Thanks again to Earth Ministry – Donate for Christmas!

I received the Winter edition of Earth Ministry’s Earth Letter, and I am once again reminded of how thankful I am for their work and for the opportunity they gave me to share one of my “Sustainable Life Sermons” in their contest this past September. (Winning was pretty cool too!)

For anyone not currently receiving Earth Letter but who may be interested in reading my revised winning sermon, I invite you to check it out and consider a Christmas donation to Earth Ministry: http://www.deepconversion.net/media/pressreleases.html

Blog resurrected…

Though Christmas isn’t typically the time for resurrection, I’m nonetheless feeling the urge to revive my blog. Maybe it’s the fresh start of the new liturgical year, or my December birthday – whatever the reason, stay tuned for new posts…

Blog on hold…

This blog is currently on hold while its author engages in other writing endeavors. It will rise again at a later date to be determined.

Peace!

What if People Said, “Stopping Hitler will be Bad for the Economy?”

From a Treehugger piece the other day we get a glimpse of the various factions and their self-centered, competing interests with regard to climate change legislation. Specifically, a cap and trade system, which would, theoretically, begin to significantly reduce carbon emissions, is under consideration. One can see from the article that nothing truly meaningful will happen in Congress as long as massive public pressure is missing - it reveals the fact that, though a sizeable majority of the American people support real legislation, only a minority of legislators do. One also may note that the industry lobbies far outnumber, and we know outspend, the environmentalist lobby.

What we are missing from this picture is a big ”moral lobby.” No doubt a small one is there among representatives from various faith groups, lumped in with the greens. But it is not nearly large or loud enough… yet. And the only way it will become so, thereby enabling true progress on global warming curbs, is if the Church wakes up en masse and raises its prophetic voice and power.

While secular environmentalists continue to engage the minutiae of the economic debate – which greens actually end up winning long term – people of faith should be asking questions like, “Was stopping Hitler bad for the economy?!” Or, “How many environmental refugees have to suffer, starve or go to war before we make some economic sacrifices to help them?” Or, “Are we going to choose a stupid, consumerist, wasteful economy over a liveable world for our children?”

When this moral voice rings out through the land, we may finally see real change in the cap and trade endeavors, but, good luck until then.

Debt vs Sanity: The New Culture War

I was fascinated to listen to the McLaughlin Group pundits the other night talk about shifts in American consumer habits. They were referring  to a new MetLife study that essentially concluded,

“While we find the American dream still alive in 2009, sweeping changes in the economy have led to a reevaluation of priorities for most Americans and a fundamental shift away from materialism.” 

Well, how reasonable! What is crazy, though, is that numerous pundits and even the administration keep talking about the importance of a resurgence in robust consumerism, “for the good of the economy.” But if high leverage caused our problems in the first place, and what people and banks really need to do is shore up reserves, then strong consumerism won’t return any time soon, if ever.

From the standpoint of the planet, and those who realize that our well-being is directly tied to that of the planet, this shift is a good thing, and we just need a restructured economy to align with it. From the standpoint of retailers of junk and pushers of debt, it is bad. Unfortunately, the latter are strong voices in the dominant culture, and people are getting really confused when they try to do what seems to be sensible, only to hear conflicting information that it is somehow their moral  duty to go spend unwisely.

The Church should take a stand for sane, sustainable stewardship behavior and repudiate the culture of destructive debt in this emerging clash of worldviews and values.

Passion Trilogy Sermon, Part 3: Living the Resurrection – For Real

Readings for reference – click here.

On Easter Sunday we learn the incredible good news that Jesus’ death is not the “final word,” and, as promised, he has risen from the tomb. Alleluia! Alleluia!

But, other than for Jesus, why is this so important and joyous for all? To engage this question, I will address what is not so important in order to contrast with what is.

First, typically, we will talk in our Church service about God or Christ “conquering death.” But, “conquer” is a violent, Empire war term, and it is not as though natural death will no longer occur, so this is not really accurate. Rather, “death” as unnatural death, destruction and misery at the hands of attackers, as in our Psalm for today, has been overcome or avoided. Life-giving justice has returned, even though set back or challenged by death.

Second, many in our tradition and ascetics today will discuss the resurrection as the deliverance from earth, body and material reality in general, which is supposedly the root of all sin and suffering. They assume that Jesus has paved the way to the ethereal kingdom – where we will go when we are only spirits, relieved of our dreaded fleshy clothing. Yet, these are largely Gnostic or Hellenistic interpretations that do not align with 1) a Jewish worldview that is less dualistic, 2) the idea that material creation is originally good, or 3) the fact that the risen Jesus could be seen and touched and could eat. Rather, the “kingdom” includes earthly reality – “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as in heaven” – and salvation is from the domination of the other kingdoms that are not of God and justice.  

Finally, because Jesus has been raised and is “going to be with his God in heaven,” it is often assumed that the afterlife is the “real life” in the “better place” that we will get to “by and by” as a “reward” for being good – i.e. basically nice to people – in this “pilgrim life.” That the afterlife is the point, or goal, of our righteous living. While there may be support for a version of this concept in the Bible, it, is frankly, generally used to either 1) manipulate potentially unruly slaves to bide their time, accept their fate, and wait for something better after death, or 2) along with the ascetic ideas above, lull the ruling class into a belief that nothing needs to be done to advance justice here and now, in this life. Um, no, Jesus did not do all his teaching, healing and standing up for a reign of God in the world, only to have people keep things the way they are and feebly hope for change in another dimension of reality.

