus be so distracted, befuddled
   by cloth, color, or emblem
      to miss
   behind eyes
   inside the heart of one called "enemy"
   anything less than child, sibling, self?

Would Jesus, lamb of God crucified
   guilelessly praying "not my will but thine"
   carefully aim
         (at the bidding of lesser princes)
   and fire clipfulls of flesh tearing metal
   into torso, head
      feet and hands?

Now wounded, would Jesus
   look into his own eyes and and pray
      (as nail-scared hands above mount bayonet and pierce his side)
   "Father, forgive me, for I do not know what I do"?

Would Jesus kill Jesus?

Religious Experience - Spirituality (a book review)

by Rev. Robert Cromey

This is a review of the new biography of William James, author of
"Varieties of Reigious Experience"

William James:
In the Maelstrom of American Modernism
By Robert D. Richardson
Houghton Mifflin 2006 521 pages $30.00

Religion, philosophy, psychology, physiology, and medicine were William James life long interests. This biography deals with them in reverse order. James began a peripatetic life studying here and there in New England and Europe in grammar school through college. He got a degree in medicine at Harvard and then taught there most of his adult life. Born in 1842 in New York City, he died in 1910 in New Hampshire.

Best known for his best selling Varieties of Religious Experience, he did not think of himself as a religious man in any conventional sense. Apparently he was not baptized nor a member of any denominational church, unusual for a man in the 19th Century. He was married to Alice all of his life and had five children and a famous brother, novelist Henry James. He enjoyed poor health and tried all sorts of unconventional cures in the United States and abroad. He had serious heart problems, although he was robust and energetic as a scholar, hiker and traveler. He loved the out of doors and escaped often to Vermont and the Adirondacks when he could get away from teaching at Harvard.

He moved from his interest in pure science to the healing possibilities of psychology and ended teaching philosophy and psychology in his career at Harvard.

Invited to give the Gifford lectures in Edinburgh, Scotland, he prepared for two agonizing years for the work that made him rich and even more famous, namely Varieties…. The lectures were given in 1902. He lectured about and then wrote his conviction that humans have had powerful religious experiences. He had one of his own in the mountains of New York. "The moon rose and hung above the scene before midnight, leaving only a few stars visible, and I got into a state of spiritual alertness of the most vital description." As a scientist he had always sensed a religious awareness in others, never put it down and always took interest and examined the experiences as they came up. He frequented séances and showed many as charlatans, but was still interested in the ideas and possibilities.

Richardson writes, …[James had a] "moment of certain but inarticulate knowledge that real religion is religious feeling, and that it can be experienced by anyone, even a sleepless wanderer in the gorgeous Adirondack night."

James's style was to make a point and then provide the listener and reader with accounts by famous and not so famous people witnessing to a religious experience, Like Tolstoy, Bunyan, St. Augustine, Emerson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Luther, Sophocles, Goethe, Spinoza, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jonathan Edwards, Mary Baker Eddy, Walt Whitman, St. Teresa, Plato, Havelock Ellis, Kant, Thoreau and George Fox, a partial list from the text. I didn't find any Episcopalians in the list. He amassed testimony, "fifty-five different sources are cited or quoted in his lecture on mysticism alone."

The biography does not skip over James's view of the dark side of life. One lecture is "The Sick Soul" but another is discussion of healthy-mindedness. James is not interested in the institutional side of religion, but the experience of religion.

His two fundamental teachings about religion are something is wrong and something is to be made right. James was a virulent critic of American war fever in the 1890's when Americans attacked Cuba and the Philippines and set up protectorates over the will of the people.

James saw the connection between sex and religious experience. He says,
"The key to the universe lies in the body of the lover. When lovers bare their bodies they have sex. When lovers bare their souls they have Godhead." "If you are touched by love or desire, you are touched by the divine."

James the philosopher points out, "You take your life between the God of reason and the God of unreason."

Richardson quotes Isaac Beshiva Singer in explaining James's view of free will. "Do you believe in free will? Of course I do. Do I have a choice?"

