Wright is Right

I am sometimes amazed at the absurdity of the way political pundits and news analysts frame so-called news.

In recent days I listened to sound-bytes of Dr. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of South Chicago’s Trinity UCC. This is the church attended by Barak Obama for some 20 years. The sound-bytes revealed Wright’s radical preaching, his unpatriotric and anti-American extremes, as well as his dangerous politics - a real loose cannon, if you believe soundbytes.

This Pastor Wright was obviously a dangerous liability to presidential candidate Obama. Any worthy candidate would disengage from such a person. This set the stage for Obama to denounce his pastor and for political pundits to pounce on their prey.

Then CNN grabbed the spotlight. Bill Moyer interviewed Dr. Wright and did an excellent job. The interview proved enlightening and revealed Wright as an educated and successful pastor. Wright led a successful social ministry in South Chicago, taking an impoverished black church of 87 members to a new level of community influence with a membership of 8,000. Predominantly black, the church ministered across racial and cultural lines, bridging uncrossable barriers of race, class, and creed. Maybe Wright was not so wrong after all!

But then, Wright spoke to the Detroit NAACP and loosed his “Difference is not deficient oration” to some 10,000. CNN aired it in its fullness. Wright declared himself answerable to God, committed to reconciliation, to right relationships, and added his positive “yes we can” philosophy (borrowed by Obama and around which Obama built his political platform.

Wright’s speech was filled with the prophetic genre of the “so-called black church.” I’ve listened to many such orations of prophetic rhetoric over several decades. I find it in the biblical tradition of Jesus as well as the Old Testament prophets. However, Wright’s explanations at the Press Club the following day, could have been more diplomatic, more “politically correct”, but he chose to be forthright, open, and honest.

Wright left the political hacks slashing away at him, for his arrogance, narcissism, and speaking for people he didn’t represent. He was obviously self-seeking. His crack about Cheney never serving in the military revealed the way the media frames issues. I too have wondered about the real patriotism of an administration that uses “preemptive strike” to justify war and challenges the patriotism of those who question their policy (they only eliminate those who frame such issues--like Dan Rather).

Wright’s positive ministry has been good news to many people. Yet, the media frames a conflict between pastor and parishioner, between the unpatriotic preacher and a nation at war. Why? The media is more intent on capturing an audience than presenting news, more intent on making money than lifting national morality, more intent on muzzling politically incorrect clergy and keeping the shifting sands of politics within manageable bounds.

In the meantime, I will follow Obama as he tiptoes through the political tulip bed, and await Wright’s coming book. Never mind that I defended Obama against those religious imperialists and politico’s who called him a Muslim, pointed to his secret terrorist connections, and shouted his name Barack HUSSEIN Obama. I find such divide and conquer critics far more offensive, subversive, and dangerous than I do Jeremiah Wright (not to mention unChristian and unAmerican).

So, I guess it really will not surprise anyone when I say that I find too much about Jeremiah Wright that is right to be bothered by the trivia of his incorrect PCness. And that is my take on that from Kentucky..............Wayne

My Apologies for scramble

That last blog came through slightly scrambled. I have to remember to save my editing before I submit the blog, and I've been failing to do that. The statement came out 10-26-2002, 6 years ago and just before the war.


I hate it when I get my lay-out the way I want and then it comes through not the way I want, but I am learning. I don't like to make editing errors and I don't like the paragraphs on top of each other. I'm having enough difficulty reading myself, with my developing cataracts............Don't know that anyone is reading me, but if it is worth saying, it is worth presenting properly.


A bit later, I will have some responses to Dr. Ron Duncan's statement that guides him as the Executive Director of Church of God Ministries. It is a timely paper. Discussion is way past time. As a Church body, we are not going anywhere until we resolve this crisis of identity. Lloyd Moritz will have further blogging about it on his http://chogblog.blogspot.com/. This can be one of those significant times in the history of the Church of God, Anderson (1880-2006) and http://walkingwithwarner/ will offer a positive influence.


Any pastors passing this way, I would also encourage to download the Duncan paper from chog.org and also to read htt;://frypound.blogspotcom commentary on Christopraxis. Good reading.

