Gee, who could have predicted this? 🤦‍♀️

My mother HATED turkey. She finally got out of cooking it in 1997 by having surgery 2 days before. Steak instead. 15 years later when I got home for Thanksgiving, Dad demanded turkey. At the airport, Mom said to me, “Don’t ever come home for the holidays again. I never want to cook another turkey!”

The War Department doesn’t exist. Alas, the investigation will happen anyway because people in this administration are stupidly corrupt sycophants.

I’m more interested in the number of people working full time for billionaires who both need and qualify for SNAP. Maybe go charge the rich guys for the cost and double in fines until they raise pay to living wages. Same for ACA and Medicaid.

Zero. The number you’re looking for is ZERO. 🤦‍♀️🤬

Before I went to bed last night, my Barnes and Noble account notified me that A BEAUTIFUL YEAR is available on my Nook. Good travel reading!

Holding pastors and staff accountable for actual bad behavior takes a toll on those who are seeking justice. This I know from personal experience. 🥺

Seriously thinking that if my air travel gets disrupted next week by the Epstein shutdown, I’m sending the resulting bills to Speaker Johnson’s office with copies to my RI delegation.

If this is a perk/benefit of the job, the value should be taxed as clergy housing/parsonage benefits are taxed, which is essentially at the self-employment rate. Otherwise, they should be paying full market value rent!

Horrifying but not at all surprising. 🤬

No, she’s not. Her status as elected but not sworn in is due entirely to Johnson’s unwillingness to let the president face the consequences of releasing the Epstein documents. 🤬

Democrats in every state with a Senate race in 2026 better have a candidate on the ballot backed by a big tent coalition and plenty of GOTV volunteers. $$ is vital. Scare the ones who think it’s a cinch to keep the seats red with truth on repeat: the pain is GOP’s fault, full stop.

He commanded a nonexistent federal bureaucracy to do the testing. Remember, he can’t unilaterally rename the Department of Defense!

Accountability is important in every facet of life. I’ve served two churches that didn’t hold bad actors accountable for their behavior; one struggled for 30+ years and the other has a long road ahead if they don’t deal with the consequences head-on.

Surprising exactly no one with two brain cells to rub together…

Our Academic Dean Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver @thefunrevucc.bsky.social representing us at New Hampshire Conference United Church of Christ Annual Meeting!

Science is the how, theology is the why, and faith is living between the two knowing you will never get all the answers. —Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver, 2025

Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver @thefunrevucc.bsky.social with former UCC History and Polity student Beth St. John at Maine UCC Conference annual meeting.

Hello Maine! Come by and see our Academic Dean @thefunrevucc.bsky.social at Maine Conference United Church of Christ Annual Meeting.

White supremacy is when Republican men and women in their 20s & 30s praising Hitler, genocide, and rape are “just kids”—but 18-year-old Michael Brown was no angel, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was a thug, 16-year-old Kalief Browder was a criminal, and 12-year-old Tamir Rice should’ve known better.😐

This is the oath every enlisted and officer takes! Notice no loyalty to felon child rapists are in that oath!

If the sponsors and audience didn’t like what he said, cancellation is appropriate. But there is never, save actual incitement to violence, a reason to suspend a TV host for what he says. I’m not a Kimmel fan, but this is a grave marker on the road to totalitarianism.

“Billionaire preachers” is one of the most offensive phrases I’ve ever read.

This is offensive on multiple levels. I don’t think disobeying the order to participate in the “honor” guard would rise to the level of protection required for refusing to follow an illegal/unconstitutional order, sadly, but it sure feels like it should.

He’s a trophy husband, something Kirk will never be because no woman smart enough to be a billionaire would look at him as an equal to an invasive snail. (Not saying the romance isn’t real, just naming the power dynamic.)

California: like Texas, but smarter.

News flash: if I make a sandwich for you, it’s because I love you and I trust you to vote to keep my rights—and those of everyone else in this country—safe and vibrant. Including my right to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ rather than the abomination of Christian Nationalism. #hegsethisanass

The US military is weakening by the day as this continues.

Our UCC History and Polity team! Valerie Coe-Lowder, Ruth Shaver, and Gregory Baker. @thefunrevucc.bsky.social

UCC realizes it blew the chance to have a blowout 70th birthday party when Synod became triennial a cycle too soon. #uccsynod

The GMP gets to hire their support staff. AGMs are not support staff. They are ministers over programs and policies in their own right.

Many corporations operate with excellent CEO leadership over subsidiary companies with their own CEOs. I see no reason the UCC can’t do the same with elected AGMs. #uccsynod

We are a big tent denomination. As a small rural church pastor, I relied on both the extravagant welcome theological resources and the more moderate theological resources of tradition to provide care and leadership to my very purple church in a deep red area. #uccsynod

Rogue Muppet found on main stage of General Synod. Whoever/whatever it is, its journey brought it here and we welcome it! @generalsynic.bsky.social #uccsynod

Community worship stymied by lack of slides for lyrics. @generalsynic.bsky.social

Every UCC History and Polity teacher’s dream. #uccsynod

This is why I’m “Ruth Shaver famous” in the UCC 😊 #UCCsynod

I’d really like to do away with the practice of addressing a collected body of Christians as “Church”. I hear, “Good morning, Church!” and I just cringe. Maybe, “Good morning, Christ followers!” or “Good morning, people of God!”#uccsynod

Better: A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order aimed at breaking the 157-year old Constitutional mandate.

Dean Phillips is several cards short of a full deck if he thinks this isn’t the way of the future.

The WordArt table delegation signs look as bad, too. #uccsynod

If they had voted with the pretense of spines, Hegseth wouldn’t be SecDef. 🤦‍♀️🤬

If for no other reason than this…I know my US Rep @amo.house.gov and my US Senators @whitehouse.senate.gov and @reed.senate.gov will do all in their power to stop the theft by the GOP and Trump.

Not the whole of my sermon on Sunday, but a sneak peek at some of it!

I’m sure that @whitehouse.senate.gov and @reed.senate.gov will voice serious and sustained opposition to this and assure that every procedural roadblock is deployed to keep this from passing the Senate.

My NO KINGS protest uniform, minus most of the multicolored swirl print stole that is damp and cold!

All four corners in downtown Attleboro, Massachusetts!

I love that @maddow.msnbc.com is a Robert Harris fan. Cicero is also the subject of Taylor Caldwell’s “A Pillar of Iron”. Two of my favorite historical fiction writers!