Chicago – Monday 19 July 2010. I was part of a group of people participating in the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) Chicago training from July 12 to August 12, 2010. We picketed, handed out leaflets, and sang outside of the Body Shop on State Street (at Madison), Chicago to raise concerns about 123 families forcibly displaced from their land in Las Pavas, Columbia. CPT called on the Body Shop, headquartered in Littlehampton, West Sussex, England, to discontinue the purchase of palm oil from the Daabon Organic Cooporation, headquartered in Santa Marta, Colombia. The Body Shop obtains 90% of its palm oil from Daabon Organics, a company involved in the forced eviction of Las Pavas families. Christian Peacemaker Teams delivered a letter to the Body Shop that called attention to the fact that Daabon sought a court order to have the farmers evicted and riot police carried out that order July 14, 2009. The CPT letter indicated that Daabon has also cut down a communal forest and is drying up wetlands in order to plant palm.
CPT asked the Body Shop to live up to their expressed values, found on their Website, of community trade, Human Rights, and Protection for the planet by publicly announcing to Daabon that they must give the land back to the Las Pavas families and pay compensation for the damages they suffered because of the forced displacement. The Body Shop and Daabon both claim to maintain high standards for human rights and environmental protection, and they receive a premium price for their products as a result of their public image. Daabon is also a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and has committed to upholding the principles of that association. Daabon's acquisition of Las Pavas, the eviction of the families from the land, and the destruction of trees and the alteration of waterways on that land, violate the stated values of the Body Shop and Daabon.
Four CPT members were arrested in the action and charged with criminal trespass. JoAnn Fricke of Chicago, Marcus Armstrong of the United Kingdom, The Rev Lor Breyley an ELCA pastor from Berkley Michigan , and Carol Rose (CPT Director)of Chicago, were handcuffed and taken to jail when they sat down on the floor of the Body Shop to share bread and show their solidarity with Las Pavas farmers. The four have court appearances on August 31, 2010.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
CHRISTIAN PEACEMAKER TEAM TRAINING
I participated in Christian Peacemaker Team training from July 12 to August 12, 2010 in Chicago. Christian Peacemaker Teams arose from a call in 1984 for Christians to devote the same discipline and self-sacrifice to non-violent peace making that armies devote to war. Christ Peacemaker Teams (CPT) embraces a vision of unarmed intervention waged by committed peace makers ready to risk injury and death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through the nonviolent power of God's truth.
Initially sponsored by the two largest North American Mennonite denominations and the Church of the Brethren, CPT has the additional sponsorship of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, the Congregation of St. Basil (Basilians), Every Church a Peace Church, Friends United Meeting, On Earth Peace, and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Most of CPT’s support comes from church members, congregations, and Friends meetings. (For more information: www.cpt.org)
Initially sponsored by the two largest North American Mennonite denominations and the Church of the Brethren, CPT has the additional sponsorship of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, the Congregation of St. Basil (Basilians), Every Church a Peace Church, Friends United Meeting, On Earth Peace, and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Most of CPT’s support comes from church members, congregations, and Friends meetings. (For more information: www.cpt.org)
Sunday, June 20, 2010
THE ELCA AND MULTICULTURALISM
I agree with at least one observation of Tucker Carlson in his analysis of the Episcopal Church (Episcopal Church in Crisis by Tucker Carlson The Weekly Standard, October 13, 1997}. "In the end, multiculturalism may be [the]salvation of the religion that the world still, and falsely, equates with white America." To be clear, I don't think that Carlson was replacing the role of Jesus Christ in salvation history. Sadly, I believe that the ELCA is preparing to replace the Commission for Multicultural Ministries due to dwindling financial resources. Multiculturalism presents unique challenges for the ELCA and other churches. Churches can embrace these challenges by embodying the teachings and practices of Jesus that call for Christians to break down the culturally constructed barriers of racism, classism, and nationalism. The term multiculturalism means different things to different people. To some it is a politically-correct world view. If someone is from a different culture or ethnic group, we are to blindly and lovingly accept anything and everything in the spirit of fairness and equity. Those who disagree with this point of view often see multiculturalism as an avenue of improving race relations and inviting greater participation of people in the life of the church.
The Bible offers different views on multiculturalism, teaching in one instance that God divided the peoples of the world according to language (Genesis 11). Throughout scripture God expresses concern for the well being of all people of the world. In Matthew 28:18-20 there is a call to make known the wisdom of God by discipling people (they are to be disciples of Jesus). It is a cosmic mission. It is one that can lead to severe conflicts with the powers of darkness (Eph 6:10ff). It is indeed a Great Commission.
