Category Archives: Faith

May 21

“ARE YE TRYING OR DYING?”

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 STARTING YOUR DAY RIGHT?  Here are 5 passionate Tips for your own Self Care: 1-Fuel Your Body, 2-Take a Nap, 3-Turn Off Alarm, 4-Do Nothing, or 5-Have a little Fun.  TAKING CARE OF YOUR SELF 1st helps you take care of others later.  U can do at least 1 a day, OK…..”YE HAVE NOT CAUSE YE TRY NOT”.-mackie
Fuel your body Rather than sliding your meals between meetings, eat when your body signals hunger. You’ll need to be prepared for this. You can pack some snacks like fruit, nuts, or those nifty Kind bars.
Take a nap No, not at your desk:-) Try taking a nap on Saturday and Sunday, or after work. You can set a timer or just allow yourself to sleep until you wake up.
Turn off your alarm Do you wake up to buzzing or the sound of news on the radio? Do you slap it several times to snooze? Are you annoyed with your alarm? Try un-setting your alarm this week. I know it’s scary. I’m going to try it myself. If not un-setting the alarm, try changing the wake up sound to something pleasant like a chime or a “good morning” ringtone from your kids.
Do nothing I got this idea from Christine Kane. I’ve always thrived on meditation. Doing nothing takes it a step further. I don’t even have to concentrate on my breath. For 15 minutes, I just sit, and do absolutely nothing. I can let my mind drift if it wants to. It churns and churns. I don’t coax it to come back to center. I just sit. In silence. Doing nothing.
Read something for fun As consultants, we’re always reading industry publications, journals, or news. When was the last time you read something for fun – chick lit, erotica, spy novels, comic books? Try reading something that you would have read as a teenager. Laugh a little. Become engrossed in a story that’s pure reverie!
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       Want to change your city, state, country and world? Following is your best way:   CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSONS: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ Even if you get a voice mail, leave a message for they count the “For/Against.” Vote for the candidate who WILL BE FAIR TO ALL, OK?
HELPING OTHERS HELP THEMSELVES HELPS YOU!
May 20

THE LIBERATING EMBRACE OF UNCERTAINTY?

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“The only constant is change. It’s the most basic fact of human existence. Nothing lasts, nothing stays the same.
We feel it with each breath. From birth to the unknown moment of our passing, we ride a river of change. And yet, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, we exhaust ourselves in an endless search for solidity. We hunger for something that lasts, some idea or principle that rises above time and change. We hunger for certainty. That is a big problem.
It might even be THE problem.
Religions are often built around this heartache for certainty. In the face of sickness, loss and grief, a thousand dogmas with a thousand names have risen. Many profess that if only the faithful hold fast to the “rules,” the “precepts” or the “doctrine” then certainty can be obtained.
Fate and future can be fixed through promises of freedom from immediate suffering, divine favor or everlasting salvation. Scriptures are transformed into unwavering blueprints for an unchanging order. These documents must live beyond question lest the certainty they provide crumble. When human spiritual endeavor devolves into these white-knuckle forms of clinging they become monuments to the fear of change and uncertainty.
It would be symmetrical if I could point to science as the pure antidote to the rigid rejection of uncertainty. Science, in the purest forms of its expression as a practice, holds to no doctrine other than that the world might be known. In the ceaseless pursuit of its own questioning path, science asks us to allow for ceaseless change in our ideas, beliefs and opinions. It’s this aspect of science that I value more than any other.
But science does not exist alone as practice. It’s also a constellation of ideas that exist within culture and those ideas can gain value, in and of themselves, without connection to actual practice. In this way science becomes something more and less. For some people the idea of Science offers a trumped up certainty that yields its own false defense against the rootlessness that roots of our existence.
My co-blogger Marcelo Gleiser put it beautifully two weeks ago when he wrote, “what is pompous is to think that we can know all the answers. Or that it’s the job of science to find them.” When science as an idea is used to push away the tremulous reality of our lived existential uncertainty then it, too, is degraded. It becomes just another imaginary fixed point in a life without fixed points.
Of course it doesn’t have to be this way. The world’s history of spiritual endeavor contains many beautiful descriptions of authentic encounters with uncertainty. Ironically these often serve as gateways to the most compassionate experience of what can be called sacred in human life.
Buddhism‘s First Noble Truth, which focuses specifically on the reality of change and suffering, serves as one example. In the Christian tradition works like the “Cloud of Unknowing,” a 14th century paean to the importance of experience over doctrine or dogma, serves as another. Dig around in most of the world’s great religious traditions and you find people finding their sense of grace by embracing uncertainty rather than trying to bury it in codified dogmas.”
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       Want to change your city, state, country and world? Following is your best way:   CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSONS: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ Even if you get a voice mail, leave a message for they count the “For/Against.” Vote for the candidate who WILL BE FAIR TO ALL, OK?
HELPING OTHERS HELP THEMSELVES HELPS YOU!
May 20

Southern Baptist Convention to vote on 1st Black President…

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The Rev. Fred Luter II of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., is set to become the first ever African-American president of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, as he is so far the only candidate for the election in June.

