tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13818893364656845052024-02-07T12:48:01.437-05:00OnFire: the young united methodist justice movementUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger182125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-68754796257053780192013-07-05T08:34:00.006-04:002013-07-05T08:34:48.586-04:00Healthy Families, Healthy Planet Advocacy TrainingBecome an advocate for maternal health- Apply for the Healthy Families, Healthy Planet Advocacy Training!<br />
<br />
The Healthy Families, Healthy Planet project is excited to announce that
it will sponsor its fourth Ambassador Advocacy Training this fall to
engage and empower people of faith from across the United States to
respond to the global tragedy of maternal mortality and the unmet need
for family planning. The training will be held in Washington, D.C., from
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2084830868" tabindex="0">October 27th-30th</span>.<br />
<br />
Participants will learn about global maternal health, train in effective
grassroots advocacy, design action plans for at-home advocacy, and meet
with their elected officials to advocate for increased funding for
international family planning programs.<br />
<br />
We’re looking for passionate people of faith who reside in the
continental United States to apply. Those interested can apply for the
training <a href="http://umchealthyfamilies.org/take-action/become-an-ambassador">here</a>. The Healthy Families, Healthy Planet project will cover travel, lodging, and food costs for all participants.<br />
<br />
To learn more about our training we invite potential applicants to attend an informational <a href="http://action.umc-gbcs.org/o/50192/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=72414">webinar</a> on <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2084830869" tabindex="0">July 9th</span>.<br />
<br />
Applications are due by <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2084830870" tabindex="0">July 15th</span>. For more information visit the Healthy Families, Healthy Planet <a href="https://mail.umc-gbcs.org/owa/www.umchealthyfamilies.org">website</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-12513110560746598312013-05-03T21:24:00.002-04:002013-05-06T13:54:13.278-04:00You’re right President Obama, it’s time to close Guantanamo<i>by T.C. Morrow</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;">Last Friday I
stood in an orange jumpsuit and black hood, carrying a sign with the
name of a detainee who had died at Guantanamo. It was only for an
hour, but a profound hour to think about the men that are being held
in our name.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBg-JVJBp36Zv3mrn-Cmcw5d4Pjpnu27RfiUVIIE_9mKCxxcgMxmrA9qqE7Cz5whz4_xmyypuSLfvxkhmfjLUIzS4SGF-Wj4biq1Xnxoohnxtc5tXWAsR3EgdWZW-sFsv08hP-8iMpGDPy/s1600/IMG_6691-M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBg-JVJBp36Zv3mrn-Cmcw5d4Pjpnu27RfiUVIIE_9mKCxxcgMxmrA9qqE7Cz5whz4_xmyypuSLfvxkhmfjLUIzS4SGF-Wj4biq1Xnxoohnxtc5tXWAsR3EgdWZW-sFsv08hP-8iMpGDPy/s320/IMG_6691-M.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Photo by <a href="http://photobyted.smugmug.com/CloseGuantanomo/Vigil-at-White-House-to/29112515_b4B3ct#!i=2478571549&k=j2rgNWc">Ted Majdosz</a></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;">This Friday I
again joined a Close Guantanamo vigil over the lunch hour in
Washington, DC. Between the two Fridays, during a press conference
on Tuesday, April 30, President Obama restated his belief in the need
to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;">I appreciate
President Obama responding to a question about the hunger strike at
Guantanamo that started in February and now reportedly includes 100
of the 166 detainees. It is a hunger strike born of the desperation
of men being held in indefinite detention, 86 of whom have been
cleared for transfer but Congress has put up roadblocks for the
transfers. While I appreciate President Obama’s recommitment,
which he had stated during last year’s campaign as well, I am
waiting to see words turn into action. The President has blamed
Congress for the roadblocks, but he signed the bills into law and has
not used the powers the Administration has to certify individuals for
transfer.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;">I have no doubt
that a number of the men held at Guantanamo are guilty of war crimes
and should be tried, but how long are we going to embarrass ourselves
and not transfer men who have been cleared for transfer? Every day
that the detention center stays open is another day of reminder of
the sins of torture that have taken place there.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;">So as tourists
walked by snapping pictures of the White House, I was present in
vigils to let President Obama know that we support his desire to see
Guantanamo closed and encourage action to back up his words. I was
with fellow colleagues with the National Religious Campaign Against
Torture (NRCAT), members of Witness Against Torture, Torture
Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, Maryknoll Office for
Global Concerns, and more. On April 26, we were joined by Col. Morris
Davis (ret.), former Chief Prosecutor of the Guantanamo military
commissions. Col. Davis launched a </span><a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-close-detention-facility-at-guantanamo-bay">Change.org
petition</a><span style="color: black;"> this week that now has over
125,000 signatures.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;">Later on Tuesday
after the President’s remarks in the press conference, 38 religious
leaders released a public </span><a href="http://www.nrcat.org/about-us/nrcat-press-releases/754-religious-leaders-call-on-president-to-act-expeditiously-on-renewed-commitment-to-close-guantanamo">letter</a><span style="color: black;">
sent to the President and all members of Congress, describing the
desperate situation at Guantanamo and calling on President Obama and
Congress to back the President’s words with action by expeditiously
moving to close the Guantanamo detention center. My colleague Laura
Markle Downton read the letter, coordinated by NRCAT, at the vigil
this Friday. I shared the following prayer. It is not the lament
that has been just on the edge of my mind and unable to get into full
sentences, but I offer it for your prayer and reflection:</span></div>
<br />
<blockquote>
<span style="color: black;">God
of the open spaces like this plaza and God of the closed cells like
at Guantanamo, we give thanks that you have created each person in
your image, each person with dignity and worth.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">We
pray that you may help all people remember that each and every person
is your beloved child.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">When
we fall short and do ill to each other, lift us up and let your
justice reign.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">On
this day, here in front of the White House, a symbol of hope and
freedom, we gather to call for the closure of the detention center at
Guantanamo Bay, a symbol of torture and shame.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black;">We
gather in solidarity with those desperate enough to go on hunger
strike to make their voices heard. May they know that many voices
have lifted up for an end to indefinite detention and closure of
Guantanmo.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in;">
</div>
<span style="color: black;">We
pray for President Obama, for strength of conviction and action to
close Guantanamo. We pray for others in our government to undue this
stain on our country. We pray for the guards and medical staff at
Guantanamo, we pray for the detainees, especially those who have been
cleared for transfer and languish in the unknown. We pray for the
American people and we pray for ourselves, that we may not give in to
fear – that through your help O God, we can see a closure of the
Guantanamo detention facility.</span><br />
<br /></blockquote>
<span style="color: black;">Amen.</span><br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: black;">T.C. Morrow is
Director of Finance & Operations for the <a href="http://www.nrcat.org/">National ReligiousCampaign Against Torture</a> and a member of </span><a href="http://www.foundryumc.org/">Foundry UMC</a> in
Washington, DC.</i><br />
<i>
</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-63990392190503260232013-05-01T16:26:00.001-04:002013-05-01T16:28:02.373-04:00The Promised Land: The Mountaintop for Immigration Reform<em>by Mistead Sai</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Guide my feet while I
run this race, (yes, my Lord!)<br />Guide my feet while I run this
race, (yes, my Lord!)<br />Guide my feet while I run this race,<br />For
I don't want to run this race in vain! (race in vain!)</i></div>
<div align="RIGHT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>-African-American
Spiritual</i></div>
<br />
On April 4, 1968,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed by a shot from a sniper’s
bullet while he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis, Tennessee. He was 39 years old. This past April, we
commemorated the 45<sup>th</sup> year since the assassination of
Martin Luther King, Jr. who will always be in history books for years
to come for the hand he had in the civil rights movement. It’s hard
to even think of the civil rights movement without Martin Luther
King, Jr.<br />
<br />
MLK had traveled to
Memphis, Tennessee to support the striking of African-American
sanitation workers. The workers had participated in a walkout earlier
in February to protest the unfair wages and working conditions they
experienced at their workplace. He had spoken the day prior to his
death to a gathering at the Masonic Temple known as the speech, “I’ve
Been to the Mountaintop.”<br />
<br />
Excerpt: “<i>And
then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats... or talk
about the threats that were out……….. But I'm not concerned
about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to
go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've </i><i>seen</i><i>
the Promised Land.”</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixfwGLxRJU8"><i>Listen
to this powerfully captivating speech of “I’ve Been to the
Mountaintop” here!</i></a><br />
<br />
Despite receiving
bomb threats against his plane before got to Memphis, he understood
the work of God in his life and his life’s mission to bring the
Promised Land to all people. He understood the need to support
workers, the need for righteousness in the face of injustice. He
understood the need for economic justice for the plight of
African-American workers.<br />
<br />
Has things changed
in these times? No!<br />
<br />
I can draw a lot of
parallels between the Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech concerning
the Memphis Sanitation Strike and the undocumented immigrant in this
highly-political climate with the event that happened a couple weeks
ago, and the struggle of the undocumented immigrants.<br />
<br />
Today, the
undocumented immigrant has experienced abuse from their unscrupulous
employer who steals their wages (wage theft), exposes them to
hazardous working conditions, and intimidates them with threats of
calling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they complain, or
try to organize other themselves.<br />
<br />
What kind of life
is it to work in a low-wage job providing essential labor such as
farming and having to live in the shadows in constant fear?
<br />
<br />
Moreover, similarly
as Martin Luther King, Jr. received a bomb threat, we witnessed the
tragic Boston bombings and some lawmakers have cited the Boston
bombing as example if Congress carries immigration reform too far.
They want to use the incident to heighten enforcement and deny
citizenship for the estimated eleven million undocumented immigrants
in this country. It has revitalized a certain xenophobia and anxiety
in America.<br />
<br />
MLK did not let the
bomb threat affect his vision, but he stood the course, and we should
not let the bomb threat prevent us from seeing the vision either.<br />
<br />
We should not allow
politicians to use the Boston bombing as a ploy to inhibit
immigration reform from happening. We are too close now to let
immigration reform fall right under us…..I have seen the Promised
Land
<br />
<br />
Let’s stay the
course my brothers and sisters and not derail from our work on
immigration reform. I mourn for the folks that were injured or killed
in the Boston bombing, but I stand with a much heavier heart seeking
the Beloved Community that MLK speaks of in light of this travesty.<br />
<br />
We must commit
ourselves to the Beloved Community of MLK. Martin Luther King, Jr.
understood and saw the Promised Land for Civil Rights, and now we see
the Promised Land for Immigration Reform where all of our immigrant
brothers and sisters are respected and their dignity is acknowledged.
