“Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which (human beings) become entirely alive.”
-Robert Lynd
Christmas carries a special magic because it reminds us that life’s greatest thrill is childlike wonderment. The pageantry of the Christmas story takes us to a certain place in our own hearts that we only remember when we become children again ourselves. And since we cannot return to our own childhood in actuality, Christmas often means sharing in the innocent joy of children so that we might restore our own childlike hearts as well.
The toys, the lights, and indeed the story itself, are the backdrop of the true miracle, which is also the miracle behind many religious symbols. I have been in Jerusalem at Hanukkah and heard the city vibrate with that same childlike joy. The birth of Jesus, the awakening of the Buddha, the entry into the promised land are all dramatic reenactments of awakening to the gift of life. When we live this day as a gift, when we celebrate our own consciousness as if it were a light shining from the darkness, when we remember that our lives are interwoven with every other being, we become lost in wonder and joy.
Christmas means many things to many people. For me, this will be my first Christmas without my parents, both of whom have died recently. I expect the sadness of my personal memories will bring out the naked harsh beauty of universality even more clearly. We cannot capture life, so in times of pain we must give ourselves more fully to it. No matter what, we belong to the river of life.
This time of year is a reminder of three miracles: that anything exists at all, that this present moment is a precious gift no matter what is happening, and that we are one with all sentient life no matter how alone we may appear to be. Why would we ever need greater miracles than those?
A federal judge ruled today that Ohio must recognize gay marriages on death certificates saying the state’s ban on such marriages is unconstitutional. Unfortunately, the ruling applies only to death certificates. So the good news is, a judge is recognizing the civil rights of gay couples. The bad news is, in order to get them, you have to stop breathing.
A federal judge Monday ordered Ohio authorities to recognize gay marriages on death certificates, saying the state’s ban on such unions is unconstitutional and that states cannot discriminate against same-sex couples simply because some voters don’t like homosexuality. Although Judge Timothy Black’s ruling applies only to death certificates, his statements about Ohio’s gay-marriage ban are sweeping, unequivocal, and are expected to incite further litigation challenging the law.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/12/23/ohio_gay_marriage_federal_judge_rules_ohio_must_recognize_gay_marriages.html
Larry Kilgore was the runner up to Rick Perry in the 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary. Kilgore believes that gays should be put to death, but is willing to work with them on what for him is a more pressing issue- Texas seceding from the union. Kilgore has actually changed his name so it will read Larry SECEDE Kilgore on the ballot.
“I am a Christian, and I have lots of Christian beliefs. However, I am trying to build a coalition of all different types of people. I look at the lesbians and the homosexual folks and I say, ‘Hey, D.C. is stealing my money just like they’re stealing your money.’ After we get our freedom, then we can decide all that stuff — hopefully at a county level. Right now, lesbians and homosexuals and Christians may have differences with each other, but we’ve got a bigger enemy.”
Kilgore did promise that once Texas has seceded, he would invoke biblical law:
“I would very much approve of a biblical law that prevented homosexual behavior in the new nation. According to the Bible, it should be execution, if anyone participates in that activity.” -Interview with Lone Star Q
So word to the GLBT crowd, if Texas seceding from the union is your number one issue, Larry Kilgore is inviting you to join his campaign. You have Larry’s word that you won’t be stoned to death until after the election.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/20/1264215/-Texas-Republican-s-newest-plan-Secede-first-decide-whether-to-kill-the-gays-afterwards?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29#
When I arrived at the University of Texas to go to college, I was desperately aware that my view of religion was too small. I went to a nearby bookshop (Grok Bookstore, which would later become Book People) and asked the clerk to give me a sampler platter of religious world views. He gave me the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the philosopher Krishnamurti.
As I struggled through the Bhagavad Gita, I tripped across a Sanskrit scholar whose only advice was not to take the book literally. “The epic battle described is taking place within the hero,” she said.
As I read those books and many other world scriptures, I was transformed in my view of what Jesus was talking about. I could hear Krishna was not just speaking of himself, but was calling the hero to a unified vision of life:
“I am ever present into those who have realized Me in every creature. Seeing all life as My manifestation, they are never separated from Me. They worship Me in the hearts of all, and all their actions proceed from Me. Wherever they may live, they abide in Me.”
