to vote or not to vote a definitive guide [ish]

at the simple way tonite we had Chris Haw come and share on the question of whether or not to vote…

it was a really interesting discussion and sharing time and i imagine there was enough sensible reason given to vote [and this seriously piss off the ‘thou shalt not vote’ people] as well as enough sensible reason given not to vote [ditto with the ’tis within your moral obligation to the world to vote’ crowd] and so at the end of the time i was not really left with a definitive feeling either way [altho with far greater understanding as to why people would choose either way]

what was definitive was the following though: voting isn’t enough.

i think both Chris and someone else [if not everyone else] in the crowd shared something along the lines of ‘we vote every day with our lives’ and that is the real truth – in whether or not we choose to recycle, in the places we buy our clothes and food from, in the way that we treat those considered to be ‘the least of these’ by society that we pass every day [often on the other side of the road as we probably have some important thing to get to, right??], in the ways we choose to love or not love those we are or aren’t in relationship with and in a whole host of other things…

Joshua had it right when he stood in front of the people and in one of my favourite old testament passages in the Bible, he puts it like this:

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” [Joshua 24. 14-15]

the bottom line: Choose this day Who you will serve.

for those of us who have chosen to follow Jesus, this means that every day we vote with our lives – our ‘party line’ is that we will be known by the Love we have one for another and i think everyone knows how far we need to go to get that reputation to stick… but it is question far more vital than the one that is going to be answered on Tuesday in the United States of Americaland through the election results that will follow… and regardless of who comes into power, we are from a kingdom that is not of this world and it is to that end we work and live and have our being…

life to the full! both for me and for those around me who may not have as easy access to it as i do.

which leaves us with the question, how are you going to vote?

who does barack obama answer to?

i came across this article about barack obama’s personal faith and the unsurprising statement that it is the call to look after ‘the least of these’ [matthew 25, sheep and goats parable] that keeps him focused… very cool…

excerpt from article below – link to full article and clip here

‘President Barack Obama gave an unusually personal speech about his religious faith on Thursday, saying that “it is the biblical injunction to serve the least of these that keeps me going and keeps me from being overwhelmed,” in address to a prayer breakfast in Washington.

The speech, delivered at the National Prayer Breakfast, comes on the heels of public opinion surveys that show only a minority of Americans know that Obama is a Christian and that a growing number believe he’s a Muslim.

“My Christian faith has been sustaining for me over the last couple of years and even more so when Michelle and I hear our faith questioned from time to time,” the president said Thursday, referring to his wife. “We are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us but that we are true to our conscience and true to our God.”

“When I wake in the morning, I wait on the Lord, I ask him to give me the strength to do right by our country and our people,” Obama said later. “And when I go to bed at night, I wait on the Lord and I ask him to forgive me my sins and to look after my family and to make me an instrument of the Lord.”‘

sanity prevails? koran-burning cancelled

so taken directly from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11255366

US pastor Terry Jones cancels Koran burning

The pastor of a small US church who wanted to burn copies of the Koran has cancelled his protest.

Terry Jones said he was calling off the Florida event after the group behind a planned mosque close to Ground Zero in New York agreed to relocate it.

Mr Jones had said the burning would be a stand against terrorism, but his plan was internationally condemned.

President Barack Obama had warned Mr Jones the event would be “a recruitment bonanza” for al-Qaeda.