Friday, April 03, 2026

Good Friday 2026



And when they reached the place known as Golgotha (which means "Place of the Skull"), they gave him a drink of wine mixed with something bitter; and once he tasted it he didn't want to drink it. After crucifying him they divided up his garments by casting lots.  And they sat down there and kept guard over him. And over his head they put an inscription which identified his crime: "This is Jesus, the King of the Judeans."

Beginning at noon darkness blanketed the entire land until mid-afternoon.  And about 3 o'clock in the afternoon Jesus shouted at the top of his voice:  "Eli, eli, lama sabachtani" (which means "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?")

Jesus again shouted at the top of his voice and stopped breathing.

Matthew 27:33-37, 45-46, 50 (SV)

"Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid."--John 19:41

I’ve never been able to say anything on Good Friday. Let the story be told; from one of the gospels; from all of the gospels, if you like. Good Friday should be silent.  The church should be shrouded, the altar stripped, black funereal cloths draped, only prayers and whispers heard.  No music; certainly there should be no music. Not even words from the pulpit. Certainly no words here. Let there be silence.

I always thought the Good Friday liturgy should just be the priest or the pastor reading the crucifuxion story, and then stripping the altar. I saw an Episcopal priest do it, once. Very ritualistic. Everything on the altar was removed; the cloths were removed. The top of the altar was washed and dried. And then the priest and the people helping, left. Silence. Private prayers. Quiet prayers. And silence.

The church open the rest of the day. Who comes in? And why?

Good Friday should be silent.  This is the one day the church should be dominated by silence. The world needs occasions to consider the values of silence.

I will also point out that the words shouted by Jesus are the first lines of the 22nd Psalm.  The one that precedes the much more famous 23rd.  There is an entire sermon in that alone, how the 22nd requires the 23rd, and the 23rd equally requires the 22nd.  But not on Good Friday. This is not a day for more words.

This is a day for absolute silence of death. The silence of death. The silence we will all endure, one day, as our God did.
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Thursday, April 02, 2026

Little Big Man

Because we still haven’t destroyed more than half of Iran’s ballistic and missile launchers, or thousands of drones? So we’re going after softer targets? Like bridges they haven’t even opened yet?
Big man, aren’t you, Donald. Big, big man.
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The Shart Of The Deal

U.S. intelligence assesses that Iran still maintains a significant missile launching capability, including roughly half of its cruise and ballistic launchers, as well as thousands of one-way attack drones, despite daily strikes against military targets across Iran for the last five weeks by Israel and the United States, three sources familiar with the assessment told CNN.
How does this “deal making” work, again?
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What (Else) Could Go Wrong?

U.S. intelligence assesses that Iran still maintains a significant missile launching capability, including roughly half of its cruise and ballistic launchers, as well as thousands of one-way attack drones, despite daily strikes against military targets across Iran for the last five weeks by Israel and the United States, three sources familiar with the assessment told CNN.
.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has signed a memorandum directing military installation commanders to allow personnel with the Defense Department - namely, uniformed servicemembers - to request to carry privately owned firearms while in their nonofficial duty capacity on military bases within the United States.
The 41st Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Gen. Randy George, has been asked to step down from the post and retire immediately by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who wants someone in the role who will implement his and President Trump “vision” for the Army, sources tell CBS News. Vice Chief of a Staff of the Army, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who was formerly Hegseth’s military aide, will serve as Acting Army Chief of Staff until a successor to Gen. George is approved by the Senate.
That’s certainly bad. AMERICA, FUCK YEAH! Trump to America: “Fuck you.” Has the White House commented on that yet? Well, of course they did. The “Me, or your lyin’ eyes,” defense.
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Does He Think That’s A Picture Of The Actual Dave Crockett?

That’s the only thing that would make this worse.
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I Remember This Kind Of Inflation

In the’70’s. When inflation was moving at double digits. And prices would change by the hours.

Volcker finally wrung it out of the economy in the ‘80’s, with double digit interest rates. That won’t work this time. Nothing will, except time and a cessation of hostilities. Not either/or; it must be both/and.

Aren’t we glad we got the price of eggs down for a while?

I’m really too old for this shit again.
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Reading The Lectionary: The Servant Submits

These are actually the readings for Wednesday, but I started a day late, and dedicated myself to finishing what I started.
Isaiah 50:4-9a

The servant submits to suffering

The Lord GOD has given me a trained tongue, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens, wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.

The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn backward.

I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.

The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand in court together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.

