What's in a name?

Another "lost" epistle. I write to you concerning "the name" dear brothers. Some of you.. knowing how incompatible our interests are with his interests.. wish to throw off "the name".

You say you remember him and the disconcerting images...

-40 days of desert sand matted on his malnourished face....

-crawling around on all fours like a shoe salesman.. water bowls.. with filthy feet in front of him and dirty bourgeois-rags... (how unnecessary that all was).

And In the end?... His wallowing and his leaderless Garden cries.

..(he writhed and complained all night long.. but who took care of all
his constituents and his remaining 11 when I left?).

And like you.. I too can hardly believe we all nearly fell for his "way". What results do we have of those who've turned the cheek?... only to have the entire head removed.

(How silly and foolish... What a waist.!).

Agreed!.. the business at hand should be about business.. the economy.. the making of money.. and the taking back of our nation.. legislation.. morality.. the American way etc..!

(not Love). - How Impractical!

Poor leadership indeed. I agree with you brothers. He (the man himself) would never stand up in a general election. And I'm not even sure he could clear the primaries.

The problem however.. with denying the name entirely.. is that it's been around for a very long time. There are generations and generations of donors and constituents who.. though agreeing with us solidly in spirit.. still continue to swear by "the name". (You know how tradition is).. And that.. for us.. poses a problem.

That said.. I believe what appears as weakness can be turned for our strength... should we be smart about it and play it just right.

The beauty of it is that it's almost as if they don't even recognize the discrepancy of it... the absolute antithetical nature of what he said and did with what we're trying to do.

He was never really comfortable trying to force or control or manipulate people into his will.
In fact. How Ironic it is that the man who resisted absolute power at every turn now has tons of followers seemingly Hell Bent on taking over all of society, culture and government.. in his name?

For all practical purposes they're dumb to his wishes.. And that works in our favor.

Of course there are some of them who resist..

insisting on living "counter-cultural" to the ways of the world... missional.. communal.. authentic..

..blah. blah. blah.

But the masses are confident and externally? they tend to question their orthodoxy.. internally? they tend to pity them as dreamers or pie in the sky idealists.

(I call them idiots).

In truth.. it's become entirely "normal" to use the name and yet mean it more generally.. say.. more like "palatable religion".. things that tend to lend themselves to our cause.

No brothers. "Christian" is the name we're stuck with.. We are "Christians".. though.. when we say it.. we dare not mean the old things... like treating people as you wanna be treated.. self sacrifice, mercy, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, etc.

Rather... we mean.. a "Christian Coalition" to restore "America" to it's original heritage.. (and to Hell with the rest).

Don't give up brothers. Our dream is around the corner. One day we'll feel free to give up the name (and the absurdity will come to an end). But in the mean time keep focus on the things at hand. Watch The polls.. Keep up with public opinion. And above all.. keep them directed to the web sites and the talk shows and the news shows that work so tirelessly on our behalf.

They'll all be rewarded for their faithfulness one day. And remember...

Im with you in spirit.

Kisses
-Judas


day dreaming.. I suddenly awoke sitting at a red light. .. dazed and confused (Zeppelin.. not on the list) and like the wax unstripped and sticky on the base of a theatre porn floor.. I felt dirty. I considered turning east but my blinker pointed west.. and so I stretched myself out as far as east is from west (Zen) but.... I vanished.

So instead I settled on West and turned left down highway 66.. going to California" (Zeppelin not on the list). And in my minds eye.. I could see palm trees in the distance as far as the eye could see.

World Aids Day Tulsa: http://www.okeq.org/2011/11/01/world-aids-day-2/

On World AIDS Day, Circle Cinema will host a special premiere for the documentary We Were Here. The event will include a candlelight vigil, a RAIN Team reunion and performances by the Council Oal Mens Chorale and Sisters in Song.

wewereherefilm.com

This event is sponsered by Tulsa Reaches Out and the Tulsa AIDS Coalition. The film will continue showings from Dec. 1st – 8th at Circle Cinema.

Link to Oklahomans For Equality:
http://www.okeq.org/2011/11/01/world-aids-day-2/

Support Local Aids Organizations: http://www.csctulsa.org/content.php?p=135

The AIDS Coalition of Tulsa was founded in l988 to assist the Tulsa community in developing a coordinated response to AIDS. The Coalition is sponsored by the Community Service Council with support from the Tulsa Area United Way and meets monthly for an educational forum on HIV/AIDS issues.

The Coalition:

he H.O.P.E. Testing Clinic provides free confidential and anonymous testing for HIV infection.

Youth Services of Tulsa provides HIV education, counseling and testing for at risk youth in the Tulsa area.

Morton Health Services’ HIV prevention program targets African Americans and Hispanics, but all Tulsa are residents are welcome to contact Morton for HIV prevention education, counseling and testing.

Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma provides free and confidential HIV prevention education, counseling, and testing at their Clinic office, 1007 South Peoria.

