Not Out of FEAR!

I have often been made keenly aware that FEAR motivates, not only in situations, but also in life-
    orientation. 
FEAR is taught, sometimes by people in our lives and sometimes by situations in them.
FEAR leads us to defensiveness, the defending of self, sometimes applied in situations in which it is
    not only not needed, but not helpful or healthy to be fearful and defensive.
FEAR quite naturally makes us conservative - to conserve those things for ourselves that may help us
    fend off whatever perceived threats we have for our future.
FEAR encourages reservation - the reserving of ourselves from sharing, opening up and receptivity,
    so that we are closed up in our encounters with the world and the people in it.
FEAR demands an orientation all about "SELF" preservation, which leads us to be defensive,
    conservative and reserved in how we meet the world and the people in it.
FEAR inevitably leads, when it is followed as the course of one's life, to wariness with others, a lack
    of trust, suspicion in most situations, eventually hatred of some or many and sometimes the
    ruthless, aggressive attacking of others, any others, whom we perceive to be a "threat", because
    they "MIGHT" hurt us, somehow.

I like the acronym for FEAR that follows:
    False
    Evidence
    Appearing
    Real

When FEAR is that which I first meet people or situations in my life, I am meeting others and situations in my life in weakness.  I RARELY need to do so.  If I meet most people and situations in my life as one who perceives myself as being vulnerable and potentially a victim, that says a lot about how I look at myself, and NOT just how I look at the world and people in it.

I REFUSE to live my life out of a FEAR orientation.
I REFUSE to be conservative with my possessions, thoughts, kindness or feelings.
I REFUSE to be closed up because I once was hurt or could be again.
I REFUSE to be reserved in how I meet the world around me.
I REFUSE to naval gaze because I can only focus on protecting "self".
I REFUSE to hurt others around me because I perceive that they MIGHT be a threat to me.
I REFUSE to let FEAR be my orientation to the world and the people in it.

I do not VALUE living in FEAR, and the things that come out of living in FEAR.
I may be sometimes hurt, sometimes victimized, sometimes exploited, sometimes ignored or abandoned, but out of a FEAR of that, I will NOT always keep myself from fully living my life!
I will NOT keep myself from putting out into the world those things that I believe make the world a better place in which to live!  I will NOT allow FEAR to make me put out in the world the things I do not value!

So, call me a LIBERAL - generous and open with concern over the well-being of others... YES, you can label me that.  It means I am receptive and open to sharing.
I will NOT be a CONSERVATIVE, because I will NOT let my whole life orientation be formed in FEAR.

Pastor Jamie

Mr. President

And FOR THE RECORD, Mr. President... those bigots whose opinions are that NOTHING you do can be right, ARE doing so out of a hatred over race, regardless of what other "rationalizations" they may raise... it is a reaction to people of color... finally being recognized, and they cannot stand that... people of color gaining some means, which is a threat to those with an insane sense of race-superiority... people of color doing marvelous things publicly, which they CANNOT ENDURE... unfortunate, typical, insane, ill... and consistent... press on, in spite of... endure... and DO THE RIGHT THING, not the thing you hope will please or placate them... they will attack regardless, so DO THE RIGHT THING for the most vulnerable and poor... FINALLY, Sir, PLEASE DO THE RIGHT THING, not the most politically shrewd, the most expedient, the least controversial or divisive... THE RIGHT THING for the poor and most vulnerable... THEN, you will truly have RISEN ABOVE the FREY... God bless you.  Rev.Jamie Kaufman

NOT BEFORE...

When EVERY CHILD in America TRULY has an EQUAL SHOT AT...

AFFORDABLE HOUSING
FOOD
UTILITIES
TRANSPORTATION
CASTING A VOTE
HEALTHCARE
MARRIAGE
EDUCATION
CITIZENSHIP
EMPLOYMENT
LIVING WAGES, and
GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATION of them,

and

When THE WEALTHY individuals and corporations (who are not people),
pay ALL their taxes on TOTAL ASSETS, without exception...

THEN
We can talk about an END TO

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
and other STILL NEEDED
SOCIAL SAFETY-NET/SOCIAL WELFARE Programs,

but NOT BEFORE!