It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?
The language here echoes the scenes where God, through a prophet, demands Israel enter the metaphorical courtroom and put their case against God for allowing the Exile. But there God puts God’s self above human concerns, not because God is aloof, but because God is righteous, and has been (and remains) faithful to the covenant, while Israel has not. Here, however, the prophet is faithful to God; and despite the brutality of the Exile, remains so. And again, the prophet identifies with Israel; or at least presents an object lesson for how Israel should behave.

The prophet submits to calumny, but the prophet is not shamed. Our Anglo-Saxon (for one) culture teaches that we cannot accept shame; we must fight back to reclaim our “dignity.” Trump is the worst and most extreme example of this: All because Springsteen was interviewed on Fox News and didn’t have kind things to say about Trump. Isaiah presents the opposite example to Israel.  And here is the other difference between biblical Israel and our modern concept of the nation state. 

Biblical Israel exists as a lineage, the children of Abraham. One is born into it (but it is not “birthright citizenship”). Israel exists because of the covenant, so it is corporate rather than wholly individual. The nation state is corporate, but it is composed of individuals bound to a common purpose; but not bound by a covenant with God established by ancestry. So you can’t read the moral obligation laid on Israel as one that can be laid on a nation state. Niebuhr was right about that; individuals can be moral, nations cannot. An individual can sacrifice their life for a moral purpose. A nation’s obligation is to preserve and protect the nation, which is the individuals of that nation (I speak of democracies, obviously). That’s the irreducible friction we have with Isaiah, and the nation of Israel he addresses. We cannot think in terms of individual and nation being equally obligated to an ethic, because while the individual may be a suffering servant, one whose faith is in God and whose resolve is in the assurance of the justice of God, the nation state cannot do likewise, or demand that its citizens do. Even the Israel Isaiah addresses, doesn’t want to do that. The tension between what God requires, and what biblical Israel, or we modern individuals, will do, is real; and irresolvable. “Israel” still means “struggles with God.”
 Psalm 70

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me. O LORD, make haste to help me!

Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire to hurt me.

Let those who say, "Aha, Aha!" turn back because of their shame.

Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!"

But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay!
Hebrews 12:1-3

Look to Jesus, who endured the cross

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.
Isaiah wants Israel to follow the example he preaches, even if he doesn’t embody (like some of the prophets, Hosea most notably, did) everything he teaches. The letter to the Hebrews wants to teach that lesson to individuals, mostly to the children of Abraham. It presents Christ as an example to follow, not unlike Paul did. That example is one of faithfulness, and humility. “Lord, when did we see you?,” the line from the closing parable of Matthew’s gospel, is present here. Paul recalls Abraham at Mamre, and tells us we, too, may show hospitality to angels unaware. The letter to the Hebrews echoes Isaiah’s suffering servant as our role model. Matthew tells us when we are a servant to anyone who is the least among us, we are a servant to God. And that is all that’s required of us: to follow the commandment, to love one another.
John 13:21-32

Jesus foretells his betrayal

After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me."

The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.

One of his disciples--the one whom Jesus loved--was reclining close to his heart;

Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.

So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?"

Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.

After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do."

Now no one knew why he said this to him.

Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival," or that he should give something to the poor.

So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.

If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.
Jesus is worried, again. Sometime earlier, as we are reading it, Jesus has just worried, openly, about his impending crucifixion and, after some enigmatic words about light and darkness, he slips away into darkness. Or at least to where he can’t be seen. Now here he is, back again, the night before the end, the last night, and he’s worried again.

Well; he is only human.

And then Judas slips wordlessly into the night. Now it is Judas who disappears from sight into darkness. Light and shadow; hidden and revealed. The seed hides life that is only revealed when the seed is hidden.

“Reclining at table,” by the way, is literal. It’s the way people sat in 1at century Palestine. They didn’t “sit up to the table,” as my elders all instructed me, knees bent and feet beneath the groaning board in the soup and fish, as Bertie Wooster would say. They reclined, legs perpendicular to the table, propped on an elbow. And they ate with their fingers. Probably with pita bread, it occurs to me. Probably not the fat, airy loaves we think of as bread. Probably not at the time of the Passover.

I don’t know, and don’t presume, but I wonder if the original “last supper” shared something with the Seder. That meal is more ritualistic, but the ritual may have more to do with the diaspora after the destruction of the Temple. All four gospels were written after 70 C.E, but the rabbinical Judaism we are familiar with, rooted by and large in the work of the Pharisees, didn’t spring full blown into existence in 71. Passover observance would have been at the Temple. It’s why the crowds and the money changers were there, and why Jesus was, too. It’s also why the cleansing of the Temple upset Pilate enough to order the crucifixion of the rabble rouser to quell any thoughts of challenging the Pax Romana during the festival celebrating the exodus of Israel from bondage and oppression. So it probably wasn’t a Seder meal. But the bread was probably closer to unleavened than not.

