<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 3px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 31px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-weight: bold;">Jesus had a social-religious movement going — a message, covering the geography, several layers of disciples,—healings and other miracles. And then he set his face to Jerusalem (when he heard about John’s death). And in a week he was dead. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>That seems a stark warning: <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>don’t mess with the establishment</span></p><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Jim Wiegel</span><br><div>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“…the long work<br>
of turning their lives<br>
into a celebration<br>
is not easy. Come </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: 19pt;">and let us talk</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: 19pt;">“. </span></p><p class="p1"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: 19pt;">The Sunflowers. Mary Oliver</span></p></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Dec 31, 2024, at 11:30 AM, Seth Longacre via Dialogue <dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">Yes, Randy, me too. Sometimes four times a day!<div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr"><div><b>Seth Longacre</b></div><div>Sethlongacre@gmail.com</div><i>Sent from one of my iThingies, please excuse typos and brevity</i></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Dec 31, 2024, at 09:02, Randy Williams via Dialogue <dialogue@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"></div><div dir="ltr">I was asked if I’d ever been born again. I said, “Absolutely! As a matter of fact, four times so far just this year.â€</div><div dir="ltr">Randy</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Dec 31, 2024, at 11:48 AM, Richard Alton via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="font-size:large">A good friend of mine just asked me if I believed in the second coming of Jesus.. wow, that stumped me.. second coming?? And then just got this seasonal card from Jim Wiegel: " maybe somewhere this greatest birth of all is about to happen"...wow, seems like all this sweet Jesus stuff again.. <span class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large">but something to think about</span></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%">Get Off Your Donkey</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%">Keep seeing
commercials with people sitting on donkeys. It was a real mystery to me. Why
were people sitting on a donkey with their iPhone, straddling and even laying
on donkeys. It was cute but why was Mountain Dew having people sit on donkeys? Luckily, I was visiting my daughter in Oakland,
and she explained it was asking you to <b>‘get off your ass!’</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%">So, I am
really into donkeys. They are supposed to be obstinate, stupid or silly. My brother uses to call me a stupid ass all
the time. Hey, and it is the symbol of one of our political parties. The symbol
of the Democratic party is a donkey! It seems that during Jackson’s Presidential
run somebody called him a “stupid Ass†and before you knew it Jackson was
everywhere with a donkey. Wherever he went there was a donkey or pictures.
Amazing… seemed silly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%">Talking of
silliness, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey. And it was a borrowed
donkey, that was a colt- a young male donkey less than 4 years old and
considered wild or never having been ridden before. Strange in that Jesus was
coming as the Messiah of the Jewish people-but that donkey was probably a great
symbol of his coming for the common man. But they had expected a lot more than
this for a new King, the one to bring back their honor and overcome their
enemies- especially the Romans. But Jesus did want them to get off their ass</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%">Now, I am
into Paul Kingsnorth who is trying to make sense of our times. He argues that
every great civilization has given birth to a new religion. The Egyptian
Civilization grew up and released the Hebrew people from slavery; in response
to the great Roman Empire came the Christian faith and now we have Western
Civilization (he calls it the Machine or materialistic empire) is starting the
stirring of a new sense of the awe/spirit. In the Industrial society we have
become just a cog in the machine, a slave- all have fallen into technology.
There is a brokenness of the spirit-a kind of slavery. The Machine (think of
the Matrix movie- where you sell your soul for a glass of wine and a good steak)
has us trapped, has us totally at the mercy of a consumption society. And we
can expect another Imperial collapse. These huge breaks in human history do not
come easy, but they will come! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%">We have
talked of the collapse of Western Civilization before and the symbol of this
was the atomic Bomb. The movie “On the Beach†where life on the planet earth is
slowly dying off from multiple atomic bombs. Now, although the bomb is still
out there, I would say the collapse of western civilization, or the industrial
era is symbolized by climate change- a finite planet slowly being killed by an
infinite consummation. Now you need to read Octavia Butler’s book “Parable of
the Talentsâ€: humankind consumed by environmental devastation and economic
chaos that have turned us into a land of horrifying depravity. During this, an
Earthseed community springs up around a new faith that teaches “God is Changeâ€.
If Butler is too harsh you might try Duane Elgin’s ‘Choosing Earth†and his
estimate that by another decade of climate change there will be calamitous
breakdowns.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%">But I am
with Kingsnorth, that this current ‘machine’ civilization will be the breeding
ground of a new spirit, a new awareness of the mysterium tremendum, a new
person on a donkey to show up.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:115%;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%">Richard
Alton, Broadway UMC, older but a little bit wiser</span></p></div><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>Richard H. T. Alton</div><div>ICA Global Fund</div><div>The Last Chapter</div><div>United Methodist Net Zero</div><div>T: 773.344.7172</div><div><a href="mailto:richard.alton@gmail.com" target="_blank">richard.alton@gmail.com</a></div><div>Make Plain the Vision, Habakkuh 2:2<br></div><div><font size="2">Won't you be my neighbor?</font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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