Rev. Jamie Kaufman

"Stand Your Ground" means "Open Season"

"Stand Your Ground" is working just as it was intended to work.  White folks packin' heat can start altercations and then shoot black folk because they "feel threatened", and black folks still cannot defend themselves without being accused of somehow being the "wrong" ones, even after they are killed.

It is another example of UNEQUAL JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW.

Trayvon Martin was 17 and was not carrying a concealed weapon because he was too young.  But he was still accused of "thug-like" behavior after being stalked by a guy with a gun who relentlessly and doggedly pursued a confrontation with him, because he used concrete and the ground to defend himself against an older, larger and armed man - a man who was acquitted after murdering him.

Marissa Alexander was denied "stand your ground", though she did not shoot anyone, but shot warning shots as her "x" was about to attack her - a man who had beaten her before.  She is in prison for 20 years, but the murderer of Trayvon Martin was acquitted.

Jordan Davis

Trevor Dooley - 71 years old...

It is clear... the common denominator is... drum roll... guess what... RACE...

This law was written as an attempt to legally lynch again - to allow people to have "open season" on black males - to turn the clock back to the "bad old days" of our past...

And the only ones who win are the HATEFUL, among them the NRA.  More fear, more guns and ammo, more shootings, more killings, more fear... and 'round and 'round she goes... and we get sucked into buying guns and the NRA (and undertakers) only win...

When will we stand and say "NO!" to the hateful?
When will we stop being duped into becoming a part of the problem in fear and anger?
When will we be the solution, instead?

"Those who take up the sword (Gloc) will perish by the sword (AR 15)."  Jesus
Jesus said this to PETER, who was defending Jesus' life with a sword... Jesus does NOT want us to pick up arms, even those who can only kill at arm's length... it is NOT His Will... if you want to follow Jesus, you CANNOT follow Him by carrying or having concealed weapons or assault weapons... He would not go there, so those who follow HIM do not go there.  If they do, they are following someone else, because JESUS does not go there.

Don't be a part of the problem.  If you want the world to be less violent, do not contribute the tools of violence to it.  If you want the world to be less hateful, don't let your hatred cause you to sin.  If you want the world to be less angry, don't let your anger cause you to sin.  If you want the world to be less fearful and therefore defensive and volatile, then don't let your fear cause you to be defensive and therefore volatile.  To be a part of the solution means doing the opposite of what has caused the problems.

Follow Jesus - His teachings and examples, regardless of what the world around you is doing.

Pastor Jamie

A DIFFERENT VISION

How about out of Love for God and Neighbor - the Agape Love (committed action on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy - Luke 10:25-37) that Jesus COMMANDED, we as followers of Jesus DEMAND that there be a change, not just in individual laws, but in our nation's COMMITMENT to its people and the world...

To Agape Love God with all we have, and love God's WHOLE creation, WHOLE people of all races, ethnicities, faith practices and political philosophies, EQUALLY...

To Agape Love and be Good Stewards of the Creation-
   pursue renewable resources such as geo-thermal, wind and solar power for homes, factories and
   automobiles, so we stop polluting our ground, water and air

To Agape Love our Neighbors as ourselves -
  Insist on Equal Employment and payment for ALL
                 a LIVING WAGE for ALL workers... minimum $15 per hour for ANY job
                 Full Time Employment of 40 hours per week and time and a half for overtime
                 Healthcare for ALL - change the current "Obamacare" and "tweek" it, rather than, out of
                           a desire for more profit for some, defeat it altogether
                 Equal Education for ALL from pre-school through High School - whether in rural, small
                           town, urban or inner-city schools
                 Low -cost Higher Education and Loans for students, including TRADE SCHOOLS for
                           those whose prowess is in manual labor
                 Affordable Housing, Utilities, Transportation, Food, Water for ALL
                 Equal Justice for ALL  with ONE Criminal Justice system for ALL, equally
                 Taking care of our elderly, disabled and other most vulnerable citizens
                 Liberty for individuals over their own bodies, with available consultation of options,
                              and for individuals to have equal marriage with whomever they love...

... and when we have TRULY achieved that AVAILABILITY FOR ALL,
         THEN we look at eliminating public assistance in the future

If we truly LOVE GOD with all that we have, and LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS WE LOVE OUR SELVES, we will not give our devotion to more profit over God or People, and will do that... yes, it would mean a bit less profit for owners, executives and stock holders... but our soul as a nation would be restored to well-being...

we will COMMIT to that as our KINGDOM VALUES for how we live in THIS PART of God's Kingdom, according to God's Will!

It is time for us as Christians in our nation to stand together for Agape Love and BECOME ZACCHAEUS (Luke 19:1-10), instead of the rich man of Luke 16:19-31, so that we do not end up like the rich ruler of Luke 18:18-30, who went away sad because he could not follow Jesus, rather than hold onto his idolatrous devotion to Mammon... instead, we need to live God's Kingdom values that out of the Grace and Agape Love we understand, everyone have enough, regardless (Matthew 20:1-16)... it's time for repentance - a change in how we THINK about things... time to THINK, BELIEVE, ACT on the Agape Love in our nation, as people who DO FOLLOW JESUS...

THEN, our future as a nation will be different, and so will our fate as individual believers... Matthew 25:31-46... just sayin'

Pastor Jamie

GREED'S BLUEPRINT FOR OUR FUTURE

   In 1981, a Republican whose name letters count 666, was elected and started the ball rolling on laissez-faire Capitalism to the EXTREME, at the price of Democracy.  It was pro-business at the expense of EVERYONE else, and the battle cry for DE-REGULATION was heard across our land.  Then, the "moral" majority of right-wing "Christians" joined forces with these fiscal radicals, and thus began the DESOLATING SACRILEGE (those who have ears, let them hear), in which the "Christian" "Right" became FULLY joined in unholy union with Mammon.
   Since then, the middle class has evaporated at an alarming rate, a very small percentage going into the upper economic sector, and the majority going into the lower.  Anti-trust laws were discarded or changed.  Monopolies started their gilded age again.  Lumber executives were appointed to manage our forests, oil executives were appointed to oversee our geological resources and retailers of food were put in charge of fishing fields and cornfields.  The foxes were now guarding the hen houses.  Our value shifted from Democracy, even a relative one at THAT time, to extreme CAPITALISM in the hearts of the true believers and patriots.  Prosperity Theology was the new order in the churches, which perfectly fed into our American, Civil Religion based on devotion to Mammon, Mars and Bacchus (Wealth, Power and Self-Indulgence).  Our democracy was gradually sold to the highest bidders, who got the rules changed so that they could court those elected with monetary bribes, future consultant jobs and votes.  The religious "right" re-defined MORALITY to only be about sexual things like women's bodies and what they could do with them, and who a person was allowed to love and who they were not, completely excluding GREED from any discussions around immorality at all.  They wanted to legislate bedrooms and de-regulate boardrooms, and they were very successful at it, sometimes with great and swift strides and sometimes slowly, more subtly, but steadily over the past 32 years.
   Organized Labor had to go, because it balanced the power between labor and management, and the Anti-Christ would not like that.  Workers rights were gutted gradually and eventually those who fought democratically for their rights as workers were again labeled "thugs", in order that "right to work extra hard at substandard wages" states could be victorious.  De-regulation of business also meant the privatizing of mental health institutions, healthcare options and other previously overseen things that now could be done more corruptly for the profit of a few.  Eventually, the whole of government was bought by Corporations and their lobbyists/PAC's.  De-regulation would mean that nothing could stand in the way of profitability for a few.  The destruction of the land, pollution of it along with our water and air, waste of natural resources and exploitation of people is a small price to pay for the many, in order that the very few may make unhampered and unlimited profit.  Government agencies that inspect and regulate such things along with food safety and cost to consumers were obliterated.  Genetically modified foods do not need to be labeled, pharmaceutical companies can charge exorbitant prices for the most needed medicines, the ability to litigate rampant unfairness was taken care of in "tort reform".  Gun owners can buy at will, but voters now have their rights taken away for the sake of "homeland security" and out of the fear of "voter fraud" - thinly veiled gerrymandering of districts for more "right wing" political victories.  People whose homes are unlivable because of oil spills or "fracking", all of which has been done WITHOUT their consent because the government entrusted to protect them allows it (because its owners say so) have their properties purchased by the companies because no one else would buy them, but only if they sign a "gag" order.  Peaceable demonstrations are broken up.  The media has been bought and paid for, so there is hardly ANYONE, except those who print or broadcast by the contributions of citizens, who is blowing ANY whistles about any wrongdoing.  The church is silent.  The church is silent.  The church is compliant.
  Soon, for-profit schools will limit the children who can attend so that the companies that own them can "hire" the children for dollars a day for child labor, and the for-profit prisons will be full if inmates who are shipped out to factories and fields for dollars an hour to work - all because we have privatized everything and have counted on the worshipers of Mammon to "do the right thing".  Of course, these are the same "job creators" who, in the face of a bit less profit during a recession LAID OFF AMERICA, and then complained that making them pay their taxes would hurt Americans because they are "job creators".  These are the ones truly and solely represented in government today, and they want us not to have healthcare or overtime pay or a living wage.  And so the story goes...
