Do We Have The Will?

Headed to Costa Rica

2010-03-26T21:41:00.003-04:00

Tomorrow I leave for Costa Rica on a Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip. I am the co-leader of a team of twelve (5 teens and 7 adults) going to build a house in Cartago Province for a single mother of three children.
You can read the blog of our experience here. Check us out there.

A God of Second Chances (and Third and Fourth)!

2010-03-14T15:34:00.003-04:00

I met with an Anglican Bishop the other day. We had a great conversation about many things. In the course of our time together, he told me about a church that a friend of his started called the Church of Second Chances. Apparently, the founder and current pastor “fell” and was justifiably punished for his sins. I didn’t think any more about this until I was sitting in Sunday School class this morning reflecting on today’s Scripture readings. Then it hit me that this guy is onto something simple but profound.

When I got home, I googled “church second chance” and, sure enough, I found the link to the church – “Rivendale: The Second Chance Church .” I was intrigued. On the home page, the pastor, Sam Pascoe, tells his story. It’s not that juicy – but it’s worth a look. These sentences caught my attention – “Church is supposed to be a community where this human brokenness is taken seriously but still taken in stride. In the words of the ancients, church should be a spiritual hospital, not a holy hotel or a spiritual gymnasium. At its best, it is a place where our wounded souls are gently received, redeemed, restored, re-energized and returned to service.”

Today’s Scripture readings all speak of the “holy hospital” that brings new life in God. They are full of wonderfully hopeful words. However, what is painfully obvious in all the texts is that this new life doesn’t come without struggle and pain. Most of us can’t seem to embrace life in and with God until we’ve been broken down enough to open our hearts and minds to receive it.

Consider the ancient Israelites. God promised them freedom from bondage in Egypt, asking only that they follow God. However, their exodus didn’t put them on a short and straight road to paradise. They spent forty years in the wilderness – resisting, falling, complaining, and wanting to return to the familiarity of Egypt rather than risk the uncertainty of new life. Yet, by the time we get to today’s reading from Joshua, the people have made it through the desert –they’ve made it to the Promised Land and the new life that God had promised them. “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt” (Joshua 5.9). They didn’t go straight from “the disgrace of Egypt” to the Promised Land. How much easier it would have been if God had just transported them from one reality to the other. However, life doesn't work that way!

It certainly didn't work that way for the so-called Prodigal Son. What a shame that he couldn’t learn his lesson the easy way. No – life doesn’t always work that way. Instead, he squandered his inheritance, broke his father’s heart, disrespected himself, and ultimately “crashed and burned.” The boy who had everything, who had been richly blessed by God, ended up with nothing – no money, no friends, no way to support himself, and no self-respect.

Well, he did have one thing. He had the opportunity to go home – not as a privileged son but as a hired son. We know the story. His father embraces him, hosts a big party, and all is well. However, we don't know what happened after the party. I can’t imagine that everything reverted to the way it was before the son’s “fall.” Forgiveness, redemption, new life doesn’t exempt us from the consequences of our actions. It doesn’t mean that life is the same. What it does mean is that there is love, forgiveness, and the opportunity to create a new life – not to reclaim the old but to embrace the new.

Paul says it beautifully - “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see everything has become new!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

If you’ve had a “fall” of some kind and wonder where God is, know that there is a way home – not to what was but to the new creation that exists in Christ Jesus. I don’t know what that means for you or what it will look like for you. I do know, however, that Christ continues to make all things new and that God has a plan for your life. God never stops embracing, healing, loving, and molding us into the people that God wants us to be. Each one of us has a divine purpose as members of the Body of Christ. Where you end up may not be where you thought you were going. However, if you open your heart you’ll find that the new life is richer and more abundant than the old was because your heart has been healed by the one who brings new life. The desert doesn’t last forever. There’s a Promised Land on the other side! Amen!

Sermon for Proper 19 - Who Do You Say That I Am?

2009-09-13T20:14:00.004-04:00

I preached this sermon at Faith United Methodist Church in Jacksonville, FL on September 13, 2009.

Is there a more poignant question than that posed by Jesus to Peter in today's Gospel reading? "Who do you say that I am?" This probably came as a bit of a shock to Peter, who, like most of us, probably bristled at being put on the spot. The conversation began harmlessly, "Who do people say that I am?" Easy - just repeat what you've heard - the latest word on the street. No personal investment is necessary to answer this question. You and I could answer it as well without giving away anything personal about ourselves.

The challenge to this story is that Jesus didn't really care who "people" said that he was. He cared about what Peter thought. He cares about what you and I think. Peter, who do you say that I am? Greg, who do you say that I am? 'Okay, Jesus, you're putting me on the spot. But, that's okay, 'cause I have the answer. You're the Messiah.' That answer seemed to satisfy Jesus for the time, because we have no record of Jesus asking a followup question.

However, as Jesus taught his disciples that he was going to suffer, be rejected and killed, and then rise after three days, it becomes clear that Peter doesn't understand what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah. Peter doesn't like Jesus' version of messiahship at all. He takes Jesus aside and rebukes him. I can imagine him saying, "Look, Jesus. I'm excited about you being the Messiah. We've waited for so long for you to come and make things right. We've waited for someone to reestablish the kingdom of Israel and to restore us to our former glory. But there must be some mistake. The Messiah can't suffer and die. What kind of leader is that? Aren't you here to lead us to a brighter more prosperous future? Isn't that what we hear from the Sunday morning preachers – Jesus is here to make us feel good about ourselves, to bless us, to give us our heart's desires. But Jesus, you can't do that by letting them torture and kill you. Oh, and who ever heart of dying and then rising on the third day. Jesus, you've got to stop with the crazy talk!

Then it gets serious. Jesus responds to Peter's rebuke with a rebuke of his own. 'Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.' That's some serious stuff – divine things vs. human things. The way of suffering and death or the way of worldly triumph and victory. Who among us wouldn't chose Peter's way rather than that of Jesus?

After speaking with Peter, Jesus calls the crowd to join him and his disciples. He says, 'If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.'

Today, this text from Mark invites us to consider what it means to call Jesus Messiah. I assume that most of us here have no problem with that language – it’s the language of the church after all. We use the term frequently in our hymns and prayers. However, we're reminded today that discipleship is not just about what we say but about how we live. It is not enough to say that Jesus is the Messiah. We must translate that word into action.

The Epistle of James, from which we read this morning, offers us some guidance here. It is James who says, 'Faith without works is dead.' James tells us that it's not the words that we utter in this beautiful sanctuary that count but how we translate them into tangible actions throughout the week. In the first chapter, James says, 'Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.' What a profoundly simple definition of authentic religion! What an incredibly difficult definition of true religion to practice consistently in our lives!

As you know, I work for Habitat for Humanity of Jacksonville. Habitat for Humanity is committed to helping people to put their faith into action. When Millard Fuller founded Habitat in 1976, his dream was that volunteers who wanted to live their faith would work side by side with those who lived without adequate shelter. Habitat embodies the true spirit of James – that we answer Jesus' question – 'Who do I say that Jesus is' with our actions.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the tremendous privilege of listening to a young woman in her early twenties talk about her experience of growing up in what she called 'the hood.' We'll call her Annie. She described her mother as a 'crack head.' Her younger brother was killed in a drug related incident. Crime was all around her. But something happened to Annie that changed her life for ever. One of the programs that HabiJax runs is called the Hick's Prep Club. Any teenager who lives in a HabiJax home or Jacksonville Housing Authority or Section 8 housing automatically qualifies to participate. The goal of the Hicks Prep Club is to give inner-city children the tools to get into college. It's a rigorous program that requires dedication on the part of the participants. Annie went to the tutoring sessions. She studied hard. She had to work to support her family; yet she continued to study and to attend the Prep Club sessions.

Despite all odds, she did well enough to qualify for another of our programs run in partnership with the University of North Florida, the Hick's Scholarship Program. She had to apply twice, but eventually she received a scholarship to attend UNF. She went to college and studied and worked hard. Then she became pregnant and things went into a tailspin. She flunked out. But something in her told her that she couldn't give up. She had her baby and dug deep within her soul to find the strength, hope, and courage to go back. She worked at night to support her child and herself. She studied and attended classes during the day. It wasn’t' easy. There were times when she wanted to give in – times that it was just to difficult. But Annie had been given a gift as a teenager that made all the difference. That gift was hope. Hope that life could be different. Hope that regardless of her drug addicted mother and regardless of she herself being a teen aged mother, she had it within herself to pull herself out or poverty, out of hopelessness, out of the cycle of despair, and into a new life for her family and her!

When I heard Annie speak, she stood with her second child. She now has a stable, well paying, skilled job. And she is one of the newest owners of a Habitat home. She is no longer trapped in the cycle of poverty. She no longer lives with crime. She no longer lives with hopelessness. HabiJax gave her the gift of hope! People who put their faith into action gave her hope. People who knew that proclaiming Jesus as Messiah meant living it with their lives and not just their words created opportunity for Annie to make a better world.

Since its founding in 1988, Habitat for Humanity of Jacksonville has empowered over 1,700 families – offering them not a handout but a hand up. What a gift. We've helped these families to create homes of their own. We've offered them the gift of hope. I am here today to offer you the opportunity to partner with us. You can be agents of hope as you live your faith in tangible, direct ways. We have giving boxes here today – house-shaped coin boxes. I ask you to take one with you and fill it up. The resources that you provide allow us to continue our work of offering hope to people who live currently in poverty housing, people who need a hand up, not a hand out, so that they can move beyond the cycles that keep them down.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to share with you all today. May God bless you as you, as a community of faith, proclaim with your lives as well as your lips that Jesus is indeed the Messiah! Amen!

Peace Through Understanding

2009-06-14T20:32:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, Ward Ewing, Dean and President of General Theological Seminary in New York, spoke at Christ Church, Ponte Vedra, FL. During the education hour, a parishioner asked him if the seminary requires students to study other religions as part of their preparation for ordination. Dr. Ewing said that at this time comparative religion is not a required part of the curriculum. However, he did suggest that the seminary is moving towards offering more opportunity to learn about other religious traditions.

While his answer did not surprise me, I find it troubling that leaders of the Episcopal Church do not receive more comparative religion training. We live in a global world where the barriers of geography that once might have separated people of different faiths no longer exist. Islam is growing at a torrid pace in Europe and in the United States. Hindus and Buddhists continue to build temples across the country. International politics are rife with conflict dominated by religious rhetoric. In particular, people of the three primary Abrahamic religions often seem more in conflict than at peace.

Religious leaders of all faiths need a greater awareness and appreciation of each other if this is to change. I would suggest that an increased emphasis on the study of comparative religion would lead us in the direction of peace. Prejudice and misinformation often lead to a disregard of the beliefs and values of others. Xenophobia is the direct result of ignorance. On the other hand, understanding often is a first step towards tolerance, and tolerance towards peace.

Of course, nothing is ever simple. All three of the Abrahamic religions contain threads of violence. For instance, one can hardly ignore the divine warrior motif of the Hebrew Scriptures or the Christian imperialism that engendered colonialism and its attendant oppression of indigenous peoples. However, while recognizing and exploring this tradition of violence, it is also possible to see more peaceful, loving themes throughout the history of these great faith traditions. In Peace Be Upon You: The Story of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Coexistence, Zachary Karabell notes that each contains a core of peace. He points out on page 5 that Christian worshipers worldwide turn and say, "Peace be upon you" (or something similar). Muslim's greet each other with the words salaam alaykum - "Peace be upon you." Jews use the word shalom - "peace.” Might this emphasis on peace be the grounds for greater harmony between these three great religious traditions?

All of us need a greater understanding and appreciation of these traditions. The negative impact of religious fundamentalism has made religious and nonreligious people alike fearful of others. It is easy, for instance, for Christians in this country to define Islam by what we experienced on September 11, 2001 or by the almost daily news of the Taliban or al-Qaeda. News of the conflict between Jews and Palestinians in Israel leaves many feeling that contemporary Jews are nothing but land grabbing opportunists. In many parts of the world, Christians are associated with the greed of capitalism and a blatant disregard for economic justice. All of these are stereotypes that belie the undercurrent of peace that forms the basis of our religious traditions.

If you are a religious person, insist that your religious leaders learn more about other faiths. Ask that they offer courses in the history of Judaism and Islam. If you are a religious leader, invite leaders of other traditions to speak at your place of worship. Begin a conversation that will lead to greater understanding and appreciation. Our world will be a more peaceful place for it.

Become an Organ Donor!

2009-06-10T10:40:00.004-04:00

All of us can participate in the miracle of medical science and save lives by becoming organ donors. There are four types of donation: organ and tissue donation from living donors, donation after brain death, donation after cardiac death, and whole body donation. I am concerned here with donation after brain death or cardiac death.

Here are some statistics. As of June 10, 2009, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) listed 101,224 patients for organ transplant. On average, a new name is added to the list every thirteen minutes. An average of 17 people die each day waiting for an organ to become available to them. According to LifeQuest, 3,592 patients awaited transplants in Florida as of March 27, 2009. In 2008, Florida transplant centers performed 1,921 transplants.

The OPTN is a private, non-profit organization under contract to the Department of Health and Human Services. The US Congress established the OPTN as part of the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 (last amended in January, 2008). The United Network for Organ Sharing administers the OPTN. The OPTN runs a centralized computer network called UNet, which links all Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) and transplant centers throughout the country.

There are 58 OPOs serving 316 transplant centers in the United States and Puerto Rico, 39 of which are accredited by the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations). OPOs are responsible for evaluating potential donors, discussing donation with family members, arranging for the surgical removal and preservation of donated organs, and arranging for their distribution according to national organ sharing policies.

The OPO that serves northern Florida is LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services, part of the University of Florida. With offices in Gainesville, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, and Pensacola, LifeQuest works with over seventy hospitals and health care facilities to provide organs and support services for three transplant centers in northern Florida (Shands Transplant Center at the University of Florida (in Gainesville), Jacksonville Transplant Center at Shands Jacksonville (in Jacksonville), and St. Luke's Hospital (in Jacksonville)).

