Might it be easier to say why I would vote for the following candidates rather than list all the reasons why I would not vote for them?
Possibly. Let's try.
Why would I vote for Barak?
He smacks of change and of justice.
I too want to be working for a better social order!
Why would I vote for John?
Because he would likely select the people I prefer for the upcoming vacancies on the Supreme Court. Those choices, that influence, will ring out loudly for the next 30-45 years!
The candidates, the media, and opinion-makers typically treat looming U.S. Supreme Court vacancies as an important issue, yet the public has not shown much interest in it.
Why would I vote for Hillary?
Because I admire the woman's tenacity.
I admire that she has fought long and hard and against things we know not.
She has played a game where she was often not wanted because she was 'other', not to mention a mother.
Why would I vote for Richard?
My preferred choice of politicians would be Senator Richard Lugar from Indiana While he is a runner, he is not running for president which would result in my vote being wasted.
Lugar has made consistently good choices, worked hard and coughed up valuable information in the right places to effect change. he has exercised his influence well and stayed out of the mud. When it comes to Foreign Relations, I'd like to have him in charge! While Iraq is only part of a much larger world view . . .
Why would I vote for the Church?
What? Is she in the running? She should be!
Really. I vote for the church!
Imagine Jesus sitting amongst us discussing the issues many of the politicians offer up as sound bits. He would look at us and ask what we were doing about those very things.
Okay, we vote every 4 years or so, but what about yesterday?
What did I do about justice yesterday?
What am I doing about poverty today?
World economics? No, stupid. The family down the street who are struggling to put enough gas in the tank to get to work to earn money for food and rent!
What am I doing to reduce my own personal consumption to an ethical level?
You're not even growing a few tomatoes to relieve the food crisis, for poverty's sake!
Now grasp the reality that Jesus IS amongst us and He is asking that question.
We are the Church; good, bad, ugly . . . or very much what He intended, and I vote that His Church add value to all those empty words we hear from the political stages and the placards.
Possibly. Let's try.
Why would I vote for Barak?
He smacks of change and of justice.
I too want to be working for a better social order!
Why would I vote for John?
Because he would likely select the people I prefer for the upcoming vacancies on the Supreme Court. Those choices, that influence, will ring out loudly for the next 30-45 years!
The candidates, the media, and opinion-makers typically treat looming U.S. Supreme Court vacancies as an important issue, yet the public has not shown much interest in it.
Why would I vote for Hillary?
Because I admire the woman's tenacity.
I admire that she has fought long and hard and against things we know not.
She has played a game where she was often not wanted because she was 'other', not to mention a mother.
Why would I vote for Richard?
My preferred choice of politicians would be Senator Richard Lugar from Indiana While he is a runner, he is not running for president which would result in my vote being wasted.
Lugar has made consistently good choices, worked hard and coughed up valuable information in the right places to effect change. he has exercised his influence well and stayed out of the mud. When it comes to Foreign Relations, I'd like to have him in charge! While Iraq is only part of a much larger world view . . .
"In my judgment, our course in Iraq has lost contact with our vital national security interests in the Middle East and beyond. Our continuing absorption with military activities in Iraq is limiting our diplomatic assertiveness there and elsewhere in the world."
Why would I vote for the Church?
What? Is she in the running? She should be!
Really. I vote for the church!
Imagine Jesus sitting amongst us discussing the issues many of the politicians offer up as sound bits. He would look at us and ask what we were doing about those very things.
Okay, we vote every 4 years or so, but what about yesterday?
What did I do about justice yesterday?
What am I doing about poverty today?
World economics? No, stupid. The family down the street who are struggling to put enough gas in the tank to get to work to earn money for food and rent!
What am I doing to reduce my own personal consumption to an ethical level?
You're not even growing a few tomatoes to relieve the food crisis, for poverty's sake!
Now grasp the reality that Jesus IS amongst us and He is asking that question.
We are the Church; good, bad, ugly . . . or very much what He intended, and I vote that His Church add value to all those empty words we hear from the political stages and the placards.
I have always been concerned about the marginal status given the church as the foundational center for justice in society by my various spokesmen/women/friends of the Emerging Church.David Fitch in Zizek, and the danger of Obama for the American churchCheck out the campaign Jesus For President."our ultimate hope lies not in partisan political options but in the Jesus who gave his life for us. Politics for ordinary radicals who want to love the world into the kingdom of God.Jesus for President is a radical manifesto to awaken the Christian political imagination, reminding us that our ultimate hope lies not in partisan political options but in Jesus and the incarnation of the peculiar politic of the church as a people “set apart” from this world."
Another worthy resource:
Living More With Less by Doris Jantzen Longacre.
Longacre provides a pattern for living with less and a wealth of practical suggestions from around the world in chapters on money, clothing, homes, transportation and travel, celebrations, and recreation.If you feel discouraged or alone in your attempts to live simply, if you have heard enough theory and want practical, concrete suggestions, if you are ready for challenge--read on. In this unique volume of personal testimonies woven together by superbly written, thought-provoking introductions, Doris Janzen Longacre offers an excellent combination of theory and practice.-- Ronald J Sider
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