#MLK Sunday

[firstumcschenectady]

“The Beloved Way” based on Acts 2:43-47

This week I had a routine dental appointment. Our dentist, selected carefully by the measure of being covered by our dental insurance, having opening for new patients, and being a woman of color (my first choice when available) turns to have incredible an generic suburban office.

So I'm lying there, having my teeth cleaned, and staring at the florescent lights and ceiling tiles and suddenly I start thinking about the impact of this office on the world. The ways that routine preventative dental care subtly but profoundly impacts peoples' lives. The wonder that is dental care when a tooth is aching, and someone can help. The life-changing reality of dentures. It becomes sort of amazing, thinking about this one small office in the midst of a maze of medical offices, and the difference it makes it people's lives.

It was actually awe-inspiring, maybe because I never before thought about the utter wonder that is a modern, first world dental office and its impact. Wow. The only times I've come close to thinking about this is when I hear from or consider the work of our missionary, Dr. Belinda Forbes whose life work has been in offering dental care in Nicaragua where there are so few dentists that there is only one dentist for every 20,000 people. Listening to Belinda talk about training health volunteers to teach tooth-brushing, and to engage in tooth extraction always reminds me how imperative dental work is, but somehow this all still felt like a revelation to me.

(Dr. Forbes)

Dental work is an imperative part of the kin-mod of God. We can't be holistically well if our teeth ache or if we can't eat good food.

The wonder of all this for me was that this dental office is just there, quietly doing its work of caring for its patients, just like many others in our region, providing imperative care to people, and being a part of building the kingdom of God whether they know it or not. Now, I'm not saying dental care is perfect. Right? Some offices overcharge, some offer subpar care, systemic racism is at play there like everywhere else, and worst of all there are far too many people in our country who can't afford to access dental care. It isn't perfect.

But it is good. And it is a very good starting point for the kind of dental care the kingdom needs. Which is really, really nice because there is no need to start from scratch on that one, just expend access and increase justice.

And, the truth is that there are lot of pieces of our society that are like this – already people all over the place are doing foundationally good work, that matters to other people, and holistic well-being, and the kingdom of God, and …. wow!

When I read from Rev. Dr. King, I'm always struck by the depth of his faith. He had a clear-eyed view of the impacts of racism, poverty, cycles of violence, and the military industrial complex. His analysis of them and the ways they interplay is outstanding. Yet, it was his faith that he brought to his work, and his faith that led his work. He worked from a position of hope. He believed that the people working together could bring change, that love could overpower hate, that the evils of the world wouldn't have the final say. His belief in God extended to belief in people, and our capacity to overcome the brokenness and actually build the beloved community. And he thought we got there by shared nonviolent direct action – which sounds like Jesus to me. It should, right, he was a Christian clergy person with a doctorate from a United Methodist Seminary (just saying). But I've noticed not all Christian clergy people pay a lot of attention to the power of nonviolence in the life of Jesus and his followers.

The Beloved Community was for him a realistic, achievable goal that could be attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence.

Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred. Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.

Dr. King’s Beloved Community was not devoid of interpersonal, group or international conflict. Instead he recognized that conflict was an inevitable part of human experience. But he believed that conflicts could be resolved peacefully and adversaries could be reconciled through a mutual, determined commitment to nonviolence. No conflict, he believed, need erupt in violence. And all conflicts in The Beloved Community should end with reconciliation of adversaries cooperating together in a spirit of friendship and goodwill.1

I often speak of this as the kingdom of God, but I think it is good to remember there are other ways of talking about it, in including “the beloved community” like Rev. Dr. King said or “the way” the early Christians spoke of.

Rev. Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolence has been broken down to 6 principles, I've shared some of them with you in the past. Today I want to share the 6th:

PRINCIPLE SIX: Nonviolence Believes That the Universe Is on the Side of Justice.

The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win.

Nonviolence believes that God is a God of justice. 2

That's what I mean by being struck by the depth of his faith. He saw the problems, but he believed that God will win.