Wayne

A Moral Issue

I will be busy for a spell and unable to comment here, so I want to add this pre-Iraq War statement as something that has become a serious moral issue for me. The speaker made the declaration in 20-2002 just prior to Iraq invasion. Read the statement in that light and don't read more than is there, although hindsight tells me the speaker hit dead center on what has for me become a burning issue over the past twenty years. It tells me this person had an integrity that the current administration lacked, insight and integrity that I like, altho I've not decided who I will vote for as president.

“You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells. You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil through an energy policy that doesn’t simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil. Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willing join. ‘The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed,. Poverty and despair

. . . I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors, in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income, to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.”

I'll be back soon, but I have to go just now and help someone I care much about................Wayne (my source for the quote is below)

Federal Plaza, Chicago, October 26, 2002
“Barak Obama The Improbable Quest
John K Wilson
Paradigm Publishers, Boulder, 2008
pp 43-2-43

Additional thoughts from VT Anniversary

I cannot leave the Virginia Tech anniversary without some additional thoughts about healing America's violence. In doing so, I would challenge my own faith family--Church of God, Anderson--to adjust its attitude and confront violence across the board.

Freedom Park is a tourist attraction in our city. There, along the River Walk, people discover a larger-than-life sculpting--28 feet by 14 feet. This magnificent creation depicts Erastus Hussey, an early Quaker who took charge of the local Underground Railroad. Hussey risked his life leading some of the estimated 40-50,000 slaves on the freedom train.

During that time, Isabelle Baumfrey fled from slavery--a young single mother. Later, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth. When she moved to our city, she became the first person to bring national recognition to a community now known as The Cereal City. Baumfrey’s name change reflected her journey from slavery to holiness preacher, as she called people to live like Jesus, rallied abolitionists, and advocated for women’s rights.

Current activist--minister Bobby Holley--protested violence by crawling ten miles on his hands and knees, to our County Seat. If he is right, and I believe he is, we need to unmask this bad bargain we call violence.

If violence is acceptable behavior, Birmingham authorities had every right to keep Martin Luther King in jail, and America had no right to overthrow and assassinate Saddam Hussein. If violence is socially acceptable street behavior, we have no reason to protect our urban and rural neighborhoods from street gangs.

If violent behavior is justifiable, we had no justification for stopping Adolph Hitler or putting a price on Osama bin laden. If political violence is acceptable, we have no reason to criticize the Holocaust, and no reason to grieve the numerous police officers sacrificed in the line of duty across our nation.

IF violence is unacceptable behavior, we need to discover as many factors as possible that went into converting a local African American youth that teachers said was a “good adolescent student” into the youthful murderer of a local police officer. If violent behavior is unacceptable, we citizens need to renew ourselves, improve our manners, and learn better communication skills.

Whether language is nasty, vulgar, violent or simply bigoted, Yale Law Professor Stephen Carter believes it contributes nothing of encouragement to thoughtful and reasoned response. It does spark anger and shame, and it diminishes dialogue with one another. This further hinders our democratic processes,1 and I believe it must become a personal issue, because it is a moral issue.

Stopping violence begins with conversation! Healing violence calls for us to improve our manners and our civil behavior. It requires us to develop moral relationships and to live ethically. It demands that we make room for each other--by intent. As it now stands, we remain radically individualistic--even lawless--people that believe laws are for everyone but us.

Healing violence calls radical change: intentionally staying within the law--turning down the car stereo--and staying within the speed limit. Reducing violence calls for correcting our behavior--without waiting for Law Enforcement--and refusing to excuse our own “foibles.” As Daniel Webster once quipped, “Let us not be pygmies in a case that calls for men.”

Healing violence calls for new diplomatic policies that avoid the ultimate of violence--war, as discussed in my previous blog. Before global communities can enjoy a non-violent socio-political peace, we must experience an attitude adjustment and begin with renewed intentionality to develop peaceful relationships.

Peacemakers view war as an extension of violence, the ultimate anti-social behavior that profits from blood sacrifice on an altar of patriotism. Peacemakers work at overcoming evil with good, by the use of non-violent behavior. Peacemakers explore peaceful relationships that provide positive options that replace force, inequality, greed, lust for power, revenge and hate.

The Peacemakers I know take their cue from the Biblical prophet who declared: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8, NIV).