The Southern Baptist Convention, which has long dealt with issues of race since splitting in 1845 with Northern Baptists over the right to hold slaves, has grown to accept a diverse array of cultures within its congregation. Once an all-white membership, nearly 20 percent of its current congregation nationwide now is composed of minorities. Until now, however, it has never had an African-American president – Luter himself was the first ever African-American first vice-president of the denomination, appointed in June 2011.

Luter has had a long and turbulent road to rise in the ranks, The Tennessean reported, revealing that when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, his church was destroyed and lost its entire 7,000-member congregation, most of whom fled the city. Three years later, however, the Franklin Avenue Baptist church reopened its doors after help from the entire neighborhood, and now draws 5,000 people for church services. The report goes into detail about Luter’s background and upbringing, sharing how a near-fatal motorcycle accident when he was 21 guided him in the right direction toward God.

For more click on: http://www.christianpost.com/news/southern-baptist-convention-set-to-elect-first-black-president-70673/

May 13

SWEET TWEETS TO ALL MOTHERS AND OTHER CAREGIVERS!

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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THE MOMS IN ALL THE WORLDS & HEAVENS+++++++
I KNOW YOU DID THE BEST WITH WHAT YOU HAVE!!!!!!!
‘Thank you, mom’: What I’ve realized in my 20s http://huff.to/IzdwAH
Midday open thread http://bit.ly/JHVzzo
On Inside #Syria: Who is behind the recent bomb attacks, as the Syrian government & the opposition blame each other? | http://aje.me/KWUnxG
Bloomberg Defends Gay Marriage http://thebea.st/IOK4a2 #cheatsheet
It’s official: This surfer caught the largest wave ever | http://ti.me/IQhvrB (via @TIMENewsFeed)
Sandy Leon gets the call to replace Wilson Ramos on the #Nats‘ roster http://wapo.st/IOrxL4
INFOGRAPHIC: Hollywood‘s favorite mom is … http://huff.to/J4sgMR
more later….
May 09

PRESIDENT SUPPORTS SAME SEX MRRGE..

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Most Americans have favored same-sex marriage since mid-2010. The latest Gallup poll on 29 May 2011 showed 53% of Americans saying same-sex marriage should be legalized with all the same rights as other marriages, vs. 45% saying it should not. . Over the last 12 years, 21 states covering 130 million Americans chose some form of marriage equality: 10 have same-sex marriage (CA, CT, DC, IA, MA, MD, NH, NY, VT, WA), 5 have civil union (DE, HI, IL, NJ, RI), and 6 have domestic partnership (CO, ME, NV, NM, OR, WI). In 2012, legislators, courts, and/or citizens will vote whether to add � or ban � same-sex marriage in 18 states (CA, CO, HI, IA, IL, MA, ME, MD, MN, MT, NC, NJ, NH, NM, OH, RI, WA, WV).

2012 Republican Presidential Candidates on Same Sex Issues 

Compare the 2012 Republican Presidential Candidates head-to-head on Same Sex Issues

May 07

31 STATES TRY TO BLOCK VOTES….

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FUNDAMENTALIST STATES BLOCKING VOTES OF YOUNG & OLD NON-WHITES AND POOR WHITES (unless they have an ID). WHAT HAPPENED TO ONE PERSON ONE VOTE? They are also closing voting booths in poor WHITE AND NON-WHITE AREAS. HOPEFULLY ENOUGH FAIR MINDED CITIZENS WILL MAKE SURE EVERYONE VOTES (even if they have to pick them up and make sure that they vote without hinderance).

Thirty-one states have voter identification laws, including eight — Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin — that were enacted or toughened last year. Of the 31 laws, 27 are expected to be in effect for the general election this year, says Meagan Dorsch, spokeswoman for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), a bipartisan research group. One has been blocked by federal action; three have later effective dates.
Laws requiring voters to show identification at the polls have been around since 1970, but they are becoming more numerous and stringent. Once a voter registration card or utility bill sufficed. Now a growing number of laws require voters to show picture IDs.
Most of the new laws have been passed by Republican legislatures, the NCSL says. Supporters say they are necessary to prevent fraud. Opponents say they keep the poor, minorities and seniors — who often back Democrats — from voting because those groups are less likely than the general population to have government-issued IDs.
The Justice Department and civil liberties groups are challenging laws in several states:
May 07

CONGRESS HOLDING CANCER DRUG FOR BABIES 14 MNTHS?

