Repentance


"Biblically speaking, to repent doesn't mean to feel sorry about, to regret. It means to turn, to turn around 180 degrees. It means to undergo a complete change of mind, heart, direction. Turn away from madness, cruelty, shallowness, blindness. Turn toward the tolerance, compassion, sanity, hope, justice that we all have in us at our best."


-- Frederick Buechner

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.

-- Frederick Douglass

A New Chapter For Me...

I'm sitting in a youth hostel in DC right now, waiting out the time it will take until I can check into my room after a red-eye flight from Los Angeles last night. I have a rash covering the entirety of my body, and i felt like my skin was literally burning off through the entire overnight experience. Yet as I sit on the leather couch, mooching free internet and trying to kill time and itch urges, soaked to the bone from walking from the Metro station in an unpredicted rainstorm, I'm hopeful.

I'm hopeful because I'm headed to participate in Pentecost 2007 tonight, a Sojourners production labeled "Taking the Vision to the Streets". I'm hopeful because i'll hear from Jim Wallis tonight, Shane Claiborne tomorrow and tomorrow night will be able to attend a live debate between Barack & Hillary. I hopeful because this was actually put together, that there was the desire of the organizers but also enough people who care about the poor and the oppressed, about justice and equality to pay money and travel to be there to witness it.

Two weeks ago today, I walked across stage as a college graduate. 7 glorious years in the making, and its done. And i'm here, i care, i'm excited and i am hopeful. and as discouraging and bureaucratic and "jump-through-the-hoops" as i found my 25k a year education, i am the better for it. So bring the rash, bring the insomnia, bring the disillusionment, because i am finding hope in the message of the courageous.

When Violence Kills Itself

I’ve always heard the old adage, “violence is a weapon of the weak.” But after events like the Virginia Tech massacre, it’s easy to think that violence has ultimate power. After all, we’ve learned history through the lens of war. And we read the news through acts of violence rather than the hidden acts of love that keep hope alive.

But there is a common thread in many of the most horrific perpetrators of violence that begs our attention – they kill themselves. Violence kills the image of God in us. It is a cry of desperation, a weak and cowardly cry of a person suffocated of hope. Violence goes against everything that we are created for – to love and to be loved – so it inevitably ends in misery and suicide. When people succumb to violence it ultimately infects them like a disease or a poison that leads to their own death. Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a violent kiss, ends his life by hanging himself with a noose. After his notorious persecutions, the Emperor Nero’s story ends as he stabs himself. Hitler passed out suicide pills to all his heads of staff, and ended his life as one of the most pitifully lonely people to walk the earth. We see the same in the case of Columbine, the 2007 Amish school shootings, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and this recent Virginia Tech massacre – each ends in suicide.

Violence is suicidal. Suicide rates of folks in the military and working the chambers of death row execution are astronomical; they kill themselves as they feel the image of God dying in them.
It is in moments like these violent times that grace looks so magnificent. It is in the shadow of such violence, as was the case after the Amish school shooting, that the victims' grace to the murderer’s family shines so brightly. Sometimes all the peacemakers need to do is practice revolutionary patience, and steadfast hope – for the universe bends toward justice, and the entire Christian story demonstrates the triumph of love. And it makes it even more scandalous to think of killing someone who kills – for they, more than anyone in the world, need to hear that they are created for something better than that.

I am reminded of a letter I got from someone currently on death row. After reading some of my writing, he wrote to me to share that he was a living testimony against the myth of redemptive violence (the idea that violence can bring redemption or peace). This fellow on death row told me that the family of his victim argued that he should not be killed for what he did, that he was not beyond redemption, and so he did not receive the death penalty for his crime. “That gave me a lot of time to think about grace,” he said. And he became a Christian in prison. Another story of scandalous love and grace.

So in these days after Easter, even as we see the horror of death, may we be reminded that in the end love wins. Mercy triumphs. Life is more powerful than death. And even those who have committed great violence can have the image of God come to life again within them as they hear the whisper of love. May the whisper of love grow louder than the thunder of violence. May we love loudly.

Shane Claiborne

Blinding light assaults the darkness;
Children wait for guns to cease.
In the midst of war’s confusion,
Make us instruments of peace.

Hungry for your visitation,
We are waiting –
lost,
afraid.

You alone,
O God,
can save us.
Heal the wounds that we have made.

- poet Jean McMullan, written the morning the Iraq War started

Sanctuary Cities

Recently, Highstown, New Jersey unanimously approved measures allowing undocumented residents to interact with police and city services without fear of being reported to federal authorities. This action exemplifies the increasing number of "sanctuary cities", with no-questions-asked policies on immigration status.

"Most of us know this town would have a heck of a time trying to run itself these days without the immigrants. They're working at the grocery stores, the fast-food places, they're opening businesses and keeping this town alive and young. We're just being practical by telling them, 'Look, we want you in our community, and we want you to feel like you belong.'"

-- Republican Mayor Robert Patten of Highstown, New Jersey

Amen

I'm tired of caring. I'm tired of trying. I'm tired of feeling alone on the front, among excuses and excess.

People are so fast to talk, explain, defend. So slow to listen.
Maybe that's my biggest regret. My greatest offense.

Brian's Coffee Shop

Recently, I visited a Starbucks Coffee Shop in downtown Spokane. It was a cold night, ten degrees below freezing. I went in looking to read and waste some time before I headed to pick up my fiance at the airport.

I sat down near the door with my cup of coffee and my book and began to read. Before I had time to start, I was interrupted by the scene of a homeless man searching the shop for a place to sit. The downtown Starbucks is open until midnight, and it was obvious that the gentleman was trying to get out of the cold for a bit. I watched as he searched unsuccessfully for a seat, then he began to talk to the customers. I couldn't hear the conversations, but I could see the looks in the eyes of the people; the disgust, the leaning away from the man, the lack of acknowledgement.

