John's Work

• "Split a piece of wood and I am there."
• "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied."
• "Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven."
• "Seek and you will find."
• "Knock and it will be opened."
• "Love one another!"
• "I was thirsty and you gave me drink."
• "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be the sons of God."
• “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
• “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul.”
• “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
• “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
• "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
• "Yes I am with you always, until the very end of time”
• “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door w

• Over 150,000 Americans Sign Manhattan Declaration
• Southern Baptist Agency to Cut Missionary Force by 600

And it happens over and over. Food banks go empty while tens of thousands march for lower taxes, campaign coffers of right wing politicians, who only care for us in election years, are filled by right wing Christians whose churches are cutting staff and services in response to falling donations in this terrible
economic climate.

So you gotta ask, where's the outrage?

A young man named Victor received a parrot as a gift.

The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary.

Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity.

Victor tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, Victor was fed up and he yelled at the parrot.

The parrot yelled back.

Victor shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.

Victor, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer.

For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed.

Then suddenly there was total quiet.

Not a peep was heard for over a minute.

Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, Victor quickly opened the door to the freezer.

The parrot calmly stepped out onto Victor's outstretched arms and said "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.

I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

Victor was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude.

As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior,the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

"Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness."

Reinhold Niebuhr

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace--that where there is hatred, I may bring love--that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness--that where there is discord, I may bring harmony--that where there is error, I may bring truth--that where there is doubt, I may bring faith--that where there is despair, I may bring hope--that where there are shadows, I may bring light--that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.  Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted--to understand, than to be understood--to love, than to be loved.  For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.  It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.  It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.