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Thursday, April 9, 2026:  Scripture can never, as Hegseth does, be marshaled to sanctify hatred In the aftermath of U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's recent Pentagon prayer and Pope Leo XIV's Palm Sunday homily, much of the public commentary has settled into a familiar framework. A conservative official invoked God in the context of war and a supposedly liberal pope rebuked him. The exchange is then cast as a political disagreement, or at most as an instance of religion being deployed on both sides of a geopolitical conflict. This account is inadequate. What is unfolding is not a political dispute but a theological one, and its terms are ancient, not modern. In order to understand the public dialogue taking place between Hegseth and Leo, we need to turn to St. Augustine. To begin, it is essential to note that Hegseth's Pentagon prayer, widely circulated in recent days, is not original — either to him or to the chaplain who he claims sent it to him. It is, instead, a com...
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Wednesday April 8, 2026   A Letter to the Future in Times of Fear Fridays are special in our home. We host our grandson Kai and about 5:00 his parents arrive with the little boy Beau. We usually sit and talk over pizza (the boys favorite). We discuss the week gone by, telling stories , laughing and recounting the news – a lot of it tragic: the insanity of the war with Iran, the cruelty of ICE, the barrage of violence across the globe, Kai's T-Ball debut and so much more. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the present moment and my own anxiety I forget that our children and now our grandchildren will inherit a world we leave them. My dearest hope is that they and the generations to come find a path to peace.  I’ve produced a lot of videos with people whose lives were cut short by cancer. Each person I interviewed wanted to leave a legacy for their children and family. Each person wanted desperately to live, and because they knew they were dying, to be remembered by their chi...
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Tuesday, April 7, 2026: Leo urged Americans and others to demand that political leaders reject war and work for peace. From National Catholic Reporter: Catholics across the ideological spectrum, including Pope Leo XIV, expressed alarm and condemned President Donald Trump's threat that "a whole civilization will die tonight" unless Iran strikes a deal with the United States by 8 p.m. Eastern on April 7. Leo XIV called the threats "truly unacceptable" and said that such attacks would violate international law. In some of his strongest comments yet against the war, Leo urged Americans and others to demand that political leaders reject war and work for peace. "Today as we all know there was this threat against all the people of Iran. This is truly unacceptable. Leo on Easter appealed for peace and rejected war. He will lead a prayer vigil for peace on April 11 at St. Peter's Basilica. On April 7, the pope urged people to contact their political leaders and...
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 Monday, April 6, 2026:  A note and invitation from Rev. Lindsey Kerr of Christ Church United Methodist: (sorry it's so late...) A note and invitation from Rev. Lindsey Kerr opf Christ Church United Methodist: Emmaus friends - we're at crucial moment for the Sanctuary Coalition. Next Tuesday (that's tomorrow) the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors are voting on a sanctuary ordinance that excludes the sheriff ( which   permits the sheriff to continue to collaborate with ICE ).  We're looking for as many people of faith as possible to turn out and be in solidarity with migrants. Any chance we could get a handful of folks from your community to turn out? Date: Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 Time: 9:00AM Location:   Board of Supervisors Chambers 575 Administration Drive, Room 102A Santa Rosa 95403 And a poem by Joy Harjo to lighten us along our paths Morning Prayers I have missed the guardian spirit of Sangre de Cristos, those mountains against which I destroyed myself ...
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Easter Sunday 2026: April 5th.: "Do not be afraid, return to your Galilee and there you will see me — again and again." It seems so easy for us to proclaim the Resurrection. After all, we've known the story for as long as we've known about Jesus. We can look at the crucifix because we know it's just the horrific prelude to the best news in the world. The women who went to the tomb on that third day had no idea about an ending to Jesus' story beyond what they had seen. They could not erase the memory of the dying Jesus crying out in the darkness. Earth shook, the hidden Holy of Holies was exposed, ghosts wandered the earth and the guards trembled. These women had followed Jesus' friends to the tomb. They watched the stone seal at the end of the story and kept vigil there until the Sabbath. As the women returned on the third day, the Earth quaked again. Now, in place of a sealed tomb, they saw an angel sweep in, roll away the stone and sit atop it. As the gu...
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Good Friday, April 3, 2026: Father Richard offers a guided meditation, inviting listeners to be present with Jesus at the crucifixion:   Meditation: Picture yourself before the crucified Jesus; recognize that he became what you fear: nakedness, exposure, vulnerability, and failure. He became sin to free you from sin: " He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. "(2 Corinthians 5:21).   He became what we do to one another in order to free us from the lie of punishing and scapegoating each other.  He became the crucified so we would stop crucifying.  He refused to transmit his pain onto others. Richard imagines Jesus speaking these words to us, offering God’s love and forgiveness: My beloved, I am your self. I am your beauty. I am your goodness, which you are destroying.  I am what you do to what you should love. I am what you are afraid of: your deepest and best and most naked self—your soul....
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Wednesday, April 1, 2026:  Announcement from Victoria:  our upcoming Retreat on April 25th
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