James believed in action, he did not care much about motivation.
"By their fruits ye shall know them, not by their roots." He quotes General William Booth of the Salvation Army on helping outcasts. "The first step in saving outcasts consists in making them feel that some decent human cares enough for them to take an interest in whether they are to rise or sink."

On life: "Lives based on having are less free than those based on either doing or being."

There are thousands of conjunctions in which a wealth bound person must be a slave, while a man for whom poverty has no terror is a free man."

"Humanity…refuses to enjoy what others don't have."

"The world survives by those who have generosity of spirit but is ruled by those who have none."


James also loved a good story:

A Montana settler who met a grizzly bear so formidable that he fell to his knees saying, "Oh, Lord, I ain't ever asked you for anything before and I ain't gonna ask you for nothing now. But for pity sake, Oh Lord, don't help the grizzly bear."

Billy Sunday said, "What the church needed was fighting men of God, not "hog-jowled, weasel-eyed, sponge-columned, mushy-fisted, jelly-spined, pussy-footing, four-flushing Charlotte-russe Christians."

This is a valuable book for those of us interested in religion. James's work brings us back to the roots of religion, the experience of the divine, a sense of transformation, a physical and emotional response to the powers we sense beyond our own life, as delicious and important as that is.

The book helps the preacher wrestle with the intellectual problems of mysticism and the religious experience. James gives substance to the ideas of religion, going beyond, yet living in the scientific world. He provides a wonderful overview of the religious, philosophical and scientific discussions of the 19th Century. I enjoyed the book, but it is not an easy read. James the man shines brightly and I'd love to have had a chat with him. I am sure I'd be overwhelmed with his intellect and wisdom.
James does not give much room for the intellectual wrestling with doubt, theology and liturgy as areas of life where one may have a religious experience. New England Protestant churches of the 19th century were not breeding grounds for art, music and finery where religious experience might occur. My own religious experience happened in church and liturgy as well as in listening through the logical positivism debates of the 1940's and '50s. It deepened in the rights movements for African Americans and homosexuals in the 60's and 70's and 80's.

This biography is valuable in putting in perspective the spirituality movement in our time. Others and I see the emphasis on interior experience becoming more important than action in the world. James was a man of the world, an intellectual, scholar and a professor at Harvard convinced of the values of varieties of religious experience.

Let me close with some words by James from the Gifford Lectures. "The mother-sea and fountainhead of all religion lies in the mystical experiences of the individual, taking the word mystical in the very widest sense. All theologies and all ecclesiasticisms are secondary growth superimposed." The mystical experiences "have no proper intellectual deliverance of their own, but belong to a region deeper, and more vital and more practical than that which the intellect in habits….We are thus made convincingly aware of the presence of a sphere of life larger than our usual consciousness…."

A short but powerful talk by Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006

A short but powerful talk by Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006

http://www.grameen-info.org/agrameen/speech.php3?speech=4

Muhammad Yunus was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Grameen Bank, for "their efforts to create economic and social development from below" (Norwegian Nobel Committee). He is the first and so far only Bangladeshi to win the prestigious award. The award also marked a shift away from the conventions by awarding it to someone who worked to promote peace indirectly through economic upliftment of the masses.

The address above links to a speech by Professor Yunus on receiving an honorary degree at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, in January, 1998. I think it is remarkable in its brevity and clarity -- communicating the essence of Yunus' experience and philosophy in just a few well-chosen words. His actions have already made a very significant impact, and his challenge for us to 'rethink' the world is one that a great many people all over the world will now be exposed to.

The website contains other links to many of Yunus' other speeches, as well as to the site of the Grameen Bank, if you are interested in learning more about him, the bank, and their work.


[Thanks to Dr. Ron Elsdon, professor at John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill, California, for forwarding Dr. Yunus speech to us.]

What does "God's unfolding love" mean in considering U.S. immigration policies?

[Excerpted from a sermon, "The Unfolding of God," by The Very Reverend Robert V. Taylor on February 18, 2007 at Saint Mark's Church, Seattle, WA. Lectionary Texts: Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13  & Luke 9:28-36. Thanks to David Enroth (Sky) for forwarding.]

. . .

