Massive March for Marriage, August 2nd, 11 am, Detroit Belle Isle State Park, Jefferson/East Grand Boulevard

A massive March for Marriage is set for the Fifth Annual Urban/Suburban Unity Pot Luck Picnic, August 2nd at Belle Isle, Detroit. At 11 am, balloons, brass and bands, with banners, will lead hundreds across the MacArthur Bridge to the Playscape area where the Detroit Interfaith Outreach Network, steered by Rabbi Dorit Edut, is hosting its Fifth Annual Unity Picnic for the public. Contact mutzim@aol.com for more information, or, me, regarding the Marriage March, at 313 530 2777. SCRIPTURE STUDY The Pope John Paull II Park on Jos. Campau in Hamtramck, MI., is the venue for Wednesday Scripture Study for all from 12 Noon-1 pm. Reservations are required for the event to be held by calling Father Lawrence M. Ventline at 313 530 2777, lawrencematthewventline@gmail.com. Monday Moaning Scripture Study will be held by reservation at the Big Boy Restaurant on Gratiot, near Nine Mile in Ferndale from 8 am until 9 am with me. Get the Word! Welcome all! Bishop A. Barnes and the International Beginning Ministries is hosting a REVIVAL 4 ALL, Wednesday, August 19th, 6:30 pm at his edifice on Grayling, west of Jos. Campau in Hamtramck, MI. My house is to be a house of prayer for all peoples is the theme, according to Barnes, who welcomes all to the ecumenical event. Contact Barnes at internationalbeginningministries@yahoo.com. The following Wednesday, August 26th, also at 6:30 pm, join in Motown Marriage 2020 Revival under the tent at Chene/Lafayette, Detroit, across from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Apartments. Testimonies with the Rev. Horace Sheffield, and, the invited, Rev. Dr. Yvette Griffin are set, while, Archbishop George Stallings, Jr., is revival preacher. Special music ministry. All are welcome! The Third Annual Unity Sidewalk at Van Dyke/8 Mile to Warren, MI., Metro Family Church is set for Thursday, August 27th at 6 pm for all. Contact Kasbow@earthlink.net, or, me for more information, please.

The Thumb of Michigan

Refreshing. The thumb of Michigan, that is. It is. For sure. Calmer. Slower. More relaxed. Politer. And, a sweet change from the hurried, metropolitan Detroit area. Dad was born here in Port Austin, MI. His birth mom died when he was six months old, and, his dad needed to remarry, given help needed on the farm. Dad's step mom became the family secret, sad to admit. Yet, a family is as sick as its secrets, I've come to believe. Grandma broke dad's nose, dad told the seven of his children, and, she also broke his brother's noses also. What is not healed by the grace of God is projected onto others, I've learned over time. So, the cycle of violence continued until it was stopped cold, in its tracks. His, hers and theirs was the reality of familial relationships. Accepting this reality affords freedom to be who each of us are as family. It does. Amid, the healing that had to happen, it is refreshing to walk, talk, take in the sun, and more, in Port Austin these few days.

Sunday Sermon: Mark's Gospel 6:1-6

From faith to face. And, the story beats on today. Faith is like that, isn't it, in the smiling, sad, sorrowful, sick grimacing of one's facial expressions. A story of faith interfacing with countless faces across the globe. Yet, we all know that unless each of us grows, and, communities change and adapt, they indeed do die, don't they? "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?" Further on the story teller says: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." I get comfortable with the old order of doing things. Change becomes difficult.. And, I don't like it. Providing for tomorrow was far from what the disciples were to do. They, like us, were called, and are challenged to repent. To change the course of things. To turn. To totally turn around? Disciples were different. In fact, they looked different than the old order and way of doing things.. Their message was different. No wonder they took offense at Jesus. Jesus taught that there is power in weakness. Paul resounds with the clarion call and marching order of a new order: "Power (God's) is made perfect in weakness (human weakness)." The promise: "Behold, I make all things new. All. All things. Everything. Changing faces full of faith passed down. Faith interfacing with changing faces and new hearts.

Jairus; and, the Woman with a Hemorrhage - Sunday's Homily with Lawrence Matthew Ventline

June 28, 2015 Wisdom 1:13-15 Ps. 30: 2-13 2 Cor. 8:7-15 Mk. 5: 21-43 Heal what you feel by the favor, grace, blessing of God. After all, God is for life. For the abundant life as Jesus asserts. Jairus is a synagogue leader and his daughter is near death. "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well, and live." Both are Jewish - a girl and a woman. The power of faith is working wonders here in both scenes. Faith is like that. Isn't it? The hemorrhaging woman is touched and made well by Jesus. In the meantime, Jairus believes his daughter died. "The child is not dead, but sleeping," Jesus asserts. "Little girl, get up," Jesus says in Aramaic. The 12-year-old rises, the Gospel notes. Restoration of life. Revival. Renewing life around the common number of 12. Restoring 12 tribes of Israel. The 12-year-old and the 12-year hemorrhaged woman. Israel is the daughter and bride of God (Hos.2:19-21). Daughters brought to life, wellness, full health. Praise God! Faith suffices even over death when it comes to Jesus the Christ, the Lord of life and love. For sure. Heal what you feel by the favor of God, will you?

"Laudato Si" - Be Praised!

Two Clergy Roundtable sessions on Pope Francis' latest care for each other, the environment, water, climate letter to the world. Coming in October, 2015. Write lawrencematthewventline@gmail.com for details.

Racist Virus Still a Sin

It's in our DNA, it seems. Racism. And, it's affecting every aspect of life in our metropolitan region of Detroit, and beyond. It is. Join in Clergy Roundtables, Friday, Sept. 11 & Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 12 noon-1:30 pm in the Warren, Michigan Civic Center Conference Room, and, the Hamtramck Public Library. Racism is a sin, our U.S. Catholic Bishops declared decades ago. And, it still is. Deal with it personally, in institutionally, all other ways, all ways, always! Name racism the sin (missing the mark of God's love) it is, claim it as one's own, and tame it today, will you? I will try.

Is Everything About Race?

Is it? For example, 50 years ago, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, at the Department of Labor, noted that "The racist virus in the American bloodstream still afflicts us, and the Negro family in the urban ghettos is crumbling" in his The Negro Family: The Case for National Action. And, yesterday as clergy and civic leaders sat in my living room, the issue was raised as to whether the dismal statistics about the African-American family since 1965 show that family is really worse off. In fact, statistics about family are bleaker today. No doubt. And, that is NOT a racist rant! The young and scholarly message from Moynihan five decades ago was that nearly a quarter of African-American births were "illegitimate," and only a minority of children of African-American descent who were 18 at that time had lived all their lives with both parents. I tire of being charged that everything is about race. This crisis is worse now than in 1965, and, urban areas need to embrace a theology of the family, come clean about the rising illegitimacy of children, and, the crumbling Black family. As clergy and legislative leaders wrestled with the epidemic of family fracture today, in my home, yesterday, they clearly care about this crisis of family, so must urban pastors step up to the plate. They need to rise again NOW! Only a comprehensive plan will help all of us to realize the truth that firm families are good for the health and wellness of the regions where we reside. It is about race. All of it. It's about the human race. Only truth, however, will set us free to rebuild and restore family that has to begin in the home, or else, more of the same real (and unreal) racist rants against police, and more, will fracture this town, and my USA.