Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 79
The presidential conventions are over and the vicious campaigning season continues. Lord, help us. We can expect to hear about many issues, but especially about jobs and the economy. I like hearing ideas about good paying jobs. In Central California, faith groups have been conducting listening campaigns with thousands of people and identifying the need for more good paying jobs as the top priority for easing poverty, providing dignity, and building brighter futures for individuals, families,...
Recently, I saw this poster, “Hate Has No Business Here” at an elementary school. It was refreshing to see these words while children from different cultures played on the playground. Boys and girls wearing stocking and baseball caps, braided ponytails, and hijabs, filled with energy, running and laughing - playing - what beautiful sounds together they made. The poster (which can be downloaded from mainstreetalliance.org or discussed at #hatehasnobizhere) specified: “We stand with our LGBTQ comm...
When I first moved to Bakersfield, California, from the Midwest, it didn't take me long to notice many big churches. My new neighbor told me the city is nicknamed "The Bible Belt West" due to Dust Bowl migrations from the southern Bible Belt. She invited our family to one of the big churches, assuring us that "everyone goes there." It certainly was a big congregation and the church had many bells and whistles. Yet, I wondered: How is it that the Central Valley has so many big, wealthy churches,...
Recently I visited the Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield - the temporary forced residence of about 300 male and 100 female undocumented immigrants. While touring the facility and praying with inmates, I thought about biblical stories. Have you ever noticed how much of the bible tells about migration? People on a journey somewhere…up into the mountains, wandering in the wilderness, leaving one place and seeking a homeland. We are people in motion, all of us. Some with legal status to m...
“Be with those who help your being.” Rumi gave the world a lot of good one liners, but this is one of my favorites. Those who help my being are often people I admire. They tend to be loving, caring, optimistic, ethical, peaceful folks I want to be around and who I wish to be like. Sometimes those who help my being are a bit more tricky. They appear different from me, disagreeing with me, and challenging me to grow by seeing life through their eyes. Comfort and challenge are needed for ong...
Have you been to see the newest Star Wars sequel yet? I can’t wait. I was blown away when these movies made their debut. The action and images were entrancing, and there was something so simple yet important about the plot…a small bunch of righteous “rebels” against a huge monstrous mega-power with the likelihood of success slim at best. Who doesn’t love a courageous, impossible, underdog story? That’s a classic as old as time, yet still relevant today. We continue to cheer for ancient bib...
Greetings! Do you feel the magic in the air? It's the holiday season. Awful things are happening around the world, but bright lights still shine and there is magic galore. I hope you sense that magic when Christmas Pageants come together and small children remind us what Christmas is all about. There is hope and joy in our story and in our futures. No matter how bleak the winter, the state of our health, or the state of the world, we keep Christmas. No Grinch can steal it; Dr. Seuss knew that...
“Hebrews”, a book in the New Testament, most likely written for early Christians considering abandoning their faith, offers words of hope to modern Parisians and the rest of us. Those ancient Christians were experiencing terror and persecution, too. Who could blame them for walking away from ideals of love and forgiveness, which seemed to stand no chance against such violence? Isn’t the normal reaction to horrific murder a deep thirst for revenge? Who can we hate and kill for this? The day b...
I have three new friends from Armenia, Haiti, and Uganda that I am invested in. They don’t know me, but through Kiva’s micro-lending program, I have fronted each of them $25 to assist their small businesses and to move them out of extreme poverty. There’s a taxi driver in Armenia, whose only possession is his broken taxi, so getting it running again is critical for his livelihood. A young mother in Haiti, has a small business of selling soft drinks and snacks to beach sunbathers. She needs...
I have three new friends from Armenia, Haiti, and Uganda that I am invested in. They don’t know me, but through Kiva’s micro-lending program, I have fronted each of them $25 to assist their small businesses and to move them out of extreme poverty. There’s a taxi driver in Armenia, whose only possession is his broken taxi, so getting it running again is critical for his livelihood. A young mother in Haiti, has a small business of selling soft drinks and snacks to beach sunbathers. She needs...
I’m thrilled that I get to be with a group of interfaith leaders heading to Philadelphia for Pope Francis’ visit. God is good. I love Steven Colbert’s nickname for the Holy Father, “Pope Hope.” That is also how I see him. He is an inspiring leader who demonstrates walking-the-talk of his faith. I love reading about his choices to forego many standard papal perks. His well-worn black shoes are a comfort to my heart. He walks with common people and people who suffer or are forgotten, as Jesus onc...
How many times a day do you wash your hands – with soap? How do you feel when the bathroom sink you’re at has no soap? When I was in Uganda, I saw only two people ask for money, but frequently villagers would ask, “Do you have any soap?” Homeless people in our country need soap, too. Soap prevents disease and infection - keeping you from being ill, and extending your life. During the month of July, my church at E and Green Streets in Tehachapi, will be doing a “Soap for Success” campaign, a...
