April Fool's Day Reflection: Jesus Preaches the Gospel of Prosperity and Union Carbide Repents of Its Sins

 

For April Fool's Day, I'd like to share some stories I’ve heard from Bert Newton's podcast "Parody and Subversion in the Gospel of Matthew." 

First, I’d like to first share with you a new paraphrase of the Gospel by James Martin, a Jesuit Priest. His dynamic, paraphrase translation really makes this text come alive in a way that gets right to the heart of the matter, so I’m going to begin by reading his translation, beginning with verse 16 of Matthew 19:

The Rich and Therefore Blessed Young Man

1. As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him, and asked, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  2. And Jesus said to him, “What have you done so far?” 3. And he said to Him, “Well I was born into a wealthy family, got into a good school in Galilee because my parents donated a few thousand talents for a building with a nice reed roof, and now I have a high-paying job in the Roman treasury managing risk.” 4. Looking at him, Jesus felt an admiration for him, and said to him, “Blessed are you!  For you are not far from being independently wealthy." And the man was happy.  Then Jesus said, "But there is one thing you lack: A bigger house in a gated community in Tiberias. Buy that and you will have a treasure indeed.  And make sure you get a stone countertop for the kitchen.  Those are really nice."  The disciples were amazed.  5. Peter asked him, “Lord, shouldn’t he sell all his possessions and give it to the poor?” Jesus grew angry.  “Get behind me, Satan!  He has earned it!”  Peter protested: “Lord,” he said, “Did this man not have an unjust advantage?  What about those who are not born into wealthy families, or who do not have the benefit of a good education, or who, despite all their toil, live in the poorer areas of Galilee, like Nazareth, your own home town?”  6. “Well,” said Jesus, “first of all, that’s why I left Nazareth.  There were too many poor people always asking me for charity.  They were as numerous as the stars in the sky, and they annoyed me.  Second, once people start spending again, like this rich young man, the Galilean economy will inevitably rebound, and eventually some of it will trickle down to the poor.  Blessed are the patient!  But giving the money away, especially if he can’t write it off, is a big fat waste.”  The disciples’ amazement knew no bounds.  “But Lord," they said, "what about the passages in both the Law and the Prophets that tell us to care for widows and orphans, for the poor, for the sick, for the refugee?  What about the many passages in the Scriptures about justice?” 7. “Those are just metaphors,” said Jesus.  “Don’t take everything so literally.”

Maybe this isn’t exactly what Jesus intended, but I’d like to share with you something that actually did occur.

On December 3, 2004, Jude Finistera, spokesperson for Dow Chemical, the new owner of Union Carbide, appeared on BBC World to announce Dow’s plan to liquidate Union Carbide to raise $12 billion to compensate the victims of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster gas leak in Bhopal, India

In 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal suffered a massive leak which exposed hundreds of thousands of people to toxic gases. The official immediate death toll was 2,259, but estimates are that upwards of 16,000 people eventually died and over half a million sustained injuries, many of them permanently disabling.

For 20 years, little had been done to compensate the victims of that disaster. But now, Finestera proclaimed on BBC World, Dow would use the $12,000,000,000 from the liquidation of Union Carbide to pay the ongoing medical bills of 120,000 people who would need medical care for the rest of their lives. In addition, he said that Dow would also clean up the disaster site in Bhopal and release the full information on the chemicals that had leaked into the community, two things that Union Carbide had never done. And on top of all that, Finestera declared, Dow would also pressure the U.S. government to extradite Warren Anderson, the CEO of Union Carbide in 1984, to India to face charges for manslaughter.

Finestera optimistically predicted that although the share-holders of Dow stock would take a hit, they would be proud to be part of this massive compensation plan for the people of Bhopal because it was the right thing to do.

And, as a result of Finestera’s announcement, Dow stock plummeted by $2 billion.

But, then Dow issued a retraction…well, it wasn’t really a retraction because Dow had not sent Finestera to make that announcement on BBC World in the first place. In fact the man making the compensation announcement on BBC World was not really Jude Finestera. His real name was Andy Bichlbaum, a member of the prankster group called “The Yes Men.”

