Mike’s Rumblings 01-26-24

Faith Conversations

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below

Rumblings 1.26.2

1. “Conspiracy theories are cheat codes for ignorant people. Acquiring expertise in a given field is hard. It takes effort and dedication. It’s a lot easier to write it off as bull s#!t than it is to put your nose in a book or spend hours in a lab. So, rather than put in the work, just convince yourself that they’re all liars and you are one of the few who see through it. …” ~ Steven Reynolds

Frankly, I’m tired of conspiracy theories and truly cannot understand how people can fall for the obvious nonsense spewing from the mouths of every Tom, Dick, Harry, Lauren, Marjorie and Donald.

2. “God, I don’t want my soul to shut down and dry up. Help me to be honest and curious, even when it’s hard. Remind me of all You have done before and give me faith for all You can do in the future. Give me perseverance. Today I yield to wild hope.” ~ Lectio 365

3. “It’s a strange affair to be Black and live in America, and even stranger to be Black and a person of faith in these yet-to-be-United States, to carry around the burden of a socially constructed idea called race and yet be filled with a divinely inspired mandate to eradicate all limitations to the human soul. Being Black means you are born with a Blues song tattooed on your heart, and at the same time you still have a Gospel shout that is welling up in your soul about to come out.

Another way to say it is that we live with repression and revelation simultaneously swimming in the same tributary of our spirit. There is nothing more confusing to the postmodern personality, to the millennial sojourner, than to have to exist between the strange life of dealing with your Blues and Gospel all the time. Madness and ministry, chaos and Christ. My father heard an elder in Georgia say it this way. When he asked her, “How are you doing, Mother?” she said, “I’m living between Oh Lord and Thank you, Jesus.” ~ Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III

“… born with a Blues song tattooed on your heart, and at the same time you still have a Gospel shout that is welling up in your soul.”

“I’m living between Oh Lord and Thank you, Jesus.”

Amen. Amen. Amen

4. “If change is to come, it will have to come from the margins.” ~ Wendell Berry

The established order is not known for championing meaningful change. It’s too busy defending what already is. Change threatens the status quo. And the status quo is very kind to those who have much power, privilege, and many resources. And it’s not very kind to those on the margins. And so those being marginalized reach a breaking point and with words and deeds, say “enough is enough”. They start squeezing the status quo, insisting on substantive, lasting change and demanding justice.

5. This is what I know about extremists. They don’t blush and won’t say “I’m sorry.” They will do emotional harm (some, even physical harm) to another person in the blink of an eye. If they are religious, they tend towards fundamentalism. They wrongly cherry pick biblical texts, quite often out of context, that bolster their agenda. They are not good conversation partners because they don’t like to listen. They don’t know what they don’t know and have no desire to find out.

You know what makes me both sad and angry? A rather large segment of the evangelical church has become a shelter and a launch pad for extremism and in the process linked the message of Jesus to hate and deceit. It has normalized the words and behavior of truly awful people, in effect canonizing them.

6. There are two ways to be rich: one is by acquiring much and the other is by desiring little.” ~ Jackie French Koller

Our desires are what drive us. If our desire is to have a lot of stuff, wealth and prestige, we’ll develop a game plan to get there. We’ll do whatever it takes to get what we desire the most, even if it’s not good for us and hurts others.

Something satisfying happens when we discover that ‘less is oftentimes more’ and living in simpler, saner ways is quite enough.

7. “I am talking about just holding the tension, not necessarily finding a resolution or closure to paradox. We must agree to live without resolution, at least for a while. I think opening to this holding pattern is the very name and description of faith.” ~Richard Rohr

He’s right. Not all things can be solved quickly. Not all things will be solved justly. The old hymn reminds us to “trust and obey for there is no other way …” That’s the way of the pilgrim, the way of faith.

8. Is this the time when the anti-Christ emerges and sets up shop? All I know is that a whole lot of folks seem to have their resumes ready in case staff positions open up.

9. Good news. DeSantis dropped out of the race. Someone quipped He was “Ted Cruz without the personality.” Ouch.

The bad news is that he’s ticked off and has a lot of time on his hands. Pray for Florida.

Seriously, pray for Florida.

The swing here is to the far, far right, which demands absolute loyalty to its cause, no matter how absurd it gets. They will get what they want as long as people who know better remain timid.

Perhaps that’s the real prayer. It’s a prayer for all of us no matter where we live. Pray for good people to reject timidity and to stand boldly for what is good and honorable. Pray for ‘encouragers’ willing to lift up those who have been beaten down. Pray for a different kind of standard to be raised. One that is opposed to absurdity, opposed to fear, opposed to talk of retribution and civil wars, and opposed to cruelty and lies.

10. “The moment Christians start looking for an authoritarian strongman to lead us is the moment we stop looking for the One who leads by washing feet, who rides a donkey instead of a war horse and who tells his followers to put away their swords and take up their cross instead.” ~ Rev. Benjamin Cremer

The Jesus many revere these days has nothing to do with the Jesus we encounter in the scriptures. You can see that, right? Please tell me you can.

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