Happy Sun’s Day

Announcements:

We don’t pray here – we figure God, the gods and goddesses, or whatever powers that be either know already, don’t give a fuck, or are busy with more important matters than our petty stuff. We also kind of assume that they expect us to do stuff that we can do for ourselves, and that we will do them ourselves and not be lazy. We also believe in being good friends, so we don’t presume on our friendship with the powers that be by asking them all the time for stuff while giving them nothing in return.

We also don’t take an offering here.  We figure the powers that be probably don’t need it.  Let’s be honest, offerings are not giving to the divine powers, they are given to an organization to support it.  Just being honest. God, the gods or whatever never see a dime, farthing or peso of that money; it all goes to the church, mosque or shrine.

Opening Song: Matchbox Twenty – “Real World”

Come on in and live a little.  Take a break from the real world.

Poem:  “Live a Little” by ACSK

Live a little? – nope.  I plan to live a lot.

Meditation:

A friend of mine posted this quote a couple of days ago.  It resonated with me a lot.  If it does for you as well bonus.  Mostly if people always are interpreting what you do negatively, that is probably more of a reflection on them than you.

Song of Preparation: Disturbed – Ten Thousand Fists (Live 2016 – Grand Rapids, Michigan)

Thought I would prep with this one as it has become a recent Disturbed favorite of mine.  This one was also performed a few years ago right down the road from me; so, I have to say that has its appeal too.

Text: 

“Everyone has the Right to Life” – The Book of Rabyd 1:2

Sermon:

I am going to state it plainly that verses 2 through 4 are a rip off from Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence. But the right to life is still a very hot button topic in this world today and I am not going to skirt around it, but before I begin I would remind people who there are three of these major rights and not one is more important than the other. They have to be kept in balance because they are all ‘inalienable’ so not one of them can be more important than the other. The right to life is simply the first one.

At this point I want to point out that I am making an assumption here in the source of rights. There are actually many schools of thought about where rights come from; or if we even have them at all, but the assumption made by most of the founding fathers was that rights were natural, given by the creator. We will run with that for the purposes of the Book of Rabyd.

The main issue is that everyone has the right to live and that no one has the right to take another life.  There are of course all kinds of issues here from capital punishment to abortion, but we need to remember that this right has value.  That values need to be considered when looking at those issues.  If a person murders someone, then they have denied another’s right to live and I would say also forfeited their own.  Our right to live is conditional on the one factor, that we respect everyone else’s right to live.   Once we fail to do that we forfeit that right.

The other issue is the very simple.  When does life begin and when does it end?  It is this issue along with the other issues of the other two inalienable rights that need to be considered when considering issues such as capital punishment or abortion. The main issue for me has always been to respect the lives of others and that they respect mine.  Given that, I expect people to let me live that life as I wish to live in liberty and I will do the same for them.  But that is a discussion for next week

Closing Song: Sammy Hagar – Mas Tequila

One Last Skaal before we go – Classic Sammy.  There is a guy who knows how to live a little.

Parting Thought: 

If your going to live, you need to let others live too. To do that you need to drop controlling bullshit philosophies – like religion, political affiliation and tribalism.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!