British Methodists (And Others) Take A Stand

photo © 2006 Brian | more info (via: Wylio)

Believe it or not, I actually pay attention to what's going on in the British Methodist Church.  That's because there are a couple of blogs, (Richard Hall's Connexions and Paul Martin's Turbulent Cleric) that I enjoy reading.  But it's been interesting as of late because of economic issues.  The British government is tightening its belt. They are cutting a lot of places and there are Christians in Britain who have been watching the cuts very closely, concerned that they were going to hurt the poor in society more than those with financial means.

The following is found on the Methodist Church site in Britain, posted on 11 November 2010 (highlights are mine):

Christian organisations have warned that the Government’s welfare proposals are based on a lack of understanding of the poor. They argue that constructive reforms are at risk of being lost under a wave of punitive measures and cost-cutting.

The Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland, the United Reformed Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, Housing Justice and Church Action on Poverty have welcomed plans for a simplified benefits system, but have raised concerns that the proposed reforms are based on inaccurate assumptions about the poor.

“There is a serious danger that people living in poverty will be stigmatised by government announcements that imply they are lazy or work-shy,” said Revd Alison Tomlin, President of the Methodist Conference. “The Government seems to assume that if people are forced into working they will comply and their lives will be made better. The poor we meet are seeking to better their lives in difficult circumstances. They are willing to work, but face difficulties in finding jobs, in meeting caring responsibilities and in living on the wages offered.”

“People who are long-term unemployed are already struggling to find work in a market place where there is increasing pressure on both the public and private sectors,” added Alison Gelder, Director of Housing Justice. “Some need help to develop the skills to find and keep a regular job. What they do not need are punitive measures such as the proposed cut in housing benefit by 10% after a year out of work. Most of all, they should not be forced to do manual labour in return for their benefits for just £1.73 an hour - £4.20 below the current adult minimum wage.”

The group argues that Government welfare policy needs to be based on a realistic assessment of those living in poverty and what they really need to get back into the work force. They are concerned that policy should not be based on a skewed figures and a misunderstanding of the poor.

Revd Graham Sparkes, Head of Faith and Unity for the Baptist Union of Great Britain said: “We meet people on a daily basis who are experiencing long term unemployment. Unemployment, especially in an area where there are few jobs available, damages a person’s self-confidence, health and ability to survive life’s knocks. The Government needs to understand what people in poverty need in order to return to work. It’s not good enough to just tell people to ‘pull their socks up’.”

Niall Cooper, National Coordinator of Church Action on Poverty, said “We ask that the government to talk to people in poverty and base their policies on combating the problems they face daily. Iain Duncan Smith should come to one of our listening events, where people struggling to make ends meet tell their stories. Simplistic solutions such as benefit cuts, telling people to get on a bus to find work, and enforced labour would face a harsh reality check.”

Some of this is getting fleshed out in Common Wealth: Christians for Economic & Social Justice, which has several Methodists as initial signatories.  Their document can be found HERE but I'll highlight a section of it below:

Christians in Britain today are called to take a stand. Faced with the biggest cuts to public spending for over a generation, it is not enough to retreat into the private ghetto of religious consolation.

As Christians, we are convinced that the actions of the current government are an unjustified attack on the poor. The rhetoric of necessary austerity and virtuous belt-tightening conceals a grim reality: the victimisation of people at the margins of society and the corrosion of community. Meanwhile, the false worship of markets continues unchecked and the immorality of the growing gap between rich and poor goes unquestioned.

We call on the churches to resist the cuts and stand in solidarity with those targeted. We urge them to join the forces fighting back against a distorted ideology. Above all, we commit ourselves not to give in to despair, fear and fatalism. Another world is possible, the world announced by Jesus in his teachings, embodied in the love he took to the cross, alive in the Spirit of his risen strength.

This is, I would argue, the church at its best; confronting power with the Word and a call to action.

You Poor Thing -- A Little Perspective On an Index Card

This is from the very often profound Indexed.  I am presently getting some perspective in my own life.

Anti-Bullying Post 3: My Experience as a Bully and Being Bullied

Image via WikipediaIn fairness to myself, I was never really a bully in my formative years. I was a good kid. I hung out with "the computer geeks" even though only one of us had a computer as I recall. My understanding of bullying is that it involves some amount of power on the part of the bully -- physical strength, intelligence, etc. In other words, it's not the activity of the powerless. I never really had much "power" or social cred in my school or groups.