When I read Acts 2, I'm overwhelmed. The space between the radical nature of the early church in selling all they had and living in complete inter-dependence and the way faith is practiced today seems impossibly far. But it turns out that there are so many things actually going right, things that we may not see or might take for granted, things that need a little bit of adjusting to be better, but are already working for good. There are lots of them, if we look. This week I saw one, I hope this coming week you see two. There is reason for hope, for faith, and there is a lot of need for nonviolent love in this world. Thanks be to God who is our source of hope, faith, and love. Amen

1https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/the-king-philosophy/ - “The Beloved Community” accessed January 11, 2024.

2Ibid., Dr. King’s Fundamental Philosophy of Nonviolence.

January 14, 2024

Rev. Sara E. Baron 

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady

 603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 

Pronouns: she/her/hers

 http://fumcschenectady.org/ https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

[renaissance35]

Holy Sunday scriptures on worry

Sometimes when life has those tough, too much for my mental health moments, one must create a quiet place to calm them down. I myself have a quiet place. I close my eyes and I'm on a hill in a field with fresh green growth all around me and I'm sitting under a tree breathing in and out while listening to the sounds of nature and birds chirping. Or when something is going bad and I'm worried about what happens next, I look to the sky and if I see it looks as if it is from a painting or an amazing photo then I start to pray for only good things and that's when I know things are going to be ok.😇☺️🙏

If you like this verse ❤️, if you agree leave a tip 🪙, and if you enjoy my daily Sunday scriptures follow me ➕

Hope you have a blessed rest of the week. Good night🙏☺️

[justifiedmadness]

Sunday Inspiration MLK Day Edition

[hockeyrepair]

Here ALL day! SAD to miss last two @njdevils games at SAP Coach @ctsehockey sent Tix last year but I couldn’t make it 😭😭 $10 parking for 1pm Barracuda game @techcuarena Livin’ the hockey life Essan’s wey. #MLK #NJD #Sunday #NHL #AHL #GameDay #sjsharks #work #dedication #hockeylife https://www.instagram.com/p/Cncm2zvP81E/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[insanityclause]

Deadline’s Contenders Television, the event where stars and showrunners talk up their shows ahead of Emmy voting, has unveiled its lineup.

The event kicks off on Saturday April 13 and runs through Sunday April 14 at the Directors Guild of America in LA. There will also be a virtual livestream of the event. Full details of the event and an RSVP link can be found here.

It will give you a sense of the hits of the last twelve months, as well as some shows that you’re about to be talking about, as the networks, studios and streamers vie for some awards love.

Stars attending include Tom Hiddleston, Nicole Kidman, Brie Larson, Kristen Wiig, Rebecca Ferguson, Lily Gladstone, David Oyelowo, Common, Jimmy Fallon, Giancarlo Esposito, Joey King, Andrea Riseborough, Sebastian Maniscalco, Bill Pullman, Kiefer Sutherland, Logan Lerman, Kelsey Grammer, Matt Bomer, Jonathan Bailey, Allison Williams, Maya Erskine, Nathan Fielder, Skeet Ulrich, Jeff Probst, Omar J. Dorsey, Harriet Dyer, Patrick Brammall, Sophia Di Martino, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo and Taylor Zakhar Perez.

Shows that will be featured across the two days include Parish, Masters of the Air, Lessons in Chemistry, The Morning Show, Silo, Palm Royale, The New Look, Survivor, Colin From Accounts, A Murder at the End of the World, True Detective: Night Country, We Were the Lucky Ones, Under the Bridge, Murdaugh Murders: The Movie, Loki, Alice & Jack, Genius: MLK/X, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, 3 Body Problem, Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Frasier, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Fallout, Expats, Red, White & Royal Blue, Fellow Travelers, The Curse, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Platonic and Bookie.