All major organs can be transplanted – kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas, intestines, skin, and eyes. By far, the most common transplants involve kidneys (76%) and livers (15%). The first successful kidney transplant took place in 1954. Since then, transplants have become more sophisticated, including a partial face transplant (2005), a double arm transplant (2008), the first baby born from a transplanted ovary (2008), and the first transplant of a human windpipe (2008). Extraordinary!

The government website organdonor.gov, (managed by the Health Services and Resources Administration) gives a brief summary of the views of major religious bodies regarding organ donation, saying “Most religions support organ and tissue donation as a charitable act of love and giving.” For instance, under Episcopal, the site says, “The Episcopal Church recognizes the life-giving benefits of organ, blood, and tissue donation. All Christians are encouraged to become organ, blood, and tissue donors "as part of their ministry to others in the name of Christ, who gave His life that we may have life in its fullness."”

According to some studies, 80% of the population supports the concept of organ donation. However, the consent rate is approximately 50%. That is a large gap that you can help to close! Becoming an organ donor is very simple. In Florida, you can become a registered organ donor at a local driver license examining station. You can also carry a donor card in your wallet or purse that will inform family and medical personnel of your wishes. You can print out a card here.

Organ donation is one way to help save lives. It costs you nothing and in no way jeopardizes your own well being. However, the rewards to the organ recipient are profound. In addition, the rewards to surviving family members can be significant as well. They will have the comfort of knowing that even in death you were able to give life to another human being. That is no small comfort in the midst of grief and loss! So, register or print out your donor card today!

Will These Dry Bones Live? - A Reflection on Ezekiel 37: 1-14 for the Day of Pentecost

2009-05-28T22:42:00.015-04:00

I attend a large, affluent, successful church in a very wealthy community in northeast Florida (Christ Church, Ponte Vedra). Each Sunday, the pews are full. The sermons are first rate and the choir sings beautifully. If I did not know better, I would be tempted to believe that every Episcopal church experienced the same dynamism, enjoyed similar opportunities, and had similar resources at its disposal. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), I know better.

For thirteen years I worshiped in an Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Rhode Island that to this day fights for its very survival. In Rhode Island, a disproportionate number of parishes cannot pay their bills, spend down their endowments at an alarming rate, and face declining membership. This is not necessarily the fault of any one person or of the leadership of any particular parish. It is a sign of systemic cultural transformation. To put it mildly, the world in which our churches live has changed dramatically. Many church leaders in Rhode Island, for instance, have inherited aging, historic buildings, many of which are on the National Register, and all of which are incredibly expensive to maintain and whose architecture is anachronistic. The church unwittingly has found itself in the business of historic preservation rather than gospel proclamation. The church has become moribund at best, and leaders are virtually powerless to affect changes that will bring about necessary transformation.

I make this point in the context of the Day of Pentecost when we celebrate the “birthday” of the church. On this day, we read how the Spirit of God descended on the followers of Jesus, giving them power to proclaim God’s love and to continue the work of Jesus in our world. However, before we read about the Spirit, we read those famous words from Ezekiel about the dry bones.

Ezekiel was one of the great prophets of the exile. After the capture and destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E., Ezekiel’s ministry changed dramatically from offering oracles of warning to proclaiming prophetic words of hope. As a prophet of the exile, Ezekiel proffered the assurance of God’s faithfulness to people who experienced a disorienting and bewildering world. In the midst of hopelessness, Ezekiel offered the hope of restoration to homeland and temple.

Today, we read Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel. 37. 1-14). The Lord places Ezekiel in the middle of a valley that was full of dry bones – many dry bones. The Lord asks him, “Mortal, can these bones live?” Ezekiel wisely responds, “O Lord God, you know” (Probably a good idea to defer to God on this one). In fact, God does know, for the bones come together. Out of death comes new life – once dead bones resuscitated by the breath from the four winds.

This of course is a type of resurrection story. The dry bones are the exiles of Israel who had no hope of new life. They had no greater chance or restoration than the skeletons in the valley had hope of resuscitation. However, the trajectory of God’s work throughout the biblical record is from death to live. God always takes what is moribund and imbues it with new life and hope. The good news is that God moves God’s people in the direction of reconciliation, from hopelessness to hope, from division to unity, from discord to peace.

In fact, the people of Israel did enjoy restoration. The exile ended and some chose to return to a somewhat restored Jerusalem. However, it is fair to say that even restoration brought change. The old adage, “You can’t go home again” is true because while we were gone “home” changed. Therefore, anyone looking for God to restore things to “the way things were” will be sadly disappointed. That is just not the way things work.

Many churches in our Episcopal communion are moribund. They are on life support. They are spending down endowments, selling off property, transitioning from full-time to part-time clergy, cutting programs, circling the wagons – in short, doing anything to postpone the inevitable. They have become like the dry bones in Ezekiel’s valley. Can the dry, bare bones of the church live? The hard truth is that many of them cannot live in their current state.

When I served on the Congregational Development Commission of the Diocese of Rhode Island, we talked often about the need for transformation and consolidation. When something no longer works, it is time for bold, faithful action. It is time to celebrate the past and to embrace future opportunity. In many cases, future opportunity will not come until death is complete. However, we are a stubborn species. Often, we hold on until the very end, often allowing our affection for a familiar and perhaps even beautiful building, our love of tradition, or simply our comfort with the familiar, to supercede our desire to serve Jesus and to proclaim the Gospel. The work of the Commission, therefore, was virtually impossible because the churches that were closest to death were the most likely to hold on the tightest and to be the least effective.

I believe in transformation. I believe that the same God who restored the people of ancient Israel continues to work miracles of love in our world. I also believe, however, that the very institutions created to serve as vessels of God’s love have become the walls that prevent us from exercising the power that we proclaim at Pentecost. The dry bones can indeed live. God will see to that. However, we must be willing to let go, to allow some pieces of our institutions to die. Leaders will need to make difficult choices, to run the risk of offending, to speak the truth regardless of the consequences. We need to worry less about preserving institutions and more about loving people. We need to concern ourselves less with historic preservation and more with momentous transformation. God is with us, asking us, “Will these bones live?” They will indeed live – if we get out of the way!

Hurry Up And Wait - A Reflection for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

2009-05-22T10:17:00.005-04:00

Icon of the Ascension by Andrej Rublëv. Image via Wikipedia

Hurry up and wait - an overused cliché to be sure. However, it fits the spiritual life so well Life often is so busy that “hurry up and wait” seems like an apt description of what we do everyday. Teenagers hurry to grow up, only to find that growing up requires a lot of waiting. We race down the road so that we can make a meeting, only to have to wait in a traffic jam. We hurry to make it to the doctor’s office on time, because we would never want to be late for a doctor’s appointment, only to wait for what seems like an eternity when we get there. Waiting is what we do. In our immediate, I want it now, lives, waiting is just no fun. Therefore, we try to find ways to find instant gratification, like microwavable meals, fast food, and all sorts of promises to make life what we want it to be – right now.

It does not take too long before we recognize that life just does not work that way. Hurrying may be an unavoidable part of our lives, but waiting is perhaps more important. In our sacred story, there is lots of waiting. During Advent, we wait for what lies in the seemingly distant future. During the hours between Good Friday and Easter, we await the resurrection, enduring the emotional trauma of crucifixion, wanting to fast-forward to the good news.

Today, we await something else. Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension, the day that we tell the story of the resurrected Jesus’ last day on earth. What were his last words? In Acts, just before the ascension, Jesus says, “Wait in Jerusalem for the promise from the Father.” In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus says, “stay here in the city until you have received power from on high.” Two words that we have a hard time hearing – wait and stay!

As we live out the story through our liturgy, we sit today in the waiting phase, waiting for the power from on high, waiting for the promise of God to become reality in our lives. Liturgically, we will experience the fulfillment of that promise next Sunday on the Feast of Pentecost. It is then that we celebrate the beginning of the era of the church, the era of the Holy Spirit, the era when God’s people possess the power to change the world. We will get to that next week.

However, this week we contemplate what it means to wait, what it means to anticipate God’s action in our lives in ways that we cannot imagine. We contemplate the exercise of spiritual waiting. The Lutheran author, Holly Whitcomb recently wrote a book entitled, “Seven Spiritual Gifts of Waiting.” She says that she wrote the book for those of us who have been brainwashed by the media to think that we have to have our desires fulfilled instantly. Waiting, she says, is a spiritual teacher that tutors us in patience, loss of control, living in the present, compassion, gratitude, humility and trust in God. She uses the metaphor of a river, suggesting that we spend our time pushing against the river, trying to redirect it to suit our needs and desires rather than learning to let go and to let the river take us where it will. Whitcomb quotes the Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who advised: “Trust the slow work of God.”

Consider the ancient Israelites. After God liberated them from slavery in Egypt, they did not march directly to the Promised Land. They spent forty years waiting in the desert, no doubt frustrated, confused, and even angry as they wondered what God was doing with them. Even Jesus spent forty days waiting in the wilderness before he began his ministry – waiting, learning, struggling, questioning, allowing God to form him. These days were not wasted. They were days of formation, days when God prepared Jesus, taught him, gave him the told necessary for the days to come.

All of this waiting! Living with the slow work of God. It is enough to drive even the most patient among us a little stir crazy! In what parts of your life are you waiting? Are you able to trust in the slow work of God? Are you able to put aside your own agenda, your own timetable, and to let God lead you in ways that are best for you? Whitcomb challenges us to quit worrying and to relax into the grace of God. Of course, that is much easier to talk about than to live out in our lives. It is a great challenge to let go, to let the river of life take us where it will instead of fighting to go somewhere else. It takes great trust that God loves us, that God knows what is best for us, and that we live most completely when we place our lives in the hands of God.

Like any spiritual discipline, spiritual waiting requires that we be intentional about what we do. The best way to exercise this discipline is to take moments throughout the day simply to be in God’s presence, stilling the mind and the soul, letting go of our frantic quest to get somewhere. Letting go means training our mind to relax, practicing moving from busyness to stillness, learning simply to be in God’s presence.

We have a hard time with this – even in church. We move from one prayer to another, one piece of music to another. We become uncomfortable with silence. We want things to keep moving. And that is how we live our lives. On a personal note, I have been waiting a long time for the next chapter in my call to discipleship to unfold. It has been frustrating, agonizing at times, as I have tried to force my agenda, my goals, and my dreams. However, it has not worked. It is time for me to be still, to trust the slow work of God, to know that in this in-between time God is shaping me, healing me, equipping me for what is to come. I admit that it is painfully difficult. Yet, it is necessary work, work that entails letting life’s river take me where it will, work that requires me to stop paddling frantically upstream, work that necessitates that I trust that the God who has been with me so far will not forsake or abandon me.

If, like me, you are frustrated and wondering what on earth God is doing in your life, I encourage you to sit, to wait, to allow God to reveal God’s path in God’s time. Allow the slow hand of God to guide you where God would have you to go. Embrace the opportunity to wait, to rest, to regroup, and to refresh before God sends you back into the world to proclaim God’s love. Amen.

Consider the Lilies

2009-05-20T18:00:00.002-04:00

Today’s Daily Office Gospel reading presents us with Jesus’ teaching about anxiety (Luke 12. 22-31). It opens with these words, “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.” Jesus encourages us to consider the ravens that God feeds, and the lilies that God clothes. Jesus teaches us not to strive for what we will eat or drink because God knows what we need. Instead, Jesus says, we should “strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given you as well.”

The Collect for the Sixth Sunday of Easter prays, “ . . . you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding . . .” Finally, the Prayer for our Country, found in the Book of Common Prayer, says, “In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in you to fail.”

Jesus’ words and these prayers speak about trust. Our job is to walk God’s path. God’s job is to provide what we need. Sounds great! However, I live in the real world – a world where manna does not rain down from heaven and water does not pour forth from a rock. I live in a world where worrying about just surviving is the reality for many people. So, how do we proclaim this gospel of hope and trust in the real world?

It is hard to trust. I will be the first to admit it. It is hard. When your back is against the wall, when you wonder how you are going to live, it is tempting to give up hope, to fall into the pit of despair. It is easy to become angry, to deny God’s existence, to believe that no one really cares. In moments like that, how do we proclaim the gospel of hope? Well, the only way to do it with any integrity is to speak from personal experience. Sure, we can speak of the biblical record, of how time and again God stepped in to rescue God’s people, to lead them to a new place, to provide for them. We can speak of the fact that God did not remove the difficulties, but rather provided a way through them. God provided the strength to endure, to survive, and even to thrive in the midst of the struggles. That is why the story is so compelling and endures to this day. It provides hope.

Ultimately, though, that hope needs to move from words we read in the Bible to expectation that we experience in the present. We have to believe that the same God who rescued the ancient Israelites will rescue us as well. We have to believe that Jesus is right – that the same God who provides for the raven and the lily will provide for us as well. But, who can proclaim that message unless they have experienced that reality for themselves? Who can ask someone else to trust who hasn’t themselves trusted? Authentic proclamation comes when we speak from our own experience, when we can say that we have stared anxiety in the face and, despite the temptation, have not lost hope, have not lost trust, have not lost the believe that regardless of what happens, God is with us.

Jesus’ message is simple. Keep your focus on living according to the values that Jesus has taught us. Keep believing that love is the most powerful force that exists, that compassion is the principle that will see us through, that justice is the guide that will shape our life decisions. When we live lives of love, compassion, and justice, life may not take the shape that we anticipated. However, a life lived in pursuit of the kingdom of God, of God’s values, will be a life worth living, a life where what we have is enough.

Celebrating the Good News in Africa

2009-04-02T21:22:00.002-04:00

Image by jon gos via Flickr

Each week, I wait with great anticipation for Nicholas Kristof's opinion pieces in The New York Times. I think that his writing is insightful, full of compassion, and in some ways prophetic. In fact, I get so much out of his writing that I decided to follow him on Twitter. He has not let me down. Tonight, he tweeted the following: "We journalists focus on Africa's wars, failed states and famines. Here's a site to put it in context . . . " The site is www.seeafricadifferently.com. As the site name suggests, its creators want us to look not just at the considerable problems that the people of Africa face, but also to celebrate the progress that has been made as the world has come together to make a difference.