However, a la Howard Gray, I could go along with a crowd. I remember who it was I never stood up for. It was a girl named Cindy. I had known Cindy for many years before we got to Jr. High. We had been in the same grade and so we knew each other. Cindy was obese. All through the years I knew her, she was obese. And I'm saying this as someone who was a big kid in school and remains big today.

But, Cindy was bigger. And, whereas, I could cover up my bigness with a big personality and some ability to play sports, Cindy, I don't think, had any of it. And she was the butt of many a joke. She was the punch line. She was the person people were laughing at. I still remember a couple of those jokes at this time, even though I have tried very hard to get them out of my head.  Even as I've been thinking about this today, it made me sad that I still remember how to join in and laugh along.  I feel shame because of that.

Cindy took a lot of abuse. Now, I don't know if it's really true but a friend of mine said he saw a talk show in the early 90s and Cindy was on it. She had lost a bunch of weight and had said that the incessant teasing she had received in elementary and Jr. High School left her with a lot of emotional issues that she would be fighting for years.  It is true that somehow Cindy was gone as we approached 9th grade.  She wasn't my friend and he absence was hardly noted by me or anyone that I was close to.

But, part of the damage that was done to her was mine. I laughed along. And I could have helped it stop.  But, maybe peer pressure...my own lack of self-worth...or really just the desire to have someone lower on the social totem pole than myself kept me from speaking up.

I find my participation in the wounding of Cindy rather disturbing because I was one who knew what it was like to be bullied. From 2nd grade to 5th I had a nemesis in Adam and by the time I was in Jr. High, my friends and I were the ones who would have their playground equipment taken by older kids. In 9th grade, I was picked on in a Graphic Arts class and thrown against a machine...basically because I was an easy target.  I was pretty strong, though and had more of an attitude than I let on in public.

So, I'm left to wonder... If I had known the pain of being picked on because I was a "geek", why in the world would could I have let the bullying of Cindy or others go. One would think I would be first in line to stop the bullying from happening.

But I didn't.

Maybe I can be first in line now.

Anti-Bullying Post 2: "Howard Gray"

I remember this song form a concert in seminary.  It informs how it is that we should treat each other and what happens when we go along with the crowd and let the bullying continue.

Anti-Bullying Post 1: "Christians Who are Silent are Complicit"

Image by trix0r via FlickrIt's been month now since Rutgers student Tyler Clementi commited suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.  It's a horrible account.  Tyler's roommate supposedly took a video of Tyler engaging in some homosexual act and posted it on the internet.  Now, I'm not sure if this has been proven, but the information is out there.
The following is found on AOL News.

The Rutgers University students charged with streaming a classmate's gay sexual encounter on the Internet prior to his suicide appear to be in hiding, refusing to defend themselves publicly even as criminal charges pile up and anger builds on their college campus and around the world.

Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, both 18, were charged earlier this week with two counts each of invasion of privacy for allegedly using a camera to view and transmit a live image of fellow 18-year-old Tyler Clementi "making out with a dude," according to Ravi's Twitter postings. Clementi was Ravi's roommate, and he killed himself on Sept. 22 by jumping off New York's George Washington Bridge after finding out about the Web video.

This has led to various responses of support for those in the LGBT community and a call to stop this kind of cyberbullying for all persons.

And, as Christians, we should care.  We should care because we have a Savior who loves us and loves those who are being bullied (and, indeed, the bully-ers).  And, frankly, if we don't stand up against the bullying that takes place in our midst then we are complicit in it.  It's our sin, then.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about this since the Tyler Clementi incident.  But I've always been big on combating bullying and people picking on others or stripping them of their power or humiliating them.   Just this past year I participated in the Special Olympics' "Spread the Word to End the Word" -- The campaign to stop the use of the word, "retard."

So, the church needs to stand up for those who are victims and love them with the love of Jesus.  Otherwise, we have a sin of omission on our hands.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. NO. -- New Monasticism and Me

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I can't help but wonder if my life would have been different if I had really been exposed to the "New Monasticism" at an earlier age--when I was young and carefree, when I didn't have kids.

It seems like my life, over the past few years, but really in the last 6 months, has been been bombarded by images of these new monastics in the world.  Well, I'm sure I haven't been bombarded, but that's kind of the way it feels.

In seminary, back in the early 90s I had a friend who, with his wife, purposely chose to live in a more dangerous, poorer section of the Durham area than a lot of us other students.  I don't think you'd say it was a slum, but it was clearly living in a rougher part of town.  And, even if I wasn't sure I had the guts (faithfulness) to do that myself, I admired this.  This, I thought, was really taking the call of Jesus seriously.