<br />
<br />
Let’s stay
the course……<br />
<br />
Today on May Day
(International Workers’ Day), I will walk through the city streets
where the Haymarket massacre occurred in Chicago with my co-workers
at Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) to protest for immigration reform
for immigrant workers seeking full citizenship and be ensured of
their workers’ rights.<br />
<br />
I have seen the
Promised Land. My eyes have seen the Promised Land and I know that we
can get there together!<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<em>Mistead Sai is a
US-2 missionary for the United Methodist through the General Board of
Global ministries. Mistead Said serves at Interfaith Worker Justice
(IWJ) as their Worker Center Network Assistant providing support to
worker center affiliates nationwide. Mistead received a Bachelor of
Arts in Sociology at the University of Maryland. He enjoys
intellectual conservations, likes documentaries, and has taken a
liking to investigate issues surrounding environmental racism,
biopolitics, and identity politics in the past recent months.</em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-78725109767140046272013-04-22T14:27:00.000-04:002013-04-22T14:38:39.457-04:00Women: At the Center of a Sustainable World<i>by Beka Olsen</i><br />
<br />
<i>Crossposted on the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beka-olson/earth-day-women-mothers-daughters_b_3133035.html">Huffington Post</a> </i><br />
<br />
Last February, I had a daughter. It changed the way I view the world entirely, in ways I’d never expected. Suddenly, I spend a lot more time thinking about the world in which my daughter will grow up, and what I’d like that world to look like. This Earth Day, I’m also thinking about how women – like the one my daughter will grow up to be – can change the face of the world.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXLPaDhwbR8B-ZO-5l6JVi-BHa0jHR6ldqdiau40Xegf2NoGUlDLegV7o9hXD4wCjmhvU-ckdDdZq4WnSjvdPbalpmtxt69qlb9VJ2xQ804ld_7-cTSNq1foPeXO1Bjt8DVzw4bBjLBlQ/s1600/Beka+Olson+and+daughter+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuXLPaDhwbR8B-ZO-5l6JVi-BHa0jHR6ldqdiau40Xegf2NoGUlDLegV7o9hXD4wCjmhvU-ckdDdZq4WnSjvdPbalpmtxt69qlb9VJ2xQ804ld_7-cTSNq1foPeXO1Bjt8DVzw4bBjLBlQ/s320/Beka+Olson+and+daughter+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
My viewpoint has always been shaped by my relationship with the church and my family. My father was a Methodist minister. My mother is a Methodist minister, as is my stepfather. I believe that we all have a responsibility to help those less fortunate than us.<br />
<br />
My daughter will grow up lucky, compared to millions of children around the world. She’ll have good food, safe places to live and learn. She won’t have to walk for miles to find clean water – she’ll turn on the faucet anytime she gets thirsty. She won’t have to spend hours gathering enough firewood to cook her dinner.<br />
<br />
But many women, here in the U.S. and around the globe, aren’t as lucky. I was thinking about those women, and their daughters, during a long drive across Texas last year with my husband, my mother and my newborn daughter. We were playing one of those “what if?” games that people play to while away the hours. What would you do if you could do any work you wanted? I’d help women, I said. I’d help make sure their daughters could have the same opportunities as mine.<br />
<br />
My mother then encouraged me to get involved with the “<a href="http://umchealthyfamilies.org/">Healthy Families, Healthy Planet</a>” project at the United Methodist Church. Through the project, I learned that one of the best ways to help women and girls thrive is to give them the education and options they need to plan their families. More than 220 million women around the world want to delay or avoid a pregnancy, but aren’t using modern family planning. Sometimes it’s a question of access, sometimes a question of cultural barriers. But always, it’s a question of choice – a choice I had, a choice I want my daughter to have, regarding when and whether to bear a child. I want all women to have that choice.<br />
<br />
What does this have to do with Earth Day? I believe that healthy, thriving women both create and depend on healthy, thriving communities. Without clean air, healthy forests, abundant fish and wildlife, we cannot have healthy cities and towns. But a healthy environment depends on people, families and communities that are empowered to make decisions that work for them about how fast to grow.<br />
<br />
Last June, then- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a powerful speech at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, noted that “to reach our goals in sustainable development we also have to ensure women’s reproductive rights. Women must be empowered to make decisions about whether and when to have children.”<br />
<br />
My daughter will grow up healthy and empowered to plan her family. But the world she will live in depends on the decisions we make now about how to empower the rest of the world’s women. By giving women choices and education regarding family planning, women will have access to the tools they need to make decisions about their family’s future. We can help build a world in which every woman and girl – and everyone man and boy – can grow up as blessed as you and me.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<i>Beka Olson is a “Healthy Families, Healthy Planet” Ambassador for the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society. She lives in Manhattan.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-18066369699465973042013-04-22T10:52:00.000-04:002013-04-22T14:38:24.669-04:00God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale<i>by Sara Swenson</i><br />
<br />
The smell of ice melting into damp earth. The sounds of returning geese harmonizing with winter silence over sundown. Spring in rural Minnesota means new grass, wobbling calves, thawing lakes, sunlight dissolving clouds, and the first tassels of corn brushing up from the fields.<br />
<br />
Growing up around the farms and forests of western Minnesota, the concept of resurrection came easily. I remember my Sunday school teacher laboring through the complexity of the topic during Holy Week, unsure how to present such abstract subject matter to a classroom of kindergarteners wielding crayon-shaded cutouts of butterflies and crosses. She must have stayed up half the night crafting her lesson plans, but the theological nuances which evaded her were a natural given to her pupils After all, we had watched the perennials in our gardens and flower boxes bloom fresh year after year – leaves bursting from bark as if by magic, apples rolling red from pink blossoms, golden wheat rising from dry seed without self-conscious awareness that it was performing any sort of miracle. Butterflies casually unfolded from cocoons; kittens tumbled mewing from barns with matching stripes as their mothers; winter melt sparkled into once-dry ponds, and sunflowers turned their faces to God.<br />
<br />
So why wouldn’t Jesus rise from the dead? Resurrection was at work every day in our farms and yards; that which the world’s greatest preachers and theologians had grappled over for centuries came to us farm kids as naturally as talking and moving. Life demonstrated Easter better than any lesson plan.<br />
<br />
The farms and lakes of my childhood were God’s classroom. The wonders of discovering new bugs, neat rocks, and weird plants taught me awe and reverence for an incomprehensible divine so big that God encompassed all of nature’s wild diversity. My daily adventures in nature taught me humility by reminding me how much I still had to learn about the world. Every time I encountered something new and exciting, I realized how limited my own imagination was next to the enormous creativity of God in the world. If one tiny plant could hold so much mystery, imagine how much more mystery my friends and neighbors contained! I learned to be self-critical of my own assumptions about others, to practice grace and forgiveness, and to respect the surprises God hid within all life, just by walking through fields.<br />
<br />
As I grew up and began to learn more about science and biology, this depth of mystery deepened each in God, my neighbor, the world, and in the tiny wonders of snails, daffodils, molecules, and atoms. The possibilities of this unconceivable complexity thrilled and challenged me. No longer could I comfortably accept givens or stereotypes – science itself was an expression of transforming thought and gradual evolution. Compassion became a necessity in the light of this required humility – all that I did not know became the ethical grounding for my moral and theological convictions. I could not help but default to love and forgiveness in light my own very human flaws and limited understanding. I had to practice grace toward my friends and neighbors for their own simple human limits. The incomprehensible complexity of nature was a demonstration of God’s vast mystery and an underlying requirement for me to both accept and practice grace.<br />
<br />
As I read now about the growing trends of global fundamentalism and genetic modification, I can’t help but wonder if they are related. After all, isn’t it the same impulse within us that encourages humans to deny both the incompressible complexities of God and nature? Fundamentalism limits God to a narrow interpretation of texts and dogma. Genetic modification limits nature to machine-like decoding and human convenience. Either way, we are running away from faith and diversity by claiming to understand more than we can. Either way, we are denying the grace of divine mystery.<br />
<br />
Globalization and the dangers of a growing world population seem to present too many unsolvable puzzles and fears for us. Instead of responding with faith and courage – embracing the possibilities of diversity and change – we respond by squeezing one another into boxes of judgment according to race, nationality, sexuality, political perspective, and so on. We squeeze nature, too, into a box of what we think we can control. In oversimplifying the mysteries of the world and one another, we mock, condemn, and cut down what we cannot understand, the same way we mocked, condemned, and crucified what we could not understand in the divine mystery of Christ. I sense, in the midst of our modern travesty, Christ is once again crying out for all, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”<br />
<br />
When companies like Monsanto claim to “copyright” seeds and redesign swaths of genetic coding in the world’s staple crops, we are faced with a problem that is not only environmental and political, but deeply theological and ethical. This denial of nature’s complexity and undermining of shared global resources reflects an unsettling transgression of the divine. What we fail to recognize in the infinite mystery of nature, we fail to recognize in the infinite mysteries of God and our neighbor. What we are willing to do to a seed, we are willing to do to one another. What we have done in limiting and dissecting a seed is what we have already done to Christ in the limited-perspective and condemnation of the crucifixion.<br />
<br />
In limiting the capacities of plants to self-germinate or perennially bloom through genetic modification, we limit our own memory of daily resurrection. When we reduce the inconceivable intricacies of ecological systems to a few key crops and chemicals that we claim to control, we <br />
forget our own inter-dependency on a divine grace and creative force which we can neither <br />
reduce nor control.<br />
<br />
Reclaiming natural diversity by refusing to accept genetic modification as our only answer to issues of global warming and global hunger is an act of faith. The dynamic interactions of bees with flowers, dung beetles with cattle, birds with berries, and beans with corn demonstrate for us a world of cooperation and diversity in community toward which we must continue to aspire. Approaching nature’s complexity with humility demonstrates hope for a world of peace, a world where we will also approach one another’s untold differences with respect and humility. Reasserting the mystery of science by protecting genetic diversity is also an act of reaffirming the mystery of God and the value of life.<br />
<br />
Protecting ecological diversity becomes an act of faith in resurrection. Resurrection occurs a thousand times each day in the death, rebirth, and sharing of seeds. In protecting nature’s genetic diversity, we also protect our hope for transformation through our own spiritual rebirths. I pray that God’s classrooms of the field and lake will remain for future generations. I pray our global children will continue to grow up, immersed in natural wonder for the daily miracles of resurrection and transformation which are, by nature and creation, available to all. Taking a stand now on issues of genetic modification is not just an act of political or environmental care – it is an act of faith. It is an act of Easter. It is an act of mystery, grace, and resurrection. It is an act of love.<br />
---<br />
<br />
<i>Sara Ann Swenson earned her Master of Arts in Comparative Religions at <a href="http://www.iliff.edu/">Iliff School of Theology</a> in Denver. She is an avid gardener, writer, and cook, who serves the United Methodist Church in a variety of lovingly disruptive capacities. This fall, she will begin doctoral work in comparative monasticism at Syracuse University in New York.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-49935901487452769332013-03-30T20:14:00.000-04:002013-04-01T07:37:17.045-04:00Easter: Believing Idle Tales<br />
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Amanda Rohrs-Dodge</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Luke 23:55 - 24:11</span></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the
tomb and how the body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices
and ointments.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But
on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb,
taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled
away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body.
While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling
clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their
faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the
living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he
told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be
handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise
again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb,
they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary
Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with
them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an
idle tale, and they did not believe them. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them”<sup><a href="file:///tmp/2013.03.22%20OnFire%20Easter%20Blogpost-1.html#ftnt1" name="ftnt_ref1">[1]</a></sup>.
It is probably safe to say that most of us have been taught, from a
very early age, not to tell idle tales. The fable of ‘the boy who cried
wolf’ comes to mind. Do you remember it? A young boy is sent into the
field to tend a flock of sheep, which is pretty boring work. Thinking he
would play a practical joke on the townspeople, he cries out that there
is a wolf attacking the sheep, causing everyone to drop what they are
doing to come to his aid. When they arrive, there is no wolf, only the
boy who is amused by his ability to trick his elders. They tell him not
to do it again, but of course he does, with the same outcome. But then
one day a wolf does come. And when the boy calls out for help, no one
comes to his aid because they think he is once again trying to trick
them. In some tellings of the story the sheep die; in others, it is the
boy himself who gets eaten by the wolf. The moral of the story? Don’t
tell idle tales, because when the day comes that you’re telling the
truth, people might not believe you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">These
words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. The
women who came to the tomb on that Easter morning stumbled upon a
traumatic surprise: the body of Jesus was gone. Not only that, but
suddenly two strange men appear before them, bringing good news that
initially begins almost as an interrogation. “Why do you look for the
living among the dead? Remember how he told you...?” The women <span style="font-style: italic;">do</span> remember,
and they run to tell the others, to tell their story of what has
occurred that morning at the tomb, but they are not believed. The women
try to break the silence of fear and mourning, but their words fall on
deaf ears. They are not believed. Sometimes it is easier to believe the
truth is not truth at all, but only an idle tale. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On
Wednesday, March 20 students at <a href="http://www.drew.edu/theological/">Drew Theological School</a> gathered
together to break a different kind of silence. At 11:20am, during the
weekly chapel service, members of <a href="http://www.users.drew.edu/twest/bio.html">Dr. Traci West</a>’s class, “Ethically
Responding to Violence Against Women” broke the silence surrounding
violence against not only women, but also men and transgendered
individuals. Students in the class offered various reflections
surrounding the issue of violence. One student shared the concerns they
had of offering pastoral care to female victims of male violence when
they themselves were male. Another student shared her story of being
raped by her boyfriend in undergraduate school, and the ways in which
her religious upbringing had kept her from seeking help. A third student
shared a story that reflected the complicated experiences of immigrant
women who are victims of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, whose
stories are often not believed. After each reflection a piece of pottery
was broken, symbolizing not only the violence that had been done but
also the power of breaking the silence surrounding these multiple forms
of violence (click to see parts <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=487675834630812">1</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=487672781297784">2</a>, and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=487669214631474">3</a> of the service)<span style="font-size: 11pt;">. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ekHvdCxbgv0/UVSsSHiVuMI/AAAAAAAAAHk/XhBf1JWB38s/s1600/memorymonorantprayer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ekHvdCxbgv0/UVSsSHiVuMI/AAAAAAAAAHk/XhBf1JWB38s/s400/memorymonorantprayer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">That
very same evening students, faculty, and even the dean of the
theological school performed Eve Ensler’s <i><a href="http://www.eveensler.org/books/anthology-a-memory-a-monologue-a-rant-and-a-prayer/">A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer</a></i>, a collection of monologues that told stories of
violence against women and girls. Stories of young adolescent girls who
were nearly sexually assaulted at parties. Stories of women pulling the
trigger during times of war. Stories of girls who were hidden in vats of
banana beer to protect them from soldiers looking to rape and kill them
during civil war. Story after story after story... stories that, when
seen in the paper or on the internet may be glossed over, maybe not as
an idle tale, but as something that happens somewhere else. Something
that happens to other people. Something that is far removed from many of
our experiences. But that night, in that space, as these stories were
embodied by the men and women of the Drew Theological School community,
the truth came out. These stories were not idle tales. They were
believed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes
it is easier to believe that the truth is nothing but an idle tale, to
remain in denial. Like the disciples on that first Easter it can be
easier to not believe the women’s stories, because <span style="font-style: italic;">if</span> we were to believe them... then we would have to do something.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In verse 12 the story continues: <span style="font-style: italic;">But
Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the
linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had
happened.</span> The note in my study bible says that “other ancient authorities lack verse 12”<sup><a href="file:///tmp/2013.03.22%20OnFire%20Easter%20Blogpost-1.html#ftnt2" name="ftnt_ref2">[2]</a></sup> which
causes me to ask, why was this part of the story added? Is it perhaps
because a later community was uncomfortable with the disciple’s lack of
belief? Did they need to have <span style="font-style: italic;">someone</span> in
the story believe that the women could have been telling the truth?
Like Peter in the story, something about these women’s stories seems to
be more than an idle tale. And like Peter, we find ourselves in a place
of needing to know the truth for ourselves, leading us to the tomb, to
the source of the story. What we find is that the story <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> true: the tomb is empty, the body is gone, the silence has been broken.</span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Peter
goes home, amazed. But we cannot simply go home, not after hearing the
truth. There are other silences that need to be broken, other bodies to
stand in solidarity with, other stories that need to be told again and
again until the truth is revealed. We must break the silence surrounding
violence against women, be it by praying and preaching, or listening
and speaking, or even dancing in the street as a part of <a href="http://onebillionrising.org/">One Billion Rising</a>, the "biggest mass global action to end violence against women
and girls in the history of humankind."</span></div>
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</div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps
most importantly, we must have ears and hearts open to hearing the
stories. We must hear the truth in what the women say; we must believe.
