Sermon#2, "Call Me Blessed"; Advent 4 (Dec 23rd)

We’ve heard about the darkness of advent.  The waiting.  The isolation and loneliness of a long winter…the feeling of being alone in silent, snow-covered woods full of naked trees.  In this sermon series we heard Erika talk about being alert and recognizing signs of a new thing happening here.   Like the presence of a fig tree in the wood, if we look closely we can recognize signs of promise.  We heard from Will about the voice in the wilderness – the courage it takes to be that first voice to call out with an unpopular message.  How that one lone voice in the wilderness can inspire courage in others – courage to join in solidarity, courage to hope.  Sarah lifted up how we are called to transform – even if our transformation is temporary or imperfect.  Our transformation is key to the transformation of God’s kingdom, and can happen over and over again if we are open to it.  

Today’s gospel, in a word, is about certainty.  The certainty of faith without doubt, the certainty of hope without evidence.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah dares to do an amazing thing.  Micah’s people are a people under abuse from the Assyrians.  We know from Micah’s speeches that those in power have taken ancestral land from the poor; they’ve evicted widows from their homes, and manipulated the money system to cheat. After our study series on Israel and Palestine, Micah’s tribe reminds me of the plight of the Palestinians.  And like modern day Palestinians, the people to whom Micah speaks had no chance of match the firepower or warring intentions of their neighbors. Micah not only rails against the powerful, but also indicts the religious and cultural authorities who feign to call for ‘peace’ “but declare war against those who have nothing to put in their mouths”.  The prophet calls out the abuse of power and the hypocrisy of priests who supposedly serve a God of justice, kindness and mercy but only raise their voices against those with no power.  This reminds me of the Palestinians who are denied the right to dig wells by the Israeli occupying forces who claim water wells could be a violent plot against their well-armed and well-watered community.  Micah does not let this abuse of power go unnoticed.

            In the midst of such overpowering force and inescapable despair, Micah dares to proclaim with certainty a different future. Making such a declaration, in the face of your oppressor, is audacious in itself.  But Micah lifts up ‘Bethlehem, one of the little clans of Judah’, remarkable only in the fact that in no one’s imagination would Bethlehem produce a power strong enough to overcome a warring empire such as the Assyrians. Suffice to say, the ‘little clans of Judah’ are definitely not known for their dominance over others. They are known to be faithful to a God that is filled with justice, mercy, and care for the least among people. And Micah says, the one who comes will be one of peace, one who feeds his flock from the strength of the lord… Micah, essentially, calls Bethlehem ‘blessed’.  He proclaimed Bethlehem blessed, and it was.

In Nazareth, a woman named Mary goes ‘with haste’ to visit the elder Elizabeth, whom the Angel Gabriel had said would be pregnant with child – just as Mary herself will soon be.  Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist, amazingly so, since she is well past childbearing age.  This pregnancy lays the foundation of miraculous birth, to be followed promptly by Mary’s immaculate conception.  Elizabeth, when feeling her own sacred miracle child ‘leap’ in her womb, prophesies that Mary is blessed.  Then Mary turns and proclaims her triumphant poetry: ‘my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.  Surely, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.”

Mary’s Magnificat, as it is known, closely resembles the song sung by Hannah in the OT book of 1^st Samuel.  Hannah is the mother of the prophet Samuel.  Her song is hidden in Mary’s Magnificat – in which she exults God’s greatness, and that his mercy and justice will be for all of Israel, just as Mary proclaims.  Some theologians think that Mary sung the Magnificat, just as Hannah sung “my heart exults the Lord; my strength is exalted in my God”.  Like the Magnificat, Hannah sings of a God who would “raise up the poor from the dust; lift the needy from the ash heap; guard his faithful ones, for not by might does one prevail.”

…

In scripture, Mary seems so certain.  After all, Elizabeth says ‘blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”  Some theologians ask if Mary went to see Elizabeth out of doubt or because she needed confirmation of the Angel Gabriel’s message.  Perhaps the proclamation from Gabriel was so unexpected, so astonishing, that her ‘haste’ shows insecurity, or fear.  The Angel said, do not be afraid, but really, who wouldn’t be afraid?  Maybe she needed confirmation, or affirmation, or just the solidarity of a knowing hug.  How many of us, when we get unbelievably good news, immediately go find a trusted person to share it?  Sometimes, good news is hard to believe until it’s shared. But once Elizabeth proclaims her ‘blessed’, Mary declares that ‘the mighty one has done great things for me’! God has scattered the proud, brought down the powerful, filled the hungry, favored the lowly, and most of all, kept his promise to his faithful people in Israel.

