Archives for January 2009

352: What shall we do now? Global voices are rising hopefully. Add yours!

January 25, 2009 by David Crumm

Read this line — and hear the chorus of hope:
“It is always great to cast a vote for someone you want to see president and know that vote is not rigged.“

    This is a brand new comment about the swirl of hopes surrounding the inauguration of President Obama. But you may be thinking:
    What a strange thing to say! “It’s always great to cast a vote … and know it’s not rigged?”
    There is hope rising from these words — if you understand that the person is speaking from Zimbabwe, one of the most corrupt and dangerous corners of our planet Earth right now.
    And your spirits will rise further when you understand that the woman uttering these words is an courageous hero on behalf of some of the most vulnerable people in our global family.
    The speaker’s name is Betty Makoni — and she wrote this line just days ago for the PeaceXPeace (read it as “Peace-by-Peace”) Web site. This month, PeaceXPeace is partnering with ReadTheSpirit in celebrating the 2nd Annual Interfaith Heroes Month.

    Who is Betty Makoni? Just reading about her accomplishments makes you want to spring from your chair and, as President Obama puts it, “pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again …”
    Betty is a former schoolteacher who in 1998 started an organization with 6 girls that eventually grew to reach 500,000. She called her group the Girl Child Network, because its aim is to encourage girls to stay in school — and it combats the widespread abuse of girls in Zimbabwe.
    That work has been honored around the world and would have been enough — but, now, Betty is struggling to keep her voice echoing around our little planet at a time when Zimbabwe is suffering a complete collapse under the continuing dictatorship of Robert Mugabe. In recent days, news stories are telling of horrific conditions both inside the country and for refugees fleeing the poverty, the starvation and the rampant disease spreading through dirty water. Betty has a Zimbabwe-based Web site for her group, but despite repeated attempts from the ReadTheSpirit home office — we couldn’t get through in recent days.

And yet —

And yet — Betty managed to Email a message of hope around the recent U.S. elections. Can you believe that? How can you not be moved on a January morning by a woman whose spiritual wisdom moves on that level of global concern?
If you want to talk with other readers, right now, about our own American responses to this historic moment, visit http://www.OurValues.org/ — or check out the other links under “Care To Read More?” at the end of this story.

HERE IS BETTY’S OWN MESSAGE, sent out to women in America in response to the inauguration. And, as incredible as this seems, she is writing not to complain about her own dire situation, but to encourage Americans to get busy in our own land. Here are her words — and her punctuation!!!!.

Again and Again, Congratulations, Sisters!
    We were all glued to Botswana television and watched USA make history on inauguration of your first young, energetic, intelligent and black president. I follow every story when the Obama girls take to the world stage with their Dad, and that marks also a new beginning for all girls in the world. It says, Yes, we can do it, and what our fathers can do we can also do!!!!!!!!!!!
    Sisters, we want to congratulate you for the new era of hope and change. It is always great to cast a vote for someone you want to see president and know that vote is not rigged.
    Listening to Obama speak, though he did not mention names, here in Africa his message was very clear. Leaders in our part of the world must unclench their fists and stop blaming the West for their own manmade disasters. The message on food on the farms and clean running water was general, but we all embraced it in Zimbabwe because where I stayed myself I had no running water for a year, and now Zimbabwe has been struck with a cholera epidemic. Let’s hope our leaders in Africa embraced this message!!!!!!!
    Just last year I was invited by the current Vice President Joe Biden`s office to testify to the US Senate on the International Violence against Women Act. Then this was postponed due to the election campaigns. Now that elections are over, maybe sisters in the US can help him and us pass this bill into law. It will support groups like the Girl Child Network working to stop violence against women and girls in Africa. Also it would allow the US to intervene in cases like Jestina Mukoko`s, when women human rights defenders are incarcerated.
    We are fully aware of the many challenges our sisters in the US have during this transition. We will be with you in spirit and learn from your coping mechanisms.
    Once again, congratulations, our sisters. When I received emails from many of you or when we met, you sounded anxious and hoped for something new. Rest assured, you will all be okay.

    Our countries are in the same universe, but so different! Since 1980 when I turned 11, you sisters in the US have had more than 10 presidents. My son who turned 13 recently and myself have had ONLY ONE PRESIDENT in our lifetime. It is quite possible that my grandchildren will see the same. However I have been lucky because in neighboring beautiful and democratic Botswana I saw presidents do transitions smoothly and its people protected by the government. This also ushers hope for Africa, because leading democratic countries like Bostwana are good examples of what Africa can do if committed.
    Congratulations to you, sisters, and Michelle Obama too!!!!!! Your new administration has women and girls and children at heart.
    For the next few years we will work closely together to overcome the challenges women and girls face in both our countries.

