Answering Critics

Never answer a critic, unless he's right.

~ Bernard M. Maruch

Tell it all, tell it early and tell it himself

comment on John and Elizabeth Edwards' press conference on the return of her breast cancer:

"Some of this has to do with the new reality of politics. Whatever happens, it is now best for a candidate to tell it all, tell it early and tell it himself. It's far better for Edwards and his wife to tell the story in the way they want to tell it than to have the blogs kind of speculating how ill she is."

~ Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior scholar at the University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning and Development

The President

All the President is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

~ Harry S. Truman

Christ has no hands but ours

Following World War II some German students volunteered to help rebuild a cathedral in England, one that had been badly damaged by the Luftwaffe bombings. As the work progressed, they weren't sure how to best restore a large statue of Jesus with has arms outstretched and bearing the familiar inscription, "Come unto Me."

They were able to repair all the damage to the statue except for Christ's hands which had been completely destroyed. Should they even attempt to rebuild these?

Finally, the workers reached a decision that still stands today. They decided to leave the hands off and changed the inscription to read: "Christ has no hands but ours."

Christian Leadership

Ezekiel 34

• Strengthen the weak
• Heal the Sick
• Bind up the injured
• Bring back the strays
• Search for the lost
• Make a covenant of peace
• Judge with justice
• Send down showers of blessings

Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. … Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered.
Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I shall demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. … I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. … I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.
Is it too slight a thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of the pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must foul the rest with your feet? … Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them, Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad, therefore, I will deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

~ Ezekiel 34:1-22, NASB

Matthew 25:31-46, NASB

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'
Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'
Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'
Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'
Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Good News from the Barrio

"A gospel that doesn't unsettle,
a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin,
a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed,
what gospel is that?"

~ El Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero

Seven Basic Story Plots

According to the Internet Public Library, they are:
[wo]man vs. nature
[wo]man vs. man
[wo]man vs. the environment
[wo]man vs. machines/technology
[wo]man vs. the supernatural
[wo]man vs. self
[wo]man vs. god/religion

Ronald Tobias, author of "Twenty Basic Plots" believes the following make for good stories: quest, adventure, pursuit, rescue, escape, revenge, riddle, rivalry, underdog, temptation, metamorphosis, transformation, maturation, love, forbidden love, sacrifice, discovery, wretched excess, ascension, and decision.

Overlap must be common under this theory. For example, "Rocky" is a story of the "underdog," who goes through a "transformation" and falls in "love" while on a "quest."

Ask Yahoo 3/9/2007
http://ask.yahoo.com/20070305.html

To Be What We Are

"If we want to be anything other than what God has made us to be, we are wasting our time. It will not work.

"The greatest accomplishment in life is to be what we are, which is God's idea of what he wanted us to be when he brought us into being; and no ideas of ours will ever change it. Accepting that gift is accepting God's will for us, and in its acceptance lies the path to growth and ultimate fulfillment."

~ from The Heart of the World by Fr. Thomas Keating
http://www.centeringprayer.com/
heart/heart12.htm