Justice in the Burbs

Will Samson will be on Shapevine Wednesday. I met Will a few years ago. He and Lisa did a great job with Justice in the Burbs. Not only should you get the book and read it, you should not miss the interview on Shapevine as Lance gives Will a great platform for our benefit. It’s FREE!

Accepting Unacceptable Behavior

Conversations often take unexpected turns; especially when the subject is one’s life story. Predictable left the building long ago. Some things do not change. Listening to parents talk about their children brings few surprises. Our children are grown, at least they think they are. We learned not to be too surprised by anything when they were younger. Growing up meant adjustments and not just on the part of the children in the family. Hearing stories today reminds us of experiences shared not long ago. Despite the lack of surprise when it comes to young people, I am still occasionally taken back by the stories I hear from adults.

A series of recent stories reminded me of an incident Patty and me encountered in Colorado late last summer. We grabbed dinner before we would take in a play. Nearing the end of our meal a young family came into the restaurant. They seemed to be enjoying their meal as we left. Overcast and cool we decided to sit in the car and read as we waited for time to enter the theater. Not long the young mother and her youngest son emerged from the restaurant. The young boy was obviously in trouble. He shouted as his mother. He threw rocks. A number of people walked up and down the sidewalks and witnessed the manner in which this young boy treated his mother. She exercised incredible patience.

An older gentleman had been observing the incident. He may well have been a grandpa. Evidently he endured enough of the public spectacle. He spoke from across the street telling the mother she allowed unacceptable behavior. Many parents prefer not to spank their children. Parents must still decide how to provide discipline and enforce acceptable behavior. Methodologies may well be diverse but at some point a child must learn what is acceptable. Clearly this behavior was not.

Rather than focus on the behavior of the child the connection to these recent stories centered on the one who accepts the unacceptable behavior. Somewhere along the way someone in authority or power likely convinced another their behavior, the one in power, was somehow acceptable. Sadly in the narratives I listened to the behavior that had been accepted left the person accepting treatment less than human. The effects have been devastating.

The bright spot in these stories have been the experience of redemptive relationships. A husband, a friend, another family member, a church committed to cultivating these redemptive relationships alter the narrative; the stories are changing. Slowly but surely unacceptable behavior is shunned in favor of the experience of being fully human.

We who follow Jesus must advocate for redemptive relationships where people are treated as human beings, never less.

Getting Resurrection Wright

Michael Spencer does it again. Precise, pointed and helpful. I am nearing the end of N.T. Wrights Surprised by Hope. If you have not picked this one up read iMonk’s review, order your copy and get to reading.

My How Good This Advice Is

One of my favorite columnists has done it again. Leonard Pitts Jr. received a letter from a young writer from a school newspaper. It seems the young man wrote a piece that attracted some negative attention. David seeks advice from Leonard and we find the text of the reply in a recent column. One particular paragraph stood out as sound advice and even more apt description as to the way some engage issues, or don’t.

If you approach writing your column as I do mine, you see it as an attempt, not to hammer the other side down, but to persuade persuadable minds. Unfortunately, persuadable minds are an endangered species these days. You and I have the misfortune to live in a time and media culture when people think that the loudness of the argument matters more than the coherence of it, when threats and intimidation substitute for logic and reason, a time of made-up ”facts” and ideological ”truth,” a time when critical thinking is a lost art and ignorance is ascendant.

Those who spend even a little time filtering through conflicting parties would do well to note this advice in their own settings.

Chancing the Pilgrim Sandals

A second “stream poem” inspired by Nude Truths. The project is the product of sisters Mary Ylvisaker Nilsen and Kristi Ylvisaker. Their artwork in this installation turns on the poetry of Denise Levertov. I was particularly taken by #6. The confluence of viewing this installation, reading N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope, and thinking about the Lectionary Texts for this past Sunday form the nexus of this attempt.