— Betty Makoni

CARE TO READ MORE?

    Read another remarkable woman’s voice — this one from Kenya. You’ll be jumping to the Web site of our friends at PeaceXPeace.
    And here’s yet another PeaceXPeace voice, this one from an American woman who was in Addis Ababa as she contemplated her hopes for a changing spirit in America.
    Here’s a story on a UN-related Web site about Betty’s work with girls in Zimbabwe.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR READERS TODAY!

PLEASE, Tell Us What You Think.
This is a good time to sign up for our Monday-morning ReadTheSpirit Planner by Email —it’s
free and you can cancel it any time you’d like to do so. The Planner
goes out each week to readers who want more of an “inside track” on
what we’re seeing on the horizon, plus it’s got a popular “holidays”
section.

Not only do we welcome your notes, ideas, suggestions and personal
reflections—but our readers enjoy them as well. You can do this
anytime by clicking on the “Comment” links at the end of each story.
You also can Email ReadTheSpirit Editor David Crumm.
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groups.
(Originally published at https://readthespirit.com/)

351: Readers tell us about unusual Interfaith Heroes … like Clint Eastwood, E. Stanley Jones and Irena Sendler!

January 22, 2009 by David Crumm

Is your head still spinning from this amazing week?
    Readers are asking for a chance to catch their breath and — as the Rev. Rodger Murchison put it in an email to us this week — to “ruminate” on all that is unfolding around us.
    We’ve published a lot about King Day and the Inauguration this week. Check the links on our site to read more about those milestones. And, if you’d like to talk about your thoughts with other readers, Dr. Wayne Baker has been welcoming reader comments all week at http://www.OurValues.org
    But one of the truly unique treasures we’ve been sharing this month is our Interfaith Heroes series. On this page today in our weekly ReaderRoundup, we want to share with you three readers’ voices that we think are inspiring — well worth a moment to ruminate.

WHY YOU SHOULD
GO SEE EASTWOOD’S
MOVIE SOON

    Why? Because it may close soon in theaters near you and you’ll miss a terrific, spiritual gem.
    Now, the danger in writing about this film is that we could away too much. Basically, movie trailers for “Gran Torino” give the impression that this is an ultra-violent shoot-’em-up action film. While there is some tragic violence in the movie, it’s hardly what you may be thinking.
    The Rev. Rodger Murchison, a Baptist pastor from Augusta, Georgia, followed our recommendation of the film and went to see it with his wife. He wrote: “My wife Margaret and I had a movie date night and saw ‘Gran Torino.’ WOW — what a powerful statement. Thanks for suggesting that we see this movie.
    “I am ruminating over what a powerful statement it makes about life, hope, grace, sacrifice, grief, regret, the issues go on and on.”
    Again, we won’t publish “spoilers” here, but I think one could make a case that Clint Eastwood’s character in that movie is truly a fictional Interfaith Hero.

WHY AN OLD-SCHOOL EVANGELICAL
PREACHER IS REMEMBERED
AS A CROSS-CULTURAL HERO

    One of the real surprises this year in the 2nd Annual Interfaith Heroes Month is the inclusion by author Daniel Buttry of the Rev. E. Stanley Jones in this honored list of heroes. As he wrote the chapter on Jones, Buttry knew he was surprising readers.
    The other surprise for many readers may be that such an old-school preacher — surely forgotten now by most younger Americans — remains a guiding light to many key religious figures to this day.
    The Rev. Dr. John Harnish, pastor of Birmingham First United Methodist Church in Michigan wrote to us this week about Jones’ enduring inspiration:

I had heard of E. Stanley Jones when I was in high school but during my student days at Asbury College I was introduced to the man and his writings. He came to preach at his alma mater once while I was a student there and I read his recently released autobiography, “A Song of Ascents.” Then we heard of his stroke and finally his death. I remember the memorial service held on the Asbury campus in the auditorium where he had worshiped and where he had felt the call to mission service in India. Later I read his last book, written in his 88th year, after a stroke, “The Divine Yes.” I still consider it one of the most powerful personal witnesses to the faith I have ever read. Forty years later it continues to be an inspiration for my personal journey of faith.

