BC:AD

26 Dec

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This was the moment when Before
Turned into After, and the future’s
Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.

This was the moment when nothing
Happened. Only dull peace
Sprawled boringly over the earth.

This was the moment when even energetic Romans
Could find nothing better to do
Than counting heads in remote provinces.

And this was the moment
When a few farm workers and three
Members of an obscure Persian sect
Walked haphazard by starlight straight
Into the kingdom of heaven.

U.A. Fanthorpe (born 1929)

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Camino de Santiago, April 2014

A Prayer for Leadership

8 Nov
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Photo Credit: Me, whilst traversing the Camino de Santiago, May 2014

– from “A Prayer for Leadership” by Joan Chittister

Give us, O God,
leaders whose hearts are large enough
to match the breadth of our own souls
and give us souls strong enough
to follow leaders of vision and wisdom.

In seeking a leader, let us seek
more than development of ourselves-
though development we hope for,
more than security for our own land-
though security we need,
more than satisfaction for our wants-
though many things we desire.

Give us the hearts to choose the leader
who will work with other leaders
to bring safety
to the whole world….

We Are the Balm in Gilead

18 Sep
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Photo Credit: Christian Peacemaker Teams

What follows is a message I delivered Sunday, September 18, 2016 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Salisbury, Maryland, for their designated Peace Sunday, to commemorate the upcoming International Day of Peace (September 21).  I was asked to offer a reflection of my service with Christian Peacemaker Teams and the concept of peacemaking.

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My Friends, we meet on holy ground.  Let’s take a moment to extend our appreciation to the Assateague, Choptank, Piscataway, Wicomico of the Naticoke band, and Pocomoke peoples- the First Peoples- who resided in this region we now call Wicomico county. If I neglected other nations, I beseech forgiveness.  We honor this, their land.  We honor their proud, continuing, living spirit and heritage.  We, descendants of settlers, and sojourners on this side of Creator’s kingdom, yearn to live in right relationship with our Indigenous sisters and brothers.  We give thanks for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for their continued witness against the Dakota Access Pipeline.  May we have ears to hear….

The photos that will accompany my remarks, are just a fraction from my years of service with CPT.  But just to give some context, I included: 1) the Alqonquins of Barrier Lake, an Indigenous community in a colonial province now known as Quebec, who challenged unwanted clear cut logging on their traditional lands; 2) Elsipogtog, a Mi’kmaq community in the colonial province of New Brunswick, who in 2013 received international attention because of their steadfast resistance to proposed fracking on their un-ceded traditional lands; 3) Grassy Narrows First Nation located in the colonial province of Ontario, who also have received international attention because they have the longest active blockade, resisting unwanted clear cut logging on their traditional territory; 4) Hebron and the South Hebron Hills, Palestine. Please know, I have selected what I will term “G rated photos.”

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Photo Credit: Pei Ju Wang

For more context to my bio that appears in this morning’s bulletin, I am female, LGBT, Iranian national by birth (from Shiraz), supposedly from the Quashqai people, an Indigenous tribe of Iran. I now carry a US passport. That makes me an Iranian-American, but I really have no idea what that is supposed to mean. I was raised within the Quaker tradition. After many years being un-churched, I am now an Episcopalian when on this side of the border and Anglican when on the northern side.  I am a ‘smells and bells’ type gal, with more incense, the better. However, I embrace the contemplative, mystical heart.

While serving with CPT, my teammates referred to me as the walking i-Pod.  I have this uncanny ability to burst into song, with some random tune, even during rather stressful moments, when police appeared to be multiplying like locusts.  Prior to CPT, Lady Justice (the stoic woman-blindfolded-with even scales in one hand and sword in the other) enamored me, so I became one of those dreadful, locust like lawyers.

Because of that continuing interest of mine, I am currently reading “The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle that Brought Down the Klan” by Laurence Leamer.  In it, Clarence Darrow’s ‘The Story of My Life” is referenced.  Mr. Darrow was describing that as a young lawyer, when hanging out his shingle, “not only could I put myself in the other person’s place, but I could not avoid doing so.  My sympathies always went out to the weak, the suffering, and the poor.  Realizing their sorrows, I tried to relieve them in order that I might be relieved.”  I’m wired that way too.

Laurence Leamer then continues: “It’s hard to see suffering.  It’s hard to see injustice.  It hurts to see evil triumph.  And when it doesn’t hurt, then you’re dead inside.”

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Photo Credit: Christian Peacemaker Teams

……Ferguson. Baltimore. Freddy Gray. Dallas. Baton Rouge. Sandra Bland. Philando Castile. Alton Sterling. Mother Emanuel 9. Alison Parker and Adam Ward. Orlando. San Bernardino. Paris. Aurora. Sandy Hook. Trumpism and the Trumpeters.  A great beautiful wall. Gold star families. Birtherism. Basket of deplorables.  Little Marco. Lyin’ Ted.  WikiLeaks. Snowden. The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!…with their computers.  Emails. Crooked Hillary. Clinton’s Body Double…… speaking of i-Pods, especially with our political circus, I can’t help but think of the song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel.

Music, i-Pods and circuses aside, I was not living in the U.S. when Sandy Hook broke the world’s heart. But I remember thinking: well, we at least have reached our Titanic moment.  Who would have thought that 20, primarily white, little, angelic faces, with their 6 heroic defenders, could not produce the needed life boats, or in this case, sensible gun control measures?

I crafted my title from the prophet Jeremiah:

My joy is gone, grief is upon me,
my heart is sick.

Hark, the cry of my poor people
from far and wide in the land:

“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?”

(“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their foreign idols?”)

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”

For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of my poor people
not been restored?

O that my head were a spring of water,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,

so that I might weep day and night
for the slain of my poor people! (Jeremiah 8:18-9:1, NRSV)

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Photo Credit: Christian Peacemaker Teams

The Book of Jeremiah contains some of the most anguished, sharply harsh words in all of Scripture.  It’s important to keep in mind that the prophets of Israel, Jeremiah included, should not be thought of as social reformers or hippy, lefty social critics.  For one, they were poets.  While with Jeremiah it was “the word of the Lord” that prompted him to speak, his highly charged and emotional words help keep our present hopes, our worst fears and our continuing yearning faith real.

Jeremiah is the literature of the exiles, people who had lost their homes, future, perhaps loved ones and were simply trying to make sense of their age.  Indeed a very dark and difficult time.  Jeremiah actually shifts back and forth, between complete despair to empowering hope, from unwavering commitment to God to hot, hot, finger-wagging anger against God’s demands.

Jeremiah is actually one of my favorite books of Scripture.  It’s raw, honest, hard, revealing.  Rather than polite, superficial, fuzzy-bunny type speech, with everyone smiling, upbeat and irritatingly happy and content with cup of coffee in hand, it provides an- overwhelming- invitation to a passionate, honest relationship with the Creator… who for me, has called us to not only be a community of love and hope, but also of truth and realism.  And truth and realism is rarely do I dare say “black and white” but complex, multi-layered, confusing, complete with contradiction…complete with mystery.  When we begin to listen to words we really don’t want to hear, appearances eventually give way to reveal a breathtaking and marvelous view of God’s love and grace.  And for me, that’s the stuff of spiritual formation.

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Photo Credit: Pei Ju Wang

But we need space for laments…and grief.  It seems the capacity for lament and accompanying public expressions of grief have all but disappeared.  Anything that is sad, painful and in any way distressing, is left at the door, like a coat or hat rack.  This is actually inconceivable to Jewish/Christian tradition, which recognizes that everything- good as well as bad-is within God’s sphere.  Grief then should not be outside or beyond worship space, but intimately within it.

And you know, grief also is a prophetic activity.  Too many leaders like to put a happy face on everything.  It takes a truthful prophet to have the guts to grieve a societal disaster.  With that I’m not simply talking about a September 11th or a Paris type happening.  But that is needed.  Far too many times, I become agitated with “the Left” and its inability to pause and reflect on lives lost with September 11th type of events, before automatically honing their Jeremiah type skills and ranting about US policy or needed immediate systematic changes.  I even saw “the Left’s” callousness the morning Alison Parker and Adam Ward were gunned down on live tv.