I would challenge my own faith community to remove the muzzle from Jesus and begin applying his application of that ethnic outcaste we call the Good Samaritan. He assisted a mugging victim, at the risk of his own person and possessions. Jesus cited his behavior as exemplary and told his disciples [that’s us] to “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:25-37).

Neighborliness encourages thinking and acting outside our local and global social fences of “hatred, discord, jealousy. . .selfish ambition. . .factions and envy” (Gal. 5:20-21). The one word that meets the criteria, declared Saint Paul, is that word from Jesus: “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Only an attitude adjustment can bridge our barriers, improve our relationships, overcome our hostilities, and launch new friendships. By bridging our barriers of selfishness and greed, we contribute to the creation of new opportunities for a peace-filled tomorrow.

Do we dare to each one contribute our part to making tomorrow a place where everyone enjoys equal access to peace and life in abundance?

Wayne
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1 Stephen L. Carter, Civility Manners Morals and the Etiquette of Democracy. (New York: Basic Books, 1998.)

Practicing Peace

Practicing Peace

One year ago today, the Virginia Tech campus turned into a slaughter house. That same evening, the Rev. John Grace, Catholic chaplain, declared at Mass: I want people to know that in this community there is a thriving, alive faith community . . . that understands that death exists,iolence exists, and the cross exists, but so does hope, resurrection, and life.

Author, Bob Russell, tells this story that illustrates a perspective I’d like to commend to you on this anniversary of the VT massacre.

A Revolutionary War unit bivouacked overnight in a farmer’s field. Tired and cold, the soldiers needed dry firewood to stay warm through the night. The Officer in charge saw a wood-rail fence nearby. That would keep the men warm, but he wanted the farmer’s best wishes. He resolved his problem by instructing his men to remove only the top rung of the fence--if necessary--nothing more.

Awaking the following morning, the officer saw no fence. Angry and dismayed, he discovered that not one soldier disobeyed his command. There was no fence, but no one removed anything, except the top rung.

Today’s Washington Post gave this “Who said it?” quote: You cannot continue mopping the floor while the broken tap is still running. I don’t know the answer to the quote, but I know that “justifiable wars” have allowed removing the top rung of the fence far too long and we will continue mopping the floor until we repair the broken tap.

Almost without exception, wars define deviancy downward. Historians trace humanity’s long trail of conquest, power-grabbing and failed policies while diplomats and dictators plundered and meandered through one crisis of violence after another.

Struggles for political positioning leave a sordid trail littered with failed politicians and unwise legislation. Benjamin Franklin looked at this propensity, this vulnerability if you will, toward violent behavior and human waste and concluded, “After much occasion to consider the folly and mischiefs of a state of warfare, and the little or no advantage obtained by those nations who have conducted it with the most success, I have been apt to think that there has never been, nor ever will be, any such thing as a good war, or a bad peace”1

Recognizing this natural humanity, Jesus taught his followers, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Mt. 5:9, NASV). He gave His followers a “new” commandment--love one another--adding, “as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34). Clearly declaring peaceful relationships, Jesus specifically instructed His followers to reach beyond past friends to “love your enemies” (Mt. 5:44; cf. Jn. 15:13).

Paul further amplified this with his unexcelled, and universally accepted, commentary on love--I Corinthians 13. That love enabled and allowed Paul [transformed from Saul] to view all of humanity through God’s eyes rather than his own (II Cor. 5:18-21). When he visited Athens and read the Athenian inscription “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD,” he suggested a different view, declaring his discovery that God “made from one, every nation of mankind . . . in whom “we live and move and exist [or have our being, KJV].” For, “even as some of your own poets have said,” Paul reminded them, “‘we also are His offspring’” (Acts 17:22-29).

Love, peace, and grace, rank among the most fundamental core values of our Christian faith. This being true, how is it that we so easily justify loading our guns, rather than picking up our Bibles and rallying around the flag of peace? I appreciate John Wesley’s definition of the peacemaker: “one that as he hath opportunity, ‘doeth good unto all men.’

Peacemakers lower the barriers to community and competitors as well as to friends and family. Peacemakers search for new avenues of sharing. Peacemakers open their borders to friend and foe, to neighbor and stranger.2

While figures lie and liars figure, estimates report the Civil War sacrificed 618,000 lives, the Revolutionary War--4,435; the War of 1812--2260; the Mexican War--13,283; the Spanish-American War--2,446; World War I--116,516; World War II--405,399, and Korea--54,246. Vietnam brought these casualties to 1,214,585 human sacrifices.