    Those early contacts led me on to what I consider to be his most important book, “Gandhi: A Personal Portrait.” In a day when we are rapidly moving into a more religiously diverse interfaith society, Jones’ relationship with Gandhi models the ability to hold a Christ-centered faith, but do it with a Christ-like attitude toward others. On balance, his book “The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person” provides a powerful word for the Christian Church and gives insight to one of Jones’ favorite themes, the Kingdom of God.
    In many ways Jones was either a contradiction in terms or a man before his times. He was evangelical in his theology, but ecumenical in his vision for the “federated church.” He would raise his three fingers to represent “Jesus Is Lord” and still value and respect Gandhi’s life and faith. Deeply rooted in the American Methodist tradition, he became a global Christian whose heart was literally buried in India. For me, he represents the best hope for the Christian Church today as we seek to balance the call to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel” with an appreciation and respect for the other religions of the world.
    Though his writing is in some ways simplistic and obviously cast in the style of his generation, I believe his life and work has an important word for our day. For me, he continues to be the greatest missionary of the Methodist movement and a man who can continue to teach us how to walk (to borrow from his book titles) with Christ on the Indian Road, with Christ on the American Road and with each other the global road we travel today.

Thank you Dr. Harnish for adding to our reflections on this great hero! You can read the full E. Stanley Jones hero story by Dr. Buttry here.
(Dr. Harnish is the author of “The Orders of Ministry in the United Methodist Church” and the Lenten devotional booklet “The Sanctuary for Lent, 2009.” He writes a weekly e-mail “Monday Memo,” which can be found at www.fumcbirmingham.org where you can also listen to his weekly sermons.)

HOW AN UNLIKELY HERO
SAVED 2,500 CHILDREN FROM DEATH —
AND HOW CHILDREN LATER “SAVED” HER, AS WELL

Surely one of the most stirring hero stories this year is the amazing account of the work of Irena Sendler during the Holocaust. Reader Sheri Schiff was moved to write her own tribute to Sendler and the whole soul-stirring story of her life. Here are Sheri’s words:

    There is a Talmudic saying: He who changes one person, changes the world. A group of students in rural Kansas took that concept to their heart and soul. In the fall of 1999, a teacher in a Uniontown, Kansas, high school encouraged four of his students to work on a year-long National History Day project that would impact those students, other students who continued the program, their community and the world by telling the story of a true hero, Irena Sendler.
    Their teacher showed them a short clipping from a March 1994 issue of U.S. News and World Report that said, “Irena Sendler saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942-1943.” Both he and the students thought that perhaps the article might be a typographical error since neither he nor anyone he knew had ever heard of this woman or her story. The students began their research and found a profound and moving story of determination, love and courage in the face of evil, horror, death and indifference.
    The students discovered that Irena Sendler, a non-Jewish social worker, went willingly into the despair of the Warsaw Ghetto, spoke with Jewish parents and families, and rescued their young children from inevitable death and destruction from the ghetto and the death camps that awaited them. Placing the young children in the homes of Polish families, convents and orphanages, she made lists of the children’s real names and identities, put the lists in a jar, buried the jars in a garden so that one day when the horror and terror were over, she could dig the jars up, find the children, and inform them of their true identity. The Nazis captured and tortured her, but the Polish Underground rescued her and she went into hiding.

    Living in obscurity in Communist-controlled Poland, her story was buried after World War II. The Communists considered her a subversive and her story was unknown worldwide even though she received recognition as a Righteous Gentile from Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and support from the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous in New York City.
    The Kansas community was inspired by the story of this remarkable woman. Uniontown is a mono-cultural community with little diversity and no Jewish community. The students wrote a play entitled “Life in a Jar” in which they portrayed the life and courage of Irena Sendler and inspired their town to sponsor an Irena Sendler Day.
    Their production of “Life in a Jar” took on a life of its own. Portraying the life of Irena Sendler, they have performed this program for numerous schools, houses of worship, clubs and civic groups all over North America and in Europe (250 presentations as of November 2008). Discovering that Irena was still alive and living in Warsaw, they would take a jar to every performance and collect funds for Irena and other Polish rescuers. They wrote and corresponded with her, discovered a Polish student who could translate for them, made a collection of her letters, and shared them with many other educational institutions and organizations.
    The Uniontown students turned their history project into a national cause and appeared on many media outlets and in numerous newspaper articles. They became knowledgeable on the Holocaust, World War II, and the Polish Underground. Their lives were changed forever. Their correspondence, research and project materials have been used in at least twenty colleges and universities in their curriculum. They raised funding to go to Poland, meet Irena, and study and follow her journey. In subsequent years, other trips to Poland have taken place, in addition to meetings with Irena and the children that she saved. Most were never reunited with their families; most of the parents of the children had been murdered in the Treblinka Death Camp.

