City Ordinance Restricts Church From Feeding People

 An Oregon church is suing the coastal city of Brookings, arguing that an ordinance restricting the church's meal program for the unhoused violates its right to religious freedom.

St. Timothy's Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon filed the lawsuit against the city Jan. 28. "We've been serving our community here for decades and picking up the slack where the need exists and no one else is stepping in," said the Rev. James Bernard Lindley, vicar of St.Timothy's.

The lawsuit claims that the ordinance--which limited the church to offering free meals just twice a week--interferes with the church's fundamental beliefs of "feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and sheltering the houseless." St. Timothy's as been serving meals four days a week so that people can have access to at least one hot, nutritious meal." The lawsuit says the city violated the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution."

The lawsuit notes that the city received a petition on April 2021 from about 30 residents saying the free meals drew "vagrants or undesirables." St. Timothy parishioners say they are following the teachings of Jesus when they provide food to their community. "Providing hospitality to all who enter St. Timothy's in search of help is integral to out beliefs."

It Still blooms

 Our Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, Epiphany cactus is still beautifully blooming!  

The long winter is cold and COVID is longer. We isolate. We care for each other.

But still we live in such uncertainty in our personal lives, nationally and globally.

Keep blooming. Hang on. Give thanks for God's sustaining life and love.

What will you do on MLK Day?

 So, where will you be and what will you do on Martin Luther King Day, 2022?

       I remember hearing his voice, calling this nation to change, repent, reform

Will you be taking the day "off"? To do what? Shop, walk in the snow, sleep in?

      I remember our marching all those years ago, marching for justice.

Where will you go? To a MLK breakfast? To school to teach and learn about Civil Rights?

     I remember the meetings, making strategies, planning, encouraging each other

With whom will you be this year? What difference will it make to you? Others? The nation?

     I remember singing, always singing, "We shall overcome. . . someday. . . "

What political action will you take NOW? Against voter suppression and subjugation?

    I remember it took a while for Pres. Johnson to act. But when he did, things changed.

"It's hopeless" "They don't have the votes" We can't stop the movement to take voting right away!

    But we did meet, and march, and sing, and turned hope into reality!

Will we this time find a way to empower everyone or will we finally kill each other in the big divide?

   I remember not the day of his birth, but the day he died. We mourned and were afraid.

Dare we today not only celebrate, but remember and work together and walk and hope and act?

    

Christ is with us.

 In the midst of a bleak mid-winter, Christ is with us.  Whether alone or in person with loved ones, we remember God's unconditional love in Jesus.

Winter light

 On this shortest day of the year, the sun and winter clouds shine through three of our nativity sets.

More than a Memory

 “Mayfield More than a Memory,” says a mural on the side of a downtown building that still stands in Mayfield, Kentucky. This 200 years old town of 10,000 had been working to revitalize itself for the 21st century. Some may believe that memories are all the people in Mayfield have after the huge tornado ripped through there last Friday night. 

I have such admiration for the mayor and governor, and other leaders who with calm, and courage carry on, giving thanks for the support they have received from the nation. Neighbors helped neighbors, pulling them out of the rubble. Mayfield is a community of people.  That's what makes a small city, a small town, and needs to make the world.

Only a memory? No, because we have a God who was, and is, and is to come. 

Our Hearts Go Out

 Burton wrote this in the snow across the street from our home for me on Saturday while I was taking a nap. (BE + NE in a heart). We had a slight snow storm; however, most of all we send our hearts and our support to those who experienced a storm of tornadoes in 6 states in the lower Midwest and Mid-South Saturday.

Angela Merkel: A Leader of Stability, Civility and Service

 I will miss Angela Merkel. She has been Chancellor of Germany for 16 years, since 2005. Before that she was leader of the opposition from 2002-2005. During her tenure as chancellor, Merkel frequently was referred to as the de facto leader of the European Union.

Angela Merkel grew up in East Germany, daughter of a Lutheran Clergyman. She obtained a doctorate in Quantum chemistry in 1986 and worked as a research scientist. At the age of 51 she became Germany's first woman Chancellor. 

Merkel hands over power to Olaf Scholz who becomes chancellor on Wednesday, Dec. 8, part of a 3-party, coalition.

Angela is a strong, modest, calm woman; she is seen as a political giant. Leading through many challenges in Germany and throughout the world, she believes in the importance of ongoing communication, saying, "Look at the world from other people's perspective." She always kept lines of communication open maintaining some kind of dialog even with those with whom she disagreed. Angela Merkel has constantly talked about and lived out the need for world cooperation. She became an icon of stability, civility, and service.

Angela knew how to sustain stability. She calmed the nation and the European Union during the global financial crisis. At the time of the refugee crisis, she left the German borders open; about one million people came into Germany.  She said that failure to integrate them was not an option.

A scientist herself, she did not hesitate to recognize the magnitude of Climate Change and the COVID pandemic. Angela Merkel has garnered widespread esteem and is deeply respected in many countries. What a role model for global leaders and for all of us!

The short days of winter

 Sunrise this morning: 7:30 (lower picture)

Sunset this evening: 4:30 (upper picture)

We used to sit out on our deck until 9:30 in the evening. Winter dark is here, but the temperature was almost 50 degrees so we went for a walk in Central Park this afternoon.  

BLM

 Black Lives Matter in Georgia today.  May they matter everywhere

Partnership: Not a Small Thing

 It was a little thing during such a momentous day.  Did you notice?  When President Biden sat down to sign the Infrastructure bill, about 30 people, Democrats, some Republicans, and others who had worked so hard for it, gathered around. 

Joseph Biden's name is short; there was no way he could have used thirty pens to write his signature. So he used only one. And then, quietly reached over his shoulder and gave the pen gently and respectfully to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. She received it and then, just as quickly, with respect and care she slipped it back to the President, placing her hand on his in genuine partnership.

Night of Broken Glass

 My birth, November 6, 1938, is forever linked with the "Night of Broken Glass" three days later. On Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) Nov. 9-10, 1938, German Nazis attacked Jewish people and property. Just before midnight on Nov. 9 Gestapo chief sent telegrams to all police units informing them the attacks should not be interfered with. Rather, the victims should be arrested. Fire companies stood by as synagogues burned, with explicit instructions to let them burn.

That night led to the Holocaust where 6 million Jews were killed. In addition to those 6 million, millions of non-Jews, perhaps 5-6 million, were killed, including people with physical and mental disabilities, called "useless" people, homosexual men, Roma, Poles and other slavic people. All this because of Hitler's vision of a "master race."