The Yes Men have been pulling these sorts of pranks for 20 year now. They often masquerade as spokespersons for large corporations that need to be held accountable for crimes against humanity.

The Dow Chemical/Union Carbide prank forced Dow to tell the world that it had no intention of paying for the medical care of the victims of their disaster or fully cleaning up the site or fully disclosing the list of chemicals released into the community, or allowing any Union Carbide executive in the U.S. to face justice.

In addition to forcing Dow to admit these things publicly, the Yes Men had also presented, if only for a few hours, a vision of what could happen if people choose to do the right thing, how we might be able to turn our world around and make it a world of justice and mercy rather than one in which the powerful get away with mass murder.

You can read more about the Yes Men and even see videos of them in action at TheYesMen.org.

Through their antics, the Yes Men participate in a long tradition of tricksterism. Tricksterism stretches back through and before antiquity and has been documented in many societies around the world. In the tradition of tricksterism pranks are played in order to reveal something that has been concealed by the powerful.

I hope that on April Fool’s Day, we remember that what seems foolish to the world is really the wisdom of God.

Unforgettable Journeys to Greece - Part 1 (1973)

 

                                Part I: Nostos in 1973

 

Growing up in a Greek family, and majoring in Classics, I always dreamed of going to Greece, the homeland of my imagination, but until I graduated from college, I lacked the means and the time. My father made his nostos, his homecoming to Greece, in 1970 and saw his mother for the first time since leaving Greece as a teenager in 1923. This was, I’m sure, an incredibly moving experience for both of them. My mother and sister went to Greece after my father died in 1971. They were all warmly welcomed with heart-felt Greek philoxenia, hospitality.

Two years after my father died, and after I graduated from Boston University, it was my turn. I was determined go to the place where my father was born and “pay homage to my ancestors,” as my  Greek cousin  Phaedon put it recently. I brushed up my modern Greek at NYU and worked painting houses to raise money for this trip since I hadn’t yet found my vocation as a teacher.

I flew to Athens on an historic date, November 17, 1973, just as martial law was imposed following a student uprising at the Athens Polytechnic University.  Soldiers with automatic weapons patrolled the airport and prevented visitors from entering Athens. The chairs and benches had been removed for some reason so there was nowhere to rest but the baggage conveyor belt. After a sleepless night, I was picked up the next day by my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Angie who drove me to their apartment. We saw tanks and soldiers on rooftops when we passed through Syntagma (Constitution) Square.

We all gathered on the street the next day—my Uncle and Aunt along with thousands of others. The military imposed a 4 pm curfew and meant it. Precisely at 4 pm, they started firing tear gas to disperse the crowds. I was standing next to my aunt and looked for my uncle but he was long gone. I walked back to my apartment arm-in-arm with my sweet brave angelic Aunt.

The next day I had to go to the nearest police station to be registered as a foreigner. The 4 o’clock curfew prevailed. We were told it was illegal to gather in groups of three or more or talk politics. The newspapers were censored so we didn’t know what was happening. This was my first taste of a dictatorship, and I didn’t like the flavor.  I decided to take the ferry to Andros, the island on the Cyclades where my Dad was born. This proved a smart move. There were no politics and no curfew on Andros, just a loving family, and lots of splendiferous food!

I was warmly welcomed by my Greek relatives in Andros and stayed with my Aunts. I can’t remember whether I stayed with my Aunt Maria or Evangelia or both,  but I do recall that they both spoiled me with their kindness.

The weeks that I spent on Andros were golden. Life on the island was much simpler back then. Hardly any cars or TV. People traveling mostly by bus or donkey. Few phones and of course no cell phones. Life was very basic.  Eat, drink (wine or coffee), talk, sleep. Just what I needed. One highpoint was taking part in the slaughter of a pig, a ritual that brought everyone together. We rose before dawn, drank raki (Greek moonshine) and went to work. It was a party that went on for two days that I’ll never forget!

When I returned Athens, things had settled down more or less to normal. The dreadful dictatorship was still firmly in place, but there were no curfews.