On Wednesday, the Federal Government raided the UPS facility in Auburn, Washington, detaining fifty-one people to deport to Mexico.  These are people who move boxes of books or CDs, packages of flowers and chocolates.  We were told that they are a threat to homeland security.  If it were not so blatantly untrue and disingenuous, it would be funny – in a sort of Monty Python way.  The truth is that the fabric of our everyday lives is completely interwoven with and depend on 12 million immigrants who have no documentation.  It is fantasy to imagine they are a threat to homeland security.  When we start splitting up families, when we refuse to deal with immigration reform, and when we look for scapegoats among the working poor, we seem to become stuck in the moral mud. 

 

I do not know where and how 12 million “undocumented” people are seeing the unfolding of God when we allow a climate of fear and intimidation to be our substitute for addressing the questions of immigration. 

 

So why am I even speaking of this on this last Sunday after the Epiphany, the Sunday before we enter into Lent and a season of penance for those thing done and left undone, those things that we have allowed to be done in our name?  Perhaps because the psalmist reminds us that God is a God of justice.  Perhaps because the transformation of our lives happens in the unfolding of real, ordinary human living.  Perhaps because we are not simply maximizing creatures.  Perhaps because we are creatures seeking meaning and purpose.  Perhaps because, if we seek meaning and purpose, we are measured by whether we have the capacity to love as God loves.  Perhaps because the unfolding of God in our midst depends upon how we care for the least and the last and the unloved.  Perhaps because the unfolding of God comes when we know that the truth will set us free.

 

Because the unfolding of love is entrusted to us by God.  By God who says to you – Here is my love and my life. It will transform you if you live and love with it.  Here is my love and my life.  It will transfigure the world if you allow yourself to be part of that.  Here is my love and my life.  Let it unfold.  Be of courage.

---------

Please do not reply to this email address as I am only using it temporarily.

---

Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check.
Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta.

The God Within Us . . . The Still Point . . . Bodhicitta . . .

by Eileen Kiera

"Living in the now we hear a voice that doesn't use words. Listen."

Saturday, February 17, 2007
Special to The Seattle Times

[From time to time, The Seattle Times hosts guest columnists on the Faith & Values Page. Today, we introduce Eileen Kiera, dharmacarya (dharma teacher in Sanskrit).]

"Deep inside us lives a longing that all the world be at peace."

---

In the stillness of our hearts, and at the core of our being, is a deep desire, a yearning for all to be well, at peace and happy.

This desire extends to all people, all beings, and to all that exists. Sometimes it is so still that you cannot express it with words. It is like a question that has no audible answer. A felt thing, it lives within us, but as though with a life of its own.

Sometimes this felt sense is a prayer; a prayer for the well-being of everyone. It is the deepest desire of the heart of human life. As we touch that yearning, and live in its unspoken question, we come to know what Buddhists call "bodhicitta."

Bodhicitta is the desire to awaken the mind of understanding, or enlightenment, but not for one's self alone. Rather, we seek to wake up for the sake of our earth and all her occupants.

Bodhicitta is like a seed. Just a tiny kernel of longing, but when it is put into the dark, rich soil of our consciousness, as in the stillness of a prayer, it begins to grow.

We let it lie there in the quiet, and we tend to the soil. We can water the seed. In Buddhist practice, we develop mindfulness, paying attention to the movement of our hearts and minds, and to the gifts of our day.

We aren't necessarily trying to find words or an answer to our yearning. We pay attention to see what arises from the stillness of the question, and the unfolding of awareness in each moment.

Eventually the seed sprouts, sending out root and leaf.

Bodhicitta stays with us as we move through our days. We see our thoughts and feelings and responses to the world, and our bodhicitta becomes a light that protects us in the midst of negativity, cynicism and anger.

We weed our heart's garden to protect the newly sprouted and tender plant, our deep yearning. And eventually, the plant will grow strong and produce fragrant and colorful flowers.

When we nurture the desire for happiness and wellbeing for everyone, we naturally grow in compassion and understanding. The delicious fruit appears.

