Hello All
Happy Friday
“Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger,
a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world.
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day
you’ll join us and the world will be as one.”
― John Lennon, Imagine
There are many Godsign messages that can be found in names. There was a rose who parked herself on a bus bench refusing to move. She changed history and her name is Rosa Parks. A woman with the last name Albright was the first female Secretary of State. Madeleine Albright was and still is someone that is very, very bright!
Today is about a man’s name, John, and the positive and profound accomplishments some with that name have made in our world.
Both my grandfathers were named John and each of them were most often called Johnny. My dad was named John after his dad, but there were so many Johns already they called him Jack. I have both a brother and an uncle named Sean – which is Gaelic for John. I have a cousin Johnny whom I dearly love. We were the first grandchildren on one side of my family, and he was born 2 months after me. I have had someone named John in my life, all of my life. So I have to admit to a bias toward the name John. I love and adore them all very much and would not be here without them.
John is the English form of Iohannes, the Latin form of the Greek name Ioannes, derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan meaning “YAHWEH is gracious”.
John is Juan in Spain, Ian in Scotland, Sean in Ireland, Evan in Wales and often Jack in England. It has been the name of popes, emperors and kings of England, France, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Bulgaria, Russia and Hungary. Men with the first name of John have been famous poets, philosophers, musicians, scientists and presidents, such as John Milton, John Locke, John Adams, John Keats and John Steinbeck.
Many of you will have men named John in your lives that you have deeply loved and been very grateful for your life! Today is to honor and show gratitude to the men named John that have made profound and sacred impacts on the majority of us in America.
Here’s a small list . . .
John the Baptist
John the Apostle
John Hancock
John Paul Jones
John Adams
John F. Kennedy
John McCain
John Glenn
John Wayne
John Williams
John Lennon
John Denver
John Legend
John Roberts
John Lewis
And I do mean a small list. There are too many men named John who have changed American history to name here. But we are going to explore three.
Not all John’s are wonderful people, some have been infamous for horror and pain, but most men you meet named John are loving, kind, down-to-earth, dependable, trustworthy, hard workers and leaders. The name John at times is used as a noun in less then dignified and in some instances very sad settings. There is the infamous ‘Dear John’ letter that can bring with it a broken heart. Some will say they are going to go use the ‘john’ as they head to the restroom. Unfortunately there are still those that refer to a ‘john’ to define someone who sells women for services. Not all instances of John are uplifting.
But millions of men in our world named John have brought peace, dignity, empowerment and Love into our world.
The 3 Johns discussed here have all changed the United States and in turn the rest of the world for the better. These 3 Johns also have what is often considered a first name for their last name. That can be a powerful Godsign message as well. One is considered a liberal, one a conservative and one a bit of both.
One man named John who worked very hard to bring more courage, dignity, grace, patience, respect and love of his fellow man to America in the last 50 years, died this week. In 1965, he was on national TV, shown walking across a bridge in Alabama and was brutally beaten and hit in the head with a big wooden club by a policeman. Much like George Floyd’s death caused people all over the world to stand up, protest and demand change in our world, John Lewis’ beating on ‘Bloody Sunday’ helped Americans at that time see that our society was allowing evil and brutality to continue to take place against a people because of the color of their skin. The Civil Rights movement changed dramatically after John Lewis, and too many others, were attacked that day. But the work to truly bring Civil Rights to all people continues, in part because of him and now without him.
Congressman John Robert Lewis was the son of sharecroppers who survived that brutal beating by police during a landmark 1965 march in Selma, Alabama, to become a towering figure of the civil rights movement.
A follower and colleague of Martin Luther King Jr., he participated in lunch counter sit-ins, joined the Freedom Riders in challenging segregated buses and at the age of 23 was the youngest keynote speaker at the historic 1963 March on Washington. At age 25, John Lewis helped lead a march for voting rights on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where he and other marchers were met by heavily armed state and local police who attacked them with clubs, fracturing John Lewis’ skull. Images from that “Bloody Sunday” shocked the nation and galvanized support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Congressman John Lewis was known and will continue to be known as the ‘Conscious of the Congress’. John believed in forgiveness. He once described an incident when, as a young man, he was beaten bloody by members of the Ku Klux Klan after attempting to enter a “white waiting room.”
