Ocean City Bus Trip

(seb)

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Bus departs The Commons Circle @ 8:30am

All Guests = $15.00

Ticket #: 33 of 49

Humanities Without Apology

Office of Institutional Advancement

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

7:00pm

Performing Arts & Humanities Building, Proscenium Theater

All Guests = FREE

Plenty of tickets left, no ticket numbers available

New York City Bus Trip

(seb)

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Bus departs The Commons Circle @ 8:00am

All Guests = $30.00

Ticket #: 15 of 106

Former White House Chief of Staff and current Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel is, as you can infer from the aforementioned titles associated with him, a pretty well known politician who apparently has a knack for fundraising.

He’s so good, in fact, that he is leaving his position as President Obama’s campaign chair to raise money for Priorities USA Action, a super PAC that supports President Obama.

The President has fallen behind his Republican challenger in funding. Restore Our Future, the Mitt Romney-supporting super PAC, has raised significantly more than Priorities USA. In July alone, Restore Our Future raised $101.3 million–that’s $25 million more than Obama and friends were able to get out of supporters’ wallets.

It’s clear that the super PACs have had a pretty super impact, and with the transfer of Emanuel to Priorities USA Action, it appears that the Obama campaign is looking to manipulate the fundraising powers of such organizations.

The President was not a big fan of super PACs initially but has since altered his thoughts on the matter. Some may view this change of heart as a bit of a sellout, but as Obama’s campaign manager explained:

“We decided to do this because we can’t afford the work you’re doing in your communities, and the grassroots donations you give to support it, to be destroyed by hundreds of millions of dollars in negative ads.“

Whether the Obama-associated super PAC catches up to Restore our Future with the help of Emanuel or not, this presidential election is on track to becoming the most expensive in U.S. History. After all, according to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, money really does talk, and both parties have already generated quite a large amount of conversation.

1 Peter 1:13-25 (NIV)

13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.

Reflection

While walking on a sidewalk, a boy sees a sparkly object behind a picket fence. As he steps closer, it turns out to be a silver dollar – shiny, flashy and just waiting for a boy like him to come pick it up. The gaps between the pickets are just wide enough for his arm to squeeze through. In his first reach, his fingertips are within inches of the coin. For his next try, he extends his arm further and feels it, but it’s not enough to grab it. Determined and serious, he now flattens out his body on the sidewalk, presses his face up against the fence and stretches his arm as far as possible. With all of his might, he finally takes hold of the coin in triumph.

The word “deeply” originated from a verb “to stretch out the hand.” Just as the boy stretched out his hand to grab the shiny coin, we are to stretch out our hands and “love one another deeply from the heart.” To love deeply is to fervently and earnestly extend our lives beyond ourselves. To love from the heart is to stretch out with a pure heart for others.

Response

God spoke His enduring words and stretched out His arms to save us through His Son. Because of His deep love for us, we can have this kind of deep love for others. Today, let’s love deeply and stretch out with our hearts in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Ecclesia Paris and Ecclesia New York. Pray that they will love deeply and reach out to those who need to receive God’s enduring word.

Sometimes, in a crazy election year you don’t want to read/hear/talk about politics.

What you might not know, is that occasionally, we feel the same way. In that spirit we are delighted to supply you a delicious offering without a single mention of politics!

The good people over at Serious Eats put together a monstrous post about sandwiches. Interestingly, they’re separated by geographical region. You’ve got your run of the mill sloppy joe, but also the more eclectic spiedie and the dutch crunch.

Check it out and put your favorites in the comments.

Sometimes, in a crazy election year you don’t want to read/hear/talk about politics.

What you might not know, is that occasionally, we feel the same way. In that spirit we are delighted to supply you a delicious offering without a single mention of politics!

The good people over at Serious Eats put together a monstrous post about sandwiches. Interestingly, they’re separated by geographical region. You’ve got your run of the mill sloppy joe, but also the more eclectic spiedie and the dutch crunch.

Check it out and put your favorites in the comments.

“On campus, the good side of politics” is new Baltimore Sun op-ed written by David Hoffman, UMBC Assistant Director of Student Life for Civic Agency, and SGA President Kaylesh Ramu ’13, political science.

Hoffman and Ramu offer hope to readers who are “understandably skeptical about politics and public life” in this time of government gridlock and discord. They write that at UMBC, “students are helping lead the way to a new kind of politics that bridges difference and strengthens communities.”

The piece goes on to explore the civic engagement work underway at UMBC—carried forward by the BreakingGround initiative—as well as its roots in our campus culture and its implications for our broader democracy. Comments? Offer your thoughts, post your questions and share your experiences on the BreakingGround blog.