But it also takes guts to mark a disaster that does not garnish overwhelming public empathy or pity. Here’s an example: perhaps while not grief per se, can we be moved with pity and compassion towards Secretary Clinton, after viewing that cell phone video that emerged from the 9/11 memorial?  Full disclosure: I am a Bernie supporter unenthusiastically voting ‘for’ Clinton.

…..Tears are a sign of relinquishment, a letting go of false hopes and false gods or idols (whether power, reputation, status, or popularity)….an admission that we are truly in sad shape and desperately in need of deliverance.

But — grief is not the final prophetic act.  With our tears, we fully open ourselves to divine deliverance. “History has proven over and over again that unmerited suffering is redemptive,” Martin Luther King Jr. said at Addie Mae Collins, Carole Roberston, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair’s funeral in 1963.  The young girls died, while changing into their choir robes at the 16th Street Baptist Church, September 15, 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama. “God still has a way of wringing good out of evil,” he said.

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Photo Credit: Christian Peacemaker Teams

And that way, involves you and me.  Just a bit ago I said that in 2012 I thought Sandy Hook was our Titanic moment…meaning the sinking of the Titanic painfully brought the requirement that each ship carry enough life boats for all souls aboard.  But that entails leaving, abandoning ship.  Fleeing.  Fight or flight is humanity’s on going dilemma.

I also said that I embrace the contemplative heart.  The contemplative stance is the Third Way to fight or flight.  To quote Fr. Richard Rohr: “We stand in the middle, neither taking the world on from another power position nor denying it for fear of the pain it will bring. We hold the dark side of reality and the pain of the world until it transforms us, knowing that we are both complicit in the evil and can participate in wholeness and holiness. Once we can stand in that third spacious way, neither directly fighting nor denying and fleeing, we are in the place of grace out of which genuine newness can come. This is where creativity and new forms of life and healing emerge.”

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Photo Credit: Christian Peacemaker Teams

What you have been viewing as I speak, is a glimpse of that creativity and new forms of life, even though the majority of it does come from what we would call Earth based traditions.  I can appreciate that this may not alleviate feelings of inadequateness.  “Don’t search for God in far lands,” Mother Teresa- or St Teresa of Calcutta- once said…”[he] is not there.  [He] is close to you, [he] is with you.  Just keep the lamp burning….Watch and pray.”  Before we can love the entire world, try to love just one other person-someone apparently unlovable, unwanted, or rejected…basically someone who simply annoys you.  That’s peacemaking too.

And for what it’s worth, I constantly fail at that- loving and embracing people within my own, personal sphere, who frankly annoy me.  Perhaps it is easier to love an unknown, distant world, even with its mean streak and nonsensical hatred.

Now my service in CPT was not always spent on a police line or in close proximity to soldiers.  In fact, just the opposite.  For instance, I co-facilitated non-violent direct action workshops in a variety of settings, for a variety of communities.  The distinction between violence and non-violence is…complex.  Here’s the definition we used:  Violence is power that Dominates, Dehumanizes, Diminishes or Destroys Ourselves, Others or Creation.  Nonviolence is power that Liberates, Humanizes, Heals and Creates Ourselves, Others or Creation.  The key is to focus on the concept of POWER, an active force that influences a situation.  In other words, violence is not an action and nonviolence is not inaction.

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Photo Credit: Christian Peacemaker Teams

Of course we know that absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Definitions are one thing.  Standing firm, against the current, is quite another.  I recently saw the documentary What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy.  The filmmaker is a Jewish human rights lawyer, whose family was essentially decimated during the Shoa. He said, “We’re all prone to feelings of group loyalty, a sort of tribal instinct that lumps people together, we tend to see people as victim or perpetrator, as us or them.  I understand that tribal instinct, indeed I feel it myself….but as a lawyer, I’ve learned to mistrust being swayed by such feelings, to try to avoid a tribal instinct, when it comes to dealing with issues of justice.”

Your principles and traditions embody this.  And while prophetic witness is not only as old as the Bible, it carries with it a considerable burden.  Speaking from God’s perspective should not be taken lightly. Scars, condemnation and misunderstandings do go with the territory.  What may appear clear, or apparent to supposed evidentiary standards, is, at times, no-where even close to the contradictory truth that you alone may bear. Any training, life experience, overall likeability and respect may, in the end, give way to a few seconds, minutes, or even one statement.  And, in the end, as with Yeshua, perhaps all you can do with the resulting- overwhelming- hostile scrutiny coming at you, is to respond, “You say so” (see Luke 23: 3). Or even to publicly remain silent, which will be to the amazement and wonder of many (see Matthew 27: 14; Mark 15: 4-5) and to the dismay of close friends and family members.

Because there is no room, in justice, for loyalty; there is no room, in justice, for friendship; indeed, there is no room, in justice, for love.  Justice, is truly, blind.  Now, justice and unity are rightfully intertwined.  But unity does not equal lock step formation or uniformity, but a holding of the tension between distinct individuals and the infinitely generous love of absolute communion.      

To conclude, Anna Howard Shaw, the first woman ordained in the Methodist tradition, wrote in 1888- “No man or woman has ever sought to lead his fellows to a higher and better mode of life without learning the power of the world’s ingratitude; and though at times popularity may follow in the wake of a reformer, yet the reformer knows popularity is not love.  The world will support you when you have compelled it to do so by manifestations of power, but it will shrink from you as soon as power and greatness are no longer on your side.  This is the penalty paid by good people who sacrifice themselves for others.  They must live without sympathy; their feelings will be misunderstood; their efforts will be uncomprehended. Like Paul, they will be betrayed by friends; like Christ in the agony of Gethsemane, they must bear their struggle alone…”

Remember, unmerited suffering is redemptive.  From Barriere Lake, to Elsipogtog, Grassy Narrows, Standing Rock Sioux, to Black Lives Matter and yes to the on-going, grueling, selfless- commitment by those in law enforcement who are striving to get it right, hope remains.

St. Teresa of Calcutta believed we were put on earth to do “something beautiful for God.”  We are the balm. Go and do likewise.  Selah.  Amen.

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Photo Credit: Pei Ju Wang

A Prayer for Refugees

21 Feb

 

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US/Mexico Borderlands, February 2014

Our Gracious Lord,

There are many in Your world today who have been forced

     from their homes by persecution and violence.

Keep them in your constant care, and bring them to a place

     of safety.

Be the Good Shepherd to refugees who are in flight.

     Guide them to the green pastures of safety.

Be the Everlasting Father to refugees who have lost home

     and loved ones.  Lead, protect and provide for them.

Be the Great Physician to refugees who are suffering.

     Grant them healing and hope.

Be the hiding Place to refugees who are languishing in

     camps.  Shelter their souls as well as their bodies.

Be the Deliverer to refugees who have been able to return

     home.  Restore their lives so that those who have sown

     in tears may reap in joy.

Be the Wonderful Counselor to refugees who have been

     resettled.  Help them find their way in a new land.

Be the Giver of all good gifts to those who serve refugees.

     Empower them to do justice and love mercy and walk

     humbly with You.

Be the Lord of lords to all the earth, that those who rule would do so in justice and rigthteousness, and no one would have to become a refugee anymore.

We ask these things in the precious and powerful name of Jesus. Amen.

– Lutheran Immigration and Rescue Service

Do you know your King?

2 Dec
Carrie and Chuck

Photo courtesy CPT-Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Team. November 2015. CPTer’s Carrie Peters and Charles Wright, along with CPTer Peter Haresnape (not pictured) accompanied and supported Haudenosaunee hunters who conducted a deer harvest in the land now known as Short Hills provincial park, in the face of protest and harassment. The team was part of a local coalition to support the hunters and honor the treaties.

Romans 13: 1-7

In November 2011, President Obama with then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon began a publicity campaign describing how the United States would “pivot” towards Asia.  “After a decade in which we fought two wars that cost us dearly, in blood and treasure, the United States is turning our attention to the vast potential of the Asia Pacific region,” President Obama said while addressing the Australian parliament. Several years later Tom Donilon described the policy as “economic engagement” and “sustained attention to regional institutions and defense of international rules and norms.”

With the pivot emerged a secretly negotiated trade pact, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (“TPP”).  If passed, signatory countries will probably include the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Although called a “free trade” agreement, the TPP is not solely about trade. Of the 29 draft chapters, only five deal with garden variety trade issues. The TPP is actually a grave threat to the planet because it undermines climate change measures and authorizes de-regulation of mining, land use, and bio-technology.  Alarmingly, the TPP intellectual property chapter also provides international legal protections for corporate patents on plant and animal life, granting companies ownership and sole access to all of creation.

We only know about TPP’s implications because of ‘unauthorized’ leaks – we, the public, are not permitted to see the text. Even members of Congress, after being denied access to the text for years, are now only provided limited, specified sections. Incredibly, more than 500 official corporate “trade advisors” have special access to the entire document.

The TPP has been under negotiation for six years.  The Obama administration, now with an appeal to patriotism, wants the deal signed in the coming year. Opposition to the TPP is growing in the U.S. and throughout the world.

While most of the U.S. coverage about the TPP analyzes overall implications for ‘every day working Americans,’ with a dash of environmental vignettes, another significant aspect needs to be addressed and highlighted: TPP’s detrimental impact on First Peoples and indigenous communities located within each nation state.

I wonder if St. Paul would really sneer, saying the organized opposition is resisting what God has appointed. Some may say people of ‘good conduct’ can resort to international law, or rules, with appropriate tribunal authorities to seek remedies and protections.

Putting aside the known problematic provisions within the TPP regarding dispute tribunals, international law is the ‘go-to’ for everyone it seems, regardless of cloth, from Christian Peacemaker Teams to multinational ‘think-tanks’.  International law is a body of generally accepted legal rules that are supposed to govern the conduct of nations vis-à-vis other nations.

The concept of agreed upon rules of conduct ironically originates from the Doctrine the Discovery. The doctrine was developed between the 15th and 19th centuries and used by European countries to justify their presumed claims to sovereignty over Indigenous Peoples.  It also was used to govern disputes between themselves over exploration, trade and colonization of “the New World.”  And we proudly continue to be a ‘nation of laws.’

I write from the U.S. as I observe the Thanksgiving celebration.  Even after working alongside indigenous communities for the past several years, it actually remains one of my favorite holidays- the concept of giving thanks anyway.  In our ever increasing consumeristic society, setting aside at least a day to acknowledge the multiple blessings in life, regardless of challenges, is certainly a good holy discipline (See Leviticus 20:26; Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17; Luke 17:11-19).

While many refuse to budge from the notion that, while “such a darn shame,” the conquest is ancient history, many others are attempting to live in right relationship.  An increasing number do look to indigenous voices, in humility, for guidance.  I am quite thankful for this.

And at times, living in right relationship requires open defiance of established norms.  Thus, as a Christian, I applaud the TPP opposition.  Like St. Paul, I look to Scripture and embrace mystery.

Paul’s relation to Scripture was not for pure memorization but that of a disciple of Jesus living the text.  Paul let the Spirit use the Scriptures to form Christ in him.  And throughout Scripture is endless mystery, of which he delighted in: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33).  Mystery for Paul was simply the very nature of who God is and how God works.

To believe is to obey and to obey is to believe wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship. Living the text does not mean we can simply cherry pick a verse or two to support a position.  Paul references conscience when “one must be subject.”  Peter and John also referenced the principle of supremacy of conscience over even religious institutions by telling the Temple council, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20).

Indeed, Jesus was quite clear that the demands of the state and the demands of God are not the same (see Luke 20: 22-25).  He does suggest that it is quite possible to meet both at the same time, but he does not command that obeying one is exactly the same as obeying the other.  We are not to “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and also give to Caesar what is God’s.”  Even those in the early fledgling community knew a time would come when obedience to God would mean blatant disobedience to the emperor.  Returning to Acts, “We must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29).

We are to obey-and submit- to the will of God. Dallas Willard, author of Hearing God, advises us to look to circumstances, impressions of the Spirit and passages from the Bible.  “When these three things point in the same direction…we [can] be sure the direction they point is the one God intends for us.”

Scripture has countless examples of God taking the side of the marginalized, often in unexpected ways.  When will we truly get that God does not see as mortals see, and God’s ways are not the world’s ways (see 1 Samuel 16:7)?  Bartolome de Las Casas (1484-1566), a Dominican friar and known as “Defender of the Indians” repeatedly challenged the Court of Spain to realize that no salvation in Christ is possible apart from social justice.

I often wonder how ‘the church’ would be today had it chose to follow the monastic model of the Celtic church vs. the Roman model of authority at the Whitby church synod in 664 C.E. I also question if there is any hope left for what I cheekily refer to as “American Christianity.”  The institutionalized literal seems to have replaced the living ruach.

Our ancestors too were once an oral history peoples, with many accounts combining to form “the story.”  If we could remember this, we would have a better appreciation for Noah.  The recent movie, from a Jewish director, thankfully did not indulge dominate U.S. cultural norms.  He pulled from the Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, Book of Enoch and other extra-biblical sources that we Christians have simply lost awareness of and appreciation for.  Noah then represents the very fact that we do not walk with God for ourselves alone.  The call to righteousness carries with it a responsibility for all of creation.

Do you know your King?  We continue to anticipate the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, liturgically waiting, remembering he initially came as a little vulnerable, weak child.

Maranatha.

…..God’s blessing be with you, Christ’s peace with you, the Spirit’s outpouring be with you, now and always. Amen. (source: Celtic)

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Pray Always Without Becoming Weary

17 Nov

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“And when we had invented death

had severed every soul from life

we made of these, our bodies, sepulchers

and as we wandered dying, dim among the dying multitudes

He acquiesced to be interred in us

and when He had descended thus

into our persons and the grave

He broke the limits, opening the grip

He shaped of every sepulcher

a womb

 

….Everything holds together, everything,

 

in whom all things hold together

 

…….He comes, a little child, to bless my sight,

That I might come to him for life and light.

 

in whom all things hold together

 

………………….Have you ever seen God on the ground?

Palms pressed to the floor

Sweat dripping on the dirt

The cut and stretch of being human

A sacred shelter of presence

The fullness of He

creator of kingdoms and galaxies

of principalities

and every moment crafted

through time the Divine

placed wholly in human flesh

the infinite squashed down into finite

like fitting ten thousand angels on the top of a pin

like the entire ocean is poured into a pool

like the wine is running over

like it’s bursting at the seams

The Christ

He was bursting at the seams

 

in whom all things hold together”

 

While I re-arranged the lyrics for purposes of this post, this song has accompanied my personal mourning observance since Paris once again received world-wide attention.

And for me, it’s not just Paris…but my continuing compromised body with Beirut, Sinai, Hebron, Turkey, Raqqa, Alison and Adam, Charleston 9, Oregon, Sandra Bland….what a brutal recent “news cycle” for all of us indeed.

But be not afraid.  Advent approaches.  Joy to the World….?

“Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.  For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.  Therefore put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and having done everything, to hold your ground.  So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:11-15).

Incredibly, that passage was the selected reading for the evening of Friday, November 13th (by way of Give Us This Day, Daily Prayer for Today’s Catholic, one of my daily devotional aids).  Would any of us have been able to keep this in mind, while forced to lie deathly still on the floor, palms pressed to the floor, within the Bataclan Theater?  I ask myself: could I stand fast with hell yet again unleashing its cruel fury around me, with the bodies and sepulchers of human whimpering flesh around me, bursting at the seams?

