Ramblin' with Roger

If the Church Were Christian

‘The scriptures say thus and so, but I say…’

**This quote has been attributed to several other people.**

One of the Bible Guys at my church, a group that I haven’t attended much since the end of the COVID pandemic, posted this in late January. “These sentences are the chapter titles from Philip Gulley’s book, ‘If the church were Christian.’

Jesus would be a model for living rather than an object of worship. Affirming our potential would be more important than condemning our brokenness. Reconciliation would be valued over judgment. Gracious behavior would be more important than right belief. Inviting questions would be more valued than supplying answers. Encouraging personal exploration would be more important than communal uniformity. Meeting needs would be more important than maintaining institutions. Peace would be more immortal than power. We would care more about love than about sex. This life would be more important than the afterlife.

As I shared a decade ago, “Every time Jesus mentioned the equivalent of a church tradition, the Torah, he qualified it with something like this: ‘The scriptures say thus and so, but I say…'”

In response, someone wrote this concerning Lent-

The Call to Fasting

Fast from bitterness – feast on forgiveness.

Fast from self-concern – feast on compassion for others.

Fast from personal anxiety – feast on eternal truth.

Fast from anger – feast on patience.

Fast from words that destroy – feast on words that build.

Fast from discontent – feast on gratitude.

Fast from discouragement – feast on hope.

Fretting

I must admit that not yielding to anger and discouragement is particularly difficult for me. For instance, I fret most about how Christianity has been co-opted. Last year, I wrote: “Christian nationalism makes an idol of the nation.”

So I am somewhat comforted by this December 2025 piece from NPR, “Since January [2025], religious leaders from local pastors to Pope Leo have rallied against the [regime’s] detention and deportation of thousands of immigrants. Clergy are filing lawsuits, accompanying migrants to court hearings, and leading protests at ICE facilities across the country. Altogether, this activity adds up to one of the largest surges of faith-based organizing in recent history, and it’s growing.” Amen!

Today, Ash Wednesday, is the first day of Lent. Here’s the origin of the word Lent.

Pauli Murray wanted to go to college

co-founded CORE and NOW

Last month, a story from a year earlier about Pauli Murray crossed my path. From Mississippi Today re: Jan 5, 1939:

“News broke that Pauli Murray had applied to a Ph.D. program at the University of North Carolina, sparking white outrage across the state.

“‘Members of your race are not admitted to the university,’ her rejection letter read.

“‘The days immediately following the first press stories were anxious ones for me,’ she recalled. ‘I had touched the raw nerve of white supremacy in the South.’

“A year later, she was jailed twice in Virginia for refusing to give up her seat on a Greyhound bus. She graduated first in her class at Howard University School of Law, but Harvard University wouldn’t accept her because of her gender. (Harvard didn’t admit women until 1950.) Instead, she became the first Black student to receive Yale Law School’s most advanced degree.”

The story goes on, noting that she co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in 1942.

She had an evolution about race. In the 1950s, “she researched her ancestry. ‘If you call me Black, it’s ridiculous physiologically, isn’t it? I’m probably 5/8 white, 2/8 Negro — repeat American Negro — and 1/8 American Indian,’ she said. ‘I began years before Alex Haley did. I’m always ahead of my time.'”

But “during her time as a professor in Ghana in the early 1960s, she began to accept that ancestry, she said. ‘The difficulty is coming to terms with a mixed ancestry in a racist culture,’ she said.

NOW

In 1977, she helped found the National Organization of Women. From the NOW.org site. “Here’s an archived page from the Obama White House celebrating NOW Founding Day as a ‘This Day In History!’

“Pauli Murray and Betty Friedan made more history with NOW’s first Statement of Purpose. It’s one of the first declarations of intersectionality as a social justice goal.”

That same year, “she became the first Black woman to serve as an Episcopal priest.

“‘Being a priest is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,’ she said. ‘The first 48 hours were the most difficult of my life. I found myself on the receiving end of tremendous human problems I didn’t know how to handle.’

She died in 1985. In 2012, the Episcopal church named her a saint. “

Her memoir, published posthumously in 1987, was Song in a Weary Throat, a well-received book that was republished in 2018.

Also: see here: Finding Pauli Murray: The Black Queer Feminist Civil Rights Lawyer Priest who co-founded NOW, but that History Nearly Forgot. In 2024, the U.S. Mint Released a Quarter Honoring Murray’s Achievements.

Presidents Day: White House alligator

THAT’S CONSTITUTIONAL

When an alligator lived in the White House—and nine more presidential pets

Check out Every U.S. President as a Puppet? Funny History Through Muppet-Like Images! Some are more on-point than others.

An online quiz: How many U.S. presidents, if any, had a double “o” (“oo”) in either their first or last name?