During this time of relative calm I had the pleasure of meeting some of other Greek relatives, such as Melina, Rena, Ismini, and others pictured below. (I’m looking forward to seeing Ismini, Melina and others when we return to Greece in August of this year.)

In addition to visiting relatives, I went to the Acropolis and museums in Athens, took a bus trip to Delphi, and  sailed to Crete. I can’t begin to describe what a feast for the mind and spirit these excursions were for me--the culmination of years of studying Greek antiquity and immersing myself in Greek literature! To see with my own eyes what I had studied and dreamed about since I was a child was an unbelievably powerful experience.

Seeing Greek statues (instead of Roman copies) filled me with awe at the ilife-affirming power of Greek sculpture. Seeing the amphitheater at Delphi made me realize how amazing it was that the dramas of Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, and others were staged in this awe-inspiring outdoor setting. And visiting Crete, I fell in love with the Minoan civilization—a matriarchal culture of beauty and art that was celebrated in Judith Hand’s brilliant (but little known) novel The Voice of the Goddess. And don’t get me started on Nikos Kazantzakis, one of my all-time favorite novelists!

Memories keep flooding my mind as I write this but I want to keep it short. I also don’t want to paint too rosy a picture since I did have some painful misunderstandings with some of my relatives. I didn’t feel led to return to Greece for 30 years. But during this time I had a wonderful experience attending the wedding of my cousin Alexandra and her husband people, two of the most delightful people I’ve ever met. When I did return, with my wife of blessed memory Kathleen Ross, a Methodist pastor, it was also an unforgettable experience. We traveled in the footsteps of St. Paul with a boat load of Methodists and other Christians just as the United States was about to bomb and invade Iraq. I was the lone Quaker and the only Greek in this group of religious pilgrims. In the midst of yet another futile war, I had the joy of connecting with my Greek relatives. Thereby hangs a tale I’ll save for my next trip down memory lane.

 

"The Jesus Revolution": a personal perspective

A week ago my wife Jill and I went to see "The Jesus Revolution," a recently released film about the Jesus movement which had a profound influence on many Christians, including my wife. She was in high school when this movement started to sweep through California and the nation and eventually the world. It attracted tens of thousands of young people, many of them hippies. Most gave up drugs but not their flamboyant lifestyle--their long hair and colorful clothes and unconventional ways. Jill wasn't a hippie. She was a lonely high school kid living in Orange County and looking for community and meaning in her life. She found Christ and the Bible, and her life was transformed. Then she starting attending Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, where the Jesus movement was birthed, and heard the preaching of Chuck Smith. She loved the contemporary music and excitement and joy of being with like-spirited young people. When she went to college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, she was baptized in the ocean at Avila Beach along with hundreds of others. She became a campus minister and devoted her life to sharing the good news of the Gospel. As I watched this movie with her, I saw tears in her eyes as she recalled golden moments when she came to Christ and experienced the power of the Holy Spirit.

My life was "revolutionized" by Christ at about the same time (1971), but in a very different way which I will talk about later. Let me first describe how I responded to this movie.  I didn't know much about how the Jesus movement got started so I was fascinated to learn about significant figures like Chuck Smith, Lonnie Frisbee and Greg Laurie.

The movie begins with Greg Laurie, a nineteen-year-old sitting on the beach watching hundreds of young people being baptized in the ocean by a hippie named Lonnie Frisbee, who has long hair and a beard that makes him look like Jesus. (He is played by Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in a series Jill and I love called "The Chosen.") A reporter asks Greg how he came to this place, and he recalls his journey to faith. 

Greg (who later became a highly successful Evangelist) started off life with a  troubled family situation. He was raised by a single mother who had seven marriages, often moving to vastly different locations such as New Jersey and Hawaii. Greg was attending a military academy in hopes to have some discipline in his life when he encounters some "hippie" students who draw him into their liberated world. He  revels in the freedom and the joy of the hippie drug culture, but it isn't satisfying his deepest need for meaning and purpose. Cathe, a girl that he falls in love with (and eventually marries), is drawn into the Jesus movement and she invites Greg to check it out.

