AMAZON

Friday, October 12, 2007

It’s Just the Way We Are.

Thomas, Jaramillo arrested at White House while attempting to deliver anti-war petitions

After ignoring three warnings from police, the Rev. John H. Thomas and the Rev. Linda Jaramillo were arrested at 12:58 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday, Oct. 10, for refusing to leave a no-protest zone near the White House gate.

The two national UCC officers were attempting to deliver a Pastoral Letter on the Iraq War, along with 60,000 endorsing signatures.

~United Church News, October 11th, 2007 (for complete article, click HERE)


It’s just the way we are. The Rev. John H. Thomas is General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ (USA) and the Rev. Linda Jaramillo is the Executive Minister for Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ. They expected to be arrested. But, they are not the first U.C.C. national officers to be arrested while witnessing for Justice and Peace; and I am certain they will not be the last.

The United Church of Christ, founded in 1957 by the merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches. Long before the merger, these predecessor denominations were active in issues of justice and peace. A (very) few of these include civil and human rights, economic justice, peacemaking, integrity of creation, racial justice, etc. Throughout its history—from early engagement in the movement to abolish slavery to modern campaigns for civil rights and social justice to the rights of women, children, the poor, gays, and lesbians—the United Church of Christ in every setting of the church has been engaged in ministries of compassion, advocacy and reconciliation.

Am I pleased to be an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ? I certainly am. I only wish that I had been in front of the White House yesterday that I, too, might be a peacemaker and have been arrested along with Rev. Thomas and Rev. Jaramillo.


Other Blogs & Sites Comment:

Extraordinary Witness

Ethic Daily.com

John Thomas seeks arrest at White House

Anti-war UCC pastors vow to risk arrest

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

ucc officials arrested outside white house


I encountered this quiz this morning and I suppose my results are on subject enough to add it to this post:

You Are 9: The Peacemaker

You are emotionally stable and willing to find common ground with others.
Your friends and family often look to you to be the mediator when there is conflict.

You are easy going and accepting. You take things as they come.
Avoiding conflict at all costs, you're content when things are calm.

At Your Best: You feel connected, trusting, and fulfilled. You feel at peace with your place in the world.

At Your Worst: You compromise your values to make sure peace is maintained. You give in to bullies.

Your Fixation: Harmony

Your Primary Fear: Causing conflict

Your Primary Desire: To preserve things as they are

Other Number 9's: Marge Simpson, Ronald Reagan, Audrey Hepburn, Jerry Seinfeld, and Abraham Lincoln.

13 comments:

  1. Beliefs can get people into trouble even if they are good ones... sad but true.

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  2. You mean there's a spot, directly in front of the White House, where the constitution doesn't apply?

    Wow. That sort of cheapens the thing, doesn't it?

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  3. Yeah for civil disobedience! Thoreau would be proud!

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  4. Nick, great post, and from what I read from your blog you are a true peacekeeper.
    Bless you my friend.
    Carry on!

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  5. Did you agree with your assessment?

    I think it sounds like you...

    I definitely see the Abraham Lincoln & Jerry Seinfeld in you:)

    Not necessarily the Marge Simpson or Audrey Hepburn, though!

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  6. I can see that you're a 9. I took the test and ended up a 2, which is what I've finally realized I truly am. After reading some of the info on Enneagram numbers, I didn't want to be a 2, I wanted to be a 9.

    You might want to check out a book on the Enneagram. It's all about how a person learns to cope in the world. Kind of fun and interesting.

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  7. Hi Nick ~~ Good post and I like your assessment number
    and you fit it very well !!
    I did it too and came out a 7.
    Thanks for your comment about the Woman's Stone - short but a good message. I was suurprised the other traveler went back and asked her fot that, giving back the stone.
    Hope all is well with you. Kindest regards, Merle.

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  8. The problem with "no protest zones" is that the guy currently sitting in the White House thinks that there should be only one of them - he calls it "The United States of America".

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  9. Strange, but I don’t remember Thomas on the front lines years ago when we were protesting apartheid and the CIA/Contra shit

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  10. cool!!! i'm a 4!!!

    You are sensitive and intuitive, with others and yourself. You are creative and dreamy... plus dramatic and unpredictable. You're emotionally honest, real, and easily hurt.
    Totally expressive, others always know exactly how you feel. At Your Best: You are inspired, artistic, and introspective. You know what you're thinking, and you can communicate it well. At Your Worst: You are melancholy, alienated, and withdrawn. Your Fixation: Envy. Your Primary Fear: To have no identity. Your Primary Desire: To find yourself.
    Other Number 4's: Alanis Morisette, Johnny Depp, J.D. Salinger, Jim Morrison, and Anne Rice.


    check who i have a number in common with! some of my favourite celebs!!!

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  11. Ya know, I was revved up to respond to your inital commentary (excellent and thought-provoking, I might add) and then I made the stupid mistake of taking that blasted quiz myself. Arghhh...

    I didn't fully trust the first result because there were two or three questions that really threw me for a loop. I had the hardest time "definitively" deciding and figured I'd go back and answer each a few different ways to see what shifted. I was an "8" on some answers, a "1" on others and a "5". I started to go deeper into the whole thing, really delving and contemplating, before waking up and saying, "What the heck are you doing? It's evening, it's the weekend, this is stressful, knock it off."

    Thank goodness for the voices in my head. (lol)

    And thanks for listening as I rambled. I guess I needed that...as opposed to pain or feeling unable to care myself...THAT DAMNED QUIZ!!!!

    ---

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  12. THE LONE BEADER: Yep. Beliefs do get people in trouble, especially if they go against the beliefs of the majority. As someone (can’t remember who) said:

    “All societies venerate their dead prophets and live conformists.”


    THOMAS: That’s a good point. I think that it too often takes the Constitution quite a while to be applied to contemporary reality. But, at least, thus far the Constitution has eventually righted the wrongs.


    ANONYMOUS: I agree; fortunately the U.C.C. comes out of some of the same philosophical traditions as Thoreau.


    LITTLE WING: Thank you, my friend.


    RHAPSODY: To some extent I agree with it. I think/hope that where I disagree is that I will tolerate the attacks of bullies against myself; I will not tolerate the attacks of bullies against others.


    SQUIRL: Many. Many years ago I attended at workshop on the Enneagram. Unfortunately, since I didn’t integrate the theories into my life and practice, I can’t remember much about that workshop.


    MERLE: Thank you, my friend.


    CATHY: You have added yourself. Welcome.


    BABA DOODLIUS: I agree.


    AZSONOFAGUN: You know, Rex, I can hardly remember those days or even who was around. They seem so long ago.


    ANGEL: So you are a 4—and like it. Great!


    THE PSYCHO THERAPIST: Soooo, you spent time experimenting and dissecting the test. I have done the same. Still, I would say you spent your time better here that I did no your blog commenting on the penises and vaginas of birds!

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