There will also be numerous top showrunners and exec producers including Chuck Lorre, David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Alexander Woo, Benny Safdie, Graham Yost, Gary Goetzman, Lee Eisenberg, Abe Sylvia, Brit Marling, Zal Batmanglij, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Francesca Sloane, Lulu Wang, Sarah Schechter and Nicholas Stoller.

The studios, networks and streamers participating include AMC, Apple TV+, CBS, CBS Studios, FX, HBO and Max, Hulu, Lifetime, Marvel Studios and Disney+, Masterpiece on PBS, National Geographic, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Peacock, Paramount+, Prime Video, Showtime, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. Television.

The event is sponsored by Apple TV+, Eyepetizer Eyewear and Final Draft + ScreenCraft in partnership with Four Seasons Resort Maui and 11 Ravens.

---

Both Tom and Sophia will be there.

[skadi-gemini]

MLK was not a Zionist

I've seen Pro-Israel accounts spreading the lie that MLK was a Zionist when this simply isn't factual at all. Zionists continue to appropriate shit that isn't theirs. Below are snippets from a study conducted by Harvard in 2016 disproving this popular theory.

"In the Words of Martin Luther King"

"As the veneration of Martin Luther King, Jr. has deepened in America, he has been recruited posthumously to more causes. This is encouraged by his memorial in Washington. Inscribed on the pedestal of King’s statue, and on the walls of the surrounding enclosure, are quotations attributed to King. Although he spoke all of these words in specific contexts, they are assembled as though they convey eternal verities, much like the biblical passages which King himself quoted." [1]

"Both Israelis and Palestinians (and their supporters) are avid recruiters of King, presuming that something he once said more than half a century ago justifies this claim or that policy today. This appropriation is done piecemeal, perhaps because there is no comprehensive study of King’s views on the Middle East. As a result, not a few errors and omissions of fact mar most efforts to press King’s ghost into service." [2]

He supported Israel's right to exist but not the ongoing war in 1967 occurring. Digging deeper into this document shows that he was mistakenly led to sign a document without fully knowing its contents. Here is the text explaining where it began. [Keep reading]

"Did King support Israel in the 1967 war? The belief that he did rests in part upon his signing a statement by prominent Christian theologians that began to circulate on May 28, 1967, and that eventually appeared as an advertisement in the New York Times on June 4, the day before Israel went to war. At the time the statement was formulated, the Johnson administration seemed to have left Israel to face its enemies alone."

"The statement went on to “call on the United States government steadfastly to honor its commitments to the freedom of international waterways. We call on our fellow Americans of all persuasions and groupings and on the administration to support the independence, integrity, and freedom of Israel. Men of conscience all over the world bear a moral responsibility to support Israel’s right of passage through the Straits of Tiran.” "

The FBI has recorded conversations of MLK and his associates, so we have proof that he was misled. These are his own words. [Read below]

"But did the “Moral Responsibility” statement accurately reflect King’s position? King claimed in private that he never saw the text as published, and would not have signed it if he had. Tis is documented by the FBI wiretaps of Stanley Levison, one of King’s advisers, whose communist past made him a target of government surveillance. The declassified transcripts contain the verbatim record of conference calls conducted among King, Levison, and two other confidants, activist Andrew Young and legal counsel Harry Wachtel. On June 6, 1967, the day after the war began, King said this to his associates:

Did you see the ad in the New York Times Sunday [June 4]? Tis was the ad they got me to sign with [John C.] Bennett, etc. I really hadn’t seen the statement. I felt after seeing it, it was a little unbalanced and it is pro-Israel. It put us in the position almost of setting the turning-hawks on the Middle East while being doves in Vietnam and I wouldn’t have given a statement like that at all.

None of King’s advisers asked him how his name wound up on a statement he “really hadn’t seen,” but they instead looked ahead."

"Two days later, on June 8, King told his advisers he had come under growing pressure to make his own statement on the Middle East.