Chancing the Pilgrim Sandas

My feet have often been the focus of attention
Attention drawn to a lack of uniform perspective
Perspective fixed by standards of “normal”
“Normal” leading to conformity
Conformity to substance and style determined by others
Others’ measure of and fixed forms intended for preservation

Preservation of a way, not “the” way, a way
A way that for many stands as “the way”
Way of a system once inspired to transform
Transform not so much
Much posturing, much politicking, much pandering
Pandering to others, away from The One

The One who subverts everything
Everything is in range, not just some things but all things
Things considered shielded by present infirmity
Infirmity reaching to a core allegedly untouchable
Untouchable by The One until “That Day”

“That Day” reserved for the climactic
Climactic act as though the life, death, and resurrection of The One is somehow anti-climactic
Anti-climactic due to the depth of damage to the image
Image bearing now shielded until That Day - Some Day

Some day we will find our feet
Feet no longer fixed, and flat
Flat as in unprepared, unresponsive, unmoved

Unmoved by the plight of “the other”
“The Other” who “is us”, who is “not us”
“Not us” but part of us - interrelated
Interrelated by the bearing of The Image

Image obscured by decisions - ours and others
Others’ images to be seen as those bearing the image of The One
The One who first donned the Pilgrim Sandas
Sandals holding infleshed divinity - the Son of Man
Man yet God - incarnated

Incarnated, journeying in and out, down and back
Back - where we hope to go to a future yet unknown
Unknown in its specificity, known in its purpose
Purpose bound in the Pilgrim’s Story
Story giving power to life, giving hope

Hope inspiring the feet, feet now moving
Moving in ways bringing life “the other” - poor and rich
Rich in gentleness and respect
Respect for the image buried
Buried beneath
Beneath our ruined journeys

Journeys now shared
Shared by chancing the Pilgrim’s Sandals
Sandals of hope and peace
Peace from the Giver of Peace and His Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage chancing the Pilgrim’s Sandals

Intersections - Epiphany and Sanctity of Life on Martin’s Day

Yesterday we celebrated the third Sunday after Epiphany and Sanctity of Life Sunday on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. These intersections created some personal reflections that surely showed up in the morning “sermon.” Today I find an illustration in the blog post of Emily Hunter McGowin.

Perhaps is it appropriate that I am posting this story on the day in the US that we celebrate the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On April 4, 1967, when speaking against the Vietnam War, Dr. King said, “I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor.” I hope that we can say the same.

And, for the executive fat-cats who watch while gross injustice plagues poor women and children in the developing world, I hear the words of Amos echoing in my head:

“You trample on the poor
and force him to give you grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.

For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
You oppress the righteous and take bribes
and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.”
- Amos 5:11-12

The revealing of Jesus marks a different understanding of life, what it means to be human and how we relate with the God who made us.

Non-violent Resistance … Loving “Others”

Last month I listened in to a conference call with Anthony Smith, who blogs at Musings of a Postmodern Negro. Anthony spared us some of his time to reflect on leadership in reference to power. The course tended to wrestle with gender issues. But, the matter of race is not too dissimilar. Some may argue, and with merit, African-Americans suffered a greater wound than women. Then again, if one has not walked in the shoes of a woman ….

We who shared in the call marveled at a perspective few could really grasp. Some may have wanted Anthony to feel better about life in American as an African-American and assert, “Some of my best friends are black.” Fortunately any such thoughts were kept from the conversation.

Anthony closed the conference call with suggestions for reading and listening from African-American culture. I could not help but think of the kind of value Newbigin suggests when he refers to someone who shares a different perspective as an “intruder.” (See, Proper Confidence) Those with differing view points intrude on our constructions of the way the world is and force something of an altering to include how others see life. To exclude the intruder is to risk not only potential valuable correctives but reduces the intruder to a nuisance, and so their experience less than human.

One writer Anthony suggested we read was James Baldwin. He, Anthony, mentioned the essay, “The Fire Next Time.” I picked up a copy of, Baldwin: Collected Essays. I began reading, “The Fire Next Time” and noticed it was written in 1963, the year I was born. Sitting in the doctor’s office I made it about half way through. A couple of quotes caught my attention.