I learned from Hinduism that the point of religion is not to love a divine person, but to love all of life as an expression of the sacred. I then could return to Christian texts and understand that Jesus was not a monstrous ego wanting our worship, but one who had drowned in love until he saw the whole world as his body:
“What you do to the least of these, you have done to Me.”
Rev. Frank Schaefer was stripped of his ordination yesterday after performing the wedding of his gay son. I have no idea how he will feel as he awakes this morning, but having been in church trials myself in the Presbyterian Church, I hope he feels some some relief that he did not sell his soul even at such a cost. I hope he feels some joy that he was faithful to Jesus’ message of grace. I hope he remembers that the church that accepts grace for itself but denies it to others is not the true church. I hope he feels this day that he has been true to his calling as were other Methodist pastors Jimmy Creech and Irene Stroud defrocked before him.
I hope this morning Rev. Schaefer hears the rolling thunder of people of faith across this nation who will also risk their livelihood rather than participate in this ungodly oppression. Only such faithfulness as his can save the Church from the rigor mortis of dogma and moralism. A new church is being born out of the broken pieces of the former institutions and faithful leaders like Rev. Schaefer are its founding saints.
“With help from the likes of Pat Robertson and a coalition of anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-feminist, and anti-ACLU networks, the Moral Majority became the Christian Right. While Graham publicly distanced himself from the Moral Majority, this was done purely for political optics. The media’s gullibility in falling for the “genteel, bipartisan, apolitical preacher” narrative gave Graham’s voice even more political clout.
Graham was a skillful orator, and he adeptly infused the teachings of Ayn Rand with those of Jesus Christ. In the Bible, Jesus says, “The meek shall inherit the earth,” and urges his followers, “To sell what you have and give to the poor.” But Graham, with the biggest Christian following in America during the ’80s, helped turn the biblical Jesus into a supply side economist who wants us to be anti-government, anti-regulation, anti-healthcare, and anti-assistance for the poor Christians.”
-C.J. Werleman
We must not reserve the word “idol” for the statues of someone else’s religion. The primary pathology of an idol comes when we worship it. So the most dangerous idol to a Christian might be a sectarian image of Christ. The most dangerous idol to a Jew might be a commitment to Israel devoid of justice. The most dangerous idol to a Muslim might be a jihad with no sense of the common good.
The top Google searches give us an unfiltered insight into one aspect of the American psyche. What do you suppose Americans are most interested in at this critical juncture of history? Were people trying to find out more information about the ACA, the NSA, Syria or Iran? Not exactly. The number one Google search beginning with “what is” was “what is twerking?” The number one search for information about a person was, you guessed it, Miley Cyrus. Warning: don’t look at this list on a full stomach.
TOP GOOGLE SEARCHES BEGINNING WITH “WHAT IS?”
1. What is Twerking
2.What is Ricin
3.What is DOMA
4.What is Molly
5.What is Gluten
6.What is Sequestration
7.What is Obamacare
8.What is Lupus
9.What is Snapchat
10.What is Bitcoin
TOP SEARCHES FOR PERSONS
1.Miley Cyrus
2.Drake
3.Kim Kardashian
4.Justin Bieber
5.Beyonce
6.Rihanna
7.Taylor Swift
8.Selena Gomez
9.Katy Perry
10.Kanye West
Daniel Jose Older makes an interesting criticism of 12 Years a Slave in Salon. He loves the movie, but asks why the civil rights struggle is so often portrayed in terms of a white savior. When the story of civil rights is told in those terms, the struggle of black men and women is relegated to the margins. They are denied agency in their own narrative. He uses Lincoln as an example:
“Our myths reveal mountains about who we are as a nation. Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” erased Frederick Douglass, reinforcing the tired notion that a singular white man, through the sheer force of his moral conviction, brought slavery to an end. In “Lincoln,” as in “12 Years,” this cliché not only hobbles the film’s cultural relevancy, it is a narrative failure as well. The story begins with Lincoln already having formed his opposition to slavery. Without the history of his relationship to Douglass, we have no idea how this president is willing to risk so much to pass the 13thAmendment. There is no inciting incident, no motivating factor: We are left with just a determined man. And the story suffers for it.”
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/17/its_time_to_take_the_white_savior_out_of_slavery_narratives/