Cathe is friends with the daughter of Chuck Smith, a pastor whose church is dying. He is very critical of the young generation and sees him as lost. Her daughter brings home a charismatic barefoot hippie named Lonnie Frisbee who has become a Christian and Smith is intrigued. He invites him to  his church to preach and soon hippies are flocking to hear him. Smith embraces this movement and Calvary Chapel becomes the epicenter of the Jesus movement.

The movie describes the rise of this movement as well as the tensions that developed between Lonnie Frisbee and Chuck Smith. It also depicts the relationship between Greg Laurie (who comes from poverty) and Cathe (who comes from wealth). This human drama is what makes the movie compelling. 

The movie received mixed but mostly positive reviews. The audience loved it (99%), but they are probably a self-selecting group of Christians. The critics were 62% favorable, not bad for a niche religious movie. Dennis Harvey of Variety summed up the positive reviews by describing the movie as "one of the most appealing faith-based big-screen entertainments in a while, polished and persuasive without getting too preachy."

My Journey to Jesus 

I was never part of the Jesus movement, but I did experience the Jesus revolution on a personal level in 1971.  After graduating from Boston University, where I studied poetry with Anne Sexton for two years, I felt led to go "on the road" and took the trans-Canadian railroad across Canada, stopping in various locations along with way. When I stopped in the prairie city of Saskatoon, Saschachuwen, I wandered into a church and walked over to the pulpit, where a Bible was open. I started reading the words of Jesus and felt my heart open up and began to cry. I realized that these words could revolutionize the world, and me. For the first time in my life, I felt the presence of a power greater than myself--a power I have come to know as God or the Holy Spirit.

I felt led by the Spirit to became a hippie poet, writing for underground newspapers, and living mostly in Vancouver, British Columbia. I hitchhiked across the country and experience the joy and freedom of being "on the road," guided by the Spirit. I did have one encounter with the Jesus people in Oregon. Here's how this "came to pass."

I was hitching to Eugene, Oregon, to write for a magazine called "The Bullfrog." I was dressed in a Canadian mounted police coat that made me look like Sgt. Pepper, with long hair and bellbottoms--the full hippie regalia. I needed a place to "crash" so I went to the campus and knocked on a dorm to ask for help. A nervous student responded: "Don't you know that a coed was murdered here a couple of weeks ago. People are very uptight." He recommended that I go to the Newman Center, a pleasant home on the outskirts of the campus. 

However, it was midnight and the Newman Center was closed. There was a chair on the front porch so I sat down, propped up my legs, and prepared to sleep. Before I did, I prayed a simple but heart-felt prayer. "God, please take care of me."

A little while later, after I had drifted off into sleep, I was awakened by a light shining into my eyes. I looked up and saw two police officers pointing a flashlight into my face. As soon as I saw them, I said words that I am convinced were inspired by the Holy Spirit. They were simple, heart-felt and effective.

"Am I glad to see you!" I said, smiling.

The police relaxed when they heard my unexpectedly cheerful response and asked me to come with them to their car. They asked for my ID (I had none) and asked about me. I told them I was a poet and wrote article for underground newspapers. What kind of articles? Oh, lots of things, politics, religion....

They soon decided that I was "harmless" and asked if I'd like to be taken to the house of the local Jesus people. "Sure," I responded. 

They dropped me off and I was welcomed into a large house crowded with hippies like me, and I was given a bunk bed to sleep on.

The next morning at breakfast, an earnest young man asked me if I knew the Lord.

"Definitely," I replied, smiling. "He saved my butt last night."

Over the next year or two I became a seeker and explored various religious paths--Hinduism, Bahai, Buddhism--but I eventually opted for Christianity and began attending various churches. During my graduate school days, I joined the Presbyterian Church in Princeton and adopted a more academic approach to religion. I am deeply grateful for what I learned about important Christian theologians like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Paul Tillich. But the more I immersed myself in academia, the more I drifted away from the spirit of joy and freedom I had experienced while "on the road." 

