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. 9.20.24

1. I’m pretty sure the “I hate Taylor Swift” posting was not a particularly sound political move.  

2. History’s dark side is filled with people who chose not to know and those who knew full well and chose not to do anything about it.  

3. Even the best of us have days where everything starts to unravel around us. And then we begin to unravel. I bet you know what I’m talking about. 

Back in the day, I somehow learned that when the unraveling begins I should give myself permission to inhabit, with integrity and wisdom, that space between stimulus and response, giving  myself permission to take an ATO (Adult Time Out) and to not leave that space until I sort things out a bit. 

I’m still a work in progress.  

4. Life got scarier for Haitian immigrants last week. 

Some people, such as the MAGA Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, have never learned how to zip their lips. No thought, no matter how denigrating and nonsensical, is left unexpressed. Concern for the ‘other’ and truth checking is never an option for them. It’s a sin. Flat out, it’s sin. How low will they go?

J.D. Vance finally admitted he was lying about Haitians eating pets. But it wasn’t his fault. Somehow Kamala & friends forced his hand. He had no other choice.  (Pause here for a giggle and/or a deep sigh of disgust)  

And MAGA didn’t even blink. They’ve been brainwashed so many times and at this juncture truly believe the end justifies the means, even when it terrorizes the innocent. 

5. “ …The public doesn’t see the extent of the harassment journalists face. What you do not see are the nasty letters or packages or emails. The threats of physical violence, … “I hope you get raped and killed,” one person wrote to me just this week. ‘Raped and killed.’ Not just me, but a couple of my female colleagues as well.” ~ Katie Tur,  MSNBC

 “It is our mission (as journalists) to defend freedom of expression -even if you die- …to put light into dark areas and show the truth…journalism is a social change agent…

These days It is very unsafe and the violence against women journalists is worse than anything else. This is a different type of violence – they want to create fear and stop the flow of information. It is barbaric …” ~ Loyola University Chicago Magazine.

It’s tough to be a journalist anywhere in the world these days. Did you know that  major network journalists in our country are now protected by security at MAGA rallies? When you’re verbally attacked from the podium and people are given license to give you the finger and threaten you, what choice do you have? 

Is it possible to have a free country without a free press? I think not and pray we will never have to face that possibility. But we’re inching closer to that possibility. 

6.  NIL—Name, Image, and Likeness—is now a common term in college and even high school sports. Athletes can earn money by leveraging their personal brands. Barry Switzer, the legendary Oklahoma coach, humorously remarked, “You know what NIL means, don’t you? Now It’s Legal.” 

7. “The Church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering of society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I want to make sure we all catch this. The church’s primary play is towards the victims, not the victimizers and towards the oppressed, not the oppressors. 

We are signed on, so to speak, to live as citizens  in what many theologians call “The upside down kingdom of God.” There, the Lord doesn’t keep score the way we do. Down is up. Less is more. Status and acclaim is not the end game. 

We gotta get this right.

8.  Emmett Till’s mother had this conversation with her son days before he was brutally murdered. He was 14. The year was 1955. 

“Don’t start up any conversations with white people. Only talk if you’re spoken to. And how do you respond? “Yes, sir,” “Yes, ma’am.” “No, sir,” “No, ma’am.” Put a handle on those answers. Don’t just say “yes” and “no” or “naw.” Don’t ever do that. 

If you’re walking down the street and a white woman is walking toward you, step off the sidewalk, lower your head. Don’t look her in the eye. Wait until she passes by, then get back on the sidewalk, keep going, don’t look back. If you have to humble yourself,” then just do it. Get on your knees, if you have to.” 

Emmett replied, “Oh, Mama, it can’t be all that bad.” Looking him in the eye and driving the point home by invoking his nickname, Mamie countered, “Bo, it’s worse than that.”~ Robert P.  Jones, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy (one heck of a read by the way)

And it turned out that hell, itself, was unleashed on Emmett Till. 

By the way, that discussion in various forms is still being had today. Why? Because Black parents want their kids to live a long and meaningful life. 

Don’t kid yourself. Racism never left the building. Just ask the Haitians.

9. “God did not say: You will not be assailed, you will not be belabored, you will not be disquieted, but he said: You will not be overcome. God wants us to pay attention to his words and always to be strong in our certainty, in well-being and in woe, for he loves us and delights in us, and so he wishes us to love him and delight in him and trust greatly in him, and all will be well.” ~ Julian of Norwich 

10. During a “Pray as you Go” session this week, Josh Garrels with The Porters Gate sang “Christ Has No Body Now But Yours.”

“Christ has no body now but yours, 

no hands, no feet on earth but yours. 

Yours are the eyes with which He sees, 

Yours are the feet with which He walks, 

Yours are the hands with which 

He blesses all the world: 

Yours are the hands.”

I am and we are the Body of Christ. And what do we do with that?