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. 11.15.24

1. This prayer by Steven Charleston,  former Anglican Bishop of Alaska spoke to me, offering an encouraging way forward.  

“When they hate, may we love. 

When they curse, may we bless. 

When they hurt, we will heal.

We are  a servant of the light. 

We are not afraid of darkness.

We will carry on with our work, as stewards of this Earth and of all her children. 

When they divide, we will unite. 

When they rage, we will be calm. 

When they deny, we will affirm.

We will simply be who the Spirit created us to be.”  

2. Random thoughts in the aftermath of the election:

-Somewhere on MAGA’s ‘transition checklist’ is a little something called “Get even with those who betrayed Donald.” Won’t that be fun to watch?!?

-Even though much of what was said wasn’t even remotely truthful, stoking the fires of fear, anger, and grievance was a winning strategy for the MAGA party. My guess is that fear, anger, and grievance, wrapped in more untruth, will also play a consequential role in their governance strategy. God help us all.

-Women are deeply concerned about more ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ types of legislation. They should be.

-NATO is rightfully worried as is Ukraine. Poland is wondering if they’re next.

-Democrats are licking their wounds, the finger pointing has begun, and hard questions about how best to be an impactful minority party are being asked. They know full well that a rapidly withering system of ‘checks and balances’ needs their strong and unified voice. Can they make that happen?

-Putin and other authoritarian leaders are quite obviously delighted with the outcome of the election. That should chill our hearts. 

-Kamala Harris showed us how it’s supposed to be done, ending her campaign with grace, dignity and integrity.

-We appear to have an abundance of folks in our country applying to be the oligarchs of the Western world. Ah, greed. Thou art powerful. 

-The Middle East remains a powder keg and everywhere you look there’s a fuse waiting to be lit.

-Religious folks who are over the top giddy with their excitement and adulation of the president elect appear to be forgetting  that all throughout scripture idol worship is frowned upon. 

-Is anyone else deeply concerned that an overly enthusiastic and gleeful purge of undocumented criminals will prove to be so intoxicating to the purgers that they will make up other reasons to get rid of even more people who had no real choice but to leave their country of origin? 

-“A lie doesn’t become truth, wrong doesn’t become right, and evil doesn’t become good, just because it’s accepted by a majority.” ~ source unknown

3. Reading through Hebrews last week I came to chapter 11 with its stirring “By faith” role call of faithful men and women who trusted God in the midst of scary uncertainty. That glimpse of faithfulness opens the door to the challenge ch. 12 extends to us.  

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

‘By faith, not sight’ is God’s invitation to those of us who are walking in the shadowlands. Jesus is to be our compass, our true North. The path forward requires the staying power that a long and rigorous journey, filled with obstacles, demands. 

4. When I get angry and afraid, it helps to interrogate both the fear and anger in order to discover what’s real and what’s not. I know that the stuff I’m making up in my head, which gets me all angsty, isn’t helpful. 

5. Stephen Colbert, looking for the silver lining in the election results, sarcastically quipped: “At least there’ll be a peaceful transfer of power.”

It’s sobering to realize that a Harris/Walz election loss was the only thing stopping all hell from breaking loose again.  

6. “This, my dear,

 is the greatest challenge to being alive: 

To witness the injustice of this world, 

and not allow it to consume our light.” – Oxherdboy 

7.  When someone suggests that the president-elect is God’s plan for us, I can only shrug and say – “I think not” and then walk away. 

I’m done arguing with religious fools. 

8. “My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.”~ Pope Francis

The Pope has, for a long time, championed a seamless ethic of life philosophy. I admire his tenacity in the face of strenuous pushbacks. And he’s right, racism and exclusion minimizes the sacredness of human life.

9. “Peace is not just about the absence of conflict; it’s also about the presence of justice. Martin Luther King Jr. even distinguished between ‘the devil’s peace’ and God’s true peace.

 A counterfeit peace exists when people are pacified or distracted or so beat up and tired of fighting that all seems calm. But true peace does not exist until there is justice, restoration, forgiveness. 

Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity. It is the act of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice, the act of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight but the careful, arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice. It is about a revolution of love that is big enough to set both the oppressed and the oppressors free.” ~ Shane Claiborne 

“ …Both the oppressed and the oppressors need to be set free.” Yes, yes, yes.

10. “A fire broke out backstage in a theater. 

The clown came out to warn the public;

they thought it was a joke and applauded.

He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. 

I think that’s just how the world will come to an end: 

to general applause from twits 

who believe it’s a joke.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard