3/40

77% Weekly Newsletter





The 77% Weekly



The Religion-Outside-The-Box Newsletter






January 2007 – Issue 3/40



In This Issue

 






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Greetings!

The 77% Weekly:
The Religion-Outside-The-Box Newsletter
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understanding) 40
out of 52 weeks a year.


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(As announced in issue 1/40, until Mid-February, Larry Keene’s Simple Prayers will be
gracing the The 77% Weekly.)










Simple Prayer: Silence of Friends
 

Laurence C. Keene

Dear God, it isn’t what our enemies say about us that hurts
us as deeply as what our friends do not say on our behalf. It
is the silence of our friends, not the sound and fury of our
enemies, that overwhelms us with the greatest feelings of
sadness and aloneness. There have been moments in my life,
dear Lord, when all I wanted to hear was a friend’s voice
speaking up on my behalf A soft, even inarticulate word of
friendly support would have been enough to sustain my
shaky feelings of self-confidence. In those moments of self-
doubt I have not needed great oratory on my behalf. Just a
word. A simple, supportive word would have been enough to
quiet the opposing voices and revive my own shaken resolve.
How bitterly barren I have felt when that voice has not been
heard. I have felt silenced by their silence. Help me, dear
God, to speak up for my friends. Don’t allow my friends to
feel defeated by my lack of a timely response on their
behalf. Help me to speak that supportive word on behalf of
my friends, even as inarticulate as it might be, that will
neutralize all the sounds of the universe that might rise
against them. Help my one word of support to restore the
courage and resolve of a friend to face down the demons that
can only win when friends are silent.

















My Letter to Habakkuk

✧✧✧ To my dearest pen pal, Habbakuk: First, let me say, no one remembers the prophets who did not deliver on the goods. Your predictions came true. And, 2500+ years later, you are still remembered. Do you remember Lenny, that guy? Kept going around Judea telling people “the goats will lay down in green pastures,” and, then, remember? It started

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Me, Rabbi.

✧✧✧   I am a rabbi.   I have a Masters Degree in Hebrew letters and a Doctorate of Divinity, and I am ordained as a rabbi.   I have each credential framed, in my office, just behind where I sit.   They’re not individually affixed to the wall—they lean against one another in a stack.   I like the

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Way Through

✧✧✧ Hugh’s dad died a few weeks ago. Hugh is a dear friend and Presbyterian minister in Waterloo (just west of Toronto), Ontario, Canada. I call, we small-talk for a while, and then I ask, “How is your heart?” “I appreciate you asking. My heart is heavy and sad.” ✧✧✧ I love Hugh.I mean, how many people do you know

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77% Weekly Newsletter
77% Weekly Newsletter