In all honesty, preaching on this scripture has been difficult for me.  I confess that certainty is not my strongest trait.  I invite God into my life; I try to embrace kindness, generosity and justice at every turn; and I rejoice at the sacred moments of grace and try to recognize when the spirit is moving among us. But certainty of hope is a lot to ask for. Hope requires trust – trust in something far outside myself.  And for me, I’m always more comfortable with what is in my power.  Just like my activist nature, I’m more at home relying on my own two hands, my own intellect, and my own ability to make change in the world.  God asks us to believe in his promise, a promise of peace, justice and mercy for his people.  I find Mary’s certainty very intimidating and very distant from how I feel, especially right now.  Rather than certainty, I feel like we’re grasping at straws.  How do we have certainty of God’s promise when we’ve gone 300 days without snow?  How do we find certainty of salvation when we’ve spent the last few weeks learning about an oppressive occupation in Palestine that is oddly similar to the circumstances of the Prophet Micah, but in reverse? How do we find hope when we as a nation are grieving and grasping at straws for 26 families in Newtown, CT?  What to do?  How do we have certainty in the midst of such crisis?  …

And then Pastor Erik suggested that perhaps Mary needed to sing. Perhaps, when faced with confirmation of this incredible, unexpected role... Perhaps she was so astonished, so humbled to be bearing this blessing to the world, that she needed to steady herself with song.

Because singing quite literally gives one courage.  Singing is a physical act that empowers people. The act of singing has the power to transform the singer.  According to Bernice Johnson Reagon, “When we sing, we announce our existence.”  Reagon ranges from musician and composer to historian and teacher, is a member of the Sweet Honey in the Rock music group.  And she calls herself a songtalker. She talks about the physical change that happens when sound runs through your body - she says, if you sing, ‘you won’t feel the way you decided to feel to go through the day; you get stirred up’.  She proclaims that ‘you cannot sing a song and not change your condition’. 

And how true is that? Just like Will talked about the courage required to be a voice in the wilderness, it requires courage to raise your voice in song.  We’ve all heard it here in church – the first verse of the hymn, we are timid…..matching notes on the page to notes in our ears.  By the second verse we add a little confidence to the notes…by the third verse, we’re golden and we’re singing out and resonating with the joy that comes through song.

Bernice Johnson Reagon also explains how song sustained African Americans during their history in this country.  Song allowed the slaves to communicate in code; it allowed them to speak truth to the power of the slavemaster; and it allowed their miserable lament, yet provided strength enough to endure through times of no hope.

Imagine how it feels to join together in song.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten chills from hearing a song begin with one lone voice, a single melody ringing out into the wilderness…and then another voice joins in an answer to that isolation…then three more…doesn’t that give you chills?  There’s power in music.  With that power, song and solidarity comes steely determination – and we’ve seen that in our history.  In 1961, when the buses of Freedom Riders protesting segregation were ambushed, set afire, and the riders beaten and arrested, their voices rose out of the jail cells, singing “Ain’t Gonna let Nobody Turn Me Round.” Song very truly holds the power of the spirit. It helps us, as Micah said, to stand in the strength of the Lord.

Singing gives you energy.  David, our non-stop volunteer at Elijah’s Food Pantry, often sings while he unloads the trucks, moves the boxes and restocks the shelves.  Song can even keep hope alive when everything seems lost. In Apartheid in South Africa, song was the one thing the government could not take from the blacks – and the power of song participated in every part of the transformation of that country – in subverting the power structure, in strengthening the protest, and in the reconciliation.  In 1991, Estonia won its freedom from the Soviet Union with only song.  According to a documentary called the Singing Revolution, “Singing together was our power.  If 20,000 people start to sing one song, then you cannot shut them up.  What role can singing play when a nation is faced with annihilation by its neighbors?”  Mary knew this.  Coming from a long tradition of singing lament and triumph songs – what we all know as the book the Psalms – Mary knew the power of song.

So perhaps Mary had to sing; perhaps she had to sing not just to praise the God that declared she would be blessed among women – but also to steady her nerves! Perhaps she had to sing to confirm her blessed existence first to herself – and then to the Lord and her community.

The music we make when we lift our voices is sacred.  Those of us who were able to go Christmas Caroling with St. Luke’s experienced this a few weeks ago.  At the last house we visited, a woman asked us to wait for her elderly aunt to come to the door and listen to our carol.  After a few minutes, the frail woman appeared, trying to balance with her walker, to ask for Silent Night.  And then, something happened that none of us were expecting.  As we began to sing, the woman began to weep.  There in the quiet street, our 12-voice choir sang into the dark our Christmas blessing, and this woman’s gratitude washed over us.  You could feel the power between the woman and our huddle as our song became emboldened with the courage to sing louder, so that we could wrap her tighter in this gift.  There was not one singer that night that didn’t leave her door astonished by the power of the blessing we carried for her, and heartened to carry our blessings to more people this Christmas season. 