Pita is raised by the way it’s formed and baked, not by the amount of yeast in it. It’s speculative, but these minor speculations enrich the story for me. After all, our primary image of this iconic meal is an Italian Renaissance one, with all 13 persons (probably where triskadekaphobia originated) on one side of the table, seated in chairs and facing the viewer who stares through the fourth wall. We take the details for granted, and miss the reality. Does it matter what kind of bread it was? No. But if it refocuses our attention, makes us start over and look anew, the challenge has served its purpose.

You’ll nothing much happens here. The action, in John, came earlier, with the sacrament that wasn’t. The meal here is shown only in the bread handed to Judas (and how Johannine is that act? Mark, the oldest gospel, has Jesus tell his disciples that the one who dips his bread in the bowl with Jesus, is the betrayer. But Mark doesn’t describe Judas doing that thereafter, so maybe Judas has been doing it all night, and nobody really noticed. But John’s Jesus is always in charge, and hands the fatal sign to Judas after dipping it in the oil. “This is my body,” indeed; and he hands it over to his betrayer.) Again, the servant accepts his fate.

The Crucified God. The power of powerlessness. Death, be not proud.

But then, neither should any of us.
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What Susie Told TIME

Sure; that's the problem.
[Trump] wrote the following on his Truth Social platform:

"Thank you to all of our Great Congressional Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senate Leader John Thune, for their work this week. Republicans are UNIFIED, and moving forward on a plan that will reload funding for our FANTASTIC Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement Officers. Because the Democrats are fully and 100% committed to the Radical Left Policy of Open Borders and Zero Immigration Enforcement (which will hopefully cost them dearly in the Midterms!), allowing Murderers and Criminals of all types into our Country, totally unchecked and unvetted, I will soon sign an order to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security. Their families have suffered far too long at the hands of the Extreme Liberal 'Leaders,' Cryin’ Chuck Schumer and Hakeem 'High Tax' Jeffries. Nevertheless, help is on the way for our Brave and Patriotic Public Servants who have continued to work hard, and do their part to protect and defend our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
The Iran war has made things immeasurably worse, but Trump’s serious problems with the electorate began in the streets of Minneapolis. After ICE paved the way in Chicago and Seattle and Los Angeles.

And what is Susie telling Trump? Or does she like her job?

Trump is a feral political genius, ya know.
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THIS IS NOT AN IMPROVEMENT

Trump fired Bondi because she wasn’t putting enough of his “enemies” in jail.

What’s Blanche gonna do to improve that record?
And who’s going to tell Shouty Grandpa that the federal government has bugger all to do with the murder rate, since almost all murder prosecutions are handled by the states?
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Representative Government Is Fine…

Lyman: It's hard to take seriously half of the country's dissatisfaction with the president when they were rallying against war with an actual nuclear power.

Blow: You think that we shouldn’t have been supporting Ukraine?

Lyman: I do not think that was our war.

Mockler: So you guys are going to complain in one breath we shouldn't support Ukraine at all. And then you'll be like, wait a minute those same allies refused to come help us?
... as long as it represents what I like. Otherwise, it’s discardable. And our allies should support us, but we shouldn’t have to support them.
Lyman: They are freeloaders.

Blow: Most of the nato countries were part of the 2015 Iran deal. They had negotiated with us. We were we were dealing with the issue. We were dealing with the with the nuclear material. Donald Trump snatches us out of that. Then he rushes into this war only with Israel. And then he asks the people who had negotiated that former deal to say, now that I've done this on my own, you need to come and help me out. I didn't deal with you on the front end. I didn't negotiate with you. I didn't ask you for for your help or planning or anything. But now that I have done this on my own, it is your responsibility to come and help us out. It's an extraordinary claim.
What good are allies anyway? And besides, history is bunk.
Mockler: Democrats gave Republicans multiple off ramps, and Trump was the one that spiked it. And our ask was very simple. We were looking at the case that Minnesota just waged against the admin saying, listen, you guys are spiking investigations into murders that happened in the streets of Minnesota. You guys are not allowing the proper investigations. All we want to do is have state actors held accountable when they abuse their power. And that's what this was all over. Republicans apparently disagree.
Pwning the libs.
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We Have All The Oil We Need

Or: the world listened to Trump last night. Not much imagination required.
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History Lessons

The Paris Peace Accords started under LBJ. But both LBJ and Nixon expanded the war in pursuit of “peace.”

We all know how that worked out.
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Maundy Thursday 2026


Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14

12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:

12:2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you.

12:3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household.

12:4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it.