Here are some facts from the site:
- 30% of Africans use mobile phones; Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda have mobile coverage of over 90%.
- Eighteen countries, representing one third of the continent's population, have averaged annual growth rates of 5.5% over the past 10 years.
- Since 2003, 29 million more children have started primary school.
- In 2007, L1.6 billion was spent globally on Fairtrade certified products, benefiting 7 million farmers, workers, and their families.
- In the last five years, the number of HIV patients receiving treatment has risen from 1% to 30%.
- Rwanda has the largest proportion of women in parliament of any country in the world.

These are great statistics and should encourage all of us to believe that the goal of eliminating extreme global poverty is reachable with hard work and sufficient investment. In does not mean that we can reduce our level of commitment or think that the crisis is over, because it certainly is not, particularly given the fact that the current economic crisis if causing millions to slide back into extreme poverty. However, it is important to celebrate the accomplishments even as we confront the challenges.

G20 Summit

2009-04-01T11:35:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow leaders from the G20 will gather in London to continue their discussions regarding the world economic crisis.

The countries comprising the G20 account for approximately 90% of world GNP, 80% of world trade, and 2/3 of the world's population, so they pull some serious economic weight. Membership is comprised of the finance ministers and central bank governors of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and also the European Union who is represented by the rotating Council presidency and the European Central Bank. In addition, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the President of the World Bank, plus the chairs of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee of the IMF and World Bank, also participate in G-20 meetings on an ex-officio basis.

According to the G20 website, "the Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was established in 1999 to bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy." The G20 "is an informal forum that promotes open and constructive discussion between industrial and emerging-market countries on key issues related to global economic stability. By contributing to the strengthening of the international financial architecture and providing opportunities for dialogue on national policies, international co-operation, and international financial institutions, the G-20 helps to support growth and development across the globe.

This gathering, of course, presents tremendous opportunity for the rich nations of our world to collaborate on a unified response to the challenges that affect each member nation. It is an opportunity to look not only at the specific challenges facing our nation, but to recognize the role that we play and the responsibility that we share, in making sound choices for all people, not just our own. We cannot only take into consideration what is best for Americans, but must also consider how our mismanagement of the financial system affects millions of people around the world.

Barbara Stocking, chief executive of Oxfam International, said today, "Rich governments whose policies contributed to the crisis have a responsibility to help those who cannot afford their own bailouts" (read the article here). The press release from Oxfam actually is entitled, "Bank bailout could end poverty for 50 years – Oxfam tells G20." That's quite a statement and should give us pause. Rich countries have committed $8.42 trillion to bail out troubled banks. That is the equivalent of $1,250 for every man, woman, and child on the planet. According to Oxfam, the annual cost of lifting the 1.4 billion people living on less than $1.25 per day is $173 billion. Something to consider as we spend so much to try to preserve our comfortable way of life here in the rich world.

One of the best places to follow teh G20 from a development perspective, particularly from teh perspective of those seekign to end global poverty is at the ONE website. There is lots of great information, their policy recommendations, and daily updates.

Third Sunday in Lent, Year B - The Ten Commandments - Exodus 20: 1-17

2009-03-13T11:35:00.005-04:00

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The Propers for the third Sunday in Lent include the Exodus version of the Ten Commandments. They are set in the context of God's redemptive act of release from slavery in Egypt. The preface reads, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Ex. 30.2). Jewish tradition considers this to be the first commandment, but most scholars see this as a preface, leading to the first commandment about fidelity to God. In any event, it is important to note that the commandments are a response to the call of a people. God first chose the people of ancient Israel, freed them from slavery, and then gave them the law to guide them into right relationship with God and with each other.

A few days ago, I blogged about the importance of a rule of life. I think it fair to view the Ten Commandments as a rule of life for the people of ancient Israel, both as they wondered in the desert and later as they settled in a new land and became a nation.

The Decalogue became a liturgical text in ancient Israel, recited in the context of worship, as it used to be in the Anglican tradition (provision is still made in the Book of Common Prayer to do so in the Penitential Order used by some during Lent). The Ten Commandments were used, as were so many liturgical texts, to wrestle with what it meant to be the people of God. They served as a standard by which their actions could be judged and challenged. The Apostle Paul certainly saw the law (oracles as he called them) in this way - guidelines that made people aware of their condition (see Romans 3.1-20)

We can use the Ten Commandments as guides to our behavior today. For instance, take the first commandment - "You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20.3). When it was first articulated, the people of the just forming Israelite community lived in a polytheistic world. It would have seemed strange, perhaps, to consider offering fidelity to one God only. However, this is what the God of Israel asked of them - that they choose to offer allegiance to Yahweh alone in response to Yahweh's gracious and generous prior saving act.

In our world, we don't think in terms of multiple gods. However, if we chose to define God, as Paul Tillich and others have, as "that which is of ultimate concern," we can see that, in fact, many gods exist in our lives and in our world. So, the first commandment calls us to examine that reality, to consider what really is of ultimate concern to us. What do we really worship? What is of ultimate concern in our lives when all else is stripped away? This is an important question that deserves our attention, especially during this season of Lent.

A Powerful Noise

2009-03-12T11:26:00.005-04:00

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Last week, I wrote about the A Powerful Noise event that was to take place in 450 theaters around the country as part of the International Women's Day celebration. The evening consisted of the film, A Powerful Noise, and a live panel discussion moderated by Ann Curry and including Helene Gayle, CEO of CARE, Nicholas Kristof, columnist for The New York Times, Madeleine Albright, Natalie Portman, and Christie Turlington Burns, all outspoken advocates of the effort to lift women out of poverty. You can read a news article about the event on CARE's website here, and can view a substantial preview of the film here.

For those who did not see the film, a DVD will be available sometime in May or June. Preordering starts on May 5 (click here for more information). You can find discussion guides on the A Powerful Noise website as well.

I'm telling you this with the hope that you will plan an event using the DVD and study guide at your place of worship, your school or office, or even in your living room. It is so important that we hear the stories of the three women featured in the film - women who overcame tremendous personal obstacles and found small nonprofits to empower others to make better lives for themselves. As CARE makes clear, helping women to move out of poverty is the surest way to lift whole families and communities out of poverty.

So, start planning now to use this fabulous resource to educate and inspire the people of your community!

Living the Life

2009-03-11T10:14:00.007-04:00

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Today's Propers for the Daily Office include readings from Jeremiah, Romans and the Gospel of John. Each reminds us that God always stands ready to receive us, to reconcile us to God's self, and to bring us into right relationship with God. In Romans, Paul says, "Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance" (3.4b). In John, Jesus heals a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years - a true act of generosity and kindness. This kindness led Jesus to attend to the man's spiritual well-being as well, offering him the gift of right relationship with God (5.14).

In Jeremiah, the prophet laments that both Israel and Judah have strayed and lived "faithlessly." Both have "played the whore." God sends Jeremiah to say to the people of Israel, "I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful" (3.12). Then, in a prose addition that is probably later, Jeremiah has God say, "I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding" (3.15).

Jumping a couple of chapters, we read a challenge proclaimed by Jeremiah in a sermon at the temple: "For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly with one another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever" (7.5-7).

These texts each remind us that living as God's disciples requires commitment, a conscious choice, and a willingness to repent and reorient when we go astray. Discipleship requires that we create for ourselves and our spiritual communities a rule of life that shapes our thoughts, our decisions, our interactions with other people and the world around us, and that makes provision for return when necessary.

Episcopalians find this rule embodied in the words of our liturgy. We celebrate the presence of God in our lives as we hear the good news of the Gospel, pray for ourselves and others, ask for forgiveness and receive absolution, and then break the bread of God's presence as a community of redeemed people. As we live out that liturgical drama during the week by functioning in the world, we recognize that God continues to call and guide us and to push/pull us towards the reconciled relationship that God has for us.

There are many rules of life, of course. Some take the liturgical ebb and flow and apply it to our daily living. Others modify existing trditional rules in creative ways. John McQuiston has written a little book called, Always We Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of Living, in which he takes the Rule of St. Benedict and applies it to the busy modern world. You can read this little book at Google Book Search.

McQuiston states his first rule: "Live this life and do whatever is done in a spirit of thanksgiving. Abandon attempts to achieve security, they are futile. Give up the search for wealth, it is demeaning. Quit the search for salvation, it is selfish. And come to comfortable rest in the certainty that those who participate in this life with an attitude of Thanksgiving will receive its full promise" (17-18). Tough, counter-cultural, perhaps counter-intuitive words - but words to consider carefully as we travel the spiritual path!

Another rule was written by the folks at Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, and can be found here. This rule incorporates careful attention, through prayer, study, and action, to the Millennium Development Goals as part of a broader spiritual discipline that will help us to live faithfully according to God's purposes and desires. It fits particularly well with the words of Jeremiah 7 quoted above.

To summarize, regardless of our shortfalls, our fits and starts, our turning away, God responds with kindness, reaching out with God's unconditional and gratuitous love with the singular intention of restoring us to right relationship with God. As we exercise the discipline of discipleship, we find that we turn from whatever distracts or pulls us away and move back onto the path that God has set for us. How blessed we are that God is with us regardless of the challenges that we face, regardless of the stubbornness of the human heart, regardless of our spiritual blindness. God opens our eyes to God's truth, to love, to compassion, to generosity!

International Women's Day

2009-03-04T14:35:00.007-05:00

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March 8 is International Women's Day. IWD is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. You can learn all about its history and all the events planned for this year's celebration by clicking here. Two hundred and forty-four events are scheduled to take place in the UK, 175 in the USA, 156 in Australia, 28 in India, etc. Click here for a list of gender facts, such as, "Women use 20,000 words a day while men only use 7,000," and "Of 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide, 70% are women."

The well-being of women is central to the Millennium Development Goals, of course. Goal #3 is to promote gender equality and to empower women and #5 is to improve maternal health. In fact, women play at least an equal role in each of the goals. Since more women live in poverty and less women receive adequate formal education, the plight of women is central to the fight against global poverty.

CARE is an humanitarian organization that believes that working alongside poor women has the potential to lift whole families and communities out of poverty. Tomorrow evening, March 5, CARE and ONE will sponsor a grand event called A Powerful Noise Live. A Powerful Noise is a movie that follows three women from different countries who overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to bring lasting solutions to their communities. The movie will be followed by a a town hall discussion with Madeleine K. Albright, Natalie Portman, Nicholas Kristof, Christy Turlington Burns and Dr. Helene Gayle (President and CEO of CARE). Click here to get information on participating theaters and ticket information.

I'll be there tomorrow night and will blog about it afterwards. If anyone out there in the Jacksonville, FL area wants to meet up for it, send me an email.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and You

2009-01-27T09:20:00.004-05:00

Image by World Economic Forum via FlickrHere’s a paradox: In these brutal economic times, one of the leading advocates for the world’s poorest people is one of the richest.

So begins Nicholas Kristof's January 24 op-ed piece in the New York Times. Kristof visited Gates in advance of Gates' 2009 Annual Letter, his first. You can watch part of the conversation between Kristof and Gates below.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's largest philanthropy, with assets of approximately $38.7 billion - and that is after a 20% decline in value last year (referenced in Stephanie Strom's article in the NYT). In 2009, the Foundation plans to give $3.9 billion to improve health in the world's poorest countries and to improve education in the US. That's some serious coin!!! It is extraordinary to think that one man (and those who work with him) has the power, quite literally, to change the lives of millions of people throughout the world. It's hard to comprehend!

The Gates Foundation gives financial gifts to many organizations throughout the world. However, the real power of the Foundation, because of its enormous scale, is its ability to make very large, concentrated gifts in areas where significant, systemic change is possible. Gates' describes them: "These investments are high-risk and high-reward. But the reward isn't measured by financial gain, it's measured by the number of lives saved or people lifted out of poverty." For instance, approximately 50% of total giving goes to the Foundation's Global Health Program that focuses on the prevention of disease - including "diarrheal diseases (including rotavirus), pneumonia, and malaria—which mostly kill kids—and AIDS and TB, which mostly kill adults."

The world desperately needs people like Bill and Melinda Gates - people who put their vast resources to work helping the neediest among us. But what about the rest of us - what can we do that matters? It would be misguided to think that the Bill Gates's of the world can solve these problems alone. Kristof asked Gates what those of us with tens or hundreds to give rather than billions could do. His answer: pick a cause that interests you and get some in-depth knowledge. Travel to see the problem firsthand. Then find an organization that does the kind of work that you've learned about and care about. Support it with your time and dollars. As Kristof says, "So try it. The only difference between you and Mr. Gates is scale."

Thank You President Obama for Addressing Global Poverty

2009-01-21T13:32:00.004-05:00

In his inaugural address yesterday, President Barack Obama said many powerful things. Soberly and honestly, he highlighted the challenges that face our nation and charted a course very different from that of his predecessor. In his powerful peroration, he rallied people throughout this nation with these words:

Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

While focussing on the challenges facing this country, he did not forget the plight of the poor around the world. He said:

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

Over 100,000 ONE members, including me, signed a petition to Mr. Obama, asking him to speak directly to the issue of global poverty. I could not be more pleased with President Obama's response.

ONE wants to thank President Obama and to encourage his continued support for the fight against global poverty. Click http://one.org/thankobama/, and you can sign a thank you note that says:

Thank you for making the fight against global poverty an important part of your inaugural address. I applaud your words and support you turning this vision into a reality for millions of the world's neediest people, beginning with your first presidential budget request.

The fight continues. Strong leadership by the world's decision makers will make a significant difference. Thank you President Obama for adding your invaluable voice!

Bono's Message to ONE Members from the Steps of the Lincoln Memorial

2009-01-19T16:59:00.003-05:00

The latest from Bono, who's unwavering commitment to the world's poor truly is an inspiration. Check it out and then go to ONE, the "grassroots campaign and advocacy organization backed by more than 2 million people from around the world and every walk of life who are committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa." You can read and sign the ONE Declaration here.

A Day of Hope for All Americans!

