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. 5.31.24

1. So what do we say to the churches nurturing Christian Nationalism and its subsidiaries?

The main character in Michael O’Brien’s apocalyptic novel  “Father Elijah” gives us a very good answer.  

“I would 1000 times rather have a persecuted Church than a compromised Church.” 

We should tell them that. 

 2. “Outside of the Spirit, reading the Bible can also become nothing more than ego ammunition. Without the Spirit, Bible study does not lead to divine intimacy and union; rather, it can lead to self-sufficiency and confirmation about why we’re right. Instead of leading us to God, it becomes a way for us to protect ourselves and to judge and diminish other people …” ~ Richard Rohr

How we read and apply scripture matters. 

3. “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool, then to open it and remove all doubt.” ~ Mark Twain

Oops. 

4. “There is a famous black-and-white photograph from the era of the Third Reich. It is a picture taken in Hamburg, Germany in 1936, of shipyard workers, a hundred or more, facing the same direction in the light of the sun. They are heiling in unison, their right arms rigid in outstretched allegiance to the Führer. 

If you look closely, you can see a man in the upper right who is different from the others. His face is gentle but unyielding… He is surrounded by fellow citizens caught under the spell of the Nazis. He keeps his arms folded to his chest, as the stiff palms of the others hover just inches from him. He alone is refusing to salute. He is the one man standing against the tide. 

Looking back from our vantage point, he is the only person in the entire scene who is on the right side of history. Everyone around him is tragically, fatefully, categorically wrong. In that moment, only he could see it.” Isabel Wilkerson, Caste

“… he is the only person in the entire scene who is on the right side of history.” Chilling, isn’t it? The same thing is happening right now in America. And what are people doing? A whole lot are heiling actually. But not all. Some are boldly standing resolute in their determination to be on the right side of history.  And then there’s a whole lot of people who are merely trying to blend into the shadows, as if the shadows can somehow protect them.

Where are you? Heiling, standing boldly, or shadow walking?

5. “ …In every single theater and church I visited on a 17 city book tour, people in the audience shared their terror and despair about what is happening in America, post-Dobbs. And this was before Mr. Trump’s comments about wanting “a unified reich.”

I reminded people that faith is hope with a track record: look at all that we have overcome, individually, as families, as a nation. My husband Neal preaches (to me) that Life tilts towards the good …

John Lennon said, “Everything will be okay in the end. If it is not okay, it’s not the end.” And I do believe this; I just do. I wrote in “Somehow”:  “Are love and compassion up to the stark realities we face at the dinner table, and down the street, and at the melting ice caps, and our own Congress? Maybe; I think so. Somehow.”

I believe that love is sovereign here, and goodness, and that Grace bats last. So we push back our sleeves, and become part of the somehow, today, we can do it movement … ” ~ Anne LaMott

6. “If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire. if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.” ~ C.S. Lewis

When we name our desire we are doing a good thing. When we take steps to live into it, we start to feel alive. I like that feeling. 

7. “Throughout my Jesuit life, whether I was working in a hospital or a homeless shelter or a prison or a refugee camp, I discovered that I didn’t have to ask myself, “What would Mother Teresa do?” or “What would Francis of Assisi do?” Certainly their lives are superb models for Christian action, but a better question is “What should I do?” I tried to bring all of myself to each of these jobs: all my talents and skills and gifts, as well as my struggles and limitations and failings. I brought all of those things because that’s who God brought there.” ~ James Martin, SJ

Bring your truest self (who God created you to be from the beginning) to whoever you meet and whatever you do. 

8. J.R.R. Tolkien told us that “There is some good in this world and it’s worth fighting for.” 

The heroes in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy could rightly be called  ‘the resistance’, refusing to buckle under intense pressure nor bow to the one who so desperately wanted the ring of power. 

They knew who he was and acted accordingly.

9. Daniel Berrigan, an American Jesuit priest, anti-war activist, Christian pacifist, playwright, poet, and author, said: “One is not commanded to be on the winning side, but to be in the right place when the Lord returns.” 

“… but to be in the right place when the Lord returns.” I’ve heard it said that  “we have far more control over our location than we do outcomes.” Victory is often elusive and even when granted can be disappointing. 

I know this. I don’t need to wait for the Lord’s return. Jesus  long ago beckoned me to hit the road with Him. So, if you want to find me, I hope that’s where I’ll be. It’s where I need to be. And if I’m not there, find me and talk some sense into me.

10.  “Do all the good you can 

in all the ways you can

to all the souls you can 

in every place you can

and all the times you can 

With all the zeal you can 

as long as ever you can.” ~ John Wesley

Pray for all our Methodist friends who are knee deep in a rather lengthy and messy conversation regarding the future of their denomination.