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. 8.18.23

1. “This idea of soul care and leader care is not just a hobby. It’s not something where we say, ‘One of these days when we’ve got extra margin, we’ve got to deal with this.’ No. Soul care is in a place where it is the thing, because everything cascades from it.” ~ Stephan Tchividjian 

I believe in caring for my soul. I also know I need help in doing that. For me, that means seeing a spiritual director, involvement in a church, finding a variety of spiritual practices that help me grow closer to God, and meaningful involvement in a ministry. 

I find it interesting that even though I believe in soul care and know what I need to do, I still find myself on any given day to be what Richard Rohr calls  “a very awkward steward of my own soul.” 

Awkward might be too kind of a descriptor. It’s good to be honest about such things. 😀

2. I’m not a ‘Swifty’. I can’t even name one of her songs. I know this much. Taylor Swift is selling out stadiums wherever she goes and she gives her fans everything she’s got at every concert. Wherever she goes she’s making very, very generous donations to food banks and she just gave huge bonuses ($100,000 each) to the drivers of the trucks who bring all the backdrops, staging, costumes, and assorted other things to each venue.  

It’s one thing to be insanely talented. It’s quite another thing to be so generous. To give her fans, night in and night out, your very best, to notice and handsomely reward the ‘grunt’ workers on the tour, to care about those on the margins of life and to lavishly bless those organizations who help feed them is crazy good. Bravo.

I don’t have Swift’s wealth. Neither do you. But we all have some time, talent, and treasure which needs to be invested wisely. The result will be a better world. 

3.  “When we Christians become convinced that only we know the truth, that anyone who opposes us is on the side of evil, and things will only get better if we are in charge of all positions of power, that is when we know we are no longer worshiping God. We are worshiping ourselves.” ~ Rev. Benjamin Cremer

He’s right. It’s a form of idolatry. 

4. I find it disturbing that so many threats to democracy in our country and around the globe can be traced to religious fundamentalists who maintain they are only doing what God wants. I think they are delusional more often than not. I think they do what they want to and then insist it’s a response to a direct message from God. 

5. In the federal case against Trump being heard in Washington, D.C., 

Judge Tanya Chutkan cautioned the ex-president and his legal team “to take special care in your public statements about this case. I will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings… I will not tolerate a carnival atmosphere.”

She knows what she’s up against and she’s basically telling them that if they show up in a clown car after having done clownish things, and start to do even more clown stuff in her courtroom, she will hold them accountable. In other words she’ll stick them in a corner for a timeout and then ground them if they continue to act like petulant, immature children. 

She’s particularly concerned that they will intimidate witnesses and taint the jury pool. Ain’t that somethin’?

6.  MLK, Jr said: “Oh, the worst of all tragedies is not to die young, but to live until seventy-five and yet not ever truly to have lived.”

Thomas Keating wrote that  his growth in the spiritual life was spurred on, in good part, “by the knowledge that I am screwed up and I need a Savior.”

Suzanne Stabile recommends asking the question “Lord, what’s mine to do today?”

“Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.” ~ Thomas Merton

7. I’m reminded of JFK’s inaugural speech in 1961 in which he challenged the people of our nation to “ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you can do for your country.” It was a call to care, to look for the common good, to build up, and not tear down. It was a rallying cry,  challenging us to be active participants in our democracy. Do we have both the heart and the will to accept that challenge today? I hope so. 

I was ten years old when I heard that inaugural address. It grabbed me then and it still does. I’m a sucker for great oratory. There’s something about really good  content coupled with a great delivery that stirs something deep inside me. 

In a world addicted to sound bytes, great oratory that stirs our hearts isn’t deemed to be all that important. It’s a big loss for our country.

8. Q. Why would a multi-billionaire need your money to pay his legal bills and what would possibly motivate someone to give their money to him? 

A. Someone like that  believes that a sucker is born every minute. He doesn’t need your dollars but he’s thinking “Why spend my own money when you’re willing to give me yours?”  When greed meets gullibility, con men start licking their chops. Game on.

9. As seen on a t-shirt. “Equal rights for others doesn’t mean fewer rights for you. It’s not a pie.”

That’ll preach. 

10. “As I try to cover the news tonight, I am struck by how completely the Republican Party, which began in the 1850s as a noble endeavor to keep the United States government intact and to rebuild it to work for ordinary people, has devolved into a group of chaos agents feeding voters a fantasy world.” ~ Heather Cox Richardson

When someone of her character and level of scholarship says something like this, I make it a point to pay attention. I think we all should.