Oh, It Just Ain't So!

Sarah Posner, associate editor and blogger at Religious Dispatches Magazine, reported on comments made recently by Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, on the Frank Gaffney radio program. His broadcast remarks [which I personally did not hear] were directed against American Muslims and his personal belief that they are totally unsupportive of any efforts to counter terrorist activities against the United States; and as such, American Muslims are "not" American. Unaware of any statistical data to back up such a claim, I can only say that, in my opinion, I believe such a remark to be a gross over-generalization in order to meet Mr. King's own personal agenda.

However, one brief comment Rep. King specifically made was blatantly over-the-top and is clearly a falsehood:

"[W]hen a war begins," King said, every ethnic and religious group unites as "Americans."

Whatever sphere of this world that Peter King is speaking from is foreign to the world that I, as a pastor, inhabit. I personally know of thousands of persons, and countless congregations - Christian and non-Christian - who do not, at the rattling of sabers, "pop to attention" and "fall in line" to blindly follow the god of war. Instead, ours is a allegiance to, and following of, the one God of all Creation; whose birth into this world as the "Prince of Peace" we Christians celebrate and honor by our efforts to live reconciling lives with all our sisters/brothers - whoever and wherever they may be.

Mr. King may speak for some in this country, but certainly not for the vast majority of persons of faith whose lives are governed, not by patriotic fervor or blind following, but by personal commitment to higher divine principles of peace and the unity for all of God's precious creation.

Based on Rep. King's criteria, I guess that I, and countless others, are now equally included on his list of "unAmerican" Americans.

View the entire Posner blog at: On Gaffney’s Radio Show, Rep. King Suggests Muslims Aren’t American | Religion Dispatches

Rev. Michael Kirchhoff

United Church of Christ

Daily Prayer - 01/12/2011

If You Want to Be Happy for the Rest of Your Life

15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance; 16 they exult in your name all day long, and extol your righteousness. 17 For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel.

Psalms 89:15-18 (NRSV)

Okay; maybe I am pushing the title just a bit too far. All of us - even the "most faithful of the faithful" – have our bad days. In fact, many of those days can be downright brutal and terrifying. Yet, there is something about those faithful folks who have not forgotten the “festal shout” and who seek to “walk in the light” of God’s ways. I have met some, and count a few as my dearest of friends. I admire them for their committed beliefs in the face of all the odds against them. Truth be told, I praise them for their faithfulness, and look to them for guidance on my own faith passage.

Life is certainly no easier for them. They are faced with the same struggles that we all face; and yet, somehow, in the midst of the difficulties and immense pains of this life, these devout souls trudge through their endless days with a more joyous glow about them then most, and a ring of hope in their voices and dreams. Their attitude and approach towards life’s struggles is even one which exults the One on whom they center, and asserts the righteousness of God’s reign. Just being around them brings a refreshing new light to even the gloomiest of days.

O, how I long for us all to have such a degree of total and complete trust and confidence in the Lord our God, and to experience the joy, and the happiness, which such conviction brings. What a more harmonious world it would be.

Strengthen my resolve, ever-present God, to firmly set my eyes on your ways, and your ways alone; and to live and joyously exult in you always. May it be so!

Amen.

Rev. Michael Kirchhoff

From the UCC Network: 01/12/2011 "A Common Earth"

A Common Earth 

Excerpt from Psalm 89:5-37 

“Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.”

Reflection by Donna Schaper

I know a secret about people’s suitcases.  I found it out by accident when I was writing a little book about rock gardening. I thought I was the only one who lugged rocks and stones from far-off places home in my suitcase.  It turns out that many people do this.  The TSA security theater is more interested in toothpaste than in stones.

Why do people haul rocks around as souvenirs?  Are we not searching for something ancient and basic to remind us of our origin in earth?  I think so.  We are looking for our home quarry.

The current flap about whether TSA should probe our private parts when we fly is interesting in these terms.  I am less concerned about my private parts than my public parts when trying to board a flight, with a few rocks in tow.  I remember freedom and want it again. I wonder what the end game is and whether we will ever fly again without inspection.  I wonder when fear of terrorism will stop and when terrorism itself will stop.  Probably when we remember our origin in a common earth.  That hard rock is also our destiny.  We are hewn for peace, not war, hewn for love not hate.  Remember.  And then forecast.

Prayer

O God, we who carry the weight of the world in our bags, remind us where we come from, so we can know where we are going.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her most recent book is Sacred Chow: a Guide to Holy Eating.