Easter.

In the Northern Hemisphere Easter is at the Spring Equinox.

But in the Southern Hemisphere Easter is Autumnal.

Reflecting Jesus words:

"'Verily I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain; but if it dies it bears much fruit,'"  John 12:24 (NRSV)

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Great Boomers.

The Boomer Generation has been much maligned because of their political views and activism.

But many of this generation were ground-breakers and trail-blazers in their fields.

The Boomers actually consist of two groups:

The Proto-Boomers (born 1937 - 1945) whose original ideas and creativity began a revolution.

And the Baby-Boomers (born 1946 - 1959) who put those ideas into practice.

Below are two lists of people who were prominent in each group and the fields in which they excelled.

The Proto-Boomers:

Jane Fonda 1937 (Acting/Activism)

David Hockney 1937 (Art)

Jack Nicholson 1937 (Acting)

Vanessa Redgrave 1937 (Acting/Activism)

Tom Stoppard 1937 (Playwright)

Margaret Atwood 1939 (Novelist)

Fritjof Capra 1939 (Science Theorist)

John Cleese 1939 (Comedy)

David Frost 1939 (TV Journalist)

Germaine Greer 1939 (Feminism)

Sheamus Heaney 1939 (Poetry)

Michael Kirby 1939 (Law/Gay Activism) 

Ian McKellen 1939 (Acting/Gay Activism)

Lily Tomlin 1939 (Comedy/Gay Activism)

Bret Whiteley 1939 (Art)

Matthew Fox 1940 (Religion)

John Lewis 1940 (Civil Rights)

John Lennon 1940 (Music)

Al Pacino 1940 (Acting)

Nancy Pelosi 1940 (Politics)

Joan Baez 1941 (Music)

Bernado Bertolucci 1941 (Cinema)

David Crosby 1941 (Music)

Bob Dylan 1941 (Music)

Paul Simon 1941 (Music)

Joe Biden 1942 (Politics)

Billy Connolly 1942 (Comedy/Acting)

Aretha Franklin 1942 (Music)

Stephen Hawking 1942 (Science)

Jimi Hendrix 1942 (Music)

Carol King 1942 (Music)

George Lucas 1942 (Cinema)

Susan Ryan 1942 (Women's Rights)

Martin Scorcese 1942 (Cinema)

Rupert Sheldrake 1942 (Biology)

Barbara Streisand 1942 (Music)

Peter Carey 1943 (Literature)

Mick Jagger 1943 (Music)

Joni Mitchell 1943 (Music)

Richard Rohr 1943 (Religion)

Karen Armstrong 1944 (Religion)

Bob Brown 1944 (Politics/Gay Rights)

Ray Davies 1944 (Music) 

Angela Davis 1944 (Civil Rights)

Alice Walker 1944 (Literature)

Mia Farrow 1945 (Acting)

Bette Midler 1945 (Music/Comedy)

Baby-Boomers:

Benny Andersson 1946 (Music)

Bill Clinton 1946 (Politics)

Liz Green 1946 (Astrology)

Liza Minnelli 1946 (Music/Acting)

Steven Spielberg 1946 (Cinema)

David Bowie 1947 (Music.Acting)

Hillary Clinton 1947 (Politics)

Elton John 1947 (Music)

Jenny Kee 1947 (Fashion)

Steven King 1947 (Literature)

Salman Rushdie 1947 (Literature)

Arnold Schwarzenegger 1947 (Body-Building/Acting/Politics)

King Charles III 1948 (Royalty/Climate Activism)

Cheryl Kernot 1948 (Politics)

Andrew Lloyd Webber 1948 (Music/Theater)

Ian McKewan 1948 (Literature)

Caitlyn Jenner 1949 (Transgender Activism)

Meryl Streep 1949 (Acting)

Richard Branson 1950 (Music/Business)

Graeme Murphy 1950 (Dance)

Richard Tarnas 1950 (Astrology/Cultural History)

Bob Geldof 1951 (Music/Activism)

Robyn Williams 1951 (Comedy/Acting)

Peter Tatchell 1952 (Gay Activism)

Tony Blair 1953 (Politics)

Hugo Chavez 1954 (Politics)

Louis de Bernieres 1954 (Literature)

Alan Hollinghurst 1954 (Gay Literature)

Angela Merkel 1954 (Politics)

Oprah Winfrey 1954 (TV Journalist)

Bill Gates 1955 (Computers/Business)

Steve Jobs 1955 (Computers.Business)

Colm Toibin 1955 (Literature)

Ellen de Generes 1958 (TV/Gay Activism)

So it is evident that the Boomers have made a considerable contribution to the evolution and enlightenment of humanity.