“Many years later, in February of ’09, one of the men that had beaten us came to my Capitol Hill office — he was in his 70’s, with his son in his 40’s — and he said, ‘Mr. Lewis, I am one of the people who beat you and your seat mate'” on a bus, Lewis said, adding the man said he had been in the KKK. “He said, ‘I want to apologize. Will you accept my apology?'”
After accepting his apology and hugging the father and son, the three cried together, John remembered. “It is the power in the way of peace, the way of love,” Lewis said. “We must never, ever hate. The way of love is a better way.”
He will be sorely missed in these challenging times and will be honored for all of his sacrifices and his service to America and her people for many generations to come.
“I fear that in every elected office, members will obtain an influence by noise
not sense. By meanness, not greatness. By ignorance, not learning.
By contracted hearts, not large souls . . . There must be decency and respect.”
– John Adams
Another man named John shares part of Congressman Lewis’ name. John Roberts is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and is the major influence of the Supreme Court and the laws in the US today.
John Glover Roberts, Jr. was born in 1955 in Buffalo, New York. At the age of 10, he and his family moved to Long Beach, Indiana. To say he exceeded at school is an understatement. John Roberts attended Harvard Law School where he served as managing editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated in 1979 magna cum laude.
This year alone, Chief Justice John Roberts was the deciding vote in the ruling that extended the 1964 Civil Rights Act to protect LGBTQ employees. He was responsible for the deciding vote that blocked President Trump’s repeal of the DACA program that protects the young immigrants who were brought to this country as children, often referred to as Dreamers. He also cast the deciding vote to strike down Louisiana law limiting women’s right to choose. Considered a Conservative Justice, John Roberts voted the law.
For a conservative, John Roberts has shown courage in voting for laws to help people who too have been beaten and held down by life, culture and hate-filled people. He is serving WITH a Conscious while supporting the laws.
“Life is never easy. There is work to be done and obligations to be met—obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty.” – John F. Kennedy
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Godsign Institute is having a Spiritual Race Relations Dialogue
Wednesday Evening, July 29th, 6:30 – 8:00 pm EST
Via Zoom Web video during Godsign Spirit Group with Annie,
please email [email protected]
if you would like to attend.
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This next John was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. He was a distinguished fighter pilot in WWII, Chine and Korea. He was awarded 6 Distinguished Flying Crosses and 18 Air Medals. In 1957, he made the first supersonic transcontinental flight across the United States and his on board camera took the first continuous, panoramic photograph of the United States.
After all that, he was just getting started. After retiring from NASA, John Glenn, Jr. became the Senator from Ohio and served from 1974 – 1999. In 1998, while still a Senator, John flew on the Space Shuttles Discovery STS-95 mission. This mission, at the young age of 77, made John Glenn the oldest person to fly in space and the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs.
John Glenn became a 33rd degree Freemason, an ordained elder in the Presbyterian church and was married to his wife Annie for 73 years until his passing in 2016.
These few short paragraphs are just the tip of the huge mountains these John climbed, conquered and showed so many of us how it should be done. With respect for others, dignity in their actions and words, patience with ignorance and hate found in others and courage that few seem to muster, these 3 men named John created, achieved and earned everyone of their historical honors.
When was the last time you honored the wonderful man named John Sen in your life? Perhaps its your dad, brother, uncle, best friend, co-worker or neighbor. Let them know that they are not just any John to you, but someone who has been there, supported you, laughed and cried with you and been one that showed yourself and others how to act with character and integrity toward all. If you do not have a family or friend named John – watch for one to come your way – and know you may be very fortunate in deed for their friendship and support.
“Our shared values define us more than our differences. And
acknowledging those shared values can see us through our challenges
today if we have the wisdom to trust in them again.”
