Mike’s Rumblings 10-18-24

Faith Conversations

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. 10.18.24

1. We’ve decided to “chase the approval of strangers on our phones. We build all manner of walls and fences around ourselves and then wonder why we feel so alone.” ~ Barack Obama

Walls and fences?

I’m on the lookout for bridges. On the other side there’s people to meet, good things to do, and ideas to be explored.

2. “Are they here legally?” That’s a modern version of “Who is my neighbor?” Both are questions used to determine if we have justification to mistreat and harm others.”~ prophetic imagination

The ‘hate’ towards immigrants is beyond the pale these days isn’t it? A fire has been lit and someone (guess who) keeps fanning the flames. Imagine what his presidency would look like this time around. I shudder when I think about it.

I’m continually saddened by the number of people who claim faith but keep looking for loopholes so they don’t have to actually live it out.

Stephen Colbert suggests that “ … either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”

3. Irenaeus, writing toward the end of the second century, said “ Christ became what we are in order to enable us to become what He is.”

The more I look at the person and work of Jesus, the more I am blown away by his ability to not major in the minors and to make the main thing the main thing.

4. ”I used to think they

believed his lies.

That’s not it.

They know he’s lying

and they don’t care.

He hates who they hate,

that’s enough.” ~ source unknown

Who are they? I’m particularly interested in the ones who brazenly maintain that their faith is what compels them to behave so badly. I’m now referring to them as “Bible Trumpers”.

Are they Christians? I think at one time they held a deep affection for Christ and the Word of God but then they got seduced by a rather troubled personality who openly and proudly defies the person and work of Jesus. So saying they’re a follower of Jesus’ becomes very problematic.

Oh, I still pray for them. I wish them a happy birthday and inquire about their kids but I no longer count on them for anything substantive. The Jesus they proclaim is not even close to the Jesus I want to emulate.

5. “We grow spiritually by passing beyond some perfect Order, through an often painful and seemingly unnecessary Disorder to an enlightened Reorder … Apparently, God enjoys doing this because it never stops happening …” ~ Richard Rohr

Going through a season of disorder isn’t necessarily fun but it sets the table for what God wants ultimately to do with and through us. Reordering is always a bit scary but it helps us to adjust what needs adjusting so we can start breathing in all the better things God has for us.

6. “It is said that before entering the sea the river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,from the peaks of the mountains and the long winding road, crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more

than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.” ~ Khalil Gibran

I’ve posted Gibran’s poem before and probably will again. It is so beautiful, so layered, and so worth contemplating. In our world there is a growing number of people who want to go back to the good old days (which for many, many weren’t very good at all). But we can’t go back. It’s really not possible. In our own way “we must become the ocean.”

On those very rare days that I’m smart, I look around and say: “I wonder what God is up to now.”And when I discover it, then I join in. I become, in a mystical sense, the ocean. I go with God’s flow and rhythm.” Those are my happiest days.

7. “Studying history will sometimes disturb you. Studying history will sometimes upset you. Studying history will sometimes make you furious. If studying history always makes you feel proud and happy, you probably aren’t studying history.” ~ source unknown

The study of history is disruptive, challenging our assumptions about what really happened back in the day and it rocks our world a bit. That’s a good thing.

8. “MAGA Republicans are now lying about the federal response to recent hurricanes. And they lied about Haitian migrants bringing chaos and disease to Springfield, Ohio. Both disinformation efforts are flat-out lies, and both are designed to demonize immigrants. Immigration was the issue Trump was so eager to run on that he demanded Republican lawmakers reject the strong border bill a bipartisan group of lawmakers had hammered out.” ~ Heather Cox Richardson

The New York Times reports that “when the former president endorses violence and proposes using the government to attack his enemies, many of his supporters assume it’s just an act.”

It’s not. They’ve put blinders on.

Someday, people will study these turbulent times in our country and they will conclude that ‘sin’ ran rampant and that too many who could have done something to stop the nonsense didn’t make the effort. Instead, they shrugged their shoulders and joined the chorus of those who, with great emphasis, embraced the lies and vilified the innocent.

9. As I grow older, I aspire to be a sage elder, someone who desires to be a willing listener, a perceptive mentor and a wise and interesting companion. Let me know if you actually see that happening.

10. Hurricane season, in Florida, for sure, measures your psychological, physical, and spiritual stamina. This is our second go around in a month. It stretched us especially hard because it came on the heels of two weeks of COVID. Yes, I’m whining a bit . My privileged self does that now and again.

Mea culpa, mea culpa,

mea maxima culpa. OK, I’m better now.

Thanks for your love, prayers, and messages of concern. The Sun Coast was slammed hard and is still cleaning up and trying to figure out what snowbird season looks like now. Disorder has descended (reread Rumble #5) and prayers for hard hit business owners and residents are appreciated.

We are so grateful for the friends who opened their home to us and we are sad for those in our specific housing community where significant damage was done to about 200 homes. Not all were insured and those that were don’t have platinum coverage. Such is the state of insurance protections in Florida.

My prayer is a simple one. “Lord, here I am. Melt me, mold me, use me.”

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