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Winning.

Winning is the way of the world.

And winning at all costs is evil.

That is why some sports men and women sell their souls to the devil.

They believe that the devil can grant them worldly success and fame.

And so they addict us to their sports.

And they generate million dollar incomes from our obsession.

But their philosophy is brutal.

They write themselves off when they celebrate victory.

And the punish failure with a world of pain.

So be aware - sports obsession is evil.

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The World.

The world teaches us to value: success, wealth, fame, possessions, status, sex, pleasure, authority, and power.....

But as disciples of Jesus we are to reject these values in favor of: compassion, honesty, non-violence, mercy, love, peace, and faith.....

These are the values of the Kingdom of God as set out in the Beatitudes.

And we are called to embody them.

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Salt.

Jesus said to his disciples: "'You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?  It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.'"  Matthew 5:13 (NRSV)

I believe that this refers to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called cheap grace - this salt that has lost its taste.

It refers to those who receive the Good News and accept the blessing but do not do anything in response.

They live their lives as everyone else does and don't think twice about it.

But Bonhoeffer asserted that more was necessary and that this came at a cost - costly grace.   

And that cost entailed a renunciation of worldly values in favor of the values of the Kingdom of God as set out in the Beatitudes.        

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright ©  1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used By permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Love.

Love is a spiritual quality.

The source of love cannot be located in the body, mind, or nervous system.

And yet we feel love.

We feel love through our spirits.

And, just as the heart is the center of our body, so the spiritual heart is the center of our spiritual body.

The Soul or the Divine Spark is located within our spiritual heart.

And it is from the soul that love flows through our spirits and bodies.

And so love is a spiritual quality.

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Spirit.

Spirit is the animating principle of life!

It gives life to inanimate matter.

It is symbolized by God's Breath - The Breath of Life!

"then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being."  Genesis 1:7 (NRSV)

The Breath of Life is God's Spirit.

It permeates and supports all life.

And so we have a spiritual body.

And even plants and trees must have spirits.

This may help us to understands the Sacred Sites of Aboriginal people.

Our spirits discern the peace and presence of God in a particular place.

There may be extraordinary beauty and silence in a forest or a waterhole and this becomes a 'thin place' where we can encounter God.

Trees and plants breathe in what we exhale.

And so we are partners in a larger ecology.

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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The Heart.

The heart is the center of our being.

The air we breathe and the food we eat pass through the lungs and the stomach respectively to the heart.

And blood from the heart passes to our brain and our spinal chord giving them life.

The brain and the spinal chord generate the nervous system which governs our bodies.

And; even though taste, smell, hearing, and sight neurons pass directly to the brain and our sense of feeling from our nervous system travels to the brain; the brain could have no life without the blood generated from the heart.

And so the heart is the center of our being.

Without the heart we could have no life.

Our soul is located in our heart.

And so love is the wellspring of life.   

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The Church.

There is homophobia in the Church.

Many Christians persist in condemning homosexuals.

They will exclude us from God's House, cut us off from God, torture us, and condemn us to hell for eternity.

But the irrational anger of their attacks betrays their fear.

The fear of God's punishment.

The fear of death.

But their fears are no longer valid.

AIDS is virtually cured.

And Gay Marriage is legal in Australia.

So they are fighting their own shadows.

And persecuting a delusion.

Homosexuality is love.

And "those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them."  1 John 4:16 (NRSV)

So they are wrong!

Gay men and women abide in God's Love.

And we will all go to Heaven when we die.

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]   

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The Presence of God.

We can experience the Presence of God but we can also experience what seems to be the absence of God.

Although God is never completely absent because God is in all things and more.

But through prayer, study, contemplation, and action we can experience God's Presence.

This is God breaking into History usually through human beings.

 The prophet Habakkuk complained.

"O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not listen?

Or cry to you 'Violence' and you will not save?

Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?"

Habakkuk 1: 2,3 (NRSV)

"Then the Lord answered me and said.....

.....there is still a vision for the appointed time."

Habakkuk 2: 2,3 (NRSV)

That time is now.

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Nature and God.

As our autonomic nervous system functions without our conscious intervention so Nature functions without God's conscious intervention*.

This is cause and effect** - the Laws of Nature.

And it explains why there are differences between Nature and God.

In ancient times men observed the influences of Nature and ascribed these attributes to the gods.