The statement I signed in the N.Y. Times as you know was agreed with by a lot of people in the Jewish community. But there was those in the negro community [who] have been disappointed. SNCC for one has been very critical. The problem was that the N.Y. Times played it up as a total endorsement of Israel. What they printed up wasn’t the complete text, even the introduction wasn’t the text. I can’t back up on the statement now, my problem is whether I should make another statement, or maybe I could just avoid making a statement. I don’t want to make a statement that backs up on me[;] that wouldn’t be good. Well, what do you think?

King’s confidants went back and forth, suggesting that he say as little as possible, that he urge an end to the fighting and refer to the role of the United Nations. “I don’t think you have to worry too much about losing the support of the Jewish community at this time,” advised Wachtel. “They’re very happy at this point, with their apparent victory. I think you should just stride very lightly and stress the end of violence.” So over the next days, King worked to avoid the subject and keep attention focused on Vietnam."

"It was only on June 18, when King appeared on the ABC Sunday interview program “Issues and Answers,” that he finally answered direct questions on the subject. After giving boilerplate replies about the importance of Israeli security and the need for Arab economic development, one of the interviewers cut to the quick: “Should Israel in your opinion give back the land she has taken in conflict without certain guarantees, such as security?”

King gave this answer: Well, I think these guarantees should all be worked out by the United Nations. I would hope that all of the nations, and particularly the Soviet Union and the United States, and I would say France and Great Britain, these four powers can really determine how that situation is going. I think the Israelis will have to have access to the Gulf of Aqaba. I mean the very survival of Israel may well depend on access to not only the Suez Canal, but the Gulf and the Strait of Tiran. These things are very important. But I think for the ultimate peace and security of the situation it will probably be necessary for Israel to give up this conquered territory because to hold on to it will only exacerbate the tensions and deepen the bitterness of the Arabs."

He eventually goes on to doubt Israel. Ya'll can read it all here in this document I found here. >>

Click this link to read the document

Please do your own research before believing such blatant lies by people appropriating black liberation leaders. It's so gross how they keep doing this. I found this in FIVE SECONDS with a simple Google search!

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

Deadline’s Contenders Television, the event where stars and showrunners talk up their shows ahead of Emmy voting, has unveiled its panel lineup.

The event kicks off Saturday, April 13 and runs through Sunday, April 14 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. There will also be a virtual livestream. Full details and an RSVP link can be found here.

Contenders TV will give you a sense of the hits of the last 12 months, as well as some shows that you’re about to be talking about, as the networks, studios and streamers vie for some awards love.

tars scheduled to attend include Tom Hiddleston, Nicole Kidman, Brie Larson, Kristen Wiig, Rebecca Ferguson, Lily Gladstone, David Oyelowo, Common, Jimmy Fallon, Giancarlo Esposito, Joey King, Andrea Riseborough, Sebastian Maniscalco, Bill Pullman, Kiefer Sutherland, Logan Lerman, Kelsey Grammer, Matt Bomer, Jonathan Bailey, Allison Williams, Maya Erskine, Nathan Fielder, Skeet Ulrich, Jeff Probst, Omar J. Dorsey, Harriet Dyer, Patrick Brammall, Sophia Di Martino, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo and Taylor Zakhar Perez.

Shows that will be featured across the two days include Parish, Masters of the Air, Lessons in Chemistry, The Morning Show, Silo, Palm Royale, The New Look, Survivor, Colin From Accounts, A Murder at the End of the World, True Detective: Night Country, We Were the Lucky Ones, Under the Bridge, Murdaugh Murders: The Movie, Loki, Alice & Jack, Genius: MLK/X, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, 3 Body Problem, Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Frasier, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Fallout, Expats, Red, White & Royal Blue, Fellow Travelers, The Curse, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Platonic and Bookie.

