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 7.8.22 

1. How then shall we live? With discipline, with joy, with curiosity and wonder, being available to others, allowing others to be available to us and always on the lookout for the Divine amidst the ordinary things of life. That’s a good starting place.

2. We watched a lightweight but satisfying movie entitled “Marry Me” the other night and this was said several times. “If you can sit with the question long enough the answer will find you.” 

Perhaps if we did more sitting and pondering, pausing long enough to consider the questions that seem to have no answers, we’d be better off. Let’s be honest, quick responses to hard questions serves no one well. If we just took the time to stop, to pray, to journal, and to inquire rather than react in the moment, we’d all be better off. 

3. States rushing to enact anti-abortion legislation are not exactly pushing to legislate on behalf of the pregnant women nor are they rushing to provide safety net programs when a child is born. These same states, of course, are all in on arming every living thing with weapons capable of ripping apart a human being. By the way, anti-abortion Oklahoma will be conducting 25 executions over the next few months. I think that’s worthy of a conversation in and of itself. 

I’m reminded once again of something Sr. Joan Chittister said: “I do not believe that just because you are opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, a child educated, a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”  

She’s spot on. There needs to be a much broader conversation surrounding the significant pro-life issues that still linger. And I hope and pray we can find ways of talking about them. My guess is that those of us who care deeply about life will welcome that conversation, even knowing it will be difficult. And I don’t think that conversation will ever be completed. 

4. “One who reads the words of prayer with great devotion may come to see the lights within the letters … such prayer has great power …” ~ Arthur Green’s translation of a Hasidic mystic teaching. Center for Action and Contemplation 

5. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney will go down in history (if indeed such things will be allowed to be taught in the future) as Republican legislators who took a wildly unpopular stand and risked their life and career for the sake of preserving democracy. Kinzinger isn’t running again.  Cheney, if polls are correct, will lose big this fall. Both reminded us that taking the narrow road, although harrowing, is a good and necessary thing to do. 

6. Greed is certainly one of the things at the heart of what ails the USA. It’s a money grab. Profit rules. It’s disconcerting watching grown men and women squealing the ‘me, me, me, more, more, more’ mantra and in the process revealing their addiction  to narcissism.

7. Dear MAGA Leaders: 

Do you still believe in the separation of church and state? I don’t think you do. You appear to be quite OK with linking a rather twisted version of the Christian faith to a rather twisted version of the State. It’s problematic.

Your followers keep threatening to kill people. Would you please make it a point to call these things out whenever you’re speaking to your people? When you say nothing, or smirk, or give a wink and a nod – the ‘crazies’ just kind of assume you’re with them, condoning their actions. 

Another thing. You’re for law and order but when law and order comes knocking at your door, you throw a hissy fit. That leads me to believe you’re pretty selective about the kind of law and order you’re OK with. 

One more thing. All that misinformation you’re disseminating is doing great damage to the country you purport to love. I think you’re full of it. Get your act together.

Thanks. 

8. I’ve heard people ask why good people said little or nothing during Hitler’s rise to power.  Fear certainly played a big role. Secretly, however, too many applauded the anti-semitism, the attacks on gay people, and the marginalization of the mentally ill. Hitler told them their inner bigot was their true self and they believed him. He got them to believe that violence motivated by the spread of white nationalism pleased God.

Friends, could it be that your decision to not rock the boat during this challenging time makes you complicit in all that’s happening in our country? Could it be that your unwillingness to raise your voice in the midst of great evil just might be the worst thing you can do? Could it be, that despite your protestations, that your inner bigot is being caressed and cared for? Could it be that your deep desire to fit in, to have peace around your holiday table, is actually doing great damage to yourself and others? 

9. On Tuesday, one of my young grandchildren, who attends a day camp with kids from Highland Park, came home talking about the 4th of July that camp mates experienced. One talked about trying to find a place to hide with his parents and one said that he thought the parade had become a race when everyone started running. Ah, the memories. 

Just hours after the July 4 shootings in Highland Park, a man proudly came on on my Facebook thread to proclaim his love for his guns, affection for Jesus, and his deep allegiance to the 2nd amendment. In the midst of that profound tragedy, that’s what was on his mind. 

I blocked him.

He revealed who he really was and I had no stomach for it on that day. Actually, I have no stomach for it on any day. 

On a day when good people were mowed down by a man with an assault rifle, no one should even think about  posting anything about their love affair with guns and their absolute fidelity to a warped version of the second amendment. 

By the way, the thread has been taken down. Good people had contributed to it, saying wise things, and I apologize to them but I couldn’t allow having that particular post on my thread any longer. 

This whole second amendment, gotta have an assault rifle, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun cult, is crazy scary.  And when they wrap it all together with ‘following’ Jesus, it gets even crazier. 

10. “Privilege isn’t about what you’ve gone through. It’s about what you haven’t had to go through.” ~Janaya Khan, BLM Toronto