ONE Sabbath
October 5th by Susan McCue
As ONE members, we care. We care about the child orphaned by HIV/AIDS. We care about the village that lacks access to clean water. And we care about the millions of people throughout the developing world who will go to bed hungry tonight. For many of us, that caring is borne of our faith.
Last week, the ONE campaign asked students to take action on our challenge: to make poverty history. Now, ONE is reaching out to people of faith and engaging traditions that say that when you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness. (Isaiah 58:10)
We all have a finite amount of purity–innocence lost. Every time we are intimate we give some away. Like the force George Lucas shows us in the Star Wars universe, our actions effect who we are. We do something good, we shift ever so slightly to the light. And the reverse is also true. Whether it is Anakin slaying a village of sand people or going too far on a first date, our actions have consequences. 
I just had a grapefruit. The saying goes: the devil is in the details, but I tell you, God is in the details. Fast food, processed food, is killing me. Every day, I need to eat lunch. Every day the fast food corporations try and provide that food — and they are killing us. 
Another Thanksgiving holiday passes us by and I’m reminded by just how much we have to be thankful for. So much earth-shaking, world-changing events have transpired, just in the last year. It’s often hard to take it all in–and still care. Yet amongst all this, that’s exactly what we have to do, to keep being the people we are. 
Media coverage of Katrina and her aftermath is simply beyond my ability to comprehend. We see image upon image of destruction on a scale I could never have imagined. Our thoughts and prayers, indeed the nations, rest upon all the people of the Gulf region. 
I recently received an email. In it was a petition, written to the President, calling for the reinstatement of prayer in schools. With 1557 names on it, it asked users to forward it on when it reached 2000. I’m sure that happened soon and was diligently delivered. But I’m afraid that the good intentions of the originator is misplaced.
I’ve just returned home from being engulfed by the dark cinematic masterpiece that is Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It has much to teach the observant eye, ”those who are “mindful of their feelings” about the ongoing wrestling match between human passion and spiritual abandonment.
A recent message circulated throughout the internet shows us, “A Sign From God After a Florida Hurricane”. Now normally my spam filter would keep me from ever seeing this, but for some reason, this one caught my eye. 
May 5th, 2005 is the National Day of Prayer. Connect locally and be a part of this awesome event. The National Day of Prayer was created by an act of Congress and is, therefore, intended for all peoples of faith to pray to the God of their understanding. However, our expression of that involvement is specifically limited to the Judeo-Christian heritage and those who share that conviction as expressed in the Lausanne Convenant. If peoples of other faiths wish to celebrate in their own tradition, they are welcome to do so, but we must be true to those who have supported this effort and volunteered their time to promote it. National Day of Prayer is not a function of the government and, therefore, a particular expression of it can be defined by those who choose to organize it. This is not a church/state issue. 
With eyes red and tears flowing from Jake’s mom she blurted, “Thank you so much Jason!” My son is just not the same. The other night my ex-husband and I were violently screaming at each other. Jake, would normally begin physically fighting with my ex, instead jumped between us and told me that we just can’t go that route anymore”.