12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

12:6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

12:7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

12:8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

12:9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs.

12:10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

12:11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD.

12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.

12:13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

12:14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.

Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19

116:1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.

116:2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

116:12 What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me?

116:13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,

116:14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones.

116:16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl. You have loosed my bonds.

116:17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the LORD.

116:18 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,

116:19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread,

11:24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

11:25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

13:1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

13:2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper

13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,

13:4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.

13:5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

13:6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

13:7 Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

13:8 Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me."

13:9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!"

13:10 Jesus said to him, "One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you."

13:11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, "Not all of you are clean."

13:12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you?

13:13 You call me Teacher and Lord--and you are right, for that is what I am.

13:14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

13:15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

13:16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.

13:17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

13:31b When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.

13:32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

13:33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'

13:34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

“Maundy,” I have been told, but never confirmed, is a Middle English word (or was) , for “commandment.” Perhaps. It’s appropriate, if true. And appropriate, even if not true.

Paul doesn't call it a commandment, or a sacrament.  He just passes on to the church in Corinth what he received from the Lord (where and how is never clear.  Biblical scholars wonder about dangling threads like this, and tug at them constantly).  John mentions a commandment:  "that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."  Typical for the Johannine narrative, what that means in practice is entirely unclear.  Jesus speaks in confusing parables and makes pronouncements that carry far more under the surface than appears on the surface ("Your faith has saved you; go in peace."  Luke 7:50).  But John doesn't record any parables, at all.  Instead it is Jesus speaking almost gnostically (how, Nicodemus wonders, can one be "born again"?  Jesus makes it clear you either understand him, or you don't.), and here, as usual, he makes a sweeping statement with nothing to back it up.

Except.....

This is one of the few times in John's gospel that Jesus actually does something.  He raises Lazarus from the tomb, he changes water into wine, he speaks and God answers directly.  But none of those actions is comparable to this:  he doesn't talk about the servant role; he literally embodies it. Master of his disciples, head of the table, he takes a bowl and a towel and washes their feet.  The feet of men who have been walking in sandals all day in dust and dirt.  Remember what Jesus said to Simon the Pharisee?

"Do you see this woman? I walked into your house and you didn't offer me water for my feet; yet she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn't offer me a kiss, but she hasn't stopped kissing my feet since I arrived. You didn't anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with myrrh. (Luke 7:44b-46, SV)

That's a servant's job.  And it's not one any of us would take up willingly, or accept willingly.  I tried one year to initiate the footwashing service which is allowed, even encouraged in Protestant traditions, on Maundy Thursday.  A few of my church council members were willing to participate, and I had the bowl and towel.  It may be a profoundly moving religious ritual; but unless you are used to it, it is uncomfortable and awkward.  Much like it must have been the very first time it was done for the followers of Christ.

This is Jesus personally acting, and in all of John's gospel, indeed in all of the gospels, there is nothing comparable to it.  Jesus wept at the news of the death of Lazarus, which in John proves Jesus is human (in much of John's narrative Jesus is almost inhumanly abstract, and all but nails himself to the cross.  He doesn't die in agony, he pretty much says "Okay, that's all," and passes on.)  This is Jesus being supremely human, and supremely God.  This is God's weakness being stronger than human strength.  This is what Holy Week should really come down to, and all the rest be anti-climax against it.  It should be.  It isn't.  This is the sacrament that wasn't.  This is the command we still can't quite get around to.

The passover in Exodus is full of details and requirements, and that's actually a good thing.  Ritual demands acts that can and must be repeated to keep the ritual whole, which is almost to say "holy."  Do you open your presents on Xmas Day?  Or Xmas Eve?  First thing in the morning, or after breakfast?  Maybe after lunch, when the family has gathered?  Do you try to do Christmas the same way ever year?  Are the small details important?  No, there's nothing wrong with how the Passover is ordered for memory. The contrast is the simplicity of the footwashing.  Maybe that's why it fails.

Paul gives us a ritual, one most churches follow almost word for word from this passage in Corinthians.  All the words of institution are there, and they are protected jealously.  There is a formula for Christian baptism, and by common agreement it must include the trinitarian formula of being in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Those words; no others.  The words of institution for the eucharist are there, in Paul's words; and you cannot use them for elements other than bread and wine (like, say, hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls on Xmas morning in a UCC church), because those words are "holy words," and not to be used lightly or wrongly.

