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The View from Above

August 29, 2025August 29, 2025 B. John 2389 Views 0 Comments Stoicism, Boone, Evening Reflection, Dichotomy of Control, View from Above, labyrinth, hospital, Wesleyan, Memento Mori, social holiness

I walked the hospital garden and followed the path of grace. At the end a bronze plaque carried lines from Psalms nine and ten. Refuge for the oppressed. God hears the afflicted. The metal was warm under my hand. Nothing was fixed. Yet something in me settled enough to breathe.

The Stoics call it the View from Above. Rise in your mind. See the room, the floor, the building, the town, the small blue world. The pain stays real, but it finds its size. From there the next right act appears. Ask a clear question. Hold a hand. Eat. Pray. Sleep if you can. The practice pairs with the dichotomy of control and with evening reflection. It opens the frame, then helps you learn from the day.

Tomorrow I head to Boone while my sister and a caregiver sit with Mom. Those mountains have taught me to climb, look, and return. The Wesleyan way names that rhythm as grace. Action without contemplation is unrooted. Contemplation without action is inconsequential. In a brittle season for our republic, this practice steadies my voice and keeps my heart useful.

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Warriors for Justice: A Stoic Response to Robert Reich

July 18, 2025July 16, 2025 B. John 1084 Views 1 Comment Robert Reich, Pigliucci, Seneca, John Wesley, methodism, Epictetus

Your first thought might be: One more warrior is exactly what we do not need in this moment. The world feels overrun with conflict already. But what if the kind of warrior we need now is not one who fights for dominance or control, but one who stands calmly for conscience, who chooses clarity over chaos and courage over comfort? That is the kind of warrior Robert Reich wrote about — a woman on the front lines of immigration defense, who meets injustice not with rage, but with a quiet joy rooted in purpose. Her story holds a lesson as old as the Stoics and as current as the morning’s headlines.

This reflection is part of the ongoing “Stoicism Journey” series, which explores how ancient Stoic principles can offer clarity, strength, and moral direction in today’s world. Each piece connects Stoic thought to real-life challenges, often intersecting with faith, justice, and the pursuit of a meaningful life. In this installment, we respond to a story shared by Robert Reich, considering what it means to be a warrior for justice in dishonorable times.

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No Longer as Predators, But as Pilgrims

July 3, 2025July 3, 2025 B. John 2610 Views 1 Comment christian, medicaid, medicare, Donald Trump, Social Security, United Methodist, SNAP, Mike Johnson, JD Vance

In the wake of a cruel and deeply unjust budget bill passed by the U.S. Congress, I feel compelled to speak out—not just as a citizen, but as a Christian, a United Methodist, and someone at retirement age who will soon depend on the very programs now under attack. This essay is a moral response to a political failure. It is a call to conscience. We are not meant to live as predators. We are meant to walk together, as pilgrims.

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The Plan Is Working: Fear, Force, and the March Toward American Authoritarianism

June 14, 2025June 14, 2025 B. John 125 Views 0 Comments Arrests, Protests, Marines, Trump, ICE, No Kings Day

Of course, it’s all a coincidence. Marines are arresting civilians in Los Angeles. ICE raids are ripping families apart. Federal troops deployed without state consent. Political opponents detained. And now, a state legislator has been murdered. All part of the new normal. Nothing to see here. It’s just another week in the great American experiment.

This is not chaos. It’s choreography. What may seem like a string of shocking, disconnected headlines is actually an authoritarian blueprint unfolding in real-time. Donald Trump’s administration is not merely pushing legal boundaries but deliberately breaking them and testing the system. Daring anyone to stop him. Spoiler: No one has.

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No Kings Day: A Stand Against Power and Injustice

June 13, 2025 B. John 855 Views 0 Comments methodist, Church, Trump, Authoritarianism, Protest, Wesley, Parade

This Saturday, people will rise across 2,000 U.S. cities, including Tampa, united in one unflinching message: “No Kings.” This is not a protest born of idle dissent. It is a fierce rebuke of President Donald Trump and a social order built on abuse of power. Flag Day plus Trump’s 79th birthday equals a military parade costing taxpayers $25–45?million. The implicit message? A cult of personality masquerading as patriotism. For United Methodists grounded in Wesleyan conviction, this is intolerable. John and Charles Wesley stood against social evil, not in quiet tones but with prophetic boldness, calling out power when it crushes the least among us. That same courage calls us now to confront policies that tear at the fabric of our communities.

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Resuming Rants

September 26, 2023 B. John 1096 Views 0 Comments Idalia, Tampa, Cafe Con Tampa, Kings Mountain

There was a brief restaurant review posted earlier this year. The last post before that was a movie review (The Whale). A lot has transpired in my world over the past few months, and I think I am ready to get back to trying to post more or less regularly. The highlight reel looks a bit like this:

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Wesley Covenant Association Proceeds with Plans for New Denomination

November 7, 2018November 7, 2018 B. John 4878 Views 3 Comments Schism, UMC, United Methodist Church, Weslyan Convenant Association, WCA, IRD, John Wesley

As a group takes up the name of Wesley to promote schism within the UMC, John Wesley had this to about schism, ““[Schism] is evil in itself. To separate ourselves from a body of living Christians, with whom we were before united, is a grievous breach of the law of love. Note that the damage in schism is not to a structure, but to the character of holiness in those who participate in it.”

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My Reaction to Matthew Shepherd’s Service Today

October 27, 2018October 27, 2018 B. John 710 Views 0 Comments Episcopal Church, methodist, Bishop Gene Robinson, UMC, LaTrelle Easterling, Matthew Shepherd, National Cathedral

I’d taken Friday off for some recuperation. I wound up watching the Service for Matthew Shepherd today from that National Cathedral. I was particularly struck in two ways. One was related to Rep. Virginia Foxx, the other to the Methodist Church.

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Why Little Will Change At the UMC General Conference

May 18, 2016 B. John 601 Views 0 Comments General Conference, UMC, GC, Orthodoxy, Portland, christian, Methodist Church, Christianity, Book of Discipline, BoD

As some of you may know, the United Methodist Church is holding their quadrennial General Conference in Portland, Oregon this week. As has been the case for the past several General Conference’s (GC), a major topic is the full inclusion of LGBT people (or as the conservatives call us, “the self-avowed practicing homosexuals”) in the life of the church. My prediction is that little will change in regard to those issues.

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In A Mirror Dimly-Response to a Series by Bishop Michael Lowry-Part 4

May 7, 2016September 29, 2018 B. John 701 Views 0 Comments General Conference, UMC, United Methodist Church, J. Michael Lowry, bishop, Orthodoxy, Central Texas Conference

This is a short conclusion to Bishop Lowry’s series. He claims, “signs of new life all around.” This is his clinging to the belief that it will be the orthodox church (his definition of orthodoxy) that survives and thrives, all evidence to the contrary.

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In A Mirror Dimly-Response to a Series by Bishop Michael Lowry-Part 3

May 5, 2016May 7, 2016 B. John 747 Views 0 Comments United Methodist Church, bishop, J. Michael Lowry, Homosexuality, Orthodoxy, Same Sex Marriage, LGBT, UMC

United Methodist Bishop, J. Michael Lowry of the Central Texas Conference, recently addressed a gathering of the United Methodist Scholars for Christian Orthodoxy Conference at Armstrong Chapel United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has put his address, “In a Mirror Dimly”: The Future of the United Methodist Church”© on his website (http://www.bishopmikelowry.com/) as a four part posting. This is part 3.

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