love

I’m against Proposition 8. I support the recent protests against the constitutional ban on gay marriage. I’m not, however, a supporter of the tactic of some gay rights supporters of attacking Mormon, Catholic, and Evangelical churches. In the long run, I think it is a tactic that’ll backfire and cause more harm than good for their cause. A small group of Mormons, Catholics and Evangelicals support gay rights and gay marriages and they need all the support they can get to raise their voices within their churches and counter the church hierarchy and the more conservative parishioners who champion Proposition 8.

Andrew Callahan is a Mormon who is risking excommunication from his church for speaking out against Proposition 8 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzXsl7rPV0c) and (http://signingforsomething.org/blog/?page_id=770). His blog states that he is a high priest in good standing and he wrote:

"I want you to know, that regardless of any action the church takes or doesn’t take. I will NOT cease my actions to stop them from supporting Proposition 8, and I will work as hard as I can to defeat Prop 8 and all similar measures. Bigotry in any form is wrong, and disguising it as “love” as the church leadership is now doing is especially distasteful."

John Lennon would have turned 67 on October 9, 2007. Although he hasn't spoken in 27 years, he has not been silenced.

At the age of 12, in the summer of 1966, inspired by John Lennon’s honesty, I tuned out the Catholic Church.

Up until I was about six years old, every Sunday morning was spent in a glass-encased room at St. Bernard’s one holy Roman Catholic Church, in Levittown, Long Island. The glass-encased room was called, and literally was, the Cry Room. Growing up with television, it was natural for me to stand up close against the soundproof glass and watch the 'show' on the other side. Every so often, I’d hear the priest’s voice filter through the loudspeaker above my head. But it was all Latin to me: and back then, it really was!

Prophetic messages delivered by prophet-like people make us squirm.

We don't like "in your face" challenges, especially when they call us to task, suggest that we change and/or do things in a completely different way.

Recently, a note from SoJo mail, the list serve for Sojourners magazine and community, shared this quote with everyone:

"There is no dearth of Christian service today. But because much of it is service without prophetic compassion, it is powerless to bring about a radical change in individuals and society." Vishal Mangalwadi, quoted in "Cry Freedom", by Charles Ringma.

On June 13, 2007, Stephen Colbert interviewed the author of Muses, Madmen and Prophets, Daniel B. Smith who spoke about how hearing voices is not always psychotic and could actually be a good thing.

I began to 'hear voices' shortly after I began the practice of lectio-divinia/holy reading, in the year 2000, which was two years after beginning the practice of Centering Prayer as outlined by Father Michael Keating.