    In addition to affecting their own community, the Jewish community of Kansas City became involved through funding opportunities and outreach to other communities in North America. Scholarships in Irena’s name were established to aid the Uniontown students who needed assistance with college tuition. The Milken Family Foundation produced a DVD and study guide that has been placed in more than 1,000 schools throughout the United States and around the world. More than 1,500 media outlets have presented articles about the Kansas students and the Polish hero. In 2006, an international Irena Sendler award was started. Schools have been named after her and books in Polish and German about her courage and bravery have been published. In 2007, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She passed away on May 12, 2008, at age 98.
    Although Irena did not seek recognition, her story spoke to the values of extraordinary heroism. Reaching out to a community that was not hers, saving children destined for “extermination” in a cruel and brutal environment, Irena risked her life and the lives of hundreds of others, including 25 other social workers that helped her in her task.
    As much of the world turned a blind and indifferent eye to the suffering and destruction of the Jews in Europe, I wonder how and why a comfortable, educated woman would become the inspiration for rescue and salvation for the doomed and the disenfranchised Jewish people of Poland. I marvel at her determination and her courage and hope that others find inspiration in her story and in the story of the Uniontown, Kansas, students who made her story their own.
    Irena Sendler saved thousands of children. In the end, it was children who saved her inspiring story from the shadows of history.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR READERS TODAY!

350: Samir Selmanovic and the Story of Seeing “God in the Other”

January 21, 2009 by David Crumm

We’re in the midst of the 2nd Annual Interfaith Heroes Month right now — a season dramatically heightened this week by the convergence of Martin Luther King Day and the transformation in Washington D.C. (If you’d like to talk more about your reactions to the week, visit www.OurValues.org or drop us an Email.)
    ReadTheSpirit’s central mission is to help you make spiritual connections through media, so today we invited Sheryl Fullerton to share an interfaith story with us. Sheryl is a major figure in spiritual media. She’s the executive editor for spirituality and religion at Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons.
    We asked Sheryl how she sees interfaith work at the moment — and specifically to tell us about a book she has chosen to publish with an emerging interfaith hero: Samir Selmanovic (in the photo at left, below).
    Here is …

THE STORY OF “GOD IN THE OTHER”
By Sheryl Fullerton

It seems everywhere I look these days, there is talk of interfaith this or that, for or against. The impulse either to strengthen boundaries or breach them seems intense, maybe because of the general feeling that change is in the air, that an era is ending and we need new ways forward—or, as some feel, we need to do everything in our power to resist the changes.
It’s from such times of tension and uncertainty and passionate discussion that books are born. And that is the case with a new book we’re publishing next fall by Samir Selmanovic, tentatively titled for now “God in the Other.”

    I remember when I first opened up Samir’s proposal. His opening statement hit me right between the eyes: “For years I’ve been talking about three monotheistic religions to nonbelievers. And here is what I hear: ‘At best, Jews, Christians, and Muslims look like three religious stooges in a slapstick comedy. At worst, they look like three brothers with hands clasped in prayer and soaked in blood.’ We have littered history with incredible amounts of stupidity, injustice and suffering. The world has simply had it with us. They are not listening anymore… Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have painted a picture of God that is difficult to admire, much less worship….Either monotheism will die, or evolve.”
    When I read that, I nodded.
    I’d thought many times that we can’t continue the insanity of doing the same things we’ve been doing—we humans are literally destroying each other all over the world, way too often in the name of God. The more I read, the more I thought Samir’s unique life experience was a huge part of his insights and his urgency. Raised in Croatia in a culturally Muslim family, he converted to Seventh Day Adventism while in the Yugoslavian army, was disowned by his family for doing so, went to college and seminary, pastored churches in southern California and New York City, and just last fall launched an interfaith community (for Jews, Christians, and Muslims) called Faith House Manhattan.
    Faith House’s vision is to be a community that honors and learns from the teachings, practices, sufferings, and joys of people from different religions, worldviews, philosophies, and belief systems.

Tony Campolo aptly described both Samir and Faith House when he said, “Samir Selmanovic is just what we have needed to bring the spirit of Christ to bear in a fractured society. His attempts to create dialogue between peoples of different religious traditions is essential in a pluralistic society and is desperately needed in a world in which religion has become an instrument of war instead of actualizing its intended goal of being an instrument of peace. Here is a young man with vision and with the kind of drive and commitment that will enable his dreams to be actualized….I am sure that he will be used [by] God in this project, living out the biblically-prescribed ministry of reconciliation.”

