Tamarah Lee

Seems to me Jesus had a parable about this very real fact of human nature.

Technically, we didn't "get" her. She was left w us....

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it. — G. K. Chesterton, 1929

Chesterton's fence is, in short, the principle that it is foolhardy to remove a fence without knowing why it was put there in the first place.

EVERYONE's home. Plus a few extras. Then noise is happy and full. The meal is on track. The trees outside are all in bloom. People are swapping stories about worlds that overlap in strange and wonderous ways. I will take all of this. #joyasresistance

The Dred Scott decision has some apples to apples vibes. I'm just saying our rights have always had to be fought for. When we acknowledge that, today makes more sense, and keeps us from overlooking today's heinous actions to fellow humans.

I would argue the the Civil War pointed to whole races of people who were denied due process. And the CW didn't fix the problem. America has denied due process throughout our our history. This isn't as new as we'd like. Fight like hell.

"We don't want to go back to any of those. But we keep getting better because people keep pushing for better. So, no America's best days aren't behind it. We will keep getting better." These are the adults of tomorrow. #joyasresistance

I asked my class, Do you think America's greatest days are behind it? They said "When *were* our greatest days? What would we go back to? First there was slavery, then there was Jim Crow and lynching, then the Internment, then there was the Cold War."

“WAIT A SECOND, THIS IS WRONG “…

There are trans Americans right now looking out at this world and wondering if anyone is going to stand up for them and for their simple right to exist.

Well, I am. We are. We will.

Earnest post, but: a thing I like here is it’s okay to have moments of happiness in public without being broadly scolded, and I believe that sustaining this kind of humanity will be very important as we resist fascism.

We have to sustain each other. Making joy isn’t denial, it’s how we will survive

Hatfull of Sky.

My class is reading a Terry Pratchett book. Grading what these inquisitive minds are seeing, watching them embrace the characters, putting their disparate parts together to make a whole person, and joining in the laughter at the humor throughout the story makes teaching rich. #joyasresistance

what prayer does on a cosmic level but I DO know that it can transform me into someone who is more open and more of service to a world in need of healing. It can help me tap into the Big Bigness and find my marching instructions. So the bigger I go, the more people I can ask to help-the better. +

Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow & ruin pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods. The liturgical movement must become a revolutionary movement, seeking to overthrow forces that destroy the promise, hope, vision. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

That. That is what it is all about. #joyasresistance

"But then I realized there are some groups of people that I've ignored, or don't want to be around because they scare me, or I don't understand them. I see that I might could be like those people in history, and I need to keep watch on my words and actions so I don't repeat that awfulness."

They moved around the tables sharing with each other a piece of history they didn't want to forget. I heard one student say, "I can't understand how anyone could treat another human being that way. Were people so different back then?"

We had to look up specifics around stories that student knew in concept, but couldn't remember in detail, emphasizing that learning keeps happening, and that we learn from one another. Then we had to all get up and walk around because there was zoning out about to happen.

So the timeline had the expected names, MLK, Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, Ella Baker, Phillip Randolph, and then had names like "Uncle Owen," who drove John Lewis out of his farm in the south to spend a summer in Chicago, birthing a vision of freedom in young Lewis.

They moved their definition of greatness from a traditional person on a pedestal, to the people who take responsibility for what is in front of them to make the world a better place, in large and seemingly small ways.

The students put together a timeline of the Civil Rights today. We started the unit by defining Greatness using quotes from names in history like Alexis de Tocqueville and Tecumseh, Anne Frank and Winston Churchill, right next to the current name of Michelle Obama.

I put my hands in the dirt today. It is still loose from winter rain, and the weeds came out easily. Bit by bit I am reclaiming my flowerbed and letting the earth's soil ground me. #joyasresistance

The pitter-patter of the rain on the windows kept me company in the wee smalls when all the thoughts gather; and their gentle tapping speaks of shelter and power beyond mine. #joyasresistance

The unorthodoxy of it all has to look so strange to any visitor, but to the rest of us, it marks us as delightful family. #joyasresistance

When I close the children's sermon the kids have decided that their favorite posture for prayer is "the beam." They gather in a tight bunch, on their knees, with their hands all together, pointing upward. (One 5-year-old says there must be a hole in our ceiling so the prayers can beam out to God.)

I've been mourning our free spirited flowers. And yet, this morning I was at the mailbox and looked down. There in the unmown grass were five daffodils buds, making their own way in the world where harried drivers can't reach them. #joyasresistance

We have a couple rouge daffodils that come up on the other side of our driveway. Any we plant in the yard are term limited, but the two over there are steady Eddies. This year, the delivery drivers are not as adept as they once were, and the tire marks are all over that bit of easement.

I spent today putting elements of a Lenten retreat together, thinking a lot about being in the wilderness, and how the "uncertainty of spaciousness" can invite us towards hope. My prayer is that the participants hear an invitation to let joy be a part of this, our uncertain journey. #joyasresistance

I went to sit in my chair and the cat was curled up like a grey dragon, one green eye looking up from her tucked chin, daring me to challenge her preeminence. I backed away slowly. (The one pictured below, had claimed her hoard of fresh, warm, laundry.) I live in a medieval tale. #joyasresistance