So I’d like to believe Mary knew that sometimes, we need to sing to accept the blessings bestowed on us, and gain that certainty of hope.  If each of us took the blessing we feel inside, that little hope, and sang a song to steady ourselves – then we could lean into the certainty of God’s promises.  We could lean into that hope, and find out how to feed from the strength of the Lord, knowing that we are blessed.  I will call you blessed – and you will be a blessing to me.  And you can call me blessed – and I will be a blessing to you.  And then we will truly know that a new thing is happening here. 

And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
   in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
   to the ends of the earth; 
and he shall be the one of peace. 

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen. 

Animal Blessing Sunday; My First Sermon

My name is Jessica Palys.  For those of you who haven’t met me, I am one of the 4 new interns here at St. Lukes, where I will be helping to serve the ministries of the church until next May.  I am a former organizer, a Seminarian from Chicago Theological Seminary, and a 10-year resident of Chicago.  So now you know a little about me.
But the piece that you really need to know to understand me is that I am also the proud owner of a 55-pound lap dog named Lincoln St. Patrick – that cute brown and white creature that you just saw.  How many of us feel that way?  That you may know us as coworkers, as friends, or as church members; but until you see the way we love and care for our pets, you don’t really understand us in all our dimensions.  As a dog owner - I say ‘owner’, but is owner the right word?  We just heard the children of the church explore the idea of an animal ‘friend’. Sometimes, when I describe our relationship, I say I am a “servant” to this 4-legged companion.   Especially as he’s rousing me from an indulgent sleep at 8 am for his morning walk, ‘servant’ feels very appropriate… As a dog ‘companion’, Lincoln demarcates the regularities of my life. From the 8 am bark-up call to the reminder to eat at the end of the day, Lincoln is there at every step.  He reminds me that walking is important but running is more fun, that sleeping is good but cuddling is better, and to be excited at the first snow. 
Being a dog companion has taught me a few things too.  According to my dog, a treat is always worth sitting down for – and really good treats deserve patience.  Lincoln also constantly tries to convince me that longer walks are better.  Well, that’s true – many studies cite how pets increase the amount of exercise in pet owners.  But that extra time on that walk makes me feel the breeze, listen to the birds and appreciate the world God has created a little more.  Whenever I have the door open, Lincoln trots out of the house to lay in the sunlight, reminding me of how much I enjoy that too.  In caring for my dog, I recognize how important it is to enjoy the perks in life. If I’m doing what makes my dog happy, I usually end up enhancing my life as well.  Lincoln knows that taking five minutes for quality petting time can improve a whole day – in fact research has proven that just five minutes spent giving scratches to your pet not only raises their serotonin levels – the primary hormone that improves mood - but also raises yours for the day.  Some studies show that people who have pets tend to have lower blood pressure than those who don’t.  And, according to a study of 200 adults, pets may have the potential to help you recover from serious mental illness.  This isn’t too hard to believe, right?  I know there are plenty of times when I am just feeling lower than low, and somehow my dog knows it, climbs into my lap, and let’s his sheer proximity comfort me.  It’s kind of like him saying, “Things may be bad, but at least you have me.”
Lincoln also paves the way to meeting people.  He’s a conversation starter. Kids will stop us on the sidewalk to pet him, and the other dog-owners and I trade stories.  Isn’t it true that we all love talking about our beloved animals?  I am always surprised at how long these chats go, how deep is the well of stories we have to share, and how enjoyable it is to listen to them.  And in that act of sharing with another person the stories of our happiness, we end up connecting with other people and becoming friends. Lincoln has single-handedly ingratiated me with all the residents of my building – in fact I’m not sure if it’s my company or my dog’s they like more!  Now we neighbors are bound in a web of friendly chats, shared dinners and volunteer dog-sitting.  Lincoln helps me create community in my neighborhood.
            In scripture this morning, we see that God recognizes our alone-ness, and says we need a ‘helper’. God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”  God patiently fashions from dust each living thing on earth, allowing his human creation to name each new creature.  But, the story continues, something was still needed for his human creation to have a companion…and so God created another in his likeness.  Because, truly, God created us as social creatures, perfectly adapted to connect with one another. As humans, we have long memories, perfect for remembering years of complex social interactions with others.  Scientists have found that the human brain can pull a face of someone it has met from a crowd of thousands in less than a quarter of a second.  That, to me, proves that we were created to be social beings.
Two millennia later, medical science is affirming scripture.  About 10 years ago, California Newsreel produced a public health film series called Unnatural Causes; Is Inequality Making Us Sick?  One episode details the physical effect of human isolation, citing research that isolation increases susceptibility to any number of diseases, both emotional and physical.  Close relationships and being caught in a web of social connections actually acts as a kind of buffer or barrier shield to chronic disease and infection.  It actually strengthens our immune system. This probably sounds familiar in terms of child development, but what may surprise us is this need continues to be as crucial at every point in our lives.  The lack of a caring ear to listen to our concerns, to hear our pain, or with whom we can discuss a big decision, is actually detrimental to our health.