In reflecting on a culturally diverse world Paul wrote, “There’s no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Not only is the body of Christ diverse (Jew or Greek) but also multi-class (slaves or free) and multi-gender (male and female). To Paul's observation we would add gays and lesbians. Paul says all of us are one in Christ. Paul's vision of the church, the body of Christ on earth, was multicultural.
According to Alicia Vargas ('No longer Jew or Greek' Multiculturalism in ELCA has Pauline roots, The Lutheran, July 2009) The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the U.S. will have a majority of people of color in 2045, just 3[5] years from now. The ELCA has a choice to make in view of those projections. Will it be a ghettoized church serving mainly the white minority in America in 2045 or will it be one with all the peoples and cultures in this land? With Alicia Vargas, I hope that the ELCA will continue to reflect the fullness of the numbers and the gifts of all the people in the U.S.
The Bible offers different views on multiculturalism, teaching in one instance that God divided the peoples of the world according to language (Genesis 11). Throughout scripture God expresses concern for the well being of all people of the world. In Matthew 28:18-20 there is a call to make known the wisdom of God by discipling people (they are to be disciples of Jesus). It is a cosmic mission. It is one that can lead to severe conflicts with the powers of darkness (Eph 6:10ff). It is indeed a Great Commission.
In reflecting on a culturally diverse world Paul wrote, “There’s no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Not only is the body of Christ diverse (Jew or Greek) but also multi-class (slaves or free) and multi-gender (male and female). To Paul's observation we would add gays and lesbians. Paul says all of us are one in Christ. Paul's vision of the church, the body of Christ on earth, was multicultural.
According to Alicia Vargas ('No longer Jew or Greek' Multiculturalism in ELCA has Pauline roots, The Lutheran, July 2009) The U.S. Census Bureau projects that the U.S. will have a majority of people of color in 2045, just 3[5] years from now. The ELCA has a choice to make in view of those projections. Will it be a ghettoized church serving mainly the white minority in America in 2045 or will it be one with all the peoples and cultures in this land? With Alicia Vargas, I hope that the ELCA will continue to reflect the fullness of the numbers and the gifts of all the people in the U.S.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
ELCA MEMBERS ARE LEAVING
I remember the first time I heard about a Lutheran leaving for Rome (The Roman Catholic Church). Kazimierz Kawoalski had been a classmate at SEMINEX. I preached at his installation at Epiphany Lutheran Church in the 1980s in Laurelton, Queens, New York. Father Kawoalski became pastor to the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, a
Roman Catholic parish on the East Side of Manhattan. This was for Father Kawoalski, I believe, a commencement. He is at home in the Roman Catholic Church. Klaus Nurnberger (Professor emeritus, Fellow and Senior Research Associate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) has written about Lutherans who opt for other destinations. He did not write about why, but he does write about at least four destinations of people world-wide who leave Lutheran churches.(Dialog vol 44:4/2005 323-329) a) Those who leave for Catholicism, (b) Those who leave for Evangelicalism (c) Those who leave for Pentecostalism... and (d) Those who leave the church altogether. There are also Lutherans who leave and join, or form other Lutheran denominations, but that is another subject.
As I travel through the ELCA's Region 9, I worship in a large number of uncomfortably empty churches. What is clear is that those who leave the church altogether seem to be in the majority. Where are the "millennials?" There are about 80 million of them, born between 1980 and 1995. Where are the non whites? The ELCA, like many mainline denominations, is approximately 97 percent white and is increasingly becoming an "older body. Where are middle class men who are in their prime? Where are people in political life, or who are in academic professions?
There are indeed those for whom our understanding of the Bible or the dogmatic tradition has become too shaky, who long for 'solid foundations'. But there are also those who simply have come to ignore the existence of the church because they have found no plausibility, integrity, and relevance in our message to their contemporary world.(Klaus Nurnberger)
Yes, secularization is making inroads steadily into Christian enclaves, with fewer Americans interested in church at all, and the ELCA's decision to ordain gays and lesbians in partnered relationships, in the long run will not have proved to have mattered much in the overall scheme of church membership.
