Living word by word

on it goes

Last spring my congregation finally won its last round of litigation concerning Minnesota's liberalized gun law (yes, liberalized, as in, we're going to tell sherrifs to give permits instead of letting them have discretion, and the state will decide which institutions can be exempt). At the time most states had an automatic exemption for religious institutions, which seems to me to be a fair way to separate church and state on an issue that can be a matter of religious conviction (Mennonites, Quakers and others come to mind).

It's a long, long story, but basically when Minnesota passed a new "personal protection act," it exempted schools, and the State Capitol, but not hospitals, city halls, or churches from onerous "notification" provisions if these institutions wanted to ban firearms. Whereas before we could count on trespass law to work the same way it does for a home (e.g., the congregation as a body decides what the rules about firearms will be within its walls, and how it wants to notify people of those rules), we now had to post state-mandated language at every entrance in big black-and-white letters if we wanted to ban firearms from the premises.

Our congregation decided it would rather decide for itself which words of peace to offer those who enter, thank you very much, so our sign read, "Blessed are the peacemakers. Firearms are prohibited on these premises."  We sued the state on the basis of religious freedom, and won every round in court, though it took five years. (All the legal work was pro bono, done by a member of the congregation, so no, we weren't spending our members' offerings on this).

I'm saddened to see that the gun lobby  in Arkansas is pressing to remove a ban on guns in houses of worship. I don't know the details, but it seems highly problematic to make a blanket judgment on this. If some churches choose to allow it fine. But the state has no compelling interest in making a religious community allow weapons -- except a police officer's --  on its premises.

Well . . .we're doing it

Don't get me wrong. I hate doing our taxes -- the actual paperwork of it -- and I especially hate the hassle of submitting quarterly wage reports and paying UI taxes for our beloved nanny. But we do it, and we've been doing it for seven years through two careers, travel, illness, childbirth and just plain life. None of us ever intends to run for public office, and our one part-time employee would probably be pretty easy to hide if we were so inclined, but we do it because it's the right thing to do.

I have no doubt that the public officials' lives are crazier than mine. . .but even though they are in the public eye, (and probably have better attorneys and accountants than we. . . ) person after person has managed to NOT do the due diligence for paying household employees. What the ** is going on??

Is the tax code arcane and a burden on busy people? Yes. But if you're too dumb, too busy, or too unprincipled to figure it out, you probably shouldn't be running our government.

count me one of the 5.8 %

There was a semi-hysterical (and not in the funny sense) piece on MPR this morning about the switch to all-digital TV, and broadcasters' worries about the 5.8% of us in Minnesota who are "unprepared."

First, you have to understand that I haven't had cable since I was living with my parents. Getting 4 or 5 stations has been plenty for most of my adult life, and now that we have kids, even more so. If they're going to watch something, even on PBS, I much prefer the controlled environment of a video to broadcast. We deliberately put off getting fast Internet service because it always seemed to be bundled with cable TV, which we don't need or want. (Also, we have a grudge against Qwest and DSL, but that's another story).

Now that we have Minneapolis' lovely wireless service, we occasionally pacify the kids with youtubes of Cookie Monster (the vintage ones are best) or a train, and we watch the Daily Show one day late online. We've hauled the TV up from the basement only a couple times in the last year - for election night, the convention, and the Inauguration.

So yes, we are UNPREPARED. We're skipping straight from analog to the wireless world. It's just fine this way.

Ebullient -- yeah, that's right

 

My last post was unnecessarily petty. Out of all the amazing visuals of Tuesday's Inaugural events, I went for the two reminders of the last eight years. So sorry. We've had strep, work travel, and several broken items at our house the last couple days, so maybe the home front is affecting me too much.

Please do read Jenell's first-hand report of DC on Jan 20, and, more importantly, her recent discussion with undergrads about race. Yes, we really have made a leap forward with this administration. (And anyone who criticizes Aretha's hat has no appreciation for African-American church fashion traditions).

Ebullient -- yes, that's exactly how we all should feel right now.

more on Jonah

I confess: my spirits were lifted almost as much by watching that helicopter leave Washington yesterday as they were by the beginning of a new presidency  and all that the Obama administration symbolizes.

As Dick Cheney was wheeled out from the White House, looking for all the world like Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life, (or, as my husband suggested, Dr. Strangelove), I was reminded of Jonah's grudging response to Nineveh's repentance.

Not that anyone has really repented -- yet. But if they did, could I forgive failed leaders for their failure? Forgive those who sought power and abused it for the abuse? Forgive the deceivers for their knowing deception?  Or would I chalk it all up to PR and following the crowd?

It's clear from all the historical evidence (not to mention the book of Nahum) that there was no love lost between Assyria and Israel. It's also pretty clear who the 300-pound gorilla was in this match-up. And yet, the book of Jonah has the audacity to imagine a world in which Nineveh, hearing Jonah's minimalist prophecy, repents.

Laughable? Maybe. But maybe a prophet who is unhappy when the guilty change is much, much sadder.

President Obama seems inclined to move on rather than pursue investigations. Good for him.

fabulous signs

Lots of great pics on flickr from marches for equal rights across the country in protest of Prop 8. As I said before, I don't necessarily believe that marriage is a "right," but I do think it's shameful that we've come to a point where one portion of the population is voting on the other's right to marry.  One of my favorites:

Lectionary blog: Reign of Christ; Ezekiel

Ezekiel 34:18-22

Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet? ²⁰Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, ²²I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

 

Is is not enough for you to feed on the good pasture?

 

There’s a good question for us, O We the Self-Absorbed!

 

The news has quickly turned from the wave of hope and empowerment brought on by our election two weeks ago. Now the analysis is all about the enormous expectations that will be placed on the new administration. Everyone has an agenda. And make no mistake about it: most of our agenda is about US.

 

A relatively poor economy makes us all turn inward. Meanwhile, the rest of the world might well be asking, “Um, are you people ever going to join the rest of the planet? There’s an ecological disaster unfolding here!”

 

And it’s not just the ecological situation that should give us pause. It was an unfashionable question to ask, in the wake of 9/11, but it’s still worth asking: “Isn’t this the kind of unjust violence experienced by thousands of people around the world all the time? Yes, we can grieve, but do re really think we’re the only ones suffering?” The Current Occupant eschwed self-examination and asked us to go shopping.

 

Let’s face it, if the sheep are God’s people in Ezekiel’s metaphor, then we, American Christians, are the fat ones. (And not just metaphorically either. Ask any European. “Fat” is one of the top adjectives used to describe U.S. citizens). And we’ve done plenty to soil not only our waters but those of the rest of the world too.

 

Yes, we have plenty of challenges right here at home. But let’s not forget that, on a global scale, we are still the fat ones.

the blessing of seeing something new

As is often the case, the Jews have the perfect prayer for this week. I wish I could have been at that party!

prayer and fasting

 About a week ago, I declared that I couldn't take it anymore. I canceled the paper. If anything important were to happen, I figured someone would tell me. But I just couldn't stand how every morning, over coffee, my day started with political rancor.

So, I'm praying and fasting -- from the news, the ads, the addictive poll watching. (OK, I do peek at fivethirtyeight.com, but I try to limit it to once a day).

It's amazing how, in the exhausting addiction to every bit of news and commentary, I can get lured into thinking I'm doing something.

So, going into Tuesday, I'm a bit refreshed. I'll be voting, and volunteering, and watching the returns, and maybe not as crabby about it as I was last week.

bearing false witness

   As an example of the Ten Commandments actually being used appropriately, I submit Senate candidate Kay Hagen's response to her opponent Liddy Dole's negative ads. She invokes the 8th commandment, no doubt the one most often violated in this election season. See the RBC for the spots and a great one-line commentary.