Courtesy Richard Rohr, “in Paul’s letter to the Romans (14:7) he says quite clearly “the life and death of each of us has its influence on others.” The Apostles’ Creed states that we believe in “the communion of saints.” There is apparently a positive inner connectedness that we can draw upon if we wish.”  Science and religion are finally intersecting.  Rohr continues: “in the world of quantum physics, it appears that one particle of any entangled pair “knows” what is happening to another paired particle–even though there is no known means for such information to be communicated between the particles, which are separated by sometimes very large distances. Could this be what is happening when we “pray” for somebody?”

“In whom, all things hold…..together……”

#PrayforParis erupted across social media.

“Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.  He said, “There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.  And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, ‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’  For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, ‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.”  The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.  Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?  Will he be slow to answer them?  I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.  But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  (Luke 18:1-8, Gospel selection, Daily Mass, Saturday, November 14th, Give Us This Day).

“Our prayers are with the people of France tonight, but that is not enough,” said Hillary Clinton at the Democratic debate, held barely 24 hours after the attacks.  I saw another tweet, from a young woman purportedly from Germany, that read, “Don’t pray. Think.”  Even the Dalai Lama apparently has told us to stop praying.  So prayer is now taboo, as is peace and love?

Well, to be fair, the Dalai Lama, as Secretary Clinton, emphasized that prayers alone are simply inadequate to solve the overwhelming dilemma facing all of humanity right now.  Human action is required.  And I do agree with that.  Anyone who actually knows me, is well aware of the life I actively lead prior to recent physical infirmities.  Even with all of my many flaws and inadequacies, I try to embody James’s cry for faith and works (See James 2: 14-26).  However, while active at several barricades, police lines, protests, and campaigns, I utterly failed at times with adhering to basic faith necessities:

Prayer.

Being still.

Breathing.

Even with the anger, sadness and confusion within the heart.

“Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.  No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account” (Hebrews 4:12-13, evening reading, Give Us This Day, Saturday, November 14th).

And because of the recent physical infirmities and perceived loss of control over what I actually never had control of, prayer and grounding in the silence of the thin veil that separates me from the Divine, is the main ingredient of my life right now.  The hardest to learn is truly the least complicated. 

“Everything holds together.  Everything….and coheres. Unfolding from the center whence it came.  And now that hidden heart of things appears, the first born of creation takes a name.”

As I write, so many hearts are breaking.  Devastated.  Angry.  Confused.  Numb.  Squashed to finite.  Tears are bursting at the seams.  From Paris. To Beirut.  To Raqqa.  To Hebron.  Charleston.  Russia.  Virginia.  Oregon.  And even in spite of anonymity, and for those broken hearts that do not have a hashtag, there is never nothing.

With that, at least for those of us engaged on social media, and aware of the countless hashtags, let the breaking hearts know you are praying without ceasing (see 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).  “Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10: 24-25, NRSV).

Since I am no longer physically able to be at the barricades, I cannot emphasize how many posts I have seen within the past year, as I have watched the world seemingly fall apart, thanking, liking or ‘favoriting’ the various expressions of compassion.

And our compassion can extend far beyond the social media echochamber.

“…… Required to obey gravity,

we occupy open space with substance,

all of us on the skin of the planet created

to lift against the earth’s pull yet sustained entirely.

We live out our singularity along with olive and

almond trees, oleanders, tarmac, huge trucks, until

size becomes irrelevant: smoke blue coastal range,

stem of dry grass, brittle eucalyptus leaf,

pebble ground into the ground—each bears love’s print,

is held particular within the universe.

Even the small, soft moth on the window of

the rest area’s dingy washroom, unaware of our scrutiny,

its russet wings traced with intricacies of gray,

owns an intrinsic excellence..

….Everything holds together…everything.

In whom…all things hold…together.”

…ah, yes, the hardest to learn was the least complicated.  Joy to the world!

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Oh My God!… SAY-THEIR-NAMES #WDBJ7 #WeStandWithWDBJ

3 Sep

Alison and Adam

I have spent nearly a year now staring back at my own mortality (I’m 41 years old).  Sometimes my arms are crossed; other times admitted indifference, my shoulders shrug; still other times, resignation. At least I have had extended time to sit with this.

In January I was advised this is benign; with rest and recuperation, the body will stop twitching and jerking.  This came after a 3 year stint with what many would call a faith based human rights organization.  We’d go to ‘conflict’ areas, unarmed, assisting communities who are pushing back against state occupation, resource extraction, defending their way of life by way of nonviolent methods.  We did so by bearing witness and documenting the various happenings.  I worked primarily with indigenous communities.

So during that period, at times, not many, I found myself quickly staring back at my own mortality, wondering if the guns pointed in my general direction (no, not directly at me), or the circling, angry, screaming crowd, will be my last glimpses of this realm.

But that’s a path I chose.  And I continue to have a stare down with my own mortality as the medical journey continues in light of recent possible complications that emerged. But I remain committed to social justice, and attempt to help raise awareness regarding the Black Lives Matter movement since returning to the United States.  I do so primarily through my writings, but in my faith circles too.  Because for me, as a Christian, by reading all of scripture, we are repeatedly led and called to the same place: the margins, to the ‘least of these.’  And while there, by assisting justice and righteousness with its holy kiss of peace, we are saved.

Regardless of that brief background and context regarding me (since I do not know whose eyes will ultimately read this once this gets to the public sphere) I was absolutely horrified by what greeted me when I logged onto Twitter that fateful morning.  Mortality flashed before our eyes in a very cruel, diabolical way.

……OH MY GOD!

#Alison Parker.

#Adam Ward.

More hashtags.

But wait, white faces?  Oh dear.

The various- white- spiritual progressive sites and the -white- spiritual ally pages that typically give me nourishment, strength and resolve, were not providing me what I needed that morning.  Why are you not saying their names?  Where’s their photo that the station and others were requesting to be immediately disseminated?  Why are you not demanding the videos be immediately withdrawn?  Why are you immediately politicizing this (within hours after they died) and taking positions that insist that the videos should remain and we simply have to deal with it?

Guess what–Friends– I saw so many people of color that morning demanding just the opposite. Take it down! Deactivate his account! Don’t watch! And: Saying.Their.Names.

#Alison

#Adam

With prayers.  And soon thereafter with other pictures.  Happy pictures.  Smiles.  Bright pictures. Beacons of Light, desperately trying to penetrate through the darkness. Personalities too have emerged a bit with some of the photos that I have seen.

But not from the sites that typically give me the encouragement to continue, within what seems to be a continuing dark, stormy, gloomy sea that seems to surround humanity right now.

We could tweet and post photos after Charleston…9 separate photos to be exact….but we couldn’t tweet or post two photos of smiling, bright, engaging souls, also ruthlessly and horrifically cut down.

Oh, the humanity! If you take the time and read the various public postings on this site, you will see a reoccurring theme with respect to humanity: specifically my concerns regarding divisiveness, separateness, even within activist circles.  If we stay within what some would call a tribal consciousness, believing our way is the one and only true way, humanity will continue to be surrounded by cruel, violent seas, becoming a “horror picture show” at times for us to see.

On the surface we may look different- skin color- perhaps act different- different frameworks-world views- different life experiences to be sure- but “there is the free fall into the boundless abyss of God in which we all meet one another, beyond all distinctions, beyond all designations. This is the oneness that includes all distinctions” (James Finley).

While I come from a Christian framework, I have been greatly influenced by indigenous world views and teachings…many of which are actually amazingly similar and intersect with Christian beliefs.  Intersect is the key, however.  In other words, we interconnect with each other, which implies co-existing, co-dependence upon one another and not monopolizing, coercion, dominating, or controlling.

Many indigenous prayers, “often close with ‘all my relations’. Whatever has been said is said in the presence of all these relations. The gathered human beings are merely the start of these relations. ‘All My Relations’ includes the entire created world, animals, fish, plants, winds, and more. Imagine calling on the whole to witness your prayer, your commitment, your good words. Imagine being responsible to all of that.” (Peter Haresnape).

Ok, time for a disclaimer: Peter and I worked together. While we both find ourselves on Turtle Island (aka North America), I jokingly say he’s in the Northern end (known to many as Canada) and I’m in the mid-section (known to many as the United States) and I miss him terribly.  I am quite moved by what he wrote.