In The Godbearing Life, Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster wrote about how the church is failing a whole generation of young people, "especially youth at the margins." (p. 15). These authors believe that the church has failed to rise to the challenge of modernity. Klaus Nurnbergers believes the Church has failed to take into account what can be learned from the natural sciences; global pluralism; explosive events in the global capitalist economy, such as the recent oil eruption in the Gulf of Mexico and its impact on the natural environment; the glitz and glamour of Hollywood type marketing for the sake of profit; the disintegration of traditionalist religious under the pernicious strain of Modernism, and a new burst of fudamentalisms that reflects the pains of modernity and modernization.
Since the 16th century, alchemy has changed into chemistry, astrology into astronomy, feudalism into liberal democracy? What makes theology stick to patterns of thought that belong to another age? Why should a 'doctrinal situation' be 'stable', while the entire world is in accelerating flux? If our predecessors in the 17th century were bold enough to learn from Aristotle, whom Luther considered a heathen, surely we could learn from Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsch, Einstein, Heidegger, Bloch, or Derrida. (Klaus Nurnberger)
Lutherans are leaving in large numbers. The ELCA has lost three quarters of a million people since it’s inception.The average attendance in ELCA congregations is 99 a Sunday. Aging congregations have been on the decline for many years. Our pews are not even half full. Sunday schools are disappearing. Maintaining large physical plants is becoming cost prohibitive. But we are not called to merely thrive. Phyllis Anderson reminds us that "Our future is not as an organization or even as a denomination, but as a catalytic movement within Christ's church." (Source: The Future of Lutheranism, Augsburg Fortress 2008) While memories of the past are often selective, we dare not abandon the history and traditions that made us who we are, but it is with the future that we have a rendezvous. The world we find ourselves a part of is a hard place, but it is the task of theology to give the church the courage and the direction needed to take on the issues that confront the globe, rather than withdrawing into a safe doctrinal haven.
Roman Catholic parish on the East Side of Manhattan. This was for Father Kawoalski, I believe, a commencement. He is at home in the Roman Catholic Church. Klaus Nurnberger (Professor emeritus, Fellow and Senior Research Associate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) has written about Lutherans who opt for other destinations. He did not write about why, but he does write about at least four destinations of people world-wide who leave Lutheran churches.(Dialog vol 44:4/2005 323-329) a) Those who leave for Catholicism, (b) Those who leave for Evangelicalism (c) Those who leave for Pentecostalism... and (d) Those who leave the church altogether. There are also Lutherans who leave and join, or form other Lutheran denominations, but that is another subject.
As I travel through the ELCA's Region 9, I worship in a large number of uncomfortably empty churches. What is clear is that those who leave the church altogether seem to be in the majority. Where are the "millennials?" There are about 80 million of them, born between 1980 and 1995. Where are the non whites? The ELCA, like many mainline denominations, is approximately 97 percent white and is increasingly becoming an "older body. Where are middle class men who are in their prime? Where are people in political life, or who are in academic professions?
There are indeed those for whom our understanding of the Bible or the dogmatic tradition has become too shaky, who long for 'solid foundations'. But there are also those who simply have come to ignore the existence of the church because they have found no plausibility, integrity, and relevance in our message to their contemporary world.(Klaus Nurnberger)
Yes, secularization is making inroads steadily into Christian enclaves, with fewer Americans interested in church at all, and the ELCA's decision to ordain gays and lesbians in partnered relationships, in the long run will not have proved to have mattered much in the overall scheme of church membership.
In The Godbearing Life, Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster wrote about how the church is failing a whole generation of young people, "especially youth at the margins." (p. 15). These authors believe that the church has failed to rise to the challenge of modernity. Klaus Nurnbergers believes the Church has failed to take into account what can be learned from the natural sciences; global pluralism; explosive events in the global capitalist economy, such as the recent oil eruption in the Gulf of Mexico and its impact on the natural environment; the glitz and glamour of Hollywood type marketing for the sake of profit; the disintegration of traditionalist religious under the pernicious strain of Modernism, and a new burst of fudamentalisms that reflects the pains of modernity and modernization.