Sixty-five million people mobilized for World War One. This cost Germany-Austria, Britain, France, Russia, and Italy $95 billion--8.5 million deaths and three times that number wounded. That same war cost the United States $22 billion, with 4,355,000 mobilized, 126,000 lost, 234,000 wounded, and 4,500 prisoners-and-missing.3 Fox News Network reported an additional sixteen million killed or wounded in the second World War.

The Iraq War now surpasses 4,000 deaths, with somewhere around 30,000 injuries. Many of us listened as Newsman, Bob Woodward talked about his own traumatic brain injury, and the 205,000 returning veterans treating with the Veteran’s Administration. Mental health patients at that time exceeded 72,000; traumatic brain injuries like Woodward’s [TBI] approached 2,000.

Other “co-lateral damages” [to be expected] include civilian casualties, returning veterans that require extensive mental health treatment, and children damaged by absentee parents. Woodward estimated an additional 300,000 potential patients for whom the VA currently lacks available beds. Since then I have listened to media reports of the broken military homes and the suicides--further collateral damage.

The list becomes endless and the numbers crunch into oblivion while cash registers hum happily to the tune of $200 million-a-day--to maintain a conflict the military admittedly cannot resolve. Humanity’s future appears empty and void, unless we adjust our attitudes, structure new political policies, and develop new-and-peaceful relationships.

While preachers and sowers-of-discord rail against one-worldism, technology wires us together in a global neighborhood where our most logical and worthy option [in my humble opinion] is to step outside our box of “hatred, discord, jealousy. . .selfish ambition. . .factions and envy” (cf. Gal. 5:20-21).

Paul, that great Christian Apostle, found his solution in the words of Jesus “. . .love your neighbor as yourself.” If you have ever read a red-letter edition of an old King James Version of the Bible, Paul would have been a red-letter Christian. He concluded, “If you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another” (cf. Gal. 5:14-15, 18-22).

Practicing peace begins with eliminating barriers of confrontation and selfishness. We can heal our violence only when we reject violence-and-war as acceptable behavior. We can prevent further violence only when we build bridges, initiate conversations, and seek relationships. But, before we can build a new tomorrow, we must construct alternatives. To build that new tomorrow, we must make today open to all. Eliminate the profit from violence. Make room for others--intentionally--through moral and ethical living.

Two brothers emigrated from rural Europe to Eldorado County, California--1845. One brother realized he could grow cabbage and make sauerkraut; the other brother had no trade, so he studied metallurgy.

One day, the metallurgist visited the cabbage farmer. He examined the sandy soil that produced the prized cabbages and saw the quartz--yellow gold. He exclaimed, “You’re growing cabbage in a gold field.” That remark unwittingly launched the Eldorado gold rush!

There are people with eyes to see the gold in fields currently filled with murder, mayhem, violence, and war. Hope is audacious, I know, but I choose to work toward a “barrier-free” world, that offers a place of self-determination for every human being under the sun. Practicing peace promises a mother-lode of human values.

Humanity could strike it rich!
Wayne,
Kitway@sbcglobal.net
http://walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com
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1 Franklin Brands, The First American, Biography of Franklin. (New York: Macmillan, 2000) p620, “War and Peace.”
2 The Works of John Wesley, Vol. V. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. Co.,, “Sermon on the Mount: No. 3, p. 234.
3 Clement Wood, A Complete History of the United States. (Wash. D. C.: Pathfinder Publishing Company, 1936), p. 488.