And then we must run, to see and share the truth for ourselves, breaking
the silence, re-envisioning the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="file:///tmp/2013.03.22%20OnFire%20Easter%20Blogpost-1.html#ftnt_ref1" name="ftnt1">[1]</a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I
am indebted to fellow classmate Kelly Lee (Drew Theological School,
‘13) who made the connection between the women’s resurrection story not
being believed and the way in which women’s stories of abuse are often
not believed.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="file:///tmp/2013.03.22%20OnFire%20Easter%20Blogpost-1.html#ftnt_ref2" name="ftnt2">[2]</a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">The</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">New Oxford Annotated Study Bible, NRSV</span></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">---</span></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="direction: ltr; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1; padding: 0px;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amanda Rohrs-Dodge is the student assistant pastor at <a href="http://www.umcmadison.org/">The United Methodist Church in Madison</a>, located next to Drew University. She
graduated with her M.Div. from <a href="http://www.drew.edu/theological/">Drew Theological</a> in Dec. 2012, and is
currently an MA student at Drew, focusing on the New Testament and
women's and gender studies. She lives with her husband who is a United
Methodist pastor and their three cats, Vinny, Yoko, and Tebogo.</span></i></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-6278119060945149862013-03-29T09:54:00.000-04:002013-03-29T09:54:58.705-04:00Good Friday: The Journey to the Cross and Transformation<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 100%;">by Kara Crawford</i><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 100%;"><br /></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 100%;">Cross-posted on the <a href="http://www.ministrywith.org/blog/view/165/">Ministry
with the Poor Blog</a>.</i></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>May
this immolated body and this blood</i></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>sacrificed
for all nourish us so that we</i></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>may
offer our body and our blood</i></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>as
Christ did, and thus bring</i></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>justice
and peace</i></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>to
our people. Let us join together,</i></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>then,
in the faith and hope of this intimate moment of prayer…</i></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Last
words of Oscar Romero, March 24, 1980</i></span></span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Oscar
Romero: Reflections on His Life and Writings, </i></span></span>
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>by
Dennis, Golden, and Wright, pg. 98)</i></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3TsQXkCRd8/UVSrUvYxXWI/AAAAAAAAAHI/H8ya5Jec09c/s1600/romero2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3TsQXkCRd8/UVSrUvYxXWI/AAAAAAAAAHI/H8ya5Jec09c/s320/romero2.JPG" width="320" /></a></i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">These
were the last words spoken by Archbishop Óscar Romero on March 24,
1980. He died while celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at a small hospital
chapel in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. He was gunned
down as he held up the chalice to consecrate the communion wine.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Over
the thirty-plus years that have followed, Romero has become a
legendary figure: a champion of the poor, a voice for peace, justice,
and nonviolence, a martyr for his faith, and a transformative
presence in the Catholic Church and in El Salvador In fact,
Salvadorans are pressing Pope Francis to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/salvadorans-hope-new-pope-will-advance-sainthood-for-martyred-archbishop-romero/2013/03/24/045829e6-94b6-11e2-95ca-dd43e7ffee9c_story.html">beatify
Romero</a>, the first step toward sainthood in the Catholic Church.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Romero
was born on August 15, 1917 in Ciudad Barrios in the Salvadoran
department of San Miguel. He entered the minor seminary at the age of
thirteen, and then began his journey towards ordained ministry. Over
time he worked his way through the Catholic hierarchy in El Salvador
serving in a variety of roles. He was regarded as conventional and
reserved, within the customary bounds of church tradition and
practice, at a time when the Catholic Church in El Salvador was
divided over a brutal civil war that pitted rich and powerful
established interests, including the government and the Catholic
hierarchy, against poor people, rebels and their religious allies
fighting for economic justice.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tTSGeUOMK6E/UVSrXPvvJ0I/AAAAAAAAAHY/_ODCJ09Rw-A/s1600/romero3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tTSGeUOMK6E/UVSrXPvvJ0I/AAAAAAAAAHY/_ODCJ09Rw-A/s320/romero3.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">On
February 23, 1977, Romero was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador.
His appointment was not celebrated by those clergy who had aligned
themselves with the revolutionary forces fighting with of the poor.
One of those radicalized clergy, a Jesuit priest named Rutilio
Grande, was a close personal friend of Romero’s.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Romero
could neither understand nor condone how his clergy friend could have
aligned himself with the guerrilla groups in his pursuit of justice
for the poor. But then, on March 12, 1977, just a few weeks after
Romero was appointed Bishop, Fr. Rutilio was assassinated. To
Romero’s dismay, there was no effort to bring the perpetrators to
justice. </span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Rutilio’s
death had a profound impact on Romero’s vocation, faith and
worldview. It was a turning point in Romero’s journey of faith and
ministry. Sometime later, he said, “</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">When
I looked at Rutilio lying there dead I thought, 'If they have killed
him for doing what he did, then I too have to walk the same path.’”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Throughout
the next three years of his life and ministry, Romero became
increasingly engaged in the struggles of the poor, living and working
among them and allowing for their stories and struggles to become one
with his own. He lived a simple life, in a small house near the
campus of the hospital in whose chapel he was assassinated. That he
celebrated his final Mass in a hospital chapel rather than a
cathedral speaks volumes of his living in communion with the most
vulnerable in Salvadoran society.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">In
2010, I was privileged to travel to El Salvador with a group from
DePaul University. While on the trip, we visited a number of sites
that were significant during El Salvador’s civil war, including a
number of sites related to Romero’s life and martyrdom. While I was
in the chapel where he was assassinated, I was struck by the powerful
imagery and symbolism of his final act – consecrating the communion
wine. The blood of Christ, shed for all suddenly became profoundly
incarnate before my very eyes.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BDQMfxOm-mA/UVSrUmXlOGI/AAAAAAAAAHM/FX7wDz8sKsk/s1600/romero1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BDQMfxOm-mA/UVSrUmXlOGI/AAAAAAAAAHM/FX7wDz8sKsk/s320/romero1.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Good
Friday is upon us, and as my Lenten journey comes to a close and I
turn toward Easter Sunday, I cannot help but reflect on Romero’s
walk with the poor, a personal conversion that led to him to the
cross. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">What
moves me most about Romero is that his witness to the injustices,
oppression, marginalization, and violence inflicted upon the poor of
El Salvador opened his eyes and heart. In this process of
conversion, he allowed himself to be transformed by the Holy Spirit
working in and through the poor. In his walk with the poor he found
the courage to stand with them—to the point of death-- and, like
Jesus, boldly speak and embody the biblical message of liberation of
the poor and oppressed. </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>(Isaiah
61:1-2, Luke 4:18, Luke 6:20)</i></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;">
</span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Two
weeks before he died Romero said: “I have been frequently
threatened with death. I should say to you that, as a Christian, I do
not believe in death without resurrection: if I die, I will be
resurrected in the Salvadoran people.”</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">As
we journey with Christ to the cross, are we willing to stand with and
be transformed by the poor? As Romero demonstrated in his life and
ministry, it is in walking with the poor that we become emboldened
and empowered to take up the cross and follow Jesus in working to
bring about peace and justice, nourished by Christ’s sacrifice. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">For
more information about Archbishop Oscar Romero see the 1989
biographical film </span></span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098219/?ref_=sr_3"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Romero</i></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">,
the book </span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Oscar
Romero: Reflections on His Life and Writings</i></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">(Dennis,
Golden, and Wright, 2000)</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">,
and many other books and resources.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C58HesPPv1s/UVSsAKYF8LI/AAAAAAAAAHc/VK75TQsdE38/s1600/Kara+Crawford.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C58HesPPv1s/UVSsAKYF8LI/AAAAAAAAAHc/VK75TQsdE38/s200/Kara+Crawford.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="line-height: 100%;"><i>Kara Crawford is a United Methodist
<a href="http://www.umcmission.org/Get-Involved/Young-People">Mission Intern</a>. She is currently serving part-time at <a href="http://www.newdaybronx.org/">New Day UMC</a>, a
new church start in the Bronx, NY, and part-time at the <a href="http://www.umcmission.org/">General Boardof Global Ministries</a> in support of the <a href="http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.4443111/k.F4C8/Four_Areas_of_Focus.htm#.UVSgYvGmKtI">Ministry with the Poor</a> Area of
Focus of The United Methodist Church. She is a graduate of <a href="http://www.depaul.edu/Pages/default.aspx">DePaulUniversity</a> in Chicago, IL, with a BA in International Studies and
Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies. Prior to her current
assignments, she served in Bogotá, Colombia with the Centro Popular
para América Latina de Comunicación doing workshops in human rights
and communications with groups of women and children. A member of the
Illinois Great Rivers Conference and a lifelong United Methodist,
Kara is passionate about engaging The UMC in conversations around
what it truly means for us as a church to live out Micah 6:8: “to
do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”</i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-75095825492848186442013-03-28T11:38:00.000-04:002013-03-28T15:26:55.677-04:00Maundy Thursday: We gotta wash each other's feetToday, we remember events that it seems impossible for us to remember, events that happened centuries ago. We reenact. We inhabit stories, live into texts. We repeat the words: "Do this and remember me." "If I have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet."<br />
<br />
We are supposed to wash each other's feet.<br />
<br />
Here is what I think that means, for young people seeking God and seeking justice in the world today.<br />
<br />
It means taking care of each other at our most vulnerable places, the places that we want to hide away.<br />
<br />
It means that, while we're rallying at the Supreme Court or <a href="http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/features/economy-of-the-occupation/6182-mennonites-vote-to-divest-from-israeli-occupation">celebrating divestment victories</a> (and asking "what's next?") or organizing for worker justice or calling our members of Congress, we don't forget to take care of each other. We don't forget that we are all soft and hurting, that we each come with our own stories, our own wrinkles, our own mess.<br />
<br />
It means that we never forget that we work for justice because people, real people, are being hurt. That those people have names. That they have stories. That this is not ultimately about particular policies or parties or pieces of legislation--those things are all of vital importance, don't get me wrong--but about people. People we need to listen to. And that often is going to mean, inasmuch as this is at all possible, divesting ourselves of power. Or at the very least being critical of the sort of power that keeps us from caring for each other as equals.<br />
<br />
We have a lot to do. A lot of work to take on. A lot of tasks to accomplish. But we have to remember that we will not always be tireless in our work for justice. That we, and the people we work with, will stumble. Will struggle. Will burn out.<br />
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We have to be willing to bend down into those places, and to love, to love, to love.<br />
<br />
Friends, one thing we have to remember. We gotta wash each other's feet.Foolish Hoseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03081176128647515958noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-60551526725373864472013-03-23T19:28:00.000-04:002013-03-28T15:28:30.147-04:00Palm Sunday: Triumphal EntrySee <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=231066387">Luke 19:28-40</a>.<br />
<br />
The image of the statue, ropes twined around it, mid-topple, framed by blue skies and crowds of people--- this image is etched in my mind, as are vague memories of tanks rolling through town, so many American flags, and the unbridled triumph in the voices of politicians. This triumphal entry, on April 9, 2003, was fed to us as the signal of the USAmerican victory over an evil-doer. The staged Marine-led toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square in Baghdad was narrated to us as a triumph of democracy and goodness and hope. And yet, here I am ten years later, listening to reports of <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/2013315171951838638.html">cancer</a> and murder and suicide and I can't seem to find that democracy and goodness and hope we were promised as the statue fell.<br />
<br />
Our pro-war propaganda machine tells us that this is how we bring about freedom: tanks and toppling. But there is another Triumphal Entry we celebrate this week that tells us something different. It tells us that God's victory arrives not on a tank but on a lowly colt. It tells us that people shout for joy not because of deeds of military might, but the deeds of power they saw in healing miracles. It recognizes that the one who comes in the name of God comes not in a military uniform but as a political agitator for peace. Jesus came into Jerusalem on the back of a colt promising a different kind of victory, a different kind of freedom than that proclaimed in the ten years since the USA invaded Iraq.<br />
<br />
People recognized that difference and it scared them. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd commanded Jesus to stop. On Friday, we will remember the consequences of Jesus' triumphal entry, a crucifixion that resembles more the day to day suffering of Iraqi civilians and abandoned USAmerican veterans suffering from PTSD. And yet, too many of our churches will forget the connections this Holy Week, forget the roots that extend into our own times, tell ourselves that the story we remember is a spiritual story that demands nothing of us but "belief." So I urge you this Palm Sunday to pray. Lift up the cause for peace in Iraq in your congregation's sharing of prayer concerns. Educate yourself about the ongoing struggle in Iraq--- just because the USA has declared the Iraq War over does not mean that the mess and terror of war has been alleviated. And, of course, our government wages war and supports war in many other countries too.<br />
<br />
It is our responsibility as Christians to remember Jesus' entry in Jerusalem and the lessons it teaches us of freedom and peace this Holy Week.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<i>Shannon Sullivan serves the <a href="http://deercreekcharge.webs.com/">Deer Creek Charge</a>, a two-point charge in the <a href="http://www.bwcumc.org/">Baltimore-Washington Conference</a>. She </i><i><i>is a graduate of <a href="http://www.drew.edu/theological/">Drew Theological School</a> in Madison, New Jersey, and</i> blogs at <a href="http://shasullivan.blogspot.com/">You'll Never Guess What the Heathens Did Today</a>.</i><br />
<br />S. e. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13446316478749265026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-48129148166120402362013-03-07T10:33:00.000-05:002013-03-07T10:33:00.180-05:00International Women's Day: A Call for Intersectionality<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">by Katey Zeh</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Crossposted at <a href="http://mfsaweb.org/">Methodist Federation for Social Action</a> and the General Board of Church and Society's <a href="http://umc-gbcs.org/faith-in-action/newsletter">Faith in Action</a>.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Proverbs 31:31: “Give her a share
in the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the city
gates.”</span></i></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The writer of Proverbs 31 writes of an
<i>ëschet-chayil</i>, which depending on the particular biblical
translation, can be read as a virtuous, noble, excellent, or capable
woman. But as I reflect on the ongoing global struggle for women’s
dignity, I prefer another translation of <i>ëschet-chayil—</i>a
woman of valor. The term valor is often associated with conflict and
even war, and describes a person who approaches danger with bravery
and courage.