Enter the Starbucks supervisor. Aggressive. Loud. "Get out of here. You know you can't be in here." As he moved to the door, I began to hear his plea.

"Just looking for a cup of coffee."

I spoke up, with "He just wants a coffee right?" As I stood to talk to the man, who was now outside, the woman, still fairly angry turned back in. I introduced myself, and said I would like to buy him a cup. When I went to the register, the same woman met me and responded to my order of another coffee.

"Don't you know you're just encouraging them?"

I don't know if it was the tone of her voice. The contempt. The anger in her eyes. Disdain.

But I became frustrated. "It's 20 degrees outside, and I'm supposed to regret helping a man to get a cup of coffee?"

She refuses to serve me. I'm a paying customer. My fiance works at Starbucks.

I ask her name. She refuses that as well.
Go figure.

Starbucks sets up a store in the middle of an urban, poor area, keeps it's doors open when the temperature drops well below freezing, then becomes aggressive when an individual tries to seek some comfort from the invasive cold.

I understand the arguments. I understand the business.

But I refuse to stop understanding man.

Cross the street. 7-11. A different cup of coffee, but the same look. The same disdain from the eyes of the attendant as Brian waits, and watches. Through the glass. Through the cold.

"Where are the gentle spirits and the prayerful souls among our leaders? When will we trust the qualifications of credible lifestyle and courageous witness as much as articulation of programs and financial expertise? When will we die to the styles of government and authority that characterize our secular society and choose the style of the gospel? So that what is most evident in those who direct and encourage us is their pilgrim status, their ability to listen and to learn and to change, and their global sensitivity."

-- Joan Puls, "Every Bush is Burning"

Christian Delegation in Iran




Right now there is a delegation of Christian leaders and thinkers in Iran talking to Muslim religious leaders, with the goal of diverting a potential American-Iranian conflict. One of the members of the Christian group is Jeff Carr, one of the head men from Sojourner's. You can find his letters and thoughts on God's Politics Blog, through BeliefNet.

Here's a link to one of his letters

American Withdrawal?

I am writing to hear thoughts of others, as well as voice some concerns about our current involvement in Iraq and the responsible and viable exit strategies that are being discussed.

I was one of those against the War before the US launched its unilateral campaign. As a pacifist, I was opposed to the direction of the war, and the reasons given to justify the action.

Obviously, I continue to see the war as a losing effort, the deaths of Iraqi's and Americans has gone on too long, however several issues confront me at this time and I would LOVE some input from others as well as some thoughtful and open reflection.

Don't we (America) have some responsibility to the Iraqi people to stay in Iraq until there is some order restored/legitimate government in place? The war never should have happened, and I am saddened by the actions that have taken place....however, leaving now seems to place the Iraqi people in a worse place than they were before the invasion.

I understand the reasoning behind pulling out of Iraq. I understand the questioning of the morality and wisdom of sending another 30,000 American troops to Iraq. Many politicians are (favorably) campaigning to bring back the troops and end the occupation. (notably Obama who would put a date on the exit strategy).

Now as a pacifist, I want the violence, occupation and war to end. However, I tend to think that the withdrawal of American forces would lead to MORE violence in Iraq due to a lack of strong police/military force (the Iraqi police has been ripped apart by corruption and sectarianism). Won't the Iraqi people be subject to more fear, violence and death by the evacuation?

Furthermore, I read that America is tired of losing troops in war with no forseeable end. Our casualty toll however is a fraction of that of Iraqi's. To cut out now potentially saves American lives, but at what cost for Iraqi's? Can anyone really justify the withdrawal of AMerican troops as moral, given the grave implications for the Iraqi future if we do so?

my thoughts: The war never should have happened the way it did. America should not have acted illegally, unilaterally and preemptively. But in doing so we have caused the spiral of destruction and chaos that currently dominates the Iraqi landscape. Because of American irresponsibility and poor anticipation, we MUST see that the Iraqi people do not suffer MORE when we evacuate because the costs of the War are no longer beneficial for US.

How are moral and peaceful thinkers justifying the withdrawal of American troops, when undoubtedly it will lead to the misery of Iraqi's subject to terrorism and sectarian violence?

Help me out. Thanks,

blessings

The Politics of Progress

Wow. Like I needed another reason to doubt the convictions of some in the Republican party.

"The debate should not be about the surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date, mistakes that have been made, or whether we can, or cannot, win militarily. If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose."

- Excerpt of a memo from Reps. John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Peter Hoekstra (R-MI). (Source: Think Progress )

When you love people, you see all the good in them, all the Christ in them. God sees Christ, His Son, in us and loves us. And so we should see Christ in others, and nothing else, and love them. There can never be enough of it. There can never be enough thinking about it.

-- Dorothy Day, Social Activist

We are deeply, passionately dedicated to the cause of nonviolence, to the force of truth and love, to soul-force. To those who say that we are naive, utopian idealists, we say that we are the only realists, and that those who continue to support militarism in our time are supporting the progress towards total self-destruction of the human race.

-- Betty Williams, in 1976 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.


-- Martin Luther King Jr.

True Christians do not know vengeance. They are the children of peace. Their hearts overflow with peace. Their mouths speak peace, and they walk in the way of peace.


-- Menno Simons (1496 - 1561), Anabaptist Leader

"To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true."





-- Bayard Rustin, Peace Activist & Civil Rights Leader

..never be conceited. With respect to our attitude toward our enemies, this means first, remember that you were God's enemy and that, without having earned it or being worthy of it, you were met with mercy. It means second, remember that God hung on the cross for your enemy too, and love God and God loves you.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer