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Jules or Jesus?  04-20-2026

Number 3 of God’s top ten is “do not use God’s name in vain”. That doesn’t mean cussing when you’re 5. “In vain” is using God’s seal of approval to justify what God is against. Pope Leo 14th summed it up: “Woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth”. On the other hand, Franklin Graham grows darker with practice.

The secretary of war (a new title that has no defense) commanded worship to pray to God words he said were from God’s prophet Ezekiel. If he’d spend more time reading the Bible instead of abusing it, he’d know one line out of context was from Ezekiel 25:17. However 95% of his “prayer to God” was written by Quentin J. Tarantino for his 1994 film “Pulp Fiction.” The lines are spoken by Samuel L Jackson playing the criminal hit-man Jules whenever he murders someone in total submission to the whims of his boss (“before I pop their ass” as Jules so compassionately put it). QJT is idolized for his writing, and SLJ delivers lines as the coolest dude alive, but neither pretend to speak for God.

Whom do you follow and quote — Jesus or Jules? Jesus who full-fills the vision of trust, peace, equality, restorative justice, and love of the prophets? Jules who profits off of lying, murder, and stealing?

Number 8 of Jesus’ top 9 is: “Blessed are the Peace-makers, for they shall be called children of God.” War never leads to peace (Shalom); it always leads to a time-out until the next violent war; a pause is not peace. Peacemakers come together to live out the vision of God spoken through prophets and Jesus. 

Prophets Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 both poetically write: “God shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.” Micah then adds “but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.”

Number 1 for John Lennon is the song “Imagine.” Imagine turning weapons of war into gardening tools. Imagine every person having enough and no one making us afraid. Imagine if we followed Jesus instead of Jules. Imagine spending our money, energy, and wisdom on building up instead of bombing down. What do you imagine?

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Black Gold 04062026

A man found a piece of black gold in his yard. He showed it to others who had never seen anything like it. They wanted what he’d found. Fearing they might take it by force, he sold it to them, using the money to dig for more. The more he found, the more people’s addictive appetites wanted more. Stories spread of a “B. G. Disease” but the town crier said it was just a sick joke.

The man and the system prospered. Some in the village were envious that one man had all that treasure in his yard — why him? They sought to get even by taking what they deserved, but they heeded the wisdom of a voice that said, “don’t steal what you covet.”

One night, the notorious teenage “Out of Control Gang” broke into the man’s house. His fear of being robbed was happening. The man locked himself in his vault with his treasure. The gang couldn’t gain access to their desires. In a rage, they killed his family. He stayed. Frustrated, they ridiculed his belief in “finders keepers”. He stayed.  The “Out of Control Gang” controlled his necessities for life. The man controlled the black gold.

The man was willing to die for his belief and the OCG was willing to kill for entitled pride. Neither got to enjoy the black gold. The OCG gang who had never learned one lesson from consequences, learned to live without black gold. The villagers sought new objects of desire.

As the system began to repeat itself the question arose, “Might there be a better way?”

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Spiritual Convergence 

I was taught that the deep wisdom of all great spiritualities converge. Before you push back, I invite you to let it sit for a while. Does the teaching mean all spiritualities are exactly the same? Why use the word “wisdom”? What changes if we substitute “religions” for spiritualities? Apparently I’m trying questions before reflections today.

Brian McLaren’s podcast from May 15th’s “Leaning How to See: Seeing the Humanity in Everyone (no exceptions)” points out:

Jesus teaches: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. For this is the Torah and the Prophets.”

Jewish law in Leviticus reads: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

In the Hadith sayings of Islam, the prophet Muhammad speaks: “as you would have people do to you, do to them. And what you dislike to be done to you, don’t do to them. None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”

From Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”

From Hinduism: “Do nothing to others which, if it were done to you, would cause you pain.”

From Taoism: “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”

From Sikhism: “Love for people what you love for yourself, and you will be a believer.”