Since the 16th century, alchemy has changed into chemistry, astrology into astronomy, feudalism into liberal democracy? What makes theology stick to patterns of thought that belong to another age? Why should a 'doctrinal situation' be 'stable', while the entire world is in accelerating flux? If our predecessors in the 17th century were bold enough to learn from Aristotle, whom Luther considered a heathen, surely we could learn from Feuerbach, Marx, Nietzsch, Einstein, Heidegger, Bloch, or Derrida. (Klaus Nurnberger)
Lutherans are leaving in large numbers. The ELCA has lost three quarters of a million people since it’s inception.The average attendance in ELCA congregations is 99 a Sunday. Aging congregations have been on the decline for many years. Our pews are not even half full. Sunday schools are disappearing. Maintaining large physical plants is becoming cost prohibitive. But we are not called to merely thrive. Phyllis Anderson reminds us that "Our future is not as an organization or even as a denomination, but as a catalytic movement within Christ's church." (Source: The Future of Lutheranism, Augsburg Fortress 2008) While memories of the past are often selective, we dare not abandon the history and traditions that made us who we are, but it is with the future that we have a rendezvous. The world we find ourselves a part of is a hard place, but it is the task of theology to give the church the courage and the direction needed to take on the issues that confront the globe, rather than withdrawing into a safe doctrinal haven.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Arizona Immigration Law - A Bad Idea
Undocumented laborers perform jobs that contribute to the American standard of living. They are about 5 percent of the USAs labor force. According to the American Immigration Law Foundation-- undocumented laborers are between 22 and 36 percent of America's insulation workers, miscellaneous agricultural workers, meat-processing workers, babysitters, chicken pluckers, lawn and garden workers, construction workers, dishwashers, and maids.( source: www.ailf.org)
Undocumented workers are breaking the law, that is a fact. Yet, the need for workers who earn lower wages has made them an important part of the economic picture in the USA. Former Mexican president Vincente Fox’s got into trouble when he famously opined that, “There is no doubt that Mexicans, filled with dignity, willingness and ability to work, are doing jobs that not even blacks want to do there in the United States.”
This is not the first time the State of Arizona has passed laws aimed at Mexicans. Laws passed three years ago have caused business people to live in fear due to the threat of workplace immigration raids. The Arizona laws ban persons from "knowingly" hiring illegal immigrants. The new law will extend the same intrusive state apparatus to individuals. It will ban Arizonians from knowingly—or even unknowingly—transporting illegal aliens for any reason, an explicit attempt to crack down on homeowners who pick up Mexican day workers for household projects.
The bill alienates undocumented immigrants who would otherwise cooperate with law enforcement, menbers of the Arizona state police chief's association pointed out. This is a bad idea! Maybe more importantly, we should consider all of the impacts that would occur if all of the undocumented immigrants left the USA. This would, without doubt, be damaging to many sectors of the U.S. economy.
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Thursday, May 6, 2010
FRANKLIN GRAHAM: DIS-INVITED GUEST
Franklin Graham had a fit over being disinvited to a national prayer breakfast May 10, 2010. Graham was disinvited from the prayer day event because of his anti-Islam remarks. Both in words and actions, we notice he is a "chip" off the old block. Graham never learned some of the lessons his father taught. Recently Billy Graham was asked by Larry King on Larry King Live if Muslims could go to heaven. Billy said that that was not for him to decide but that God would sort it out. Billy Graham believes in this simple but profound principle -- the golden rule.
The Bible also tells us, "With humility comes wisdom." Every day I realize I'm just a sinner like everyone else, and I have been forgiven only because of God's grace. God gave us our gifts and abilities. He blessed our efforts. If we start thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to, it takes away from our proper worship of God. Pride blinds us to our own faults.
That's why we should pray not only for our friends but also for our enemies. Prayer is one way we put the golden rule into action. (From Reader's Digest - January 2007)
Franklin Graham's comments regarding Muslims got him disinvited from the prayer event at the Pentagon. In 2001 Franklin Graham opined that Islam is evil. This was not the first time Graham has denigrated Islam, all Islam and not just Islamic fundamentalists who engage in terrorism. Graham finds Islam offensive and he wants Muslims to know Jesus Christ died for their sins. Graham told FOX Network host Gretchen Carlson,
I love Muslim people. . . . I want Muslims everywhere to know . . . that Christ can come into their heart and change them. . . . They don't have to die in a car bomb . . . to be accepted by God. . . They can be free through faith in Jesus Christ and Christ alone.
