From Raw Story:

Flanders mentioned how the actions of the movement have extended far beyond the electric, sometimes volatile events taking place at Zuccotti Park and across the nation.

“It hasn’t just been a presence at the park,” she said. “It’s been a presence at the Board of Ed meetings. It’s been a presence at the Brooklyn court where they’re auctioning off foreclosed houses. To see ‘Occupy Wall Street’ people stand up and sing, ‘Stop the sales, we’ll find the money, stop the sales.’ To see people stop houses get foreclosed in Cleveland.

Flanders added: “Are we going to take our cameras there? Are we going to show the power that this movement has to bring real tools, not to just the 99 percent, but to the 100 percent? Or are we going to do what the media tend to do which is go where the shiny cameras are, the shiny police cars are, and the conflict?”

No wonder Nixon was scared of him, so he used the FBI along with the  Justice and Immigration Departments to hound him into seclusion.

People are being forced to work this holiday, which has traditionally been a time for folks to have off.  While some will be earning “holiday pay,” for most of them this figure is based on an hourly salary not much higher than the minimum wage.  Is that really adequate compensation for pulling people away from their family Thanksgiving gatherings?

I’m a little surprised the “War on Christmas” folks haven’t been foaming at the mouth over this intrusion on our national day of Thanksgiving.   If these retailers make the money they’re hoping to make, you can be sure they’ll be chipping away at Christmas Day next.

There is only one thing to do as a conscientious American consumer.    Stay away from the stores and send them a message that their greed and the imposition placed upon their workforces will not be rewarded.

Evidence exists that during the first half of the 1900s, young adults were not less churched than were older adults. In fact, Boomers appear to be the first American generation that dropped out of church participation in significant numbers when they became young adults. So, in one sense, the Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) were part of the evolution of the church dropout phenomenon during the rise of youth culture of the 1960s….Today’s young adults who drop out of faith are continuing something the Boomers began as a generation of spiritual free agents. Yet, today’s dropout phenomenon is a more intractable, complex problem.

Why the Boomers?  I’ve had a few thoughts on this. 

Another issue Barna addresses is the explosion in communications technology and its widespread availability.   As was the case in the Reformation, people have discovered that they’re able to bypass established channels of communication with new, internet based, wireless technology.  On the big-ticket issues and news of the day people can now  engage in two-way communication rather than remain the recipients of one-way communication.  Also resembling the Reformation is the widespread awareness that institutions have become so corrupted that they no longer behave in ways that reflect the best interests of the citizenry, whether it be a branch of government, a financial institution, an established media channel for news, or an institutional incarnation of church.   Combine these two trends and you quickly realize that the Church can’t continue to stake out the same old ground.  The Church can’t continue to operate under the assumption that people will come to the building and want to join the group there, trusting that this is the best way of finding some higher spiritual truth.   Nor can the Church assume that youth are destined to leave after high school, or that they won’t find any meaningful spiritual growth after they do.

The most striking feature of congregational life here is the obvious commitment to young people and the actions that the church takes to bring that commitment to life.    How does that show itself, you ask?  To me the most powerful display comes during Holy Communion, where children come forward with adults to the altar, where the outstretched hands of  the 82-year-old wait alongside the outstretched hands of the 2-year-old.    It’s one thing to talk about the importance of sacramental identity in the lives of the baptized, it’s another thing to see that identity lived out like this, Sunday after Sunday.   Speaking of baptism, the tradition here is to invite children to gather along with the baptismal group around the font, and so they come to sit on the floor and watch as a new brother or sister is welcomed into the family of God in Christ.

There is also a children’s sermon at each service, and there are times when Sunday School craft tables are moved into the main hallway so that the kids are visibly in the mix of church activity.  They need to do this sometimes to get some needed extra space, and they’re not necessarily thinking about the significance of kids making Noah’s ark decorations adjacent to adults in fellowship conversations.   But it is significant and speaks to an unconscious competence in making sure that children know they are a valued part of the church community–and that the adult community knows this as well.

At yesterday morning’s early Sunday service, a bell choir provided special music, and I remember it as having one or two young people ringing bells with the group.  The difference in worship styles between early and second service is truly life-giving.   I come out of the first service feeling full, because I’ve participated in rich worship rooted solidly in our Lutheran tradition.  I come out of the second service with a good spirit-buzz; the band plays the “Now the Feast and Celebration” with a strong back beat and some solid guitar licks.

It’s been a surprising time of blessing for me to serve as pastor there while their pastor is on sabbatical leave.  When I say blessing, I think I also mean healing.  I’d not considered the ways in which I’d been knocked around and down in my earlier experiences.

I’ve had what can best be described as positive mirror images to some unhealthy, negative experiences that came my way practically from the moment I came out of the seminary chute and into my first call.   They’ve affirmed that the church can be a healthy, vibrant place and also that I can be a healthy, vibrant pastor.

My preaching is getting better; and I’m enjoying it again, from the preparation phase all the way to the delivery on Sunday.   Bible studies are as fun as they’ve ever been, and the folks who come are well-read, curious and insightful in their own right.  Our studies have become collaborative journeys involving the whole group, by far my favorite way to do it.

Back to preaching.  I think I’m growing in the ability to proclaim grace in the framework of law and gospel, and do it in ways that respect and honor the diversity of folks gathered for worship.     I’m also becoming more spontaneous and this has helped me shape the message in different ways so that the early risers hear something a little different from the second service folks.

At the moment, I don’t know what’s next for me after this interim ends at the end of the month.   It’s easy to allow that uncertainty to grab hold of me in negative and fearful ways.  So I focus on the blessings at hand and the blessings in hand.  And in faith, I go forward into whatever God might offer me next.

We cherish the rights of Tea Party demonstrators so much that they’re allowed to bring guns into a Presidential rally. But these demonstrators, whose critique of Wall Street speaks for a vast majority of the public, must be herded away from our titans of finance and their delicate senses.

Here’s something Mr. Bloomberg should know: We already have a “free speech zone.” It’s called “the United States of America.”

R.J. Eskow, via HuffPo

At least we’re not at Haymarket Square levels of violence against the citizenry.  Yet.