2009-01-19T11:14:00.001-05:00

Image by BL1961 via FlickrWhat a moment in time today is. We celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the eve of the inauguration of our nation's first black president. How can we not be excited?! I woke up this morning with a heightened sense of anticipation. It's not that the struggles of the present moment have gone away. They are as real as ever. However, in the midst of personal struggle, we gather as a nation to celebrate hope, to believe together that there is something greater at play in our world than the day-to-day toils of life. What better time to reflect on the larger picture of hope than today.

As I so often do, I started the day by watching King's "I Have a Dream" speech. I've watched it so many times over the years that I've lost count. I have never watched it without being moved to tears at King's soaring expression of hope. His was a moment in time that will never be repeated. It was one of those "thin places" spoken of by spiritual leaders to describe the times when the line between heaven and earth seems to fade away and we catch a glimpse of the divine. My priest said in his sermon yesterday that the reason that King's speech had and continues to have such power is that it is not only an expression of King's dream, but of God's dream. King had the privilege of articulating that dream for all of us - but ultimately, it is God's dream that we live according to the conviction that all people are created equal.

King spoke of the promissory note given by the architects of our republic - a note that has been returned for "insufficient funds." He said, however, that he refused to believe that "the bank of justice is bankrupt." His dream was of a bank with sufficient capital to make good on its promises. He understood, however, that it was going to take a long time to get to the promised land where that note would be honored. In his final speech in Memphis on April 3, 1968, King spoke of seeing the promised land. He said that he might not get there, but he knew that the people would eventually make it.

And that brings us to tomorrow and the inauguration of our first black president. Perhaps King's speech and Barack Obama's inauguration form bookends on one chapter of our nation's history. The dream reaches its highest expression of fulfillment as Obama takes the ultimate mantle of leadership. What better sign of progress could exist?!

Hopes and expectations are sky high as we move into the Obama presidency. In part, this is dues to the abject failure of the Bush years and the longing of the American people for something better. However, it is about so much more than that. Perhaps this is another "thin place," another moment in our nation's history where we take a leap forward towards the ideals of our founding identity.

Some have said that expectations are too high, that we have set up Obama for failure because we expect so much of him. That would be true if we saw the task as being his alone. However, the challenge of moving towards freedom does not rest only on Obama's shoulders. It rests on the collective shoulders of everyone of us who believes in the dream articulated by King 45 years ago. Now is the time for everyone of us to stand up and, with Obama, say "yes we can." Now is the time to say that America is better than ponzi schemes, corporate corruption, illegal detainment, war under false pretense, etc. America is about freedom.

King said that we need to meet "physical force with soul force." It is time that the soul of America is strengthened such that it (we) become a light to the nations, that we become agents of transformation, not by the strength of our army but by the strength of our collective soul. The mantra "Yes We Can" means more that that we can defeat our enemy. It means that one day we can meet our enemies, whoever they may be, and through soul force, find common ground that will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity for all people - not only here in America but for people throughout the world. YES WE CAN!

Give Africa the Voice It Needs, continued

2009-01-16T09:46:00.003-05:00

Image via WikipediaIf you want to add your voice to those who think that Africa should have a voice at the G20 summit in April, you can sign a petition organized by the ONE Campaign by clicking here. You will also have the opportunity to add your own personal comments. ONE has set a goal of 30,000 petitioners. As of this morning, they were at 27,443! Help them reach their goal by clicking here.

Give Africa the Voice It Needs

2009-01-15T16:34:00.003-05:00

Image via WikipediaIn April, the G20 will meet in the United Kingdom to discuss the international economic crisis. The G20 is comprised of representatives of 19 of the world's 25 largest national economies plus the European Union. Only one member country is from the African continent - South Africa.

David Lane, of ONE, reminds us that only a handful of nations participated in creating the current financial system that has been in use since the end of World War II. As the world's most powerful financial leaders gather to discuss what could be far-reaching changes to this system, it is paramount that the voices of those who do not currently hold positions of economic power be heard.

One way to do that is for the chair of April's summit, UK Prime Minster Gordon Brown, to invite representatives of the African Union and the African Development Bank to participate. In 1999, the Organization for African Unity called for the establishment of an African union, with a view to "to accelerating the process of integration in the continent to enable it (to) play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalisation." The African Development Bank is "a regional multilateral development finance institution established in 1964 and engaged in mobilising resources towards the economic and social progress of its Regional Member Countries (RMCs). It is headquartered in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)."

By allowing these two institutions to participate in the G20 summit, Prime Minister Brown will ensure that the interests of approximately one billion people will be heard. In our global world, we desperately need to hear all voices. Rich countries simply cannot pretend that the concerns of less developed nations do not matter. We cannot solve many of the problems of African nations that are caught in the grip of political turmoil and corruption, economic exploitation, or other causes of poverty. However, we can bring their voices to the table as we seek solutions to the current international financial crisis that threatens to derail so much of the economic progress that we have made over the last decades.

People of the Light - A Reflection for Epiphany I on Genesis 1:1-5 and Mark 1: 4-11

2009-01-07T12:42:00.005-05:00

Image via Wikipedia“People of the Light”
A reflection for the First Sunday after the Epiphany
Genesis 1.1-5 and Mark 1.4-11

“In the beginning, darkness covered the face of the deep. Then God said, ‘Let there be light.’” So goes the first part of the Genesis creation story.

Light is a powerful symbol and has great significance for our faith. In the creation story, God created the light and then separated the light from the darkness. In Isaiah 60, the prophet says to the people of Israel, “Darkness shall cover the earth.” He also says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” The great symbol of the season of Epiphany is the star, the light that led the magi to Jesus. Light leads us into the very presence of God.

We are people of the light. What does that mean to us? We find clues in Mark’s account of the baptism of Jesus. John the baptizer proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He said, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” John had it all wrong. John thought that Jesus was about power. John and his followers anticipated a Messiah of power, one who could stand up to the Roman Empire, one who could meet force with force, one who could establish peace by means of the sword. John looked for a Messiah who would stand against the forces of evil and oppression.

Isn’t that what we do? We define ourselves by that which we are against. We are against terrorists. We are against those who would jeopardize our freedom or our way of life. We are against dictators and communists, against our enemies and those we fear. The problem with defining ourselves by what we are against is that we end up looking in the mirror only to recognize that we have become the enemy. We become so against someone or something that we demonize it so that we can destroy it. Once we decide to destroy it or them, we have become children not of light but of darkness.

In contradistinction to our way of being, Jesus does not stand against John the Baptist. He submits and receives the baptism of John. After this, Mark tells us that the heavens were torn apart and that a voice came from heaven saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” This is an important detail for several reasons, not least of which is that the Greek word translated “torn apart” is used only twice by Mark - here, and at the crucifixion, when the curtain of the temple is torn in two. Mark connects Jesus’ baptism to his death. Just as Jesus stood for the people rather than against them at his baptism, so he stands for them rather than against them at his death.

John told us that Jesus was powerful. However, when his enemies came to destroy him, he did not define himself by what he was against. He did not say, “I am against violence or terrorism and therefore I will resist it even if it means becoming violent myself.” Instead, Jesus said, “I am for peace. I am for love. And regardless of what happens to me, regardless of what you do to me, what I am for will govern my response and my behavior. And, under no circumstances will I demonize the enemy and resort to violence, thereby using what I am against in order to protect what I am for.”

On the first Sunday after the Epiphany, many churches will celebrate the sacrament of baptism. As we have said, baptism and crucifixion go together. We are not baptized into a culture that uses violence to combat violence or destruction to wipe away all threats. We are not baptized into a way of life that exercises power to control or protect. We are baptized into a way of living that uses love and peace as the means to bring about God’s vision for our world. Great spiritual leaders, from Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized that love is the force that ultimately will defeat the forces of chaos. Love is the light created by God in the beginning, given by God to God’s chosen people, and shared with us so that those who live in darkness can see the truth.

Imagine with me for a minute what our world would look like if millions of people in America and around the world said that they were no longer willing to fight violence with violence. What if millions said that they were no longer willing to stand against their enemies but rather would stand for love and peace. Would it work? Frankly, I do not know what would happen. However, I do know that the way of violence and hatred does not work, that responding to worldly power with worldly power does not disarm the evil that is around us, and that God calls us to a different way.

Speaking of millions of people admittedly is a little far fetched. So, let’s think instead about the dozens or even hundreds of people that comprise our spiritual communities. Or, let us start by talking about each one of us, about ourselves. What are you against? What gets you blood boiling. What creates passion such that you want to stand up and say, “No, I won’t stand for it”? Now think about what you are for. Are you for love? Are you for generosity? Are you for peace, justice, and those other things that we affirm in the baptismal covenant? If so, how can you use what you are for to make a difference with what you are against? How can you allow what you are for determine how you will respond to those whom you are against?

This does not have to be complicated. Are you against the colleague who gets under your skin? Are you against the mother in law who can be so annoying? Are you against the terrorists who threaten your way of life? Being against people can tear us apart, rob us of our joy, and take away our ability to live with the freedom of soul. Instead, try being for loving the colleague. Try being for loving the mother in law, try being for loving the terrorist. Let love determine your response. Be a person of light, of love, of conviction not against but for. Then, you and I will not become the enemy. We will not compromise what we are for so that we can fight for what we are for. That does not make sense. Jesus offers a different way. Jesus did not stand against those who crucified him. Rather, he was for love, for forgiveness, for peace. May all who are baptized into the light and love of Christ do likewise! Amen.

My Christmas Meditation - Luke 2:1-14

2008-12-22T21:35:00.004-05:00

To the right is a picture of the Stalingrad Madonna, which features Madonna and child and the words: “Licht, Leben, Liebe” – “light, life, love.” Lieutenant Kurt Reuber, a German staff physician and Protestant pastor, drew the Stalingrad Madonna in December 1942 in charcoal on the back of a military map. He did so during the Battle of Stalingrad, perhaps the longest and bloodiest battle of the Second World War that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians.
In a letter that accompanied the picture, Reuber wrote the following:

The picture looks like this: the mother's head and the child's lean toward each other, and a large cloak enfolds them both. It is intended to symbolize 'security' and 'mother love.’ I remembered the words of St. John: light, life, and love. What more can I add? I wanted to suggest these three things in the homely and common vision of a mother with her child and the security that they represent. When we opened the 'Christmas Door', as we used to do on other Christmases (only now it was the wooden door of our dug-out), my comrades stood spellbound and reverent, silent before the picture that hung on the clay wall. A lamp was burning on a board stuck into the clay beneath the picture. Our celebrations in the shelter were dominated by this picture, and it was with full hearts that my comrades read the words: light, life, and love."

In the midst of unspeakable horror, countless deaths, and suffering beyond anything that I can imagine, the Christ Child appeared to these German soldiers, offering them light, life, and love in the midst of darkness, death, and hatred. So to, the Christ Child appears to you and me at Christmas in the midst of whatever consumes us, whatever causes us pain, and whatever robs us of the joy and peace that God offers to us.

What sort of God is it that we meet at the manger? The image is a peaceful one: of well-behaved animals, of warmth and comfort, of shepherds guided by a star, of Mary and Joseph filled with hope and joy.

However, as peaceful as our composite sketch of the nativity might be, the story is not as neat and tidy as we might like. Mary was poor. In all likelihood, she was socially ostracized for becoming pregnant when she was not yet married. If you have ever worked on a farm you know that the manger, filled with barnyard animals must have been very smelly and dirty. The shepherds were at the bottom of the social ladder. Despite our attempts to sanitize and romanticize it, there is nothing powerful or prestigious or even clean about the nativity scene, nothing that would hint at the world-changing story that unfolded that night.

These details are important as we seek to answer the question: What sort of God is it that we meet at the manger? One answer came to me this past Sunday as I sat in the rector's forum at the church that I now attend. We were talking about Joseph and Mary. Someone said that God must have known that they would respond positively to God's call. I responded by disagreeing, saying that perhaps God did not know, that instead God chose to take a risk, to put God's plan in the hands of two unlikely people - not knowing how they would respond or how badly they might mess it up. That is the God that we worship and serve - a God who takes risks by calling us to do God's work in our world. Sometimes that risk pays off. Sometimes we mess it up. But God's grace is sufficient that even when we make a true mess, God continues to call us, to trust us, to take a risk on us. That is what happened on that Christmas so many years ago. God took a risk. God chose to enter human history in a unique and wonderful way by taking on human flesh. And that is precisely what God continues to do in our lives today!

At Christmas, we celebrate the mystery of incarnation, of God becoming one of us through the child Jesus, of God living among us, of God ultimately suffering and dying as one of us. We celebrate life, light, and love, knowing that the Christ comes into our world to penetrate the darkness, to bring life where there is death, and to love every one of us. That is worth celebrating!

Reflecting On Mary - Luke 1: 26-38

2008-12-19T09:23:00.002-05:00

Image via WikipediaIn my experience, Roman Catholics who find themselves in the Episcopal Church often ask about the differences between the two. I try to emphasize in my answer that there is more that unites us than that divides us. However, people usually are interested in the differences rather than the similarities. There are certain subjects that usually come up: the role of the Pope, the role of women, the fact that in the Anglican tradition priests can be married, and the way that Mary functions in the life of the church.

On the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we read Luke’s account of the annunciation, where the angel Gabriel informs Mary that she will conceive and bare a son (Luke 1:26-38). In addition, we also have the option of singing the Magnificat, the famous song of Mary that serves as her response to the annunciation. Given these two readings, it seems appropriate that on this Sunday before we celebrate the birth of Jesus we reflect on the woman who plays such a necessary and significant role in the story.

In May 2005, the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission, known as ARCIC, published the latest in a series of papers dating back to its inception in 1968. This last, entitled, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ, is the result of five years of study and discussion by Anglican and Roman Catholic scholars. The ultimate goal of ARCIC is to pave a way towards full communion of the two churches. Therefore, regarding Mary, the challenge is to find common ground and then to see if the two churches can find a way through their differences, thereby making unity possible.

I will spare you the theological details of the ARCIC paper and offer some conclusions that come in part from a commentary written by the Anglican theologian, Timothy Bradshaw.

