Quote Board

Well, since I don't have any original/inspired thoughts at the moment, I thought I'd bring you some thoughts by others.

"It's not that industry is bad. If we shut it down we do not progress. Greed is the problem. If PG&E had done the right thing morally then we'd never have had this lawsuit, lives would have been saved and they would not have been out of $1bn. That's just bad business. Honesty hurts, but it's at least respectful of people. I see no change at all in industry."

Erin Brockovich
The Guardian

Gandhi lite? Yes, but in a form perhaps more palatable to American/Western ears. Brockovich is an interesting person, and I think well worth listening to because of her wilderness perspective.

From a vastly different corner:

"It is impossible to love a God that we do not see when we cannot love those that we can see."

Joe Worley, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Groves

The Beaumont Enterprise

An excellent exposition of the love passages in 1 Corinthians and 1 John. Enacted, tangible expressions of love are perhaps the only way in which we can both share our faith and worship authentically.

My own thoughts will resume in the near future...

Second Sight

Not to put too fine a point on it, but great minds think alike... :)

The most recent dispatch from Bishop Janice Riggle Huie (Houston area, United Methodist Church) is another exercise in perceiving the presence of God, and worth a read:

Seeing the Presence of God

May you see and feel in a profound way the God who is at work in the world for good!

Post-Ike Thoughts

Well here we are again after the storm. I thought I might offer a few
thoughts on the presence of God in these difficult circumstances.

First, I think God is present in the way that people prepared. Those
who evacuated, the hospitals and nursing homes who arranged transport
for those under their care, the emergency management teams and 211,
first responders, government and non-profit relief organizations--
along with many others--all showed an awareness of the needs in their
communities and constiuencies. As Don Saliers told me in worship
class, "The Holy Spirit never minds good planning."

I also want to highlight the ways in which neighbors are helping one
another out as the long work of recovery begins. Citizens putting
others' needs ahead of their own comfort is a great example of
Christlikeness. Those who have hosted strangers and evacuees, shared
generators, waited with grace and humor in long lines for basic needs,
and more all made God incarnate by their attitudes and actions.

The question of divine will in a natural disaster is one I cannot
answer. But in the response to tragedy, may our communities of faith
keep hoping in a redeeming God and re-present that God to all we
encounter.