Chicago, Chicago, that toddling town...

Yes, I've been in Chicago this week completing the (hopefully) final seminar for completion of my DMin degree. It has been a rich week, with colleagues carefully critiquing each other's projects and preparing for our oral exams in April.

I've been in this degree process since January of 2007. What some folks don't recognize about DMin degrees is that most programs are designed to allow working clergy to share with each other projects that might help other congregations or local communities. The desire, at least in the CTS DMin program, is that clergy will have created resource material that will tweak the interest of clergy and perhaps provide solutions to common challenges in our faith journeys.

What struck me today, however, is that while we had a wide variety of project presentations and critiques this week, there is a common thread that runs through them all; divisions cripple our communities. Whether the project concerns left vs. right brain learning in Bible studies, mind vs. body considerations regarding health care, liberal vs. conservative in our religious and political discourse, etc., the problems of our communities often boil down to our reluctance to engage all of our being, both individually and collectively.

We think we can feed our minds and ignore the signals from our bodies about whether we are completely - wholly - healthy. We believe we can study the Bible and absorb disembodied facts while ignoring the right hemisphere of our brains that would allow us to internalize what we experience when we encounter scripture. We believe we can heal bodies with technology, ignoring any diagnoses that reflect on our spiritual well-being. We believe we can solve problems within our communities by establishing beachheads where we refuse to talk to those on the "other" side of what we believe about a particular issue.

All of these actions separate us, individually and collectively. We cannot be healthy if we continue down these paths of division. We have been reminded, in the texts of many religions, that the way to "salvation" cannot be accomplished unless we are willing to treat others as we wish to be treated. We must recognize the humanity of the "other" if we are to survive well.

This notion of the recognition of our common humanity seems self-evident to me, but the cultural currents seem to be pulling us away from each other. My prayer is that our Creator will grant us the grace to work toward each other, for it is only through relationships of depth, mutuality and vulnerability that we will be able to survive, that is, survive well.

Stewardship

I've been thinking about a story I read today regarding ads being purchased for the upcoming Super Bowl telecast. It seems that Tim Tebow, the Florida Gators star quarterback, is filming two ads with his mother through Focus on the Family.

Most people know that Tebow would list references to Bible verses in his eye black, a practice I don't have a lot of trouble with, though I'm betting the school would not have gone along with a Muslim player putting references from the Qu'ran in a similar spot.

I guess what I'm really puzzling over is that Focus on the Family recently laid off something in the neighborhood of 300 employees because of budgetary shortfalls, yet somehow they have found about $5 million for these two ads. Their spokesperson said that the monies for these ads all came from special donations and not from FOF's main budget, but that's probably cold comfort for all those persons whose jobs were ended before Christmas.

Then, too, fundraisers are ongoing for Haiti, and I wonder if that $5 million might not have been better used if it had been sent to this devastated island rather than into the pockets of CBS. I can't imagine what Tebow and his mom can say that would be a better Christian witness.

Haiti

There is no good way to measure the extent of the destruction in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake. Anyone with a heart grieves at the pictures of death and devastation, particularly as they recognize that there will be no quick solution to the suffering. People of good will are praying for relief organizations to be able to get goods into the hands of the people to alleviate some of the problems, and many US organizations have mobilized campaigns to raise money for the support of aid groups already on the ground there.

In the midst of this outpouring of support, however, land Pat Robertson and Al Mohler, who have both managed to find a way to blame the people of Haiti for this earthquake. Pat claims to know not only what God said about the people, but was able to quote Satan as well. How interesting that he would have such a close relationship to Satan.

Unfortunately, there are many Christians who would agree with Pat and Al, believing that God chose to target Haiti with this earthquake. The God that I and many other Christians follow, however, bears no resemblance to the god whom Pat and Al claim to hear. My God is grieving for the tens of thousands of people who have died, grieving for those who may still be clinging to life, but who are trapped under the rubble and may not be able to be saved. My God is instilling hope in those who are working feverishly to uncover any remaining survivors, giving strength to aid workers who have been on their feet for days without proper rest, and comforting the survivors who have lost family, friends and all their meager possessions.