The actual invitation to attend the event was issued by the Colorado-based National Day of Prayer Task Force which is headed by Shirley Dobson, the wife of James Dobson. The event is coordinated with the Pentagon's Chaplain Service. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group, objected to the invitation to Graham. The Foundation held the view that Graham's presence would offend Muslim employees at the Pentagon and could imperil U.S. troops by stirring up Muslim extremists. The invitation was rescinded. The Council on American Islamic Relations issued a statement, "To have an individual who calls Islam evil and claims Muslims are enslaved by their faith speak at the Pentagon sends entirely the wrong message..." at a time when hundreds of thousands of our nation's military personnel are currently stationed in several Muslin countries and working with Muslim allies such as Pakistan. Graham criticized President Barack Obama for not using his power to restore Graham's rescinded invitation to the prayer event at the Pentagon. Graham warned the president that "millions of Evangelical Christians that voted for Obama in this last election" likely won't "be at the table next time" because Obama is not giving Graham and his allies their due. Graham ignores the fact that the Evangelical Christians he is talking about did not support Obama in his bid for the White House.
Franklin Graham prayed briefly on a sidewalk outside the Pentagon on the morning of the prayer breakfast. He then moved to the Cannon House Office Building next to the U.S. Capitol to participate in a Christian worship service. The service commemorated the 59th National Day of Prayer. Participating in the event were several hundreds including Members of Congress, the judiciary and the Armed Forces.
The Bible also tells us, "With humility comes wisdom." Every day I realize I'm just a sinner like everyone else, and I have been forgiven only because of God's grace. God gave us our gifts and abilities. He blessed our efforts. If we start thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to, it takes away from our proper worship of God. Pride blinds us to our own faults.
That's why we should pray not only for our friends but also for our enemies. Prayer is one way we put the golden rule into action. (From Reader's Digest - January 2007)
Franklin Graham's comments regarding Muslims got him disinvited from the prayer event at the Pentagon. In 2001 Franklin Graham opined that Islam is evil. This was not the first time Graham has denigrated Islam, all Islam and not just Islamic fundamentalists who engage in terrorism. Graham finds Islam offensive and he wants Muslims to know Jesus Christ died for their sins. Graham told FOX Network host Gretchen Carlson,
I love Muslim people. . . . I want Muslims everywhere to know . . . that Christ can come into their heart and change them. . . . They don't have to die in a car bomb . . . to be accepted by God. . . They can be free through faith in Jesus Christ and Christ alone.
The actual invitation to attend the event was issued by the Colorado-based National Day of Prayer Task Force which is headed by Shirley Dobson, the wife of James Dobson. The event is coordinated with the Pentagon's Chaplain Service. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group, objected to the invitation to Graham. The Foundation held the view that Graham's presence would offend Muslim employees at the Pentagon and could imperil U.S. troops by stirring up Muslim extremists. The invitation was rescinded. The Council on American Islamic Relations issued a statement, "To have an individual who calls Islam evil and claims Muslims are enslaved by their faith speak at the Pentagon sends entirely the wrong message..." at a time when hundreds of thousands of our nation's military personnel are currently stationed in several Muslin countries and working with Muslim allies such as Pakistan. Graham criticized President Barack Obama for not using his power to restore Graham's rescinded invitation to the prayer event at the Pentagon. Graham warned the president that "millions of Evangelical Christians that voted for Obama in this last election" likely won't "be at the table next time" because Obama is not giving Graham and his allies their due. Graham ignores the fact that the Evangelical Christians he is talking about did not support Obama in his bid for the White House.
Franklin Graham prayed briefly on a sidewalk outside the Pentagon on the morning of the prayer breakfast. He then moved to the Cannon House Office Building next to the U.S. Capitol to participate in a Christian worship service. The service commemorated the 59th National Day of Prayer. Participating in the event were several hundreds including Members of Congress, the judiciary and the Armed Forces.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
JAMES CLYBURN: A LABOR OF LOVE (LEADERSHIP IN HEALTH CARE DEBATE)
I am a new resident of South Carolina. This past year the media had a field day reporting on the foibles of Gov. Mark Sanford, and the bizarre behavior of Congressman Joe Wilson. Remember Joe Wilson? He is the member of the U. S. House of Representatives who shouted "you lie" while President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress. This has not been a banner year of political news for South Carolinians. Now, at last comes a South Carolina leader whose words and actions offer a glimpse of inspiring leadership. Congressman James Clyburn called the passage of House Bill H.R.3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act "A giant step towards the establishment of a more perfect union." The legislation extends health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and cracks down on insurance company abuses, a climactic chapter in the century-long quest for near universal coverage. Clyburn is not a bleeding-heart liberal policymaker. He is interested in enlightened and principled reform of a health care system that does not serve Americans well. This is good news for the people of South Carolina where the disparity in access to quality health care is a scandal. Clyburn, through words and actions has shown that he is committed to health care for all, including the poorest residents of South Carolina and the nation.
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