Walking the Walk

My earlier blog brought a congratulatory note from longtime friend Joe Allison. Joe has spent much of his life in the publishing world. He called me as a cyber net pioneer reminiscent of Daniel S. Warner and his magazine publishing in the late 1800s. Warner was a patron saint of our Faith Community.
Since I have the name, and have lived under the shadow of Warner’s quest for holiness and unity, I considered that when I named this blog site. Thanks Joe, for the good word, which brings me to where I am today as I accelerate a little on this c-net interstate.
I want to be faithful to Warner’s quest for holiness and unity and that brings me to one of my favorite preoccupations - walking, walking the walk.
I’ve always walked. During more than four decades of my working life I walked off and on for the pleasure of I. I also knew I spent too many hours reading, studying, writing, visiting, and other administrative activities.
I never forgot the peaceful exhilaration I experienced as a teen on the shores of Lake Michigan, walking in a snowstorm. With flakes floating down in every direction, the snow crunching crisply underfoot, I experienced peace, especially on a cold night after a basketball game. Later, as a young Airman accompanying my Irish-Cherokee, we took leisurely evening strolls in San Antonio, accompanied by the ringing of church bells.
Today, I walk slower, with more difficulty, but with intent and determination--like this blogsite. And, when I can’t walk the way I want, I walk however I can, but I walk! And l will keep walking--until I can no longer put one foot in front of the other.
In my youth, I walked by necessity. During our early years of marriage, I walked or rode public transit. Now I walk--by necessity you could say--and a bit philosophically--by intent.
In 1985, I shattered my heel and crunched my back. After escaping my crutches, I tired of my son scolding me: “quit slouching, dad; stand up straight.”
“I am standing straight!” I would snap, squaring my shoulders and stretching as tall as possible, and striding as rigidly-straight as I could (except I was a little shorter now).
Having lots of ankle pain and limited mobility, I discovered regular walks left my ankle more flexible, and with less pain--so I walked with purposed intent.
Then I discovered that a brisk walk refreshed me better than a quick nap. Regular walking routine brought pleasure. I no longer walk with that rhythmic “Hup, two, three, four. . .” that I learned in the military, but I walk often--however I can--thankful to God that I’m able to walk.
I remember encouraging my aging father to walk--improve his aging process. I wanted to keep him around as long as I could, but all I heard was, “but my knees hurt.”
That frustrated and angered me. I didn’t doubt his pain, but I saw no reason to shorten his life chained in his Lazy Boy. “Walk!--at least a little--its good for the soul.” Walk up and down the driveway! Walk around the block! Take your cane, if you need to, but walk … at least walk a little.
Instead, he died alone in the hospital, early Sunday morning, the last day of 1990, at 85--the same age at which his mother (my much-loved Grandma) died, but she had walked to town that same day! So I‘ve always said, “I’d just as soon die with my boots on!”
Pain fills my every step now days, and--if I need to--I take a pain pill before starting. I already know that when I get up to turn on the coffee pot in the morning, I’ll be stiff as a board. But I will walk.
My walking for physical therapy and good mental health is like my walk of faith: not much gain without some pain. Recently, Pastor Jim preached on the importance of good attitudes about life‘s uncertainties. I have plenty of those, but negative attitudes add nothing to my wellness and I accept that.
Rather, I translate pastor’s text in James 4:14-15 as “keep walking--in the faith that when I do what is right, God will be there doing what He does best--whatever is best for me. Therefore, I will trust Him, knowing that if I don’t understand His answer, I can lean on Him as my answer.
As Paul told Timothy, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him (2 Tim. 1:12).
They say seeing is believing, but I don’t have to peek around the corner to see exactly where I’m going. Sight is not faith! Fact is, sometimes I‘d rather not see, but tell you what: I’ll keep walking--determined actually--because I believe that is the only healthy way.
I‘m not a quitter! Sometimes I wonder why I have to exist with such an insipid bank account, but then I realize how much I’m learning to trust God for those daily needs, rather than that regular paycheck. What I preached to the church for 45 years, I now have to practice.
Actually, I’m finding it is more fun--living by faith (I‘ll share some of the blessings sometime). I’m happy--relatively contented--and frankly I see no reason for not walking. A sore back and a gimpy ankle may hinder my physical walk, but I pray I do not lose the will to walk. And while I’m walking that walk, may I never lose sight of questing for holiness of life and unity of all God’s children.
Would you care to walk a ways with me for further conversation? Wayne

God Almighty

We live in a world where most people acknowledge some kind of sovereign deity. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each share some common roots. In spite of this, religious wars throughout the centuries have prevented our human family from living peaceably with each other. More often than not, we have warred with one another, probably moe years warring than being good neighbors.