Harassment and Prop 8

In case you didn't know, there's a big trial underway in California where two lawyers, one conservative and one liberal, have undertaken to have Proposition 8 ruled as unconstitutional. I won't cover all the history of this case; google Prop 8 if you need the background.

The judge in the case wanted to let cameras into the court, and then the material would later be posted for public viewing. But the dissenters took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, who, in a very quick decision, said that allowing the public to view the video testimonies might result in harassment of witnesses, and do them irreparable harm.

I find it ironic that those testifying against same-sex marriage are acting as though they are a beleaguered minority who need protection. These same folks are generally against any legal protections for LGBT persons, even when it comes to employment. It is still legal in a majority of states for persons to be fired from their jobs purely on the basis of their sexual orientation. It is hoped that 2010 will finally see passage of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but there are no guarantees.

If the Supreme Court's conservative majority can empathize with these anti-gay persons, you would think that their reflecting on how hard it would be to be subjected to public opprobrium might trigger an "aha" moment where they would likewise recognize how difficult it must be for LGBT persons in a society where a majority (albeit it a small one) of persons don't believe in equal protections for LGBT people!

Thus endeth my rant!

A New Culture

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to help with a training session for our local IAF group, CHANGE - Communities Helping All Neighbors Gain Empowerment. Every time I participate in any kind of CHANGE training, I am reminded afresh of how counter-cultural IAF is, and why the media - whether local or national - has a hard time understanding IAF.

Anyone who is remotely awake to local, state and national events should recognize that we are an increasingly polarized culture. At every turn, we are being told by pundits and politicians - and some clergy, too - the equivalent of "if you aren't for us, you're against us." People are being trained to out-yell each other rather than to reason together, to demonize anyone who disagrees rather than listening to that person's story and experience.

As I looked out over the several dozen folks who had given up their weekend for CHANGE training, I was - as always - pleased to recognize that we had folks from different ethnic backgrounds, different faith traditions (or none at all), and varying political views. Our culture doesn't know what to do with a group like this that comes together to work for solutions that make life better for the entire community.

I have to wonder if the politically powerful people who lived in Jesus' day were equally as confused. Here was this laborer leading a group of people who were historically marginalized to recognize that if they took care of each other, treated each other as they would want to be treated, that the "world as it was" would be transformed in the ways Jesus referenced in the Sermon on the Mount. For those who were used to wielding power over the populace, how frightening it must have been to see people coming together, by the thousands, to hear what Jesus had to say.

But I imagine the most frightening part of all came after Jesus' crucifixion, after those who wanted to stop this movement believed it took killing only one man to accomplish the task. Instead, the twelve Jesus initially trained became 70, and they taught and trained more who became the hundreds if not thousands as described in Acts 2.

I hope the larger American culture can catch a vision of the world as it could be by looking at the work done by local IAF organizations. Rather than throw stones or hurl invectives, I'd invite them to actually join in the work, building relationships with people from other parts of the city/county.

Mary Daly

Mary Daly, self-described "radical lesbian feminist," died this week at the age of 81. To say she was controversial would be an understatement of mammoth proportion. As I often do when reading news accounts, I viewed comments left with stories announcing her death. It appears no one has middle-of-the-road views about her, and I think Dr. Daly would have liked it that way.

The single most important thing written by Daly, in my view, was "If God is male, then male is God." I can still remember how that single sentence jolted me when I first read it in my 40s, just prior to my sojourn to divinity school. Having grown up in a Southern Baptist church which had already told me that, as a female, I could not be a pastor, I found in that one sentence the key which unlocked a door to the pain I had felt as girl called to ministry, and to the pain I had experienced as a lesbian trying to cope in a world that wanted me to express my femaleness only in particular ways.

