Poetry Pep Talk: “For Such a Time as This”

My voice, a whisper on the wind

Belies the fire that stirs within

A piercing pain from hatred’s arrows

The hopelessness of tomorrows

My breathing shallow – I’m lacking breath

This time I feel it will be death

But for such a time as this

I prayed, Holy Spirit assist!

Make my voice strong and loud

Use the pain to stand from the crowd

Don’t be afraid, don’t hide away

Love will win and is here to stay

Esther 4:14 – “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Trump was sworn into office less than one month ago, yet the onslaught of executive orders targetting refugees, immigrants, the GLBTQ+ community, veterans, people with disabilities, people of color, the poor, women, not to mention the people who are trying to hold him accountable, has my mind spinning and my heart breaking. Where is Justice? Where is Hope?

We’ve chosen to restart this blog because we need HOPE and a VOICE! Like Esther from the Old Testament, we cannot remain silent at the injustices being perpetuated at the cost of our freedoms and democracy. But what can we do?

Like Esther, we can see what our “position” in life is right now: what are our spheres of influence? what are some actions we can take right now? This is a marathon, not a sprint – we need to have a plan and we need to persist! A lot of small actions can make a big difference!

Gather your strength and your courage – whether that means leaning into your faith/spirituality/reason/common sense, leaning on your friends/family/colleagues/pets, leaning away from people/places/programs that are toxic – take a deep breath – let your voice be heard!

©️2025 Lancaster Speaks Up. All rights reserved.

This website is maintained by the founding members of Lancaster SPEAKS Up. All writing and art contained on this blog post represent the thoughts and opinions of its author only.

What Would Jesus Do in the Library?

Written by April Madres, Manheim Township. This piece was first published here, the LancasterSpeaksUp.com blog, on January 31, 2023 with permission from the author. It has been submitted to LancasterOnline/LNP for consideration as a Letter to the Editor. 

As a 1990s teenager, the expression “What Would Jesus Do or WWJD” was everywhere. It was written on bumper stickers, journals literally anything. It always made me laugh- what would Jesus do in the time of grunge? Unfortunately, this expression has been co-opted to mean something more harmful, more divisive, and more sinister in 2023.

A growing number of parent groups are invoking Christian values to promote book bans. The latest parent group to make their presence known locally, is the Warwick Parents for Change. Their mission is to advocate for a Christian worldview under the guise of social justice.

Warwick Parents for Change is not alone in their view. Parent groups across Pennsylvania have been successful in banning over 400 books in several school districts. Pennsylvania ranks 3rd nationwide for book bans, behind Texas and Florida.

The Christian nationalists behind these groups are working together to get rid of books that deal with sexual identity, race and/or racism. They want to shield children from reading books that might make them feel uncomfortable.[1]  For many individuals, race, racism and discrimination are daily issues.

Limited perspective and lack of diversity of opinion, thought and characters are real consequences of book bans. Would Jesus take away our ability to chose books? No, he gave us free will, so that we could make our own choices and we shouldn’t deny children this experience. Our democracy is on a slippery slope when a select few decide what books are allowed.

©️2023 Lancaster Speaks Up. All rights reserved.

This website is maintained by the founding members of Lancaster SPEAKS Up. All writing and art contained on this blog post represent the thoughts and opinions of its author only.

About April Madres, Manheim Township

April Madres, a Philly native, became a Lancasterian in December 2020. Her daytime gig is a learning strategist for the federal government. Outside of work, you can find her running, writing children’s books, trying out new recipes and navigating parenthood with a teen and tween.

Reasons to Read the January 6th Report

Written by Dr. Mary Theresa (Terry) Webb, West Lampeter. This piece was first published on January 22, 2023 in LNP/LancasterOnline. Reprinted here with permission from the author.

Lancaster Public Library’s mission is, as the headline on a column in the Jan. 8 Sunday LNP | LancasterOnline Perspective section put it, “Essential to democracy.” This mission should motivate the public library to make copies of the final report of the U.S. House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol available for every voting adult in Lancaster County to read.

