Inspire us, God,
to do one thing.
One thing for justice.
One thing for peace.
One thing for love.
Inspire us, God
by doing one thing
to do more.
More for justice.
More for peace.
More for love.
This day.
Every day.
Through Jesus, we pray.
Amen.
inspired by the Guns to Garden panel, James Atwood Institute for Congregational Courage
Filed under Current Events, Gun Violence, Prayer
Walking. Treadmill. Flex Appeal.
Stretching. Apartment.
Hiroshima Day
Thousand Cranes – Hiroshima
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Russian Roulette – Jim Page
A Thousand Paper Cranes – MONO
I Come And Stand At Every Door – Anne Hills
No Nuclear War – Peter Tosh
Nuclear War – Yo La Tengo
Hiroshima-Nagasaki – Ozymandias
Enola Gay – Utah Phillips
Sadako – The Sands Family
Nagasaki no Kane – Meisterbrass Quartet & Yumi Aikawa Yuuji Koseki
When the Wind Blows – Eric Bogle
Ippon No Enpitsu – HIbari Misori
Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream – Simon & Garfunkel
Jamaican Independence Day
Jamaica, Land We Love – The One World Ensemble (The Jamaican National Anthem)
Throne 2:38 Koffee Rapture EP Reggae 0 2
We Shall Overcome – Toots & The Maytals
History of Jamaica – Early B
The Song My Mother Used to Sing – Dennis Brown
Jump Independently – Count Lasher
Teach the Children – Dennis Alcapone
Rivers of Babylon – The Melodians
Rebuild Jamaica – Lee “Scratch” Perry
I Shall Be Free – Toots & The Maytals
Independence Ska – The Baba Brooks Band
Jamaican Spirit – Stacious
I Am Jamaican – DahNiel-Jae
Sweet Jamaica – Casey Donaldson
Jamaica Jamaica – Tricia Cunningham
One Jamaica – Kimiela Candy Isaacs
Fi Mi Island Home – Sister Novelette
Jah Love This Land – Lex M.D
Jamaica Is A Big Brand – TrishMaq
Waa Back Jamaica – Renzzah
Proud Jamaican – Auraiya Hope
Better Jamaica – Reggae Maxx
We Are Jamaicans – Pepita
Filed under Antiracism, Current Events, Exercise, Human Rights, Louisville, Music, playlist
Walking. Germantown. Ukrainian Songs.
A prayer repeated and expanded after two years
Again, God, we pray for peace.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Two years on, God, we pray for peace.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Still, God, we pray for peace.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Again, God, we pray for justice.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Two years on, God, we pray for justice.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Still, God, we pray for justice.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
For the people of Ukraine, we pray.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
For the people of Russia, we pray.
Dona nobis justiciam et pacem.
For people who have been killed, we pray.
Dona nobis justiciam et pacem.
For people maimed and injured, we pray.
Dona nobis justiciam et pacem.
For people who have been violated, we pray.
Dona nobis justiciam et pacem.
For people who know trauma, we pray.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
For people who mourn, we pray.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
For people who fear, we pray.
Dona nobis pacem.
For people who worry, we pray.
Dona nobis pacem.
For people who work for justice, we pray.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
For people who pursue peace, we pray.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
For the people of Europe, we pray.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
For the people of the world, we pray.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
For peace rooted in justice, we pray.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
For justice that leads to peace, we pray.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Again, God, we pray for peace.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Two years on, God, we pray for peace.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Still, God, we pray for peace.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Again, God, we pray for justice.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Two years on, God, we pray for justice.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Still, God, we pray for justice.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Always, God, we pray for peace.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Always, God, we pray for justice.
Dona justiciam et pacem.
Amen.
Filed under Exercise, Louisville, Music, playlist, Prayer
My friend the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow is part of the Solidarity with the Suffering delegation to Palestine & Israel organized by the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He presents this list of ways to connect with the delegation and with Christian organizations in Israel & Palestine. .
CONNECT TO THE ISRAEL/PALESTINE MISSION NETWORK
CONNECT WITH THE REV. BRUCE REYES-CHOW
CONNECT WITH SABEEL
CONNECT WITH KAIROS PALESTINE
With gratitude to those who are participating in solidarity and a witness for justice and peace, here is a prayer.
Filed under Current Events, Friends, Human Rights, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
In response to a call from Christian partners in Palestine-Israel (Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center and Kairos Palestine), a delegation of thirty-five people, mostly Presbyterians, have begun a solidarity visit to Palestine and Israel. The Israel/Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the PC(USA) organized the delegation. Find reports on the IPMN blog.
A prayer for the Solidarity with the Suffering delegation
God of all peoples,
God who creates us for peace,
God who calls us to pursue justice,
we thank you for people
who live into hope
by working and witnessing
for justice and peace in Israel and Palestine,
and particularly in Gaza.
For those who write emails, postcards, and letters,
those who make phone calls,
those who participate in demonstrations,
those who talk to families and friends,
those who build relationships with others,
those who make a pilgrimage to speak to elected representatives in Washington,
and all who pursue justice and peace in ways
we do not know,
we give you thanks.