– Senator John McCain
Wake Up Everybody
by John Legend
Wake up everybody no more sleepin’ in bed
No more backward thinkin’ time for thinkin’ ahead
The world has changed so very much
From what it used to be
There is so much hatred war an’ poverty
Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way
Maybe then they’ll listen to whatcha have to say
‘Cause they’re the ones who’s coming up and the world is in their hands
When you teach the children teach em the very best you can
The world won’t get no better if we just let it be
The world won’t get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me
Wake up all the doctors make the ol’ people well
They’re the ones who suffer an’ who catch all the hell
But they don’t have so very long before the Judgment Day
So won’tcha make them happy before they pass away
Wake up all the builders time to build a new land
I know we can do it if we all lend a hand
The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind
Surely things will work out they do it every time
The world won’t get no better if we just let it be
The world won’t get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me
Change it yeah, change it yeah, just you and me
Change it yeah, change it yeah
Can’t do it alone, need some help y’all
Can’t do it alone
Can’t do it alone yeah, yeah
Wake up everybody, wake up everybody
Need a little help y’all
Need a little help
Need some help y’all
Change the world
What it used to be
Can’t do it alone, need some help
Wake up everybody
Get up , get up, get up, get up
Wake up, come on, come on
Wake up everybody
Rhymes and Reasons
by John Denver
So you speak to me of sadness
And the coming of the winter
Fear that is within you now
It seems to never end
And the dreams that have escaped you
And the hope that you’ve forgotten
You tell me that you need me now
You want to be my friend
And you wonder where we’re going
Where’s the rhyme and where’s the reason
And it’s you cannot accept
It is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind
For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day
Like the music of the mountains
And the colours of the rainbow
They’re a promise of the future
And a blessing for today
Though the cities start to crumble
And the towers fall around us
The sun is slowly fading
And it’s colder than the sea
It is written from the desert
To the mountains they shall lead us
By the hand and by the heart
They will comfort you and me
In their innocence and trusting
They will teach us to be free
For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day
And the song that I am singing
Is a prayer to non believers
Come and stand beside us
We can find a better way
Songwriters: John Denver
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Ten Simple Things You Can Do to Improve Race Relations
©by Charles A. Gallagher
1. Talk to your friends and family. Especially if someone is overtly racist or uses stereotypes, politely and without judgment, ask them questions and share your thoughts about why they have such animosity towards a whole group of people.
2. Avoid Stereotypical Language – Be mindful of words like “all” or “always”. Do you really believe that all people in that group actually share the same behaviors and attitudes.
3. Racism is NOT funny. Don’t tolerate racist jokes. If you don’t speak up, you’re condoning their beliefs and behavior. Inaction is a form of action.
4. Be Introspective. How can we live our lives so that social or peer pressure do not push us toward racist, prejudiced, or bigoted beliefs or actions? If you find yourself being prejudiced, ask yourself why you acted or behaved that way. If you are a bystander and did nothing, ask yourself why. Be willing to change how you think about groups different from your own.
5. Be a Good Citizen – Vote in every election. Take time to find out candidates’ positions on policies that have implications for race relations.
6. Be a Critical Reader, Viewer, and Listener – When you watch TV and movies, while you read books, magazines, internet sites, or listen to music, be critical. What stereotypical images or messages are you getting about ethnic and racial groups and/or gender?
7. Learn Your Family’s and Community’s History. How has race influenced your family? Your elders are resources. Talk to them about events in the past and the present.
8. Teach Through Example. Be a positive role model to your friends and all the younger people in your life. You have something to offer older generations, too — oftentimes children and grandchildren can influence the thinking of their parents and grandparents.
9. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone. Involve yourself in activities that place you in an environment where you are exposed to people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Who do you hang out with? Is it time to reach out and make new friends?
10. Know Thyself. Consider the following questions: • Do you live in a community that is racially homogeneous? • Outside of work or school, is your life composed of people who look like you? • Are you best friends all the same race? • In what ways is your community segregated? • How have your upbringing and environment influenced your racial attitude? • How might being in the minority shape a person’s point of view or self-esteem? • Have your ideas of race ever changed? What happened to change them?