Always driven by MORE PROFIT for those who already receive the lion's share, because the nature of greed is that it doesn't matter what one already has - if more is out there, one should have MORE... those at "the top" in wealth and power are systematically, intentionally, ruthlessly pursuing a new "Gilded Age" for the new Robber Barons.  The vision of serfs working for the feudal lord of the corporation is an endearing one to them.  The return to child labor and even (for profit) debtor's prison makes them swell with anticipation.  It is good to be them when it happens, but NOT SO GOOD to be anyone else.
Now it is over-time pay that they will eliminate.  Forget "time and a half" after you have worked your 40 hour week.  The labor unions have already been stripped of enough power to stop most of these initiatives, including this one.  Most can only find part-time work already, so that piece is in place.  Minimum wage will be eliminated, not to usher in a time of a LIVING WAGE, but as in most "right to work states", to employ people but at unsustainable living rates.  Benefits have been lost because that was the aim at hiring people only part-time, and healthcare initiatives that have been passed will continue to be attacked until they are gone, so that employers need not worry about the "cogs in the wheel" at all.  There are fewer jobs even to be had now, because so many were shipped overseas, so that we could exploit children and adults there, but they will bring the jobs back when legislation allows them to return to even lower sub-standard wages for adults and a return to child labor here.  "Illegal" immigrants are now the target for deportation because they will not be needed when other laws enable inmates from private, for-profit prisons to take their place.  Public assistance is being eliminated, while corporate welfare thrives, because one must look to "the company" that bought the government, instead of those who are supposed to represent them/protect their interests in government for one's survival, so that they may be further exploited by "the company".  Perhaps there will also be a return to "the company store" that provides rent, utilities, food, clothing and other necessities, so that prices may be set high enough to keep one under the control of "the company", and if one cannot or will not pay, then the for-profit prison will gladly take him/her/them in and "the company" will benefit from their labors at an even lower rate.  It is a no lose situation for "the company".
The for-profit schools will not be affordable for every child, so more children in the workforce will be added, along with those who cannot cut the expectations they lay out for the children of the elites.  If they do not work, their parents, who used to be able to squeak by with two incomes, but no longer, will end up in debtors' prison and work for $2 per hour for the for-profit prison that makes $15 per hour off their backs, as they are shipped out to factories and corporate farms that alone can make it because the farm bill was killed, and their children will share their fate when they are "of age" or sooner.  Family togetherness will be at the sweatshop, because it no longer takes one breadwinner or even two, but the whole family working just to survive.  Some are not far from that reality already.  Only owners and executives will be able to not only survive, but thrive and live the opulent lifestyles they have deemed appropriate for themselves, because they have successfully bought legislation that makes their exploitation of the masses legal again... oh happy day (for them)...
Student loans will be doubled and re-doubled so that only those with means can afford to pursue higher education, even the "hire education" they had grown accustomed to... those students who WOULD HAVE been being prepared for higher-level jobs will now be forced to work for the sub-standard wages described above, and the "serfdom cha-cha" dance continues also for them.  The very few will have the education, the legislation, the power and the wealth alone, and their philosophy of ruthless greed will have paid off for them.
Owners, executives and stock holders will make HUGE PROFITS on the backs of those who CANNOT MAKE IT... they will be a VERY SMALL CLUB... always getting smaller, so those who now support them, hoping to be inducted or at least to get some of the crumbs from their tables, will awaken to that reality all too late, having already given them the power and wealth they need to buy government and therefore "legitimize" their ruthless exploitation of EVERYONE ELSE.  With no organized labor left, the way is being paved for this (NOT NEW PHENOMENA) RETURN to the "good ole' days" for those who believe they are ENTITLED to their place at "the top", perched up on the heaped ruins of destroyed hopes and dreams below... a return to "the good ole' days" indeed.
And the rest of us will long for a return to our "good ole' days" of being paid a living wage with benefits and adequate time off weekly and yearly, reasonably low student loans so that our children will have the chance of a brighter future and choices in life.
Of course, that would mean less profit for the owners, executives and stock-holders who have worked to cunningly, systematically and ruthlessly to create the environment toward which we are headed at an alarming rate, so that won't happen...