It is clear from Scripture that Mary plays an essential role in the divine plan. The plan requires human freedom and Mary offers her full consent to God’s call to be the mother of the Messiah. The virgin birth as attested by the writers of both Matthew and Luke disclose the radical newness that accompanies the birth. It primarily is a sign of God’s presence. God is doing a new thing in human history, bringing about a new phase in salvation history, and is doing so in mysterious and surprising ways. Luke’s annunciation portrays Mary as the unique recipient of election and grace, and the Magnificat provides the scriptural basis for devotion to Mary. The annunciation also hints at the suffering that will be part of the acceptance of God’s call to serve. Indeed, this suffering becomes very clear at the end of Jesus’ life.

The role of Mary has evolved in interesting ways throughout Christian tradition. In the early church, theologians worked to define the nature of Christ, trying to articulate how Christ could be both fully divine and fully human. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 C.E. was the churches answer to this question. In it, Mary is called the Theotókos, the God-bearer, or as sometimes stated, the “mother of God.” Anglicans and Roman Catholics alike affirm this doctrine. In some ways, this elevation of Mary opened the floodgates to the expansion of the role of Mary in ways that went far beyond that articulated in the New Testament. In the Middle Ages, Mary gradually took on a mediatorial role in which she dispensed the graces of Christ to the church. The doctrine of sinlessness led to the possibility of Mary being “immaculate.”

The Protestant Reformation attempted to reaffirm the central role of Christ and scaled back the role of Mary. However, the Roman Catholic Counter Reformation fought back regarding Marian theology. This tension ensured that Mary would remain a point of contention between Roman Catholics and Protestants. In the nineteenth century, Roman popular devotion to Mary continued to flourish, leading the Pope to define the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 and of the Assumption of Mary in 1950. Both of these official Roman Catholic dogmas remain sticking points between Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

This brief historical sketch makes clear that Mary has always played a significant role in the life and doctrine of the church - Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant. Recent years have witnessed an increased interest in Mary from all side of the theological spectrum. In the liturgies of the Book of Common Prayer, Mary is the only saint mentioned by name. Our liturgical calendar includes The Feast of the Annunciation, the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin, and the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We do well to consider Mary as part of our sacred story.

There are two ways for us to view Mary, each compatible with the other. The first is to see Mary as first among the saints, as maternal towards the entire human race, as assisting others through her active prayer. The other is to see Mary in her historical context and to learn from her what it means to respond affirmatively and positively to God’s call. Mary as an example of faithful discipleship is a role to which all can agree. Whatever your view of Mary, this is a good week to reflect on her role in our sacred story.

Head Butler Says Lets Serve Others This Holiday Season

2008-12-15T14:19:00.003-05:00

I am a huge fan of Jesse Kornbluth and his site, Head Butler. Five days a week, Kornbluth writes a review of a book, movie, piece of music, or something else of cultural significance. He doesn't waste his time on the popular stuff that appears on the best seller lists. Instead, he goes for the truly good work, things that you might miss if you didn't have a "butler" like him to point you in the right direction.

Happily, my favorite butler has a social conscience as well as impeccable taste. I get the sense that Kornbluth is well healed, that he doesn't want for much. I also get the sense that sometimes he is disturbed that so many have so much less. I admire him for that. In today's post, the Head Butler proposes that we engage in a week of service from December 26 - 31.

Here's a snippet from the post:

It's December 26th we dread.

The week between Christmas and New Year's will see people who can afford it --- the people who run things --- on beaches and ski lifts. Staycationers will be hooking up their new bargain flat screens. Kids will burn the day playing Wii; college students will party the night away with friends.

If you're a winner, it's time off.

But if you're on the hurting end of this economy, where do you go for help --- or even for distraction from your troubles?

You can read the entire post here. And if you think that you might like the Head Butler's musings delivered to your inbox each weekday, click here.

A Very Cool Gift

2008-12-11T16:51:00.004-05:00

Want to make a difference and do something cool for someone else. Go to Stop Poverty Now, where you will see an image similar to the one at right. Then, choose which square or squares you want to fill in (for each $10 donation, you get one square). You then get to leave a message and a picture. When someone rolls their mouse over "your" square, they'll see your message. Mine is over the upper lip of the girl. Where will yours be?

Stop Poverty Now is a fund raising effort of the Grameen Foundation, an organization that works to help local organizations reach some of the world's poorest women with small loans.

President-elect Obama and Former Vice President Gore Discuss the Climate Crisis

2008-12-11T16:29:00.004-05:00

President-elect Obama and former VP Al Gore met on Tuesday. In their press conference, Obama said that now is the time to repower America. It is exciting to see his urgency, leading me to believe that sustainable, measurable, practical efforts finally will be made at the highest levels to address this most pressing issue.

No doubt, lobbying by those who have a stake in the status quo will grow louder and more intense in the weeks ahead, particularly from the oil and coal industries. I hope that Obama will not relent under that intense pressure. I also hope that those in the oil and coal industries, as well as many other stakeholders, will see this an opportunity for growth and creativity, rather than as a threat. Compromise on all sides will be necessary as we move forward. Systemic change will not take place immediately. We can't just stop producing gasoline, for instance. We can't just shut down our coal-fired plants. But we can get creative, we can find incentives, we can work together to save our planet.

You can learn much more at Repower America.

Here is a video of President-elect Obama's statement.

Give Gifts That Will Change Lives

2008-12-06T18:03:00.004-05:00

Image via WikipediaAn economy in shambles, employment declines at levels not seen in a generation, major corporations on the brink of collapse - its no wonder that we are an anxious people. However, hard times are opportunities for us to consider those things that are of ultimate value in our lives. What is it that really counts?

I watched Its a Wonderful Life for the first time the other night (hard to believe that I hadn't seen it before). George Bailey learned through his own personal crisis what really mattered to him and it changed the way that he viewed his life. The externals of his life didn't change. The change occurred within him. We cannot always change the realities of the world that affect our lives. However, we can open ourselves to internal transformation.

One way to do that is to think about others. I know, its ironic that internal transformation often comes from focusing on the needs and longings not of ourselves but of others. There are many people in our world who face tremendous struggles, who fight just to put food on the table and to take care of the medical needs of their families. As we open our hearts to internal transformation, we might feel compelled to do something tangible to help one or more of these people. Many charities offer opportunities to give targeted financial donations in honor of someone special. Instead of giving dad another tie, why not make a donation that will make a real difference. I bet dad would be thrilled. You can even do this for children (you might need to give them an iPod as well:)) Use it as a learning experience, focusing on the human dimension of the gift, particularly if the gift targets children. Check out your favorite charity's website and see if they have a program that will allow you to do this.

I came across one such program this week. The mission of the Grameen Foundation is "to enable the poor, especially the poorest, to create a world without poverty." The key word in this mission statement is "enable." The goal is to equip people to take care of themselves by providing microfinancing that enables poor people in developing countries to start their own small businesses. These small business owners then are not dependent on the charity of others but can move to self-sufficiency. That, in turn, leads to sustainable growth that can lift entire families, even whole villages out of poverty. Can you think of a greater gift than that?

The Grameen Foundation offers an online gift catalog. Here is a sample of what your gift can do:

- With a loan of $50, a woman could buy thread & fabric for her embroidery business and send her children to school.
- With a loan of $100, a poor woman could rebuild her business after a natural disaster and give her children a brighter future.
- With a loan of $250, a woman could connect her village to the world by creating a mobile technology hub.
- With a loan of $450, a woman could add a freezer to her store, giving her community a convenient place to buy meat and fish.
- With a microloan of $550, a woman could buy a rickshaw and other assets to launch several businesses.
- Your funding of a scholarship enables a child to attend public school for five years.

Celebrate Christmas this year by giving a gift that will transform both you as the giver and the recipient, whose life might well be changed forever.

Pointing with John the Baptist - Mark 1:1-8

2008-12-03T11:12:00.010-05:00

To the right, you will find the image of Matthias Grünewald’s dramatic and disturbing altarpiece entitled, “The Crucifixion.” That may seem an odd choice for this second Sunday in the season of Advent. However, I chose it because of Grünewald’s very powerful depiction of John the Baptist who, with his long finger outstretched, points to the crucified Christ. Written in Latin above the Baptist’s arm are the words, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Mark’s Gospel begins, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” For Mark, there is no infancy narrative. He jumps right into the drama of Jesus’ life, beginning with John the Baptist, the one appointed by God to point or prepare the way for the Messiah and the one who baptizes him. As Grünewald makes clear, John the Baptist does not point to a cute baby in a manger. Rather he points to the crucified Christ, the one who calls us, through his vulnerability and suffering, to lives of love and compassion.

At this time of year, we so easily find ourselves distracted by the sentimental, Hallmark nature of what we generically now call the holiday season. We become seduced, even manipulated, by its trappings. However, in the church, we hear the constant reminder that our observance is about much more than what the marketers feed us.

You may think that this makes the church the ultimate killjoy, forcing on us this season of Advent to rob us of our fun and games. That is not what Advent is all about. Advent is about hope. However, as the preacher Leonard Vander Zee once said, Advent hope “isn’t some pleasant narcotic that sets us nodding off in our Christian cocoon” (quoted in Lectionary Homiletics, Volume XVII, Number 1, 11). Instead, Advent hope points us to something far beyond ourselves. Advent hope provides us with a vision of what God’s world can and will be like. Advent hope is a big deal – it is about earth-shattering, life-changing transformation that has very little to do with what passes for the holiday season and everything to do with God’s vision for the future.

During Advent, John the Baptist serves as our agent provocateur, the one who comes to stir things up, to shake us out of our complacency, and to urge us to search our hearts. John the Baptist asks us whether we really want to accept what Christ offers, whether we really want to take on what Christ requires. To accept Christ means that we live by the commandment to love God and our neighbors. It means that we filter everything that we do through that double commandment. It means embracing Jesus’ call to love our enemies, to seek the transformation of evil not through violence and retaliation but through love and compassion. It means living in a qualitatively different way, convinced that the road to peace and fulfillment in this life is none other than the way of Christ.

If you want something deeper this year, something that goes beyond the parties and the presents, consider what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus, someone completely committed to embodying his teachings, someone determined to live according to our baptismal covenant that calls us to strive for justice and peace and to respect the dignity of every human being. Christian faith - Advent faith – is faith lived out in the world around us. It is not reserved for quiet Sunday mornings or for Christmas Eve worship. It pervades every part of our lives. It informs the shopping decisions that we make, the way that we treat other people, even the choices that we make about our time and our money. Why? Because we have looked ahead toward God’s future and we cannot sit satisfied with the present when we can contribute to the coming reign of God.

Martin Luther King, Jr. expressed his Advent hope in a speech that shook our nation some forty years ago. He said that he had been to the mountaintop and that he had seen the other side. He had a vision - a vision that compelled him to put every ounce of energy he had into its fulfillment.
When we catch the Advent vision of God’s future, we cannot accept the world as it is. We cannot sit back in self-satisfied comfort while so many in Africa die from HIV/AIDS, while so many live in extreme poverty, while our nation is at war, while so many experience homelessness and hunger. We must sit up and take notice of what is happening around us. That is why events like World AIDS Day, which took place on December 1, are important. It is why the UN's Doha Follow-Up Conference on Financing for Development that took place this week is so important. What the world’s leaders decide makes a tremendous difference in the lives of millions of people.

Every time we speak out against violence, every time we provide food for the hungry, every time we hug someone who weeps, every time we work for reconciliation, we move toward the Advent vision, the Advent hope of a world transformed.

Many of us attend church to find comfort, to be spiritually renewed, to gain strength to face the days ahead. We all have our struggles, our pains, and our wounds that need the comforting balm of God’s love. We are right to seek that comfort in the church, to know that God loves us and to worship within the context of a loving community. I am convinced that one of the primary ways that we receive healing and comfort is to look outward, to focus on the needs of the people around us, to believe that there is something at play in this world that is much larger than we are, that there is something for which it is worth giving, worth sacrificing, worth hoping, perhaps even worth dying. That is the Advent hope.

Just as Grünewald’s John the Baptist pointed definitively to Jesus, so too God calls us to point the way, to be the prophets of God’s love. As God called Isaiah and John the Baptist and countless others throughout history to point to the truth, so God calls us during this season of anticipation to point to the truth, not just with our lips but also with our lives. John the Baptist said that the way to prepare is to repent. Repenting sounds like an ominous thing. However, it really is quite simple. To repent simply means to turn around and walk in a different direction. To repent requires that we recognize our sins, that we ask forgiveness and make recompense, and then, that we change our direction so that we can walk towards the vision rather than away from it.

What might it look like for us to turn so that we can head more completely in the right direction? What in our lives would change if we were to walk in a new direction? John the Baptist points the way. Are we willing to follow? Amen.

Image: The Crucifixion, central panel of the Isenheim Altarpiece (from Wikipedia).

Repower America - The WE Campaign

2008-12-03T08:21:00.003-05:00

Here is the latest from the WE Campaign. With the recent dramatic decline in fuel prices, it is easy to forget the urgency many of us felt just a couple of months ago. Lets not forget that alternative energy and conservation are not just about saving money, they are about saving the planet.

World AIDS Day

2008-12-01T13:34:00.004-05:00

Image via WikipediaToday is World AIDS Day. Click here to go to the official site, where you can learn more. Also, check out, the World AIDS Campaign. If you click here, you can check out the Archbishop of Canterbury's message for World AIDS Day.

This marks the twentieth anniversary of World AIDS Day. While in the developed world some of the urgency may have diminished, HIV/AIDS continues to wreak havoc in the developing world. According to UNAIDS, since 1987, AIDS has killed over 25 million people (2 million in 2007 alone), and approximately 33 million people live with HIV today. It is one of the deadliest scourges in recorded history. As such it deserves our attention.

Here is Bono, with a simple message for World AIDS Day:

Buy Nothing Christmas

2008-12-01T12:05:00.007-05:00

I came across a site called Buy Nothing Christmas the other day (thanks to my friend Scott Gunn at Seven Whole Days). It seems that each holiday season, as the consumer frenzy increases, so does the effort to counter it. And the effort to restore the true meaning of Christmas grows stronger as well. Now, I am as happy to give and receive gifts as the next person. However, can there be any doubt that the sheer quantity of gifts given far exceeds the bounds of reason? Certainly, this orgy of acquisition bears little resemblance to the true meaning of Christmas.