I believe this is true.  Last summer I interned as a volunteer minister on the Night Ministry bus.  I know this congregation is one of the many wonderful ones that provides meals for the bus.  But contrary to what you might think, feeding the homeless is not the main goal.  As ministers, our goal at each stop is to be in relationship with those who come to the bus.  Rather than focus on how we can offer assistance to them, we simply offer friendship.  We try to make the space for comradery and fellowship; to let those who come to the bus know that we remember their name and we care about their well-being.  People who have overcome homelessness will often say the most difficult part wasn’t sleeping in the streets, nor was it going hungry.  The hardest part was feeling invisible to others.  When passersby avoid eye contact or conversation, it takes a toll on your humanity and well-being.  The Night Ministry tries to restore the human dignity of social interaction, maintaining the theory that individual change is easier for people to make when they are in relationship with others.  We must feel cared for to feel secure enough to try change.  Again, I’m reminded of scripture.  It is not good for man, or woman, or animal to be alone.  God created us to live in community, with helpers and partners, and to draw strength from one another.
In fact, many of us might say that’s why we come to church; to re-connect.  And we wouldn’t be wrong; the root of the word ‘religion’ means ‘to bind back’ and reconnect.  So it’s nice to reconnect with you this morning.  Gary Gunderson, an author, lecturer, and pioneer in the field of faith and health, has suggested that congregations, by their existence, operate as healing webs of social interaction.  In a world where we are less likely to know our neighbor on the street or the person behind the cash register, the added social web of a congregation can be the medicine we need in our lives.  Gunderson identifies Five Leading Causes of Life in his book of the same name; these are Connection, Coherence, Agency, Blessing, and Hope.  Connection is the primary element- the web of life that gives us strength and comfort.  Coherence is when we feel life makes sense through enjoying our belonging and finding meaning in our web of relationships.
Blessing, according to Gunderson, is something received from another and something inspiring gratitude.  Blessing comes in connection with others, and leads to hope – whether that be hope for ourselves, our loved ones, or hope for the future in general.  Being in connection with other humans is a blessing to me.  Being in connection with non-human creatures is as well.
In our Psalm today, we sang “let all earth cry out to God with Joy”.  By ‘all earth, the Psalmist means all living things that walk or crawl or swim along creation.  It parallels today’s Gospel; Matthew urges us to look at the birds of the air and take note of their carefree and bountiful existence.  From watching them, we can learn how to live with delight in our experience.  In this, Lincoln is also my teacher.  He reminds me how to praise God with joy, the delight of living fully and gratefully.  There is a moment I wait for when Lincoln and I go to wide-open spaces.  Long after the sniffing, the inspecting, and the marking, there is the moment when Lincoln sheds his crusty shell created by the overstimulation from being cooped up in a city apartment, and suddenly resembles a puppy again.  His curiosity returns, his ears come forward, he runs with abandon, often straight into pigeon clusters just to see them fly.  He becomes canine in the truest fashion.  In this moment, I see pure joy at being alive, and I am grateful. I believe we give praise by living into joy with gratitude – and sometimes I learn that joy and gratitude from Lincoln.
But I also want to talk about Gunderson’s third element; Agency.  Agency is one of my favorite words. Agency is the human capacity to do.  Made in God’s image, it is the reflection of the divine “I am”.  It is the confidence that “I can”; it is empowerment personified.  One of the best characteristics of the American mentality is the sense of agency – of “I can” - or collective agency – of “we can”.  On the other hand, one of the most disabling characteristics of people in decline or depression is loss of agency.  For the longest time, I delayed getting a dog because I believed “I can’t”; can’t manage the cost, schedule, or responsibility of caring for a pet in addition to my workload.  But, by some twist of God-given luck, I ended up as a dog servant.  And it is in serving my 4-legged companion that I’m reminded of my humanity as well.  Serving is an act of agency and an act of love; and serving builds more confidence with each act.  This relationship of dependence actually turns out to be the main driver in Gunderson’s Leading Causes of Life.  Counter-intuitively, it is in serving that we realize ‘we can’ and are empowered to keep on.  In serving my dog, I’m reminded of the web of life that connects us all to each other.  I’m reminded that I, as God’s created human creature, have a purpose in serving others – whether that be in serving a cup of kibble or the cup of communion; in feeding the hungry or feeding the earth with compost.  The act of serving reminds me that I have worth and function in God’s great scheme of things.  But, here’s the thing; Alone, we are unable to serve. To be servant requires the company of others – whether they be 2 legged, 4 legged, feathered, finned or scaled.
So today we celebrate that pets give people a way to connect with others, to help them feel better about themselves, and to help them feel empowered and grateful to God.  We recognize here in Creation Season, that being creatures of the earth ourselves, we are not only connected, but we are better together.  With God, we are drawn into relationship with each other, and given the opportunity for comfort, joy, and servitude. 

Where Have All The Children Gone?