But footwashing?  What ritual do we have for that?  We don't.  Catholics have, if memory serves, 7 sacraments (baptism, eucharist, marriage, death, confession. I'm probably wrong on some of those); Protestants have only two (Baptism, eucharist).  If the words are not right, if the formula is not preserved, the sacrament isn't a sacrament.  No one has a ritual for footwashing.  Yes, the Pope does it, if he is physically able.  The monarchs did it in Europe, at least in the Middle Ages.  Even then it soon shifted from actually washing feet to simply giving gifts to those whose feet were not washed.  It never held on very long.   As I said, I tried it once on a Maundy Thursday with my church council members.  It was very hard for all of us; I mean very hard.  And it didn't seem to mean much to anyone there, except discomfort.  That's the nature of rituals:  if they are not familiar, they are simply awkward and off-putting.   They gain their power from familiarity, even though they can lapse into roteness and lose their power again.  But when they are awkward and invasive and almost embarrassing, they are just an obstacle.  Footwashing  is too intimate, too personal.  If it was meant by John to be linked to that command that we love one another as Jesus loved us, if it is connected to washing our feet as Jesus connected it to an act of love in Luke , then we have failed this command, and rejected this commandment.

I said rituals are an obstacle, because they are.  Paul told his churches to follow the eucharisto.  It must have been hard for them, because some turned it into play, or an excuse for a feast for those "worthy," and not for the rest.  They didn't want to immediately treat it was a holy sacrament.  But no one wants to be last of all and servant of all.  And yet, that's one of the most important teachings in the gospel.  Being servant of all is the ultimate sign of humility.  It is the true calling to serve God and the Christ (I repeat for emphasis, not to blur the doctrine of the Trinity).  Evangelicals (in the modern sense) think that "true calling" is to "save souls."  But how much easier is it to "witness," than it is to actually serve?  And to make a ritual, a sacrament, of service?  To do as John tells us Jesus did?

Love is so much easier when it remains in our hearts and minds, rather than when it is shown by what we put in our hands.  How we literally and physically show it, in other words. Thinking is easy; doing is always another matter.

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Medicare And Medicaid …

... were started during the Vietnam War. And have continued through every war since.
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Wednesday, April 01, 2026

How To Insult Friends And Piss Off People

To be fair, who didn’t know that? I’m old enough to remember Elmo pouring money into a local race that he might as well have spent on a wild weekend in Vegas. So I’m sure this will work out well. Can somebody translate that into coherent English? 
President Trump: “Thanks to the progress we've made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America's military objectives shortly, very shortly. We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing. Regime change was not our goal. We never said regime change, but regime change has occurred.”
Pretty sure we were going to “hit them pretty hard” for a month, now. And we’ve had a running monthlong discussion about regime change and whether or not it had occurred. So I didn’t miss anything. What a surprise. Another non-surprise. Trump remains a stable genius. How to insult friends and piss off people. Oh, and fuck up the global economy.
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Concluding Unheard Speech Report

 Popehat puts it the way I should have:

Sometimes I get home from a long day of work utterly exhausted and broken and just DONE but my wife wants to chat and I love her so I talk and Trump sounds just like that without the love or sense of obligation

/2 Something I tell young lawyers is that the absolutely essential part of oral advocacy is that you have to find something you believe in, something you give a shit about. Maybe it’s that you‘re right about the argument! Maybe it’s that your client has been treated unfairly! Maybe….

/3…it’s just that you give a shit about a system where everyone gets someone to stand up and speak on their behalf. But you HAVE to give a shit about something, or your audience will hear it in your voice and you will lose.

Trump sounds like he doesn’t give a shit.

/4 Now, he’s CAPABLE of sounding like he gives a shit: like when he’s being bigoted, or reviling someone, or bragging about himself.

But this? He genuinely doesn’t give a shit and you hear it in every word.
Or: why I turned it off after one minute. It really was that bad.
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Un-Holy Wednesday

Well, somebody’s using you. A lot of somebodies, actually. One sympathizes. Grandpa needs to go to bed. Alone. They knew what they signed up for. Must have found that in Two Corinthians. He opened his little Prozac bender saying we’d already done that. I heard him. And for four weeks (is it? Already?), he’s said every week that we’ve hit Iran harder than anyone’s ever hit anything before. Is anyone else beginning to wonder what the fuck it’s gonna take? Or if the President is dull-blown gonzo delusional? Because this is like 10 years of Vietnam bullshit compressed into one month.

And Holy Wednesday, no less.
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With God As My Witness…

I tried to listen to Trump’s speech.

I didn’t get as far as this clip. Trump was droning on about inflicting more damage on Iran, in a shorter time, than any war in history. 

I think I heard “decimated,” too. He still doesn’t know what that word means. 

There was also something about smashing missile launchers, as if he’d done it personally with a hammer.

