[Oe List ...] Additional Election Concerns

Thu Sep 25 18:56:28 EDT 2008

FW: my american prayerGood Morning, Margaret- I wish I could share with you the lovely Spring day here in Sydney;
This saying "  Rome was not built in a day," is a family saying of ours-  and I don't know its origin, as to why some people in this country use it.  It means that things take time to happen-  Existentially, it means .....be patient...... Jim used it to encourage me when I was the Minister for ten years in a Parish which was entrenched in the " old ways" .  Things did change in fact, and I do think much of what I learnt over the Order years, including the extraordinary insights of Sun Tsu, for example, were very valuable in the Parish's journey to its present and future. 
Perhaps we Aussies are feeling especially connected with you at this,  your pivotal moment;  because  of our own eleven year       "  dark night of the soul"  horrendous struggle, ( from my perspective,) under our former Prime Minister. Things do change, Margaret.  My candle is lit as I write this.  For what it is worth, the pundits  here are saying Barack will cross the line ...

In Villawood Detention Centre two thirds of the folk are from the Republic of China... mainly Falun Gong practitioners or underground Christians...  very difficult for them, and very sad stories. Then the remainder are from Bangladesh, India;  especially Sikhs from the Punjab, Nepal, Pakistan, and Nigeria, Kenya, and Algeria.  I have met a few  from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Most of the people are political or religious refugees.  One or two are students whose parents send them on student visas to get a degree here, in the hope that they will return to their home and make money for their family there. If/ when their visa runs out they arrive in Villawood. A small group of us go every Monday, and always learn something from our friends, as we sit and chat with them.
In your prayers I could suggest for them :   Inner strength, so they can continue to wait - as they endure the endlessly boring days when there is no news about their case...... and, secondly, that they soon be released. 
Living in hope and peace,
Isobel Bishop.
. 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Margaret Helen Aiseayew 
  To: Order Ecumenical Community 
  Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 8:06 AM
  Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Additional Election Concerns

  Isobel,
  My history may not be so good.  Could you remind me how long it took Rome to fall? :-)

  Because our media is so uninformative, please also tell me where most of the detainees at the Center are from and what kind of prayer is called for.

  Thanks.  In love and light, Margaret
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Isobel & Jim Bishop 
    To: Order Ecumenical Community 
    Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 5:32 PM
    Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Additional Election Concerns

    Hello Margaret,
    We are a long way off down here geographically, and yet we are so close in spirit...... so, yes, I will keep lighting my candles for you all-  as Frank Bremner says, it was an amazing happening to move away from our very conservative 11 year Government, and some people are still in shock-  where I notice it is in the far reaching new directions in our Immigration policy. I visit the ghastly Detention Centre weekly here in Sydney, and I can notice subtle changes being made-  which are happening very carefully; so that the "red necks"do not take fright, and try and overturn it back to the previous wretched conditions. 
    Our elder daughter  Rebecca is an American citizen, and will once more be voting.
    Dear Margaret, one step at a time.... or Rome was not built in a day ( one of Jim's favourites.) Thank you for keeping the flag flying.
    In peace,
    Isobel Bishop.
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Margaret Helen Aiseayew 
      To: Order Ecumenical Community 
      Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2008 7:56 AM
      Subject: [Oe List ...] Additional Election Concerns

      Thanks Pat and Marsha for coming to Iowa.  I have had an Obama sign (I used to have two) in my yard (on Highway 175) since before the primaries.  What a pain, slip sliding over the ice to get out and shovel around it all winter and now mowing around it all summer.

      Last week another pastor was passing through Story City and wanted to meet with me at the McDonalds on the interstate corner.  Even though it is an establishment I do not frequent,  I agreed and we had just sat at the table and a woman I know only as the secretary in an office in town came up to attack me.  How could I as a minister and claiming to be a Christian (I don't really think I have ever done that.  It is an assumption people make because I pastor a Methodist Church.) have an Obama sign in my yard.  It is even worse that I have eight in my picture window which is likely to get broken one of these days.  It is irresponsible for me to be supporting a BLACK Muslim that intends to destroy the country.  etc.

      I was so shocked I backed away and the minister friend with whom I was meeting took her on a bit.  She walked away from our table and sat down with two other people shouting her outrage and the name of my church and how awful a person I must really be.

      It was the first time that I have contemplated the possibility (in spite of the whiteness of the Republican convention) that we may still be too prejudice, too racist, too parochial to actually elect Obama.  I know I am warped (and I think it is mostly good) by my experience, but the primary battle here in Iowa was so energizing and electrifying, so full of juice, that anything seemed possible.  Now we are considered a swing state.  I had been uner the illusion that all the people we had registered for the primary and all those we had gotten to cross over had already swung us into a new reality.

      If there is no other way for you to participate, I am asking you to pray.  Some may think that is a lesser form of participation, but from where I stand, no matter where you live, we need all the help we can get.  Even if it is hoping that some of those with the most bluster are so confident of their position that they don't bother to get out and vote.

      Loving the Old Testament named candidate,
      Margaret

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