Araceli Sanchez had a harrowing week.  Last Tuesday, she left her 3-year-old’s birthday party to grab more paper plates.  She was pulled over for making an illegal turn to avoid construction.  If it was me, I’d have gotten a ticket and been on my way.

But Araceli has a Spanish accent, and no driver’s license.  And she lives in Arizona.

Araceli is married to US Citizen Guillermo Garcia, an Infantryman in the Army.  Contrary to popular belief, for most undocumented, marriage to an American Citizen does not guarantee you status in the US.  Quotas, which vary by country, keep official, legal immigration artificially low – even before the recession when businesses were crying for more workers.  Even if married to a US citizen, if you come from a country whose quota is full for the year (which usually happens within the first few days of the new quota year), you must be deported to your home country and wait ‘your turn’ (which will likely never come).  Usually the penalty is a minimum of 10 years in your home country.  The law does not bend when children are involved.

The Obama administration has been deporting record numbers of immigrants.  In 2010, the President had achieved 10% more deportations that President Bush did in 2008, and 25% more than Bush in 2007.  In the first half of 2011, 46,000 parents of children were arrested, detained and deported.  5100 of those children ended up in the foster care program.

There was no mention of who cared for Araceli’s child during her 48-hour stay in prison, since her husband was stationed, and panicked, in Germany.  But Araceli was lucky; one concession of the Obama administration is to decline to deport spouses of military personnel.  According to the provision, Araceli should never have been handed over to Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) after showing her military spouse ID. 

In 2010, I met a woman who wasn’t so lucky.  She was arrested in Harvard, Illinois for allegedly crossing the white line, midday, in her vehicle with her child.  Even though a friend arrived with bail, she was held for days for detention proceedings.  No member of police enforcement followed up on the location or care of her child while she was imprisoned.  She was turned over to ICE, booked, and given a deportation hearing date.

Starting from the 1870’s, American colonists took Native American children to re-education camps to ‘kill the Indian, save the man’.  Although some Indian boarding schools still exist, the practice is widely condemned now.  From the period of 1869-1969, Aboriginal children in Australia, known as the ‘stolen generation’, were forcibly removed from their parents in order to ‘civilise’ them, and in hopes that the tribal people would ‘die out’.  A formal apology was made in 2008. 

In my mind, American deportation policy toward undocumented immigrants is no less cruel and immoral.  The children are sometimes left here willingly, out of their parents’ desperation for a better life for their child.  But a nation that purports to value ‘families’ cannot ignore the tragic challenges these children will face in a flawed and financially-starved foster system with no local source of support.

Thankfully, the US might have a legal opportunity to change their policy.  The Latino Policy Coalition has submitted a complaint with the United Nations regarding the human rights record of the United States.  The complaint asserts that the 5100 children placed in foster care are now missing, and must be accounted for and reunified with their parents.

For the health, not only of these families, but also the fabric of our society, and our integrity as a nation, I hope this complaint forces the Obama administration to reconsider its deportation policy.    

Generational Divide on God's Love

Today, voters in North Carolina will have the opportunity to vote on a constitutional ban on gay marriage in their state.  While these laws already exist in NC, proponents of Amendment 1 say that a constitutional amendment is necessary ‘to protect marriage’ because ‘it’s what God created to give children a mother and a father’.

Nevermind the biblical record that the first marriages in the bible had several ‘mothers’ with one father, or that several passages in the bible have been taken out of context or oversimplfied to justify the condemnation of gay and lesbian people.  (For a fun overview of the quandary of biblical verses and homosexuality, try the film Fish Out of Water.)

The truth is that this is a generational issue, and will end up hurting the church. 

Young people overwhelmingly support gay marriage.  According to Gallup, between 2010 and 2011, support for gay marriage grew from 53% to 70% among those aged 18-34.  Within 20 years, this will not be a political football anymore, but for now, it brings the conservatives and the senior citizens out to vote. 

In the meantime, we damage the Christian doctrine of radical love.  Too many young twenty- and thirty-something’s already regard the church as a Ground Zero for judgmentalism, self-righteousness, hypocrisy and bigotry.

On social media and dating sights, people are overwhelmingly “spiritual but not religious”.  These are people who have not seen the church as Christ’s body, demonstrating courageous, rule-breaking, radical love for all of God’s people, but rather have been told where they have done wrong, who they must cut out of their life, what they must believe, and how they should vote.

This is not the way of Jesus, regardless of how ‘saved’ a person claims to be.  Jesus constantly put himself on the side of victims of prejudice.  That is how he demonstrated God’s radical love for all people.  And if Jesus was anywhere last week, he was with the LGBTQ supporters of the United Methodist Church, as they prayed, wept, and witnessed for the universal love promised by God – even as it’s denied by the church.

Proponents of North Carolina’s Amendment 1 claim, in their ad, that “everyone, gay or straight, is free to live as they choose”, except that passage would interfere with health care coverage and custody battles for children of gay couples, and domestic abuse protections would be weakened for all unmarried couples, gay or straight, in domestic partnership or civil unions. 

