Routine Revelations

Finished reading: To Follow the Lamb by Ted Grimsrud 📚

Finished reading: How the South Won the Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson 📚

In both of those eras (before and after the Civil WR), rich men attempted to garner power through words and images that convinced American voters that extending the right of self-determination to people of color, women, and poor Americans would destroy it for white men.

We live in a time in which there are problems to be solved, but our politicians only want to use problems as leverage against their opponent. The Trump administration’s reactions to COVID are one example, and the Democrat’s lack of action on abortion since Roe v. Wade is another. Gun violence is another example. People who disagree on many things can work together when they both agree to work toward solving problems, this is when compromise becomes real. Until we rediscover the difference between governing and running for office, our government will continue to be disfunctional.

What a difference a few days of sunshine and warm weather makes.

I dare any professional Christian to preach on the relationship of Christ crucified and the idol that is the 2nd amendment to the U.S. constitution. While Jesus is the solution, Christianity is the problem.

Anyone with eyes, ears, and a conscious knows that things are very, very wrong in the United States. For most it’s self evident that things cannot continue has they are, and yet we feel helpless to do anything to fix the problems. I submit that helplessness you feel is the self evident sign of idolatry. Yes, violence is part of the world, that is the self evident truth scripture tells in the story of Cain murdering Abel, which by the way is the first time the word sin appears in scripture. Whether or not one is religious, it is self evident to those not caught up in the thrall of the U.S. idol that more violence will not stop the killings. source

The NFL streaming pricing remains as ridiculous as always, and sadly that won’t change until the NFL is willing to break themselves free from the feeding trough of cable TV.

First blossom on a flowering tree of the season.

First daffy to appear this spring 🌱 🌼

How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?

The paradox of freedom, Florida style, is that it’s really an assertion of control. People like us should be free to do what we want, and free to stop other people from doing what they want when we don’t approve

That’s it right there in a nutshell. Freedom for me does not mean freedom for you.

Happy Easter

Easter has become so individualized that it has lost it’s transformative message for the world. What really happened on Friday? The powers of the world employed the only thing they know, which is violence (the sin of the world), in an attempt to stop the movement, the Way of Jesus. On Sunday we see that the powers and their violence do not have the last word. The reason why the powers still have hold today is that we continue to believe in them.

What I think is most troubling in this article about Clarence Thomas is that he appears to not care how others think about him. It seems to me that a fundamental requirement of ethical behavior is actually caring about what others think. While Thomas' continued participation in extravagant trips that he does not pay to attend is not illegal, it creates the appears of quid pro quo. Ethics isn’t about laws, it’s about appearance and trust. Americans are right to not trust the Supreme Court when justices don’t care about ethics, and given that the Supreme Court is the most authoritarian branch of the U.S. government, the lack of ethics is frightening.

Seems like some are forgetting that a grand jury is who is indicting Trump, not the DA. A DA brings an accusation to a grand jury decides whether there is enough evidence to warrant charges. The point of a grand jury is to take politics out of charges.

Finished reading: Resurrecting Easter by John Dominic Crossan 📚

Today marks the beginning of Holy Week for Christians, and every year it seems the focus is on believing the stories happened rather than pondering upon and growing from the question, how are these stories relevant today?

In the Crucifixion story, what we have is a parable against civilization. The kingdom of Rome is a typical kingdom within the normal protocols of this world and, as such, it is based on violent force and imperial coercion. It is simply the normalcy of civilization in Mediterranean place and first-century time. But the kingdom of God is an antitypical kingdom in that it does not even allow violent “fighting” to free Jesus from execution—recall John 18:26. So the Crucifixion and Resurrection story is not simply about Jesus clashing with or triumphing over Pilate, but about a hopeful option for humanity to find a way out of the violence-based civilization it has created for itself.

The true question of faith is not whether resurrection happened or has begun, but rather whether the world is being and will be transformed through our collaboration with Yahweh in Christ! Our lack of faith in the story of Jesus and in the work of Christ has us stuck in the normalcy of civilization.

One of my best friends who lives in the town we grew up in sent a picture of the foot of snow that fell on his patio over night. Meanwhile, we have this…

#NotAFool

I think we are getting near to testing the question of whether or not a U.S. President, former U.S. President, or a candidate for U.S. President is above the law. I don’t think this question has ever really been answered/tested. Ford pardoned Nixon, so there never was an attempt at putting him on trial.

At the root of the question is whether our laws should be used for political gain. I think nobody would argue that laws should not be used for political gain, but doubt they never have been. On the other hand, the idea that anyone running for U.S. President is shielded from being put on trial does not seem right either as that means when one feels they are at risk they will simply declare their candidacy. I strongly suspect this is the reason why Trump declared he is running for President.

All of this reinforces how broken is the United States.

There is something oddly satisfying about opening a mail app and finding no email. I think it is related to some form of PTSD of seeing spam.