Remember Jesus? Lets think for a minute what Jesus might give or receive if he were here to celebrate Christmas. I don't think that a flat-panel, hi-def tv would be on the list. I don't think that he'd be giving out CDs or DVDs to people who already have everything that they need. Laptops, iPods, sweaters, books - no, no, no, and no. Its not that I think that Jesus is against these things. I just can't imagine Jesus thinking that they are appropriate gifts by which to celebrate his birthday.

If none of these things is the stuff of Christmas, what is one to do given the cultural expectation that we give virtually everyone we know a gift! Well, the folks at Buy Nothing Christmas have some ideas. They have an online catalogue that offers ways to share your love without busting the bank. The ideas focus on love and relationship. Some of them seem downright silly. However, perhaps this is the year, when money is tight anyway, to give some of them a try. They might not replace completely the items on your list, particularly if you have children who will wake up with great expectation on Christmas morning. However, they might cut into the list somewhat.

If you must spend money, why not make a donation in the name of a loved one to your favorite charity. It seems to me that that might make Jesus smile if he were here. After all, it was one of his disciples who said: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world" (James 1.27). If these words really do cut to the heart of what Jesus is about, then why not make this the centerpiece of our Christmas celebration - to care for the widow and orphan (or the AIDS patient, the refugee, the prisoner, the unemployed, etc)? Notice the last phrase - "to keep oneself unstained by the world." Celebrating Christmas differently is counter-cultural. It requires a choice. It means that we decide to do things in ways that might raise eyebrows, that might make us stand out. What's wrong with that? We don't have to buy into the unhealthy patterns and cultural norms of "the world."

I hear many people bemoan the craziness of the holiday season. However like lemmings, we buy into it and play the game, all the while recognizing that its just not right. Well, here's a newsflash for you. If we don't do something about it, why expect that anyone else will? We can only control what we can do. So, this season, take matters into your own hands. Be counter-cultural. Don't go shopping. Give the gift of love. Give a gift that will provide food for the hungry. Give - give something life-changing. Let it start with us. Dare to be different!

Black Friday and the Consumption Frenzy

2008-11-28T15:49:00.004-05:00

Image by Bearman2007 via FlickrIts Black Friday, in recent years called by that name because it is the day that many retailers move into the black in terms of profit. I wonder for how many that will be the case this year.

Of course, most consumers are not concerned with the P&L statements of retailers. They care about deals, and many will go to absurd lengths to find them. They'll get up in the middle of the night (or earlier) and camp out in line outside their favorite retailer so that they can get first pick of the deals inside. Most of the time, this annual ritual is benign enough. However, not always.

This year, an associate was trampled to death at a Wal-Mart in suburban New York. The store was scheduled to open at 5:00am. At 4:55, the crowd could wait no longer. They began to shake the doors, quickly tore them from their hinges, and charged into the store. Even as the Wal-Mart associate lay dying, people continued to storm by. Other associates tried to help him, putting themselves in danger of being trampled as well.

How pathetic! Even in these economically troubled times, that kind of behavior is sad and down-right scary. We all know the power of the mob mentality to turn otherwise reasonable people into something resembling dangerous, mindless, cattle. The New York Times tells the story of 19 year old Nikki Nicely, who, apparently forgetting her last name, jumped onto the back of a man who wanted the same television set to which she had laid claim - all to save $202.

These are the stories that make the headlines. However, there is much more to the story of Black Friday than deal crazed shoppers wreaking havoc. Many retailers, fearing what the drastic drop in consumer spending this year means for them, have cut prices to unsustainable levels. No retailer can survive if they have to sell their products at 50% or more off the retail price. It just won't work. Some retailers likely will not survive this holiday season. They'll focus on selling at whatever price they can get because they need to turn inventory into cash to pay bills. But they will do so at the expense of profit. Then, because their balance sheet is sickly, they won't be able to get the bank loans that they need to continue operations when the holiday season is over. It is not a pretty picture.

Does this mean that we should feel sorry for the retailers? Should we demand to pay full retail when we shop? Of course not. However, lets not be naive enough to believe that there is a free ride here. Americans love to get a deal. And for years, we got that deal - money was cheep and seemingly in endless supply. We created the unsustainable system that now is collapsing around us. Retail will collapse next. Stores will go out of business, more people will lose their jobs, manufacturers will have no one to buy their products, and the cycle will continue.

Christ the King Sunday - A Reflection on Matthew 25:31-46

2008-11-22T20:45:00.002-05:00

Image via WikipediaSunday, November 23, is the last day of the liturgical year - Christ the King Sunday. Our Gospel describes the gathering of the nations at the end of time. The Son of Man separates one group from another, some to his right and the rest to his left. To those at his right he says: “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

I can just imagine the confusion of these people. “What is he talking about? We did not do anything for him. We just went about our business, helping those around us, doing what we could to make the world a better place.” Therefore, they ask Jesus, “When did we do these things?” Jesus replies, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Jesus continues by turning to those on his left. “Just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

Let us put all of this in perspective. Christ the King Sunday is the culmination of all that we have heard and learned about Jesus’ life and ministry. We expect triumph, a victory march, the final defeat of the forces of evil. What do we hear instead? We hear about Jesus’ compassion and his concern for the poor. We hear, unexpectedly, about how to participate in the Kingdom of God. Our passage says nothing about believing the right things, worshiping the correct way, or belonging to the right religion. Instead, it says that those qualified to participate are those who feed the poor, clothe the stranger, and care for the sick. How often we in the church find ourselves caught up in things of penultimate importance when God’s call is so clear.

The question is, how? How do we take care of the poor, the elderly, and the sick? We can serve meals at a soup kitchen, we can give turkeys for Thanksgiving baskets, and we can participate in mission trips – all very worthwhile ministries. We need to continue to do these things. There are other ways that we can take action as well, ways that will contribute to lasting, systemic change in our world.

As many of you know, in the year 2000 all 191 United Nations members pledged to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The first of these eight goals is to eradicate world hunger and extreme poverty by reducing in half the number of people living on less than one dollar a day and by reducing in half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. Another goal is to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases.

What happens at the United Nations may seem very distant from Newport, RI. However, we will never meet these goals unless we see them as our goals, unless we see them as a clarion call to action. Working to meet these goals is one of the ways that we can participate in God’s work, in feeding Jesus by feeding those whom he loves. It is one way to fulfill the promise that we make in the baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of every human being and to strive for justice and peace among all people.

Even with endless news coverage of global events, it is still difficult to think beyond our own lives, beyond our own little part of the world. Yet, if we are to take seriously the words of today’s Gospel, if we are to take seriously the baptismal promises that form the foundation of our faith commitment, then we cannot be satisfied as long as millions of people live in extreme poverty. Let me suggest some ways that you and I can act to make the Millennium Development Goals a reality.

First, explore and support the work of Episcopal Relief and Development. In their words, they “address the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals through (their) food security and primary health programs, and (they) offer long-term solutions to help people sustain safer, healthier, and more productive lives.” This great organization belongs to us. It represents us throughout the world. Supporting it is one way that we can feed Jesus by feeding the poor.

Second, join the Episcopal Public Policy Network. The Network “represents to our nations lawmakers the social policies of the church established by the General Convention and Executive Council, including issues of international peace and justice, human rights, immigration, welfare, poverty, hunger, health care, violence, civil rights, the environment, racism and issues involving women and children.” If you join the network, you can participate in advocacy work, communicating with congressional representatives who you elected to make decisions that directly affect the plight of the poor in our country.

Three, check out ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History. ONE is an effort of Americans to rally Americans – ONE by ONE – to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE calls on Americans to alleviate the suffering of more than one billion people throughout the world who struggle to survive on less than $1 a day. I invite you to consider doing what over two million Americans have already done – sign the ONE declaration: “WE BELIEVE that in the best American tradition of helping others help themselves, now is the time to join with other countries in a historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty. WE RECOGNIZE that a pact including such measures as fair trade, debt relief, fighting corruption, and directing an additional one percent of the U.S. budget toward meeting basic needs - education, health, clean water, food, and care for orphans - would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries. WE COMMIT ourselves - one person, one voice, one vote at a time - to make a better, safer world for all."

Finally, consider supporting Bread for the World (or any of the other organizations listened in the “Favorite Links” section of this blog), one of the founding organizations of ONE. Bread for the World is a nationwide Christian movement seeking justice for the world's hungry people by lobbying our nation's decision makers. I have met several times with representatives of Bread for the World. They are looking for members churches to work on their behalf. I hope that at some point we will become one! It is just one more way that we as individuals and as a faith community can make a difference in our world.

We often take poverty for granted. We have become jaded, believing that we cannot change anything. Yet, we can. Not only can we, but I believe that it is an essential and necessary aspect of our commitment to live as disciples of Jesus. It is a Gospel imperative. On Christ the King Sunday, we celebrate the power of God to change lives, and the power of the human imagination that, inspired by God, can make a profound difference in the lives of people who suffer. I invite you to join me in doing your part, in doing our part, to make extreme poverty and suffering a relic of the past so that the words of today’s Gospel will come to fruition in our lives. Amen.

Green is the New Crimson

2008-11-22T19:57:00.004-05:00

Image by Hair-Flick via FlickrYesterday, a crowd of 15,000 met in Harvard's Tercentenary Theatre (outdoor, cold, and leafy) as part of Harvard's multi-day celebration of the University's commitment to sustainability. The keynote address was delivered by for Vice-President Al Gore, who was introduced by Harvard's president, Drew Gilpin Faust.

Gore said, "Universities have a powerful role to play in this 'existential crisis. They are originators and communicators of science and policy that are modeled on reason." He reminded his listeners that 2008 is the 400th anniversary of the invention of the telescope, which a year later allowed Galileo Galilei to conclude that the earth is not the center of the universe. This is an example of how scientific discovery leads to far-reaching change. Today, we rely on scientists to lead the way as we seek to make the changes necessary to live sustainable lives that, literally, will insure the future habitability of our planet.

Harvard University is committed to sustainability. Specifically, they have pledged to reduce the University's greenhouse emissions by 30% by 2016. The Harvard Center for the Environment is a "synergistic gathering" of 150 faculty members from more than 20 disciplines.

You can watach a narrated slide show of Harvard's efforts here. An article describing Gore's address is here.

The Latest News from the United Nations' Development Programme

2008-11-21T18:32:00.003-05:00

I received this in an email newsletter today. As the paragraph points out, this is an extraordinary time to focus on financing the Millennium Development Goals. When it seems that the developed world is falling apart financially, we cannot forget those who don't even notice the difference because their circumstances are so dire under normal conditions. It also reminds us that we are passing the midpoint between the adoption and the and the target for accomplishing the MDGs. There is much to do - made that much more challenging by the complexity of the global economic woes that all of us confront.

"The Doha Follow-Up Conference on Financing for Development (29 November to 2 December 2008) is set to take place close on the heels of the recent G20 meeting and in the midst of unprecedented challenges arising from the present financial, climate, food and energy crises. Delivering on the Monterrey Consensus while addressing these challenges will require a renewed and reinvigorated multilateralism that is able to break down barriers between policy domains and institutions in the pursuit of integrated and holistic solutions to our global challenges. As we pass the midpoint between the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 and the target for their attainment in 2015 we must ensure that we have the international institutions, policies, programmes and projects in place to deliver on the promise of the MDGs to end extreme poverty. This UNDP-sponsored side event at Doha, to be held on 29 November 2008, will bring together high-level policymakers ahead of the next G20 meeting to identify concrete ways in which the multilateral system can be renovated to respond to these pressing demands. The event will be opened by United Nations Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon and will feature a high-level panel that will include Dr Ashraf Ghani, Chairman of the Institute for State Effectiveness and former Finance Minister of Afghanistan; and UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis. For more information

Sen. (now President Elect) Obama on His Legacy to the World's Poor (pre-Election Statement)

2008-11-08T10:34:00.001-05:00

According to ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, Obama indicated the following strategies regarding the fight against global poverty during his presidential campaign:

* Doubling annual foreign assistance from $25 billion to $50 billion.
* Signing the Education for All Act and request the funding needed to fulfill our share of the $10 billion needed annually to put 100 million children in school.
* Making the Millennium Development Goals American policy.
* Halving the number of people living on less than a dollar a day and suffering from hunger by 2012.

These are ambitious goals, particularly given the immense challenges that Obama faces in the days ahead. However, at least the issue is on his "radar screen."

Below is a video of Obama speaking at a ONE event.

An Historic Night Not To Be Forgotten

2008-11-05T15:16:00.006-05:00

Image via WikipediaReflecting on the moment that Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, activist Eldridge Cleaver observed: “Somewhere in the universe a gear in the machinery shifted” (quoted in the Politico article, "The Obama Revolution."). That statement reminds me of Martin Luther King's sixth principle of nonviolence, that "nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice." Every once in a while, a gear shifts and we all move that much closer to the dream of universal justice. Of course, these gear shifts almost always are subtle, sometimes imperceptible. However, occasionally there occurs a seismic shift, something so profound, so groundbreaking, that the world can't help but sit up and take notice. One of those "meta" gear shifts took place yesterday when Barack Obama, a man who was born when the cruel reality of segregation still haunted the soul of this land, was elected the 44th President of the United States of America.

Much has been said today about this historic event, and rightly so. Two pieces caught my attention this morning in the New York Times. The first was a blog entry by Charles M. Blow, called "And Then They Wept." He said, "History will record this as the night the souls of black folk, living and dead, wept - and laughed, screamed and danced - releasing 400 years of pent up emotion." I'll never forget the sight of the Reverend Jesse Jackson crying openly as he celebrate Obama's victory, or General Colin Powell choking up during a CNN interview. Blow finished by saying, "In fact everyone, regardless of race, should feel free to shed a tear and be proud of how far our country has come." I'm not ashamed to say that I watched Obama last night say "Yes We Can" with tears streaming down my cheeks as I grasped the magnitude of what had just happened. You see, when one person, one race, one segment of our population suffers at the hands of prejudice, we all suffer. When pain is inflicted on one, it is inflicted on all. Conversely, when the shackles of prejudice finally are broken and the powers of freedom are unleashed, a river of liberty flows to everyone of us. On this day, we have the right to put aside our fears of an uncertain future and to celebrate that a gear in the machinery has shifted and that the universe has moved that much closer to justice for all.

