Kathy K. Norman

Author of Practical Priorities for Fibromyalgia Recovery | Healthy living advocate | Supporter of inclusive faith | Enthusiastic explorer

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

If your faith practice requires you to leave someone out, something is amiss. Those who follow Jesus always, always, always make room for everyone.

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

I share this post in earnest and (what may prove a naive) hope that a few people caught in the situation I’m about to describe will hear instead of rushing to the usual tropes, criticisms and caricatures. For what it’s worth, I offer this in good faith.

Between 2016 and 2022, I faced a test of the genuineness of my faith so large and consequential, I’m almost at a loss to think of the right adjectives to describe it. It might not have been so big to someone else but it involved so much of my Christian identity, it was all but existential. Well more than that. It was a dying.

It is this test that helps me understand why people who seem deeply devoted to the Lord Jesus and hold the scriptures in highest esteem also hold to a system, institution or leader no matter what they do and defend a side or individual to a degree that is baffling.

I can tell you why because I had to face every bit of it. Identity, community, camaraderie, what we’ve known and loved, what part of it we still love, the people we loved, the people we still love, reputation, what people will think, how you will be judged and condemned and thrown over to the other side who doesn’t want you either. And to whom you also do not align and would not belong. Friendships. How you will be misunderstood and misrepresented. How adrift and alone you will feel. How disliked.

And then there’s this and it would be a mistake to minimize it: your JOB. Your source of income. Your vocation.

This is the part of the crisis I most write these words to convey because I think they are most in play for many right now, whether in media, ministry or politics.

Let me try to put this in the words that were constantly resonant in my spirit in those years. And to this day.

Though you have no other place to go, Beth, and no place to fit and it not only MAY have financial repercussions but WILL have financial repercussions to the ministry and to your family and will also make them targets and none of it will ever look the same or be the same, will you choose what you believe to be right and put everything else in your vocational life at risk?

This is what is at risk for many people whose professional reputations and positions are tied up with leaders, institutions and political parties. Mine was, too. The cost is enormous and the options are often untenable. And so there we are.

Having to cast ourselves on the mercy of God. Not for a third way. But as THE ONLY WAY. The only truth. The only life.

I’ve made multiple errors in judgment. Jumped too quickly to condemn. Spoken wrongly. Remained silent wrongly and confusingly. I never get it completely together.

But what I will tell you is that I believe we are meant first and foremost to call out our own house, our own side, and our own identity group for its mind-boggling hypocrisy. These were my people. Evangelicals. Conservatives.

Claim what you will but I know who I am:

I am pro life from conception to casket.
I am pro small government.
I am pro godliness and the pursuit of a holy life.
I am pro marriage and family and pro-those God calls to remain single and sanctified and I’m deeply thankful for them.
I am pro traditional sexual ethics.
I am pro love of God and love of neighbor and the dignity of every person as an image bearer of Christ.
I am pro love all.
I am pro church. I believe in the community of the saints.
I am pro Bible study to the death and believe the aim of all discipleship is to know and love and follow and emulate Jesus Christ.
I am pro gospel. Dear God in heaven, I am pro gospel. I believe there is one name by whom we must be saved. Jesus.

What I am not is pro Trump.

Wasn’t pro Clinton. Wasn’t pro Biden. But those were not the candidates many in the world that I loved so much were cheering on.

I accept that Donald Trump is my president. I pray for him on a regular basis. I’m a law abiding citizen and pay my taxes. But I believe Trump fosters something in people that makes them lose their way.

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

@BethMooreLPM I feel all of this. I treasure my SBC roots, I miss my friends, but I couldn’t stay in a space consumed with politics and Christian nationalism. I love Jesus with every fiber of my being but rarely find him in the church these days. We have lost our voice, our calling, our way.

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

“When we Christians are more known for our support of presidents than we are for our support of the poor, the immigrant, the marginalized, and the oppressed, that is when we know we are following someone other than Jesus and we have a lot of repenting to do.”Rev. Benjamin Cremer

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

Encouraging sermon for us Baby Boomers on fears we deal with as we age from Pastor Adam Hamilton at UMC Church of the Resurrection

https://t.co/fphdlRkcDE

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

You have to love yourself well to become strong enough to love other people.