[umflowers]

a chance to ramble about old protest songs we should bring back, you say, @itsconibees? 👀 (you don't have to pay any attention to this, i will just take literally any opportunity to infodump about music l o l)

anti-war: john prine - your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore country joe and the fish - feel-like-i'm-fixin-to-die rag country joe and the fish - kiss my ass creedence clearwater revival - fortunate son buffalo springfield - for what it's worth jimi hendrix - machine gun john prine - sam stone bob dylan - with god on our side bob dylan - masters of war tom paxton - lyndon johnson told the nation edwin starr - war simon & garfunkel - last night i had the strangest dream

anti-patriotism: country joe and the fish - feel-like-i'm-fixin-to-die rag country joe and the fish - kiss my ass bob dylan - with god on our side

classism/wealth disparity/poverty: creedence clearwater revival - fortunate son ten years after - i'd love to change the world bob dylan - the lonesome death of hattie carroll john prine - sam stone john lennon - working class hero tennessee ernie ford - sixteen tons woody guthrie - this land is your land

racism: neil young - southern man bob dylan - hurricane bob dylan - the lonesome death of hattie carroll joan baez - birmingham sunday james brown - say it loud, i'm black and i'm proud sam cooke - a change is gonna come bob dylan - blowin' in the wind marvin gaye - what's goin' on the temptations - ball of confusion simon & garfunkel - he was my brother bob marley - top rankin' leadbelly - bourgeois blues bob marley - get up, stand up simon & garfunkel - a church is burning bob dylan - only a pawn in their game nina simone - mississippi goddam

environmentalism: ten years after - i'd love to change the world

gun violence: jimi hendrix - machine gun lynyrd skynyrd - saturday night special

general state of the world: ten years after - i'd love to change the world simon & garfunkel - 7 o'clock news/silent night bob dylan - the times, they are a-changin' woody guthrie - this land is your land

labor disputes/mistreatment of workers/unions: the almanac singers - which side are you on? john lennon - working class hero tennessee ernie ford - sixteen tons

feminism: aretha franklin - respect loretta lynn - the pill kitty wells - it wasn't god who made honky tonk angels

religious hypocrisy/the religious right: john prine - your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore bob dylan - with god on our side kris kristofferson - jesus was a capricorn frank zappa - jesus thinks you're a jerk

specific events: - ohio by neil young is about the shooting of unarmed student protesters at kent state university in 1970, during which the national guard injured 9 and murdered 4. the students were protesting the expanding of the vietnam war into cambodia. - 7 o'clock news/silent night by simon and garfunkel is just them singing silent night repeatedly over a real news report encompassing mlk jr, threats against a racial equity march, a mass murder, the red scare, and the vietnam war. - hurricane by bob dylan is about professional boxer rubin 'hurricane' carter being found guilty of a triple murder, and then after the trial it coming out that there may have been fabricated evidence and a whole lot of racism on the part of the cops and investigators involved.

- the lonesome death of hattie carroll by bob dylan is about 51 year old black barmaid hattie carroll being murdered by a 20-something white heir to a cotton farming family because at a party he demanded a drink and she didn't bring it immediately. he beat her with a 25 cent toy cane, which he had already beaten employees with at a previous location, and also called her and several other employees racial slurs. he was unapologetic throughout and his well-connected parents got him bailed out and hired a team of five lawyers. his murder charge was reduced to manslaughter, of which he was found guilty, and was sentenced to six months and a $500 fine for killing a woman in cold blood. the start of his jail sentence was deferred to give him time to harvest his cotton crop. oh, and they handed down the sentence on the same day mlk jr delivered 'i have a dream.' - birmingham sunday by joan baez is about the bombing of the 16th street baptist church by the ku klux klan in 1963, which killed four little black girls in birmingham, alabama, a city so racist it stood out as pretty much the worst in all of the deep south during segregation. - a change is gonna come by sam cooke was written after he was turned away from a whites-only hotel in louisiana in 1963, and also his general experiences with racism. it's routinely voted among the best songs ever written and was preserved in the library of congress. cooke said he was inspired by hearing bob dylan's 'blowin in the wind' and realizing such a poignant song about racism in the u.s. was written by a white man, whereas he had refrained from writing something similar out of fear of pissing off his white fans, as well as mlk's 'i have a dream speech', and then the song had come to him in a dream.