The work of our aspiration is the work of mindfulness itself. When we find ourselves lost in hurriedness, or forgetfulness, or when we are out of touch with ourselves and the world around us, we simply let go of our busyness and come back to attend to what is right before us; a steaming bowl of fragrant oatmeal, the smile of the person we love the most, the dawn calling of a saw-whet owl.

When we touch the gifts of each day with mindfulness, we, in turn, are touched and enlarged. We remember our natural interconnectedness with the world.

In the bowl of oatmeal, we see the field of grain planted, the work of the farmer, the songbird singing over the harvest, the truck that brings the oats to the store, the oil that fuels the truck, the grocer, and so many other people now involved in the great reality of oatmeal. And when we eat the oatmeal we taste the fruit of the earth, the sun, the rain, the clouds and the great blue sky. It has come to us so easily, and tastes so delicious and nourishing. The natural wish arises: May all beings be well.

In the eyes of our beloved, we see the joys and sorrows of his life, her desires and losses. We see his parents, alive in the story of their lives, and we see our children in the fullness of youth. All parents and children and all who are beloved are present in that moment of our loved one's smile. "May we all look upon each other with the eyes of love."

And on hearing the call of the saw-whet owl, we know the gift of another day dawning. We experience the preciousness of our life in its ordinariness. Our life calls to us, and asks us to be awake, to be aware, to attend to each moment. The saw-whet's call is like our own hearts calling, calling us home, calling us to our own deepest reality.

And we don't need to do more. This is enough; enough for today, enough to be here for this moment's unfolding. With bodhicitta, the desire that all beings be well, we step forward with empty hands, and an open heart, greeting each moment, anew.

Eileen Kiera is a dharma heir of the Venerable Thich Nhat Han, Zen master. She is the guiding teacher for several meditation communities in the Northwest, including the Mindfulness Community of Puget Sound. 206-728-7466 or www.mindfulnesspugetsound.org

Copyright © The Seattle Times Company

Sky

An unknown wise man said "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

[Thanks to David Enroth (Sky) for the above article.]

LGBT Youth Homelessness: A National Disgrace

LGBT Youth Homelessness: A National Disgrace

By Jason Cianciotto, Research Director, Policy Institute, January 30, 3:28 pm

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute, in collaboration with the National Coalition for the Homeless, released a national report today titled Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth: An epidemic of homelessness. "Epidemic" is a strong word to use, but in this case it's justified.

While approximately 3 to 5 percent of the total U.S. population identifies as gay or lesbian, our review of the available academic and professional literature found that an estimated 20 to 40 percent of the up to 1.6 million youth who run away or are homeless each year identify as LGBT. In other words, LGBT youth are grossly overrepresented in the homeless youth population.

The report goes into great detail about why LGBT youth are becoming homeless, their experiences on the streets, and the pervasive harassment and discrimination they experience at many homeless service providers. Just as important are the model service practices and policy recommendations also included in the report, which if implemented nationwide would help to curb this epidemic and truly make a difference in the lives of our most vulnerable youth.

Several weeks ago, I received what is perhaps the greatest example of the hard work ahead of us as we use this report to educate politicians, policymakers and service providers.

In anticipation of the 2008 renewal of the Runaway, Homeless and Missing Children Protection Act (RHMCPA), the primary piece of federal legislation that directs funding and programming guidelines to homeless youth service providers nationwide, the Congressional Research Service released its own report on youth homelessness in the US. Their report did not include a single mention of LGBT youth.

If Congress's own research arm is unwilling or unable to acknowledge this epidemic, how can we expect our elected officials to address it?

I think part of the answer lies in supporting and replicating the successful efforts of service providers and activists at the grassroots level.

For example, there's the street outreach program and drop-in center developed by the Ruth Ellis Center, which predominantly serves LGBT youth of color in Detroit, Mich., and the transitional living program run by Green Chimneys in New York City, which provides safe and supportive housing for LGBT homeless youth for 18 months while preparing them for independent living. Urban Peak in Denver, Colorado has developed specific guidelines for creating a safe space for transgender homeless youth in shelters, given their unique needs and experiences.