The second piece was Thomas L. Friedman's Op-Ed piece titled, "Finishing Our Work." He wrote, "And so it came to pass that on Nov. 4, 2008, shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time, the American Civil War ended." Hyperbole? Perhaps. But I don't think so. Despite all of the struggles, all of the steps forward - Brown v. Board of Education, King's I-have-a-dream crusade, the 1964 civil rights act - the war against prejudice has continued. To be sure, racial prejudice has not disappeared, but as Friedman says, when a white majority elected an African-American as president, the Civil War came to an end.

Regardless of ideology, every American can be proud of what happened last night. However, that does not mean that every American has to agree with Obama or his policies. It does mean, though, that all of us need to rise to the occasion of meeting the perhaps unprecedented challenges that confront us. Two wars, an economy in disarray, health care costs spiraling out of control, Social Security headed for insolvency - these are not easy problems to solve. No amount of lofty rhetoric will make these challenges go away. However, for the first time in a long time, our nation woke up this morning with a rekindled sense of hope - hope that things can be different, hope that fear doesn't have to triumph over optimism, hope that we can live up to the promise of our forefathers that all people are created equal and deserve the same opportunities, hope that all people are entitled to the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and hope that the weight of our challenges will not tip the scales against the power and strength of our optimism, our believe in justice and fairness, and our belief that, whatever the challenge, the human spirit can overcome the darkest of times.

Some of you might think that I'm a little pollyanish tonight, that perhaps Obamamania has gotten the best of me. I know that there is work to be done. Obama is not the balm to heal all wounds, but he symbolizes healing, hope, a new day - so forgive me for my unbridled optimism just this once. And let me say it one more time - Yes We Can!

Our Nation Will Never Be The Same

2008-11-04T23:10:00.003-05:00

Image via WikipediaOn the day before he died, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of being to the mountain top and seeing the promised land. He said that he might never get there. And we know that he didn't. However, tonight, regardless of ideology, all Americans can celebrate the simple fact that King's vision has become a reality.

Barack Obama is not the Messiah. He faces huge challenges as he seeks to lead this country. However, on this night, we celebrate the progress of America as it seeks to live into its core belief that all people are created equal! I'm watching CNN and just saw coverage of the Reverend Jesse Jackson with tears streaming down his face. I can't imagine what it must feel like for those who have toiled so long and hard in the face of prejudice to experience this great day.

On another note, I commend Senator McCain for a very dignified speech and for his graciousness in defeat.

An All Saints' Reflection - Matthew 5.9-16 (You are the Light of the World)

2008-11-02T18:23:00.004-05:00

Image via WikipediaThis weekend, the people of Trinity Church, Boston celebrated their 275th anniversary. As part of that celebration, they combined their morning services into one grand liturgy at 10:00am. Trinity is a fabulous church. The magnificent building was designed by the famed architect, Henry Hobson Richardson under the leadership of Trinity's renowned rector, Phillips Brooks. The exceptional organ and organists and talented choir ensure that the worship is majestic and inspiring. And so it was this morning. The processional moved me to tears as my senses were overwhelmed by the glorious sights and sounds.

Trinity's 275th anniversary happened to fall on the Sunday that we observe the Feast of All Saints'. On this day, we recognize the role of all people of faith - not just those who are famous. We give thanks that God works through all of us (past and present) who are open to the movement of God's Spirit in our lives.

The preacher this morning was the Reverend Peter Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church at Harvard University. Gomes is thought by many to be one of the most influential preacher in the country. He did not disappoint. Gomes used as his text Jesus' words from Matthew 5.14 - "You are the light of the world." Speaking to the people of Trinity, he reminded them that they had served as God's light in the city of Boston and beyond for 275 years. However, he encouraged them not to become comfortable in their celebration or to rest on their quite remarkable history.

Gomes offered two principle points. First, he reminded them that they are not alone. Second, he encouraged them that their best days were ahead of them. Regarding the first, Gomes said that no one does God's work alone. All of us stand with the countless saints who have gone before as well as with those who journey with us in the present. Of the second, Gomes reminded that although 275 years may seem like a long time, the future is much longer. Moreover, there is much work yet to do. There are still poor people, he said. There still are people who are sad. There are people who need to hear the good news of God's love.

We are the light of the world! How do we live into that reality? In his opening prayer, Gomes prayed that we might become masters of ourselves so that we could be servants of others. What a powerful prayer!

Here is my reflection on that. How hard it can be to dedicate ourselves to God's work without letting our own stuff get in the way. We seek to open our hearts to receive God's healing, God's strength, God's wisdom so that we truly can embrace that we already are God's children. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes, we don't master ourselves sufficiently and we limit our ability to serve as the light of the world. When that happens, we have only to repent, to learn from our wrongs and weaknesses, and to turn (as is meant by the word repent) and walk in a new direction. That is not as easy as it might seem, but God is with us as we make the move! In what direction do we turn and walk? We walk in the direction of servanthood. We walk in the direction of love. We walk in anticipation that what has gone before will not limit what lies ahead. Indeed, it shapes it, strengthens it, inspires it - but it does not limit it. Of one thing we can be sure - God continues to make all things new! God continues to redeem, to transform, to reconcile, to bring to wholeness that which is broken or damaged. God continues to bring light where once there was darkness. God uses what God heals! What good news!

As Peter Gomes told the people of Trinity this morning, I tell you now - none of us walk alone, and our best days are yet to come. Thanks be to God!

Where the Candidates Stand on the Fight Against Global Poverty

2008-10-29T23:08:00.005-04:00

In six days, Americans will vote for a new president. Much has been made of the policies of both Obama and McCain regarding health care, taxes, the war in Iraq, etc. Not much has been said about how the candidates will tackle global poverty and related issues. This is understandable. Most people consider which candidate will do the most for them, not for people of another country. However, when we are at our best, we concern ourselves not just with the issues that affect us personally, but with issues that concern all of humanity.

So, where do the candidates stand? Fortunately, ONE Action has done some of the work for us and have created a comparison chart. This is not a partisan effort or an endorsement of a particular candidate. Rather, it is a compilation of statements made by the candidates regarding these important issues.

If you want to know where they stand on reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, eradicating malaria, improving child and maternal health, and other issues with which the Millennium Development Goals are concerned, click to go to ONE Action's "On the Record" page.

Self-Giving, Other-Regarding Love - A reflection on Matthew 22:34-46

2008-10-25T22:40:00.004-04:00

Image via WikipediaIn the Gospel appointed for tomorrow in the Revised Common Lectionary, we read of a lawyer who asks Jesus which is the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus responds with a two-part answer: "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:37-40).

Both of these, love of God and love of neighbor, deserve significant attention. Martin Luther said that since God needs nothing, then true service to God must always be in service to our neighbor. The same applies to love. The way that we live out our love for God is by loving our neighbor. This is not always easy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who knew something about difficult love, said, "We can love our kith and kin, our fellow countrymen and our friends, whether we are Christians or not, and there is no need for Jesus to teach us that. So what does it really mean to be a Christian? Unreserved love for our enemies, for the unloved, love for our religious, political, and personal adversaries. In every case, this love was fulfilled in the cross of Christ." Love of the unlovable, of those who would do us harm, is the hallmark of true love, the kind of love to which people of faith are called.

The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love defines love this way:
The essence of love is to affectively affirm as well as to unselfishly delight in the well-being of others, and to engage in acts of care and service on their behalf; unlimited love extends this love to all others without exception, in an enduring and constant way. Widely considered the highest form of virtue, unlimited love is often deemed a Creative Presence underlying and integral to all of reality: participation in unlimited love constitutes the fullest experience of spirituality.

According to its website, the unique mission of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love is:
(1) to study the benefits of benevolent love for those who give it and for those who receive it
(2) to bring the results of research to the wider public in understandable and practical format
(3) to sustain an international dialogue around the possibility of global human enhancement through the application of a new science of love
(4) to encourage discussion within spiritual traditions about love for a shared humanity, rather than for some small fragment of humanity
(5) to develop an ongoing dialogue between spirituality, theology, and science around the idea of unlimited love as the ultimate ground of reality.

A premise of the Institute is that far more attention is given to negative states of mind than to those that are life giving and positive. For instance, over 100,000 scientific articles have been written on depression and pschizophrenia. Yes, only a few dozen have been written on "other-regarding" love. They say, "The dignity of the human species demands that this imbalance in scientific focus be corrected by providing an alternative to the “disease model.” Interesting! Can self-giving, other-regarding love be the key to living to our full human potential? I believe so!

So, we come back to Jesus' words from Matthew. We are called to love our neighbor. Of course, neighbor does not mean only the person who lives next door or down the street. The neighbor is anyone who needs our attention, anyone in this global community who suffers, who is hungry, who needs shelter, who needs to know that they are not alone. The neighbor is not limited to those like us, who have the same skin color, who worship the same way, who's politics align with ours. Our neighbor may just be someone with whom we have serious disagreement, someone who might just seek to do us harm. I'm reminded of Martin Luther King's principles of nonviolence. He said that nonviolence does not seek to defeat the person, just the evil. He said that love is the ultimate tool that will defeat the forces of evil in our world.

We have the ability to harness the power of love if we chose to do so. However, it will not happen as long as we fear those who are different, or as long as we seek to exert military control without also looking for the common ground that results from our common humanity.

Love of God and love of neighbor - embrace this concept and change the world around you!

Zimbabwe - Now There's an Economic Crisis

2008-10-24T19:20:00.003-04:00

Image via WikipediaCheck out these tragic figures from The Economist:
- official inflation running at 231m% (yes, that's an "m");
- more than 80% of the people have no job;
- some 3m in a population of around 12m have fled abroad;
- more than 1.4 million suffer from HIV/AIDS
- the UN's World Food Programme is feeding 2m people who otherwise may well die of starvation;
- more than 3m more may need feeding by early next year

Add to these figures the fact that the government is still run by the very corrupt Robert Mugabe, despite the fact that he was beaten by Morgan Tsvangirai in a general election. The two agreed a power sharing plan when Mugabe refused to step down.

Zimbabwe desperately needs world leaders to pressure Mugabe to step down and to let the country begin to rebuild. The lives of millions of people are at stake. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has tried to do something, but their effort is led by Thabo Mbeki, who recently lost the presidency of his own country, thereby calling into question the weight of his authority. Jacob Zuma, South Africa's likely next president, needs to offer the leadership necessary to limit this human tragedy. The Economist suggests that if Zuma can't or won't do it, then the SADC should ask Kofi Annan, the Ghanaian who ran the UN for ten years. He recently negotiated Kenya's warring parties into a power-sharing compromise.

Whatever the answer, something needs doing - and soon!

Bono Speaks about ONE at the CA Women's Conference - 10/22/08: Highlight Reel

2008-10-23T18:28:00.005-04:00

Image via WikipediaBono spoke last night to the CA Women's Conference about the ONE Campaign, of which Bono is one of the founders. He reminded his listeners that over one billion people live on the equivalent of less than a dollar a day. He also reminded them that over 2.5 million people have become ONE members, simply by going to the ONE website and signing up. In addition, he pointed out that over 53,000 people have signed the petition asking Barach Obama and John McCain to keep their commitment to fight global poverty even in this tough economic time. Watch the video, join ONE, sign the petition, and make a difference in the lives of those who suffer the most!

In his speech, Bono said: "“When America looks outside of itself, its view of itself is never clearer. Its faith in itself is never firmer. Its purpose is never stronger. Today, at a time when America, again, is tempted to turn inward, turn away from the world and its troubles, it is more essential than ever that you look outward.”

Words to think about during these last days before the election and during this troubled economic time!

Vote for Hope - A Hip Hop Video for Obama

2008-10-20T18:38:00.005-04:00

"Vote for Hope" was written by MC Yogi to "encourage and inspire the hip hop generation . . . "
Pretty cool!

Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

Poverty Resources

2008-10-19T09:20:00.001-04:00

Image by foodistablog via FlickrHere is a list and description, posted on Mashable, of eight great sites that will help you to understand issues concerning poverty and will give you great ideas about what you can do. Take the time to read this and think about how you can make a difference.

Self-Forgiveness Begets Compassion

2008-10-18T21:57:00.002-04:00

Image by Tonyç via FlickrIn order to free us for compassion toward others, Jesus calls us to accept his compassion in our own lives, to become gentle, caring, compassionate, and forgiving toward ourselves in our failure and need.
- Brennan Manning

How Much Would You Give to Decrease World Poverty?

2008-10-18T19:36:00.004-04:00

Image via WikipediaThe Voice of America posted an interesting article yesterday titled, "Hunger Poll Indicates Widespread Global Support for Millennium Development Goals." The poll was conducted by World Public Opinion for the Washington-based Program for International Policy Attitudes.

The first goal is to cut hunger and poverty in half by 2015. The World Bank estimates the annual cost of achieving this goal at $39 billion. People in twenty countries were asked if they would give a specific amount annually to make MDG #1 a reality. Here's how they came up with the dollar amount for people from each country: "the pollsters used an accepted World Bank estimate of $39 billion and divided it proportionally according to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP) and population sizes of the countries being polled." The result: Americans in the survey were asked to donate $56 annually per person. People in Turkey were asked to give $11, reflecting the much smaller size of its economy. Other countries: Britain - $49, France - $45, Germany - $43, Italy - $39, South Korea - $23, Russia - $11.

The end result of the survey was that the majority of people surveyed said they were willing to contribute necessary funds - good news!

Here's the challenging news, according to the article:
"Thursday in Rome, World Food Program director Jacques Diouf remarked that donor countries have made good on only 10 percent of a $22 billion aid package pledged for this year to help starving nations. He and others urged wealthy nations not to cancel aid or limit trade in ways that hurt poor countries. While US and European financial institutions begin to implement substantially larger-scale government rescue commitments to remedy the current economic crisis, Ramsay says the process of galvanizing public consensus behind such complex, multi-faceted initiatives takes significant time to develop. In contrast, he believes his new poll bears out that the public mind-set across cultures firmly accepts the moral responsibility for advanced societies to help the poor fight hunger and poverty.