Then, of course, we had Shane Claiborne come to Girdwood Chapel this summer and I could sit and listen to him for days and never grow tired of it.  Here is someone who, living in community in Philadelphia is really initiating change in the roughest section of that city.  I was taken aback when Shane even offered for me and the whole family to come and live in community with them.

Recently, I've been sitting on a news story by the Religion News Service of an account of persons making a difference in Gresham, Oregon.  There is a "romantic" and "adventurous" feel to this account.  It all seems so simple, yet so very challenging.  The story is by Steven Beaven and includes the following:

In the two years since David Knepprath and Josh Guisinger moved into the rough-and-tumble Barberry Village complex, roughly a dozen young Christian men and women have made Barberry Village their home.

Their goal: Create a sense of community in a chaotic neighborhood overrun with drugs, prostitution and gangs.

Their work mirrors, in some ways, the "new monasticism" movement, in which Christians move into urban or rural areas to work with the poor.

It's not an easy way to live. Some neighbors have been suspicious. Safety is an ongoing concern. And some of these urban missionaries have burned out on a project that can be a 24-hour-a-day burden.

Yet they've been so successful that other complex owners have asked them to replicate their efforts. Congregations have volunteered their services. A woman from Virginia is moving to the Portland area so she can do similar work in another neighborhood.

With guidance from a nonprofit called Compassion Connect, they moved with friends into an apartment, putting two sets of bunk beds in one room and using the other two bedrooms as an office and a closet.

Still, they remained outsiders who could live in almost any neighborhood they chose. They had to strike a delicate balance; they didn't want to come on too strong and alienate their neighbors.

So while they were open about their Christianity, they didn't plunge into conversations about their faith. Nor did they move in acting as if they could solve the social ills at Barberry Village.

"We were very conscious of that," said Knepprath, who has since moved out but remains active in the ministry. "Our perspective from the start was that we're not here with all the solutions, or even thinking we know all the problems."
So they walked door to door, handing out chocolate-chip cookies. A letter explained their purpose and faith. They invited residents to the first community meal.

This fascinates me and I feel a calling to something like this, but I'm just not sure I'm up to it to this extent.  I'm not sure I'm that faithful yet.  In particular, I'm not sure I'm that faithful on behalf of my children.  What would moving into a setting like do for them.  I'm sure it's many positive things.  But when I try to reconcile the lack of neighborhood amenities or the safety of the area or the ability to be with my "usual" friends.

So I say, yes, yes, yes, and finally a no to monastic living.

But, all is not lost here.  I think I'm left with the challenge of trying to interpret this new monastic living with the church structure I'm already in.  I might not be living among the poorest of the poor in our area, but how can the church do that?  How can it give up some of its status and make a home among the poor and forgotten.

Also, on of the things I really like here is the assumption that this all takes some time.  Evangelism, at heart, is about building relationships over time and working, systematically, to alleviate the problems of a neighborhood or community.  Whether that's the family in apartment next to a new monastic order or if it's a community half-way around the world, the church can still reach out in concern and service to those around it.

I don't think I'll ever find myself in a "new monastic" community.  But I can still learn from them and try to be a monastic in my own community...even here up in Alaska.

Discussing Poverty This Week

Thanks to my friend Elischa for the video.

I Want to be a Giant Killer

Image via Wikipedia

Let's see.  Two weeks ago we introduced our "Good Samaritan" theme to the congregation and told them that we're going to be addressing the plight of some of the world's most needy people.  This was not going to be small task.  These were going to be big issues.  A week ago we talked openly and honestly about AIDS and pandemic disease.  We threw out facts and figures with the hopes that persons in the congregation would get a sense of just how many people are dying of diseases that we can actually do something about.  Yesterday we dove head first into issues of justice, highlighting the growing world slave trade, including sex trafficking.  As I look to next week, I'm excited to be looking at poverty.  That's something that hits a little closer to home for our folks and for me as well.  Here is something that we've actually seen in some of its forms...a more familiar enemy.

These are big issues.

These are bad issues.

These are issues that are clearly not what God wants for the world.

However, their size and their scope can make us feel so very small.  In fact, I think the issues are so big that we have this natural flight response that makes us want to run away from them as fast as we can so that we can deal about those issues which are more personal to our own situations.  Give us something smaller.  How about talking about trying to be Godly spouses or our need to read the Bible more frequently?  Tell us some nice stories of Jesus and the coming Kingdom of God.  When's Christmas?  At least these are issues we feel like we can do something about.