Because most homeless youth service providers are not LGBT-specific, our report also highlights the success of Ozone House, in Ann Arbor, Mich., an organization that serves all homeless youth but has specifically striven to create an LGBT-safe space. Waltham House in Massachusetts has even developed a program that has provided LGBT cultural competency training to over 2,000 employees at the state Department of Social Services.

While the programs highlighted in our report may be the exception today, they are replicable anywhere in the country. Indeed, one of our critical aims and hopes is that service providers and social service agencies will see this report as a wake-up call to the crisis of homelessness among LGBT youth. Some may already work with this population and learn from one of our contributors about how to enrich an existing program. Others might know they need to reach out to LGBT youth but need additional guidance on how to do so.

While there is clearly more that can be done at the grassroots level, in the end it is not enough to beat this epidemic without additional funding and support at the federal level.

The president's budget is being released next Monday and Congress will begin work on the FY2008 budget and appropriations bills. The Task Force is recommending $140 million in FY2008 for the RHMCPA, a significant increase over its current $103 million allocation. But Congress needs to do more. When the law is reauthorized in 2008 it needs to specifically address the needs of LGBT homeless youth and ensure that all homeless youth services organizations receiving federal funds are trained and capable of providing safe and culturally competent services to their LGBT clients.

It is important that our allies in Congress insist that this pivotal piece of legislation accurately acknowledges and addresses the reality of youth homelessness in America — nationwide, LGBT youth are grossly overrepresented in a system ill-equipped to meet their needs, and that simply must change.

Jason Cianciotto is research director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute and author of several studies, most recently Youth in the Crosshairs: The Third Wave of Ex-Gay Ministries.

Want to share your thoughts about Jason Cianciotto's blog entry?

Send your comments to OutSpoken@theTaskForce.org.

Please let us know how your name should appear and, optionally, your city and state. Comments may be posted on our Web site and used in other Task Force materials.

--
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

    - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Rev. Rod Romney: Finding a Sense of Sacred Purpose

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rodret69@aol.com <Rodret69@aol.com >
Date: Jan 13, 2007 8:09 PM

FINDING A SENSE OF SACRED PURPOSE
Rev. Dr. Rodney R. Romney
January 14, 2007

Many of us, as we were growing up, were encouraged to make resolutions at the beginning of each year.  I suspect that the purpose of that practice was to help us live better, more responsible lives.  While I no longer make New Year's resolutions as such,  from time to time I do take a kind of inner inventory of my life as a means of trying to decide what I need to let go and what I still want to accomplish in my life.  In that process, I have come to realize that finding a sense of sacred purpose is probably the most important task we ever undertake. 

The desire of most persons is to find answers to the following questions:  Who am I?  What did I come here to do?  What is the ultimate meaning of life?  What must I do to find that meaning?  What do I really believe?  These questions represent the search for a sacred purpose in life, a search that is always with us. 

A minister friend, recently retired, wrote this to me recently:  "I am not sure anymore what I believe."  I wrote back applauding him for his honesty and assuring him I was going through a similar process.  I told him that I had experienced retirement as a time to look honestly at all my beliefs.  It became an ongoing and inner process of modification and change. 

After retirement ministers find themselves totally free from the critical observations and strict expectations of a congregation.  At that point they are independent, perhaps for the first time since entering the ministry, so they can explore their theology and other faith systems more critically than ever before, discarding what doesn't work for them and perhaps seeking in new directions.   In that respect, I am grateful to have come to a place in my life where I can test out what I do or don't believe, while continuing to seek the sacred purpose of my life.

Every person is on this earth for a special purpose, and that purpose is essentially spiritual.  That spiritual purpose remains and defines the main reason for being here on earth.  It represents the work we have come here to do.  

A writer, whose name I have temporarily lost, once said, "We are not on this earth as physical beings having a spiritual experience, we are here as spiritual beings having a physical experience."  In other words, we are here to explore and to acknowledge the spiritual aspect of our being, which we brought with us.   That spiritual aspect is different for all of us, but at its highest it is always rooted and grounded in a love that is supreme and all-inclusive. 

Author Stephen Levine once wrote, "If you had one hour to live and could make only one call, to whom would it be, what would you say, and why are you waiting?"  Under-lying his question was the assumption that the one we most need to get in touch with is our own soul.  That raises an even more penetrating question, "What is the soul?" 