    In his book, Samir tells of his personal journey to uncover the beauty and potency of religion that is able to place the good of the world above its own survival. He argues that for Christianity, Islam and Judaism to recapture the human imagination, the theology and practice of finding God in The Other will have to move from the outskirts of religious experience to its heart. Instead of losing its strength and depth, such renewed religion will help heal the world.
    Those are grand ideas — and it is a time for large visions.
    My hope for Samir and this book is that it will matter, that it will start new conversations and new connections. His call for us to give up our “God management systems” and engage each other with love and compassion as human beings who are all created in God’s image is compelling. I hope the book will get people thinking and talking about their assumptions and will, I pray, help to foster more reconciliation, more respect, more listening, which would help us to have less fear, less anger, less religiously inspired violence. He’s not calling for us to find some magic formula of religious common denominators that we can agree on—to do so would create a flavorless potage that wouldn’t have the nutritious quality of our religious traditions.
    In a way what he asks is a lot more radical: Can a Christian worship Christ with abandon while learning about God from a Muslim? Can a Muslim submit to Allah while challenging Islam? Can an observant Jew praise God for the gift of New Testament and Quran? Can a staunch atheist find comfort in a religion?
Samir’s book offers a big “yes” to questions such as these and helps us see how this might be so.

CARE TO READ MORE?
To read more about Faith House Manhattan visit the group’s web site, which is full of inspirational reading. Or, to read a bio on Samir Selmanovic, visit his on page on the group’s site.

349: What shall we do now? Conversation With Shane Clainborne

January 20, 2009 by David Crumm

“STARTING TODAY, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”
President Barack Obama in his Inaugural Address, which you can read here.

“IN TODAY’S SHARP SPARKLE, this winter air, anything can be made — any sentence begun.
    On the brink,
    On the brim,
    On the cusp …”
    Elizabeth Alexander in her Inaugural Poem, which you can read here.

This week, Americans are reorienting their vision and hopefully their minds and hearts as well. We’re seeing things we never expected to see! TODAY, we are proud to welcome into our weekly Conversation, another person whose appearance may surprise some readers.
    Just as many of us shed tears of joy in seeing the first man of color become the leader of the United States, you may find yourself blinking once or twice at Shane Claiborne.
    But, hear this loudly and clearly: Millions of young men and women in the next wave of ministry coast to coast look to Shane Claiborne as a living prophet. No, not as some cult divinity! But, truly he’s a preacher who is brave enough to live out his own sermons — and to speak hard truths to well-established powers.
    That kind of prophet.
    Visit his Wikipedia page if you want to learn more about his background. In a nutshell, he’s an enormously popular author with younger Christian readers and with activists of all ages who are working toward nonviolence and an end to destructive forms of poverty. His latest book is “Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers” (click the Amazon link below to get a copy).
    He lives in a new style of urban monastic community in Philadelphia. He answers to a “clearness committee,” borrowed from traditional Quaker practice. Like many ancient prophets, he never travels alone and he lives in voluntary poverty himself.

HERE ARE HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR CONVERSATION:

    DAVID: Shane, everyone right now is asking: How shall we live? What shall we do now? So, how about you? How are you living?
    SHANE: Our big mantra and prayer is: Dream big and live small! I try to integrate that in my own life.
In our neighborhood, we have a weekly rhythm of things like morning prayer and times that we share food with folks. About an hour from now about 50 families will come here to get food and then we help kids with homework. We do urban gardens and renovate houses.
    We share meals that we schedule together — some are open to the public and some aren’t. That’s sort of what life looks like in our neighborhood. I’ve been living in this community for 10 years. I live with about six or so other people and we share our lives together. And we end up spending a lot of time with neighbors.
    This week one of my closest neighbors — an elder here and our block captain — she died and that was a big loss. I was a pallbearer in her funeral.

    DAVID: As I travel around the country, I hear your name everywhere I go. You’re extremely popular these days. How do you balance that prophetic role with this everyday life in your little community there?
    SHANE: For me, it’s very important that I submit all these things to my community — our elders and partners — and we discern together. I have a clearness committee. One decision I make with them is how much I travel and things like that. We accept less than 25 percent of the speaking requests that I get. We discern that together.
    Traveling too much would be a problem. I don’t want to be traveling around and telling people stories that are 10 yeas old about things that I no longer really do. Last night, for instance, I went out and we were giving out sandwiches on the street.
    A community can be pretty good at keeping you grounded.
    I travel everywhere in pairs, too. So there’s always someone there who can say: Hold on. That’s not really the way that should happen.
    DAVID: You follow some wise rules that actually are very similar to long-standing practices in other communities. Quakers have clearness committees. Billy Graham’s longstanding rules include a rule that Graham never allowed himself to be alone in a room with a woman who wasn’t a member of his family.
    SHANE: Right. These are good things. There’s just a ton of wisdom in the biblical call to community. Jesus sent people out in pairs both for accountability and for truth and even for dismantling some of the power structures. There’s so much wisdom in these biblical lessons about community. Here’s one reason I travel with someone from the community: When someone then comes to visit us here, they already know someone here more than just me. It builds community.
    When I travel, I stay in people’s homes as much as is humanly possible. It’s in my contract as a speaker that we request homes and not hotels. People think that’s sacrificial, but I think it’s actually very smart. You actually get spoiled in people’s homes anyway – they make you homemade cookies and things like that. This also protects you in areas that you might be vulnerable and it builds community.