</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What are the characteristics of a woman
of valor, according to Proverbs 31? She is trustworthy, hardworking,
charitable, and strong—and she is to be given an equitable share of
the fruits of her labor.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know this woman of valor. I have met
her many times. She is the one running a rural health clinic in
Kenya, serving a community that otherwise would have no access to
health care. She is the one in Nicaragua educating her peers about
domestic violence and family planning. She is the one making safe
birthing kits for those she will never meet.
</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As the global community prepares to
honor International Women’s Day on March 8, I have been wondering,
what ought to be the role of the church in commemorating these women
of valor among us? The author of Proverbs 31 gives us some direction.
First, we are to give thanks for the courage, bravery, and diligence
of women in our own communities and around the world. Second, we are
to ensure that all women receive that which they have earned—honor,
dignity, and access to resources.</span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Many people are familiar with the
statistic that while women do a majority of the world’s work, they
own less than 1% of the world’s land. But that is only one aspect
of the gender gap that contributes to women’s undervalued position
in their homes, communities, and countries. We must continue to move
away from a piecemeal approach to gender equality and begin to look
intersectionally at the many injustices women face, impeding their
sacred worth as children of God.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="" name="_GoBack"></a>We must wake up!
Did you know that a young woman in Chad is more likely to die giving
birth than she is to receive a secondary education? What does this
say about how we value the life of the girl child? The roots of our
world’s deepest suffering—violence, HIV/AIDS, poverty,
malnutrition—disproportionately impact our sisters in Christ. We
are called to be partners with God in creating a more just world for
all God’s children, and that means addressing the sins of both our
personal and systemic sexism.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As an advocate for maternal health and
family planning, my challenge is to recognize that my lens on women’s
empowerment is often myopic, and that I must reach out to partners
both within and beyond The United Methodist Church who can help me
better understand the complexities of not only ensuring women’s
survival, but also enhancing their ability to thrive. I have asked
myself difficult questions like, what good does it do to build a
birth facility if the women of the surrounding communities have no
way to get there? Have we really achieved success if a woman has a
healthy birth but only two months later dies of malaria? These
questions are challenging, and will require a concerted response from
the global community, including the church.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On April 3 at 3pm Eastern Time, I
invite you to <a href="http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50192/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=70586">join</a>
the Healthy Families, Healthy Planet project and United Methodist
Women in a conversation that will explore two equally serious but
oftentimes siloed issues: domestic violence and maternal mortality.
Violence against women is a global pandemic that denies women's their
bodily integrity. When a pregnant woman suffers partner violence, she
may suffer injury, miscarriage, or even death. I hope you will
journey with us as we explore ways for the church to respond to
theses issues in a collective, unified way.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Please <a href="http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50192/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=70586">register</a>
for the webinar by April 2<sup>nd</sup>. This event is open to the
public.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">*** </span></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 15.555556297302246px; line-height: 23.33333396911621px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Katey Zeh is an advocate and organizer for reproductive justice. She directs the Healthy Families, Healthy Planet initiative of the General Board of Church and Society, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. She lives in Cary, NC with her soon-to-be-husband Matt and their dog Lucy.</span></i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-52986598785802206832013-02-21T18:30:00.002-05:002013-02-21T18:30:15.208-05:00Relevance LEAD<i>by Anthony Fatta</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Wondering what your friends in the Western Jurisdiction were up to last week? Check out <a href="http://www.relevancelead.com/">Relevance LEAD</a>, and see Anthony's explanation on why it is important!</i><br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.relevancelead.com/">Relevance LEAD</a> conference was not your typical best practices, build
it and they will come, young adult outreach conference. It was a
little more cerebral than that. We know dressing, teaching, and
preaching in one particular way is not the answer to reaching more
people. Instead of the typical coffeehouse preaching or film-based
sermon series, we had workshops that really focused on our development
as ministers like: how to be authentically you in ministry, how to
affirm lay ministry as equal to ordained ministry, and to be creative
even if it means losing our pensions...because, let’s be real, they will
not be there anyways.<br />
<br />In terms of social justice, that is what
young adults are hungry for. They want to plug into a tradition that
has a strong social witness, but not one that has become a rotary club.
Needless to say, this conference was a great one to attend. I think
the Western Jurisdiction (at least those at this conference) recognizes
that church as usual does not work anymore. We need to let the Spirit
move us somewhere else. It’s scary, but it’s a lot better than
bemoaning a slow, painful decline. The Gospel is a message for all
people, but how it’s shared with people needs to be changed! I look
forward to being a part of that change.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<i>Anthony Fatta is the Youth
Director at <a href="http://www.lgumc.org/">Los Gatos UMC</a> in the Bay Area of California and is a recent
graduate of <a href="http://divinity.vanderbilt.edu/">Vanderbilt Divinity Schoo</a>l.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-9587782528462469032013-02-13T14:42:00.001-05:002013-02-13T17:59:26.886-05:00Ash Wednesday Reflection<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
Text: Joel 2:1-2, 12-13</div>
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On Ash Wednesday we gather to mark the beginning of the Lenten season.<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> </span>This is a season of repentance and reflection in preparation for the Easter event. I always thought of it as a particularly dirty Christian tradition. In the days of old Christians would come to the bishop on this day to serve public penance by receiving ashes from the previous year’s palms sprinkled over their clothing while reciting Psalms of repentance. On this day, I am reminded of the significance of seeking forgiveness and repentance before God.</div>
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The author of Genesis wrote: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1381889336465684505#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a></div>
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I am the pastor of a small rural congregation on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. One of my church members shared with me a story about growing up out here in Kekaha during the height of the sugar industry. She told me that trucks would drive down the dusty roads spraying mosquito and other pesticides to protect the crops. As the trucks sprayed the pesticide the neighborhood kids would run behind it rejoicing in the misty haze of dust and repellent.</div>
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Imagine the health risks of which we were unaware! Not to mention the injustice committed by sugar companies that profited from the exploitation of land and people in rural Kauai. It is the community that continues to pay for the clean-up of remaining chemicals and demolition of the defunct mill.</div>
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The text which I offer us for reflection is from the Book of Joel, about a prophet who called his people to lament and seek repentance before God. The people were faced with the threat of invasion from a foreign army, but still, Joel reminded them it was not too late to return to God. </div>
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The prophet used poetic imagery throughout the book that is associated with the changing of the rainy to dry seasons in ancient as well as modern Israel. Strong, dry winds called Hamsin (Aribic) or Sharav (Hebrew), much like the Santa Ana winds in California, blow a dreadful current of dust and sand from the Sahara desert. There is no way to escape the dry, intense heat swelling across the landscape.</div>
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The point is that we voluntarily or involuntarily rejoice in, live through, and suffer from the plume of pesticide and dust. It is a metaphor that speaks to the very human capacity for both good and evil. There are times when we rejoice in the harmfulness of our world because we know nothing else, but other times we know we are hurt by and/or contribute to the hurt of others.</div>
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On Ash Wednesday, it is the ash of the earth that reminds us of the significance of repentance and forgiveness.</div>
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Last night I watched President Obama deliver the State of the Union Address. At times I was caught up in the spirit of hope but found myself frustrated with an often repeated phrase: “We can fix this.” He introduced inspirational commentary and commissions on issues such as economic, immigration, and especially gun law reform. Indeed, we deserve a vote and political action on these issues. However, as the prophet suggested, we cannot fix anything in our nation(s) until we seek forgiveness as individual people, but also as a nation that continues to contribute to violence, death, and the ill-treatment of those whom we fail to regard as God’s beloved. </div>
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We know what it is like to be human, to make mistakes in our lifetime, to find ourselves in the mess of the earth. We come seeking repentance as individuals in need of forgiveness but also as one community seeking the merciful, kind, and compassionate God. </div>
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May you receive God’s blessing on this day as we impose upon ourselves the ash of the earth.</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Joshua Clough is the pastor at West Kauai United Methodist Church on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii and a candidate for ordination in the California-Pacific Annual Conference. A native of the Seattle, Washington area he enjoys running, reading, writing, and walking on the beach at sunset with his dog “Cassie.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1381889336465684505#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Genesis 3:19</span></div>
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Joshuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964657572621202562noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-20310093788515450552013-02-01T15:26:00.002-05:002013-02-01T15:42:18.709-05:00Proverbs 21<i>by Adam Briddell</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
When I worked in the Senate, Chaplain Barry Black offered a Friday Bible study for staffers. He often turned to a paraphrase of Proverbs 21:31 when wrestling with the tension between trusting God and trusting in human works. He would encourage us to "trust God to win the war, but prepare your horse for battle."
<br />
<br />
I have been so inspired by how I have seen people of faith prepare to do battle with one of the most entrenched and powerful interest groups in the history of American politics – the National Rifle Association.
<br />
<br />
It will be a battle. But our perseverance is owed to those communities that have long resembled battlefields. Our perseverance is owed to the families who have been told that their loss is necessary, collateral damage outweighed by the perceived need to own handguns and assault weapons.
<br />
<br />
We have many allies in this fight. Movements and communities that have long been at the work of fighting for safer communities. Just this past Saturday I joined over a thousand people on the National Mall – all of us deeply moved by the witness of survivors and life long workers in the struggle to limit our capacity for violence. I was inspired! I trust that this war will be won - that God would have our communities liberated from these tools designed to end life. We will remember that we are a people called to abundant life - abundant life that leaves no room for the violence enabled by hand guns and assault weapons. <br />
<br />
My friend Chett Pritchett, Interim Executive Director of the <a href="http://mfsaweb.org/">Methodist Federation for Social Action</a>, shared recently that:
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The witness of those who gathered on the National Mall affirms that all humans are created in God's image. We live out this basic theological concept by calling for a ban on military-style assault weapons, a ban on high capacity ammunition magazines, mandatory background checks, and closing private purchasing loopholes. This is a witness from thousands of citizens that life in God’s beloved community is a gift to be safeguarded."</blockquote>
<br />
And we will march in the streets, we will preach in our pulpits, we will pray for and with our political
leadership. You can take action today by signing the petition found <a href="http://www.blastroots.com/campaign/march-on-washington-for-gun-control-january-26th#.UQp7ylpdecQ">here</a>.
<br />
<br />
You can take action next week by participating in the Interfaith Call-in Day scheduled for February 4th. Details are available <a href="http://www.faithscalling.org/">here</a>.
<br />
<br />
And you can help us to keep building this movement, by encouraging your parishioners, neighbors, friends and family to not let the urgency of this work fade. We are opposed by principalities and powers who believe we will fail. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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<br />
---
<br />
<i>Adam Briddell is an associate pastor at <a href="http://www.washmorefeet.org/">Bethesda United Methodist Church</a>, has graduate degrees from Wesley Theological Seminary and Georgetown University, and worked for Senator Michael B. Enzi on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Read more from Adam at <a href="http://proverbialjustice.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://proverbialjustice.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.com</a>.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-34681577955747124702013-01-29T15:00:00.002-05:002013-01-29T16:27:13.552-05:00Let’s Not Leave the Lives of Girls to Luck<i>by Katey Zeh</i><br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p8iouqB8pOU/UQgoGWsxDRI/AAAAAAAAAGs/DRaML8D05fA/s1600/OnKneeBig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-p8iouqB8pOU/UQgoGWsxDRI/AAAAAAAAAGs/DRaML8D05fA/s200/OnKneeBig.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Exactly one year ago on an unusually warm winter evening, my fiancé Matt and I got engaged. Ever since our lives have been filled with exciting plans for our wedding and joy-filled hopes for the next stage of our journey together as husband and wife. Now as we enter the last stretch of finalizing (and financing) the details of our special day, I cannot help but be reminded of just how fortunate I am.
<br />
<br />
And I don't mean that in the typical "I'm the luckiest girl in the world" kind of way, though I do feel incredibly lucky to have a wonderful partner. What I really mean to highlight is how uncommon my life's journey of self-determination has been. Growing up in the United States in a family that valued education, I never questioned the path before me—to go to school, to pursue meaningful work, to live where I chose, to determine if, when, and whom I wanted to marry.
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rg8FzdIVKu8/UQgoWAAyfDI/AAAAAAAAAG0/DyzPfvJuwTI/s1600/Malawi_Girls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rg8FzdIVKu8/UQgoWAAyfDI/AAAAAAAAAG0/DyzPfvJuwTI/s320/Malawi_Girls.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
My work as an advocate for reproductive justice, specifically for global maternal health and family planning, has opened my eyes to the lived realities of women living in the developing world, especially those who live in poverty. Too often a girl's life is pre-determined by her gender, geography, and economic status. In the country of Chad, for example, a young girl is more likely to die from maternal mortality than she is to receive a secondary education. In a large, poor family struggling for survival, the girl children will often suffer malnourishment, receive little if any education, and enter marriage before her eighteenth birthday. An adolescent woman is twice as likely to die from childbirth than her older counterparts.<br />
<br />
Whether we live on opposite sides of the globe or opposites sides of the street, these disparities in women's life experiences between those who have and those who have not should cause us moral outrage. How could we ask a woman to lose her life in order to give birth to a child? And yet, every two minutes somewhere in the world a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth. It's time for the Church to stand up for the world's women.<br />
<br />
Since 2010, I have directed the <a href="http://umchealthyfamilies.org/">Healthy Families, Healthy Planet</a> project of the General Board of Church and Society. This initiative is a response to the moral tragedy of maternal mortality and the unmet need of 222 million women worldwide who would like to plan and space their families, but do not have access to modern contraceptive information and services. Over the last three years we have educated thousands of United Methodists on the importance of investing in women's health. We have trained more than 75 faith leaders on advocacy for maternal health and family planning, and they are now partnering with us in building a nation-wide movement of advocates in their churches and communities. Together we are helping to create a healthier world for women, men, and their families.