I remember many years ago asking that question of one of my seminary professors.  I can still hear his answer:  "Each of us is a trinity: a body, a mind, and a spirit.  If we disregard this trinity of being, and focus only on the body and mind, we fall into the trap of an ego-centered life, where we concentrate primarily on our own wants, needs and accomplishments.  But if we accept and cultivate the spiritual dimension that lives in all of us, we will then become who we came here to be, and we will focus on the wants and needs of others, not just our own."   That professor obviously equated soul with spirit.  He went on to say to me, "In seminary you will be offered many challenges to stimulate your mind.  Make sure that in the process you also nourish your soul.   It will be the most important thing you can do."  That professor is no longer living.  I hope he knows how important his answer has been to me through the years.   

Fundamentalist Christianity teaches that we are all born sinners and at some point we have to repent of our sins or we will spend eternity burning in a fiery place called hell.  I long ago abandoned that kind of theology.  What I have embraced instead is a belief in the sacred quality of all life, a belief that extends to each of us a deeper sense of meaning and purpose, and which inspires us to work for the good of each other and for this earth which we all share. 

I have learned over the years that every life circumstance, even tragedies and crises, can nourish my soul, if I will allow it.  They help me discover something about myself, and they enrich my life.  Through the death of one of my older brothers a few years ago, the recent illness of a second older brother, and the death this past week of a dear and close friend in Seattle--through all of these recent losses I have learned that one of the most important relationships in my life is not with my family or friends, dear as they may be.  It is with my own soul.   My soul teaches me to be loving and forgiving, rather than resentful or harsh.  It teaches me to give thanks for those who have blessed and enriched my life and to let them go when the time comes.  It encourages me to believe that behind every mistake and tragedy a divine purpose is at work bringing good out of whatever has happened.   It is often in our darkest times that we learn the most.  Nurturing the soul is what helps us get through those dark times.  
In my darkest hours, I have eventually been able to see what an incredible journey I am on and how lovingly I am cared for as I journey.
 
Generally in religious thought when we speak of the soul, we are talking about the immaterial essence of a person that precedes one's earthly existence and which continues after the body has died.  But I think soul is more than that.  I like the definition given by Robert Fulghum, who wrote: "Soul is found in the quality of what I am doing.   If my activities have a sense of truth and integrity, if they are deep in meaning, then they are rich in soul, and so am I." 

To his statement I would add this, "If what I do comes from a sincere sense of love, love for myself and love for everyone and everything, then I am working from the level of my soul."  When unconditional love and acceptance emerge from within me I equate that with soul work.  That work brings me to a sense of sacred purpose.

A striking example of a person working from a sense of sacred purpose would be Martin Luther King, Jr.  He saw beyond the boundaries and hostilities of race, beyond the limitations of violence and vengeance, and found his way to a vision of universal peace and love.  That vision (or dream, as he expressed it) defined his work, and because what he did was a gift to everyone, his sacred purpose lives on for all future generations.  The civil rights movement that he started laid the groundwork for many subsequent movements of a similar nature.  I still can hear him say, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."  I heard Martin Luther King speak at an American Baptist Convention in the Midwest a few years before his assassination in 1968. What I did not know immediately was that I was sitting beside his father.  Later when Martin Luther King, Sr. introduced and identified himself, he said to me, "My son has found his sacred purpose, and we are all blessed because he has."  Indeed we are. 

Several years after Martin's death, his widow, Coretta Scott King, was asked what he would have said about the gay/lesbian struggle for equality and acceptance.  She replied, "He would have given it his full support, because he ardently believed we need to work against all injustice and discrimination."   

I like the passage from Isaiah who said in the 40th chapter of his book, "Those that return to God shall have their strength renewed."  When we work from a soul level, in  essence we return our life and our work to the guidance and renewal of God, whoever or whatever God may be to us.  While today I no longer view God as a Person, I do see God as a mysterious and loving presence that inhabits all life and links us together in mysterious but undeniable ways.  I would like to suggest the following ways as means by which we might find the sacred purpose for our own lives. 