Here are some JEOPARDY clues from 20251106 to 20260102

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND WITH YOUR OLD PAL GROVER $200: (Grover presents the clue.) You can say I am cute & very fuzzy, just like this rival who both beat Cleveland & lost to him; he was the last president to sport a full beard

… $400: (Grover presents the clue.) The star of Grover Cleveland’s 1892 campaign, the first successful one by an ex-president, was not the candidate or even his wife, but their cute & adorable one-year-old daughter, called “Baby” this name

… $600: (Grover presents the clue.) Aw, imagine being there on October 28, 1896, when President Cleveland spoke to dedicate the Statue of Liberty; first, the president had to wait until this, in red, white & blue, was pulled from Lady Liberty’s face

…$800: (Grover presents the clue.) Grover Cleveland is the only president born in the great state of New Jersey; his birthplace used to be a manse, which means that his father had this job in the lovely town of Caldwell

… $1000: (Grover presents the clue.) Grover Cleveland did not enter politics in Cleveland, but in this other Lake Erie city, and in one of his most quoted letters, he longs for a plate of herring & Swiss cheese from a favorite restaurant there

GO FOR “GOLD” $800: He’s the Phoenix native who ran for president against LBJ in 1964

I FEEL GOOD $1600: Era of Good Feelings, when this president sought to eliminate political parties

Former POTUS

THE EX-PRESIDENTS $200: In 1875, he became the 1st ex-prez to serve in the Senate, but unlike another pres. of the same name, didn’t become “master of” it

… $400: He served as a guest announcer for the first inning of the 1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

… $600: He wrote the opinion for Myers v. U.S., saying a president could fire executive officers with or without Congress’ OK

… $800: At a 1965 ceremony, Harry Truman became the first beneficiary of this new federal program & applied for Part B

… $1000: He suffered a stroke on the floor of the House of Reps., where he’d been serving, & passed away in the Capitol 2 days later

NONFICTION $1200: This classic by Woodward & Bernstein was published shortly before Richard Nixon resigned from office

ICONIC EYEWEAR $800: Wearing specs may have saved this ex-president’s life: in 1912, his metal eyeglass case slowed a would-be assassin’s bullet

AMERICANA $1600: Born more than 60 years after his grandfather’s death, the last grandchild of this 10th president passed away in 2025 at 96

The first

PRESIDENTIAL FIRSTS $200: Reaching the mark in 2024, he was the first president to live to be 100

… $400: James Madison was the first president to ask Congress for a declaration of war, for this conflict

… $600 (Daily Double): Calvin Coolidge was the first & so far only president born on this date; 3 have died on it

… $800: For helping end the Russo-Japanese War, he was the first president & the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize

… $1000: He was the first president who had never been elected president or vice president

FROM THEIR NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARY $1600: 1964: “Only one other president lived to be 90–John Adams, the second president”

I’M THINKING OF A JAMES… $800: Who was ranked as the worst president in U.S. history by U.S. News & World Report

WINNING IS DIFFICULT! $1200: …Even if you win the popular vote! But Samuel Tilden ended up 1 Electoral College vote short & this guy from Ohio became president

HISTORY “P”s & “Q”s $400: A boycott & strike in one, the 1894 strike of this company’s railroad workers got President Cleveland involved

CIVIL WAR ERA GEOGRAPHY $2000: Lincoln was nominated for president in 1860 in the Wigwam, a wooden structure at what’s now Lake & Wacker in this city

___ OF ____ $800: Whether prince or president, but often more permanent than prime minister, it’s a nation’s titular ruler

FIRESIDE CHATS $1600: After FDR, he was the only president to copy the informal chat approach of sitting by an actual fireplace–& in a cardigan, no less

THAT’S CONSTITUTIONAL $200: “The President… shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high” this duo

A SALUTE TO VETERANS DAY $400: Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day until this president & veteran officially changed it in 1954

ANSWERS

QUIZ: four or five. Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Roosevelt, all from the first half of the 20th century. HOWEVER, as some pedantic fellow noted, Wilson’s given first name was Thomas.

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND WITH YOUR OLD PAL GROVER: Benjamin Harrison; Ruth; the French flag; minister; Buffalo, NY

GO FOR “GOLD”: Barry Goldwater, a/k/a AuH20

I FEEL GOOD: James Monroe

AMERICANA: John Tyler

THE EX-PRESIDENTS: Andrew Johnson; Ronald Reagan; William Howard Taft; Medicare; John Quincy Adams

NONFICTION: All The President’s Men

ICONIC EYEWEAR: Theodore Roosevelt

PRESIDENTIAL FIRSTS: Jimmy Carter; The War of 1812; July 4; Theodore Roosevelt; Gerald Ford

FROM THEIR NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARY: Herbert Hoover

I’M THINKING OF A JAMES…: Buchanan

WINNING IS DIFFICULT!: Rutherford B. Hayes

HISTORY “P”s & “Q”s: Pullman

CIVIL WAR ERA GEOGRAPHY: Chicago

___ OF ____: Head of state

FIRESIDE CHATS: Jimmy Carter

THAT’S CONSTITUTIONAL: crimes and misdemeanors

A SALUTE TO VETERANS DAY: Dwight Eisenhower

JEC was the first President born in a hospital — an event that occurred on October 1, 1924. All five presidents born after Carter — Joe Biden (1942), FOTUS (1946), George W. Bush (1946), Bill Clinton (1946), and Barack Obama (1961) — were likewise born in hospitals. George H. W. Bush, who was born less than four months before Carter and assumed the presidency 12 years after Carter, was born at home in Milton, Massachusetts.