Thanks to Quakers, with their contemplative and open worship, I was able to reconnect with the Holy Spirit and Inward Christ. I was also able to put my faith into action in life-affirming ways and was led by Spirit to go on peacemaking missions to the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan, Israel/Palestine, and Australia and attend world-wide Quaker conferences in Kenya, Peru and Mexico. I am grateful to have been part of a world-wide movement to promote peace and justice led by the Spirit. I also found among Quakers (and also among Methodists) the joy and freedom I experienced while "on the road." Most importantly, I found a beloved community that has sustained me and my efforts to be a faithful follower of Jesus. 

                                      The Need for a New "Jesus Revolution"

What the "Jesus Revolution" captured best was the yearning for a new way of life, and a new kind of society,  that inspired the hippie movement of the 1960s.  Young people rejected the materialism and individualism of American culture and were seeking a life of freedom and joy. Rock music and psychedelic drugs seemed to offer what we were seeking, but this lifestyle proved a dead end (both literally and figuratively) for most of us. What the revolutionary Jesus offered was something more real and enduring. As it says in the Gospels, he "came to bring life, and to bring it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

Flash forward to 2023, and many young people are turning away from Christianity because of right-wing Christians and Christian nationalists who have embraced Donald Trump, who is the antithesis of everything that Jesus stood for. To Jill and me, it is clear that we need another Jesus revolution--one that will help a rising generation experience the joy and excitement of creating a new world of compassion and justice for all--what Jesus called "the kingdom of heaven." Dr. King called this "the beloved community" and it is the heart and soul of the true Jesus revolution. Young people are abandoning churches in droves, but they are still hungering and thirsting for meaning and community. Many see themselves as spiritual but not religious. Perhaps they are ripe for a new "Jesus revolution."

Loving God, we so need the joy and power of your Holy Spirit to transform our broken nation world and to guide our young people to the path of abundant life and loving service. Help us to be instruments of Your transforming power so that your beloved community can be here on earth as it is in heaven!

Say His or Her Name: A Spiritual Practice Worth Taking to Heart

Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." --Isaiah 43:1.

"To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." --John 10:3

One of the profound truths I have learned from the Black Lives Matter Movement is how important it is to say someone's name. When a Black person is shot and killed by police, we are urged to "say his or her name" loudly and publicly. The act of "saying his/her name" affirms that this person has worth and is precious in God's sight.

Jews also value names and refer to the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." According to Jewish tradition, the names of righteous people are inscribed in the Book of Life and are remembered during Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

I never fully appreciated the saying of Jesus that the shepherd calls his sheep by name until I visited Maia, a Quaker woman who has a farm in Washington where she raises ducks, goats and sheep. She took us to the sheep pen,  opened the gate to let us in, and then  introduced us to her sheep. She had given each of them a name, and each responded when she called them. Names matter, even to sheep!

One of the practices about the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) that I love is how it helps people to remember each other's names. Each person is asked to come up with a positive descriptive adjective that alliterates with his or her name. For example, because my name begins with an A, I often describe myself as "artistic Anthony." This simple exercise not only helps us remember names, it also helps us connect with each person's characteristic trait. This name game helps to create a safe and friendly community.

What I love about the God of the Bible is that God calls each of us by name because we matter to God. The series "The Chosen" about Jesus and his disciples opens with the story of Mary Magdalene. She is portrayed as a demon-possessed prostitute suffering from PTSD who is given the nickname "Lilith" by those in the tavern she frequents. This nickname is degrading because Lilith is a Mesopotamian she-demon who, according to Jewish folklore, was Adam's first wife (the one who tempted him to sin). When Jesus encounters "Lilith," he calls her by her real name,  Mary. Jesus quotes  from Isaiah:

The Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

When Mary hears her name and these redemptive words, she is deeply moved. Jesus then holds out his arms, and she welcomes his embrace and is healed. Such is the power of calling someone by their true name. Watching this scene brought me to tears and reminded me how healing it can be to affirm people by name. 

I hope that  we can come to realize that acknowledging someone by name is a holy act when motivated by love. Affirming each other's names, and honoring the Spirit that leads us to serve, can help to build a loving and beloved community. 

