April 2005 Archives

They can have their Bible Church, I'll stay with Jesus.

I recently started reading the Famous and nonfamous strangers blog, where there is a discussion on Microsoft's capitulation on equal rights for gays and lesbians.

The news all over the internet is that Microsoft withdrew support for HR 1515 following direct pressure from Antioch Bible Church. Pastor Ken Hutcherson threatened an evangelical boycott of Microsoft products and demanded that two Microsoft employees who testified on behalf of the bill be fired.

This got me thinking about the spiritual credentials of Antioch and its chief pastor.

Take Action: Tell Microsoft to Reinstate Their Support for Workplace Fairness Legislation

The funny thing is, I was at a meeting on the Microsoft campus today when I recevied the above call to action from the HRC. Talk about coincidence!

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer commented in the New York Times on April 24, 2005:

"We are thinking hard about what is the right balance to strike -- when should a public company take a position on a broader social issue, and when should it not?

"What message does the company taking a position send to its employees who have strongly held beliefs on the opposite side of the issue?"

A Network for Grateful Living

My friend who reads my blog (bless his heart) sent me a link to this site. It's all about living with gratefulness. Exploring it, I came across a set of 'practices for grateful living'. I spent some time with one entitled 'Being Grateful for Your Uniqueness'. It includes a meditation on the the beauty of an individual snowflake (no two are alike) and compares it to the even more astonishing uniqueness of a human being. I was asked to read a short biography (I chose William Blake's) as an exercise in discovering the unique gift that just one person can bring to the world. I did indeed feel grateful. Very inspiring.

It occurred to me that there must be a real connection between gratefulness and gracefulness. Only a truly grateful heart can be graceful. And what is our gratefulness, other than our heart's joyful responding to the work of grace in our lives?

Thanks, John, for sending me the link to this site.

I just received an e-mail from a friend who read my blog. After the initial excitement settled down (after all, somebody actually read it!!) I realized something...

The things we do, the words we speak or write, can have a powerful influence on others. We know that harsh words can hurt, but do we realize how much more true is the opposite? The simple act of reading an encouraging e-mail from a friend can lift me up, even when I'm feeling tired and weary after a long day. How many times do we lift others up, without even knowing it? A smile, a word of encouragement, a gentle touch, a kiss, a brief conversation with a stranger. We have the power within us to bring light and joy to others. The angels (if there be angels) do not have this power.

'A man finds joy in giving an apt reply...
And how good is a timely word!'

- Proverbs 15:23

We live in troubling times. The Roman Catholic cardinals have elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as pope. Ratzinger is the chief architect of the Vatican's recent moral and doctrinal pronouncements, including those directing Catholic politicians everywhere to discriminate against GLBT people and roll back our civil rights. Not content to persecute gays and lesbians within his own church, Ratzinger masterminded a global strategy to put pressure on world governments to deny legal recognition of same-sex relationships and withdraw legal protection of human and civil rights for GLBT people.