Let’s continue: “How are we known? By our fruit. Good fruit or bad fruit in relation to other people, of course. In terms of Christian service and good works. But there is more. I don’t think fruit is simply a randomly chosen metaphor. I think it speaks to our relationship with place, with the world, with the land. Do grapes come from thorns? Is our mission to the world one that feeds, and blesses, and nurtures growth? Are we a natural part of this region, harmonious and worthy? Or are we a fierce, invasive species, poisonous and thorny and choking out other life?”

I was also deeply moved-to the point of deep, deep heartache- by the fact that the Charleston 9 were praying and studying the Parable of the Sower before hell unleashed its fury upon them (Mark 4: 1-20).  “And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, and sixty and a hundredfold” (verse 20, New Revised Standard Version).

We are to raise each other up, higher and higher. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing (1 Thessalonians 5:11) by nurturing growth among each other.

Even when we are in intense pain, wondering when we will feel the presence of our Living Sustainer and waiting for the weeping to stop.  Let’s honor each other. We can venture towards the center of the room and intersect.  This is not supposed to be about the number of likes, shares or re-tweets. We can certainly lift up prayers. We can certainly disseminate smiling, beautiful faces, regardless of ultimate opinions with perceived slanted media coverage or how this particular horror relates, or differs, with the many police shooting images and those lives also tragically affected.

All of us simply want to be remembered and known, for who we are.  We usually have a choice with that: how we identify, dress, occupation, how we live our lives and interact with the world-our relations.

Hours before he died, Tywanza Sanders, the youngest of the Chareleston 9 (26 years old) put up his final post on Snapchat, a meme with a quote from Jackie Robinson. It read: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

Just as with the Charleston 9, and the countless others, we are again seeing just how much people we did not personally know impacted all their relations…which, now, includes us.

But you know- it always has included us….We.Are.Interconnected.

I join WDBJ7: “We will not let the way Adam and Alison died overshadow the way they lived.”

So will you link arms with me, and other people of color with that?

Alison Parker…..¡Presente!

Adam Ward…..¡Presente!

Benedictus

Mitakuye Oyasin – Lakota Sioux Prayer

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin….

All my relations. I honor you in this circle of life with me today. I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you in this prayer….

To the Creator, for the ultimate gift of life, I thank you.

To the mineral nation that has built and maintained my bones and all foundations of life experience, I thank you.

To the plant nation that sustains my organs and body and gives me healing herbs for sickness, I thank you.

To the animal nation that feeds me from your own flesh and offers your loyal companionship in this walk of life, I thank you.

To the human nation that shares my path as a soul upon the sacred wheel of Earthly life, I thank you.

To the Spirit nation that guides me invisibly through the ups and downs of life and for carrying the torch of light through the Ages, I thank you.

To the Four Winds of Change and Growth, I thank you.

You are all my relations, my relatives, without whom I would not live. We are in the circle of life together, co-existing, co-dependent, co-creating our destiny. One, not more important than the other. One nation evolving from the other and yet each dependent upon the one above and the one below. All of us a part of the Great Mystery.

Thank you for this Life.

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….. Selah.

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Become as a Hazlenut

7 Jun

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When I saw an article on Aljazeera titled “US Government Report says Fracking is Safe,” I engaged in what my Star Trek aficionados could probably affectionately dub the ‘Sabas Maneuver’: I rolled my eyes.

With that, I have to admit, it seems hard to believe that I am nearing the end of my Spirit driven U.S. wilderness camino of rest and solitude.  I recently marked the year anniversary of another camino- or path- that of the Camino de Santiago.

Reminiscing with fellow pilgrims brought me great joy.  Of course, adding to the joy was that some of the reminiscing occurred while enjoying my continuing daily morning, multiple cups of java, with the ever so healthy International Delight Hazelnut creamer (no neurologist, not giving it up).  While re-viewing the many photos I snapped while walking, I was a bit surprised at myself of ‘forgetting’ the sheer majesty and brilliance of the various landscapes I encountered.

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Climate focused rhetoric is at its usual velocity within U.S. mainstream circles, with at times interesting approaches.  Within recent months, a climate change denier held a snowball while addressing his fellow members of Congress about the topic.  He is of the “God destroyed the world once by way of water and will never do it again” club…you know the Noah tradition..(no, not the Russell Crowe brand). And so with that, we don’t have to worry about rising sea levels, the world is our oyster!  Huzzah!

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…..“God saw everything that [she] had made, and indeed, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31 (a).

Well now….how in the hell did we make such a mess of things?

Not long ago, I read several devotional readings centering on the Franciscan philosopher and theologian St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (1217-1274).  In Bonaventure’s writings, refreshingly missing is the medieval language of fire and brimstone, worthy and unworthy, sin and guilt, merit and demerit, justification and atonement (which has saturated Christianity beyond tolerable measure the last five centuries).

Bonaventure simply states: “Unless we are able to view things in terms of how they originate, how they are to return to their end, and how God shines forth in them, we will not be able to understand.” For Bonaventure, the perfection of God and God’s creation is very simply a full circle: and to be perfect, the circle must and will complete itself.

For Bonaventure, the lynchpin holding it all in unity is the “Christ Mystery,” or the essential unity of matter and spirit, humanity and divinity. The Christ Mystery is then the template for all creation.  To specify further, the crucified Christ, who reveals the necessary cycle of loss and renewal, keeps all things moving toward ever further life.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about my service with the Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Team (formerly the Aboriginal Justice Team) with Christian Peacemaker Teams.  So many times, I would feel refreshed when I had the ability to connect with the land (landscapes) as well as when I would hear Indigenous teachings with respect to the Earth, air, fire, water, four-leggeds, two-leggeds…all of creation.  About that very full circle Bonaventure wrote about for our ancestors, so many years ago.

Again, how in the hell did we, and let’s specify, we Christians, make such a mess of things?

Ok, maybe I am being a bit unfair.  Not all Christians.  The ‘Celtic Christian’ tradition offers seven distinctions from popular (secular and even non-secular) assumptions regarding the Christian brand: first distinction is hope – “let’s look for the good rather than the evil in all things.”  Yes! God made everything, and it’s very good indeed!  Alleluia!

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That’s a …good…first step.  But, alas, a steak also tastes mighty good after it meets a Weber grill as well as cheaper gas and oil prices are so very good for wallets and pocket books.  And hey, fracking is good…right?

Bear with me as we head back to medieval times.  During a near death experience in 1373, Julian of Norwich had a series of visions which she called ‘showings.’  Through these experiences, she became convinced that the true nature of God is only love.

One vision involved a hazelnut:

“During this time our [Creator] showed me a spiritual sight of [Her] simple, homely loving.  I saw that [She] is to us everything that is good and comforting to us.  [She] is our clothing, which wraps and embraces us in love.  [She] completely enfolds us in tender love so that [She] might never leave us, being to us everything that is good, as I see it.

In this [She] showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut in the palm of my hand, and it was as round as a ball.  I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding and I thought, ‘What can this be?’

And it was generally answered thus: ‘It is all creation.’

I marveled at how it might continue to exist, for I thought it might suddenly fall into nothingness because it was so small.

And again I was answered in my understanding, ‘It lasts, and ever shall, because God loves it, for all things have their being by the love of God.’

In this little thing I saw three properties: the first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it and the third is that God keeps it.  How am I to understand this maker, keeper and lover I am not sure.  But until I am made one with God in my very essence, I will never have complete rest or true peace; that is to say, until I am so fastened to [Her] that there absolutely is no created thing between God and me.

We must understand the littleness of creatures, and to count as nothing all of creation, in order to love and to have God, who is not a creature.  This is the reason why we are not fully at ease in heart and soul: for we seek rest in these little things, wherein there is no rest, and do not know our God, who is almighty, all wise, and all good.  [She] is true rest.