1. Pay attention.    The Buddha calls it being mindful.  Look around you and take note of what's going on in the world.  Look within and see how you are reacting or responding.  Look for meaning and purpose in everything, no matter how evil or mundane it seems.   Remember the aphorism:  As within, so without.  As we learn to pay attention to life and what goes on around us, we may discover ways by which we can help make the world a better place. 

2. Look at everyone and everything with love, including yourself, thus eliminating your need to judge.  Make a conscious effort to be gentle with others.  Perform acts of loving kindness wherever possible, with no expectation of being repaid.  Listen to what is going on in the world, and allow your soul to speak to you about what you need to be doing.  You cannot do this all at once, but as you practice it, you will find yourself climbing a little higher on the spiritual ladder each day that you live. 

You may ask, how can I love the rapist, the child molester, the murderer, when what they do is so incredibly horrible?  Loving does not mean ignoring the evil that is committed.  It means looking beneath the scarring and hurt that has created the dysfunction in the person creating the crime.  It means knowing that those we label as sinners are also those who in many ways have been sinned against.  They have been terribly hurt, and sometimes the only way they can deal with that hurt is to hurt others. 
Look at them with love and understanding, as best you can.   

3. Look for the deeper reality in everyone and everything.  There is a spark of divinity and a core of goodness in everything that is.  That goodness may be hidden and unrealized, thus unexpressed.  But nevertheless, it is still there, waiting to be recognized and called forth.  Someone in your life--a parent, a teacher, a minister, a friend, a mate-saw that divinity in you and silently called it forth.  Our greatest work is to do that for others.  Do this for all forms of life.  Everything on this earth has a divine purpose.  Do what you can to encourage rather than deter that purpose. 

4. Learn what it means to be forgiving, both towards yourself and others.  This does not mean that we approve stupid or evil behavior in ourselves or in others.  But as we learn to forgive, the good as well as the bad, we will gradually lift ourselves to a higher and more compassionate level.  We are all learners and students in this venture called Life, and we all make mistakes from time to time, for which we need to be forgiven. Forgiving ourselves and others is an act of redemption in and of itself, because it has the capability of bringing about freedom and hope. 

5.  Be an explorer, rather than a settler.   Keep studying and exploring new avenues of thought.  Allow each day to direct you to new experiences, new concepts and even to new friends.  Use your unique and marvelous gift of creativity in such ways that you will leave this world a kinder, more beautiful place just because you have been here.  

6.  Honor your past and anticipate your future, but always know that your life is not your own.   Each of us has been influenced and directed by others, and we have the capability and power to influence and direct others.  Our lives are mysteriously linked together and to a higher creative source which some may call God.  Whoever or whatever this source may be called, no matter the name we give it, it is an eternal and loving force that inhabits and unites all life, wanting only the highest and the best for each of us. 

7. Finally, in all things and in all ways give thanks.   To be grateful for everything, the good as well as the bad, is the greatest act of all, for true gratitude springs from a loving heart and emerges from a wisdom that is able to see all life as precious and sacred.   Yes, people sometimes behave in foolish and destructive ways, and sometimes that behavior needs to be restrained.  But in clear but almost indefinable ways we are all linked together and parts of one another.  Give thanks for this invisible connection, for it means we are never alone.  Give thanks for the fact that together we can always do more than we can do alone.    

The one who has inspired me most to live in this manner is Jesus.   He was as fully human as you and I, yet his life is a clear example of one who found his spiritual purpose and dared to live it out, even though it brought about his death. Loving everyone and everything unconditionally, as he did, is the most difficult task we ever undertake.  It is also dangerous, as assassinations historically have proved.  Yet love is the most important and the most powerful thing we ever do.   Love is the only way we will ever find the sacred purpose of life and the only way we will ever achieve world peace.

Our country is now involved in a violent sectarian civil war in Iraq.  The United States has had 3000 U.S. military deaths in that war, and thousands have been sent home injured for life.  Greater numbers of Iraqi soldiers and civilians are being killed and maimed each day.  And now President Bush is calling for a gigantic increase of American troops in Iraq.  This war will probably go down as one of the worst cases of bungling in American history.  We need to change our direction in Iraq, and we need to do it now.  We need to find a way to bring our troops home.   Thomas Paine, writing more than two-hundred years ago about the American crisis of his time, said, "These are the times that try men's souls."  It is true for us today.  The crisis in Iraq is trying the soul of this country, as well as the souls of all of us.

