COFFEE BREAK 297

+ updated at 2:22pm ESDT on Monday, October 17, 2011.

+ In "America's 'Primal Scream," Nicholas D. Kristoff offers some important reflections on the Occupy Wall Street movement. He says it's resonating because most of us are quite aware of the growing income inequality here in the USA and elsewhere. 

+ In "A Movement Too Big to Fail," Chris Hedges offers some important reflections on the Occupy Wall Street movement. It begins: "There is no danger that the protesters who have occupied squares, parks and plazas across the nation in defiance of the corporate state will be co-opted by the Democratic Party or groups like MoveOn. The faux liberal reformers, whose abject failure to stand up for the rights of the poor and the working class, have signed on to this movement because they fear becoming irrelevant."

+ In his latest sermon, The Myth of the Call, John Shuck has some very profound thoughts about the call of Abram and how it relates both positively and negatively to our current movements for compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance.  Here is the conclusion of that sermon:

The myth of the call is rooted in patriarchal spirituality. The figure is Abraham. He gets the divine summons to leave what is familiar, to leave his comfort zone, and to be a blessing. The call to be a blessing is a source of power that we can tap into in our contemporary movements for justice and peace, such as the movement taking place around the country. That call to go out and demonstrate, to dream of change, and to act is a powerful and necessary thing.

The shadow of the call is fanaticism. Abram’s call involved a displacement of the Canaanites and the willingness to kill his own son for this vision. There is delusion, fanaticism, carelessness, and ruthlessness associated with this call. Abram needs a partner. He needs a strong Sarai. Before going off to sacrifice their son, he might ask her opinion first.

If there is a call, it is to all of us. It is a call to be as well as to do. The values of relationship, companionship, diversity, wisdom, partnership, nurturing, and compassion will make our movement for social and economic justice stronger, more sustainable, and will enlarge that circle of blessing.

+ It is high time for us Presbyterians to do what some courageous, prophetic Methodists are doing. Go to http://johnshore.com/2011/10/17/methodist-ministers-to-perform-gay-weddings-despite-ban/.

By the way, some prophetic and courageous Presbyterians are doing GLBT weddings but more are needed.