Teachers and parents would do well to make reading and studying the report required homework. Those who watched the House select committee hearings may believe that reading the written report would be redundant. However, the well-written narrative will not only help one put the pieces of the puzzle together, but it will clarify the how and why of the insurrection — and the importance of holding the perpetrators accountable.

The size of the written report (over 800 pages, with almost 300 pages of footnotes) may be daunting, but the title of each chapter will pique a reader’s interest. 

The report is available from Amazon in Kindle and paperback versions. HarperCollins, Random House, University Press and even Skyhorse Publishing sell printed versions. The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Washington Post each have produced copies. The U.S. Government Publishing Office has it at lanc.news/Jan6report.

I downloaded the free version from The Washington Post and read, on Amazon, the forewords found inside each book, plus some reviewers’ comments. Reading what attorney Ari Melber, journalist David Remnick and U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff wrote gave me more information.

Whatever your preference, make reading a copy of the Jan. 6 report a priority. And resist any attempts to ban it from libraries or classrooms.

©️2023 Lancaster Speaks Up. All rights reserved.

This website is maintained by the founding members of Lancaster SPEAKS Up. All writing and art contained on this blog post represent the thoughts and opinions of its author only.

Read the Report About Trump

Written by Joseph Manning, Warwick Township. This piece was first published on January 15, 2023 in LancasterOnline/LNP. Reprinted here with permission from the author.

Word is out and Donald Trump is in trouble.  The January 6th Committee released its report clearly showing that Mr. Trump is known to have a major responsibility for planning, coordinating, recruiting and directing the most egregious assault on our Democracy.  He still has his base who are happy with him for now.  Many in his party are following his lead in trying to paint the actions of his supporters on that infamous day as patriotic and whose actions on that day were perfectly legitimate. Pure nonsense. 

There are those in Congress who would like this to go away. With their fingerprints all over the events of Jan. 6 and their false claims, they are now trying to rewrite the events of that day. When President Joe Biden recently awarded 14 individuals with the Presidential Citizens Medal, only one Republican showed up to support the brave men and women who defended the U.S. Capitol from those who wished to seize it. Meanwhile, some Republicans have sought to prevent the Jan. 6 records from going to the National Archives.

But the result of the midterm elections shows us that many Americans, and I suspect many who voted for him for president, are fed up with his often bizarre, always juvenile behavior. He is a bully who should go to trial for his part in fomenting of the January 6 Insurrection. Anything less is unconscionable and dangerous. I encourage all to read the report.

©️2023 Lancaster Speaks Up. All rights reserved.

This website is maintained by the founding members of Lancaster SPEAKS Up. All writing and art contained on this blog post represent the thoughts and opinions of its author only.

Beware of False Prophets and False Theologies Abounding in Lancaster County

Written by Dr. Mary Theresa (Terry) Webb,West Lampeter. This piece was first published on September 16, 2022 in LNP/LancasterOnline. Reprinted here with permission from the author.

Beware of falling for the false prophets and false theologies abounding in Lancaster County. Thankfully, the LNP editorial board (08/28/2022), journalists, and readers are warning us. Jesus and the Old Testament prophets also warned us – see Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah, as well as the gospel writers of Matthew, Mark and Luke. 

Beware of “Making America Free and Great Again” slogans mixed up with the name of Jesus. Jesus’ concept of the Kingdom of Heaven was not to overthrow Roman Rulers and he advocated paying the required taxes to Rome. 

Beware of believing that the Declaration of Independence and the Framers of the US Constitution wanted to make America a Christian nation. They didn’t. The First Amendment to the Constitution states “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of a religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Many of our founding fathers were Deists. 

Beware especially of the upcoming Patriots Arise Event planned for Quarryville, September 23-25th.  On their website an image of the US flag is prominently displayed along with a call for action, similar to the build-up to the Stop the Steal rally and the storming of the US Capitol. Those involved in the planning for their event are pastors from the Lord’s House of Prayer, Faith and Family Fellowship, the Pennsylvania Apostolic Prayer Network, and the Christian Coalition, along with members of FreePA. Many of the groups represented are local MAGA Trump followers and believe in the false theology of an American brand of Christian Nationalism.  

Thank You to GOP Leaders Speaking Out

Written by Joseph Manning, Warwick Township. This piece was first published here, the LancasterSpeaksUp.com blog, on July 30, 2022 with permission from the author. It has been submitted to LancasterOnline/LNP for consideration as a Letter to the Editor. 

To the GOP leaders who are publicly endorsing Attorney Josh Shapiro, for governor (LNP 7/7/22), thank you. I am encouraged to know that there are members of the GOP who see their party’s nominee as an extremist who supports the disproven claim that the 2020 election was stolen, said climate change is “ridiculous pop science”, and that a total ban on abortion is the most important issue of our lifetime. The views and policies of the GOP’s nominee for governor are extreme and dangerous. 

Josh Shapiro is a moderate who will reach across the aisle for all Pennsylvanians. He will work for investments in housing, infrastructure, workforce development. He will make a positive difference in our lives.

Josh Shapiro can and will win the gubernatorial election, but he will need like minded people from both parties and independents to look at what is really important and vote their conscience.

©️2022 Lancaster Speaks Up. All rights reserved.

This website is maintained by the founding members of Lancaster SPEAKS Up. All writing and art contained on this blog post represent the thoughts and opinions of its author only.

Kudos for Book Access

Written by Joseph Manning, Warwick Township. This piece was first published here, the LancasterSpeaksUp.com blog, on July 27, 2022 with permission from the author. It has been submitted to LancasterOnline/LNP for consideration as a Letter to the Editor. 

Kudos to the Warwick School District School Board member, Ed Browne, for disagreeing with parents who want to ban books.  He said that he did not feel threatened by books and cannot tolerate banning books. He pointed out that parents can make individual choices for their own children with a school board policy already in place.

Kudos also to the Elizabethtown Area School District review committee who denied a parent’s request to remove “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” from the district’s high school  and middle school libraries. Again, there is a parental opt out policy. Why should all students be denied access when parents can opt out ?

In my opinion, the banning of books is not a good idea. Reading books is an excellent way to understand the views and ideas of others, and hold them up against one’s own. Let’s leave book banning back in the 1950’s. 

©️2022 Lancaster Speaks Up. All rights reserved.

This website is maintained by the founding members of Lancaster SPEAKS Up. All writing and art contained on this blog post represent the thoughts and opinions of its author only.

Some Perspective on Russia, Putin

Written by Dr. Mary Theresa (Terry) Webb, West Lampeter. This piece was first published on February 27, 2022 in LancasterOnline. Reprinted here with permission from the author.

Franklin & Marshall College professor Abby Schrader’s Feb. 20 Sunday LNP op-ed shed light on why Russian President Vladimir Putin has been obsessed with annexing Ukraine and attempting to restore the greatness of Russian dominance (“Explaining Putin’s push to take control of Ukraine”). This explains Putin’s invasion of that country.

I have the viewpoint of having spent 15 years in the former Soviet Union and Russia. When communism collapsed in 1991, I was visiting countries under Soviet control with a group called Creating a Sober World (I wrote about this in my book, “Memories and Miracles”).

In Moldova, the streets were empty of vehicles; its supply of gasoline had been cut off in an attempt to keep it under Soviet control.

In Georgia, I found out why the former Soviet Union was called “The Drunken Society.”

In Ukraine, I met resilient citizens, learning new ways of relating.

In Moscow’s Red Square, I observed Russian people protesting for a return to the glorified days of the czars.

In 1997, while traveling on an Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Novosibirsk, I began a conversation with two Texas oil men who were seated across the aisle from me. Their mission, they told me, was to “get the oil gushing” for the newly formed Russian Federation. About this time, President Boris Yeltsin discovered Vladimir Putin, picking him to be prime minister of that new federation. In the 20 years since, Putin has restored a familiar Russian autocracy, and many who challenge him are killed or poisoned. Oil and gas exports have made Putin and Russian oligarchs wealthy and powerful.

Kudos to Germany, which at the Biden administration’s urging, stopped the approval process for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. How do we now counter Putin’s ambitions and avert this humanitarian disaster?

©️2022 Lancaster Speaks Up. All rights reserved.

This website is maintained by the founding members of Lancaster SPEAKS Up. All writing and art contained on this blog post represent the thoughts and opinions of its author only.