This is every priest giving a tour of his church — “See up there...that water stain? We have no idea where the leak is coming from.”

I’d offer that feeding starving people is the opposite of spreading atheism. Faith without works is dead and the work of feeding the hungry is at the heart of every faith tradition. Indeed, it’s just at the heart of being a decent human.

This is a misunderstanding of the role of clergy. Jesus himself says “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The role of clergy is to cut through the bs of this world with a clear word from the Kingdom.

Since we’re going to throw out one amendment (birthright citizenship) we might as well have a 2 for 1 sale.

As I understand it, there was a pledge to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” and then, almost immediately, an unconstitutional attack on birthright citizenship was launched. It’s almost like this guy doesn’t take vows seriously.

When I was a kid, I remember a friend of mine and I found his parents’ liquor cabinet. We discovered vodka and had no idea what we’d opened up but it was fun until we passed out. A lot of folks think this is fun but there’s a serious hangover coming for all of us.

I’ve typed and re-typed a dozen things here. But here’s the only honest thing I’ve come up with watching this today. God help us. I’m trying not to dislike neighbors, family, and friends who made this possible. But God help us. I’ll find more to say. But God help us.

It’s five years now…and still the letters and e-mails come…but it’s definitely not a cult.

…courageous enough for photoshop…on the eye…and on the jowls…and on the cheeks…and on the hair…but courageous…except on the shading on the collar and lapel…but definitely courageous…except around the tips of the ears…and the shading filters…but definitely courage…

People have asked why we home school or why I don’t trust the school system. Not that long ago, when the public school system said they had no room for our son after his IEP was approved, he couldn’t read. He couldn’t write. He couldn’t do basic math. He would come home and literally crawl under a bench in our back yard and cry, asking why his teachers didn’t like him. Tonight, I went to search for something on YouTube. There I found his searches for various things. He had applied the learning and reading and writing he has done. I don’t know that a parent has ever teared up at reading “Tower of Terror Walt Disney World” but I did. Because I know just how hard he worked to get to the point where he could search for videos about rides at Disney. I know many have issues with the ESA program here in Arizona and many don’t think vouchers should exist. But I know for a certainty that he would still be unable to open YouTube and find a video about rides if he were in the schools that rejected him.

RT @ArtCandee: Marc Elias’ take on Donald Trump: “Donald Trump is not Hitler. He is not Stalin. His vision of America is neither pre-war G…

I’m personally absolving everyone who day drinks this week.

This is my letter to the congregation about the election: When I was young, I had a paper route. I had to get up early, around 5:00am, before boxing practice at 6:30, and get out and deliver newspapers. I don’t know if you’ve been in northern Indiana in the winter. But at 5:00am, it is cold! I’d be exhausted and freezing. I’d get home, get ready to head back out the door to practice and I’d say to my dad, “I’m so tired!” His response was always, “Then do it tired.” If I was cold, he’d say “do it cold.” He’d say the difference between winners and losers was that winners could do what they needed to do whether they were tired, cold, hungry, or whatever. That came to mind this week after the election. There are a lot of people who are exhausted, me included. A lot of people are worn down emotionally and spiritually. A lot of people are just tired. We’ll have to do it tired. What is it, exactly? It is going to mean ensuring that those who most need to hear it hear the Gospel through us and our actions. It is going to mean ensuring that the divisions of the day aren’t enough to break our spirits, our hearts, or our trust in God. It is going to mean ensuring that those who are now fearing they will be rounded up and deported without dignity or due process know the church has always and will continue to offer sanctuary. It is going to mean standing up for the dignity of all people in the face of a constant pressure to dehumanize and denigrate them. It is going to mean being a voice for justice and a defender of freedom. It is going to mean not being political for the sake of making a point. It is going to mean speaking to the cruelties of our politics with the love of the Gospel. And we’ll just have to do it tired. I have zero interest in being another bit player in the partisan dramas of the day. However, the Church has always, in our best hours, been an ally of those who have found themselves victimized by the power of the state. So many of the stories of the saints aren’t about how privately pious the saints all were. So many and more of them are saints because they heard the call of Christ to stand between the powers of this world and the poor, the innocent, the hungry, and the oppressed. The Church may need to put itself between the oppressed and the state once again. We may need to lift our voice on behalf of those who fear theirs won’t be heard. We may need to respond to the human needs that the power plays of national politics create. We also need to be ready to be a healing force in these divided times as we model for the world how to be a people united in Christ across our differences. I don’t know what the need will be. None of us do. We can’t predict the future but we can learn from the past. In times of fierce division, everyday people are often the collateral damage. We are the ambulance service of our national life. We are here to carry the wounded and heal the broken as Christ’s hands and feet in the world. We’ve been here before. The saints have shown us what to do. We’re tired. But we’ll have to do it tired.

We’ve literally chosen the worst character in every story we tell our kids about character and decency.

My heart goes out for @LindseyGrahamSC tonight. Four more years of this obsequious groveling and conscience-melting absurdity for the sake of who knows what. Four more years of pretending that his friendship with John McCain mattered. Four more years of watching Ukraine and other democratic allies melt in the face of this man’s obscene self-obsession and grievance. Well done.

I get honest conservatism. I don’t get this wholesale sellout to a conman. How do these people look at their kids and say “this is how you get ahead” without stomach churning shame? At least last time a few decent republicans tried to give some restraints. None of those folks are left. It’s going to be an administration of the worst for the worst.

RT @prchovanec: I think the biggest challenge this country faces is that we now live in a climate of lies. I'm not talking about informed a…

Let’s not say “We shouldn’t have put another woman on the ticket” but, perhaps, “let’s not be a country where being a woman puts us at a disadvantage against an addled wannabe autocrat who sends mobs against another branch of government rather than defending it and 90% of the cabinet that worked for me won’t endorse me.”

I’m working on newsletters and sermons. Maybe I’ll tell folks to just go the the once and future president’s website to buy bibles, shoes, and commemorative coins for an indulgence.

A Christian nation would soundly and overwhelmingly reject a man yelling “Mass Deportation Now” as a campaign slogan. That Christians have bought into this wholesale cruelty is to have let our souls be the wager in the con job.

@timothya12_tim I’ll get there. But I just do not understand this culture and country sometimes.