<br />
<br />
Want to join the Healthy Families, Healthy Planet movement? Here’s what you can do right now.
<br />
<ol>
<li><div style="line-height: 0.31in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;">Watch this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilu6LTCmeK4">video</a>.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 0.31in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;">Visit our <a href="http://umchealthyfamilies.org/">website</a>
and <a href="http://umchealthyfamilies.org/sign-up">sign-up</a> for
more information. </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 0.31in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;">Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/umchealthyfams">Twitter</a>
and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/UMCHFHP">Facebook</a>.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 0.31in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><a href="http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50192/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7172">Send
a letter</a> to your representative, urging US support for global
health programs that support and protect women and their children.</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="line-height: 0.31in; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/kzeh@umc-gbcs.org">Consider</a>
becoming a Healthy Families, Healthy Planet Ambassador. Our next
training will take place October 27-30 in Washington, D.C.</span></div>
</li>
</ol>
---<br />
<i>Katey Zeh is an advocate and organizer for reproductive justice. She directs the Healthy Families, Healthy Planet initiative of the General Board of Church and Society, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. She lives in Cary, NC with her soon-to-be-husband Matt and their dog Lucy.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-26880599515523903182012-12-23T10:00:00.000-05:002012-12-23T21:31:35.215-05:00Christmas Eve- Star-Crossed Christmas<br />
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<i>by John Daniel Gore</i></div>
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Text: Isaiah 11:6-16
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“Bethlehem must be such a mystical
place to spend Christmas,” a family friend commented in a recent
e-mail. The tourists think so. A shop-keeper once complained to me
that droves of people spewed from buses, in and out of the Nativity
Church, and back onto the buses without visiting Bethlehem’s Old
City area. All ‘Holy’ sites are like that. Pilgrims carry their
Easter vision with them from the hotel to the Holy Sepulcher and mill
for an hour in the vortex of waiting bodies to kiss a rock. At the
Garden Tomb this November, where Jesus was never buried nor rose,
pilgrims sang hymns of praise that grated my nerves: I was burned out
this November. The Gaza conflict followed...
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<br /></div>
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I see Israeli occupation daily, working
by the Annexation/Apartheid Wall. At my office we like to say that
the occupation would prevent Mary and Joseph from reaching Bethlehem
but pregnant Mary would have stayed in Nazareth if not for Roman
occupation (—matrices of control). When the wind howls past my
window, I think the Holy family wished that the census was taken in
balmy Jericho. Probably, relatives tucked them into a lower cavern,
where the animals were kept, and Mary had a normal, wretched
delivery. Giving birth sucks. I am not saying that shepherds did not
make an uncanny visit nor that magi did not follow a brilliant
supernova, predicting Christ’s ascension to ministry. All of that
happened but so did the ugly details missing from popular
imagination...
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I adored the Christmas of my childhood,
overflowing with the warmth of family and the promise of good things,
with plenty of merry winter fun. That Christmas feeling slowly
drained away as my parents divorced, my grandparents died, and I left
places behind. Jesus was harder to find in the plastic faces of
swaddled baby-dolls. I wanted mystical Bethlehem to revive my
earliest memories of anticipation and awe. Bethlehem’s aura is
different and the yuletide center of gravity is shifted Northward.
Without any occupation, this place might be ‘Scandinavian
wonderland meets Southern California climate’ but Palestine was
unlucky, falling to the Ottoman and British Empires and now to
Israel— so deftly named to commandeer Old Testament prophesies for
a Manifest Destiny agenda. The Christmas I knew is shot and hung to
dry...
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I have kept searching, though. Isaiah
is a thicket of predictions, prophesy, and blatant wishes where we
can find both visions of the Messiah: the counter-conqueror versus
the counter-cultural. Reading Isaiah out-loud, I came to a passage in
chapter 11 that juxtaposes images of unprecedented peace with a
vision of regional dominance. “Aw [expletive],” I grumbled, “this
sounds SO stinking zionist.” I stopped to pray for a moment. “Could
it be,” I mused, “that Isaiah had a broader vision than the
translators or, further still, could it be that God had a greater
vision than Isaiah could comprehend as he penned?” What if the
returning exiles were refugees in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and
Lebanon—from enclaves around the world— exercising their right to
return with equal rights? There could be space, in this text—on the
land, for everyone to overcome the rash of reactive ethnocentrism
that rooted itself here over seventy years ago. I can reclaim
Christmas from the neo-colonialists— Independence Day, too...
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<br /></div>
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Christmas in Bethlehem feels like the
4<sup>th</sup> of July. Each Christmas procession (there are parades
for each rite) conjures a wave of pomp that surges along The Star
Street. Camel riders, people dressed as cartoon characters, long
lines of silent monks, and band after band of bagpipe-toting scout
troupes pour in from across the West Bank. I <u>love</u> marching
bagpipes. A gargantuan, fake pine with flashing lights is erected in
the middle of the square, next to the massive stage. Living a block
from the square, I am treated to two weeks of rah-rah and concerts
but nothing compares to the tree-lighting. A mass of Christians,
streaked with curious Muslims, congeals around the tree to listen to
speeches by big-wigs: the mayor, the prime minister, special guests.
I cannot resist the electricity. At last, a bloom of fireworks forces
the recon drones to higher altitudes. The band bursts into song and
everyone croons: “Ballaaaadi! Ballaaaadi!” My country! My
country! Tears trickle from my chin: my patriotism has returned from
exile. In Bethlehem, at Christmas, I have a nation again as a
Christian!</div>
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<br /></div>
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In successive years, Advent comes
wrapped in a Palestinian statehood bid. The land groans for
liberation. Imagine how early Christians must have felt when Jesus
was hung to dry, rolled in spices and buried. The Star the magi
followed must have seemed like a lie, all anticipation wasted. Then
the good news emerged that he was risen, that they could hoist the
cross at last. They remained among a sea of doubters and hostiles.
Similarly, the United Nations voted overwhelmingly, 139 to 9, to
grant Palestine nonmember State status. Yet those 9 have the power to
close an iron noose. Herod (I mean the Knesset) is restless: there
could be military crackdowns, new restrictions. False prophets across
the West speculate with outdated information and armchair heuristics.
Regardless, most of the world awoke as protests for Gaza dotted the
globe last month: the smell of Justice, like the Magi, wafts across
the desert!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The newborn Jesus was our statehood
bid, Christians, but not the state that was envisioned. I believe
that having a Messiah was a terrible, human idea that God purloined
for the good of all humanity. God pirated the Messianic prophesies
using the census, angels, and even the stars to put the boy from
Nazareth in the right place at the right time. What a huge save!
Jesus did come to balmy Jericho and, on the Mount of Temptation,
Satan painted him a picture of supremacy. Jesus had an immaculate
conception: to forego domination for Salvation. The budding
anticipation flowered that day and the Advent of Salvation, his
ministry and passage into the Earth as The seed of Love, and
everything that followed was clinched. Hallelujah!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Like the first Christmas, little has
changed ‘on the ground’. I keep returning to the magi, those
people who came from afar because they knew (inexplicably?) that
Victory was imminent. The solidarity workers are all magi and the
local NGO-workers are our shepherds. We seem like crazy optimists.
The rest of the world thinks we celebrate prematurely. Bethlehem
shows us the first, shining face of Christmas. It is a brazen
demonstration of Faith in things to come: an end to oppression, the
beginning of a people. When our lives are torn apart and we feel
rootless, Christmas is a time to conceive what God will do to restore
Unity with Dignity. As for the warm Christmas I knew as a child, I
understand now that this is the glow of Victory remembered. Someday,
I will see it again.
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: DejaVu Sans;"><span lang="ar-JO">رجاء</span></span>,
<span style="font-family: DejaVu Sans;"><span lang="ar-JO">مبادرة</span></span>,
<span style="font-family: DejaVu Sans;"><span lang="ar-JO">و سلام إليكم</span></span>.
[Hope, Initiative, and Peace to you all] </div>
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<br /></div>
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***</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i>John Daniel Gore is a <a href="http://www.umcmission.org/Get-Involved/Young-People/Serve/Long-Term-Programs">young adult missionary</a> through the United
Methodist Church serving at the <a href="http://www.alaslah.org/">Wi'am Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center</a>. He was born and educated in Michigan before departing for
Bethlehem, Palestine, to begin what he hopes is a career in peace and
conflict. He describes himself as a writer, a hack musician, and a lover
of insects, lakes, and star-lit nights. He blogs at <a href="http://xavierphoenix.wordpress.com/">Reverse Exiled</a>. </i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-55338054695392469292012-12-22T08:37:00.001-05:002013-03-28T15:58:35.849-04:00Advent 4- Rejoicing in Our Calling<br />
<i>by Kara Crawford</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>“My soul proclaims your greatness, O God,</i><br />
<i>and my spirit rejoices in you, my Savior.</i><br />
<i>For you have looked with favor</i><br />
<i>upon your lowly servant,</i><br />
<i>and from this day forward</i><br />
<i>all generations will call me blessed.</i><br />
<i>For you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,</i><br />
<i>and holy is your Name.</i><br />
<i>Your mercy reaches from age to age</i><br />
<i>for those who fear you.</i><br />
<i>For you have shown strength with your arm;</i><br />
<i>you have scattered the proud in their conceit;</i><br />
<i>you have deposed the mighty from their thrones</i><br />
<i>and raised the lowly to high places.</i><br />
<i>You have filled the hungry with good things,</i><br />
<i>while you have sent the rich away empty.</i><br />
<i>You have come to the aid of Israel your servant,</i><br />
<i>mindful of your mercy -</i><br />
<i>the promise you made to our ancestors -</i><br />
<i>to Sarah and Abraham</i><br />
<i>and their descendants forever.”</i><br />
(Luke 1:46-55, The Inclusive Bible)<br />
<br />
I have never quite understood how Mary found the strength within her to bear such a heavy burden. I can hardly imagine being so young – barely a teenager, an unmarried girl – and finding out that I was pregnant with the son of God. Quite a bit of pressure, right?<br />
<br />
Even more amazing to me is her response. After a moment of shocked hesitance, she says to the angel, “I am a servant of God. Let it be done to me as you say.” As such a young woman, living in her cultural, political, and personal context, this was a very brave decision on her part to accept God's call, quite literally risking life and fiancee to carry out her call.<br />
<br />
What is most striking for me, though, is her song of praise which follows the initial events of her call, most commonly called the Magnificat. Many of us, when we receive our calls, try to avoid it, saying “isn't there someone more qualified? More worthy? More...not me?”<br />
<br />
Mary, on the other hand, does something quite different. Instead of asking God “why didn't you choose a queen for this noble task?” she rejoices in a God who exalts the lowly and fills the hungry, a God who casts out the powerful and proud from their high places. A God who turns the system on its head and empowers the marginalized to hold the most important places in the processes of liberation.<br />
<br />
In her moment of call, Mary discovered that she would not only play a role in God's liberating process, but that she would bear the seed of liberation, the Christ, the Messiah. In the Magnificat, Mary spoke the prophetic truth of kingdom come – the kingdom of God will not come about by means of the rich and powerful, but rather when the humble and lowly are lifted up and the high and mighty are brought down from their thrones.<br />
<br />
Often we allow the Gospel narrative to disappear between the bookends of the idyllic birth scene, the “holy infant so tender and mild” and the triumphant victory of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords over death. When we do this, though, we forget the most liberating elements of the narrative. Looking at the Magnificat rather than the birth as the beginning of the story gives us a whole new perspective.<br />
<br />
From his origins, Jesus brought with him liberation. By giving birth to the son of God, Mary was liberated from her marginalization, becoming one that all generations would call blessed. Likewise, she brought liberation to those future generations in the form of her son.<br />
<br />
The Magnificat as a song of praise reminds us to rejoice in our call to be part of God's liberating process, bringing us forth from our humble and sometimes marginalized and seemingly underqualified origins to play that part. The Magnificat as a reminder of God's goodness, we are reminded that liberation is coming, that liberation is here, should we choose to humble ourselves and accept the call.<br />
<br />
This Christmas, rather than celebrating solely with idyllic pictures of the nativity and consumption galore, we should learn from the example of Mary, taking time to listen for our calls, rejoicing in them, and humbly accepting them.<br />
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***<br />
<i><br /></i>
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<div class="gmail_extra">
<strong style="font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; line-height: 21px;">Kara Johansen Crawford</strong><span style="font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;"> is
a graduate of DePaul University, with a BA in International Studies and
Peace, Justice and Conflict Studies. Kara has been involved in
activism and community service for much of her life and is particularly
passionate about labor justice, queer issues and engaging faith
communities on social issues. Kara is currently serving as a Mission
Intern with The United Methodist Church at the Centro Popular para
América Latina de Comunicación, based in Bogotá, Colombia. Follow Kara
on Twitter @revolUMCionaria and on her </span><a href="http://revolumcionaria.wordpress.com/" style="color: #eeaa00; font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 21px; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">blog</a><span style="font-family: Arial,Tahoma,Helvetica,FreeSans,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;">.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-3517654422682900182012-12-13T10:00:00.000-05:002013-03-28T15:58:57.533-04:00Advent 3- Mud on My Boots<i>by Betty L. Gannon</i><br />
<br />
<i>Luke 2:6-7</i><br />
<i>While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.</i><br />
<br />
Entering into the neighborhood in Staten Island NY where I was going to be spending the day cleaning up was like something out of the Twilight Zone. The houses from the outside looked fine, but it was so silent. Utility companies on the street working and dump trucks created some noise but it did not cut the silence. Walking into the houses the silence got even louder. Houses that must have been the dreams of many people where covered in mud, water stained and molding. The stories of the people who lived in here in this neighborhood molding away, as the mud leached up the walls as well. But the mud was truly the one hallmark that covered everything it was everywhere. On the street itself, in the front yards, on the floors, on the people working to restore there lives.
