Barb Ballenger
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revbarb66.bsky.social
Barb Ballenger
@revbarb66.bsky.social
59 followers 62 following 10 posts
Episcopal priest, rector, dog and cat lover, story teller, song writer, mixologist.
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revbarb66.bsky.social
When a hero is both the sandwich and the man flinging it
August 15, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Barb Ballenger
frdavid.bsky.social
That it may please thee to make wars to cease in all the world; to give to all nations unity, peace, and concord; and to bestow freedom upon all peoples,

We beesech thee to hear us, good Lord. ⚓
June 22, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Reposted by Barb Ballenger
georgetakei.bsky.social
Take note.
June 22, 2025 at 10:47 AM
revbarb66.bsky.social
Why were "peacekeepers" at Utah's No Kings event, sponsored by 50501, armed? Were they official, or imposters? What is the difference between an official peacekeeper and a vigilanti carrying water and firearms? How are we to know the difference when we attend future events?
June 16, 2025 at 1:55 PM
revbarb66.bsky.social
Sending prayers for all in pain and fear today in the wake of the political shootings of Minnesota state officials. And prayers for the No Kings marchers throughout our country demanding the restoration peace and justice. This national chaos must be stopped and its source removed from his throne.
June 14, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Barb Ballenger
georgetakei.bsky.social
Know your rights before you hit the streets. Peaceful protest is protected — but only if you know how to protect yourself legally. Read, share, and stay safe.
June 14, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Barb Ballenger
neilwillard.bsky.social
From the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota ⚓️:
This morning in Minnesota, we woke up to the chilling news that two of our state legislators had been shot in their homes by someone impersonating a law enforcement officer. House Speaker emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband were both killed in the attack. The condition of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife is not fully known as of this writing. This news comes against the backdrop in recent weeks of immigration raids being carried out by militarized law enforcement, and celebrated with cruel delight by government officials, the military being deployed in Los Angeles against U.S. citizens, to stop protests in that city, and on a day when the President of the United States has threatened to meet any protestors present at a military parade in the capitol with "heavy force." The tensions we have lived with for many years now are boiling over to new levels. Those inclined to the kind of murderous violence that occurred in Minnesota today are surrounded by a national climate that encourages those impulses. Human communities, from congregations to countries, always take on the energy of their leaders. That's true regardless of how popular the leader might be. The President of the United States, and the senior members of his administration, have, for nearly six months now, led with a chaotic, intentionally provocative, and vindictive energy against perceived critics and enemies, and that is eroding the foundations of our common life and order, and empowering anyone inclined to that same vindictive violence. As Christians, we proclaim as Lord the one who met a murderous and vindictive empire, not with retributive or self-protective violence, but with immovable love. That love, though he died for it, was not a passive resignation to evil, but a refusal to engage it on its own terms. As followers of the Lord of immovable love, his posture in the face of the empire of his day must be ours today. We, like Jesus, cannot remain silent in the face of the multivalent attacks on basic human dignity and society we are experiencing. Many of us will participate today in protests around the state and the nation. We must continue to show up, speak up, and witness to a better way than what the American empire offers in this moment. But we must also, like so many disciples before us, refuse to meet violence with violence, dehumanizing rhetoric with dehumanizing rhetoric. In the months and years to come, we must stand in the face of every threat, every act of violence, every cruel or threatening word, with Jesus' immovable love, clinging to love's power, which raised Jesus from the death empire subjected him to, until God's full reign of peace is fully and gloriously done, on earth as it is in heaven.
June 14, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Barb Ballenger
chenoweth.bsky.social
Chart of cumulative protests reported from Jan 22 - Feb 28, 2017 vs 2025:
Chart showing double the number of protests in 2025 than occurred during the same time period in 2017.
March 19, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Barb Ballenger
jfballenger.bsky.social
100+ demonstrators gather for 'Protect Your Parks' protest at Arches
A new demonstration took place Saturday at a place where they're being hit hard: Utah's National Parks.
www.fox13now.com
March 2, 2025 at 2:27 AM
revbarb66.bsky.social
Today is the Feast of Absalom Jones, the first black Episcopal priest and an Episcopal saint for his work to end slavery. Here is a link to the sermon I preached last year on the Sunday after his feast day. May he be with us in these unprecedented days. www.stpetersglenside.org/_files/ugd/7...
www.stpetersglenside.org
February 13, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by Barb Ballenger
targetmajoritynyc.bsky.social
This from @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social and @chenoweth.bsky.social is a 2nd urgent read for the assignment we all must now undertake: learning about authoritarianism & effective strategies for its defeat. A must-read for this weekend. #PeoplePower meditations-in-an-emergency.ghost.io/the-nature-o...
The Nature of Our Power: A Conversation with Political Scientist Erica Chenoweth
"The best study on the subject in my opinion suggests that in the long term, institutions really can’t save us; that civil society and mass mobilization are a more potent check on a backsliding democr...
meditations-in-an-emergency.ghost.io
February 9, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Reposted by Barb Ballenger
rbreich.bsky.social
Many are asking: “What can I do now?”

Here’s a revised and expanded list of actions you can take, in rough order of importance. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/more-on-what-you-can-do
February 8, 2025 at 9:01 PM
revbarb66.bsky.social
Now More than Ever. A statement I helped draft from the Anti-Racism Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania: myemail.constantcontact.com/Now-more-tha...
Now more than ever.
Email from Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania The following is a statement from the Anti-Racism Commission of this diocese. We Need Racial Justice and Repair Now More than Ever As we enter more deeply
myemail.constantcontact.com
February 8, 2025 at 7:43 PM
revbarb66.bsky.social
Church programs effected: episcopalnewsservice.org/2025/01/31/e...
Episcopal Migration Ministries to lay off 22 after Trump’s order effectively ends new refugee resettlement
[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church’s long-standing history of helping refugees resettle in the United States will begin to wind down next month, an early casualty of the new Trump admini…
episcopalnewsservice.org
February 3, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Reposted by Barb Ballenger
wehearvoices.bsky.social
Good Morning to the first day of February and Black History month!
My first quote is from one of my Shero’s of my youth. Angela Davis.
#Voices4Victory
#DemVoices
#BlackHistoryMonth
February 1, 2025 at 1:59 PM
revbarb66.bsky.social


Rt. Rev. Budde used her pulpit, prayer and position just at it was intended. We all have a pulpit of one form or another. How are you using yours? How are you living what you say?
January 22, 2025 at 11:16 PM
revbarb66.bsky.social
I want truth and justice, and all I keep getting is the American way.
January 12, 2025 at 7:46 PM