It was either turn it off, or put my foot through the TeeVee.
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No Wonder Trump Stormed Out

 When I was listening to the arguments, Gorsuch was questioning Cecilia Ware, and later (I was in and out of my car), it Justice Sotomayor. Ware was treated respectfully by Gorsuch, and acquitted herself well, and went on to cite footnotes and page numbers in cases related to Wong Kim Ark. She repeatedly clarified the three groups excluded from immediate coverage by the 14th, which included native Americans.

The Solicitor General had not done as well before I’d tuned in:

This is how bad that was for Sauer:

Sauer really didn’t have a good day. Maybe he didn’t like the way they treated Sauer. Or it was that.
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Living The Sunk Cost Fallacy

CNN: We have new CNN polling showing how the country feels about this war.

Just a third of Americans approve of how the president is handling his role of commander in chief, as well as the war.

Two thirds disapprove of the decision to take military action in Iran, and strong opposition has grown 12 points since the start of the war.

63% of Americans say that they believe it's likely that the war will turn into a long term military conflict.

Nearly 7 in 10 oppose sending U.S. Ground troops into Iran.

71% say they don't want congress to authorize $200 billion for further military action in Iran.
Fuck this “majority rules/representative government”shit! We’re in an undeclared and illegal war! We can’t quit now! Now let’s talk about disabilities of minority boxes of wine. The law, through statutes, protects children from the consequences of their actions through the status of minors, or minority (not to be confused with the demographic use of that term). Minority is commonly 18, or 21, can in some particular situations be as low as 16. What the law calls “disabilities of minority” can be removed by court order for criminal or civil purposes. But until they reach the age if majority (cross the chronological threshold between “minor” and “adult,” in the eyes of the law, they are children. And protected in ways adults aren’t.

Which DCAG Box O’Wine clearly doesn’t understand. Maybe she drank away that part of her legal education. But “Hangin’s too good get ‘em!” is not exactly the sense of justice you want to see in government prosecutors.
I take it back; she does understand. And I take her complaint about “coddling” to mean she wants to return to the days of child beating just because they are children…and small enough to beat properly. As Markwayne Mullin brags of doing.

These people are the sick ones.

And speaking of sunk cost fallacies:
TODD SCHULTE of @FWDus on Republicans circumventing Democrats to fund ICE through reconciliation:

Yeah, look—our understanding is that if they choose to move forward with a reconciliation bill, there are three things that are really important.

Number one, it’s a party-line vote, and it’s something you have to pay for with offsets.

Number two, DHS already has $150 billion for ICE and CBP, and now they’re talking about adding tens of billions more on top of that—for three years, along with funding for the war in Iran.

So third, you’re talking about a couple hundred billion more for ICE and CBP, a couple hundred billion more for Iran—paid for at a time when costs are skyrocketing—with what, half a trillion dollars in cuts to healthcare, to Medicaid, to Medicare?

Look, that’s bad policy, but the politics couldn’t be more clear. The public does not want hundreds of billions of dollars spent on ICE, paid for by cuts to their healthcare.

And I think it’s important to understand the difference between this reconciliation package and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was also a reconciliation bill. People may remember last year’s bill—it was a party-line vote that only needed 50 votes.

Last time, it was about big tax cuts paid for by roughly a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid. It wasn’t popular, but it passed. There was $191 billion for DHS in that bill—it didn’t get a lot of attention, but it should have. Vice President Vance said that was actually the most important part of the bill—the funding for ICE and CBP.

But now, this is going to be about ICE and Iran, paid for by healthcare cuts. At a time when the public is outraged after events in Minneapolis and Los Angeles—when places like Home Depot, churches, and schools are being described as deportation sites—this is going to be a huge, nasty political fight.

And I hope Republicans abandon it.
I know Republicans are abandoning ship at a record rate, but the ones remaining seem determined to blow as many holes in the ship as possible. It’s like, if they can’t have it, nobody can. Maybe they still think they’re attacking government; but they’re really just sinking the GOP. And the Constitution clearly says, if Congress can’t pass a law, the President can make the law. It’s in one o’ them, what do ya call ‘em? Articles! That’s it!
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Reading The Lectionary: “For Your Sake, Not For Mine”

Isaiah 49:1-7

The servant brings light to the nations

Listen to me, O coastlands; pay attention, you peoples from far away! The LORD called me before I was born; while I was in my mother's womb he named me.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away.

And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."

But I said, "I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the LORD and my reward with my God."