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CANCER DRUG FOR BABIES HELD UP FOR 14 MONTHS AND WAITING. WHY? It hasn’t reached the floor. Asked leader of house and senate: We have our own way of doing things & it’s so complicated I don’t have time to tell you. GOD HELP US!!! They are your employees.

CALL THEM! If we don’t they’ll just keep on talking to lobbyists $$$, etc. If the GOP STALLS LONG ENOUGH THEY MIGHT REACH THEIR GOAL: GETTING THAT BLACK PRESIDENT OUT! MANY  FUNDAMENTALIST STATES BLOCKING VOTES OF YOUNG & OLD NON-WHITES AND POOR WHITES (unless they have an ID).  TO HELL WITH THAT.  WHAT HAPPENED TO ONE PERSON ONE VOTE?  They are also closing voting booths in poor  WHITE AND NON-WHITE AREAS. 

TO HELL WITH  THAT!  HOPEFULLY ENOUGH FAIR MINDED CITIZENS WILL MAKE SURE EVERYONE  VOTES (even if they have to pick them up and make sure that they vote without hinderance).

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       Want to change your city, state, country and world? Following is your best way:   CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSONS: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ Even if you get a voice mail, leave a message for they count the “For/Against.” Vote for the candidate who WILL BE FAIR TO ALL, OK?
HELPING OTHERS HELP THEMSELVES HELPS YOU!
May 07

BAD RELIGION: BECAME NATION OF HERETICS?

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Ross Douthat, op-ed columnist for The New York Times, contends that Christianity in America has devolved from a once traditional practice to a shadow of its former self, which, according to the author, praises its followers’ self-interests and greed.
Mr. Douthat argues that this concept of “bad religion,” has hurt America’s political and social landscape and posits that heresy has usurped long-held religious beliefs.
Ross Douthat speaks with Barbara Bradley Hagerty, religion correspondent for National Public Radio and Michael Gerson, op-ed columnist for the Washington Post at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
HEAR AND SEE MUCH MORE: http://c-spanvideo.org/program/BadR
May 06

BALANCED VIEW OF NEWS-Try it now…

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I highly recommend this sight. Atheist-liberal-Conservative-Fundalmentalist-all for you!-mackie-Dmn
 Full Show: Between Two Worlds — Life on the Border
May 4, 2012
No writer understands the border culture between Mexico and the United States more intimately than Luis Alberto Urrea, whose life is the stuff of great novels. Son of a Mexican father and Anglo mother, Urrea grew up first in Tijuana and then just across the border in San Diego. Over the years he has produced a series of acclaimed novels, including The Hummingbird’s Daughter, The Devil’s Highway, and his latest, Queen of America — each a rich and revealing account of the people of the borderlands that join and separate our two nations.
Three of Urrea’s books were among scores of others removed from classrooms earlier this year when the Tucson school district eliminated Mexican-American studies on the accusation it was “divisive.” But there’s no ban on ideas in Bill’s studio, and Urrea talks with Bill Moyers about that episode as he unfolds the modern reality of life on the border.
For more click on:  http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-between-two-worlds-life-on-the-border/    to read or print it, click on “Transcript” on same site.
May 03

HONORING MY 2 MOMS…….

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Wahls, pictured left testifying before the Iowa State Legislature, is an engineering student at the University of Iowa.  He celebrated the marriage of his two moms in 2009.

The message below went out to Standing on the Side of Love supporters on Thursday, February 10, 2011. You can sign-up for these emails here.

Two weeks ago, I took a stand for equality, and for my family.  Taking time away from classes at the University of Iowa, where I am an engineering student, I testified before the Iowa House of Representatives in opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.  “I was raised by a gay couple,” I told lawmakers, “and I’m doing pretty well.”

A young Zach Wahls and his family at his moms’ 1996 commitment ceremony.A young Zach Wahls and his family at his moms’ 1996 commitment ceremony.

More than one and a half million people have now viewed my testimony on YouTube, and a lot of people have heaped an inordinately large amount of undeserved praise on me.  As a Unitarian Universalist, my testimony was simply what I was raised to believe – that we all should stand on the side of love.

A few days ago, I found out that the Standing on the Side of Love campaign was launching a new, online map of “courageous love” to mark National Standing on the Side of Love Day and had posted my testimony before the legislature to the map.  I am humbled that someone thought my family’s story might be an inspiration to others across the country and have been truly touched by the outpouring of support not just for my family, but for families like mine all across the world.

So, let me ask you — who in your life and your community would you like to honor for the tremendous ways in which they stand on the side of love?

 

Click on: http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/blog/honoring-my-two-moms/