In spite of our present predicament and our lack of competent leadership, we live in a wonderful country with magnificent people.  Let's do what we can to bring an end to this war and ensure that future generations will be able to live in peace and enjoy the quality of life that everyone wants.  

That is why we need spiritual communities.  It is in community that we test out the precepts of love and peace.  It is in community that we stretch our vision and learn to accept and share the sacred work we came here to do.  Together we can recommit ourselves to being expressions of love, generosity, open-heartedness, and ethical and ecological sensitivity.  Together we can work for peace-peace in our lives, in our country, and in the world.   Together we can express love and acceptance of all people, regardless of sexual orientation, the issue that today is tearing churches and denominations apart in this country.  Together we can continue to be catalysts for religious freedom, for social justice, and for a responsible stewardship of the earth.  Together we can be peacemakers in this time of conflict.  Together we can help the world find its own sacred purpose.

This is our calling, our work, our sacred purpose.  Don't turn back.  Don't give up.  We're on our way.

--
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

"We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."
-- Thomas Jefferson

[PeacePolitical Blog] An Editorial by the Editor

A CALL FOR A CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP

Surely any extraterrestial beings, or Being if you prefer, looking at Earth from afar with 'benevolent watchfulness' and hoping for Peace On Earth, must have superhuman powers of patience to have let the human race run the bloody course it has taken and continues to take -- up to the present moment.

In recent decades, we have had the ability to see the Earth from afar ourselves, and the pictures sent back of the tiny blue-green planet have made us realize how marvelous and relatively unique it is. Although the peoples of Earth have never even approached a capability of unified planetary self-governance, a system of treaties and international laws has grown up that effectively organizes the affairs of nations with respect to each other -- as long as there is willing participation and compliance, by the most powerful nations, at least.

The current Bush administration has led the U.S. in a unilateral disavowal of this system of laws and treaties -- moving the world backwards toward the rule of brute power and force -- not for the benefit, even, of the people of this country, but for the benefit of the few, the rich, the powerful members of multinational corporations and de facto political conglomerates (or 'alliances').

The voters of the U.S. expressed very clearly their disapproval of the actions of this administration last month (November, 2006) in the midterm elections which turned out the Republican majorities of both houses of Congress and by continuing to give President Bush a 'vote of no confidence' in the form of increasingly low (approaching an unprecedented low) level of approval and popularity. Yet, even in the face of this, Bush's dogged determination and dedication to his own particular hope and views of the war in Iraq tends to be seen as an admirable trait of character and leadership.

Given this set of circumstances, the nation faces a truly challenging dilemma.

We need to fashion a workable way to resolve a disparity between the President, administration, and the people by whose consent the elected officials, including the President and his appointed administration, are allowed to govern. In the British parliamentary system, a call for resignation could be initiated by the legislative houses and, by tradition, the chief executive would be bound to honor their vote.

It is well-known that the resignation of Richard Nixon was essentially assured once the leading members of his own party told him that it was time to go peaceably and voluntarily. The position of George W. Bush is much closer to this circumstance than acknowledged. The members of the Baker-Hamilton review commission have recommended a scaling back of the war in Iraq and increased use of diplomacy, especially with Iran, Syria, and of course, Israel, to find ways to bring political incentives for resolution of the conflicts in the region, including Palestine. This would be a dramatic change in course from the U.S. military dominance (including their support of the Israeli military) in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other key points in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Such a dramatic change of course, urged by Republican as well as Democratic leaders (including those who have seen long-standing service within their respective parties and with previous administrations of both major parties), may well require a change of leadership at the highest level -- namely the President and Vice-President.

It would appear that a rational analysis of the current situation, as we enter into a new year, suggests that a more formal call for such a change in leadership may be in order. Stay tuned, and remember, you heard it here first.

Rick Mitchell, Editor