Thinking of most of the pictures of the Nativity that come to my mind, I can’t help but to think just how clean they are. Mary without a sweat drop on her brow, the shepherds in clean tunics, and the animals looking in from clean straw underfoot. Now I did not grow up on a farm but I spent enough time around animals to know that animals in general are not always the picture perfect image we have in our Christmas cards. Same thing about human birth, that’s messy too, without going into to details.<br />
<br />
Life is messy. But the mess is central to our lives as Christians. God proves that to us by coming to dwell with us. Making sure to make a grand entrance in the world in the muck, the dirt, and the mud of the earth and of our lives. Not exactly the Hollywood version of a savior.
The group of people I was working with was tasked to demo a house. It’s messy and yucky and potentially very dangerous. Whacking down dry wall that has been soaked through makes it twice as hard to clean up then regular dry wall. The mold spots black and fuzzy serve as a very real reminder of just what we are doing.
Plaster dust that is bad enough on its own has become crusted to our pants and to the bottom of our boots because of the dampness. It is a mess. But here’s the thing, the houses in Staten Island and other storm-damaged areas from Sandy are going to be a mess for a long time. But think of the lives of the people affected by Sandy let alone the other storms that where in their lives before the storm. Imagine the mud left in their lives right now. Covered like the roads and the stoops.<br />
<br />
Life is messy; we as humans are created from the mud, formed into the images of God. Most of us reading this where unlikely born into mud, but plenty of people still are born into mud today. But we, unlike God, can’t always shape the mud into something good.<br />
<br />
But there are opportunities for us to make the mud go away, to shape it into something. I encourage everyone who is United Methodist to go get an ERT (<a href="http://nyac.com/pages/detail/1786">early responder training</a>) badge, so that you can be among the second wave of people to go to a disaster site and help clean up. You can also donate money and flood buckets to <a href="http://www.umcor.org/">United Methodist Committee on Relief</a> (UMCOR), make it a project for your youth group, ladies group, get the entire community involved maybe hold a drive at your local grocery store to get the items.<br />
<br />
Additionally if you have people going to help commission them for the important work of Christian presence that they are providing. But most importantly continue to pray for the survivors of the storm, the utility workers, the police, the EMTs, the linemen, the Red Cross workers, the construction managers, and the volunteers that are on the ground working to try and create something out of the mud.<br />
<br />
For more information about Hurricane Sandy Disaster Response, visit the New York Annual Conference's <a href="http://nyac.com/pages/detail/1786">website</a>. <br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
<i>Betty L. Gannon is a third year seminarian at <a href="http://www.drew.edu/theological/">Drew Theological School</a> in
Madison NJ. She is in the ordination process in the <a href="http://www.nyac.com/">New York Annual Conference</a> of The UMC, her interests include disability theology,
social work, pastoral counseling and care, and working to meet people
‘where they are’ to help them meet the goals they have for themselves.
When she is not hitting the books she knits, reads, and watches Law and
Order SVU just a little too much! She blogs at <a href="http://itinerant-camper.blogspot.com/">Itinerant Camper</a>.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-45703277540182213492012-12-07T10:00:00.001-05:002013-03-28T15:59:26.281-04:00Advent 2- Anticipating the birth of Christ with all the Earth<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>by Tyler Sit </i><br />
<br />
<i>Romans 8:18-24 </i><br />
<i>"I consider
that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with
the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was
subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one
who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from
its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the
children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in
labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who
have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for
adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now
hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?"</i></div>
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I know Jesus never wore snowpants, but
Christmas is certainly the time when my mind is on cold weather.
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I think about the street lamps of
Minnesota, padded with the bluster of blizzards, shining onto glossy
streets. I think of icicles, hanging like the pipes of an organ
along every rooftop. How much warmer fireplaces and friends feel in
this season; how much cleaner do our hallelujahs ring across the
plates of ice. It’s not exactly Bethlehem, but winter in the Twin
Cities gives me the thrill of hope that Advent is all about.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Perhaps your ecological memories are
different than mine, but we have all encountered God during some
brush with nature—whether it was at a mountain top, during a
thunderstorm, or in the middle of a bird song in the morning. As
Christians, we have to honor these sites of divine encounter, not in
a romanticized way but in honor of the real difference nature makes
in our spiritual lives.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Romans 8 says that the earth’s
flourishing is a sign that human beings are living rightly;
destruction of the planet (“bondage and decay”) directly
correlates to human rejection of God’s will.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The reason is obvious: nature is our
friend in finding God—it inspires us, calms us, and accompanies us.
The degradation of the planet, its subjection to “futility,” is
not something to be taken lightly.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Furthermore, our abuse of the planet is
accessory to injustices against human beings—think of refugees
created by climate change, environmental health risks to children
from pollution, and increasing amounts of famine.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The vision of Romans 8, however, offers
more: it gives earth a voice. The planet literally groans (v22) for
the time when it must shoulder the weight of human recklessness no
longer. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is not a melody for human
voices alone.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1381889336465684505" name="_GoBack"></a>Celebrate this
Advent season, then, with more than just your family or church.
Anticipate the birth of Christ with all of the Earth, ever-mindful of
the destruction humans have wrought and ever-grateful in the Spirit
that abides with us despite it all.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is a shallow practice indeed—to
place a star on a tree without noticing deforestation, to break bread
without caring about desolation of agricultural systems, to celebrate
a virgin birth without considering the future world of our children.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
God offers us more hope that that.
Humans and earth alike deserve care and freedom from violence.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Let us begin now.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>3 Ideas for Making Your Christmas
Greener</b></div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Agree with friends and family to
exchange gifts that make a difference—donations to charity,
microloans to end poverty (<i>see</i> kiva.org), or organic and fair
trade gifts</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Pray with your faith community for
the renewal of the planet and the healing of human actions that have
harmed it
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It’s never too early to start
planning your next vegetable garden!</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
***</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Tyler Sit is in the Master of Divinity program at the <a href="http://www.candler.emory.edu/">Candler School of Theology</a> and pursuing ordination in The United Methodist Church. He is
an organizer for the <a href="http://www.wscfglobal.org/wscfAllRegion.php?region=North%20America">World Student Christian Federation</a> (North America),
and is constantly seeking creative ways to combine his passions for
environmentalism, contemplation, feminism, and social justice. In his
spare time, he enjoys going on adventures.</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-22600027344585890802012-12-02T04:30:00.000-05:002013-03-28T15:59:47.624-04:00Advent 1 - Waiting on God<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Text:
Luke 21:25-35</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
am out there. Way out there. No, really, I am way out there in rural Kekaha,
Kauai, Hawaii. I am the pastor of the westernmost United Methodist Church in
the United States. This church is teaching me how to “do” or “be” this call to
pastoral ministry. I have much to learn.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Miracleofthefig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Miracleofthefig.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then
again many of us on this blog are “out there.” You know, in the world that
Wesley called his parish--committed to movement(s) of justice wherever we may
be. We are just your typical rabble rousers speaking truth to systems of power.
We respond to the realities of global climate change. We refuse to accept institutionalized
forms of racism, sexism, homophobia, and the ignorance that haunts our
classrooms, places of business, and sadly, even our homes. We raise our voices
in opposition of belligerent, derailed/ing political-economic systems that
maintain structures of inequality. Wherever we find ourselves we must know our
context.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Indeed,
we walk dusty roads in worn “slippers,” our sneakers smell because we have
walked the streets time and again, and our hearts are sometimes full and other
times not. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Advent 1 lectionary text portrays Jesus as a prophetic rabbi who preached in
the temple of the coming reign of God. He was out there. Jesus spoke of the
signs of nature, the distress of nations, the fainting masses, and the shaking
heavens. It sounds mildly reminiscent of the “Left Behind” book series. Then,
only, will we see the Son of Man return in triumphant victory.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What
did Jesus mean? Did he mean that the temple would be destroyed or was he
directing our consciousness toward the end times? Is this an apocalyptic
judgment or an eschatological promise? In an article, Walter Wink wrote that “apocalyptic
[thought] has a foreshortened sense of time. It anticipates a final war between
the powers of Good and Evil...Eschatology, by contrast, regards the future as
open, undetermined and capable of being changed if people alter their behavior in
time.”<span class="MsoFootnoteReference"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1381889336465684505#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></a></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
other words, Jesus offered a word of hope--we still have time. Do not despair
but stand up and raise your heads. We continue to build, create, and hope in
the transformative work of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kin-dom</i>
of God. Advent reminds us that we do not do this work alone. We need each
other. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Most
importantly, we wait on God. For a city boy appointed to the beautiful beaches
of rural Kauai this season of Advent challenges me to pause, to be present
where God is already at work. We wait on God who became human to dwell with
humans in our messy, chaotic world.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
answer lies in a fig tree.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
fig tree, an ancient symbol of blessing and hope, often requires three to five
years of tending, fertilizing, and cultivating to bear fruit. The ancients knew
this when they sat under the tree for shade and learning. Jesus taught his
disciples that the work of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kin-dom</i> necessitates
patience. We have much work to do. Do it. But the good news is that God is
already present, God is the one who moves within and amidst us, as we await the
coming of the Messiah.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Prayer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Holy
God, give us grace to cast away the darkness of despair, that we might embrace
the light of justice, now in this present life in which Christ came to live and
die; and on that day, when Christ shall come again may we share in the life to
come through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
now and for ever. Amen. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">adapted from The
Book of Common Prayer</i>)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">[Practice]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Check
out this video and reclaim the Advent season. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8v-zrLZO7FE">Reclaim Christmas</a> </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Joshua Clough is
the pastor at West Kauai United Methodist Church on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii
and a candidate for elders orders in the California-Pacific Annual Conference.
A native of the Seattle, Washington area he enjoys running, politics, reading, writing,
and walking on the beach at sunset with his dog “Cassie.”</span></i></div>
<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1381889336465684505#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <i>The Christian Century</i>,
October 17, 2001, pp. 16-19.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Joshuahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02964657572621202562noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-63631140074018354162012-11-30T20:29:00.002-05:002012-11-30T20:31:15.508-05:00Advent in Tahrir Square<i>Stay tuned for OnFire's Advent 2012 series beginning this weekend where we will explore the meaning of Advent through the justice work young people (or, in the case of this post, the young at heart!) are doing around the world. This Advent "preview" is cross-posted from <a href="http://kairosphotos.com/blog/?p=1685">Global Lens</a>, a blog by Paul Jeffrey, a photojournalist for the mission agency of The United Methodist Church. Check out his <a href="http://kairosphotos.com/blog/">blog</a> to see more of his reflections and stunning photography!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>by Paul Jeffrey</i><br />
<br />
It is Advent in Tahrir Square, where people are waiting. They’re not sure for what, but such is the nature of Advent, to wait for freedom and deliverance amid uncertainty. The people gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square are both afraid and hopeful at the same time. That's Advent in a land where Arab Spring has turned into Arab Fall.<br />
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<div class="post-1685 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-africa category-church category-faith category-photography category-war">
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Although western churches begin celebrating Advent on Sunday,December 2, the waiting period has already begin in the Orthodox churches, including for the Copts, as Christians here are called. They have begun fasting, though that seems to mean they just give up meat. When I sat down to lunch Wednesday in a small village in northern Egypt,the Copt family hosting me apologized for their "fasting foods"–a rich variety of salads, tahini, lentil soup, falafel, and eggplant. Fasting for them means giving up meat, though fish is OK. Frankly, I'd fast more often if that’s how we defined the word.<br />
<br />
My Coptic friends here were concerned for my safety during the protests in and around Tahrir Square, and they’d warned me to stay in my hotel and shoot the protests from the balcony, which overlooks the square. I went anyway, and I got beat up by the Egyptian police. When one friend heard what happened, she stared at me with a mixture of concern and a very clear I-told-you-so look. I promised her I wouldn't go out again that night and would watch from the hotel balcony. Then a few hours later, she called me from the square to invite me down. I couldn't hear her very well, with all the chanting and noise. A quarter million people had shown up for a massive demonstration against the dictatorial measures announced by President Mohamed Morsi on November 22. She said I should come join her and her friends. I knew I'd never find them, so I declined. The next day, she talked about it with a sparkle in her eyes. "There were so many people that there was no oxygen to breathe," she said, pantomiming suffocating. "It was wonderful!"<br />
<br />
Advent: waiting that takes your breath away.<br />
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Not all the protesters are as nonviolent and polite as the thousands who are maintaining a vigil in a collection of tents in the center of Tahrir Square. Hundreds of mostly young men have been engaged in a continuous battle with police (also, not coincidentally, mostly young men) in the streets around the square, including the street right under my balcony. The youth, who did include some young women, express their anger about the president’s anti-democratic measures by taunting and throwing rocks at the police, who shoot tear gas at the protesters, who in turn throw the tear gas back at the police. It's a testosterone-fueled drama which, quite frankly, has strongly compelling visual elements. Translation: I wanted to photograph it. I could shoot the scene from my balcony, but the aerial view of human drama is seldom very compelling.<br />
<br />
So I got closer. And, wouldn't you know it, the first time I went out to photograph the showdown I got "injured." It was on the north side of Tahrir Square, and three times the tear gas got the better of me, so I'd retreat a bit and the protesters’ medics would grab me and rinse out my eyes with whatever solution they use to take the sting away. No worries. But then a tear gas canister landed right in front of a guy who was right in front of me, and it startled him and he jumped backward, right into me. He collided with my lens, which shoved the attached camera into my forehead, cutting me and drawing quite a bit of blood. (Fortunately my Nikons are tougher than me.) The medics quickly grabbed me, thinking they had a serious case to work on, and a foreigner to boot, but it was just one of those little cuts that bleeds a lot. They
graciously cleaned me up, and I was back in action. As some more tear gas was incoming, one of the medics pointed at a smoking canister bouncing by and said, "Made in USA." Then he innocently asked me, "Where you from?" <em>America. Malesh.</em> "I'm from America. I'm sorry," I said in pigeon Arabic. I wished him good luck. He hugged me. I went back to taking pictures.<br />
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Some images from the day include a man throwing back a smoking tear gas canister, another man snuffing one out in the mud, a woman raising her arms in defiance toward the police, and a man throwing a rock.<br />
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The next day was Tuesday, when a massive march was planned for the afternoon. Most schools and businesses shut down so people could stay at home, or participate, whichever they chose. I had some interviews later in the day but went out early in the morning to see what I could find. The same drama was unfolding. I tried to shoot from behind police lines but an official told me to go away, that no photos were allowed. So I walked around to the protesters' side and started shooting. <br />
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Let me say, before you dismiss me as completely foolish, that in situations like this I always keep security in mind. I tend to be conservative and am always thinking of how I'm going to exit the encounter should things turn dodgy. So I stayed close to one side street which I figured I could run down if I needed to escape. But then
something interesting happened. Some older men, and a few women, were standing between the police and the young protesters, trying to get the later to quit throwing stones, and the former to hold their fire. They were moderately successful, and the two opposing lines came closer together.<br />
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People starting talking to each other, and I watched as one police officer and one protester embraced. It was an emotional moment, and many people cheered. Everyone, for a moment, was simply Egyptian, and the divisions disappeared. And then the kumbaya moment ended as a new barrage of rocks arrived from youth in the back, and the police lost their cool and charged, firing tear gas and swinging batons. I turned to run for my escape route, but got knocked over in the melee. When I got up, there were rocks falling all around me, and I ran toward the side of the street holding my arms over my head in case a rock had my name on it. But that diversion put me directly in the path of three running police, who when they saw me raised their batons to hit me. I motioned at the rocks and pleaded for them to help me (always assume the best of people, my mother always taught me), and after a moment’s indecision one of them said something to the others, and then two of them raised their plexiglass shields to keep the rocks from hitting me and we moved down the street together toward safety. Yet just as I thought I might get out if it alive, some other police, who’d run after the protesters firing tear gas, turned to see these three escorting me, and they yelled "camera!" and ran toward us, pushing the other three out of the way and hitting me with their batons. The three "good cops" tried to stop them, but to no avail. I doubled over from a particularly sharp blow to my right side. They then drug me back to the police line, where several other police joined in hitting and kicking me. Frankly, at this point I've gone beyond my initial fear that they would seize the Compact Flash cards from my cameras, and am starting to contemplate more existential questions. Finally one cop grabbed me and pulled me away from the others. I think it was the cop who I'd photographed hugging the
demonstrator, but I'm not sure. It all happened kind of fast, and I was trying to protect my vital organs and cameras from grave harm. He pushed me forward down the street, and I didn’t turn back. I stumbled around the corner and down my "escape street," even though it was full of tear gas, soon to be grabbed by some demonstrators who ran out to rush me to safety. They sat me down, washed my eyes out, stuck some cotton soaked with something under my nose, and kept apologizing for the police. Two of them escorted me back to the hotel, all the while saying they were
sorry. <br />
<br />
I was left with a unpleasant collection of bruises, and some kidney issues which are now OK. I'm also feeling, I have to admit, like I'm getting too old for this. But it’s clear that it could have been worse. At least two Egyptian photographers were also beaten by the police that day; one of them was hospitalized. Egyptian journalists face tremendous challenges in trying to cover what’s happening here. The truth is a dangerous thing, and telling the truth, in whatever way, obviously
entails certain risks.<br />
Egypt's Christians face even more serious challenges, yet they don't shrink from them. They never had an easy time under Mubarek, but the rise to power of conservative Islamists has emboldened those who would do them harm. Churches and Christian businesses and homes have been attacked in recent months, and church members killed. While these attacks probably don’t reflect any official policy of violence toward Christians, and there are numerous examples of Muslims protecting Christians from violence, it's nonetheless clear that some extremists have taken advantage of political instability to promote an agenda of intolerance. Thousands of Christians have left Egypt in recent months.<br />
But those who remain–they’re roughly ten percent of the population–aren’t shrinking away from their faith. I witnessed that in a couple of rural villages I visited, where Christians and Muslims get along fine, both free to live out their faith. In Sakra, for example, I walked around with Father Joil Sobhe, the Coptic Orthodox priest, as he visited the faithful.<br />
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In Cairo, I interviewed Coptic Orthodox Bishop Youannes, who has a great black beard. At the end of our talk I compared our beards and asked for any advice on how to make mine more, ahh, distinguished. He told me to have more faith. OK.<br />
<br />
Youannes also explained the demographics of religion here, saying that Christians had “very good” relations with moderate Muslims who, with Christians, make up half the population. That’s what I witnessed in the villages. With the Muslim Brotherhood, which he said represented about 30 percent of the population, Christians had “good” relations, and could coexist just fine albeit with disagreements. But the 20 percent
or less of the population from Salafist and other fundamentalist groups want little to do with the Christians, he said, and some even think they should be kicked out of Egypt. So there's no dialogue between them and Christians.<br />
<br />
While they're rightly concerned about their security and status here, to characterize Egypt's Copts as fearful would be overstating things. "Yes, the future is vague. But from the point of view of our faith we are enthusiastic. God is almighty and our protector, and we are a blessed nation," Youannes told me. "Being a minority gives us more faith, makes us closer to God, makes us seek God's help and support even
more."<br />
<br />
Copts, by the way, are quick to remember that they weren't always a minority, that indeed they were here before the Muslims. Yet political convenience triumphed when they welcomed the Muslims to Egypt in order to rid the country of the Byzantines. And some Muslims rightly point out that Christian-Muslim relations here are better in general than the relationships between Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christians, many of whom refuse to acknowledge, let alone talk with each other. So we should be careful about easy reductionism. It's complicated. <br />
<br />
Another example of this complicated scene is that the Copts could actually benefit in some ways from Morsi’s power grab, in that one of the things he did was reduce the power of the judiciary, much of which is still a holdover from the Mubarek regime. It’s extremely corrupt, and Christians have often gotten a raw deal in the courts whenever their relationship with Muslims was part of any legal matter. If Morsi can
help craft a more transparent and fair court system, he’ll be doing all Egyptians a favor. Whether that results from his new power grab remains to be seen. Indeed, it’s not clear how long his extraordinary powers will last. Although no time limit was announced at the beginning, some of Morsi’s people are talking about the exceptional powers ending within weeks, once a draft of the constitution is approved. Obviously, for the people who keep Tahrir Square filled with protest songs day and night,
even that is not acceptable, in part because the proposed new constitution takes Egypt even further away from its secular past.<br />
<br />
Yet such is the nature of revolutions, what Ambrose Bierce characterized as the "abrupt change in the form of misgovernment." They are complicated, messy things. Ours in the United States was no exception, and some of the critical issues of the day were not resolved for decades or more. So that it is taking Egypt a while to find its way is not surprising, although it’s ironic that a country with such an
iconic role in the history of civilization is still struggling with what it means to be a democracy.<br />
<br />
And that uncertainty is at the heart of waiting. Have a happy Advent, my friends.<br />
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________________<br />
Before coming here, I was in Jordan and Lebanon to report on how
churches are responding to the Syrian refugee crisis. Instead of going
home from here, as originally planned, I’m instead flying to Southeast
Asia for two weeks to look at some issues in the Philippines and
Cambodia. I confess this blog has been a bit quiet of late, for which I
apologize. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say. I’ve just been
too busy to find the time to write. I hope to remedy that after I return
home, where several major projects of writing and photo-editing await.
Stay tuned.<br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
<i>To read more about Paul Jeffrey, visit his <a href="http://kairosphotos.com/blog/?page_id=2">website</a> or see his longer <a href="http://kairosphotos.com/pauljeffrey/paulbio.html">bio</a> here. </i></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-36067052905179869622012-11-27T17:04:00.000-05:002012-12-01T08:43:18.402-05:00Jubilee at Wal-mart <i>by Mistead Sai</i><br />
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I have been
working on the Wal-mart Black Friday actions for the past couple
weeks for my organization, the <a href="http://www.iwj.org/"><span style="color: blue;"><u>Interfaith
Worker justice</u></span></a> (IWJ). The Interfaith Worker Justice is
a national organization located in Chicago whose mission is to
organize, mobilize, and encourage communities of faith to advocate
for workers' rights (and worker justice). As a recently new US-2
missionary commissioned by General Board of Global Ministries of the
UMC, I was commissioned to Chicago to work with IWJ as my placement
site.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2kqRWORFudO7b_t9hyphenhyphen-i8PbsPe38V4subWIkqKaNMro74l8ZfG7Ipw-70oiS4m2VaqDNtYaVaLkUoN_8w0kLzDYVMX7RTg9kBtg2pdHp3qfXGEj9yqDlgESnCbXRqxpA2dh-HwDb2u2pF/s1600/jubilee1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2kqRWORFudO7b_t9hyphenhyphen-i8PbsPe38V4subWIkqKaNMro74l8ZfG7Ipw-70oiS4m2VaqDNtYaVaLkUoN_8w0kLzDYVMX7RTg9kBtg2pdHp3qfXGEj9yqDlgESnCbXRqxpA2dh-HwDb2u2pF/s320/jubilee1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In the past
couple weeks, my job tasks has allowed me to participate in Jubilee
at Wal-mart, which has been IWJ’s Wal-mart campaign, inciting the
religious rhetoric of Jubilee in the Judeo-Christian tradition for
management and owners of Wal-mart to share their resources and wealth
with their workers. It is with this same token that IWJ seeks to
advocate that the 1.4 million Wal-mart workers be provided a living
wage, decent minimum hours, less costly health care, and better
working conditions.</div>
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<br /></div>
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At the heart of
this issue and various worker-related campaigns is dignity and
respect. It is fundamental for our co-existence as humans and for
God’s creation to acknowledge the dignity and worthy of all people.
This also applies to the work and labor that the individual offers to
the world with their talents and gifts. Like my friend said to me,
work is dignified because humans are dignified. Thereby it’s
important for Wal-mart to acknowledge the dignity and respect of
people and the work they produce. As a missionary serving at IWJ, I
have come to understand that labor allows God’s mission and
ministry to be done in the world.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDdQ3kBCGEv3PbqQUSaAYU0mLVh-_yXqCFZHUswMVYZvBgdVAUNWrSr0kb6ttZopn-bcrTz0ezK-H0cHnMR1vKoZ7WemULYNNcwPt8dHSbfKX5Yhx5TyhSN5zJqitUWeuiAeFoRTyRaQK/s1600/jubilee3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDdQ3kBCGEv3PbqQUSaAYU0mLVh-_yXqCFZHUswMVYZvBgdVAUNWrSr0kb6ttZopn-bcrTz0ezK-H0cHnMR1vKoZ7WemULYNNcwPt8dHSbfKX5Yhx5TyhSN5zJqitUWeuiAeFoRTyRaQK/s320/jubilee3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Some of my job
tasks had included creating a flash mob tutorial video, and reaching
out to our affiliates to get involved in the Black Friday actions.
And in these past couple weeks, I have been transformed by this
experience. I discovered a passion for this campaign because I saw
the economic injustice and the welfare of humans being tarnished. I
was hearing stories of individuals not being given minimum hours
unable to pay their rent, a worker going to management saying they
needed more hours to pay for their rent and management at Wal-mart
providing church communities that could help them out rather than
working to help them get hours to make ends meet. Wal-mart workers
are struggling to pay for food, rent, and health care. The worst part
of it that struck a chord with me was to hear and read the CEO of
Wal-mart, Mike Duke had a total compensation of $18.1 million per the
2012 shareholder report while a total compensation for a full-time
worker is $8.83/hr or $15,000 a year putting the full-time worker
below the poverty line. This should be a red flag for any person of
faith. Is God’s justice reigning in this world? How are some people
struggling for survival and others are grossly rewarded for the hard
labor of other individuals?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYG4A8MOZEhhD6K6n391E1_RqFGd-WliEDU9OMZzuQ0XaD_rouOXuQZd8pZJuU69mbJTV2U1bwmVWIik7Zn-FnJEfVp7nv7rxYIySmdC5uUV3NfUv4O6gqiE491XgHjxnlXj1equ9M4Jy/s1600/jubliee2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAYG4A8MOZEhhD6K6n391E1_RqFGd-WliEDU9OMZzuQ0XaD_rouOXuQZd8pZJuU69mbJTV2U1bwmVWIik7Zn-FnJEfVp7nv7rxYIySmdC5uUV3NfUv4O6gqiE491XgHjxnlXj1equ9M4Jy/s320/jubliee2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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After my
personal investment in this campaign at IWJ with all the calls and
work, I stood in solidarity with Wal-mart workers in the Black Friday
actions in Chicago, to stand against the largest private employer and
the nation’s largest retailer to treat their workers with dignity
and respect and provide them with a living wage, decent minimum
hours, less costly health care, an end to retaliation and for workers
to freely associate (if they so choose), and better working
conditions.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.02in; margin-top: 0.02in;">
We are like the
biblical narrative of David and Goliath and unless we stand up
against this big retailer like Wal-mart who makes billion of dollars
in profit each year saying, “You come against me with low prices on
the backs of hard labor from some impoverished workers and
communities devastated by Wal-mart, but I come against you in the
name of the Lord Almighty, the God that said liberate your workers
and provide them with dignity and respect," we would not have
brought about justice into this world.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It is time for
Jubilee, my brothers and sisters! It is time for Jubilee!</div>
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<i>Mistead Sai is currently a <a href="http://www.umcmission.org/Get-Involved/Young-People/Serve/Long-Term-Programs/Long-Term-Programs">US-2 missionary</a> commissioned by the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church to Chicago, IL where he works with <a href="http://www.iwj.org/">Interfaith Worker Justice</a> (IWJ).</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-8747812648849830842012-11-20T23:57:00.001-05:002012-11-21T00:10:59.759-05:00How It Felt to be Powerless<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">My grandmother was born in 1922 and born the oldest of four children to a farmer in Arkansas. I’ve always thought that her childhood experiences of deprivation affected her tendency to keep a stocked refrigerator and pantry. I used to marvel at all the colorful fresh vegetables and fruits that filled her fridge with multiple types of ice cream in the freezer next to various cuts of meat. The shelves in her pantry were always filled with stacks of canned vegetables and soups along with baking supplies so she could make fresh cookies at a moment’s notice. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">This habit of keeping a stocked kitchen was inherited by mother whose current pantry offers a variety of unique bread mixes, pickles and sprinkles among other foods. Poking through her refrigerator looking for food she bought just for me and exploring her creative pantry are rituals of coming home.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Now in my first house in New Jersey, my own refrigerator and pantry seem like important validators of my ability to care for my family. But three weeks ago, these validators were threatened by Hurricane Sandy. Accurately predicting that we would lose power, I took all of our frozen fish and meats to a friend’s house where we set up camp expecting their house to be safer than our own. If we were going to lose all this food, we might as well begin to eat it! </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">On Sunday October 28th, the nine of us who had gathered under one roof began to feast on everything that we expected to go bad. On Monday as the worst of the storm began to hit, we were cooking frantically when our friend’s house lost power. It was too warm to keep any of the perishable food outside so we kept cooking on their gas stove by lantern light to fry fish and bacon and cook one-pot meals so our food wouldn’t be wasted.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Just as we hit the point when food poisoning was a real threat because we couldn’t keep any food cold, the temperatures dropped. Unfortunately all our leftover meats, milk, salad dressings, condiments and frozen meals had already gone bad. And now we were cold. We started making nightly fires in the fireplace and we toasted bread in a frying pan to accompany meals of canned soup. Instead flipping on a coffee pot each morning, we struggled to patiently pour boiling water through a coffee filter knowing that we didn’t have half and half to add to our homemade coffee and our sugar supply was diminishing. It almost seemed like we were pioneers. As power was restored to other various blocks in town, we were able to begin finding fast food restaurants that were open. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">After the first few days, we began to rethink our situation. We debated daily whether we should use our limited gas to move to various family member’s houses who might have had power restored. After a week of hanging in there working as a team to survive, I left with my infant son to stay with my parents. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I returned a week later to my friend’s house where power had been restored since my house still wouldn’t have power for three more days. Finally it was time to clear my refrigerator and freezer of the things we weren’t able to eat before they went bad. I cried as I washed out bottles for the recycling and scrubbed every nook and cranny hoping to avoid mold and the possibility of contamination of future meals. Then it was time to restock. Where do you even start? Milk... eggs... butter... cheese... </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwQx-Uc8voUVQmmN_DZY0VMYqfrHlBdc62FJGdb4vuTLVWfmnlW_g_Zr0zyS9oO3OVgQwjeX0HWYWtcbzbRKCJRonfcLGZcvrvAS5OxtTXqFv7KfHK93eDKduj70gbLqmort7z9n4R_0/s1600/DSCN1864.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLwQx-Uc8voUVQmmN_DZY0VMYqfrHlBdc62FJGdb4vuTLVWfmnlW_g_Zr0zyS9oO3OVgQwjeX0HWYWtcbzbRKCJRonfcLGZcvrvAS5OxtTXqFv7KfHK93eDKduj70gbLqmort7z9n4R_0/s640/DSCN1864.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">As I prepared to preach a sermon for last Sunday based the importance of generosity, I found an article that estimated that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><i>1.5 billion people live without power every day</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">. One in five people worldwide can’t reach into a cold refrigerator to get milk for their coffee, let alone drink coffee made by an automated coffeepot. They can’t even flip a switch to turn on the kitchen light after the sun goes down.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">One of Paul’s comments caught my attention as I thought about my experience. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><i>“You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous in every way. </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><i>Such generosity produces thanksgiving to God through us.” </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">-2 Corinthians 9:11 (CEB) </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Yes, it was difficult to lose most of our food. But I feel grateful that I can begin to restock my refrigerator and the almost empty pantry shelves. Many people in my own state lost more than just their food supply. You’ve probably seen the photographs of the devastation on the Jersey shore. I have been given the resources not only to restock my own shelves but also to act generously towards others. And generosity is not limited to monetary gifts. Some of our neighbors need help cutting down trees, cleaning out flooded houses and repairing their damaged property. Some of us need listening ears and compassionate responses as we readjust after a frightening storm. And some of us need to help each other. May such generosity produce thanksgiving to God this Thanksgiving holiday. </span><br />
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HeatherVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09442405465675015533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-80730762230949146802012-09-20T20:59:00.000-04:002012-10-02T21:02:42.011-04:00Living into the TensionBecause we got back after the end of chapel services on campus, the General Conference 2012 class from <a href="http://www.drew.edu/theological/">Drew Theological School</a> planned a worship service around the experience of <a href="http://umonfire.blogspot.com/search/label/GC2012">General Conference</a> for the fall. I spoke with my friend and fellow Drewid Joe Samalenge at the service about living into the tension of General Conference. I spoke about the importance of finding life-giving communities when living in ugliness. Joe spoke powerfully of his experience as a translator, the struggle between where he is now (Drew) and where he came from (Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe). What follows is the video of the worship service and a taste of how we grabbed a hold of hope after GC2012.<br />
<br /><center><b>We now have the summer between us and General Conference 2012. How have you continued to reflect on the experience, either of being there or watching it or hearing about it? How are you imagining General Conference 2016? What are you doing now to live into your vision for the church?</b></center>
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Opening Worship and my witness
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Joe's testimony and communion
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Closing in song
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<i>Shannon Sullivan is a graduate of <a href="http://www.drew.edu/theological/">Drew Theological School</a> in Madison, New Jersey. She serves the <a href="http://deercreekcharge.wordpress.com/">Deer Creek Charge</a>, a two-point charge in the <a href="http://www.bwcumc.org/">Baltimore-Washington Conference</a>. She blogs at <a href="http://shasullivan.blogspot.com/">You'll Never Guess What the Heathens Did Today</a>.</i>S. e. Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13446316478749265026noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-62855601097126906152012-09-08T08:49:00.004-04:002012-09-08T09:02:41.039-04:00The Daya Center for Peace in Hyderabad, India<i>by Zach Kerzee</i><br /><br />It was about six o’clock in the evening and I didn't have much time left before the sun set on my first and only day in Agra – home of the Taj Mahal. I decided it best to walk into town and see what I can see, so I wandered around near aimlessly for the better part of an hour. A hostel/restaurant with a yellow sign boasting a "Taj" view caught my eye, so I walked up the narrow stairs to the third floor to ask for a menu. The place was deserted. And dusty. And it looked like no one had been inside for years, so I made for a quick retreat. Before I could get down the stairs, though, a man with a fantastic mustache and a sweaty undershirt ran up to me and asked, out of breath, "Sir, would you like to eat at the restaurant." I reluctantly said yes and he walked me back up the stairs to the roof. He guided me up to the top of a yellow concrete water tower, and I asked for a menu.<br /><br />"Sorry, sir, but no menu," he said.<br /><br />Instead he handed me a chair and a big stick. "Sit, sit," he said, and then he handed me the stick.<br /><br />"What's the stick for," I said.<br /><br />And he replied off-handedly, "Oh, to fight the monkey."<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SBLDaRIuzO0/UEtBUEnbm1I/AAAAAAAAAGI/sUA5Kq8K47w/s1600/DSCN1856.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SBLDaRIuzO0/UEtBUEnbm1I/AAAAAAAAAGI/sUA5Kq8K47w/s200/DSCN1856.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5785789959379852114" /></a><br /><br />The potential for monkey battle conveyed, my host left me to a beautiful view of the Taj Mahal as a gentle rain began to fall and the sun began set behind my back.<br /><br />Most travelers that I met in my summer in India have at least one monkey story, so I thought I would begin my small contribution with mine. I came to India not as a tourist, however, but on the Greeley International Internship Grant; a summer program designed for Harvard Divinity Students who want to do international interfaith work. I worked primarily with an organization called The Daya Center for Peace in Hyderabad, India – an organization which trains children, youth, and adults in the art of peaceful conflict resolution and peace building practices.<br /><br />Aside from being exposed to monkeys for the first time, my summer in India afforded me an opportunity to do real, substantive, interfaith work for the first time in my life. I have been shaking my head in fervent agreement with my fellow progressives who stress the need for interfaith dialog and interfaith social action since college, but never before had I had the opportunity to be immersed in a truly interfaith culture.<br /><br />India has felt the sting of interfaith conflict for countless decades, but Daya (which means compassion in Sanskrit) believes that a world without violent conflict is possible. Daya doesn't preach the antiquated interfaith credo that "all religions are the same," because they're not. Instead we work to educate children about how to exist fruitfully and compassionately amidst the vast differences.<br /><br />If you'd like more information about The Daya Center for Peace, or would like to know how you can help them create a world free from violent conflict, please visit:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.friendsofdaya.org/">friendsofdaya.org</a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g6LQej8YUeA/UEtBeaPeTrI/AAAAAAAAAGU/A1DshmQLQqo/s1600/DSCN0657.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g6LQej8YUeA/UEtBeaPeTrI/AAAAAAAAAGU/A1DshmQLQqo/s320/DSCN0657.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5785790136983637682" /></a><br /><br />---<div><br /><i style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Zach Kerzee is a Master of Divinity Student at <a href="http://www.hds.harvard.edu/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(238, 170, 0); ">Harvard Divinity School</a> from Abilene, Texas.</i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381889336465684505.post-76593507844528625142012-08-11T20:11:00.000-04:002012-08-27T20:13:43.720-04:00An Announcement from OnFireIn the wake of General Conference, many United Methodist groups are in transition, trying to find where the Spirit leads in this new quadrennium. The leadership team of OnFire has discerned that our justice work can best be done by better working with <a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold; " rel="nofollow" track="on" href="http://www.mfsaweb.org" shape="rect" linktype="1" target="_blank">MFSA</a> and other United Methodist organizations and current partners like <a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold; " rel="nofollow" track="on" href="https://www.kairosresponse.org/" shape="rect" linktype="1" target="_blank">UM Kairos Response</a>, <a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold; " rel="nofollow" track="on" href="http://www.rmnetwork.org" shape="rect" linktype="1" target="_blank">Reconciling Ministries Network</a>, as well as a myriad of other justice-oriented organizations in our own local communities that need the leadership of passionate young people.<br /><br />This means that OnFire will no longer be a separate chapter of MFSA for young adults. We still support groups like <a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold; " rel="nofollow" track="on" href="http://umonfire.blogspot.com/2012/03/onfire-at-drew-university.html" shape="rect" linktype="1" target="_blank">Drew University OnFire's Java and Justice</a>, but we seek to foster a movement of justice-minded folks coming together to talk about and act on diverse issues and working in coalition rather than creating competing voices.<br /><br />Our <a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold; " rel="nofollow" track="on" href="http://umonfire.blogspot.com/" shape="rect" linktype="1" target="_blank">blog</a> will remain a resource for young people, and a place of connection. We believe in the transforming work that young people are doing all over the world, particularly young United Methodists, and we want this blog to continue to serve as a platform to showcase that work and inspire further work. We have found it powerful to hear from United Methodist Young Adult missionaries, from justice workers in Haiti, from local pastors and organizers, about issues ranging from the death penalty, divestment, interfaith solidarity, Occupy Wall Street, and so many others. We are always open to new posts, so please <a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); font-weight: bold; " rel="nofollow" href="mailto:shasullivan@gmail.com" shape="rect" linktype="2" target="_blank">email</a> if you have something to share. Young adult voices need to be heard, especially in this church, and especially in this new quadrennium.<br /><br />We encourage young people to become involved in (or start!) local MFSA chapters to engage with local issues, local churches, and local networks. Many local chapters are seeking more involvement from young people and through participating on a local level connections can be made that foster encouragement and support. While an online presence through the blog is beneficial, the face-to-face meetings in a local setting able to form friendships that empower young people to advocate on local issues and assume leadership roles within their local chapters and churches. <br /><br />As we come away from General Conference, we see that, though national and global organizing are still needed, it is in our local communities that we see important justice work happening. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0