But next week I'll be in that pulpit with sermon in hand and I will try with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength to have our congregation get passionate about the poverty issue that face so many of the people in the world and so many people in our own country and, really, so many persons in our own community as well.  And I'm not sure where we'll be at the end of the hour (or hour plus).  Will anyone be moved?  Will anyone have their eyes opened to little things that can be done in our own backyard?  Will lives be changed?  Will a new generation of advocates rise up? 

Or will everyone get a glimpse of the size of the issue at hand and run the other way?

(Sigh.)

One of my favorite prayers is the prayer of a fisherman that I had heard years ago.  It says:

"Dear Lord, the sea is so wide and my boat is so small."

That gets at some of what I feel as these issues are addressed.

From Scripture we also get the account of David and the giant, Goliath.  It's in 1 Samuel 17 and the Wikipedia account of the battle goes like this:

Saul and the Israelites are facing the Philistines at the Valley of Elah. Twice a day for forty days, Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, comes out between the lines and challenges the Israelites to send out a champion of their own to decide the outcome in single combat. However, Saul and all the other Israelites are afraid of him. By chance, David is present, having brought food for his elder brothers. Told that Saul has promised to reward any man who defeats Goliath, David accepts the challenge. Saul reluctantly agrees and offers his armor, which David declines, taking only his sling and five stones chosen in a brook.

David and Goliath confront each other, Goliath with his armor and shield, David with his staff and sling. “The Philistine cursed David by his gods,” but David replies: “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that God saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is God’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

David hurls his sling with all his might, and hits Goliath in the center of his forehead. The Philistine falls on his face to the ground, David takes Goliath’s sword and cuts off his head. The Philistines flee and are pursued by the Israelites “as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron.” 

We're facing some giants on these Sundays. These are big beasts.  Our ammunition seems so puny in comparison.  I mean, how are we to do battle against AIDS, and injustice, and slavery, and hunger, and poverty, and all the damage that's been done to our earth?  How are we to deal with these big issues that have a way of making us feel, rightfully, so small and insignificant?  What could we possibly bring to the fight?  Here we are, waging battle, and we have a sermon and a video and a Sunday School class, and a take-home devotional.  Can anyone take us seriously in this fight?

We need to remember as we do all of this that David didn't have much either.  He was just a kid who was pretty good with a sling shot and had the faith of God that he'd be victorious.  He just found a few good stones right as he goes off to the fight.

Says David right before the battle:  "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied."  (1 Samuel 17)

And we know of that turned out...for both David and that menacing giant that he faced.

So, next week, once again we'll gather and we'll hand our our little stones...small changes in life, ways to get involved, bits of information to spread the news about the issues at hand so that we can better know our enemy.  Together we'll fling these with all the faith and strength we can muster...praying that we hit our enemy right where it hurts...and that we win through the grace of our God.

And, when all is said in done, perhaps we will be giant killers and the world will see the glory of our Lord. 

It's something I pray for.

A "Jesus-Shaped Way" of Looking At Immigration

Cover via Amazon

Michael Spencer, the aforementioned Internet Monk, wrote a book called, Mere Churchianity:  Finding Your Way Back to Jesus-Shaped Spirituality before he passed away this Spring.  His conversations are still continuing over at the Internet Monk website and I've been reading them, lurking on the site, for the last month or so.  It's good stuff.  I particularly liked the following post from Damaris Zehner, who takes a quote from Spencer's book and ask readers what to do with it in the real world.  The results in the comments were amazing.

Here’s a simple example.  Think about yourself if you had just spent three years with Jesus.  How would you treat illegal immigrants?  For vast numbers of typical American Christians, their immediate instincts are to either argue a political position or look for a way to end the conversation.  . . . Some of [their] answers could be better, and some could be a lot worse, but it’s the process of how we consider the issues that matters to me.  (Mere Churchianity, p. 51.)

What if Jesus were standing right next to us when we had to say something about a controversial topic?  Because he is, of course, and as Christians we should try to speak with his voice.

Here’s your challenge.  Write about the issue of illegal immigration and illegal immigrants from the point of view of Jesus.  You’ve spent years with him; what would he say or do about the issue? 

Don’t offer political or social commentary, don’t quote any pundits or talk-show hosts, and most importantly don’t start anything with, “Well, I think . . .”  The exercise here is getting away from our own immediate opinions and trying to think as the Son of God would think.  Don’t worry about whether your answer is or isn’t politically viable or likely to happen.  Jesus didn’t, even though he knew where his words and actions would lead him.

You will probably need to do a little Bible study, but I don’t want a flurry of proof texts.  Consider the issue with these guidelines in mind:

• What does Jesus think about laws?  About just or unjust laws?
• What does Jesus think our attitude and behavior toward laws ought to be, just and unjust?
• How does Jesus treat people such as illegal immigrants?
• How does Jesus treat people with the authority to enforce laws?