We, as flawed humans, do so much harm with these notions of knowing what’s ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, ‘Godly’ and ‘incompatible with Christian teachings’.  We cause permanent damage to young people as we reject their emerging self – as parents, community, and church members.  We foster environments where bullies thrive and young people take their own life.  And we condone the very same prejudices Jesus stood against by legalizing exclusion, shame and second-class citizen status.

As Tommy Tomlinson wrote in his Charlotte Observer editorial, No One Is Hurt By Gay Marriage, "when our children and grandchildren look back on it all, this whole debate will make us look silly and small. I suspect that, in God’s eyes, we already do."

I believe God is praying, weeping and waiting for the day we realize it’s not our place to judge, to condemn, or to exclude. 

  

Male Rage is In Season

There seems to be an epidemic of male rage in my neighborhood lately.  The shouting matches below my floor have spread to the apartment next door, and raised male voices can be heard on my dog-walk route, loaded with cuss words aimed at the women in these men’s lives.

And yet, Congress is divided about renewal of the Violence Against Women Act.  Due to objections over expanding protection to LGBT folk, Native American women and immigrants (in the form of more visas), “republicans complained the changes to the law were designed to set them up and distract from issues such as the economy that Democrats would rather not discuss.”

The thing is, this has everything to do with the economy.   The economic plunge of 2008 fell more on the male gender than the female gender. The very first outcome of the housing crash was that houses stopped being built: contractors, carpenters, electricians, roofers, plumbers, landscapers – all out of work indefinitely.  From there it spread to corporate America, with layoffs disproportionately putting men out of work. According to the Council on Contemporary Families, men and women feel the crisis in distinctive ways:

“Men have born the brunt of the recession so far, accounting for more than three-quarters of job losses. And men are more likely than women to experience job or income loss as a fundamental threat to their identity. But the wives of laid-off men also suffer: Unemployed men are more likely to exhibit hostility towards their partners than unemployed women. Not surprisingly, female partners of unemployed men have higher level of depressive and anxious symptoms than do male partners of unemployed women.

Imagine: formerly independent bread winners that were head of households now subject to rely on government ‘hand-outs’ and their wives for survival.  Couple that with the depression, shame, and sense of powerlessness and lack of agency that often accompany looking for jobs when jobs are scarce, and rising tempers seems a likely result.

People of faith who work for peace understand the connection between violence and poverty, agency, and justice.  First coined by Bishop Dom Helder Camara in 1971, the Spiral of Violence begins with “fundamental experiences of injustice and violation” like “lack of social opportunity, educational discrimination, policy harassment, unemployment, military occupation, and so on”[1].  In these situations, an inherent byproduct is the idea that it’s “beyond our capacity to change”.

And so, as with previous economic recessions, a new survey shows that domestic violence is up nationwide.  “Peg Coleman [Utah Domestic Violence Council] says unemployment increases the risk for violence three fold. ‘If their [the abuser’s] strategies are less than respectful to begin with, they are going to seek more control in areas where they feel that they have it, which can lead to abuse.’” 

And yet, the conservative march towards cutting benefits and government spending continues, aimed at state funded programs like home health care and nursing homes – which will have a disproportionate impact on women’s careers.  Cutting is not the answer:   we need more funding to help intervene in impoverished families and domestic abuse situations – before it’s too late. 

---

[1] Enns, Elaine & Myers, Ched.  Ambassadors of Reconciliation, Vol II: Divese Christian Practices of Restorative Justice and Peacemaking.  Maryknoll, NY, 2009.  6.

Bully Nation

Friday was the International STAND UP to Bullying Day. In the wake of dozens of youth suicides, “more than 2600 schools, workplaces and organizations representing more than a million people” took a pledge against bullying. In fact, in the saddest but very real turn of events, the latest suicide tragedy occurred while the community was viewing the anti-bullying film and hearing from the victim’s boyfriend.  

But I question how can we make a dent in the bullying epidemic in schools when we, at a national level, are bullies.

Bullying is the natural outgrowth of a climate where there is a moral ‘black and white’, a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ lifestyle, an acceptable and unacceptable way to exist. It occurs when judgment such as that is sanctioned by parents, national leaders, and those purported to speak for God.  When a child hears from elders that an individual’s way of life is wrong, and therefore unworthy of human dignity, compassion, or God’s love, that child feels free to bully.

We bullied our way into Iraq by talking about WMD – but it was only possible because we had been labeling Muslims as ‘jihadists’ and therefore a threat worthy of destruction.  We bully immigrants regularly by categorizing them as ‘illegal’, as if people, rather than actions, can be ‘legal’ or ‘illegal’ and so destroying families is valid.  Police (some police) bully people of color in neighborhoods of color every day with profiling and harassing, leading others to think it’s ok to copy that behavior.  And almost every GOP candidate for President has bullied homosexuals from a national pulpit, declaring their love and families unworthy.