- which side are you on? was written in 1931 by the wife of a union leader in the mining area of harlan county in kentucky after the police illegally entered her home, looking for her husband, and terrorized her and her children after realizing he had been tipped off and escaped. this was part of the harlan county war, during which the miners were bombed and executed by the police, on the orders of the mine owners, for demanding safety improvements. florence reece, the songwriter, became a lifelong activist for workers' rights. - he was my brother by simon & garfunkel is about the abduction and murder of three freedom riders by the ku klux klan during the freedom summer, an effort to register as many black people as possible to vote in mississippi in 1964. one of the three was andrew goodman, a jewish man who was friends with paul simon and art garfunkel, and they dedicated the song to him. - leadbelly wrote bourgeois blues after he went to washington, d.c. to record for alan lomax, for the library of congress, and was met with segregation and intense racism in the capitol of the country, including being unable to find a room to rent, lomax's landlord threatening to call the police when he and his wife tried to stay there, and the two couples being unable to get dinner together because of jim crow segregation laws.

- the pill by loretta lynn is pretty much autobiographical. she was raised, one of 8 kids, in a one-room cabin in butcher hollar, kentucky, by a miner and his wife in deep poverty, married at 15 to a 21 year old man, and a mother at 16. she went on to have 6 kids to an unfaithful husband. needless to say she would have been excited for birth control pills becoming available. an incredible movie about her life was made, starring sissy spacek, called coal miner's daughter. - kitty wells released it wasn't god who made honky tonk angels in 1952 as a direct response to an incredibly popular song at the time called the wild side of life, sung by hank thompson. the wild side of life was basically whining about 'honky tonk angels', aka disreputable women hanging around bars to hookup and wrecking their marriages. kitty wells' song was saying, no, men fuck around on their wives and that's how those women end up at those bars. the song became a mega hit and made her the first female star of country music, laying the path for patsy cline, loretta lynn, dolly parton, etc - sixteen tons by tennessee ernie ford is about company stores, which were a big problem at the time. before cars and before unions improved life for, for example, miners, 'company towns' would sprout up near the worksite and the company that owned the mines would own the housing as well as the store where you'd buy everything from food to clothes to household goods (because no car so no traveling elsewhere), and the company stores would accept vouchers from the company in lieu of cash so people could buy things before their very meager paydays. this resulted in a cycle of debt that made it so people couldn't leave and had no leverage to demand better wages or conditions. - only a pawn in their game by bob dylan is about the 1963 murder of medgar evers, a black civil rights activist and the naacp's first field secretary in mississippi. he dealt with such constant threats of violence from the klan that he and his wife had trained their kids what to do if there was an attack. he normally had an escort of 2-3 fbi and police cars upon returning home each day but didn't the day he was shot, which was never explained by the authorities, many of whom in the area were thought to be klansmen.

- nina simone wrote mississippi goddam about the deaths of both medgar evers and emmett till, as well as the 16th street church bombing in birmingham. emmett till was a 14 year old boy who was accused of flirting with a 21 year old white woman in 1955 in mississippi while at the grocery store, while visiting family. he lived in chicago, otherwise. a few days later her husband and brother-in-law abducted emmett and beat, tortured, and mutilated him before shooting him in the head and burying him in the river. his mother insisted on an open casket at his funeral to force the world to see the reality of racism and lynchings, after which he became one of the biggest symbols of the civil rights movement. his killers were found innocent by an all-white jury and, protected from double jeopardy, unapologetically admitted their guilt. they were paid $45,000 for that.