With our lofty religious concepts and ideals it would seem to me that we could find sufficient common cause for our world neighborhood to establish a common peace, for the enrichment and progress of all. Lester Fleenor is a name known to some of you as a man that has spent his lifetime in the cause of Middle East peace. A minister-missionary of Middle East descent, he has given his life serving in the Middle East and sub-Sahara. His book God Almighty recognizes the common roots of the three major religions, and probes for common ground in the world current conflict between Allah and the God of the Bible.1

Fleenor acknowledges that “Allah” was the original name, or word, used by Arabic speaking Jews and Christians when referring to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and yes - Jesus (p2). He notes other similarities between the Islamic declaration “there is no god but Allah” and the Biblical declarations of Deut. 4:35 and Isaiah 43:10 (p4). The Deuteronomic code simply states “the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.”

He agrees that “Allah is the accepted Arabic word for God” but argues that “Allah is not the Muslim God per se. (p8). Quoting from Operation World, Fleenor claims that “Saudi Arabia once had a large Christian population” until “expelled when Islam gained control 1,300 years ago” (p6). He further suggests that Middle East Christians are comfortable with the use of the word Allah. So far, so good.

Differences come when expressing “concepts of Allah. The orthodox Christian view of Allah (God) is expressed through Christ as peace and love and the question Fleenor, which which I would agree, asks is how anyone can confine this omnipotent God to the limitations of the Muslim sword and Jewish ritual. I have no problem with the word Allah, but I find the sword at great varience with Christ the Savior.

Fleenor helps us understand better how to converse with Muslim neighbors about faith and many of us have them in the towns where we live. Reading Fleenor enriches our personal walk with God, devotionally speaking, but he also raises some questions--especially for those of us who lift up Jesus. Namely: How can we live our lives as he describes, of “materialism, selfishness, and immorality,” which in and of themselves believe, live, and promote “a wrong concept of God, for themselves and to others” (p12).

That is a question Christians everywhere have to answer? It is a question with which the Church of God must deal, if it is going to speak to this culture. We face the challenge of bearing the good fruits of true faith. Jesus compared that true faith in God to a fruit-bearing tree. The good fruit tree bears good fruit; a bad tree produces bad fruit, if any fruit at all (Mt. 7:12-13).

Jesus came to convert bad religion of the Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees, with the broken relationships, from ritual and antagonism into reconciling love and second-mile faith (Mt. 5:43-47; 7:16-20; 5:38-41). Rather than tit for tat, Jesus taught us to forgive one another's failures, to love our enemies, and to serve--the example being the Samaritan binding up the wounds of the mugging victim--that being one's neighbor.

Whatever we believe about Jesus, we can learn much about the sovereign God Almighty by taking more seriously than we do the teachings of the one who came in His Name, i.e. Jesus. Mahatma Gandhi never became a Christian, but following the teachings of Jesus that he learned from E. Stanley Jones enabled him to lead his nation to freedom and write a page in history as a defender of human rights and the common good.

For those of us who profess to follow Jesus, I propose that we become Red Letter Christians (cf Jim Wallis, A Great Awakening) and filter all our Christian interpretations through the lenses of what Jesus taught and did. We do well to return His teachings to the center of our Christian theology and practical discipleship. It will improve our interpersonal relationships. It will reform our behavior with Muslims and others that often experience great discomfort in our midst. It will increase the sacremental value of our our own personal walk with God.

I want my lifestyle et al to reflect a correct concept of who God really is, and Jesus does that better than anyone I know.
Wayne
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1. Lester Fleenor, God Almighty! His Word For Christians, Jews, and Moslems. (Nappanee, IN: Evangel Press, 2005).

Introduction

This will be an adventure, for sure. Without declaring how far beyond the 3/4 century I have driven, I wonder what I'm doing here. So finding out will be an adventure for me like driving a Model-A Ford on Interstate 80 and not getting run over.

I'll not upload a lot of pictures or hopefully not unload a lot of nonsense. But, since I do write and read a little, I will hope to offer some serious opinions and even merit some worthwhile commentary of both religious and political interest, as well as just human interest.

I am interested in helping change our world from a world of war to a neighborhood of peace and will quickly comment on that subject. Before I do that, however, I have to find out just what stage of this blog thing that I am at.

I am interested in life at the global level, respecting all people everywhere, believing we have a common bond of humanity, that we owe mutual respect to each other. We may disagree; I have room for disagreement within the bounds of what is morally and ethically right. I acknowledge no person as a superior and will treat no person an an inferior. We stand on that common ground of humanity.

That's a start, Wayne