And now the LORD says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God has become my strength-

he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, "Kings shall see and stand up; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."
Is God speaking to the prophet, or to Israel? Yes. I mean, what is the distinction? Israel is the children of Abraham, the children of Abraham are Israel. Israel will be a light to the nations, Isaiah will be a light to the nations. The individual is of the people. The people are of the individual. It’s not a concept we can grasp in our post-Enlightenment, post-Romantic world. For us, there is the individual; and there is the mass. One can be rational; the other can be nothing but irrational. One can be ethical; the other cannot. But Isaiah says the people can be as ethical as the individual.

This is not a concept we can grasp, we if the post-Enlightenment and post-Romantic eras. And I don’t think we should. We are too democratic (small “d”) now to not make “individual” our primary source of identity. I’m just pointing out Isaiah saw things differently; everyone did “back then.” And our baseline weltanschauung would be as alien and incomprehensible to them, as theirs is to us.

You have to be careful how you read these things. Isaiah wasn’t talking to you. But you can still listen. You just have to be careful about what you hear.

Isaiah crosses between himself, the prophet of Israel, and Israel, the children of Abraham. The prophet has a relationship with God; from the womb, he says. The metaphor applies to Israel as well, formed in the metaphorical womb by the covenant with Abraham, sustained by the salvific history of Israel (attend an Easter Vigil service; or come back here on Easter Sunday, and you’ll find a review of that story). The prophet means to mingle the two, to make individual and national history co-terminous, the better to explain the word of the Lord.

And now the LORD says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God has become my strength- 

he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." 

Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, "Kings shall see and stand up; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Israel; and Isaiah; and their purpose. Deeply despised; abhorred by nations; once again the slave of rulers; chosen by the Creator. To be a light to the nations.

The power of powerlessness.

  
Psalm 71:1-14

From my mother's womb you have been my strength

In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me.

Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

From my birth I have leaned upon you, my protector since my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.

I have been like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.

My mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all day long.

Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent.

For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my life consult together.

They say, "Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver."

O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!

Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed; let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace.

But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.
Again: the song of the individual; the song of the children of Abraham. Which is which? Can’t it be both/and? 

Israel/the Psalmist forsaken? Or the Psalmist/Israel redeemed? By the power of God; which is powerlessness.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Christ crucified, the wisdom and power of God

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to save those who believe.

For Jews ask for signs and Greeks desire wisdom,

but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles,

but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to abolish things that are,

so that no one might boast in the presence of God.

In contrast, God is why you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
What is Christ crucified, except powerlessness? What is  foolishness, except powerlessness? What is wisdom, except powerlessness? What is God, except powerlessness? 

Which is not weakness, but true power.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 

God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to abolish things that are, 

so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 

In contrast, God is why you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

And where’s the power in that?

Precisely.
John 12:20-36

Jesus speaks of his death

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.

They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."

The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him."

Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?"

Jesus said to them, "The light is in you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going.

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light." After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.
John's Jesus is always the human struggling with the divine. You can read John as making Jesus simply God among mortals; but sometimes, he’s just a mortal trying to speak for God. John's Jesus is always the human struggling with the divine. You can read John as making Jesus simply God among mortals; but sometimes, he’s just a mortal trying to speak for God. Here, right talks in metaphor about a seed dying in order to produce more life (it is, admittedly, an almost incorrect analogy), but then he goes human: 
"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.

Derrida asked: “My death, is it possible?” That question has gone suddenly from abstract to concrete for Jesus. Even John’s divine Jesus is troubled by the truth of mortality. He realizes his death is finally not only possible, but imminent. And like the Psalmist, he turns to God:

Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." 

The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." 

Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 
One of the most interesting passages in the gospels: some hear thunder; some hear the voice of an angel. But no hears what is said. And Jesus says: “That wasn’t for me, that was for you.”

Jesus is God. Jesus is human. And everyone’s hearing without listening. Maybe God could make them listen? But then what would they hear? 

After all, he doesn’t explain. The narrator tells us Jesus is talking about the death he will die. So at least we know. But Jesus can’t explain to the crowd. He talks in metaphors about light and darkness and then…runs for the darkness? For the moment, at least, they don’t know where he’s going. 

It’s another very human moment for John’s Jesus: desperately seeking the power of powerlessness. 
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Trump Must Have Missed The Part…

...where the lawyer for the appellees (or it may have been Justice Sotomayor, or Kagan) noted that, in Wong Kim Ark the court specifically said that the U.S. does not look to other countries for how to interpret our 14th Amendment.

And 81 countries allow some form of birthright citizenship. The rule of thumb is that Trump is as ignorant as a stump.

And the 14th amendment didn’t create birthright citizenship sui generis; it was the rule prior to ratification. Section 1 of the 14th just made the rule apply explicitly to slaves, freed by the 13th Amendment. Explicitly by making the rule apply to everyone (with three group exceptions, as was noted in the argument) born in America.

