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Dying Under a Hard Sky (A Good Friday Reflection)

"I only got half my intestines." Renegade practically shouts while lifting his shirt revealing a snake-sized scar crawling up & over his gargantuan belly toward his chest. "Shot up in Nam. I was a machine gunner. When I eat I need to be close to a bathroom." He laughs loudly but suddenly stops & says, "That ain't funny." And then he smiles a wide toothless grin.

Renegade’s a big man with a big grey-white beard & a bigger belly tucked into a red flannel shirt. He has a big voice & in many ways he reminds me of the bear from the animated Jungle Book movie, Baloo, jolly & jovial most of the time but strong enough to protect himself from an onslaught of angry men.

Once in December while he was throwing a sign for money in downtown Monterey a little boy ran up to him and jumped in his lap. Without missing a beat Renegade told the earnest youngster, "Well son you know I'm off duty right now but I'll make an exception - but just this once. Now listen - if you do good in school & I'm tellin' you you gotta do your best. And you obey your ma & pop you'll get what's coming for Christmas - now tell me what it is you want." And the boy proceeded to tell Renegade all his Christmas wishes while a startled father relaxed at the incarnation of Santa right before his eyes.

For a few Sundays at our little 'inconsequential' homeless church on the beach Renegade hovers around sitting one picnic table away from where we read Scripture & pray for one another. He pretends not to listen. But I see him lean closer at times straining to hear what's being discussed while he sips a can of beer wrapped up in a brown paper bag. I think in some ways he believes he’s paying due respect by not 'attending' church while drinking.

"Me and God are straight. I ain't saying I'm perfect - I like my beer & I like to smoke my weed. He knows where I stand. And when I get up there,” he says pointing to the sky, “ain't no secrets gonna be between Him & me. Me & Him have a deal." Renegade repeats that refrain every time I see him. It seems to be a kind of testament to his honesty but one that betrays a hurricane of destruction churning & slashing the outer banks of his spirit.

(read the rest by clicking below)

 

Voices that Change Us

You may or may not know that Saint Patrick was not an Irishman. In fact, he was a Brit (a Romano-Briton to be precise) & as a teenager he was captured by the Irish & enslaved. After six some odd years of slavery the young Patrick heard a voice telling him to walk to a port 200 miles away where he would discover a ship that would lead him home. Indeed, Patrick obeyed the instruction, discovered the ship, eventually returned to his freedom, his homeland, & his eventual calling into the ministry of the church. Years later - as legend has it - Patrick experienced a vision of a man carrying a number of letters & inscribed on the letter handed to him were the words, "the voice of the Irish." And while Patrick read the letter he imagined he heard a chorus of voices crying out to him, "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us." So Patrick went to the land of his former captors & the rest so to speak is history - with a good bit of Irish legend thrown in.

Improv Everywhere - Guerrilla Handbell Strikeforce

Very cool stuff from Improv Everywhere - love the expression on the volunteer for salvation army as more & more ringers keep joining the force.  Beautiful . . . Enjoy:

 

Give More - Buy Less . . . Advent Conspiracy

I'm a fan . . . watch & live a little differently this season:

Your Easter Chocolate Supports Slavery - Julie Clawson

"In March 2004, Tony van de Keuken of the Netherlands walked into a public prosecutor's office and asked to be arrested. His crime? Eating chocolate.

Tony understood the sobering reality that thousands of children are forced to work in the cocoa farms of Cote d'Ivoire where most of the world's cocoa (the beans from which we make chocolate) grows. He realized that child slavery taints most of the chocolate produced in the world. In the Netherlands, it is illegal, and punishable by up to four years in prison, to purchase something you know was obtained using criminal methods. So Tony ate some chocolate and asked the prosecutors to arrest him as a chocolate criminal. The way he saw it, as a consumer of chocolate, he knowingly supported the systems of child labor and human slavery. Tony's case made international news and eventually made it to the Dutch Supreme Court, which even heard the testimonies of former child slaves. The judge ended up dismissing the case on the grounds that prosecutors have the right to decide not to press charges."  Read the rest here.

The Story of God & Guinness - Stephen Mansfield

"We do not know exactly what Wesley preached, but we can know a few things. Wesley would have called the congregation at St. Patrick’s to God, of course, but he also would have had a special message for men like Guinness. It was something he taught wherever he went. 'Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can,' he would have insisted. 'Your wealth is evidence of a calling from God, so use your abundance for the good of mankind.'   

On this Sunday and on other occasions when he heard Wesley speak, Arthur Guinness got the message. He also got to work. Inspired by Wesley’s charge, Guinness poured himself in founding the first Sunday schools in Ireland. He gave vast amounts of money to the poor, sat on the board of a hospital designed to serve the needy and bravely challenged the material excesses of his own social class. He was nearly a one man army of reform.'  Read the entire article here.

BUY NOTHING DAY - be present . . .

Advent Conspiracy 2.0 - Overcoming Consumption for Goodness

And may the revolution begin in your city too . . .

Advent Conspiracy - Resisting Overconsumption for Goodness

Advent Conspiracy . . .

The holiday advertisements, marketing, & decorations for over-consuming are once again up and in full force . . .  Seems early to post this I know - but this is a good idea that calls us to deeper presence with one another as an alternative to buying presents . . .  

A Billion for a Billion - make this movement happen

As I posted a few days ago - there are a billion people in the condition of hunger world wide.  ONE BILLION PEOPLE . . .  There are also about a billion people online - be a simple activist against hunger & do something today.

Here's the link given at the end of the vid.