… These words are truly loved by the soul, and most closely touch the will of God and [Her] goodness.  For [Her] goodness encompasses all [Her] creatures and all [Her] blessed works and overpasses everything without end, for [She] is true endlessness.” (taken from A Revelation of Divine Love, Julian Norwich rendered by Walter William Melnyk).

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Medieval missives may indeed still be off-putting, even with gender tweaking (cue Indigo Girls).  But let’s focus on the message: let us not seek rest in the little things (i.e. tasty steaks or what it takes to get cheaper oil prices) but let’s remember our smallness; we are very much part of creation, part of the circular repetition of loss and renewal.  What we choose to do (or not do) inevitably affects the symbiotic whole, to include our very own God.

To put it another way, let me turn to an Indigenous voice: “Humankind did not weave the web of life.  We are but one strand within it.  Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves” (Chief Seattle, 1786?-1866).  While continuing to think solely in terms of buying and selling, we only continue to enslave ourselves.  As Seattle noted, “How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land?  The idea is strange to us…Every part of this earth is sacred to my people.  Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experiences of my people…We are part of the earth and it is part of us.”

Many people probably don’t realize that Chief Seattle and many in his community converted to Christianity in 1830.  Putting aside questions as to what prompted that decision, and how totally “free and informed” it was, in reviewing his life and credited statements, he clearly saw the similarities between what I’ll term the two traditions.  When will we begin to look to our ancestors, to include Julian of Norwich and St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, who continue to remind of us what it means to be a part of the Body of Christ? Why do we continue to make it so damn complicated and self-destructing?  Having dominion was supposed to be about collaboration and relationship with God for the care of our world, not wreaking havoc.  The world is not so much for us as we are for the world.  As Christ taught us, “On Earth, as in Heaven.”

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Let’s seek to know and be at one with our God, our Daughter and Son, our Holy Spirit, who is “all wise and all good….all is true rest”..rest….or the Biblical Shalom referenced countless times by our very own prophetic ancestors.

By becoming one with God, we become intimately linked with the circular camino with all creation, whether it be vegetation, plants, yielding seed, birds, sea monsters, and every living creature that moves, such as cattle, creeping things and other wild animals (See Genesis 1:1-25).

We can start by thinking of ourselves as and becoming little bitty hazlenuts.

And hey, speaking of, would you like to try some of my good sweet tasting International Delight Hazlenut coffee creamer during coffee hour?

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Selah.

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“What do you want me to do for you?”

29 Mar

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Mark 10:46-52

AND… here we are, entering another Holy Week, called upon to remember, to reflect, to grieve, to engage the continuing mystery of what it means to identify as a Christian.

The rest of the Christian world has now marked Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I find myself this year not wanting to follow the crowd- typical of me, I know- but even with Jesus at the front; not wanting to shout in glee, and not wanting the Passion to unfold.

Nope. I wish we could just stay in Jericho for a bit. Why couldn’t you just hang around a bit longer Jesus? What’s the rush? What’s the hurry anyway to drink from that wretched cup?

I mean I “get” the Passion, meaning I have the superficial luxury that the original 12 didn’t have then, with respect to “knowing” what comes next, and why. But sometimes when I re-visit Mark’s Gospel, I feel like I am reading another Dan Brown novel (no disrespect!) and I just want to sit down. And….to belabor the point, remember that scene from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers? “We’re not going no further till we’ve had a breather!” (Insert some dramatic, heavy British accent.)

“As soon as,” “immediately,” “And then,”… “And.” Mark’s Gospel moves at such a breathless pace, always in a hurry to get the whole story out.

But that’s life too, right? We live in such a hurried world, as we rush about, from task to task, place to place, Tweet to Tweet, Facebook post to Facebook post, meeting to meeting, email to email, report to report, person to person. And…. we, even as professed Followers of a 2000+ year new, not-of-the-flesh way of living, try so desperately hard to keep up.

We at least have Sundays, however. “Your Sunday services last how long?”

Ok, well, so much for the reflection to last past high holy days (or weeks) to grasp how God continually contributes to the whole of our lives, either within us, around us and even beyond us.

And…then there’s another fun-dark-of-the-flesh-worldly saying: be careful what you wish for; you may get it.

And then… my left cheek began to twitch ever so often…oh right, spots appeared in my eyes some time ago…and… then my left hand begins to jerk a bit..and…then something underneath my skin begins to bubble up and down, from my wrists, forearms, biceps, torso, cheeks, my shins, my calves; my left foot becomes numb. And then…ringing, in my ears, with my new center of gravity gently rolling front and back, like a ship at sea, amidst the waves. Did you see my pinky? My thumb? It just jumped. Did I just slur my sentence? (no alcohol involved) And then….medical leave.

Oh. The breather?

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….Jesus stood still and said, “Call [her] here.” (See Mark 10:49a).

While Mark runs us ragged, he wants us to notice everything within the flurry of the activity, even the smallest things. Let’s look at some of the details Mark provides us about Jesus throughout the Gospel: we read Jesus is moved with pity, warns sternly, looks around with anger, and is grieved. He feels compassion, indignation, love and distress. He even sighs a couple of times.

And with Bartimaeus, he stood still. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Bartimaeus cries out…twice. No doubt all of us at times have wanted to say, “uh, hello God, just me here…um notice anything with me? I could sure use a sign here.”

“What do you want me to do for you?”

Really? Wait. Time out. You…finally- not immediately I’d like to add…stand still….AND…well, it’s obvious!

“The devil is in the details, isn’t it?” (I can actually imagine a bit of an amused sly, grin with that retort. And… I sincerely smile in return with that.) Right. The details is the stuff of faith and it brings out all kinds of feelings, reactions, and emotions. It certainly did for our Teacher when he was with us.

And….you know, not only are we called to be in relationship with each other, but also with the Triune God. This is to be an open, mutual relationship meaning we need to truthfully, name what we want, preferably during a time of extended, one-on-one time alone time with the Sacred. No, we may not get it, but having that open, mutual conversation (which includes a possible ‘no’ in return) actually deepens and even strengthens the relationship. Imagine how much further you get with someone you love when you say more than what you think you should say. And…it’s a way of expressing our limitations, our frailness, our weakness, our needs, our humility, indeed our flawed, imperfect, always screwed up, humanity before God.  This kind of understanding sets us free.

As soon as….I received confirmation that my bodily happenings would at most be a ‘simple’ chronic condition that may accompany me for the rest of my Earthly journey, The Last Song by Elton John came my way. It has been a part of my Lenten reflections this year for a variety of reasons, not just for what may be readily apparent.

Indeed, the ‘no’ can be heart breaking, painful (both physical and emotional) and confusing. Just as Jesus is fully human, he is fully divine. I embrace the miracles and find it quite unfortunate that our Western, rational, analytical ways have explained away the significance of the miracle stories. Paradox. Mystery. That’s the stuff of Holy Week. That’s the stuff of faith.

And…..even with our frail, weak, humanity, we are still called. By name. Perhaps like Bartimaeus we will…immediately… jump up, enthusiastically, throwing off our cloaks, or our worldly webs that prohibit us from fully following our Sustainer. Regardless how it happens, we decide to follow.

And….. let’s not forget the place of Bartimaeus’s healing and calling: just before that triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Just before the Passion. This underscores the central focus of Christianity: discipleship leads to engaging, to serving, to offering our gentle hands to humanity…we are led to places of inexplicable suffering….and shameful rejection.  To be still and re-focus, and to know Love sustains us, without need for vindication for our suffering and rejection, sets us free.

Right. I continue to misjudge Love. But that’s ok. Thanks for stopping and offering your gentle hands. I know. I know. It’s time to go. I may hobble as my skin still burns, but I’m with you… and…. now I offer my hands.

Later Jericho. It’s certainly been real.