And many of those actively working toward this end claim to be good, American CHRISTIANS.

"DO TO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO TO YOU."  Jesus

Pastor Jamie

BY THEIR FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM

So, we have a decision by the Supreme Court that potentially lifts up folks for equal marriage.  That is WONDERFUL and the battles that will ensue in states will be interesting and hopeful!  For that I am THANKFUL (and surprised).

The Voting Rights Act nonsense will return huge segments of poor, elderly, mostly black and brown folks to the 1950's when it comes to going to exercise their right in a free democracy to vote.  They will be scrutinized as potential criminals while anyone who goes to buy a gun will be lauded as a hero and patriot, regardless of their intentions.  This is being done, clearly, to suppress voters who would likely vote for anyone other than those who represent the far political "right".  These are the folks who have Facebook pages and organizations like TAKE OUR AMERICA BACK and other similar things... now, Congress - bought and paid for - has done all they can to ensure that these folks get and stay in office, so it allows them to also...

not pass the IMMIGRATION BILL before congress.  They can be as hateful as they want, because they are courting LGBT community folks through the courts and figure they will get or retain some votes there, and they are suppressing the votes of black and brown folks who would likely vote for more centrist politicians, so they can go after the "illegal" immigrants and be as nasty as they want to them, those who have worked hard here, paid some taxes here, been exploited here and are now being treated shamefully in a new horror.  We can fill the for-profit prisons with some of them and they can go to working in the fields and factories for $2, the profits going to the prison, of course.  All this being done to them, even as the

FARM BILL is killed, which hurts farmers further and more importantly, TAKES FOOD OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF THE POOR who are on public assistance.  Yes, rather than balance the budget by actually making wealthy and powerful people and corporations (NOT THE SAME THING) pay the taxes they actually owe, we will go after the poor and hungry in our land.  And the farmers will be offered a great deal on prisoner labor, which they cannot refuse.   But it doesn't stop there, because now we are going to

raise STUDENT LOAN rates, even double them, so that those "freeloading" students, whose future jobs we have already eliminated by shipping them overseas so we can exploit other populations for more profit, will have to pay double the rate on student loans to get those almost worthless degrees that will hang on mom and dad's basement wall in their "apartment".  We will go to great lengths to keep the wealthy and powerful from having to pay their fair share as responsible citizens.  It gives the added bonus of paving the way for those who can pay for school outright to excel further as others drop out of school or never go because they cannot afford it.  It will further fill our military with desperate recruits who have nowhere else to go, and FOR PROFIT prisons with those who do desperate things as a last resort.

O beautiful for spacious skies... filled with pollutants from "fracking" ...
for amber waves of grain... saturated in leaked oil from the newest pipeline...
for purple mountains' majesty... with mountain streams later to be polluted (see above)...
above the fruited plains... the fruit picked by prisoners for $2/hour from the local prison
America, America

One HALF step forward and FOUR back...
it's the "PROFIT is GOD tango"... and we are dancing it, being led by the corporations who maneuver our politicians, who in turn dupe us into believing that their purpose is anything other than a quick buck for themselves and those who they truly represent... the rich and powerful...
so, have your hatred for gay folks, black and brown folks, poor folks, immigrant folks, students, union folks, folks who practice "other" faiths, progressive folks and anyone not straight, white, wealthy and/or male... poked, prodded and piqued so that you will continue to blame everyone else except those who pollute, destroy, waste, exploit, kill, deprive, manipulate, and cripple our nation and the world for their own profit... eventually you will see how they are destroying YOU... hope it's not too late...

Pastor Jamie