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 7.15.22 

Rumble 1. “I want neither a terrorist spirituality that keeps me in a perpetual state of fright about being in right relationship with my heavenly Father nor a sappy spirituality that portrays God as such a benign teddy bear that there is no aberrant behavior or desire of mine that he will not condone. I want a relationship with the Abba of Jesus, who is infinitely compassionate with my brokenness and at the same time an awesome, incomprehensible, and unwieldy Mystery. – Brennan Manning

”To journey without being changed is to be a nomad. To change without journey is to be a chameleon. To journey and be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.”   ~Mark Nepo 

What do you want? What kind of spirituality do you long for? What’s it based upon? What ‘gods’ do you serve? Where does the real God fit into the picture? What spiritual practices sustain you? Are you a nomad, chameleon, or a pilgrim?

Rumble 2. Jesus’s invitation to us is summed up quite nicely by South African pastor Trevor Hudson. 

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Another kind of life is available to you. You are invited into an intimate pilgrimage to the heart of my Abba Father, who loves you beyond your wildest imaginings. As you keep company with me, my sisters and brothers will become your new family. Over time I will reveal to you God’s personal calling for your life. I will show you how you can partner with me in healing my Father’s world. Along the way I will slowly transform you into the loving, compassionate, and generous person you were meant to be. My powerful Spirit will set you free from whatever enslaves you and will empower you to act on behalf of the common good. Above all, there is nothing that will ever separate you from the Father’s love with which I love you. This is the divine vision I have for your one life on earth.” 

“It doesn’t have to be this way. Available to us is another kind of life.” Is all that worth exploring? I think it is. I say yes. 

3. “We are here to become community. We are on an odyssey with potentiality, and we know it. We have been foreordained to make humanity more humane.” ~ Joan Chittister, OSB

Yah, I bet we can do this. We need to. “MHMH”. Making humanity more humane.

4. “How do people like me who believe entirely in science and reason also believe that prayer can heal and restore? Well, I’ve seen it happen a thousand times in my own inconsequential life. God seems like a total showoff to me, if perhaps unnecessarily cryptic.

When I pray for all the places where we see Christ crucified — Ukraine, India, the refugee camps — I see in my heart and in the newspaper that goodness draws near, through UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, volunteers, through motley old us.

I wake up praying. I say a prayer some sober people told me to pray 36 years ago, because when all else fails, follow instructions. It helps me to not fixate on who I am, but on whose. I am God’s adorable, aging, self-centered, spaced-out beloved. One man in early sobriety told me that he had come into recovery as a hotshot but that other sober men helped him work his way up to servant. I pray to be a good servant because I’ve learned that this is the path of happiness. I pray for my family and all my sick friends that they have days of grace and healing, and I end my prayers, “Make me ever mindful of the needs of the poor.”

Then I put on my glasses, let the dog out to pee and start my day. I will have horrible thoughts about others, typically the Christian right or the Supreme Court, or someone who has seriously crossed me, whose hair I pray falls out or whose book fails. I say to God, as I do every Sunday in confession: “Look — I think we can both see what we have on our hands here. Help me not be such a pill.”

It is miserable to be a hater. I pray to be more like Jesus with his crazy compassion and reckless love. Some days go better than others…God does not have an app for Not Love. God sees beyond each person’s awfulness to each person’s needs. God loves them, as is. God is better at this than I am.” ~ Anne Lamott, NYT Opinion Page

If you haven’t already done so, begin reading her books. 

5. Every time I see or read about political candidates placing an ad that prominently features them holding an assault rifle, or urging people to go hunting for people, or read that they have raffled off a semi-automatic weapon at a rally – whew – I don’t know whether  to cry or puke. Actually, doing both – simultaneously – might be the best thing. And when those candidates invoke Christ in the process, I shudder and wonder why they feel the need to drag Jesus into the cesspool with them. God help us if we help them do that. 

6. The cartoon was of a teacher telling her history class – “Pay attention here so you won’t be as easily fooled as your parents are.”

This reminds me of something Ulysses S. Grant said: “If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon’s but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.”

Who knew Grant was a prophet?

7. “I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: Christian Nationalism is the greatest threat to democracy and the witness of the church in the United States today.” ~ Jemar Tisby

I agree. Christian Nationalism is a long walk through the deep weeds of conspiracy theories and suspect theology. It leads to nothing that’s edifying. 

8. “Fundamentally, what is needed now is an honest self-assessment, a rethinking of how we draw lines, how we choose sides, where we place our loyalty, and what kind of price we’re willing to pay to walk things back and create spaces where democracy has a chance, and where true Christianity can flourish—a Christianity that relies on grace and truth rather than on coercive power to make its witness known.” ~ Kristin DuMez, author of Jesus and John Wayne

Who’s willing to do this kind of honest self-assessment? Lots of years in ministry have taught me that those willing to do that kind of hard work are few and far between. But those few were the ones I could trust. They were the ones who made a difference. 

9. This rush to form super sized athletic conferences, with bigger war chests, and huge media opportunities misses the point.  Bigger isn’t always better. The Big Ten adding UCLA and USC is more about the money than it is about anything else. It’s not about the athletes. It’s not about more kids getting a degree. It’s not about the casual fan who wants nothing more than being loyal to his/her team and  bragging’ rights with his/her neighbor. It’s about the money and it’s going to hit all our pocketbooks. 

10. Watching the January 6th hearings confirms what I already knew. Our Republic barely survived a body blow by a President who cared not a whit about any of us. I’m rooting for the truth to prevail and for maximum jail time for all those who conspired to take our country down. My guess is that just one prison wing might not be enough to hold them all.