[bighermie]

Share Link

Students Turn Backs on Biden During Commencement Speech at Morehouse College, MLK’s Alma Mater https://www.breitbart.com/2024-election/2024/05/19/students-turn-backs-biden-during-commencement-speech-morehouse-college-mlks-alma-mater/

[heelsandhalos]

Spiritual warfare is real.

The enemy often pays me a visit. He's mad cause we used to be besties until I realized he's a user and fraud. Not all shadows or darkness is bad. Its needed for balance. It can be sacred and keep us safe....But the enemy is real, and he shows up in forms of fear, anxiety, sloth/laziness/procrastination, lust (you know, when you lay down and break your own heart and damage your own soul cause you knew in your being you weren't supposed to be there to begin with), gluttony, vanity, greed, addiction, depression, insecurity. Even random attacks from your loved ones. Especially the ones that come out of no where after youve done significant spiritual work.

He likes to try to bully me and others for reading the bible, for leading our families to be baptised, and he really hates Sundays. He works extra hard to bring folks down on Sunday and holy holidays.

When he comes to test you, confront him. Not with anger, pride, hostility, or hardened hearts. He loves and thrives off negative emotion and will deliver to you then, more of the same energy. (Even science explains this; it's physics. Karma. Whatever you believe.)

The best tool for fighting the enemy is self Love, self care, charity, community, family, healthy and strong boundaries, grace, mercy, honesty, empathy, sympathy, kindness, compassion, integrity, but the greatest of all these is Love.

When the enemy tries to make you eat the lie of lack, give him grace, give him mercy, give him empathy, understand his why, but maintain your boundaries, stand in your peace, love yourself, have integrity in the way you protect yourself and others, show compassion, be kind, and react with poise and confidence. Be like Jesus. Be like our GOD.

Forgive the enemy for his trespasses the way we have been forgiven for our trespasses. But do not allow them to break your stride or interfere with your heart and mind.

Like MLK Jr said...."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

You can understand why the enemy does what he does and forgive him, and still not accept his behavior or intentions.

LOVE PEOPLE. LOVE YOURSELF. STAND UP FOR WHATS RIGHT. DO GOOD.

&&Don't let people or the enemy, make you feel bad for loving GOD and loving Jesus. That's the lie of the enemy and you don't ever have to listen or believe those lies. When the enemy speaks, open your ears and heart to only hear GOD, and allow your behavior and mouth to speak only words that would honor his precious name, the name of our LORD CHRIST JESUS, and Yourself! ❤️🪽

Amen.

[tomorrowusa]

Something for Martin Luther King Day

On Sunday 04 November 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a sermon at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. The inspiration for this homily was an imagined Epistle which the Apostle Paul sent to Americans.

Here is an excerpt from that sermon dealing with economic justice.

Paul/MLK had criticisms of capitalism though he was no fan of communism with its consequent totalitarianism.

This sermon appears as Chapter Fourteen in the book Strength to Love.

It also appears in The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume III: Birth of a New Age under the title "Paul's Letter to American Christians".

Dr. King would certainly have had something to say about this recent report.

World's richest five men double wealth — Oxfam

[damianurl]

not getting mlk day off and living in atlanta is like so jarring lmao the fact i have to play servant to a bunch of white ladies today is so ..... normally i have a better attitude but i have literally been working since the sunday of the 6th and am not off until the sunday of the 21st i don't even have time to celebrate or do anything on or for my birthday which is saturday i can barely keep my eyes open

[bvar]

A single red rose placed at the foot of the MLK statue on the FDU Metro campus in Hackensack. This past Sunday, people gathered here to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this monument and commemorate the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer and the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

[dented-spraypaint-can]

Sunday night dates

with my laptop- It's throwing shoes and letters until the

Cinderella moment where all the blue-font SUBMITs

flash red.

As long as they're pressed to green by 1 am

nobody minds.

In my hour of rebellion,

I wrote about how in their poem Facing It, Yusef Komunyakaa

made us feel so much

by writing static and concrete observations, lacking in variation of the senses,

and simple two-word metaphors.