Unfortunately this is more and more common in religion, and bolstered by our degrading political atmosphere.  Chris Hedges, in his book American Fascists: the Christian Right and the War on America, makes a strong case that people find Christian fundamentalism appealing in an increasingly changing, uncertain, unstable world as a refuge for ‘inability to cope with ambiguity, doubt and uncertainty’.  He says, “they are utopians who have found rigid, clearly defined moral edicts, rights and wrongs, to guide them in life and in politics” through this type of religion.  This type of religion leads to bullying. Not every religion sanctions Fred Phelps and his ilk, but too many faith leaders preach from the pulpit who will ‘receive the kingdom of heaven’ and who won’t.  Even the Vatican recently chastised it’s own devout for not focusing more on bullying the sinners. 

My God loves all the little children.  The Jesus I follow did not deny his grace to anyone of any lifestyle, but stood up against the bullying of his time – the purity laws.  He ate with prostitutes, sinners, tax collectors.  He did not withhold his healing powers to people based on their country of origin. He was banned from towns because he allowed contact with the ‘unclean’.  He cast his lot with the marginalized. 

Children’s behavior manifests the basest of human society.  If we are to stem the tide of bullying in schools, it will require that parents directly intervene in every message their child receives on who is worthy or unworthy.  Parents will have to remind them that every child is loved and worthy in God’s eyes, and faith leaders need reminding that what Jesus did do was admonish people not to judge. 

Love Thine Enemy

Long before September 11, 2001, politicians knew the best way to gain support was to name a fearsome enemy that couldn’t be seen, and proclaim the threat was imminent.  Using evidence or fiction, they argue this enemy has diametrically opposite values and will end life as we know it.  They tell us that the enemy is snaking into our trusted institutions, seeping into our culture, lurking behind every change that we are uncomfortable with.  The circle of paranoia is complete by claiming that anyone who disagrees is unpatriotic, therefore silencing dissent.

This method has worked repeatedly in history, from Hitler’s Germany to McCarthy’s Communism to the current ‘threat’ of Islamic Caliphate.  Unfortunately, it still works.  “In September 2010, a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 49 percent of Americans held an unfavorable view of Islam, a significant increase from 39 percent in October of 2002” according to the Center for American Progress.

As Christians, we have instructions of how to act towards a perceived enemy. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."  (Matt 5:43-44).  At no point did Christ instruct his listeners to take any action against another – he taught the opposite: humility and compassion towards the ‘other’.  As followers of Christ, we have a model of how to respond to an enemy threat, as Jesus demonstrated in every day of his ministry.  So why is it so many self-confessed Christians have the most venom towards the “Islamic threat”?

Under this type of manufactured hysteria, every individual or minute act that defies this logic is an individual act of heroism.  In that spirit, I applaud the DuPage County Board for not responding to Anti-Muslim hysteria and permitting the construction of a Mosque in unincorporated Willowbrook – that is, after they denied it.  Happily, fairer heads have prevailed over the Ground Zero Mosque Mania that colored so much of 2010. 

I would applaud louder, however, if a DuPage County rules change last October was applied evenly to all faiths.  The original MECCA Mosque application included a 56-foot Dome and 79-foot Minaret in the structure.  These aspects of the project were denied, and have continued to be denied, even though a policy change was recently enacting regarding height of “religious design elements including bell towers, steeples and crosses to exceed 36 feet — to a maximum height of 72 feet — as long as certain setback requirements are met” – would allow the Mosque to aspire to Godly heights.  Holding the envisioned MECCA Mosque to the ‘precedent’ of previous denial looks conspicuously as if the policy change was designed with two different standards in mind. 

Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, “the best way to destroy your enemy is by making him your friend”.   This is one of the basic truths of life, and luckily, despite all the setbacks, one that the MECCA Mosque planners understand.

“Though such conflicts have led to concerns of religious discrimination, supporters of the MECCA site were not pointing fingers Tuesday.

"I can't read people's minds, but I have heard from neighbors that this was not about religion, and I believe them," said Touleimat, who lives in Burr Ridge. "The work for us has just begun. Now our job is to show them how good of a neighbor we can be."

The Mosque planners have modeled our own Christian teaching on how to treat an ‘enemy’.  

Are You Privileged?

1) I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

Ten years ago, I was living in Beijing, China and teaching English to Chinese adults who wanted to improve their career potential.  In China I felt as conspicuous as a giraffe in a petting zoo; not only was I taller and stockier than most of the Chinese women, I outsized a good number of the men, too.  There was no mistaking me in a crowd.  When I entered a restaurant, or walked down the street, people turned and stared.