Does it ever seem to you that God is now spelled GDP? Our nation’s Gross Domestic Product index has a way of diverting our attention from that which should be our primary focus. For religious folks that primary source may be called “God” and GDP something of lesser importance. For ethical atheists, that primary source could include simply adding another “o” to make the word, “Good.” Is our highest priority a high GDP, assuming that leads to good for all? GDP is basically an index of the quanti...
OK, I’ll admit it…one of my guilty pleasures is an occasional grande skinny cinnamon dolce latte from Starbucks. I love Starbucks and I wouldn’t feel as much guilt if their coffee was Fair Trade, but the company does make impressive efforts to engage important soci-political issues. Their newest campaign, “Race Together” intrigues me. Discussing racial issues is tricky and I am wondering how my barista will get my fancy coffee order correct while juggling such a hot topic. My church began a c...
You might guess by my title that the unspeakably violent murder of Jordanian Pilot, Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, is invading my thoughts. As you know, Muath was caged and burned alive by people claiming to be devoutly religious. I’m not the most adept religious scholar…so I can’t seem to find the religious teachings that direct us to do things like that. I like to study and question literal teachings and when I pray asking God to “set our hearts on fire,” I mean it as a metaphor. Metaphors...
If you’ve ever tried tofu, there’s a huge difference between soft and firm. The soft stuff is nasty to me. What little flavor there is, I do not care for. Places that know how to prepare tofu often bake it or fry it and this makes all the difference in the world. A rib-eye steak or a piece of liver lightly cooked versus well-done radically changes the taste and experience. Intense cooking dries the meat, toughens it, and the flavors can disperse or be harsh. Whereas, a restrained cooking tim...
I love this quote about race by Ruben G. Rumbaut. Race is an invention we created that has caused many real injustices. Sadly, most of us have been taught and indoctrinated to believe that there are different races of people, sort of like sub-types. In reality, we are all African-American, every single one of us. For some reason, my ancestors moved out of Africa long ago. I don’t know why. Maybe they couldn’t get along with anyone. Anyway, for whatever reason they migrated north and over tim...
Are you dreading the holidays this year? For some, the holidays are difficult times, especially if there have been recent losses of loved ones, divorces, separations, or loss of employment. Holiday traditions can be a harsh reminder of someone or something important that is now gone. If you are dreading the holidays, or know others handling difficult losses, join me for a unique gathering on Sunday, December 21 at 5 p.m. If weather allows, we will meet outside in my church’s courtyard, s...
If you Google “things I learned from my dog” many lists pop up containing snippets of wisdom people have gleaned from their loyal, fur-covered friends. My little dog, Oliver, a rescued miniature pinscher-chihuahua (MinPinHuahua), is one of my best spiritual guides. When life is overloaded with crazy, he remains calm, predictable, always loving, and reassuring. He keeps Sabbath by resting regularly and he extravagantly welcomes everyone. Recently, when my daughter’s high school in Baker...
One Book, One Kern Tehachapi Discussion: FIELD High School Students Share Insights about Immigration. Each year the Kern County Libraries select a book and encourage people to read it, then find a group in Kern County to discuss the book. This year’s book is Enrique’s Journey, written by Pulitzer Prize winner, Sonia Nazario. It tells the story of an unaccompanied minor and his dangerous pilgrimage from Honduras to the United States to find his mother, who went north to support her family. Whe...
You’ve probably heard some version of this inspirational starfish story: A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean. “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?,” he asks. “Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in they will...
Remember the fear you experienced watching Star Wars, when you first met Darth Vader – the heartless killing machine? Luke Skywalker was young and untrained, just naïve enough to not be daunted by the improbability of his success going up against vast imperial power. What a fool. Vader’s boss, the evil emperor, didn’t value human life only his ultimate power. Resistors and innocents were brutally killed. Fear and control was the religion of the empire. Into this violent world, a rag-tag bunch...
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 14:15b) Are your feet beautiful? Mine aren’t. I have injured toes from hiking and running and occasionally wearing ridiculous women’s shoes. Have you ever looked at the feet of professional dancers? They are pretty ugly. My beloved sacred dance instructor, Carla DeSola, had the most worn mangled feet and worn shredded bible I have ever seen. She could dance and interpret scripture through her graceful body like nobody else. T...
I am one lucky lady. I pastor the nicest group of people, and they allow me to travel to the ends of the earth in response to where the Spirit leads me. The crazy thing is, sometimes they even follow me! It was amazing going to Uganda a couple of months ago, with one courageous church member joining me. Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a couple of spiritual retreats and those who have gone with me have been mightily moved. If you haven’t wandered up the hill to meet the canonesses of t...
You’re resting in the hot, dusty, worn van with no seat belts, when an overly-friendly baboon decides to jump in and join you. Wait a minute, buddy, the van was already overcrowded, and that’s my seat! That’s someone else’s backpack you’re grabbing. Go back outside with the nearby warthogs and stop showing off your opposable thumbs! Welcome to Africa. Going on mission to Uganda was a trip of a lifetime. Seven years ago, I became acquainted with Aid Africa, before it was formally incorpora...