It would be good if people from other countries answered, too.  Illegal immigration is an issue everywhere, but again, I don’t want a particular country’s attitude toward the topic, I want thoughtful exploration of Jesus’ will.

One more rule — Treat others’ comments kindly, even if they differ from yours.  Although we are trying to be like Jesus, we aren’t Jesus.  Humility is the order of the day.

So iMonks, sharpen your quills, defrost your ink, weigh down the corners of your parchment, and begin!

Now, this seems to bear some resemblance to the old (and new), "What Would Jesus Do?" ethics of Charles Sheldon's book, In His Steps.  But I want to say it adds an interesting twist.  It's not so much a matter of what Jesus would do as what one would do if you had spent time following along with Jesus as his disciple.   So, it's less, "What Would Jesus Do?" and more "What Would a Disciple Do?" or "What would someone who had been shaped by Jesus do?"  I think this does two things.  First, it doesn't make our historical Jesus anachronistic...placing him out of time in our world which I think can be unhelpful at times.  Secondly, it asks us to look more holistically at the problem at hand.  For instance, it's not just "How would Jesus treat illegal immigrants?"  It asks about how Jesus viewed laws and behavior and asks what are the biblical references where Jesus acts in particular ways with persons who are similar in situation to illegal immigrants.  In other words how can our discussion of illegal immigration be shaped by how Jesus treated those who were:

• foreigners
• poor and oppressed
• accused of being criminals
• etc.
  

While I don't think this in an exercise that would work for everything, I think this could be helpful as we discussed some of the larger and more divisive issues in our society...such as illegal immigration.  Too often, even as Christians, our discussions get quite far away from Jesus as we argue about the politics, the economics, the social implications in today's world.


The exercise led to some interesting discussion and reflection.  I thought the following was very cool and stopped me in my tracks.  It's a response by someone called "EK" in the comments section.

First, he takes John 8:1-11 and basically changes some of the biblical text and inserts words and phrases related to immigration.  Enjoy.

Later some immigration agents bring an immigrants who had been caught working illegally. The agents say to Jesus, “The law of our land says we must kick this guy out of our country. What do you say?” They said this to trap him.

Jesus began texting. So they asked him again. Jesus put his phone down and said, “If any of you have never broken the law, please escort this man away.”

Slowly the agents walked away.

“Where are they? Did no one condemn you?” Jesus asked.

“No, sir”

“Then neither do I condemn you. Now go, leave your illegal life.”

Secondly, he uses several biblical sources to come up with this.

Jesus would attend a political anti-immigration rally, and then turn to the crowd and say:

‘You hypocrites! Don’t you know that your ancestors came on this land, taking it forcefully from the Natives? You are like a man who looks in a mirror and then goes away and forgets what he looks like.

You hypocrites! You pay low wages and employ these people to keep your high and lofty lifestyle, and then blame the workers for being here. You use them, and then deny them their rights! Remember that what you do to the least of these, you do to me.

Let that be a warning, before it’s too late”

What I think would be interesting would be to ask whether we can take Jesus' words and sentiments to shape a harsher immigration policy that some, Christian and non-Christian, are calling for.  I don't think that would be as easy to do.  Sure we can come up with political, economic, and social reasons for more stringent immigration policies.  I'm not sure what the "Jesus reasons" would be.

"I Have a Dream" -- Anniversary of the Speech

You may have heard that there's another speech going on at the Lincoln Memorial today. 

Perhaps it's a good day to remember this one.

A Wallet: Recycled, Animal Friendly, Fair Trade, Kiva-supporting AND...

...made from recycled plastic bags and newspapers collected from the streets of Delhi.

This is from HOLSTEE.


According to their site, this is how and why they made it:

When it came time to buy a new wallet, we couldn't find what we were looking for so we designed our own...

The slim wallet design holds the essentials - cash, credit cards and even has a sliding window for your ID and Metro card.

Working with a family-run non-profit based in India that works to collect and recycle litter off the streets of Delhi we were able to create our dream wallet. This vegan wallet is made primarily of plastic bags and newspapers, collected off the Streets of Delhi in India. Production of this wallet helps reduce waste in Delhi, provides fair wage employment and subsidizes healthcare and education for each employee's family.

Our packing is a minimal slide insert made of (at least) 90% recycled material.

I'm wondering what it will be like buying your new clothes or the latte or the stereo equipment when you pull your money out of something that a third world family collected from the streets.


Perspective.


