The online editorial staff comprises Betsy Shirley, Jenna Barnett, Josiah R. Daniels, Mitchell Atencio, Heather Brady, Kierra Bennning, and Zachary Lee.

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Prayer of the Day: A House Wide Enough for All

by the Web Editors 05-24-2012

God of all humankind, make the roof of our house wide enough for all opinions. Oil the door of our house so it opens easily to friend and stranger and set such a table in our house that our whole family may speak kindly and freely around it. Amen. Adapted from A prayer from Hawaii, 1000 World Prayers

Verse of the Day: The Planter and the Waterer

by the Web Editors 05-24-2012

"The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building." - 1 Corinthians 3:8-9

Verse of the Day: Your Commandments and Decrees Delight

by the Web Editors 05-23-2012

"Trouble and anguish have come upon me, but your commandments are my delight. Your decrees are righteous for ever; give me understanding that I may live." - Psalm 119:143-144

Voice of the Day: Townes Van Zandt

by the Web Editors 05-23-2012

"Humans can't live in the present, like animals do. Humans are always thinking about the future or the past. So it's a veil of tears, man. I don't know anything that's going to benefit me now, except love. I just need an overwhelming amount of love. And a nap. Mostly a nap." - Townes Van Zandt

Prayer of the Day: 'Offended by Your Revelations'

by the Web Editors 05-23-2012

Protect us, Lord, from being so offended by your revelations that we curse your prophets. Guard us from being so foolishly blinded by your majesty that we lose any sense of how to speak as your witness. Rather, help our lips praise you for your glory. Amen.
Taken from the May 23 reflection in Common Prayer: A liturgy for ordinary radicals.

QUIRK: Man Arrested for DUI After Bringing Pet Zebra to Bar

by the Web Editors 05-23-2012

It's not uncommon to hear of someone arrested for a DUI, but when that driver has a zebra and a macaw with him in the vehicle, we've firmly entered the realm of the strange and unusual.

Jerald Reiter is a farmer and exotic pet owner, who tells the Detroit Free Press, "I ain’t been away from the farm for almost two months because I’ve been planting corn and everything else,’” he said. “So I opened the door, the zebra jumps in, the macaw loves to go for a ride, so we went for a ride.”

QUIRK: Will Smith as Obama? It's All About the EARS.

by the Web Editors 05-22-2012

Nearly four years after Smith joked about potentially playing Obama in a not-actually-happening biopic on the president's life, the "Men In Black 3" star is at it again.

QUIRK: Canine's Got Talent?

by the Web Editors 05-22-2012

If you are in need of an afternoon pick-me-up, look no further than this amazing clip from last night's America's Got Talent.

We dare you not to be impressed by these athletic pups.

Prayer of the Day: From the Lord's Prayer

by the Web Editors 05-22-2012

God in heaven, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Amen.

Verse of the Day: 'Not the Righteous But Sinners'

by the Web Editors 05-22-2012

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." - Matthew 9:12-13

Voice of the Day: Barbara Brown Taylor

by the Web Editors 05-22-2012

"My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.” - Barbara Brown Taylor from An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith

QUIRK: Smell Ya Later, Kristen Wiig. We'll MISS YOU!

by the Web Editors 05-21-2012

From Huffington Post: Kristen Wiig got a musical sendoff on the season finale of "Saturday Night Live" as the popular and versatile cast member made her exit after seven years. In the show's final sketch, guest host Mick Jagger played the principal at a high school graduation and brought up Wiig, in cap and gown, as "one particular student who is leaving this summer."

NGOs React to Obama's New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, Camp David Declaration

by the Web Editors 05-21-2012
MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/GettyImages

World leaders during a working meeting of the G8 at Camp David, May 19, 2012. MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/GettyImages

“This new alliance – is a nice complement at best, a deflection at worst. The role of the private sector is important, but they will not be able to make up for the G8’s broken promises...Smallholder farmers need the freedom to pursue their own growing strategies, not take overly-prescriptive tips on farming from G8 leaders, or one size fits all technologies from far away CEOs.” ~ Lamine Ndiaye, Pan Africa Head of Economic Justice at Oxfam

“This effort to involve international corporations more deeply in African agriculture is an important step forward in lifting millions of poor Africans out of poverty...However, nongovernmental organizations and official agencies will also need to increase their efforts to monitor and collaborate with companies that are doing business in Africa.” ~ The Rev. David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World

Is Congress Getting Dumber?

by the Web Editors 05-21-2012
Graphic by SunlightFoundation.com

Graphic by SunlightFoundation.com

According to the Sunlight Foundation:

Congress now speaks at almost a full grade level lower than it did just seven years ago, with the most conservative members of Congress speaking on average at the lowest grade level, according to a new Sunlight Foundation analysis of the Congressional Record using Capitol Words.

Of course, what some might interpret as a dumbing down of Congress, others will see as more effective communications. And lawmakers of both parties still speak over the heads of the average American, who reads at between at 8th and 9th grade level.

Voice of the Day: Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

by the Web Editors 05-21-2012

"Staying, we all know, is not the norm in our mobile culture. A great deal of money is spent each day to create desires in each of us that can never be fulfilled. I suspect that much of our restlessness is a return on this investment." - Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove from, The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture

Verse of the Day: Strong and Courageous

by the Web Editors 05-21-2012

"Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." - Joshua 1:9

Prayer of the Day: NATO

by the Web Editors 05-21-2012

God, we pray for our world leaders as several of them convene at the NATO summit in Chicago -- give them wisdom as they make tough decisions. Lord, orient their hearts towards peace and unity, upholding dignity and respect for all people. Amen.

VIDEO: Images from NATO Protests in Chicago

by the Web Editors 05-21-2012

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Several thousand protesters spent five hours peacefully chanting, singing and marching against war. At the end, nearly 40 young veterans dramatically took their military medals and hurled them toward McCormick Place, where world leaders met behind closed doors.

It was supposed to end there — at Michigan and Cermak.

But a “Black Bloc” of about 100 anarchists wanted something else. The group, which chanted “What do we want? Dead cops!” as it left Grant Park at 2 p.m., surged to the front of the protest crowd and tried to break through the imposing line of Chicago cops in riot gear blocking its path.

Watch more videos from protests in Chicago inside the blog.

Is Bono Really $1.5 Billion Richer with Facebook IPO? (Don't Believe the Hype, He Says)

by the Web Editors 05-21-2012

Immigration: Joel Osteen Gets Political

by the Web Editors 05-21-2012

Joel Osteen brought his evangelistic revival to Nationals Park in Washington, DC last month. Photo by Getty Images.

In an uncharacteristic move, televangelist and bestselling author Joel Osteen, senior pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, stepped into the political arena briefly to talk about Alabama's House Bill 56, the strictest anti-illegal immigration legislation in the nation.

Osteen, who unlike many of his television compatriots, normally eschews entering into the political fray,  was in Alabama last week for an event and during an interview with a local television station, a reporter asked him about having to choose between faith and breaking civil laws, in the context of HB56, which would make it illegal for undocumental immigrants to receive any public benefits at the state or local level, attend publicly-owned colleges or universities, transport, harbor, employ or rent property to undocumented immigrants in Alabama.