Giving Thanks
Submitted by Faith in Action on November 19, 2006 - 11:23pm.
Faith in Action
Giving Thanks
The Faith in Action Team
As this election season concludes, we have many reasons to give thanks. Of course, I (and probably many others from this site) are delighted the Democrats won, but I’m thankful on an even deeper level for other things as well.
For all candidates who ran, especially those who ran honorable races, from both sides, for their willingness to serve their country.
For all election judges, official and volunteers and everyone, from both parties, who did their part to ensure a safe and fair election. I especially give thanks for all of the people who are working so hard to continue the discussion around election integrity.
For all who stood up and took action for their beliefs, whether by holding a sign, doorbelling, stuffing envelopes, handing out flyers, or sending a donation, no matter how small.
Finally, I give thanks for the right to vote. For all who suffered and died before me, so that all citizens, regardless of race or gender, could exercise this franchise. Ask anyone who has ever lived under an oppressive regime what voting for the first time feels like. It will give you chills.
Any other reasons to give thanks?
A Thanksgiving Gift
As the Thanksgiving holiday is again upon us, there is so much to be thankful for in this great country. Many of us will sit down to enjoy a warm meal with family and friends and share the wonderful memories of loved ones who are no longer with us. Some will have an empty place setting as maybe a loved one is one of our brave soldiers or sailors abroad, fighting a war, hoping and praying for a quick and safe return. Yet many will be alone on the streets in rescue missions or maybe they just have no one to call a friend.
So many in our country will be left out this holiday season. So many will be looking for a friendly face and a warm meal. I for one will be reaching out and serving turkey at our local rescue mission trying to show love and a glimmer of hope to these wonderful people. I would ask all here at the Clark Community Network to reach out and show an act of kind mercy in your neighborhood or community.
As an Evangelical minister, I see the lack of hope on a daily basis, and during the holiday season it seems to get worse. Those of us who are Christian are told in the Bible to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and take care of our elders, items that appear in many of the world’s major religions. These are things that have been neglected the past 6 years in this country. We have cut the taxes of the richest Americans and have given the richest companies in America tax breaks and an open pass to pollute our skies and water. We can only hope that all this will change over the next couple of years. So, my dear friends and fellow Wesley Clark faithful it is time for us to show the American people and the GOP who the real value party is by reaching out and doing our part over this Holiday season. As Jesus told his followers, “If you love me, then feed my sheep.”
Happy Thanksgiving to all and may the holiday season bring us a Wesley Clark run for the White House!
Faith Watch
Our faith, our vote: United Church of Christ’s take on the 2006 elections:
http://www.ourfaithourvote.org/site/c.hrKRI1PCImE/b.1372693/k.BE7A/Home.htm
Bright! An article on the new atheism movement
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bright/bright_index.html
Spirit Wars: American Religion in Progressive Politics
A transcript of an event with Professor Leigh Eric Saunders of Princeton University
http://pewforum.org/events/index.php?EventID=94
A religion-based progressive agenda
A conversation with Bishop Gene Robinson, the first (and only) openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/11/religion_progressive.html
An interfaith roundtable discussion on the nature of progressive religion
http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2006/07/pfbc_roundtable.html
Finally, proof positive that miracles do occur:
Former House Majority Whip Tom Delay thinks that Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi ought to be Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Of course, he also uses a slavery metaphor.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/11/15/tom-delay-nancy-pelosi-r_n_34154.html
John this post hits home, I now am going to go volunteer at my local rescue mission and help those who need a smiling face. Great Post.
thankful for. Thank you for reminding us -- being daily involved in politics and being news junkies can definitely make one forget to remember all the blessings in our lives.
Luckily I have a dog and so am required to go out for a walk every day. Getting out into the woods or up into the mountains fills me with a sense of peace and wonder and I spend that time giving thanks for all the good in life, for all the blessings in my life as well as sending light and prayers to everyone and everything living in fear and pain.
Thanks for the reminder of all we have to work on and all we have to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving Faith in Action Team!
Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right. - Hunter/Garcia
for your work and the consciousness-raising--as well as for all the worthy volunteer service given to those in need by the CCN family.
The General gets it right.
Competence--What a concept!
How can you call yourself an Evangelical when you're a member of the United Church of Christ? The UCC are basically unitarians.
But happy Thanksgiving to you also.
The UCC are mainstream Christians. And I know they're not Unitarians because I'm a Unitarian Universalist.