The Last Song
(by Elton John)
Yesterday you came to lift me up
As light as straw and brittle as a bird
Today I weigh less than a shadow on the wall
Just one more whisper of a voice unheard

Tomorrow leave the windows open
As fear grows please hold me in your arms
Won’t you help me if you can to shake this anger
I need your gentle hands to keep me calm

`Cause I never thought I’d lose
I only thought I’d win
I never dreamed I’d feel
This fire beneath my skin
I can’t believe you love me
I never thought you’d come
I guess I misjudged love
Between a father and his son

Things we never said come together
The hidden truth no longer haunting me
Tonight we touched on the things that were never spoken
That kind of understanding sets me free

The Ripple Effect #StayWokeAdvent #Ferguson #BlackLivesMatter #MikeBrown #Advent

2 Dec

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About the writer: Identifies as a Follower of The Way, Anglican/Episcopalian/Quaker hybrid (which means raised Quaker, the unprogrammed variety, but then became an Episcopalian, when in the U.S. and Anglican, when in Canada..look for me at coffee hour and I will explain) but also Catholic Worker, mystic, former attorney (owned own law firm in U.S., with almost 10 years of living in a courtroom before the Gospel awakening) now a reservist with Christian Peacemaker Teams (“CPT”), formerly with CPT’s Aboriginal Justice Team but also spent a wee-bit-of- time with CPT in Colombia (that’s South America not the District of), Palestine (Occupied West Bank) and U.S./Mexico Borderlands (or the Occupied North). Iranian national by birth (born in Shiraz) and now a naturalized U.S. citizen. Female. Prior cat owner but now lives vicariously through internet cat memes and videos, to the consternation of many. On Twitter (with cat disclaimer): @shiraz43. I sent my Facebook account to Sheol, or the “abode of the dead,” as loosely translated from Hebrew.

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The Ripple Effect #StayWokeAdvent #Ferguson #BlackLivesMatter #MikeBrown #Advent

By: Chris Sabas

Week 1 of Advent: 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-22 (New Revised Standard Version)

I write this post in response to the recent challenge to

“reflect;

cry out;

meditate;

repent;

accept grace;

pray;

weep;

wrestle;

wake up;

question;

hope (if even just a little);

sit with darkness;

squint at the light;

read;

write;

create;

observe;

listen”

in an effort to keep watch and not be silent in light of what we have witnessed in #Ferguson, Missouri.  The writer, out of anguish, frustration and anger, asked us who observe #Advent, with anticipation of the arrival of shalom, to

“stay alert…to “stay woke”…to your senses, your mind, your body, your feelings, your spirit to where to Spirit is stirring and leaning. Stay woke….to the impact your life has on others…Stay woke…to the injustice that we either contribute to or diminish…Stay woke….to the groanings of the world…Stay woke…to the humble, radical, empire-upsetting ways of Jesus…Stay woke…to the darkness…Stay woke…to the light…and to the sacred and profane in both.”

Now trending as #StayWokeAdvent on social media, both clergy and lay members of ‘the Church’ are responding in impressive numbers. ““StayWokeAdvent” is a project of people interested in exploring the depths of the darkness and interaction with light through the time of Advent.  It is an experiment in spiritual honesty during a time of the year that is often covers up the pain and struggle of the world with a giant glittery bow.”

Advent comes from the Latin word coming or, “the Lord is coming.” As followers, we are supposed to be filled with a joyous expectation as we reflect on what Christians call Old Testament prophecies and testaments and how they have been fulfilled with Christ’s birth, or coming.  We are also to think and reflect on the predicted second arrival on Earth.  Of course, suffice it to say, reflection and introspection has seemingly been replaced with sales, wrapping paper, chocolates and smooches under some plant hanging from a ceiling rafter.

While I was still in law school, my immediate family and I decided to forego exchanging Christmas gifts because of our dismay and dissatisfaction of what we were seeing then with respect to ‘the meaning of Christmas.’  We are still dismayed and greatly dissatisfied and yes, boxes and bows still do not adorn the bottom of our Christmas tree.

But that did not negate the joyfulness that usually comes with this time of year for me…until this year.  This advent has taken on a whole different meaning for me, and in the interests of transparency, most of it is due to a recent, unexpected, significant health decline.  Ironically, in many ways, my continuing progression through the medical system will mirror Advent, and its countdown to December 25, with me receiving (hopefully) some clarification by that date.

For the most part, I have not been overly sad or distressed (yes, I do have my moments) and health permitting, I lurk on the internet or listen to the U.S. bobble heads pontificate on a range of topics, from the recent U.S. midterm elections, to the U.S. immigration debacle and even the inadequacies of the current American College Football playoff system.  When I cannot sit up for long periods of time, I stream the current H2 television series ‘Ancient Aliens’ on my laptop, while lying in bed (hey, don’t knock it until you try it!).

Oh and then there was the Ferguson grand jury.  And damn, I was feeling a bit better.  So I watched, as you did, the highly anticipated televised statement from the prosecutor and then took to Twitter to tweet my anger and disappointment.

And for the first time in a very long time, I felt irrelevant and utterly helpless.  I cursed my body and my current inability to be out of the house for long periods of time.  For approximately thirteen years, since graduating law school, and opening my practice, I was actively engaged, in some way, in what I will term the human drama: from being a public defender (primarily juvenile defender) to defending people from a variety of countries in U.S. deportation proceedings, to serving as a hospice volunteer in ‘off-hours,’ to literally ‘closing down shop,’ to continue to confront the injustices of the world with Christian Peacemaker Teams.  In CPT, we challenge ourselves and others as we address the various forms of oppression, including, but not limited to, racism, sexism, and heterosexism, within the various forms of privilege, to include white privilege.

But then came the call to stay awake and I sincerely thank the #StayWokeAdvent creator for this creative way to be engaged and the continuing challenge to think on how justice can roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (See Amos 5:24).

I thought back to a variety of speaking engagements, in which I spoke as a representative of CPT, to faith communities and circles.  I recalled reflections (and in some cases push-back) I received: “That’s all very well and good, well not really, that’s not what I mean, but what can I do about it, I mean it’s over there, and not here, and I cannot go shuffling off to some distant corner of the globe?”

Indeed.

Truly, what can I do about it….me, the perpetual professional socialist-hippy-tree-loving-committed-undoing-oppression-nonviolent-agitator-turned shut-in?

On every level, I am not surprised as to what happened in Ferguson, notwithstanding my immense disappointment.  Indicting a police officer in the United States is difficult; buildings and cars on fire have happened before in a variety of locations, world-wide, and as a committed professional socialist-hippy-tree-loving-committed-undoing-oppression-nonviolent-agitator, our job here is to challenge people to change the dialogue (i.e. no, we do not support the burning buildings or burning police cars, but who are we to judge in light of x-y-and z and the ongoing systemic abuses and hey, why don’t you continue to watch and *listen* rather than walk away and dismiss it, because it’s not about that); police in the United States, not just the Ferguson police department, are in fact militarized and the use of shields, tear gas, armored vehicles, Humvees, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades etc. is an example of this; and Mike Brown, unfortunately, is just one of countless examples of an unarmed black man being shot, multiple times, by a white police officer.

Admittedly, I just have to shake my head (yes, with some eye rolls too) as I watch our country’s first black President repeatedly say “we are a nation of laws and rules.”  Our great grand experiment was founded upon slavery, conquest, slaughter and genocide of the continent’s indigenous communities and yes, property destruction (think Boston Tea Party and the fearless white “patriots”).  But we are a democracy and exceptional..well kind of.  The democracy began for white, male property owners and eventually has begrudgingly expanded to women and people of color…. in theory any way.  I am, um, exceptionally wary of the current Voter ID initiatives. And speaking of exceptionalism, well I just hope you are bold enough to click the hyperlink because that is the other part of the Gospel responsibility: to learn, to test, to challenge, and that usually begins by unnerving ourselves because that is what the Gospel is supposed to do, as it completely shatters and destroys our comfortable notions.

However, we within American Christendom get caught up in forecasting the end of days and how to properly proclaim Christ as Lord and Savior, and who is even “permitted” to do so.  We sadly forget how Christ went about day-to-day activity while he was with us.  We conveniently forget who he spent time with, who (and what) he challenged, while proclaiming and presenting examples of how heaven is indeed on earth. “The Gospel is not a fire insurance policy for the next world, but a life assurance policy for this world.”