Loving God, you call us by name because each of us is infinitely precious in Your sight. Let us remember to honor others by name and to lift them up to You so we can be a loving and beloved community where everyone is honored, respected and loved. 

Thom Hartman on "What is mankind's true salvation?"

I deeply appreciate Thom Hartmann, a writer and commentator with an amazing range and depth of thinking on so many topics, both political and philosophical. I was struck by a column he published today called "What is mankind's true salvation?" Hartmann points out that in order to "save" our planet (of which we are the main culprit in destroying), we must abandon Cartesian and salvationist thinking. Salvationist thinking means that we place our hope in an external savior (such as God or a demagogue or science).  By Cartesian thinking, he is referring to the 17th century French philosopher/mathematician Descartes who provided a useful logical framework for modern science but failed to account for the complexity of organic life because of his analytic and mechanic approach. 

This critique is very similar to that of Howard Brinton, the Quaker theologian/physicist that I have written about and been influenced by. Brinton felt that life could better be explained through holistic rather than mechanistic thinking--in living organisms the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. He also believed that organisms are not machines and cannot be fully understand analytically. As a Quaker, Brinton also rejected the idea of an external God or Savior. The Divine is both within us and beyond us. For this reason, we must learn how to cooperate and synergize with the Divine. We must choose by an act of will whether to be part of the process of saving, protecting and restoring the world or be complicit in destroying it. For Christians, that means following the guidance of the Holy Spirit and using our minds, hearts and strength to love and serve a God who is intent on saving the world with and through us.

I highly recommend Thom Hartmann's provocative essay. 

https://mail.aol.com/d/folders/1/messages/AAcgXbx-2SKnZAX0ZABdwA1CE7M 

The Power of Holy Silence and the Living Word

I was drawn to Quakerism because of what I call "holy silence," the deep, contemplative silence that brings us closer to God, closer to others, and enables us to hear the "still, small voice" of the Divine speaking to us in our hearts. 

In 1984 I started attending Quaker meetings in my hometown, Princeton, NJ, in an 18th century Quaker meetinghouse, built in 1740 on the wooded outskirts of town. Attending worship in this old stone building where Friends had worshipped for hundreds of years felt as if I were leaving the turbulent present and entering into a timeless, eternal realm. Quaker worship brought healing to my troubled soul at a time when I desperately needed it.

During graduate school days (1976-82), I attended Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton and experienced some of the most profound and thoughtful preaching I've ever heard. The Princeton Presbyterians held their preacher to high standards because of the nearby Presbyterian seminary and I felt privileged to learn from such learned and gifted men of God.  

After attending Princeton meeting for a month or two, I began to miss these powerful sermons. While sitting in worship, I asked myself (and God) if I should attend the 9 am Quaker worship and then go to the 11 am Presbyterian worship, thereby having  "the best of both worlds." I heard an inward voice say to me very plainly: "Do you want to know me and hear my voice, or do you want to hear sermons about me?" It was clear that I had to choose one or the other. I opted for Quaker worship and am grateful that I did.

After a year or two, however, it became clear to me that I was free to go to programmed worship services and listen to sermons from time to time. In 1989 I married a Methodist pastor I met at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation, and loved her preaching, which was so deeply spiritual it sometimes brought me to holy tears. I came to appreciate the Living Word as well as the Holy Silence. 

When I married my wife Jill, who comes from an Evangelical background, she accompanied me to Quaker meeting and appreciated the Quaker silence and open worship. But she also felt a need for hymns and sermons, as do I. During our daily devotions she practices vocal prayer, which I have come to appreciate. After attending the First United Methodist Church of Pasadena, along with Orange Grove Meeting, for several years, I felt led to join the Methodists while keeping my membership in the Quaker meeting. I am glad that I followed this leading. I feel blessed to attend both worship services each Sunday. 

I realize that Holy Silence and the Living Word complement each other.  When we speak out of the silence, inspired by the Holy Spirit, it can be transformative. And when we center down into contemplative silence, seeking the guidance  and presence of the Holy Spirit, it can also be profoundly transformative, even if no words are spoken.