To be sure, Dr. Daly wrote words that were painful to the experience of some womanists and transgendered persons. We are all products of our particular times and experiences, which makes writing thoughts down for posterity a dangerous endeavor. As a friend once remarked about the legacy of sermon manuscripts, "I'm not sure I still believe what I believed then!" But Dr. Daly was undeniably at the headwaters of a stream of feminist theo/thealogians who have continued to unlock doors for women - and ultimately for all persons - as they help us imagine and re-imagine our concepts about God.

Through Daly's words, I was able to uncover and recover an image of God that included me. Those words have no doubt changed countless lives, and for that we owe Dr. Daly our gratitude.

Who decides?

There has been a lot of hand-wringing over the attempt made to detonate explosives during the Northwest flight into Detroit on Christmas Day. Google News is logging thousands, if not tens of thousands, of news reports about airport security in the wake of this event.

Many commentators suggest that there is no way to stop someone who is willing to die in order to harm or kill other people. In the case of terrorists who follow fundamentalist Islamic law/teachings, these commentators argue that the subject has dedicated his (occasionally her) life to the ideal that killing those who refuse to convert will earn him great rewards in the hereafter, and bring honor - if not monetary rewards - upon the family that survives him. The focus is between that individual and his God, and how the individual will be favored by God based upon what the individual did.

The bottom line seems to be: because this individual is focused only on himself and his presumed rewards, he cannot be stopped.

I wonder, though, how much of this same "me first" thinking affects/infects our ability to reduce threats from terrorists of all sorts.

For example, it would seem that the networks devised to provide information about potential threats had plenty of data regarding Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. If it is possible to cut through all the inter-agency finger-pointing, it becomes easy to imagine that at least one major reason Abdulmutallab was not stopped prior to boarding the flight was because individuals in various agencies were more concerned about protecting themselves or their agency than they were in stopping a potential threat. The focus was on their own interests rather than in service of the common good. Likewise, the same public that cries out about failures in intelligence systems is the same public that cries out about being asked to undergo security screenings they find inconvenient.

If one begins to view actions through that lens, it becomes possible to see how "me first" thinking threatens our culture in many ways that have nothing to do with airport security.

Think about protection of the environment, and how many individuals refuse to do their part in recycling, changing driving habits, or using energy-efficient materials because it inconveniences them.

Think about individuals who oppose health-care reform because the current system works well for them.

Think about individuals who, like fundamentalists of any religion, believe that "my religion" is the only true one, and want everyone else to live by that truth.

Sometimes Christians scoff at the command to love the neighbor, or they recast it so that loving the neighbor means making that neighbor do the "right" thing THEY want them to do! Doesn't sound much like love to me.

Backtracking on the death penalty

The New York Time's article by Adam Liptak, Shapers of Death Penalty Give Up on Their Work offers hope to me that death penalty proponents are losing serious ground. If this group, described as "the only intellectually respectable support for the death penalty system in the United States," recognizes that the system is broken, then perhaps we are on the way to taking the death penalty off the judicial table.

One of their findings was that the system is plagued by racial disparities. Finally.

For too many years, people have tried to justify the death penalty system, arguing that the appeals process has insured that no innocent persons have ever been executed. Riiiiiight...

Here where I live, Forsyth County, North Carolina, there have been two men proven innocent after years of imprisonment. Had they been on death row, who knows if there would have been time to jump through the hoops necessary to prove their innocence. And despite the incredible odds against there being two convictions overturned, there is a third man here who is probably innocent as well, Kalvin Michael Smith. All three men are African American.

I tried to link to the Winston-Salem Journal's latest story on Smith, but could not get the link to work. Search their site for the story: http://www2.journalnow.com/home/

As this institute is finally willing to acknowledge, the death penalty system is broken. Based on what I have seen in the three cases above, our judicial system is broken. Until we are willing to face the racial biases that pervade the system, more innocent people will be convicted while dangerous perpetrators walk the streets.

One final Christmas story

I received some very good feedback on a recent sermon. Click on the post title above and go to the 12/27/2009 links for audio and/or manuscript.