Not only are we to test, but we are to live in faith, hope and love as Paul reminds us in his epistle to the Thessalonians, (1 Thessalonians 5:1-22).  “[E]ncourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5: 11).  Upon reading that Sunday morning, I thought a lot about our responsibility to test, to the #StayWokeAdvent initiative, and how to juxtapose this with Paul’s reminding us to be patient, to seek to do good, respect those who labor among us and to give thanks in all circumstances with love.

Specifically, how does this happen within the us-vs-them mentality?  And here’s the catch: all of us have it, including us progressive nonviolent do-gooders, myself included.  For instance, we saw how the FBI issued a warning in advance of the grand jury decision about the likelihood that certain elements will exploit the situation in attacking infrastructure and law enforcement should the decision be no indictment.  That then culminated with the Governor activating the Missouri National Guard, several days in advance of the announcement. Can we say self-fulfilling prophecy?

This sort of thinking is frustratingly so oblivious of its contribution to the cycle; when one prepares for war, groups such as the Don’t Shoot Coalition and its rules of engagement, i.e. Rule No 1: “The first priority shall be preservation of life” is flatly ignored and lumped with the overall “enemy out there,” regardless of the fact that the majority within the community want a profound, nonviolent change.  The community wants us to at least begin by not only looking to but deeply discussing the systemic and ongoing abuses against impoverished communities.  This will require much more than so-called ‘race relations panels’ on Fox News that has been composed of all white participants (we can now dispense with the eye-rolls and begin the face-palms).

So, then we, the ‘do-gooders’ (myself included) of course shout slogans such as “the powers and principalities at work in Ferguson,” “a police state emerges,” “stop the police brutality!” or indeed, in other circles “fuck the police!” and “burn, baby burn!”  Then we shout against other comparable loud voices, either as “experts” on cable news, or via our very own platforms provided by social media, which many times results in the crossing of a very fine line between proffering an opinion or feeling and cyber bullying.  My stomach just turns with the vitriol and rhetoric offered that justify how some lives are truly worth more than other lives, because well for starters, “Mike Brown did have cigars in his pocket, you know; he’s a thug” (face-palm continues).

And it’s not just us-vs-them over there, but us-vs them, within. The vitriol is not just reserved for the KKK who threaten to kill protestors, or to ‘rabid looters’ who burn down a beauty shop, but also to people within a movement for change who have been reported to supposedly have done something, said something or talked to someone.  It has become so easy to..uh-oh, I’m going to say it…to demonize someone.

Let me back away from this emotionally, charged example.  I remember reading an interview years ago (wish I can find it to provide a hyperlink) with senior members in Congress (perhaps just the Senate). Ted Kennedy (remember him) was still alive and offered commentary, as did John McCain, Orrin Hatch and others.  I want to say this was published either just before, or just after John McCain’s 2000 Presidential run when then, he was considered a gutsy independent maverick.

The article gave an example of how ‘back in the day,’ members of Congress and their spouses would actually get together for a meal (maybe a lunch or even a dinner) and break.bread.together.  Talk together.  Spend time together.  I do not remember how often this gathering would take place but it happened on more than one occasion.  Either Kennedy, Hatch or McCain said it was much easier to reach across the aisle and work with a member of the opposite party after having spent time with them in a social setting because he was not some monster with a spinning head (not to mention Kennedy and Hatch formed a friendship!).  Many times they did not have common ground politically, but they knew how to speak to one another and how to reach a compromise.  Yes, I know, Congress was then, and in many ways still is an ‘old boy’s club’ and no doubt the public rhetoric was just as intolerable then (Senator Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism) as it is now.  But the point of that story was simple: “now” (or when it was published) to even *talk* to a member of another party, the person is loudly denounced as a traitor to party ideals.  Since its publication, this has only intensified.

We are simply gripped in a vicious cycle of sharp partisan and ideological polarization, which has permeated every single layer of our society, regardless of issue, regardless of side, regardless of ‘ism’ and regardless of privilege.  Now, I am not suggesting we stand idly by as unarmed black men and children continue to be shot and killed by the powers of the State; I am not suggesting we stand idly by and not push that certain NFL team from the District of Columbia about the insensitivity of their current name and what it represents to Indigenous Peoples; I am not suggesting that we stand idly by as other children of color, as refugees, who sought to escape a variety of nightmares within Central America, are now being deported back to face so many unknowns within those nightmares.

NO!

#BlackLivesMatter! #NotYourMascot! #Not1More! We are to scream with righteous anger and at times, may be called upon to flip the tables of the money-changers, who typically remain within our current houses of prayer (think the institutional church, or “the church”). And within this, we need to constantly check ourselves and remind ourselves that God’s ways are not our ways and that people who follow God are the probably the last ones we would anticipate.

And who cannot simply be moved to tears by that photo taken on November 25 of a weeping twelve-year African-American boy hugging a white Portland police officer, at a Ferguson solidarity rally?  The boy, Devonte Hart, had a sign around his neck: free hugs.  Bret Barnum, a white, Portland Police Officer apparently asked, “Do I get one of those?”  The pair hugged; and what a moment, fortunately captured by photographer Johnny Nguyen.  And “the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them” (See Isaiah 11 1-10, New Revised Standard Version).

I hope we make every effort to support each other, and to respect those who labor among us, even with our differences of opinion.  This has important implications for our continuing spiritual formation within our human experience.  Our other continuing challenge is to see through God’s eyes and act in God’s ways, even when admonishment and flipping a table is needed. Let’s back away from the precipice of sensationalism.

And so, here I still sit, impatiently anticipating future medical appointments, following the world from afar and will continue to do so for the immediate future.  Sunday morning I was reminded of Etty Hillesum, a young Jewish woman who lived in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation and died at Auschwitz, on November 30, 1943.  She was 29 years old.

On July 3, 1942, she wrote: “I must admit a new insight in my life and find a place for it: what is at stake is our impending destruction and annihilation…They are out to destroy us completely, we must accept that and go on from there…Very well then…I accept it…I work and continue to live with the same conviction and I find life meaningful…I wish I could live for a long time so that one day I may know how to explain it, and if I am not granted that wish, well, then somebody else will perhaps do it, carry on from where life has been cut short.  And that is why I must live a good and faithful life to my last breath; so that those who come after me do not have to start all over again.”

Remarkably, for Etty, she received affirmation for the value and meaning of life, in the midst of shocking horror and that affirmation became her guiding principle: this was more than a call to solidarity with those who suffer but she was called to redeem the suffering of humanity from within, by protecting “that little piece of You, God, in ourselves.”  “I know that a new and kinder day will come.  I would so much like to live on, if only to express all the love I carry within me.  And there is only one way of preparing the new age, by living it even now in our hearts.”

And we can live it and do live it by walking our own “Little Way”, in our every day actions and experiences, within our homes, communities and circles.  It could even include wearing a sign that says: free hugs, or even giving thanks for caretakers, or washing the dishes to help the caretakers, or spending time at a local shelter, food bank or even spending time with your faith community after worship in dialogue and fellowship (maybe you can start a book club and discuss The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander).  Because every day actions and experiences, regardless of how mundane it feels (and even the petty insults and injuries, regardless of how much it stings the heart and soul), brings us within the presence and love of God the Divine.

According to St. Therese of Lisieux, Carmelite Mystic, “the Little Way” may indeed transform any situation into a profound realm for holiness, and that one might, through those little ripple effects, may actually make a significant contribution to literally transforming the world (like when one skips a stone on a smooth lake). But it will indeed take time.

And, so, for now, I’ll continue to wash our dishes when I can stand upright, and I’ll even walk the dog regardless of how much he pulls and at times sends my wobbly legs stumbling, and hopefully I can continue to take the trash can to the curb. Hey, how about a hug for this socialist-hippy-tree-loving-committed-undoing-oppression-nonviolent-agitator?  And if tears flow for either one of us, well, that’s ok because that’s the little piece of God within, outwardly feeling the moment.

Stay Woke my Friend!

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