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

Love ❤️ in action…

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

#RollTide

[Tim Amor @TimAAmor]

“Racism is a form of hatred that denies the divine presence in our neighbor and wounds the Body of Christ.”

Henri Nouwen— Peacework: Prayer, Resistance, Community

via @nofearinlove77

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

I was hungry, but you passed a bill that cut funding for food stamps so billionaires could get more tax breaks.

I was thirsty, but you removed environmental protections and left me without clean water.

I was a stranger, but ICE agents arrested me and put me in a concentration camp surrounded by alligators.

I was sick, but you cut billions of dollars from Medicaid and I couldn’t get the healthcare I needed.

I was in prison, but you left me there in unconscionable conditions because you made money off of it.

Whatever you did to the least of these, my siblings, you did to me.

(how I think Jesus would have phrased Matthew 25 if he was preaching in America right now)

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

Medicaid cuts: $930 Bn
Food assistance cuts: $285 Bn
Medicare/ACA cuts: $170 Bn

All being RUSHED through Congress, so trump can sign his Big Ugly Bill on July 4.

Can we get 1,000 fast RTs and replies using #VoteHellNo to get it trending?

Please and thank you!🙏💪

[Rev. Benjamin Cremer @Brcremer]

The church is supposed to be the advocate for the poor and the powerless, not the mouthpiece of the empire.

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

@UMC_CommonSense Following someone or something besides Jesus. Ignoring his 2 commandments to love God and love your neighbor.

[Rev. Benjamin Cremer @Brcremer]

A Christianity that is offended by someone advocating for the poor, the immigrant, the hungry, the sick, the marginalized, and the oppressed, is a Christianity that is offended by Jesus.

Therefore, it is no longer Christianity.

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

There is absolutely nothing Christlike about a version of Christianity that neglects the poor, subjugates women, demonizes immigrants, excludes LGBTQ+ folks, promotes Christian nationalism, gets cozy with white supremacy, or disparages people with disabilities.

Stop baptizing bigotry with the name of Jesus.

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

Any of these books would be a wonderful choice to read to celebrate #WorldBookDay

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

“Here's to strong women, may we known them, may we be them, may we raise them.”
Amy Rees Anderson

#HappyInternationalWomensDay

[James Spann @spann]

Long time followers here know that I don’t do politics, and there’s no political content on this account. I vote; and that’s it. The world does not need another social media nitwit telling people how to think and vote. 

This post is not about politics, but about support for my friends that work for the National Weather Service, part of NOAA, a federal agency.

NWS meteorologists work long, hard hours serving the people of this country, not only during times of severe weather, but on the routine days as well.

Their surface and upper air observation networks along with computer models, radars, and satellites are critical for all meteorologists, including those of us in the private sector. 

Most NWS field offices are currently understaffed right now. I can only imagine morale is not especially high. 

Many high-level politicians follow this page, both Democrats and Republicans. I would encourage them and all of you to support my colleagues at the National Weather Service during this time. Their service is absolutely invaluable. 

If NWS products and services are reduced, we all suffer…especially during times of life-threatening weather. 

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

Hooray for reduced prices! My book on improving chronic illness symptoms through creating a chemical-free life is currently on sale on Amazon for $10.59
https://t.co/3W2baEZDeu

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

One of my favorite pieces of advice on writing from the incomparable Anne Lamott:

[ANNE LAMOTT @ANNELAMOTT]

How to write: Stop not writing. Keep your butt in the chair. Write really bad small sections of the whole—passages, moments, episodes, memories—til you have an incredibly shitty 1st draft. Then take out the boring parts, the lies and pretensions. Then write a better 2nd draft.

[Kathy K. Norman @KathyKNorman]

@BethMooreLPM Was in SBC from in utero until my early 60s. Left due to views on women in ministry, hiding sexual abuse, exclusion of the LGBTQ community, and leaning into Christian nationalism. By then numbers had plummeted to 2/10. Now happily 9/10 in the UMC.