From the Baha’i Faith: “And if thine eyes be turned toward justice, choose thou for thy neighbor that which thou choosest for thyself.”

How might this deep wisdom affect a system that marginalizes, misunderstands, uses, and overlooks people? How might our eyes be opened to see the humanity in everyone? Why is this teaching often called “The Golden Rule”?

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Beadle 09192025

On a church sign in Scotland, below the minister’s name, I read Church Beagle: {name}. Church Beagle? Did the church have a mascot? Had they gone to the dogs? Was the alpha-dog bully publicly named on the sign? (In our system it might read TLG – That Little Group). It was a misread, not a misprint. The sign actually and accurately read: Church Beadle. 

For Charles Dickens’ novel “Oliver Twist”, Mr. Bumble was a Beadle who ran the orphanage workhouse outside London — “tears were not the things to find their way to Mr. Bumble’s soul; his heart was waterproof.” Wow. I cry with tears, bad beadle, bad beadle, sit, stay.

During the Scottish Reformation of the 16th century, the Beadle was “the minister’s man.” He would open the church, take care of the grounds, ring the bell, etc. As Sunday worship began, the Beadle would process in with the Bible and the Psalter, escort the preacher up to the pulpit, lock the door of the pulpit steps, and sit by the door with a mace. His actions said the preacher was called to interpret the Bible whether you liked it or not. He made sure the word was proclaimed, unhindered. (He might also waken those who had fallen asleep during a long sermon.)

I wonder if the Beadle is shown below John Knox preaching at St. Giles Cathedral. Maybe he was protecting Knox’s freedom of preach as he questioned the autocratic actions of Mary Queen of Scots who ruled from Edinburgh Castle halfway up the royal mile.

In line with the Beadle, as a Presbyterian Preacher, I can’t be silenced by “That Little Group” for what I say in a sermon. It takes a vote of the congregation AND a vote of elders and pastors from a majority of congregations in the presbytery. With wisdom from a wider witness, they might act to get me the help I need, correct my errors, or protect me as I faithfully speak truth to power — especially when it’s unpopular and thus Biblically prophetic. 

Who has been a Beadle in your life? Where might you see a need for Beadles today? What protections do you have to speak your truth to those who greedily abuse power?

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Martin Niemöller 02182025

The Stuttgart declaration of guilt was signed by leaders of the Protestant Church in Germany in October 1945. It confesses in part: “That which we often testified to in our communities, we express now in the name of the whole church: We did fight for long years in the name of Jesus Christ against the mentality that found its awful expression in the National Socialist regime of violence; but we accuse ourselves for not standing to our beliefs more courageously, for not praying more faithfully, for not believing more joyously, and for not loving more ardently.” It’s not too late to admit you’re mistakes.

An instigator and signer of that declaration was Martin Niemöller who had initially supported Adolph Hitler as an anti-semite. When Hitler ordered protestant churches to preach Nazi doctrine, Martin became one of the founders of the Confessing Church that said we will follow Jesus’ rather than the state. He spent 8 years in concentration camps where his views changed. When he barely survived, he became a famous speaker for protecting human rights. It’s not too late to change your mind.

As a teenager one of the posters on my bedroom was this quote from Martin Niemöller: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.” Sometimes it’s too late.

You can’t see the poster on my bedroom wall anymore, but you’ll find the quote at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. 

What is yours to do?

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What’d I Miss? 02052025

Washington Irving’s character “Rip Van Winkle” slept through 20 years and returned to a changed village. I’ve only been out of it for 2 weeks. We’ve been in France (the French side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin) since Jan. 19. That was the day before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday (a day of equality, mercy, inclusion, and service to others) and the day of beginning of the end (grabbing all the money and power you can by those lusting for more). 

The historian Dom Crossan taught me this truth: “The history of civilization reveals that you can have a Republic and you can have an Empire; but you can’t have both for long.”

In Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical “Hamilton” the second act opens with the beginning of the American Republic and Thomas Jefferson returning from France. Red-faced James Madison greets his return with these words: “Thomas, we are engaged in a battle for our nation’s very soul. Can you get us out of the mess we’re in? Hamilton’s new financial plan is nothing less than government control. I’ve been fighting for the South alone. Where have you been?”

Thus begins Jefferson’s song “What’d I Miss?”…. “What’d I miss? I’ve come home to this! Headfirst into a political abyss! What’d I Miss?” 

Being unplugged for two weeks, I too wonder what’d I miss? You can speak it, write it, rap it, or think it but I’m curious what your answer would be to my question: “What’d I miss?”

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Questioning Writings 013125

On my 21st birthday, during my cousin’s funeral, I learned it was good to disagree with those who seek to represent God. As we sang the comforting hymn “our God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come…” my aunt said, “I hate that idea; it’s not true for me or helpful at all.”

The battle-line was “time like an ever-rolling stream bears every child away; they fly forgotten as a dream dies at the opening day.” Before the closing “Amen” my aunt leaned over to say, “My daughter is not and never will be forgotten!!!!” Grieving mothers, like all God’s creatures, need to speak their truth in love.

Soon, in addition to evaluating poems, God gave me the freedom to evaluate human ideas expressed in Biblical passages. Among the many views over the millennia of expressions I would question what was true in my experience, what was helpful and life-giving, what inspired beauty, compassion, equality, love, and what best expressed God’s vision for an abundant life for this planet. Sometimes a Biblical writer’s expression of God was “not true for me or helpful at all” but most of their insights transformed my life.

As Rainer Rilke taught me: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a foreign tongue. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” Living the questions has been helpful and true for me.

What questions do you live into without simple answers? How have you found God encouraging you to seek what is true and helpful from the writings of others? How do tyrants who don’t allow questions without retribution seem anti-Christlike to you?

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Our Ball  Oct 18, 2024

I have enjoyed supporting our town’s 2-year community college basketball programs. Men and women coming together to visit, smile, and cheer for our men and women players. Our seats are close enough to be heard by players and refs. Sitting right under the basket as an opposing player attempted a free throw sporting a tattoo that read “Keisha”, one fan yelled, “Hey Rodney, what you gonna do with that tattoo when Keisha dumps your ass?” That shot made him miss his shot.

While our players only last 2 years, our refs work our circuit for a decade. One ref grew up in the area, was a popular friend to many, and had family associated with the college. With so much possible bias, I was amazed how fairly he called the games. While my bias could skew my conclusion, fact was, the usual complaints were evenly distributed between the two coaches.

One scout for a 4-year college was invited to our watering hole after a game. When he saw the ref sharing in the revelry, he asked, “Do you always go drinking with the refs after your games?” “Only if we win” was the quick reply. But the line we never let that ref live down was the one time the other team threw the ball out of bounds and he called, “OUR BALL.” 

We kept laughing at “our ball” through that loss as we watched players shake hands with the other team. Our ego wasn’t shattered, because we knew one loss didn’t make us losers. We didn’t vow violent retribution to the other school; we used lessons learned and teamwork to get ready for the next game.

“Our ball” was funny until a losing president keeps repeating the lie that “our side” was peacefully protesting with one death while nothing happened to “their side”. (Ironic aside — Jan 6th  is the church’s annual “day of Epiphany”; epiphany means the revealing of one’s inner nature). “Their side” are law enforcement officers, 150 of whom were injured by beatings, pepper-bear-wasp sprays, and the trauma of 3 hours of hand to hand combat which resulted in deaths and suicides. “Our side” was a violent mob he summoned and sent to steal an election he lost. “Our side” includes 1,516 citizens charged with federal crimes — so far 1200 guilty, 1000 sentenced, 3 acquitted, and 12 dismissed. 

When you get to be the referee, whose side are you on?