Mike’s Rumblings 10-04-24

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. 10.4.24

1. Christians: We will spread the Gospel by spending a week in a third world country, and maybe go on safari.

God: I am going to bring the developing world to your community. By the way, they already know and follow me. Just welcome them and care for their needs.

Christians: No, not that way. ~ Kevin M. Young

There’s so much sad truth in this. Is a mission trip a stupid idea? No, not at all. I recommend them. It softens our hearts and gives us a vision of a bigger world.

But let’s face it, the world is already at our doorstep. When we finally see the families at our border as children of God and the Haitians in Ohio as mattering greatly to the Lord, then we will know our faith is truly maturing.

Opportunities abound for all of us to build relationships with the ‘other’, embracing them as brothers and sisters, not enemies. But there is a nefarious, anti-Jesus force, masking as a pro Jesus movement, that is trying to tell us that they are not our brothers and sisters but rather ‘enemies’ determined to destroy our way of life.

Russell Moore hammers it home. “To sing praise songs in a church service while trafficking in the bearing of false witness against people who fled for their life, who seek to rebuild a life for their children after crushing poverty and persecution, is more than just cognitive dissonance. It’s modeling the devil himself, whom Jesus called ‘the father of lies’ (John 8:44)…”

2. “These two men were both a heartbeat away from being interesting this evening… In the end it was 90 minutes of constant talk that made one thing clear: Tonight was like Thanksgiving with your most nervous uncle, and your smuggest nephew. It was unpleasant, awkward, and thankfully you only have to do it once every four years.” ~ Stephen Colbert’s reaction to the VP debate

Walz, who admitted to being a bad debater, proved it. It was painful and awkward at times but when Vance refused to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election, Walz had his moment and he looked him in the eye and declared “That’s a damning non-answer.” He became the favorite uncle again.” Still not a very good debater though.

Vance was smooth and polished for most of the debate. He was asked, I’m sure, not to be snarky and smug but sincere and laid back. He was playing to an audience of ‘one’. Guess who? He had to do some pretty heavy lifting and laundering of Trump’s (and his) positions on all kinds of issues. That’s a whole lot of shifting sand and a whole lot of “Hey, they took it out of context” which translates to “We were just kidding” but they never kid and never, ever provide the proper context.

Nothing changes for me. Character and preserving our democracy is what’s on the ballot in November. I’m going with the nervous uncle and the woman who had her debate opponent down for the count.

4. ”The whole purpose of spiritual direction is to penetrate beneath the surface of a [person’s] life, to get behind the façade of conventional gestures and attitudes which he/she presents to the world, and to bring out his/her inner spiritual freedom, his/her inmost truth, which is what we call the likeness of Christ in his/her soul.” ~ Thomas Merton

I am a spiritual director as is my wife. We both go to a spiritual director. We all need help going beyond the facade that all too often defines our lives. Self honesty needs to be encouraged. Confession needs to be normalized. Freedom needs to be found. The likeness of Christ in our soul needs to be coaxed out.

Interested in finding out more? Let me know.

5. How does trickle down economics work again?

The top 1% of the richest of the rich gets all the money.

Then what?

That’s it.

Sorry, trickle down enthusiasts but something very basic keeps getting in the way. Plain and simple, it’s greed.

6. “It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, who is the true word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us to Him. We must not use the Bible as a sort of encyclopedia out of which texts can be taken for use as weapons.” C.S. Lewis

7. “There was a 60 Minutes documentary many years ago that took a look at the monks and monasteries on Mount Athos in Greece. The journalists who made the episode were interested in understanding the life of the island and what the monks there did. So in one scene, the reporter asks a monk who is out in a field, picking olives and trimming trees, “what is it that they do here?” To which the monk, looking around at his menial task, replies, casually, as if it should be obvious to everybody, “This is an arena of unseen warfare. We fight against the angels of the dark side, the Demons, the devil, Satan.” ~Colin Miller, ”We Are Only Saved Together”

In other words, they simply inhabit the spaces they’ve been given and as they do they stand against that which is evil and for all that is good. We can do that. I know we can. It’s a ‘ministry of presence’ and it is insanely powerful.

8. I do have to say that Saturday Night Live came out of the gate swinging. Their satirization of both the Dems and MAGA was spot on funny and a bit cringeworthy. My guess is that the Dems were pretty much OK with the needling and MAGA wasn’t. Humor, especially satire, isn’t their strong suit.

9. Hurricane Helene left its mark. It’s heartbreaking.

Now is the time to open our pocketbooks to help those in desperate need. And the need is indeed great. We are choosing to give to a local food bank (All Faiths) and the Salvation Army. Both organizations have boots on the ground and are already feeding the hungry and comforting the afflicted. They are proven good stewards of the funds people give to them.

I’m sure you have your own ’go to’ non-profits (no need to name them). Your gifts are a blessing to them and allow them to bless others. It’s a win/win.

10. Pope Francis told his priests to “be shepherds who smell like sheep.”

Makes sense doesn’t it? It should.

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