Thanks Faith in Action team...excellent piece.
And thank you Susan for correcting another myth that's been perpetrated with the intention of further seperating people of faith.
That the UCC is not an evangelical church. They may be mainstream, but they don't mesh well with the other Christians. I wasn't saying that they're unequal or anything.
And I say that they're basically unitarians because they espouse very liberal beliefs that borderline unitarinism (like the bible isn't the only Word of God &c) Well at least the ones I know believe that.
Hiya bnd,
That the UCC is not an evangelical church. They may be mainstream, but they don't mesh well with the other Christians. I wasn't saying that they're unequal or anything.
And I say that they're basically unitarians because they espouse very liberal beliefs that borderline unitarinism (like the bible isn't the only Word of God &c) Well at least the ones I know believe that.
Hrmmmmm....
Okay. I'm Catholic, as are about one in five (yes, that many!) Americans. Catholics are not "evangelical" but I would hardly say we're not "mainstream," seeing as how we are -- by far and away -- the most populous religious faith in the U.S.
Oh, and the idea that the Bible is "the only Word of God" is actually quite unique to a small sector of Protestantism. Both Catholicism and its most immediate offspring (Episcopalian, Anglican, and Methodist) accept both church tradition and natural revelation (e.g.: disciplined observation of the world around us) as also revealing the Word of God.
And, by the way, when Catholics talk about "the Word" (in Greek, Logos) we don't mean "the Bible." We refer to Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" - John 1:1. Catholics worship "the Word," and not "the book."
This wasn't a scold, btw. We all have a tendency to project our own understanding as "the norm" or "the mainstream." I do it too. So I was just offering a different perspective. :)
Crissie
Because like the Episcopalians and the Catholics and the UCC and the ELCA are not evangelical (though the ELCA has the word 'evangelical' in it. That church confuses me sometimes), but they are very mainstream.
Some mainstreams are evangelical but not all mainstreams are evangelical nor are all evangelical mainstream (that's what I'm trying to say, but I wish I could input a Euler diagram)
Oh well. That's the glory of America is that we can coexist even if we disagree.
evangelical
Definition: 1. of Protestant churches emphasizing personal salvation: relating or belonging to any Protestant Christian church that emphasizes the authority of the Bible and salvation through the personal acceptance of Jesus Christ
2. relating to Christian Gospels: relating to or based on the Gospels of the Christian Bible
3. with strong beliefs: enthusiastic or zealous in support of a particular cause and very eager to make other people share its beliefs or ideals
The "Evangelical" in the ELCA pertains more to definition 2 than to the others. When I was "trained" to be a member of an ELCA church, I was taught that it was evangelical in the sense that ELCA Lutheran theology is gospel-based, not based on Church tradition or dogma.
This sense of the word has been corrupted by the fundamentalist wings of Christianity. I would submit that that brand of Christianity is based more on the writings of Paul and the Old Testament than on the Gospels. You don't find much punishment in the Gospels, and you don't find much about banned social behavior in the Gospels, either.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
Aren't the words of Paul the words that Jesus expounded to him? Likewise with the other apostles? Therefore wouldn't that make the whole of the New Testament Jesus' words?
The Bible as we know it was written centuries after the death of Jesus. It was a compilation of hundreds of writings by hundreds of Christians.....cherry picked by Emperor Constantine.
Run Wes Run!
The last book written was Revelation which was written in AD 96 which was only 60 years after Jesus died.
But this isn't www.securingchristianity.com but oh well.
snip>In the 1490’s another Oxford professor, and the personal physician to King Henry the 7th and 8th, Thomas Linacre, decided to learn Greek.
After reading the Gospels in Greek, and comparing it to the Latin Vulgate, he wrote in his diary, “Either this (the original Greek) is not the Gospel… or we are not Christians.”
The Latin had become so corrupt that it no longer even preserved the message of the Gospel… yet the Church still threatened to kill anyone who read the scripture in any language other than Latin… though Latin was not an original language of the scriptures.
http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/
you are correct, this is not securingchristianity.com
Thank God
"Some of us are still eating hotdogs......and that's an astonishing thing." -- Wes Clark
the Latin Vulgate (which is very corrupt) is the same as the Greek texts. I've actually read the reek texts before (though I can't understand Latin so I won't even try that)
The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and (kojne) Greek. All this I know. So what's your point?