    DAVID: In your new book, you point out that we are surrounded by urgent needs — to such an extent that we may be tempted to separate ourselves from prayer. Here’s a line from your book: “Amos tells the people of God to shut up with their songs and worship and feasts and festivals and take care of the poor.”
But your new book actually is about the importance of prayer mingled with daily living.
    SHANE: We cite the old adage: Pray as if everything depended on God and live as if everything depends on you.
    What we’re getting at is that prayer and action have to go together. As we pray we’re not just trying to convince God to do what we want God to do. We’re also trying to convince ourselves that we can do what God wants us to do. We’re joining with God in working in the world.
    It’s beautiful that communities get together and share prayer requests. But here’s the problem: You know what happens if somebody comes up to you and says, “Hey, I’ll pray for you!”
    It means you’d better start figuring out a Plan B because they’re not going to do anything to help you substantially.
    If somebody really needs a wheelchair ramp — then we really are the answers to those prayers. God hurts with those who hurt. And God needs us. If someone is hurting because they really need that wheelchair ramp — then we need to get together and get that wheelchair ramp built!
    We do need to be praying and seeking God’s heart. Then, we need to get up from our knees and pursue justice for the poor.
    The book of James says true religion that god honors is care for the widow and the orphan and keeping ourselves from being polluted by this world.

    DAVID: Yeah, but right now with so many problems in our lives, I know people who are having a tough time just crawling out of bed in the morning.
    SHANE: It’s tough right now. Absolutely.
    I was on an airplane the other day with a guy who asked me, “What do you do?”
    I said, “I’m a preacher.”
    He said, “Wow! I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
    Then, he said, “I bet you have no shortage of material today. This is the apocalypse.” I think maybe he read too many of Tim LaHaye’s books — that “Left Behind” stuff.
    These are incredible times in which we’re living. But this isn’t the end of the world. An apocalypse is a revelation — a ripping away of the veil so we can see underneath what’s really going on in our world. It’s like the “Wizard of Oz” when they finally pull back the curtain and — Wowee! — there’s a little guy in there pulling the levers! We can see what’s really going on in the world.
    This is an incredible opportunity for the church to shine, for people of faith to shine. Here is a time when people finally can see the answers to questions like: Does God’s dream for the world really look like Wall Street’s dream? Let’s pull back that curtain.
    This is an unbelievable opportunity to re-imagine the world and to look at scripture with clearer eyes. Maybe we really are supposed to consider the lilies and the sparrows who live in such simplicity that they shame Solomon — or Wall Street.
    Lilies and sparrows don’t trust in 401Ks. Jesus talked about the foolish people who build these huge barns for all their stuff — then they get more stuff and build even bigger barns to hold all that new stuff. Then — well, you know the story. Earthy security doesn’t lie in the stuff of this earth that moths destroy and thieves steal — and markets can collapse upon. No.
    We need a radical dependence on God. That’s what we can experience in these incredible times. As a community of faith, we have the opportunity actually to embody good news. This is when we really can shine.
    The gospel we proclaim is good news to the poor — and right now? There’s going to be a lot more poor people.