In contrast to all of the above, the resurrection of Jesus shows his followers then and now something vitally important for the advance of a world based on mutual love and justice, even in the face of Empire. Those who would take up their cross and follow Jesus in a way of contemplation, peace, love and justice – even if that way could involve persecution or crucifixion – DO NOT NEED TO FEAR DEATH. On the contrary, though early, violent death is not desirable, if it must be accepted as part of the duty of standing for righteousness, God will not ultimately forsake you. You will be vindicated and eternally embraced in divine love. Therefore, you disciples and then apostles of Christ, “go forth and love one another and all the people of the world, as I have loved you, because you have no fear to hold you back.”

Hence, living the resurrection life is living without worry about the consequences of bold stances in love. Loss of status? Despised by the popular? Poverty? Jailed? Beaten? Murdered in cold blood? “Pooh – pooh,” say the followers of Christ. “We live in the ‘steadfast love that endures forever’ and will not be deterred from our cause.” Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, and others – Christian and not – found the courage that a deep rootedness in that love brings. And their living of that courage, despite oppression, horrible conditions, or even violent death, transformed people and the world around them.

Others are emboldened as they are so moved by the witness of the righteous – such as the Gentiles who converted to Christ after observation of the phenomenal faith of the early Christian martyrs, professing love even in the face of wild animals in the coliseum. We can hear them ask, “What is this powerful love and justice that these people are standing for, while they are tested to ultimate limits? Maybe they have what is really true and good and fulfilling, and I want that.” And then, all of a sudden, more people refuse to be intimidated by the oppressive terror of the Roman display of the crucified along well traveled roads. Instead, their passion and joy for love, overwhelms their fear. This is eternal life, this is living the resurrection, and it is available to all those willing to accept its gift, who will then pass it along to more, until the world is really different, until “kingdom come.”

In closing, I would like to offer a quote from a non-Christian man, Harvey Milk, who exemplified the resurrection life in his own struggle for gay justice and acceptance, despite intense Church of Empire opposition and the foreboding knowledge that someone would violently end his life. It is pure Jesus that he channels, and we wimps (I am a huge one) would do well to take it to heart:

“I ask this: If there be an assassination, I would want 5, 10, 1000 to rise. If a bullet should enter my brain, let it destroy every closet door. I ask for the movement to continue because it’s not about personal gain, it’s not about ego, it’s not about power. It’s about the ‘usses’ out there – not just the gays, but the blacks, and the Asians, and the seniors, and the disabled – the ‘usses.’

Without hope the usses give up. I know you can’t live on hope along, but without hope, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and you – you’ve got to give them hope. You’ve got to give them hope.”  

Harvey was killed by hatred, but tens of thousands more were inspired by him and continue the movement today.

Alleluia, Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia, Alleluia!  

Passion Trilogy Sermon, Part 2: Ode to Darkness

From the readings, following the horror of the crucifixion, the Gospel of John tells us, “Now there was a garden in the place where [Jesus] was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”

Dead. Just dead, in a tomb… but in a garden. On the Sabbath, when there is nothing to do but be, or not be in the case of actual death. Silence, stillness… and often sadness that cuts to the bone if there is no distraction or activity, and there has just been a tragedy.

Once again, I have to voice my criticism of the Church for falling prey to Empire culture and essentially ignoring the importance of Holy Saturday. It falls squarely between the two other most important days of the year, and, yet we act as if it’s a random, normal, busy Saturday – a break from Holy Week. Or, in some cases, when people actually hold and attend a service for all of 20 minutes, we briefly note mortality, possibly lament things for a split second, and then start the vigil (or the Easter cooking) as early as possible, looking ahead to Easter, but not being where we are – in the tomb and sadness and darkness of this Sabbath.

This attitude often carries over to funerals as well, where people are told that their beloved is in a “better place,” and no real space and affirmation are given to the more palpable death and sadness of the present. In short, Empire doesn’t do death in any positive way – it takes too long and is not perky or obviously productive enough.

Alan Lewis’ Between Cross and Resurrection and Wayne Mueller’s Sabbath are partial antidotes to these tendencies as they reminds us that there is a crucial process in the liminal space. Without Holy Saturday and Sabbath, we could not get to, or be ready for, resurrection. Remember Augustine and the tears in the garden? (See “Tears and Prayer” below.) Grief and contemplative prayer and practices of regeneration are all called for, as well as a general appreciation of healthy darkness and the fertile void, which eventually becomes a womb of new life. 

So, for now, for today, let us sink into the lamentation of the crucified and of those who have lost loved ones – and loved ideals – to the cruelty of Empire. All the while remembering God’s love, which can heal wounds and carry us through despair, transforming it to hope. Would that more of the traumatized could give themselves to this process and end cycles of vengence and violence.

Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24

(Note: The ancient Jews often appear to interpret assaults by other nations to be actions by God as punishment. Christians do not necessarily hold to this theology. In any case, the perpetrators of the overt violence were other humans.)

3:1 I am one who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath;
3:2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3:3 against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long.
3:4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;
3:5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
3:6 he has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago.
3:7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me;
3:8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
3:9 he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked.
3:19 The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
3:20 My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
3:22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;
3:23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
3:24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”