Sunday Stealing: Beginning with S

Star Trek v. Star Wars

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

At The Zeus Excuse, participating bloggers were assigned a letter and asked to list things they love beginning with that letter. Since at Sunday Stealing we love Sunday Stealing, here is –

Things I Love Beginning with S

1. Soul music, particularly the sounds of Soulsville, USA, i.e., Stax Records out of Memphis, TN. I wrote about Stax here (2007). I have pushing for Stax co-founder Estelle Axton to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2015. Steve Cropper, the STAX guitar virtuoso who died in 2025, got an obit.

2. The Statue of Liberty, which I’ve seen while riding the Staten Island ferry. The meaning needs to be amplified regularly. “Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” I used to have a little statuette in a previous office.

3. I was going to say Soup. Then I came into this debate about the difference between soup versus stew, chowder, and bisque. Gumbo, e.g., I consider a stew. That said, cream of mushroom and New England clam chowder are my favorite soups. BTW, I had forgotten that Campbell’s has dropped the word Soup from its corporate name.

Dueling universes

4. The Star Trek v. Star Wars debate. I haven’t come into contact with it recently, but these two tribes used to fuss about which universe was more “authentic,” whatever THAT meant. For the record, I’ve seen far more Star Trek.

I’ve only seen Star Wars movies (renumbered) 4, 5, 6, 1, and 7. No, I’ve never seen any of the small-screen stuff. I did collect the Marvel Comics Star Wars series back in the day.

But I’ve seen Star Trek: TOS, and the 1st five films; most of the Animated Series; all of The Next Generation, though no movies; most episodes of DS9; many episodes of Voyager; the 2009 reboot movie; and random other episodes.

5. Sleep. Sometimes, I stay up too late, because my brain needs to offload NOW. So, increasingly, I take that joyous thing called the afternoon nap, usually for about an hour. I never use an alarm clock, because it is evil.

6. Sunday Stealing, of course!

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

My favorite love songs

Can’t Nothing Be Love But Love

I suggested that these are my favorite love songs. More correctly, there’s something that intrigues me about them.

Love Can Be Anything (Can’t Nothing Be Love But Love) – the Temptations. This is a Norman Whitfield-Barrett Strong tune in the ‘wah-wah” period, after Dennis Edwards replaced David Ruffin. It’s repetitive and a bit silly: love can be X, but X can’t be love. But I’m a big fan of the five lead singer period.

Lady Marmalade – Labelle. This song was co-written by Bob Crewe, who I associate with the Four Seasons. You don’t think it’s a love song?

Love Machine – Miracles. This is the post-Smokey Robinson group.

Lover – Ella Fitzgerald. The best version of the oft-covered standard.

Love and Happiness – Al Green. I would joke that this was my cousin Al, but in fact, his name was originally Albert Greene, with that unnecessary extra e.

Just The Two Of Us – Grover Washington and Bill Withers. Long after his three big hits in 1971-72 comes this unexpected comeback in 1981.

Love and Affection – Joan Armatrading. It has one of my favorite first lines: “I am not in love, but I’m open to persuasion.”

Love Is Strange – Mickey and Sylvia. Seeing the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing for the first time in 2025 reminded me of what a hoot this song is.

The Love You Save – The Jackson Five. When I used to sing along with this when it came out, I could match Jermaine’s second lead pretty well, but I couldn’t come close to Michael’s vocals.

Who wrote this?

Let’s Make More Love – Nat King Cole. It’s from the Billy May Sessions, recorded in the 1950s but not released until 1993. Oddly, the composer is listed as Unknown.

There’s Love In Them There Hills – the Pointer Sisters. As I noted last fall, “Play in the dark, as loud as you can; it’ll be clear why after the first 2:30.”

Strawberry Letter #23 – the Brothers Johnson. I wrote a whole post about this song, written and first recorded by Shuggie Otis, in 2015—a Q production.

Anyone Who Had A Heart – Dionne Warwick. A sad song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; I am a sucker for almost every version, by Cilla Black, Linda Ronstadt, and Dusty Springfield, for three, but this is the first version I heard.

Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinead O’Connor. Prince wrote the song, and recorded the song at least twice. But this version is ethereal.

It’s Love – The [Young] Rascals. This is the final song on the group’s great third album, Groovin’, with flute by Hubert Laws. I have the album on vinyl. In the 1990s, I bought a fancy new turntable and played the LP. The runoff on Side 2 was minimal, so that the arm returned about 12 seconds before the song finished! I ended up buying Groovin’ on CD, essentially for this song.

I Only Have Eyes For You – the Flamingoes. This IS my favorite love song, and it hooks me with the instrumentation that builds before the vocal comes in.