Best News of the Week:
Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz has just released “Look for the Good.” “Love Is Still The Answer,” is one of the songs from the album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc2BK09eKhk&feature=youtu.be
This is an interview of Jason Mraz about his new album.
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/04/23/jason-mraz-look-for-the-good
News from Peace:
Unsettling Intuitions
By David Tidball
I am an intuitive person. I see ideas as whole and completed pictures. I see connections between seemingly unrelated pieces of information, knowing they belong together without knowing exactly why. Sometimes this way of thinking can be magical, providing the spark for a new idea in an unpromising situation. And sometimes, intuitive insights can be overwhelming and very scary.
This second kind of intuition has happened to me twice in recent weeks. In the first instance, I was looking out our porch windows at what I call “the green wall,” the row of poplar and scrub willow trees that border the small wetland area just beyond the edge of our lawn. Thinking of them for a moment as if they personified all of the natural world, I asked them what living person embodied their experience of the total human community. The image that came to mind was that of President Donald J. Trump.
In the second case, I was watching the news coverage shortly after the George Floyd incident, which still included images of officer Derek Chauvin with his knee on George Floyd’s neck and the audio of Mr. Floyd saying, “I can’t breathe.” The image that came to mind was like a political cartoon – a single picture of what should have been a circle (the earth) squeezed to look like a sausage, with a person standing proudly atop this sausage-earth picture at its mid (low) point. The speech bubble coming from the sausage-earth said, “I can’t breathe.”
I REALLY don’t like these images. I find it offensive to think that I, either as an individual or as a part of the larger human community, could be compared, as regards my relationship to the natural world, either with the obvious selfishness of President Trump or the evident self-assured hubris of Derek Chauvin. However, with the instinct of an intuitive, I trust the authenticity of these two images. I trust them because I recognize them as valid distillations of years of gathering and storing data from a myriad of trustworthy sources. Trusting the data in my database and in my ability to formulate accurate queries, my inclination is to believe the results. For others with intuitive minds, I invite you to run these queries through your own database to see if your results corroborate my images. For those with minds more comfortable with the scientific method that starts with a hypothesis and conducts research to prove or refute the hypothesis, I invite you to start with my images as your hypotheses and conduct appropriate research.
Believing that these images are both trustworthy and disturbing and offensive has led to serious soul searching on my part as I have attempted to distill some useful purpose from them. In that vein, and to close, I would suggest the following: that these images might have the same purpose as did the spirit visitations of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. In the book, the Ghost of Christmas Past reminds Scrooge of the values of the person he might have become; the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the cost, borne both by himself and others of the person he has become; and the Ghost of Christmas Future shows Scrooge the end result of continuing on his present trajectory. Perhaps we, like Scrooge, both in shock from the disturbing images and in child-like delight at waking to the grace-filled possibility for change still confronting us, will gain adequate resolve and energy to reimagine ourselves and reconstitute more humble and healthy natural relationships.
Equal Exchange coffee and chocolate available. If you’re missing your favorite Equal Exchange coffee, cocoa, tea, or chocolate bars, contact Cindy (cindy@peaceumc.com) to arrange for pick-up or delivery, and payment. The following are available:
Breakfast Blend (whole or ground)
French Roast (whole or ground)
Toffee Caramel (ground)
Tea (black or green)
Hot chocolate (just in case we have a cold night)
Baking cocoa
Chocolate bars (milk chocolate, dark chocolate caramel, dark chocolate almond, and dark chocolate mint)
The July-August Upper Room is here. If you would like a copy of this daily devotional booklet mailed to your house, please send an email to Cindy (admin@peaceumc.com) to request one.
United Methodist Happenings
Police reform must involve reconciliation
By Rev. Dr. Shawn R. Moore
Shawn Moore serves The Beloved, a United Methodist Church in St. Paul, and is a former U.S. Navy security specialist and a former police officer. He recently reflected on his experience in these roles and how they inform his views of what’s happening today.
https://www.minnesotaumc.org/blogdetail/police-reform-must-involve-reconciliation-14022489
Rapid Response to the aftermath of the death of George Floyd
United Methodist congregations in the Twin Cities and beyond have participated in a rapid response to the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. Among other things, members and friends have stepped in with emergency evacuations, food, water, medical supplies, street cleanup, financial appeals, trauma support, and peaceful protests. Many others are looking for ways to put their faith into action. Here’s a compilation of opportunities.
- Join the new Minnesota Conference Rapid Response Facebook group: This is the “go-to place” for sharing needs and opportunities. It’s the best and fastest way to find out how you can help. You can help both in person (in the Twin Cities area) and contribute from other parts of the state.
- Contribute to New City Church’s solidarity fund: New City Church, a United Methodist church plant in South Minneapolis, has launched this fund to collect financial donations for:
- Local organizations doing hands-on work on the front-line (i.e. clean-up, mental health, food, medicines)
- Micro-loans that support individuals in the New City facing economic hardship
- Anti-racism programming
Grace Connections of the Week:
Grace connections invites you to find the power of God’s love in the midst of the harm, confusion and news of the week. Below are a few stories from the news of the week.
Video of the Week:
A Peace of My Mind visited 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis after the police killing of George Floyd and asked, “What do you want to say?
https://apomm.net/2020/06/11/george-floyd/
A Peace of My Mind is a multimedia arts project, created by award-winning photographer John Noltner, that uses portraits and personal stories to bridge divides and encourage dialogue around important issues.
https://apomm.net/
Photos of the Week:
https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/photos-of-the-week-idUSRTS3CC6E
‘They was killing black people’
In Tulsa, one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history still haunts the city with unresolved questions, even as ‘Black Wall Street’ gentrifies
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2018/09/28/feature/they-was-killing-black-people/
For George Floyd, a complicated life and a notorious death
https://apnews.com/a55d2662f200ead0da4fed9e923b60a7