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Frederick responded that, if the Janus supporters prevailed, he believed unions would have less political influence. In one exchange between Justice Kennedy and David Frederick, the lawyer for AFSCME, Kennedy asked if unions would have less political influence if AFSCME lost the case. And the right-wing justices made it equally clear they are willing accomplices. The oral arguments made it crystal clear what the right-wing supporters of this case want. Bruce Rauner, the anti-union Illinois governor who brought the case, was there, as was Betsy DeVos, who snuck in. I was at the Supreme Court, listening to the oral arguments in Janus v.
HOPE IN DARKNESS FULL
In one moment you can be saying, “What the heck?!” And the next, “Heck yeah!” (That’s the sanitized version-because my swear jar is getting pretty full this year.) There has been no shortage of lows-or highs-these last couple of months. And we need that in these most surreal of times. We were walking out for our students-creating a human shield for the public schools they deserve caring, fighting and showing up creating hope in darkness.
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When you hear Fred, it’s clear: Teachers weren’t walking out on our students. He can be reached comments and story ideas.Remarks by AFT president Randi Weingarten He serves as pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minnesota. Because for hundreds of years, even when the world has lived through its darkest days, it’s that hope that has carried us through.ĭevlyn Brooks, who works for Modulist, a Forum Communications Co.-owned company, is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Church of America. But for billions of Christians worldwide on Sunday, we will light a candle symbolizing the hope that one day we can all agree to restore God’s creation, to feed the earth’s hungry, to clothe those who are naked and to care for the widow and orphan. You don’t need to believe in the birth of Jesus to have hope, of course. Our common hope leads us to celebrate the birth 2,000 years ago of a Christ child who came to teach us mercy and tenderness. Because in a time when we can’t seem to agree on the simplest of things, our common hope leads us to believe that there can be a better tomorrow. And both are acts lived in hope, the most uniting of common human emotions. We celebrate the now and the future presence of Christ here on earth. So we are not only joyfully celebrating Jesus’ birth, but we are also preparing ourselves for Christ’s return. As the practice of Advent developed, it became a season in which Christians both celebrated the coming birth of the Christ child, and simultaneously an act of waiting expectantly for Jesus’ second return. Meanwhile, back here in Advent, Christians have been celebrating a season of both joy and expectation for centuries. … Not an altogether terrible idea, but we’ll save that column for Lent! It makes one want to run from the news and abandon social media. Hope is the shape of our work and our words, while we wait for a future that only God knows.”Ĭould there be more fitting words this Advent season, as many of us are beseeching God to save us from ourselves, to save us from the division and conflict that riddle all aspects of our lives? You can’t miss it: We can’t seem to agree on anything from politics to religion to justice to the care of creation.
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The first candle of Advent is the symbolic “Candle of Hope,” and as a member of our congregation lights the candle they will read these words: “We hope that God will save us from hard times and painful lessons. The first four candles represent the four weeks of Advent, leading up to the lighting of the fifth candle, which is the Christ Candle. 28, Christians worldwide will celebrate the start of their new liturgical (or church) year with the beginning of the season of Advent.Īt our church, as will happen at countless other churches, we will ceremoniously light the first of five candles to be lit over the course of the next five weeks.