Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"Cometh the hour, 
          cometh the man."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"When more people speak up,

                 more people listen."

Frances Garfield (Brown)

Let's be strong and helpful, and help us all!

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

There is no way to fake the kind of courage and fortitude that all of us hope we can muster when called to transcend being victims of aggression, and there is no way to know whether we have courage until the time we need it most.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Much of what we accomplish in our lifetime is not complete (we are like waves in the ocean... ).       
This is what we are about when we plant trees whose shade we know will not be ours to enjoy, but which hold promise for others in the future.    
There is a sense of liberation when we realize that that which we do we can do very well enabled by the confidence that taken together our work is a step along the way... 

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Jonathan Swift complained that the English language was subject to "daily corruptions" and continuous "abuses and absurdities" - his satire, "A Proposal for Correcting, Improving and Ascertaining the English Tongue" was published in 1712.

The language of a living people is alive. Words - like people - are birthed, change, and grow obsolete. Humans were not made for words; words were made for us. In our effort to reveal ourselves to ourselves, and to others, we continually create and re-create words. Words - and language - evolve over time. We ought to treat words - our own words and those of others - with care. Caring for one another includes the humility to accept that we understand one another and the words we exchange only in part: communication is difficult. Language is easily misused, misunderstood, made into an obstacle. We need to look past the surface of words to better understand one another - and if further explanation and clarification illuminate unsurpassable disagreement, it will be disagreement founded on human dignity, not merely on semantics.

with attribution to Karen Swallow Prior

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Jesus was not killed by the Jews, he was killed by the Romans.    
Jews and Christians are working together to correct such a false impression.
If Jews had killed Jesus they would have stoned him; crucifixion was the Roman way of execution.

Paul Richard Hain

Psalm 22 tells a prophecy of pain, defilement, death and torment of one man in the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Old Testament. There are other prophecies of this man in Isaiah and Malachi.  It was the Romans that crucified Jesus, as Janis pointed out.

The events that took place on Passover so many years ago were in accord with prophecies that described what the role was for each group, Jews, Romans, citizens and disciples.  No one was innocent.  Yet, Jesus said, "love one another as I have loved you."  To his tormentors he said, "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do."  He absolved them all of guilt and frankly forgave them all, Romans, Jews, Gentiles and disciples.  Not just forgave them: he loved them.

What a lesson for each of us, Unbeliever, Christian, Jew or a blend thereof.  "Love one another, as I have loved you."  Forgive.  Forget.  Love.

May peace and blessings be with each of you and your families.

Paul

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Confucius once said: "We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one."

Fancy Miss Nancy (Novak)

I'm a-fixin' to send this Happy Mother's Day greeting to Y'all from North Central Texas. 💞
Love, Fancy Miss Nancy🎶

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Hi Fancy Miss Nancy🎶    
Thanks for your greeting.      
Mother's Day was created following the Civil War as a protest movement for peace. Maybe remembering what the day was about would be a meaningful way to include all women with our multitude of life experiences and feelings on this day. For me today was a day shared with my daughters and sons-in-law and grandchildren, and to share my concern and support for Ukrainians and Ukraine as they struggle for peace and independence. I wore blue and yellow scarves as a visible show of support and to express my willingness to engage about peace in Ukraine.    
People did engage me - with words of thanks for lifting up concern about Ukraine.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

There is something deeply hypocritical about all the talk of thoughts and prayers if we are unwilling to resolve problems that are tearing our country apart.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

   For Whom the Bell Tolls  
                   by  
            John Donne

  Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any
  occasion rings? but who can remove (his ear) from    
  that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of
  this world?

    No man is an island,    
    Entire of itself; 
    Every man is a piece of the continent,  
    A part of the main.    
    If a clod be washed away by the sea,    
    Europe is the less, 
    As well as if a promontory were,   
    As well as if a manor of thy friend's      
    Or of thine own were:
    Any man's death diminishes me,     
    Because I am involved in mankind,
    And therefore never send to know      
    For whom the bell tolls;  
    It tolls for thee.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Confucius' view on government in response to Tzu-kung's questions:   
The Master said: "The requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of weapons, and the trust of the people in their leaders."      
Tzu-kung asked: "Suppose one of these must be dispensed with, which of the three would you forgo?"       
"The weapons," said the Master.    
Tzu-kung asked again: "Suppose one of the remaining two must be dispensed with, which would you forgo?"    
"Food," the Master answered. "Death has been with us since the beginning of time, but when people have no confidence in their government, they will have nothing to stand on."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

It's hard for a rational person to be a person of hope.

Between optimism and pessimism is realism.

Donn Pearlman

Three clowns from Chicago. Best wishes to the Niles West Class of '64!

Theodore John Forsberg

But of the three clowns you are the greatest. The Chicago news scene misses you .

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

I am weeping for my country.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

As we celebrate the 4th of July with family and friends this year, let us reflect on the fragility of our nation. There is much that is broken in our country, in our communities, in our government infrastructure. We harbor brokenness with family and friends as well. Let us open our hearts and minds to seek compromise on what divides us. Let us encourage and support our political leaders to demonstrate humility, and to work to bring healing to our fractured nation.

Nancy Doyle (Sudlow)

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

How much more evidence do we need to understand the despair in the U.S.?

How could a good guy with a gun have stopped the shooting in Highland Park?

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

We cannot, must not, absolve ourselves for our responsibility to do everything we can to see that all people can live peacefully and safely.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute."      
-- George Bernard Shaw

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

a classmate shared the following note: 
"And amongst the Jews in Germany leading up to WWII, the pessimists went to America. The optimists went to Dachau."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

There is no such thing as a Christian nation.
It doesn't exist.
It can't exist.
Not a chance.
Not with Christ.
For Christ cannot be nationalized. He refuses the platform. He rejects any and all power established through vote, people, government, or popularity. He seeks no political party, no people group, and no established system of organization. 
He cannot be colonized, weaponized, militarized, bulldozed into existence, marched down the street, hammered by a gavel, or flown over a stadium.
He dwells outside of walls, structures, and human constructs. He tears down all that would cage Him, franchise Him, leverage Him, and hoist Him upon a flag.
For Jesus lives in the margins, the cracks, the undefined, and the unconstituted. He cannot be legislated, demarcated, or plotted on a map. 
Far beyond theology, denominations, creeds, rules, religion, news networks, social media, speeches, conferences, prayer formulas, mission statements, worship centers, bibles, and books.
He is in all, and for all, or He means nothing at all. 
There is no budget that can commandeer him, no army that can assert Him, no democracy that can elect Him, no dictator that can enforce Him, and no office, house, branch, or anthem that can contain Him.
In fact, you can surely be sure that any person, group, or effort to nationalize Him is not of Him.
For you can nationalize hate.
You can nationalize greed.
You can nationalize racism.
You can nationalize violence.
You can nationalize injustice.
You can nationalize white supremacy.
But, you can't nationalize Jesus.
For Christ can't be nationalized, but all that is anti-Christ surely can.
Within every call, drumbeat, and chorus to nationalize Christianity is the screaming confession that, "we have not, believe not, and worship not Jesus."
Don't be fooled by all the pursuits of Christian nationalism and the establishment of a Christian nation. They have nothing to do with Christ and cannot exist with Him, by Him, or for Him.

-- with attribution to Chris Kratzer