Trump’s going to lose, and he knows it. (Wait’ll he can’t get a hearing on his EO regarding mail in voting before the term ends.) As Professor Vladeck put it:
Sounds like President Trump left the oral argument at the end of Solicitor General Sauer's presentation.
And his prediction;
7-2 to block the executive order; maybe 8-1.

This wasn't (and won't be) close.
I only listened to portions of the argument. It seemed to me the justices were exercising their academic muscles, engaging in discussions of very fine points of law, but not Alito- or Scalia-esque flights of fancy (which sounds “smart” to people who don’t know what the issues really are). Enjoying themselves, IOW. Granted I only heard excerpts from Gorsuch, Sotomayor, and Kagan questioning Cecilia Wang (who did an excellent job). Imagining Trump there was like imagining a dog at a symphony concert. Or maybe a 🐀 is the more apt analogy. 🤔
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This Will Certainly Calm The Markets…

...and reassure our allies.
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Failure To Perform

Bardella: I'm old enough to remember when I was a Republican, we actually won many elections because we had an advantage on the mail in voting. It was a huge advantage structurally for the Republican party in elections. And he has single handedly decimated it.

And oh, by the way, the postmaster general just last week testified before congress that they might run out of money by October. They are not equipped to do this job.
So Trump is an idiot (the EO won’t survive its first encounter with reality), and wholly incompetent. Even if he could implement his EO, he can’t.

(The GOP advantage was that old people voted by mail, and voted GOP. Trump has indeed fucked that up. Until recently, Texas allowed all registered voters 65 and older to vote by mail automatically. Once you signed prevent fraud for it, it continued without further effort on your part. 

Now, you have to request a ballot for each election year. File an application, etc. Who wants to work that hard? It supposed to prevent fraud. What it actually does is make it harder for mobility challenged voters to vote. Like old people, who tend to vote GOP.

Behold the genius of MAGA.)
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We Don’t Need The Strait Of Hormuz

We just got this Force Majeure letter today from AirGas, our helium supplier (for our food science lab, where we have multiple mass-spec instruments that use helium).

The letter says that helium supplies are cut off, and if you're lucky, you might be allotted HALF the helium you need. Even then, you will be charged extra for any helium you get. A LOT extra.

So basically, every mass spec lab in America is about to go offline. AirGas is expressly invoking FM and saying they cannot meet their contractual obligations. Not their fault. Trump did this by attacking Iran.

My lab is fine, of course, because I saw this coming and I ordered my lab staff to buy a one-year supply weeks ago. We already have it in place. So we're still up and running with plenty of helium.

But very few lab science people are paying attention to the Strait of Hormuz, so they are getting blindsided by this.

Trump's war is shutting down science labs all across the country right now. Don't dare call this "winning." It's a loss for America. And the world.
Yup.
Surprisingly to some, the range of applications for helium goes well beyond birthday balloons, with the gas also a key input in chip making, medical imaging and space technology.

Qatar supplies a third of the world’s helium, which passes through the strait, but the nation has been forced to halt production after war broke out, with the nation’s state-owned gas company saying that strikes on energy infrastructure would further cripple exports.

Helium is also deemed tricky to transport as it is stored in insulated containers for 35 to 48 days as a liquid.

After this time frame, molecules start to warm up and escape, becoming a gas once more and escape, meaning those stuck in the strait are quickly losing value and damaging the supply chain.

Helium is essential for manufacturing semiconductors, including the chips used in artificial intelligence models, and a shrinking supply could have a knock on effect for leading technology stocks who are already fighting fears of a potential AI bubble.

Other uses

Elsewhere, the medical technology industry uses helium in MRI machines to cool magnets, while the space industry uses the gas to purge rocket fuel tanks.

Its demand within the space industry is expected to grow as more private companies enter the fray, with both Elon Musk’s Space X and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin planning more frequent launches of their vehicles.

Thomas Abraham-James, founder and chief executive of Pulsar Helium, said: “What makes this particularly alarming is that the crisis presents not one problem for helium markets but two.

“Even where physical infrastructure remains intact, the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz means that no product can reach market until hostilities cease.

“Qatar’s helium, used in everything from semiconductor fabrication and MRI machines to fibre optics and space launch vehicles, is therefore simultaneously impaired by structural plant damage on one hand and an export blockade on the other.

“Should the Strait reopen and tensions de-escalate, limited volumes may resume within weeks, but meaningful supply normalisation is likely months away at best and full restoration of damaged capacity years away.”
Let’s blame Europe. Because Trump is the dumbest, most dangerous motherfucker on the planet. And we elected him POTUS. Twice. 

What the hell is wrong with us?
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