Sunday/Prodigal

"As long as they're born faster than we can make them hate us, we're in business."--airline employee quoted in the New York Times Sunday Magazine

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Would witholding federal money from universities be reasonable if the government did not like, for example, the school's content in the science department's global warming programs?

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There are rumors that several Republican seats in the House that are up for vote in the next several weeks are at risk. The margin the House is tight, so tight they are keeping Stephanik in the House and canceling her UN appointment for fear of losing their majority. If the Democrats take the House, do you think they will impeach Trump again? 

(In one of the Florida races, the Republicans have spent $100 million, the Dems almost one billion dollars.)

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Sunday/Prodigal

In the Old Testament reading, Moses argues with God, who plans retribution against the 'depraved' Israelites, and wins. 

The New Testament Gospel has three parables: one of a shepherd going after a lost sheep, one of a fussy woman who has lost a coin, and the last a doting father who is thrilled with the return of his prodigal son. A responsible loner in the mountains, an obsessive cleaner/collector, and the father in love-- nothing like the fierce and vengeful God depicted in the Old Testament reading--all devoted to he lost, the separated, the failed. All are the victims of chance or, in the case of the Prodigal, free will. Only the righteously offended older brother of the Prodigal comes off badly because he cannot forgive; he is blinded by justice. He is, in a sense, a strange reflection of the Old Testament God in the first reading.

These parables have emerged recently as a defense of the current culture's obsession with the culture's outliers.