"YOU CAN SAFELY ASSUME, YOU CREATED GOD IN YOUR OWN IMAGE WHEN IT TURNS OUT THAT GOD HATES ALL THE SAME PEOPLE YOU DO." PRESBYTARIAN WRITER, ANNE LAMOTT. GREAT DINNER PUT ON LAST NIGHT, AT THE FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, FOUR LOCAL CHURCHES SPONSORED THE EVENT, BANDS, CHOIR, CHRISTMAS MESSAGE, PERFECT SERVICE, AND CHRISTMAS PRESENTS . . . SO, NICE, THANK YOU! THIS MORNING, WHILE ATTENDING THE HISTORIC, ST. FRANCIS XAVIER PARISH, WITH A CEILIING AND WALLS THAT RIVAL THE SISTINE CHAPEL, HOLY AND GLORIOUS, REVERENT AND SACRED, THE VOCALIST, WAS LEADING THE CONGREGATION, IN A SONG, THAT HAD THE WORDS, "GOD IS TURNING THE WORLD AROUND . . ." AND RIGHT AS THAT WAS BEING SUNG, I HEARD A POLICE SIREN OUTSIDE, AND THOUGHT, BACK ON THE MORNINGS NEWS, IN THE MISSOULIAN, WITH A PICTURE OF A 'HISTORY-MAKING MOMENT' MARKING THOUSANDS PROTESTING POLICE SLAYING OF BLACK MEN. A DEMONSTRATOR CHANTS DURING A RALLY IN DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN IN NEW YORK, ON SATURDAY DURING THE JUSTICE FOR ALL RALLY AND MARCH, SURROUDING THE REVELER, ARE THE WORDS, BLACK LIVES MATTER; HANDS UP, DON'T SHOOT; AND JUSTICE, ALL LIT UP IN LIGHTS. FROM SAN FRANSISCO TO NEW YORK, BOSTON TO UTAH, WHERE THERE WERE MORE POLICE KILLINGS, THAN KILLINGS BY GANGS, IN THE STATE, PEOPLE ARE SPEAKING OUT, HELPING OUT, AND BRINGING THESE ISSUES TO LIGHT, NO LONGER TO BE DEALT WITH BY THE FAR TO OFTEN, BLACK COMMUNITIES, GRIEVING LOSSES OF THEIR YOUTH, FALLEN AT THE HANDS OF COPS, WITH GRAND JURY INDICTMENTS, BEING FAR TO UNCOMMON . . . WITH THE EXPOSURE OF THE CIA, TORTURE, COP KILLINGS, AND RAPES ON COLLGE CAMPUSES, AT ALARMING RATES, AND OTHER INJUSTICES, THAT HAVE GONE ON FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS IN AMERICA (STUDENTS AT BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, HAD PICTURES OF LYNCHINGS--HOW FAR HAVE WE COME?), WE ARE FINALLY ACTING, AS ONE NATION UNDER GOD, AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT . . . THANK GOD. TRAYVON MARTIN'S MOTHER, IN A LETTER TO MICHAEL BROWN'S MOTHER, SAID, "IF WE CAN'T MAKE THEM SEE, WE WILL MAKE THEM FEEL"--WE FEEL IT! THE TITLE OF THE SMITHSONIA MAGAZINE, I GLANCED AT THIS MORNING, THE TITLE WAS, "GENIUS IN AMERICA" . . . WE ARE GETTING TO OUR BETTER SELVES, REFUSING TO ALLOW SEGEMENTS OF OUR CITIZENS, BE ARRESTED, HARASSED, HURT, JAILED, AND MURDERED . . . WE TRULY ARE BETTER THAN THIS, AND WE ARE SHOWING IT--IT IS ABOUT TIME. THE FOUNDING FATHERS HAD A DREAM, "JUSTICE FOR ALL" AND WE HAVE PASSED CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION, BACK IN 1964, TO HELP, BUT IF THOSE RIGHTS CONTINUE TO BE VIOLATED, THEN WHAT GOOD ARE THE LAWS, AND IF LAW ENFORCEMENT, CIA, FRAT RATS, ARE ABOVE THE LAW, THEN WHAT ARE WE SAYING? AS I HAVE SAID, A MILLION TIMES, AND THE MANTRA OF THIS BLOG, "THE LAW, IS THE LAW, IS THE LAW . . . KNOW YOUR RIGHTS" AND WE WILL ALL HELP YOU GET THEM! ST. XAVIER'S PARISH NEWS BULLETIN LAST WEEK, HAD A GREAT, APPLICABLE SCRIPTURES: "KINDNESS AND TRUTH SHALL MEET; JUSTICE AND PEACE SHALL KISS. TRUTH SHALL SPRING OUT OF THE EARTH, AND JUSTICE SHALL LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN." --PSALMS 8:5, HAVE A BLESSED SUNDAY, AND HOLY CHRISTMAS SEASON . . .