The Bible was inspired by God, but I don't think that God provided the words.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
I think that's true.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
Hiya bnd,
Aren't the words of Paul the words that Jesus expounded to him? Likewise with the other apostles? Therefore wouldn't that make the whole of the New Testament Jesus' words?
First, Paul's encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus was spiritual rather than temporal. So far as we know, all Christ said to Paul was "Why do you persecute me?" and then, after Paul's repentance, changing his name from Saul to Paul and sending him out to present and defend the teachings presented to the original apostles.
Second, Paul's letters to the early churches are only one-half of a conversation. Paul did not intend to write Absolute Truths -- in the sense that his words can be applied to whatever situation -- but rather to answer specific questions posed to him in letters from those churches. We don't have the letters written to Paul, so we have to try to infer the questions asked from the answers given.
This is why the letters of Paul are not given the same weight as the Gospels in Catholic teaching. In a Catholic Mass, there are four readings: a reading from the Old Testament, a recitation of a Psalm (this two practices taken from the Jewish sabbath rite), a non-Gospel New Testament reading, and finally a Gospel reading. (In fact, if you attend Mass every day for three years, you will have heard the entire Bible.)
Interestingly, the Old and New Testament readings are usually done by a lector, and the Psalm is sung collectively. But only the priest reads the Gospel -- "the word of the Lord" -- during the Mass. This is to ensure that the Gospels are given greater theological emphasis than the other readings.
As the New Testament was compiled by the Catholic Church, I tend to give the Church's traditions greater weight than those of later interpreters. That's not to say the Catholic Church is the only "true" Church -- it isn't and doesn't claim to be -- but rather that, when it comes to matters of textual interpretation, I tend to give greater weight to the original compilers/editors. (BTW, the Catholic Church defers to Judaism on interpretations of the Old Testament, again, as that canon was compiled by the Jews.)
It's kind of like someone from England or Germany telling us what the U.S. Constitution means (or ought to be taken to mean). It's "our" document, so obviously we give greater weight to the interpretations of our own constitutional scholars. That's not to say that some extrinsic interpreter might not offer valid and valuable insights; they can and do. But when push comes to shove, we weigh in favor of the "origin-al" scholars.
I hope this made some semblance of sense. I'm between peeling potatoes and laying a green bean casserole. I'll be happy to explain in more depth if anyone's interested.
Crissie
Different members of the team write different parts of the series. John, who is an evangelical minister, wrote the middle portion. This time, I (an Episcopalian) wrote the introduction and did the Faith Watch links. Other members have different traditions and faiths.
Faith Watch is intended to be links of interest for our readers - they don't represent a particular religious or ethical point of view.
Hope this helps!
I am a minister at an Evangelical Christian Church, ordained thru the Evangelical Christian Alliance. I would be happy to share my belief's with you in a private email if you would like,I am also a proud Democrat.
I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving, full of food, fun, family, love, joy, and peace.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world.
If not us, WHO? If not now, WHEN?
One-third of volunteers report that they volunteer primarily for religious organizations.
45% of volunteers 65 years of age and older volunteer through or for religious organizations.
27.5% of volunteers 16 to 24 years of age volunteer through or for religious organizations.
74.3% of Americans polled rate the performance of churches, synagogues, and other religious groups in their efforts to reduce hunger as excellent/good.
More than 8 in 10 Americans polled believe that reducing hunger in the United States is a moral value.
Hey team, thanks for this blog!
Thank You for this Blog-Team...
for those stats, very interesting.
For nostalgia's sake, take a look at my Thanksgiving blog from last year and it'll give you an idea how far we've travelled!
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/2586
This year, post mid terms, we have so much more to be thankful for and again-- so much credit to give to the General and to the Clark Community.
Have a glorious spectacular Thanksgiving CCN -- you deserve it!
it takes a bus load of faith to get by
and I'm thankful for the mid-term elections...I'd lost hope and faith in the process
CLARK 08!!!!!!!
Thank you for this wonderful, thought-provoking post.
On this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for many things...one of which is the feeling that we may just have gotten our country back with the 2006 elections, another of which is the thought that we may soon expereience another Wes Clark run for the White House...and a third being for all of the wonderful Series Teams of CCN.
Thanks again!
I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!
Count your blessings instead of your crosses; Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes; Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears; Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean; Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth; Count on God instead of yourself.
~~Author Unknown~~
and I'd also like to welcome John Granchie to the Faith in Action Team, and thank him for the "Thanksgiving Gift" portion of this post.
We have much to be thankful for this year... : )