Volume 1 Issue 24

O my poor people, put on sackcloth
and roll in ashes;
make mourning as for an only child,
most bitter lamentation:
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
Jeremiah 6:26
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I know that my sorrow and disbelief over what is happening in our world right now is shared by many who visit this site. There is no doubt in my mind that as the Bush Administration plunges our nation and the rest of the planet into unholy war, it will profanely invoke God’s blessing upon its efforts. As we are justified in condemning the perversion of Islam by fundamentalists and terrorists, so must we be prepared to condemn the same perversion of Judeo-Christianity and American patriotism by those in power who continue to insist that preemptory violence and destruction is the only way to deal with current events. May God forgive us!
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It is a stretch, I’ll admit, to try to find a common thread running through the Islamic ritual of Hajj (currently being observed in the twelfth month of the Islamic lunar calendar), the Jewish observance of Passover coming in April, and the Christian Lenten journey which will begin March 5 and culminate on Easter, April 20. It can be found, however, in the qualities of humility and penitence to which the followers of each tradition are called during their holy days. May we all, as children of the one God of Abraham, discover our oneness that will provide the powerful unity we need to “deliver us from evil.”
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Don’t forget!
www.moveon.org
It’s your Internet means of registering your dissent and protest. Let us “not go gentle into that good night.”
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Until next week…….Shalom!