Category Archives: Signs of the Times

“He’s Got The Whole World In His [VERY WHITE] Hands”

I went to the website of a Friends church out west today, seeking information about a dispute of which readers have heard a good deal here.

Didn’t find any, but while browsing, saw an image that seemed very striking, for the church’s Vacation Bible School:

The caption for it was — as thee might expect, “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands.”

Some of us might know that the song which gave rise to this meme is one of the classic black spirituals.

But maybe many of us don’t.

Wikipedia says it was first published a 1927 collection, Spirituals Triumphant. And while the song has been recorded by numerous artists of various backgrounds, I’m old enough to remember 1958, when a British teenager, Laurie London, became a one-hit wonder when his version, a smash in the UK, managed the then-unthinkable and crossed the Atlantic to hit #2 on the U.S. pop charts.

Laurie London, whose popstar career was very short; he was last spotted running a pub near London.
I say this because after pondering the image above, I couldn’t help but notice that the hands in it (or at lest the wrists), are quite noticeably caucasian — er, white.

It made me wonder: The hands for the whole world are like that? Hmmmm.

How widespread, I wondered was this probably unconscious, or at least unthinking, notion?

“We Expelled Nobody!” Says Carolina Executive Committee. Really?

“Under our Faith and Practice, the Executive Committee has the ability to make any decision not inconsistent with its described authority. Although its described authority is vague, my years of service on the Executive Committee have, if anything, taught me that the widely accepted exercise of the Executive Committee’s authority is much broader. A decision of the Executive Committee, though, is “subordinate to” the Representative Body.”

To which I say, Whoa, Nelly!

This “vaguely described” authority is too “vague” and sweeping for me. And letting the committee take unto itself the prerogative of deciding that this or that meeting has forfeited its membership in the yearly meeting, with no warrant, no notice, no standards and no procedural guides, is a recipe for big trouble.

Appeal! Groundswell in Northwest Over A Welcoming Meeting’s Ouster

“When dealing with disciplinary actions involving individuals or regarding a crisis within a local meeting, confidentiality makes sense. However, when dealing with conflict and disagreement that has arisen between whole churches and that is likely to affect the whole of the Yearly Meeting, confidentiality can serve as a hindrance, leading to speculation and accusations that spread through a wildfire of whispers and rumors and leave us with an onslaught of unanswerable questions that only serve to fuel the fire further. The lack of transparency in this process has contributed greatly to the “shattering” experience for all and has created a growing mistrust not only of leadership but of each other—meeting to meeting, individual to individual. West Hills Friends Church was open and public with their lengthy discernment process and subsequent conclusion. Because of this, absolute confidentiality was not warranted, and we believe a different outcome was entirely possible had this process between the elders and West Hills been more open. . . .”

Over My Head & Over the Top In Vermont

To read the reports in beer-lover journals, a case or so of Heady Topper, which is golden here, would be more like platinum back home. So what else does Sean want? A private plane? The down payment on a North Carolina bungalow? Surely he wouldn’t just drink the stuff.

We’ll talk about that later, and hope the Feds aren’t listening. And I won’t even ask him for a sip. Different strokes, and I don’t care about Topper-Mania. It’s all bitter nasty stuff to me, still. Pity me if you will, but even a ride on those Clydesdales wouldn’t change my mind.

Is The End Near? The Carolina-Harold Camping Connection

After all this bluster, one thing is clear: these Harold Camping wannabes may be fooling somebody else, but they’re not fooling me, or many others anymore. All that talk of withholding funds, walking out, jumping ship, taking a hike, catching the Rapture Bus and all that has been so much hot air and yada yada.

And maybe this time the shouters will be met, not with shudders of terror and consternation, but the giggles and titters they richly deserve. Indeed, will anyone be bold enough to laugh in their faces? (I bet I could get odds on that in Vegas; but Faith & Practice is against gambling.)

Indeed, the vacuity of it all is so clear that this is a good time for a bit of an autopsy: What accounts for so much empty blather? Here are some possibilities:

1. Simple bullying: It seems evident some figured that at the loud threat of an exodus, YM officials would be so terrified they would hurriedly push all the targeted meetings out the door, like the king of Nineveh harking to the prophet Jonah, to placate the messengers of an angry Deity’s wrath. Certainly there’s been plenty self-righteous posturing and shamelessly abusive behavior. Or

2. Too much time spent looking in the mirror . . . .