3) I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

I could say that, because of this experience, I know what it means to be a minority, but that would be a fallacy.  When I walked down the street in China, my white skin carried an innate power with it.  Why?  My white skin denoted I was a person of means (in fact, Chinese merchants immediately started recalculating their fruit prices as they saw me approach).  My white skin implied a person of education.  My white skin showed a person of mobility, who could travel freely within their country and throughout the world.  My white skin implied a certain amount of immunity as well – as a white person, I had a ‘get out of jail free card’ - a guarantee that if I broke enough of the arcane Chinese bureaucratic rules, the worst penalty I would experience was deportation back to my home country.  

4) I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

As I walked down Chinese streets, people greeted me with stares, smiles and invitations to browse their wares. At no point was I squinted at with suspicion or followed because I wore a hoodie.

I’ve been reading rumblings of disgust in the Trayvon Martin tragedy referring to the involvement of civil rights veterans like Rev. Jesse Jackson turning the incident into a race issue.  They claim that the rhetoric is outdated, tired, and irrelevant.  Other commentators have suggested that having a black President signifies that we are living in a ‘post-racial’ society.  But if anything, the Trayvon Martin case shows that despite the nation’s willingness to elevate some black people to positions of power, profiling and suspicion based on skin color are still highly prevalent – not only in police matters, but in all our daily interactions.

Yes, I mean I do it too.  I catch myself securing my property, or assuming tardiness, or expecting financial failure from strangers with dark skin.  I have to consistently work against the stereotypes that are always present in my thoughts to both show the respect that is deserved for every person, and to give myself the chance to know someone for their real personality.  

If we want to dismantle racism in American society, we have to acknowledge the luxury of white privilege.  Peggy McIntosh has written an interesting 26-point list (including point 1, 3 and 4 recited above) called “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” that helps articulate the luxury of being the dominant, and accepted norm, of culture.

Number eleven on McIntosh’s list is: I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

The Martins have come face to face with Number 11.   We owe them, in their grief, to take a hard look at our own stereotypes and privilege that come from race.  

Is Easter Political?

As we enter Maundy Thursday, witness Good Friday, and wait through Holy Saturday for Resurrection Sunday this year, I find myself reflecting on an early impression of Easter.

When I was in high school I was in a Passion Play on Maundy Thursday.  Depicting Jesus’ last week, a small cast of players shared all parts, first welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem with waving palms, and later enacting the mob that had turned against Jesus, cursing him and repeatedly yelling,  “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!” to Pontius Pilate.

I always found it mystifying how a crowd whom welcomed Jesus with ‘Hosannas’ one week earlier would turn into a bloodthirsty mob calling for his painful and humiliating death.  It was my first, vivid, look at the darkest side of humanity: mobthink.  Mobthink is alive and well in our politics today.

Jon Stewart interviews crowds for and against the AffordableCare Act.

While the crowds cry ‘tyranny’ outside the courthouse, interested parties could listen to the Supreme Court Justices weigh the nuance and economic principles behind the market failure that is our health care system, and whether we as a people have a responsibility to correct that market failure.

In a different scenario, I marched with ‘A Million Hoodies’ recently to mourn to the unnecessary and unjust death of Trayvon Martin, and mobthink felt dangerously close to the surface. While I will never have to deal with being black in this racist country, I want justice for Trayvon and all the other young black men shot, harassed, profiled, or caught in the deadly cycle of crime that is prevalent in our impoverished neighborhoods.

Walking with the hoodies, however, chanting ‘what do we want?’ “Justice!” ‘When do we want it?’ “Now!” felt disingenuous, and too aimed for blood. Like the Rodney King beating, Trayvon’s murder has provided that spark to ignite the coals that have been red-hot below the surface. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming that an eye for an eye is enough for this situation, or let mobthink cloud our judgment. 

Mobthink lies in each of us.  For me, Jesus’ death was always a manifestation of the worst traits of humankind; fear and suspicion, manipulation and greed, kneejerk thinking and mobthink.  Jesus’ death appeals to the need to engage our better selves in times of crisis.  The most difficult part of life is the nuance and responsibility of decision-making. 

George Zimmerman is not the only one at fault in this Travyon tragedy.  As I mourn for the Martin family, I also mourn for an entire nation where all young black teens are worthy of suspicion, and those in power (note: whites) have passed laws deeming murder ‘no fault’, and all but one state has passed laws allowing Conceal and Carry.  Zimmerman needs to be charged, if nothing else than to acknowledge with remorse that he took precious life, precious potential, and precious dreams from another person.  Trayvon was a son, a friend, a boyfriend, and those people were robbed of a future with their loved one.  To not acknowledge his death as wrongful is a criminal indictment of our legal system as one that still values the lives of black people as only 'two-thirds' worth.  But we need not publish the home address of the Zimmerman family, as Spike Lee attempted to do late last week, to fuel mobthink.  

“Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34).  When you are operating in mobthink, too often, this is true.  We need leadership focused on how we as people can relate to each other, and how communities can relate to other communities, with responsibility towards each other's well being.