$25


Would be cool.

The Beatles' "Blackbird" And the Civil Rights Movement

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From a sermon I heard this morning at Brentwood UMC in Nashville.

The Beatles' song "Blackbird" was a song from The White Album that was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, noting that NOW was the time for the African Americans to rise up and receive justice and equality.  It sprung out of all the racial unrest in 1968 that Paul McCartney was seeing unfold.  The pastor this AM said her recently saw McCartney in concert and this story was told.

I had never heard it before, but it makes perfect sense when looking at the Lyrics:

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Black bird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
all your life
you were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Here's a version of the song on YouTube





VERY COOL

William Wilberforce, Before the House of Commons 18 April 1791

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Great words from a great man against the great injustice of slavery.

Let us not despair; it is a blessed cause, and success, ere long, will crown our exertions. Already we have gained one victory; we have obtained, for these poor creatures, the recognition of their human nature, which, for a while was most shamefully denied. This is the first fruits of our efforts; let us persevere and our triumph will be complete. Never, never will we desist till we have wiped away this scandal from the Christian name, released ourselves from the load of guilt, under which we at present labour, and extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic, of which our posterity, looking back to the history of these enlightened times, will scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonour to this country.

William Wilberforce,
speech before the House of Commons, 18 April 1791

From "Living Water From an Ancient Well"

Learning About Grace from Shirley Sherrod

The Atlanta Journal Constitution wrote an article about Shirley Sherrod.  Ms. Sherrod is the FORMER Agricultural Department official who was forced to resign (by Blackberry, no less) after comments she had made about race to an NAACP Audience, last March, I believe.


What started the hoopla was two minute, edited version of an over 40 minute speech.  You can see Andrew Breitbart's edited version here:

You can see the whole thing here:

I don't want to fight against a caricature of Ms. Sherrod or lift her up as a saint.  I'd have trouble hearing some of her words out of context.  Partly, it's just the way I speak. And, frankly, it's not the way I listen.

What I find interesting is what was talked about after it all "hit the fan" over the past week or so.  You see, in 1965 Shirley's understanding of race was shaped in a way that was sure to have an effect on her and her ability to help poor persons regardless of race. 

That year, 1965, her father was shot and killed by a white man in a dispute over cows, the family says.

That year, she was one of the first black students to integrate the high school in Baker County in rural southwest Georgia.

That year, she decided to become involved in the civil rights movement in that area of the state.

And in later years, like some of the farmers she helped when she worked for a non-profit, Sherrod and her husband lost a group farm to bankruptcy.

Now the former Georgia director of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture is fending off allegations that she is racist because of something she said during a speech before the NAACP last spring. It was a few sentences in a story she told about an epiphany that changed her way of thinking two dozen years ago; the problems of farmers were not defined as black vs. white but “poor vs. those who have.”

How did the shooting happen that had affected her so greatly?

Sherrod’s father, Hosie Miller, had a dispute with a man over cows that had come into his pasture. The neighbor insisted that three of Miller’s cows were his. Miller said he would call the “law” to settle the dispute. As Hosie Miller was closing the gate, he was shot in the back, the family says.

Grace Miller said that the neighbor was not held accountable.

I think we can learn about grace here from Shirley Sherrod...not only in how she's handled the mess of her firing.  I think we can learn that we can change.  I think we can learn to fight FOR those who we might be tempted to fight AGAINST.  I think we can work for justice even though we've been wounded along the way. 


I can't say I know what she's feeling.  I can't say I understand the plight of black persons in America.  I can't say that race-talk makes me feel particularly comfortable even if I think it's necessary.  But I can say that I'm impressed that someone who was so wounded by her history can reach out beyond it to help the poor no matter what their color.

There's a lesson in grace here...

and probably a lesson in media as well.

What Can Be Bad About Social Justice

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Here is a comment from Tim Challie's Blog

"There is a time and a place for humanitarian work, no doubt. Christians can have great ministries serving the poor and the oppressed and in so doing can have remarkable opportunities to share the gospel. And yet still the history of Christianity shows that when Christians do this, the gospel quickly becomes secondary and the work itself becomes the gospel. I still see the Bible primarily emphasizing charity given to other believers; when I look at Acts and the epistles, this is what I see most—Christians helping other Christians as a sign of love and fraternity. Now of course there will be some who engage in humanitarian work outside the context of the local church, but it seems to me that the closer we come to making this a necessary part of the Christian mission, the more likely we are to see the gospel diminish.”

I'm inclined to disagree because I'm not sure if you can separate humanitarian work from the Christian mission.

Social Justice and Moral Language (with Glenn Beck & Stanley Hauerwas)

(Just a note from me:  I confess that this post has a little more theological and philosophical depth than I'm used to and I might be in over my congested head.  After finishing it, I feel a great need to post a funny music video or something.)


I'm sure there are two persons out there who are less likely to appear together in a blog post...but I can't think of them right now.

On one side, we have Glenn Beck -- conservative news show host, a pundit, tea party fan, and Fox News poster boy.  On the other side we have Stanley Hauerwas -- potty-mouthed Christian ethicist known for some politically explosive commentary which doesn't really fit in with conservatives (or liberals for that matter).  I've watched Beck on TV and I've listened to Hauerwas in ethics class.  I can't see them sitting down for one of Obama's "beer summits."

Regardless, John Schmalzbauer, a sociologist of religion over at Missouri State University brings the two of them together in an article that caught my attention and I've been sitting on it for a while.  It appears in the Duke Divinity Call and Response blog on Faith and Leadership.  The article, itself, is full of links to his references and I encourage you to check it out. 

The article was written shortly after Glenn Beck famously told his radio show listeners to run from those churches who preach "social justice."  ABC News has a pretty good summary (you can find lots of summaries out there):

On his radio and television shows, Beck suggested any church promoting "social justice" or "economic justice" merely was using code words for Nazism and communism.

"I beg you look for the words social justice or economic justice on your church Web site," he said. "If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. ... Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! If they're going to Jeremiah Wright's church, yes!

"If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish," he said. "Go alert your bishop and tell them, 'Excuse me, are you down with this whole social justice thing?' If it's my church, I'm alerting the church authorities: 'Excuse me, what's this social justice thing?' And if they say, 'Yeah, we're all in on this social justice thing,' I am in the wrong place."

Later, Beck held up a picture of a swastika and one of a hammer and sickle, declaring again that "social justice" has the same philosophy as the Nazis and communists and that the phrase is a code word for both.

Now, when this first came out, I, along with many other Mainline Protestants or Catholics were taken aback....because we're part of churches that preach "social justice."  We use that terminology.  In fact, as Girdwood Chapel strives to fulfill its mission of "Love God. Love Others. Change the World." we strive to act with justice.  And a lot of Scripture seems to come to our defense here....not least of all Micah 6:8: "He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?   To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

However, Schmalzbauer claims that both of these figures, Beck and Hauerwas, can help us be more cautious about how we use the words "Social Justice" in our churches.  Years ago, in his book After Christendom, Hauerwas posits that the notion of justice, itself, is a bad idea because we've let the world define that word for us.  The church shouldn't be in the business of making the world more just.  The church should be in the business of being the church and keeping the world, well, the world.  In other words, the lines between church and world have gotten so muddy that we really need to focus on reclaiming who it is that we are.  Yet, in still OTHER words, when we talk of "justice" we need to be careful what it is that we're talking about because we may just be pushing the world's agenda, doing th world's work.

And, perhaps, Glenn Beck is really opposed to a particular understanding of justice...an understanding that presupposes a liberal church relying upon a government to do their charity work.  He's not opposed to helping people.   He's opposed to "social justice" if it means the government co-opting the church's role in society.

I'll let Schmalzbauer close us out here with what I think are his strongest points:

Concerning Hauerwas and his understanding of Justice:

Unlike Mr. Beck, Hauerwas thinks that “freedom” and “Christian America" are bad ideas. Like his interrogation of the J-word, his critique of these notions is rooted in the conviction that the Enlightenment assumptions of the modern state have corrupted Christian thinking. Like the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, he has challenged the provenance of such taken-for-granted concepts, questioning the influence of Kantian philosophy on contemporary ideas of justice. From this perspective, the key questions are, “Whose justice? Which rationality?” 

A little history on the use of the phrase across the political and social spectrum:

.

Since the nineteenth-century, social justice has meant different things to different people. Coined by the Italian Jesuit Luigi Taparelli d’Azeglio, it has been embraced by such diverse figures as Pope John  XIII, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Mother Teresa.  On occasion, it has been co-opted by bigots, including Father Charles E. Coughlin, a notorious anti-Semite. 

And a his final, final word:

As religious leaders rise to defend social justice, they should take care to explain what they mean.

Now I'm left to ponder what I mean when I use the phrase "social justice."  How can it all be a matter of the church just being the church, trying to follow in the example of Jesus?  One way to sneak around this, I think, is to truly focus energy on the local issues, that which the church can affect with their hands and feet.  In other words, making sure things such as the Health Bill famously passed this year is secondary to the work of the local church dealing with the plight of the poor and sick in their own neighborhoods.

Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House, said "All politics is local."  And while I wouldn't want to downplay the work of the church with struggling persons across the world, perhaps "All religion is local" as well.  Or, maybe just most of us.

Homelessness. Poverty. The ideas keep coming.

Funny how so much of my online thinking has revolved around these social issues as of late.  While I'll say that it's God who is leading my thoughts in these directions, there is something that's going on that's shaping what's going on in my head and heart.  A lot of it is cerebral.  I wonder how it's going to be manifested "on the ground."



The latest comes to me by way of United Methodist Communications, in a post called "5 Ideas for Holistic Ministry With the Homeless."  I particularly like #5 "GAP ministry" -- (Getting at a Problem).  It makes me look at our own food pantry and how it can be a band-aid without actually fixing the problem.  



Again, this is from United Methodist Communications.  They have some good stuff there. 

SUMMARY: You’ve probably heard the adage “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”
Food pantries and clothing closets offer a quick fix and a simple, temporary solution to some of the problems homeless people face. However, the problem of homelessness is usually deeper than a meal or a change of clothes. What if your church could empower homeless people to regain a sense of identity, purpose and worth? 

Below are five ideas to get your church thinking about a holistic ministry approach with the homeless.

1. Provide a place of grace. Shelters are available in the evenings, but clients must leave early in the morning. In many states, police can arrest homeless people for loitering in parks or around buildings. Where are the homeless supposed to go during the day? Set up a room where people can gather for a couple of hours each day. Have a phone available for local calls. Gather volunteers to serve as hosts and friends to visitors. They might also assist in connecting people with agencies and medical care.

2. Encourage good hygiene. Solicit donations of sample-size toiletry items and make hygiene kits. Inside a zip-close bag, place a washcloth, a comb, deodorant, a bar of soap, shampoo, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Some churches may offer shower facilities as well as restrooms. Set specific days and times in which the bags and the facilities are available.

3. Develop a job-training program. Persons released from an inpatient 12-step program or from prison often lack the skills or developed work ethic to be employable. Seek ways in which your church could employ someone while teaching them a marketable skill or trade. Job possibilities might include custodial work, grounds keeping, vehicle maintenance, painting or working in the church kitchen.

4. Offer a place for learning. Some homeless people still have a steady stream of income but no money-management skills. Offer one-on-one money-management and banking classes. Establish a place where people can receive help with job applications and learn interviewing skills. Consider cooperating with an alcohol- and/or drug-rehabilitation center to sponsor people who wish to receive treatment but cannot afford it. Teach people to read and write.

5. Develop a GAP (Getting At the Problem) ministry. Get to the problem that is the source of the other problems. Maybe people cannot work because they don’t have childcare. Provide childcare for the family. Is transportation an obstacle? Work with your local bus company to purchase low-cost bus tickets for people to get back and forth from work. People may be intermittently homeless because they don’t know how to manage their money. Be the teacher who helps someone learn budgeting and priority spending. People who struggle with mental illness may need someone to help contact physicians, schedule appointments and get the medication they need. How can your church fill in the GAP?

What else can your church do? Look around, listen carefully and talk to those who are homeless. See where the needs of the community and the gifts of your church intersect!

Changing the Immigration Discussion

The following is a quote from M. Daniel Carroll R. and is from my sermon for 16 May 2010.

If one begins with a biblical orientation that includes the centrality of the importance of the immigrant as made in the image of God, if one can appreciate how pervasive migration experiences are to the history and faith of the people of God, if Old Testament law projects an ethics of compassion, if the thrust of Jesus’ ministry and the New Testament as a whole is to love the outsider and be hospitable, then the inclination is to be gracious to the immigrant in the name of God and Christ.  This inclination, in turn, will affect how one assesses present legislation and ponders where things should go from here at a personal level, in the local and national church and other Christian spheres, and finally within the country at every level of government. (Christians at the Border:  Immigration, the Church, and the Bible, 131-132).

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I'm a Sucker for a Good Ad

Even better when the ad is for a good cause...

The Final Judgment -- Matthew 25:31-46

"The Final Judgment" -- That's how the New Living Translation titles this section of Matthew.  Should we be concerned that, contrary to an assent to a creed or doctrine, our place in heaven or hell seems to be determined (here) by how we treated others?  I think we probably should.

The Final Judgment

 ³¹ “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
 ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. ³⁶ I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
 ³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
 ⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
 ⁴¹ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.  ⁴² For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
 ⁴⁴ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
 ⁴⁵ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
 ⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

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