I wrote a two-page double-spaced analysis of the president's remarks pertaining to Dr. MLK jr's famous speech,

reading over and over their words but never ever mine.

Then I wrote about a 2011 silver toyota

displaying one sticker in the rear window: MEATLOAF EVERYTHING LOUDER THAN EVERYTHING ELSE 2008 tour

and it's haphazard slightly-elder-to-teenage-ish contents.

For the punchline: a description of a note in small cursive atop a new pack of pens

neatly set on the dash, signed "Love, mom,"

All without the use of the verb "to be" in any wretched form.

Being is ubiquitous, we are sure of this, and disdainful,

until we're awake in small hours

body and mind let alone by the rest of the world while

their overwhelming capacities constrict with tiredness-

pupils before a laptop screen-

and we wish for sleep, and a ticked off task list, and that it weren't so rare now

to simply be, and that it weren't so heinous

to blend into the sleeping crowd, just once

to try it out.

So I write a very mediocre poem.

Poem, T, Its late as hell

01/22/24

[liskantope]

Today I attended a Sunday Unitarian Universalist service with a congregation I'd never visited before (long story why; this was nothing to do with the UU congregation I've written about here extensively in a complaining tone, which was when I was living in a different part of the country entirely), and I think it was the most bizarrely incongruous UU service I've ever seen. (And in a way that was generally, while not terrible or anything, not very impressive in my opinion.)

The service proported to be about Martin Luther King Jr. in honor of MLK Day Weekend I suppose (even though that was last weekend), and the sermon kept bringing up MLK and how we should think of him as a person and so on, but at the same time somehow the service was mostly about the value of personal responsibility and how we should all view our situations within a framework which centers it. I was scratching my head and listening hard the whole time trying to make sense out of what any of this had to do with MLK, but the most I could get was "we all have a lot of responsibilities we need to take charge of, and MLK did too".

I had no fundamental objection to the message about taking responsibility for one's situation, but it seemed extremely unoriginal, derivative, and cliched compared to just about any other UU sermon I've seen -- I've complained about the content of the sermons in the congregation I used to go to, some of which felt unoriginal in the sense of un-free-thinking, but all of them seemed to come from more creative and deep contemplation than this sermon did. What's more, a lecture on personal responsibility that doesn't include any sort of qualification is one of the last things I would expect from a source I associate with far progressivism. In particular, one line about "So maybe you have an evil ex, but remember that it was you who chose to get with that ex in the first place" shocked me in how it flew in the face of the much Younger and Very Online Generation -Style Progressivism, and I can't imagine such a suggestion seeing the light of day in the UU congregation I used to know so well which epitomized said subculture, including the constant "abuse is everywhere, never blame yourself for it" framework.

It just goes to show that the general ethos of UUism depends greatly on the particular congregation and minister and that I shouldn't assume, because of the heavy Youth Progressive Culture domination among the large congregation I was so involved in from 2019 to 2022, that all of UUism has turned in that direction. (Another very small congregation in my general geographic area that I've visited a couple of times also shows zero signs of this; then again, all but one or two of the congregants each time appeared to be of retirement age.)

[i-like-old-things]

This week was the most pointless week of my life

Here is what occurred:

Friday: we had a half day because they had some professional development day for the teachers idek then I had to drive an hour and a half away to attend this band thing and so I got to sleep over at my grandparents house because my mom didn't want me driving late at night and my grandparents only lived like 15 min away from the event

Saturday: band day part 2

Sunday: band concert + fancy dinner

Monday: MLK day so I basically spent it doing homework that I didn't get completed earlier in the week

Tuesday: school was canceled cuz of the snow so I did more homework (I could still see the tips of the grass so it wasn't even a full day off worthy snow)

Wednesday: delayed opening cuz it was icy

Thursday: full day

Friday: school is canceled cuz we're supposed to get at least 5 inches of snow and the expected amount is increasing by the hour