Scripture: Isaiah 32:6-8
For fools speak folly, rx
their hearts are bent on evil:
They practice ungodliness
and spread error concerning the Lord;
the hungry they leave empty
and from the thirsty they withhold water.
Scoundrels use wicked methods, order
they make up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just.
But the noble make noble plans,
and by noble deeds they stand.

Thought for the Day: Nearly 240 years ago, a group of men and women who were fed up with being taken advantage of by the British Crown did something about it. They rebelled. They took arms in the form of pen, paper, swords, pigs, gunpowder, tea—anything they could find, and stood up against a bully. Over 2000 years ago, Jesus and his followers did the same thing to the Roman Empire.

Yet here we are today, sons and daughters of both spiritual and political revolutions, somehow as paralyzed in inaction as our own government. Congress has been unable (or unwilling) to cooperate for years. Our government is, for all intents and purposes, closed. When laws are finally passed, the robber barons and the bankers make out like princes, while the rest of us get berated for going into debt the bankers created in the first place. We the people are currently as abused by corporate Amerika as our forebears were by England.

We live in a virtual Panopticon designed to keep us in fear and afraid to speak out against a system that is obviously broken. Yet instead of taking action, we sit idly by, watching the next episode of “The Kardashians”—exactly the sort of people, attitude and lifestyle we should be revolting against.

What’s happened, America? Do we simply not care anymore? Have we just given up? Have the corporations won? Or is there, perhaps, still a little glimmer of hope and light in us, a little divine inspiration, a little of the rebellious spark of Jesus, and the founders of this once great nation, beginning to ignite within us, the way it’s igniting in people all over the world taking back their governments, too? I hope so. I truly hope so.

Prayer: God, grant us the courage, wisdom, and strength to fight against the injustices of our government. Help us return the country of, by and for the people, to the people, and remove it from the hands of those few who would squeeze liberty to death, and end this dream permanently. Amen.