This is why the gods were cruel and indifferent.

But God is transcendent.

God cares about our suffering.

God is merciful and forgiving.

And God's inmost nature is Love.

(* It has been said that the universe is God's body.)

(** This cannot, however, be applied to our experience as human beings.  This is governed by fear and ignorance and the reactions of other human beings around us.)

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The Hippies.

The world hated the Hippies.

Because the Hippies challenged the materialism and corruption of the corporations and their political puppets.

Jesus said: "'If the world hates you, be aware that the world hated me before it hated you.  If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own.  Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world - therefore the world hates you.'"  John 15:18,19 (NRSV)

Generation X were the corporate bosses' most favored nation.

Because they were materialistic and worldly the world loved them as its own.

And they were allied with Fundamentalist and Evangelical Churches.

Ronald Reagan said: "Christianity contains unconventional weapons."

These were: Demonization, damnation, blaming and shaming.....

He called the Hippies: "Unconscious agents of the devil."

And he sought the help of Pope John Paul II who was a conservative and anti-communist Pope.

But who were Reagan's allies?

Billionaires, Hollywood studios, media-moguls.....

The mega-rich.

These are the powers of this world.

And they usurped the power of God to achieve their ends.

But nothing lasts forever.

The Hippies will be vindicated.

Jesus said: "'If they called the Master of the House Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household*.'"  Matthew 10:24 (NRSV)

And they did.

(*NB. The Baby-Boomers were all baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ and the Hippies' campaign of non-violent Peace and Love was based on Christian principles as interpreted by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jnr. and the Kennedy brothers.)

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Homophobia.

After watching the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade I spoke to several friends about it.

I was surprised at the homophobic comments they made.

These are people who you would expect to have reasonably tolerant attitudes.

They both, however, reinforced the stereotype that gay people are excessively sexual, promiscuous, and lascivious.

I expressed my disappointment at their prejudiced attitudes.

And I tried to make them aware of their unconscious homophobia.

This experience has made me aware that negative attitudes towards gay people are still lurking in the closet.

And I renewed my determination to address them.

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The Domination System.

The Western Liberal Democracies pride themselves on their peaceful, civilized societies.

But it must be remembered that these governments are backed up by huge modern armies.

This is the Domination System.

And peace is maintained so long as these Democracies are not challenged.

But the unfortunate side-effects of the Domination System are oppression and exploitation.

And the capitalist corporations that inhabit these Democracies exploit and abuse weaker countries.

This is the root of 9/11.

And the response of the self-professed Christian President was to retaliate with all the force of the Dominant Power.

When it came to the point it was not the Christian principle of "turning the other cheek" that prevailed but the brutal retaliation of domination.

So we can have no illusions about the dominance of the West.

It is the imposition of White Privilege.

And it is the continuation of the Domination System.    

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The Powers.

In his book Engaging the Powers Walter Wink describes the powers of this world as fallen.

 

This is far from the Fundamentalist attitude towards the corporate plutocrats of this world.

Conservative Christians have allied themselves with the corporations in a way that is totally in contradiction of scripture.

This can only be the result of Prosperity Theology which believes that wealth and power come from God and worldly authority is divinely sanctioned.

This contradicts the Bible which describes worldly powers as Beasts.

Jesus described the way of the world as evil.  (John 7:7)

The reason for this discrepancy is because the right-wing Christian Churches are part of the conservative establishment and have been since the time of Constantine.

Therefore they identify with worldly authority and adopt the attitudes and practices of the ruling elite.

But Jesus was neither rich nor powerful.

And he challenged the authority of the Pharisees.

So do not believe the Fundamentalists when they talk about authority and wealth.

 

God is on the side of the poor and needy.

As Jesus was.

And it was the worldly powers who crucified him.

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Dune.

The Dune series is grossly misunderstood.

It is not a prophetic vision of the future.

It is a biting critique of religion and prophesy itself.

Frank Herbert's thesis was that prophesies of the Chosen One are dangerous and they create ego-maniacs who oppress and kill millions.

This is borne out by the sequel in which Paul Atreides' (the original Chosen One) son Leto accepts the sacrifice his father had rejected and turns himself into a sandworm.

This is a parody of Christian Churches' requirement to abase yourself before God.

"I am a worm."  Psalm 22:6 (NRSV)

"You worm Jacob, you insect Israel."  Isaiah 41;14 (NRSV)

And so we should not look at Dune as a prophesy of the future at all.

It is anti-religious satire.

And it should be treated as such.

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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