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 11.18.22  

1. “Here’s my vote for the values that Americans endorsed in the 2022 elections: reasonableness, democracy, governing, progress and freedom. Here’s what they voted against: extremism, Trumpism, culture wars and intolerance… every gushing story about DeSantis should be balanced by pieces about Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.” ~ E.J. Dionne, WAPO

I agree. I’m ready to move on to new faces and fresh ideas. Whitmer and Shapiro are the real deal. There’s a ‘value added’ vitality and groundedness to what they say and do. 

As for DeSantis, what can I say? I’m not a fan. His ego is supersized and his penchant for going for the jugular on hot button cultural issues, demonizing any and all who stand in his way makes him a dangerous man. Ruth Ben-Ghiat writing in MSNBC Daily quotes an anonymous Florida legislator who said this of the Governor “If you cross him once, you’re dead.” 

We just got done playing this putrid game. Let’s move on. 

2. “A seminarian saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. He said, “Don’t do it!” 

The man on the bridge replied, “Nobody loves me.”

The Seminarian said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?” The distraught man said, “Yes.” 

The Seminarian then said, “Are you a Christian?”  The man said, “A Christian.” 

The seminarian said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?”  The man said, “Protestant.” 

The Seminarian said, “Me, too! What denomination?”  The man said, “Baptist.” The seminarian said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” The man said, “Northern Baptist.” The Seminarian said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?” The man said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” 

The Seminarian said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” The man said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” 

The Seminarian said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” 

The man said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” 

The Seminarian screamed, “Die, you heretic!” And then pushed him over the railing.” 

There’s a lesson in this. Many actually. See #7.

3. I’m riffing off of something shared by a member of my interracial book club. “I am a privileged white man. To use my white privilege in ways that expose injustices in our world and maximizes opportunities for others is not a bad way to live with a privilege I did not earn.” 

4. “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.” ~ Oscar Wilde

Long live laughter. Long live the laugh makers. Long live the satirists. They are truth tellers, using humor with a bite to it and stories with a punch to reveal truth. 

Straight to the point truth tellers are also needed but often they are so pointed and angry that their truth causes a lot of damage.

5. FOX News has turned quickly and definitively against Trump. Wow. That was quick. It’s just not FOX. Conservative outlets of all types are running as fast as they can towards anyone but the former president. 

It’s really kind of funny to watch what’s happening especially if you can see the humor in opportunism fueled by a lack of integrity. And it’s all being done without confession.  After all, these particular media folks deliberately scammed people, hurt them and led them astray. They should fall on their knees begging for forgiveness. Ha. That will happen right after pigs fly. 

6. “Outgoing Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) told The Washington Post he knew the evening of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that the GOP would have a difficult time proving to voters they should be in the majority in two years.

“By midnight on January 6, it was obvious that if we continued to sleepwalk down the path of crazy we’d face a rude awakening,” he said. “Instead of facing those facts, the GOP spent the last two years heading in the same direction and actively avoiding any internal reckoning. After Tuesday, we have no choice but to heed voters when they say that ‘the grass is green, the sky is blue, and by the way, you just got your ass handed to you.’ But waking up to that reality is going to be rough.” ~ WAPO

Most centrist conservatives have been rendered mute by MAGA Republicans and have been scared into submission. May they remember what Amelia Earhart once said. “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.The soul that knows it not, knows no release, from little things … ” May they find the courage to set themselves free.

7. “I am convinced that the biblical tradition is saying that the only absolute available to us is the faithful love of God, and not any concept or structure. God’s love itself is the center and the still point of the turning world.” ~ Richard Rohr

As Rumble 2 points out, we keep trying to make minor things the main thing. And then we try to find others who share our narrow point of view and are willing to look with disdain upon those who believe differently. Let’s start  instead with Rohr’s perspective that the ‘faithful love of God’ is the main thing. If we get that right and choose to apply it where and when  necessary – everything else begins to fall into place.

8. In the aftermath of the violent events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, several federal legislators reminded us that we have “a republic,” but only if we can keep it.” 

We’re not out of the woods yet. Anne LaMott reminds us:  “What the American people have done is to severely injure the dragon, but he is going to smash up a lot more with that huge tail before he is through.”

9. “The Church is the hope of the world.” This is a bedrock belief for me. Yet, I find it problematic. 

On one hand there are problems aplenty in the church world. Some of those problems are big and have wounded people deeply. That’s so wrong. There’s no hope there.

On the other hand there’s the church world  where so much good is being done and people are being lifted up out of rough places. That’s so edifying.

Sometimes, I can forget the good things. When I forget I begin to lose hope. When I lose hope I can become apathetic. When I’m apathetic I become part of the problem. 

The church always needs renewal. Clarence Jordan of “Cotton Patch Gospel” fame offers a thoughtful reminder:  “I really don’t think we can ever renew the church until we stop thinking of it as an institution and start thinking of it as a movement.” 

Institutions find it necessary to be protective of its turf and they do that by turning inward and then circling the wagons. That’s when the problems start surfacing. The church on the go has no wagons to circle. 

10. “God does not hear us as man hears. Unless you shout with your lungs and chest and lips, a mere man does not hear; whereas to God your very thoughts shout.” ~ St. Augustine

This is good. It reminds me that I pray far more than I think I do. “To God your very thoughts shout.” Yah, I like that.