The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously. You must accept them and accept them with love. For these innocent people have not other hope. The are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it. (Baldwin,p.294)

And if the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it. (Baldwin, p.294)

I at once thought of Will Willimon’s recent Christmas Eve message. We like to think we are the best characters in a story. We so want to identify with those whose experience seems akin to our own. The problem comes when we do not see our story clearly. For example, Willimon notes,

When I read the Christmas story, it is unfair for me to read myself into the places of Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, or even the wise men. This was their home. They are under the heel of the Empire, their lives jerked around by imperial decrees.

I live in Rome with Caesar Augustus, or maybe in Jerusalem up at the palace with that King Herod, lackey for the Roman overlords. I’d rather see myself as one of the relatives of Mary and Joseph. I wouldn’t mind being one of the shepherds, out working the night shift, surprised when the heavens filled with angels.

Identifying with Mary or Joseph is akin to suggesting, “Some of my best friends are black.” It is to assert some false connection. It outright denies our own place in our own story. The best we can do when entering another’s story is as Baldwin suggests, and I might add finds place in the way of Jesus, love. Jesus reiterated the long standing command to love our neighbor. The Apostle Paul concluded loving our neighbor sums up the whole Law.

Resisting the shaping of a culture, an economy, a politic, or a social construct may best be done by loving others. Entering another’s story in love creates a deconstructive opportunity giving birth and life to a re-constituted way of life calling for repentance and faith and relationship with and in Christ.

No debating The Great Debaters

Preparing for a wedding ceremony last week gave me cause to consider the differing ways people connect with media. The young couple selected a couple of musical pieces from one of my favorite groups, Coldplay. Wanting to understand the connection I spent time listening, reading lyrics and locating any back story on the two songs. These two young people found the lyrics expressive of the way their relationship brought deep and important meaning to their lives.

Undoubtedly when directors and producers select a movie script they often consider the same issues. We went to a later dinner and a movie with the staff of our church for a post-Christmas get together. Nathan suggested we see “The Great Debaters.” Others may be far better critics than I, but I suggest someone(s) ought to win awards for this one. Set in Marshall, Texas, the story of the debate team from Wiley College is nothing short of gripping.

Stories change lives. The intersection of Henry Lowe, Samantha Booke and James Farmer Jr. stirs us to  understand the way in which our relationships shape our very lives. Maybe this is an obvious assertion. But, in a day where we must constantly wrestle with an overconfident individualism, The Great Debaters does more than make us aware of the subtleties of a glance (like a son to a father or a father to a son). Thrown together on a debate team with an activist teacher makes for a window into just how redemptive relationships may be.

I do not want to spoil your trip to the show or your future rental. Instead, I would hope to encourage you to let the interactions of these students move to the deeper issues they unearth. Issues of power and control. Matters of race and religion. Actions of violence and non-violence. See if you are not taken by the closing argument of young James Farmer Jr.

Movies and songs offer little to debate when they beautifully expose the value of the “other.”

Not just about Killing … Children and Darfur

A couple of quick errands this morning gave me pause to stop by Starbucks. While waiting on my Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha I perused today’s edition of the New York Times on the stand in the coffee shop. This piece caught my eye as we continue to hope the situation in Darfur gets more international traction and the killing ends sooner than later. Now it seems the consequences of the fighting not only leaves many children orphaned, others displaced in refugee camps but now it appears what aid is reaching children is woefully inadequate as malnutrition is on the rise.

Read - Despite Aid, Malnutrition in Darfur Rises

The Oprah Effect

Many a book lover has watched with interest as their favorite read debuted on Oprah or received mention in the same breath as, “Oprah Book Club.” Even more have authors appreciated the publicity that surely translates into nice profits. I read this with interest over at Stephen Shields place - Faithmaps. Great use of influence!

Oprah Winfrey Show, the Today Show, and readers of President Clinton’s newly released book Giving, there is currently a shortage of businesses in need of loans. The Kiva.org staff and our Field Partners are working overtime to get more businesses on the website. In the meantime, thank you for your patience!” [some links added]