The University of Tulsa Alexander Student Health Services offers HIV/STD education, counseling and testing. Free and confidential OraSure 20 minute HIV tests are also available at the Clinic.

The American Red Cross provides HIV/AIDS educators for schools and other community groups.

The HIV Prevention Program for Incarcerated Men and Women is a nationally recognized award winning program for educating inmates and their family members about HIV prevention.

Tulsa C.A.R.E.S., a United Way agency, provides many HIV care services for low income individuals and their families who are living with HIV/AIDS.

The OSU Internal Medicine Specialty Clinic provides medical care for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Our House II offers a gathering place for individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS.

Oklahoma Department of Human Services AIDS Information and Coordination Services is a free service for people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS to connect them to HIV care and other supportive services.

St. Joseph Residence is a residential care facility for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Hospice of Green Country, a nonprofit hospice dedicated to serving the critically ill including individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS regardless of the ability to pay.

For Links, and more info check out:
http://www.csctulsa.org/content.php?p=135

Phoenix Rising Fundraiser (Support Local Tulsa):

Phoenix Rising Fundraiser Party Extravaganza
When?  Saturday.
Time?  8:00pm until 11:00pm..
Where? 6th & Xanthus (Tulsa Ok).
Donations at the door
Free Food
keg- $5/cup
Silent Auction
... Musical performances by:
*Verse
*Surfacer
*Don't Care Bears
*Music Genius Crew
& Johnny Bad Seeds and the Rotten Apples

Personal Jesus (#377 on The List)

Your own
personal
Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own
personal
Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who's there



Feeling unknown
And you're all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believer
Take second best
Put me to the test
Things on your chest
You need to confess
I will deliver
You know I'm a forgiverP
Reach out and touch faith
Reach out and touch faith


Your own
personal
Jesus...

Depeche Mode's song Personal Jesus, from their 1990 album Violator, has been interpreted in a variety of ways--from an assault on organized religion to an endorsement of Christianity--and lyricist Martin Gore thinks that's just fine. "He never explains the lyrics at all," says bandmate Andy Fletcher in Jonathan Miller's 2003 book Stripped: Depeche Mode. "I've heard about ten different interpretations of 'Personal Jesus' and that's what Martin really likes. . . The lyrics are very ambiguous, so although it could have been controversial, in fact it turned out not to be at all. Most people thought it was a pro-Christian anthem, which wasn't intended."

As its inclusion in these pages suggests, the inspiration for "Personal Jesus" came from a book, but it's not The New Testament, as one might think. According to Gore--who opened up about the song in an interview with Spin Magazine--the unlikely inspiration was Priscilla Beaulieu Presley's book Elvis and Me, written with Sandra Harmon and published in 1985, which chronicles her relationship with her late ex-husband, Elvis Presley. Gore told Spin:

It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way. We play these god-like parts for people but no one is perfect, and that's not a very balanced view of someone is it?

In the book, Priscilla Presley writes of Elvis: "Over the years he became my father, husband, and very nearly God."

Stripped: Depeche Mode (Kindle Edition)

(Secondary Source).
http://theclassicsrock.blogspot.com/2010/07/personal-jesusdepeche-mode.html

(s)exploitation

I was hungry

..and out of nowhere came the calming smell of bread... a smell from the factory on the corner.   

As I approached 11th street an 18 wheeler.. white with balloons... primary colors... Turned in front of me north onto the road... and in my minds eye Im inside the factory.  The red white and blue.. dangling from the rafters.

the factory Supervisor... a stern conservative looking man stands on a catwalk above the workers overlooking the Sunday morning process.

He watches it all protectively like a pimp but he raises his hand and makes the sign of the cross like a priest.. and with the hum of mass production..  Loudly he speaks.  

In the name of the Father... et Fìlii, et spiritus sancti.

The workers receive the yeasted ..dough....

It is risen.  The celebrant says.

Indeed.  It is risen.  Comes the response like gears grinding in a machine.. and then the dough..  mixed... now moves onto conveyor where it's chopped.. harshly broken by blades turning like film reels.

The Supervisor raises his hands.. open at shoulder height.

Excelsis..
Deo.

and with the words.. Clasps his hands together with a clap like a thunderous nut cracker.. and then he bows his head to pray...  Robotic.. and in sync to the metal parts around him.

The dough is carried by belt through a riser.. and then baked  Golden Brown.  Tan like freshly burned skin.

Body of Christ...  The celebrant say's  

Amen..  come the workers.

And The bread is moved through a Slicer.  Slicing at 65 loaves a minute.  And then...

it is finished.

What remains are 22 slices of bread per loaf...  Fully leavened.. divided.. and sent out to the world for the highest possible profit..  

Under the flag.. the packaged bread is loaded onto the truck for distribution...

unto all of those in the world..
who have the cash.  

The truck turns on to the street in front of me so that I have to slow down... 

As I near a stop.. I can hear words coming from inside the factory..

Ite Missa est.  Go in peace.  He says... And the truck travels on northward to the highway... like an outlaw heading for deadwood.