We thank you for people
who visit Palestine and Israel
to listen, to learn, to stand in solidarity.
Particularly we thank you
for the participants in the
Presbyterian delegation:
Solidarity with the Suffering.
Bless their witness.
Guide their experiences.
May their efforts for justice and for peace
ripple across the church and the world.
Keep the participants safe.
Keep safe the siblings they encounter.
Lead us all to work for justice and for peace
as we are able.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Filed under Friends, Prayer, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
No focused exercise.
The 1914 Christmas Truce.
Snoopy’s Christmas – The Royal Guardsmen
Christmas Truce – Sabaton
Pipes of Peace – Paul McCartney
1914, the Carol of Christmas – Military Voices & Abby Scott, feat. Flt Lt Matt Little, the RAF Spitfire Choir & William Inscoe
Let the Truce Be Known – Orphaned Land
Christmas 1914 – John McDermott
It Could Happen Again – Colin Raye
All Together Now – The Farm
Christmas True of 1914 – Joyce Cooling
The Christmas True – Carol Dowgiallo & Bob Dowgiallo
Ode to the Christmas Truce of 1914 – Marshall Hattersley
Christmas Truce – Fenya
The Christmas Truce – Gloucester Cathedral Choir, Adrian Partington, Jonathan Hope, Sacha Fullerton, Jack Parry, Deryck Webb & Nicholas Perfect
Christmas in the Trenches – John McCutcheon
Silent Night/Stille Nacht – John McCutcheon
Filed under Music, New Mexico, playlist
Emmanuel. God with us. If God is with us, any photo would work to express Emmanuel. I chose several that show working for justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God by visiting elected representatives, advocating, making a public witness, and amplifying other voices.
Photo 1 – New York delegation at Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2019, Washington, DC.
Photo 2 – Advocacy postcards for immigration justice, Whitestone, NY – 2018
Photo 3 – Standing Rock, SD – 2016
Photo 4 – Whitestone, NY – 2015
Photo 5 – Louisville, Ky – May 1, 2021
Walking. Apartment.
The 1914 Christmas Truce.
Snoopy’s Christmas – The Royal Guardsmen
Christmas Truce – Sabaton
Pipes of Peace – Paul McCartney
1914, the Carol of Christmas – Military Voices & Abby Scott, feat. Flt Lt Matt Little, the Raf Spitfire Choir & William Inscoe
Let the Truce Be Known – Orphaned Land
Christmas 1914 – John McDermott
It Could Happen Again – Colin Raye
All Together Now – The Farm
Christmas True of 1914 – Joyce Cooling
The Christmas True – Carol Dowgiallo & Bob Dowgiallo
Ode to the Christmas Truce of 1914 – Marshall Hattersley
Christmas Truce – Fenya
The Christmas Truce – Gloucester Cathedral Choir, Adrian Partington, Jonathan Hope, Sacha Fullerton, Jack Parry, Deryck Webb & Nicholas Perfect
Christmas in the Trenches – John McCutcheon
Silent Night/Stille Nacht – John McCutcheon
Filed under Current Events, Exercise, Louisville, Music, playlist
Designed, created, and posted by the daughter of a friend.
Let it be.
Photo: Summer, 2021; Germantown, Louisville, Kentucky
Filed under Advent, Current Events, Friends, Louisville, Photo
As the holy day approaches, a number of people are asking, “What is your favorite Christmas song?” A variation is “What non-religious holiday song that moves your spirit?
Recognizing the amazing amount of wonderful holiday music, whether intentionally religious or intentionally non-religious, that exists, I believe my answer would be the same.
Thanks to the Rev. Essie Koenig-Reinke (my daughter-in-love), pastor of Dickey Memorial Presbyterian Church, here is a brief reflection on the song that is my answer. This was originally written for the church’s Advent devotional.
“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 4:3b)
“My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool.”
So begins ”Christmas in the Trenches” by singer-songwriter John McCutcheon, a song about the 1914 Christmas Truce told through the eyes of Tolliver, a fictional British soldier.
On Christmas Eve in the filth and muck of the trenches along World War I’s Western front, peace broke out.
Most accounts say it began with German soldiers singing Christmas carols. Others joined. And almost in a collective impulse, many German, British, and French soldiers put down their weapons and met in No-Man’s Land.
They sang, shared photos, told stories, and traded gifts from care packages. Some reports speak of makeshift soccer games played on Christmas Day.
Peace did not last as “with sad farewells we each began to settle back to war.”
The war raged until November 1918 and did not end war—wars and conflicts have followed to this day.
Still the Christmas Truce was a wondrous moment. of peace and and promise and possibility, of hope and justice.
Those themes resonate each year at the manger. They echo through Jesus’ life. He invites us to live into them—at Christmas and through the year.
May we so do.
Check out this call for a 2022 Christmas Trues in Ukraine.
Filed under Advent, Current Events, Family, Human Rights, Music
Along the Graybeard Trail 