Mike’s Rumblings 06-14-24

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. 6.14.24

1. I’ve been watching a NETFLIX documentary entitled “Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial.” It’s all a bit scary. The ‘Oath of Loyalty’ for government officials grabbed my attention.

In Germany, as of August 14, 1919 the oath read like this:

“I swear loyalty to the Constitution, obedience to the law, and conscientious fulfillment of the duties of my office, so help me God.”

That oath was changed in August of 1934:

“I swear I will be true and obedient to the Führer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, observe the law, and conscientiously fulfill the duties of my office, so help me God.”

Fifteen years.

That was it. Fifteen years.

Loyalty to the Constitution was replaced by fealty to a tyrant. A Democracy, very quickly, became a dictatorship. And all hell broke loose.

We’re about six years into a very conscious attempt to call the question as to whether or not we wish to remain a democracy or give ourselves over to an authoritarian leader. We need to wake up.

2. “Beware of those who pray pretty, but live ugly, who drink in Jesus, but spit out hate, who pursue a Christian nation, but not the Sermon on the Mount, who boast of faith but rely on fear and who hear God’s promise of abundance but not God’s cries for sacrifice, servanthood, humility and compassion.” ~ Chris Kratser

“Today Christ is knocking from inside the church and wants to get out.” Jorge Bergoglio, S.J., now known as Pope Francis

There are many moments when I wonder how tired Jesus must be watching us play stupid, little religious games that have nothing much to do with the Kingdom of God he delighted in talking about.

3. “Compulsive liars shouldn’t frighten you. They can harm no one if no one listens to them. Compulsive believers on the other hand: they should terrify you. Believers are the liars’ enablers.” ~ Nick Cohen, British political commentator

The simple step of the courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Just the other day a woman told me that she’s not voting for Biden because he’s giving each person crossing the border illegally, a car and ten thousand dollars. Yep. That really happened.

4. “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you”. ~ Romans 12:1-2 msg.

5. “God of justice and mercy …as I open my heart to You now, comfort me where I’m unsettled, and unsettle me where I’m comfortable. Challenge me and change me, disturb and rearrange me, not for my own sake, but for the sake of those who are hurting and helpless, ostracized and oppressed. Amen. ~ Lectio 365

6. The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.” ~ Hannah Arendt.

Has empathy died? No, but it’s in a battle for its life. I’m so grateful for those who lean in with a desire to listen, help, and pray for others who are hurting, confused, and belittled. They are the ‘saints’ who beckon us to do better things and be better people. May their numbers only increase.

7. “Outside of the Spirit, authority becomes domination. Inside of the Spirit, authority becomes service. Outside of the Spirit, politics becomes control. Inside of the Spirit, leadership is something we know is given to us to offer to others: not authority over people but authority to call forth the presence of God within so they can be in the same flow and enjoy the same freedom.”~ Richard Rohr

Do you remember this by ‘Jesus Culture’?

“Oh, Holy Spirit You are welcome here

Come flood this place

And fill the atmosphere

Your glory God

Is what our hearts long for

To be overcome

By Your presence, Lord …”

I wonder if the Holy Spirit is still welcome these days? And where?

8. When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.” ~Isaac Asimov

To have a point of view that is thoughtful and discerning will almost certainly put someone you know, who is willfully stupid, on the defensive. And that could lead to trouble.

What’s the remedy? There is none. Our job is to be consistently faithful and that, as many of you have already discovered, is a bumpy road.

9. “In 1959 Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican from Maine, stood up to a vile and slanderous GOP colleague, Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin. She stated boldly: “I do not want to see the Republican party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.”

Bravo.

“Courage,” Amelia Earhart once said, “is the price life exacts for granting peace.”

We desperately need brave people these days to take a risk and stand tall.

10. Preachers don’t get to stay out of politics. We are either chaplains of empire or prophets of God. ~ Rev. Dr. William J. Barber

Barber is right. Preachers dare not become chaplains of empire. But we are seeing that happen aren’t we?

I’m enamored by those preachers who believe they have a prophetic role to play. They’re the ones speaking truth to power. The very best of them talk plenty about the real Jesus, the red letter one, not the counterfeit Jesus the chaplains of empire proclaim.

That can make folks in the pew feel uncomfortable. They might even bolt. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

Nobody said this would be easy.

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