    DAVID: So, back to our question: What shall we do now? The curtain is pulled back. We realize we’ve actually got to — we’ve got to, well, to practice what we preach. But tell us a little bit about what that practice looks like. What do we do?
    SHANE: A lot of the things we’ve been talking about for years — like growing your own food and living more simply — a lot more folks are beginning to do these things.
    We need to look at scriptures. There’s an idea in the Hebrew Scriptures of Jubilee, where land is redistributed and slaves are freed. It’s a systematic dismantling of inequality. If these times aren’t teaching us the value of this ancient wisdom, then we’ve got to start schooling ourselves in Jubilee.
    We’ve got to think through the patterns of the kingdom of God. I’m excited because in one sense I’ve learned a lot about these things that from my own neighborhood.
    DAVID: Give me an example.
    SHANE: A year and a half ago, we had a big fire in the neighborhood that burned down most of our block. The Red Cross came and set up a shelter. They waited. Then, they came and told us: “This is crazy. Nobody’s staying in our shelter.”
    Why? They said, “Your community is the shelter.” People in our neighborhood opened up their homes to each other. No one needed the Red Cross shelter.
    Jesus calls us to groan with those who groan and ache with those who ache.
    Remember the feeding miracle in the Bible, where there are all these hungry people and Jesus looks at his followers and says: “You feed them.”
    The disciples don’t want to hear this. They’re still thinking with the mind of Wall Street, the mind of the market. What? How can we feed these people? Where’s the Wal-Mart?
    Jesus asks: What do you have?
    They’ve got a few loaves and fishes and a kid shares his lunch. And more people start sharing and there’s this multiplication that happens. This isn’t Jesus calling down manna from Heaven. He actually takes the meager offerings of the people, adds a little God stuff — and he uses that to feed the masses with whole baskets of food left over.
    There’s a promise in scripture that God will take care of us. There will be enough for everyone’s need — but not for our greed. We are coming to realize that we have been living in a false splendor that has been bad for so many. There are many things to celebrate in this country, but our greed is not one of them. We have developed so many unhealthy patterns of living that this world ends up possessing us. We wind up the wealthiest country in the world, but also the most in debt, depressed and over medicated.

    DAVID: You’re an enormous hero to young clergy and community activists across the religious spectrum. But a lot of these young men and women who look to you are struggling to run churches and non-profit agencies that are struggling. You’re talking about radical rethinking from the ground up — and thousands of young leaders are being assigned to manage the local McDonald’s franchises of faith and community activism. They’re struggling to keep the lights on and the Drive-Thru windows open and may not have time for what you’re talking about.
    Your new book talks about this challenge. So, finally, say a word to those who would love to follow your pathway — but the tasks they’re handed are so tough, right now.
    SHANE: It’s apparent in church history that every few hundred years, Christianity has an identity crisis where it gets muddled and infected by the culture and by militarism and by other temptations.
    In those times, people start going back to the margins — the deserts, the inner cities and other places where they can rethink what it means to be Christian. Right now, we need young people to go into ministry to help us all call the church back to what the church was created to be.
    Gandhi said it: Be the change you want to see in the world.
    Stop complaining about the church we’ve inherited and work on becoming the church we dream of. That does mean we’ve got to rethink some things. The fact is that our tithes and offerings are 90 percent staying within our buildings and paying for staffing and internal parts of the church. In the New Testament especially the offerings were given to people in the community as they needed them and this was all part of God’s redistributive economy.
    We have to step back and work on re-imagining those things. It means we are looking way back to things like Jubilee.
    This isn’t a disengagement. I’m not telling people to pull out of the church. This is a time of renewal. The church needs to hear our dissent. Half the word of Protestant is “protest,” but how much real “protest” do you hear in the church?

    DAVID: This is hard stuff you’re describing — daring stuff.
    SHANE: Well, faith is the substance of things hoped for but not yet seen. In that prophetic expectation, we believe in what’s coming so much that we can’t help ourselves — we start to live as though it’s here already.
    We say poverty is ending – and yet the truth is that poverty is all around us. So, what do we do about it? We start living as if the poor are our family.
    My good friend Jim Wallis says faith is believing despite the evidence — and watching the evidence change.
    War is for people who have lost their imagination. Our whole economy right now has lost its imagination.
    Part of what we must do is just what we’re doing here: Keep telling the stories that can break up our paralysis and renew our imagination.

Elizabeth Alexander’s Inaugural Poem

January 20, 2009 by David Crumm

To learn more about poet Elizabeth Alexander, visit her home page.
Eventually, a full version of her Inaugural Poem will be published with her own version of the proper line breaks and punctuation. For now, here are excerpts we took down as she gave this new poem to a waiting nation …

Praise Song for the day.
Each day we go about our business — walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.
All about us is noise.
All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.
    Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
    A woman and her son wait for the bus.
    A farmer considers the changing sky.
    A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.”
    We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider. …

We need to find a place where we are safe; we walk into that which we cannot yet see.
    Say it plain: Many have died for this day.
    …
    Praise song for struggle.
    Praise song for the day.
    Praise song for every hand-lettered sign — for the figuring it out at kitchen tables.

Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.”
Others by “First do no harm,”
Others by “Take no more than you need.”

What if the mightiest word is: Love.
    Love beyond marital, filial, national.
    Love that casts a widening pool of light.
    Love with no need to preempt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
    On the brink,
    On the brim,
    On the cusp …

Praise song for walking forward in that light.
Praise song for the day.