I must also point out that sometimes Quaker silence becomes a mere ritual, just as sometimes preaching becomes a mere performance, when it is not guided by the Spirit. 

George Fox, the founder of Quakerism, warned against letting religion become an external practice governed by "notions" and rules rather than a heart-felt commitment to be faithful to God grounded in Holy Silence. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, similarly called for prayer and preaching to come from the heart, and not just from the head. 

To live a faithful and fulfilling life, we need Holy Silence and the Living Word. Hopefully, we can experience both, whether we attend "unprogrammed" Quaker worship or a conventional church service with preaching and hymns. The "best of all worlds" is the one in which we sense the presence of the Divine and are faithful to God's guidance. The Divine is always present, whether we are in a church, meetinghouse or in our car or a supermarket. As Jesus said, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”* (Matthew 28:20, CEV and KJV).

Loving God, I know you are always with us, but help me not be distracted by this world and its pressing demands. Help me to hear and feel you in the Holy Silence and in the Living Word. Help me to stay focused on what truly matters--your healing presence and your blessed community.

*This is also sometimes translated at "the end of the age" (NIV) or "the end of time" (Aramaic Bible).

ICUJP Friday March 3rd Forum - Carey Shenkman: "The Espionage Act and Freedom of the Press"

Please join us online

ICUJP Friday Forum
March 3rd, 7:30-9:30 am Pacific

Carey Shenkman is a lawyer, author, and litigator focusing on freedom of speech. He testified in the Assange extradition proceedings, and is co-author of the book A Century of Repression: the Espionage Act and Freedom of the Press.

03.03.23 Friday Forum -  Carey Shenkman: The Espionage Act and Freedom of the Press  Join video conference here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81108265611 Call in by phone: +1 669 900 6833*  Meeting ID: 811 0826 5611 PASSCODE: 325463 *Meeting controls for call-in attendees: To mute/unmute yourself: *6 To raise hand: *9 Event Description: A Century of Repression offers an unprecedented and panoramic history of the use of the Espionage Act of 1917 as the most important yet least understood law threatening freedom of the press in modern American history. It details government use of the Act to control information about U.S. military and foreign policy during the two World Wars, the Cold War, and the War on Terror. The Act has provided cover for the settling of political scores, illegal break-ins, and prosecutorial misconduct. The cases of Eugene Debs, John S. Service, Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange, among others, reveal the threat posed to whistleblowers, government critics, and journalists alike. Join us for a discussion on this obscure but far-reaching example of government overreach. Learn More/Here's how YOU can help: Websites: A Century of Repression: The Espionage Act and Freedom of the Press 7:30 - 7:35  Log in and socialize 7:35 - 7:45  Welcome and introductions  7:45 - 7:50  Reflection (5 min. maximum) 7:50 - 9:15  Program and Q&A 9:15 - 9:20  Announcements 9:20 - 9:30  Closing circle and prayer Start your morning with us! Facilitator: Rose Leibowitz Reflector: Rick Banales ** Meetings begin promptly at 7:30 am Pacific. ** ----- Here's how to join the online meeting: To join by video conference, you'll need to download the Zoom app on your computer or mobile device. Click on the link to join the meeting and then enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You'll be able to see slides and video, as well as speakers and other attendees. If you prefer to join by phone, you'll be prompted to enter the Meeting ID number and passcode. You won't be able to see the visuals or attendees, but you can view them on the meeting video recording afterward.  If you're new to Zoom and would like to use the video option, we recommend you download the app well ahead of time. ICUJP Friday Forum 03/03/23 Time: 07:30 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Option 1: Join video conference here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81108265611 Meeting ID: 811 0826 5611 PASSCODE: 325463 Option 2: Dial in by phone only: +1 669 900 6833 US (California) Meeting ID: 811 0826 5611 PASSCODE: 325463 (To find a dial-in number closer to you, go here.) ----- Please note: Our Friday Forums and other events are open to the public. By attending, you consent to having your voice and likeness recorded, photographed, posted on ICUJP's website and social media, and included in ICUJP materials and publications for noncommercial purposes. If you don't want to be photographed or recorded, please let the facilitator know.