President Obama’s Inaugural Address

January 20, 2009 by David Crumm

My fellow citizens:
    I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
    Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
    So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

CHOOSING “UNITY OF PURPOSE OVER CONFLICT”

    That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
    These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land – a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
    Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America – they will be met.
    On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
    On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

“TO SET ASIDE CHILDISH THINGS …”

    We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
    In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
    For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
    For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
    For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
    This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
    For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

“IMAGINATION … JOINED TO COMMON PURPOSE”

    Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
    What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
    Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

“IDEALS STILL LIGHT THE WORLD”

    As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
    Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
    We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort – even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

“KINDNESS … SELFLESSNESS … COURAGE”

    For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
    To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
    To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
    As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
    For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

“VALUES UPON WHICH OUR SUCCESS DEPENDS”

    Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
    This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
    This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
    This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
    So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
    “Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

“GOD’S GRACE UPON US”

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

348: We Hear America Praying on This Historic Day … How about you?

January 19, 2009 by David Crumm

Can you hear it?
We’re praying.
No, it’s not just me. ReadTheSpirit readers are hearing it, too.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA heard it in Washington D.C.
Click here to read and reflect on his historic 18-minute Inaugural Address.

THE POET JUDY NERI heard it in Maryland. Judy’s personal remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy was published on Monday. Then, she just sent us a follow-up note about this intense moment of hope we’re experiencing coast to coast. Judy, who is Jewish, recommends joining in the inclusive Inaugural Prayer we commissioned for today, written by the Rev. Marsha Woolley, who is Christian. Judy wrote:
The Inaugural Prayer by the Rev. Marsha Woolley is very true to — dare I say it? — PRESIDENT Obama’s constant theme that positive change has to come from all of us working together, and it expresses the hope of all of us that we are truly on the cusp of a deep transformational change that draws its strength from what is best in the American spirit.
There is something in the air that speaks to this feeling of hope, and I join Rev. Woolley in praying for his welfare and that of his family, and “that the good identified in Barack Obama will be used to turn around the hollow systems that have led us down selfish paths. . . .”

MUSICIAN ELAINE GREENBERG, an activist on behalf of people challenged by cancer, heard it in Michigan. Elaine’s note today says:
I can only hope with the rest of the country that Martin Luther
King’s words “I Have A Dream” will be a reality with our new
President. I find myself hanging onto every word he says.

THE SCHOLAR AND AUTHOR DR. ALLAN SCHNAIBERG heard it in Chicago. Dr. Schnaiberg is an occasional contributor to the OurValues.org Web site, hosted by Dr. Wayne Baker. (Today, Dr. Baker is welcoming your comments on the inauguration at OurValues.org — a great place to “stop by” while you’re watching the coverage and add a quick thought. Readers will appreciate your doing that.)
Dr. Schnaiberg wrote:
I am truly overwhelmed by the conjunction of Martin Luther King’s birthday and Barack Obama’s inauguration. During this past week, NPR’s “The Story” focused on the social history leading up to and moving beyond King’s life and assassination. I have high hopes — already realized — for an improvement in the morals and morale of America under Obama … I already have disagreements with a number of his proposals — but I have a deep trust that our differences will be aired and dealt with.

U.S. LEADERS WITHIN THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES hear it echoing, too. Today, they’re publishing an open letter to the new president that says in part:
    We want you to know of the excitement about your inauguration as the 44th President of the United States felt by us and so many around the world, who are encouraged by your commitment to rekindle hope and your vision for this country and our world. …
    We also share the soberness of the present time as you take office. The challenges are enormous and formidable. They are found in every sector of this society and, indeed, across the entire spectrum of the human family worldwide. So many people in this world of abundance struggle with poverty; we are called by God to address the needs of the poor. So many places of this world are broken by violence and war; we are called by Christ to be peacemakers.
    Ours is not to point fingers at your new administration and say, “Fix it.” Rather, ours is to roll up our sleeves and partner with you to help bring about the changes that are so desperately needed for the United States and the world to more closely reflect God’s vision for humankind and all of creation.
    You can read the entire U.S.-WCC letter on the WCC Web site.

And now …
HOW ABOUT YOU?

Not only do we welcome your notes, ideas, suggestions and personal
reflections—but our readers enjoy them as well. You can do this
anytime by clicking on the “Comment” links at the end of each story.
You also can Email ReadTheSpirit Editor David Crumm. We’re also reachable on Facebook, Digg, Amazon, GoodReads and some of
the other social-networking sites as well, if you’re part of those
groups.
(Originally published at https://readthespirit.com/)

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