Peace,
Greg

World Poverty Day - Today

2008-10-17T20:01:00.005-04:00

Image by ocean.flynn via FlickrToday is World Poverty Day, otherwise known as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

Hilary Benn, UK Secretary of State for International Development, has this to say on this important day:

"Today is the UN’s official World Poverty Day. But every day is poverty day for the two billion people worldwide who have less than two dollars a day to live on. Of those, just under one billion live on just one dollar a day. In September 2000, 189 countries pledged to halve the number of those in poverty by 2015. When we look at the results so far, hope mixes with despair. Over 100 million children are still unable to go to school. Each year, 10 million children die before their 5th birthday. 40 million are living with HIV and AIDS, and 5 million die of it each year.

"And yet … progress is possible. China is reducing poverty, and India promises to do the same. More people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 50 years than in the previous 500. In the same period, adult illiteracy rates have halved, and life expectancy in developing countries has increased from 46 in 1960 to 64 now. The fight against global poverty can and must be won.

There is much to celebrate and yet so much more to do in the global effort to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (see the top of this blog for the list). There are bright spots, however, as an increasing number of people learn about the fight. This month, Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE, was featured in the October 6 edition of Newsweek magazine as one of 10 "Women in Leadership." CARE is one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world, focusing especially on working alongside poor women because, according to CARE, "women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty.:

So, on this World Poverty Day, lets think about what it must be like to live on the equivalent of one, or even two, dollars a day. Of course, very few of us truly can imagine it because we have the luxury of taking our next meal for granted. So, even if you can't imagine what it is like, imagine what you can do to make a difference. How can you get involved? Check out the links in the right column of this blog for some examples of organizations that could use your help. Get involved! You'll be glad you did!

Peace,
Greg

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

2008-10-13T21:12:00.006-04:00

In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration consists of thirty articles, the first of which reads: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

The Social Perspective on Development Branch of the UN defines poverty this way: "Poverty can be seen as a human condition of deprivation of resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights."

On the sixtieth anniversary of this declaration, the UN has chosen the theme "Human Rights and Dignity of People Living in Poverty" for its annual International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (World Poverty Day), on October 17. On that day, millions of people around the world will join together to draw attention to the devastation of global poverty. Leading up to World Poverty Day, bloggers world-wide will participate in Blog Action Day by dedicating October 15th’s postings to raising awareness about global poverty. So, if you write a blog, mark your calendar and think about what you want to say to your readers about the effort to eradicate global poverty.

ONE Commitment Worth Keeping

2008-10-10T20:34:00.005-04:00

Image via WikipediaThe message below comes from the ONE campaign. Yes, its tough out there. We can't deny the economic turmoil that makes headline everyday. Its bad. But, that doesn't mean that we should lose our macro view of the world in which we live. The commitments that our nation made to support the MDGs, and the personal commitments that many of us made are as important today as ever. The poor of our world can't afford for us to lose sight of them. We cannot simply hunker down and turn our attention inwards. Only as we continue to live out our core values (values that include, for many of us, the promise to respect the dignity of every human being) can we gain the perspective that will see us through our own hard times.

Senators Obama and McCain have much work to do. One of them will face challenges not seen in this country for many years. However, as holder of the most powerful office in the world, one of them will have a moral responsibility to harness the economic power and human will of America to offer true leadership to those who suffer - leadership not seen during the current administration. They need to know that we care. Many of us were disappointed that in the recent debates no question was asked regarding our nation's commitment to fight global poverty. Perhaps it will happen at the next one, although I doubt it given the panic that is growing stronger every day.

Go to the link below and let your voice be heard. And lets not lose hope. Lets not get lost in a cycle of fear. Lets believe that good can come from even the darkest moments.

Peace,
Greg

From ONE:

Hi,

Even in tough economic times, we want to make sure the next president, no matter who that is, keeps his commitment to fighting global poverty.

The total spent on all poverty-fighting programs make up less than one percent of the entire U.S. budget, yet we are saving millions of lives and helping the world's poorest people break free from crippling poverty. These efforts will be even more critical as the effects of any global economic slowdown are magnified in already struggling countries.

I just took action with ONE to tell my leaders to keep their promises to the world's poor, and you can too, here.

Palin’s Alternate Universe ( or reality challenged?)

2008-10-04T08:46:00.003-04:00

This is Bob Hebert's latest Op-Ed piece in the NYT. It makes some good points. Personally, I have nothing against Sarah Palin. However, I am concerned that such fundamentals as grammar, diction, and the ability to answer questions coherently seem not to matter anymore. Also, why does intellect seem to be devalued? Why is Biden criticized for seeming "professorial" in the debate? Don't we want leaders who understand the nuances of policy - who can explain in some detail the issues that really matter? Yes, I want my leader to make me feel good, to instill confidence, to rally us around the cause. But I also want to know that he or she is brilliant, intellectually far above average, and able to grasp the intricacies of a very complex world. As Hebert says, Governor Palin and the McCain campaign have four weeks to prove that she fits the bill!

Bob Hebert:
In such a serious moment in American history, it’s hard to believe that someone with Sarah Palin’s limited skills could possibly be playing a leadership role.

read more | digg story

Just for Fun

2008-10-03T18:51:00.005-04:00

Here is a wordle for my entire blog. Make your own wordle here.

The value of human life

2008-10-03T16:42:00.005-04:00

I am participating in a course through the Harvard Alumni Association called "Justice: A Journey in Moral Reasoning," basically an introduction to moral and political philosophy, taught by Harvard professor Michael Sandel.

The first assigned reading was the well known British criminal trial of 1884, The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens. Dudley and Stephens, along with two others, were shipwrecked and found themselves on a small, open boat some thousand miles from the nearest land. When it becomes obvious that they would starve to death, Dudley and Stephens decide to kill the young cabin boy and eat his flesh and drink his blood. They reason that the cabin boy is very weak already and not likely to live and that he, alone among the four, has no family at home. They do, in fact, kill and eat the boy, and several days later are rescued. Tried for murder, their defense is that their action is justified given the circumstances. The question at hand is whether it is morally (or legally) defensible to take one life so that three can be saved? (Read the case here and decide for yourself.)

Consideration of this case is, of course, prelude to the examination of the form of consequentialism called utilitarianism, as described by Jeremy Bentham in Principles of Morals and Legislation. (You can learn more about Bentham in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.) Bentham, argues that the principle of utility (whatever promotes pleasure or prevents pain) should be the basis of morality and law. Bentham says, "A thing is said to promote the interest, or to be for the interest, of an individual, when it tends to add to the sum total of his pleasure: or, what comes to the same thing, to diminish the sum total of his pains" (1. v.) Bentham lists seven circumstances that serve to quantify the value of a pleasure or of a pain: its intensity, its duration, its certainty or uncertainty, its propinquity or remoteness, its fecundity, its purity, and its extend" (IV. iv.)One way to simplify Bentham's philosophy is to say that the moral thing to do is whatever will produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Utilitarianism certainly has its pitfalls. It fails, at least as described by Bentham, to deal with such evils as genocide or racism, whereby one group of people, who happen to be in the minority, suffer so that another group, who are in the majority, can increase their happiness. However, despite its pitfalls, utilitarianism has its uses in our modern world. One such use, very popular with governments as well as businesses, is cost/benefit analysis. For instance, lets say that the EPA has to decide whether to clean up a toxic waste site that happens to exist in proximity to a populated area. Cost/benefit analysis requires the EPA to determine how much it will cost to clean up the site, but also to quantify the value of cleaning up the site. To do this latter task requires that estimates be made of how many lives are likely to be lost if nothing is done. If the site stays as is, how many people will die. On the other hand, if the site is cleaned up, how many lives will be saved. This is a benefit. But to determine the benefit, a monetary determination must be made as to the value of the lives saved. That, of course, is tricky business. Once the value is set, the cost/benefit analysis can be completed and a decision made as to what to do with the toxic waste site. The greatest happiness for the greatest number of people lies in which side of the ledger is more favorable - does the benefit exceed the cost?

My questions for you are these. How can we put a monetary value on human life? What seems to you a reasonable number (if any)? Does this form of cold, hard calculation seem morally repugnant, or necessary given the complexities of our world. Lest you think that this kind of cost/benefit analysis doesn't really happen, consider what Ford did in the 70s regarding the Pinto, or what Philip Morris did in the Czech Republic regarding the cost benefits of smoking cigarettes. In the real world, we make decisions frequently based on how many people are affected.

I believe that this has ramifications for the work of eradicating global poverty - but I'll save that for another post.

In the mean time, please feel free to respond to this post by clicking on the word "comments" below.

Development for the Developing World

2008-09-20T20:11:00.003-04:00

Much attention in this country is given to the amount of financial aid that we and other developed countries give to developing nations – particularly in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals. So it should be. However, financial support is only one part of the equation. It is also essential that people in developing world receive the training and support necessary to create sustainable businesses that can make them self-sufficient and in charge of their own destiny.

Many NGOs and even for-profit companies are working on this. Micro finance is a big business – made famous in part by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize co-winner (along with Grameen Bank) Muhammad Yunus in his book, Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty (btw, his latest book is calledA World Without Poverty).

Yunus and Grameen Bank deserve a post of their own. However, I write today to tell you about Technoserve, whose mission is to “help entrepreneurial men and women in poor rural areas of the developing world to build businesses that create income, opportunity and economic growth for their families, their communities and their countries.” They live into this mission by focusing on three practices:
• Developing Entrepreneurs
Identify and train aspiring entrepreneurs.
• Building Businesses and Industries
Help build thriving enterprises and industries, linked to dependable markets.
• Improving the Business Environment
Promote progressive business practices and a supportive business environment.

Technoserve was founded in 1968. In 207, they helped 706 businesses to achieve sales of $149 million. That’s quite a success story! Currently, they partner with such corporate titans as Google.org, Microsoft, Lenovo, Cargill and others. They also receive substantial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. I encourage you to read more about Technoserve by clicking here.

Just ONE Question

2008-09-19T18:34:00.003-04:00

Only two questions about global poverty have been asked in the history of modern presidential debates.

It's a shocking figure and in 2008, we need debate moderator Jim Lehrer to ask John McCain and Barack Obama "Just ONE question" on their plans to fight global poverty.

I just took action with the ONE Campaign and you can too, here.

High-level Event, UN Headquarters, New York, 25 September 2008

2008-09-16T14:06:00.002-04:00

This year marks the halfway point on the schedule set for the completion of the Millennium Development Goals. The UN Secretary-General and the President of the UN General Assembly have called a high level meeting in New York on September 25 to discuss the status of the MDGs and the potential for the future.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the following of this meeting in April:

"The year 2008 should mark a turning point in progress towards the MDGs. ...Together with the President of the General Assembly, I am convening a special High-level Event on the MDGs on 25 September in New York. This gathering will bring together world leaders, representatives of the private sector and our civil society partners to discuss specific ways to energize our efforts. I expect the meeting will also send a strong message that governments are ready to rise to the financing for development challenge. I look forward to working with Member States to make the September event an unqualified success. Together, we must make this year one of unprecedented progress for the poorest of the poor, so that we can realize a better, more prosperous future for all."

This is an important meeting when world leaders will talk about their commitments to the MDGs. Lets hope that their resolve is strong and that the will of the people compels them to redouble their efforts to accomplish these incredibly worthwhile goals. Learn more here.

The Sad State of the Campaign

2008-09-15T11:22:00.002-04:00

I haven't blogged in a while - got a little tired after the two national conventions. I'm dismayed at the way that the campaign has evolved. Why are we so obsessed with McCain's choice for a running mate? What does the choice say about McCain's judgment? Does education, demonstrated intelligence, a grasp of the issues even matter anymore? It is scary to think that the candidates can stoop so low given the gravity of the issues that we face as a nation - both internationally and domestically. The events of this weekend involving Lehman, Merrill and AIG are a case in point. Clearly, there is much purging yet to come in the banking system. These are real issues that deserve real, substantive consideration by the candidates, including the VP nominees. I believe that the two presidential candidates are men of honor and considerable skill. It is sad to see them stoop so low - to see them compromise what I believe to be their values just to win.
Come on people - rise above the pettiness, live what you believe, wrestle with the issues honestly, and let the people decide based on real information!

The Girl Effect

2008-09-04T16:36:00.002-04:00

Did you know that 72 million children do not attend school and that the majority of them are girls. Want to change the world? Give these girls the opportunity to go to school and to get an education. CARE says: "When girls gain basic skills like reading and writing, they grow up to earn twice as much money as their peers without education. They have fewer, healthier children. And they are more likely to reinvest their earnings in their families and communities."

Watch a cool CARE video called The Girl Effect by clicking here.

Of course, the same holds true here in America. Invest in education, in providing literacy training, in giving children the opportunities that many of us take for granted. Nothing is more life transforming, individually and systemically, than basic education. That is why it is one of the Millennium Development Goals (#2, behind ending poverty and hunger).

It is the beginning of a new school year here in America. As you drive your child to school, or watch him or her get on the bus, think about the incredible gift that they receive each day. And then think about the fact that millions of children will never receive that gift - unless we do something about it.

Learn more at CARE.org.

Reflections on the Political Conventions

2008-09-03T13:17:00.002-04:00

I watched as much of the Democratic national Convention last week as I possibly could. I loved the speeches by Michelle, Ted, Hillary and Bill. I especially liked Beau's introduction of his father, and of course, Joe's speech. I felt energized, hopeful, and encouraged by the passion, eloquence and enthusiasm of each speaker.

I was so filled with anticipation as I waited for Barach to address the convention from Mile High. It was the forty-fifth anniversary of King's "I Have a Dream" speech. What a great time to see Barach Obama accept the Democratic nomination for president. He didn't disappoint. Hs eloquence is amazing. He gave content to his ideals, and he demonstrated that he has the ideas necessary to lead America.

This week, the Republicans meet. Part of me wants to say, "Who cares." Part of me wants to watch and comment sarcastically on Twitter or my Facebook status update. It is as though no matter what any of them say this week, I won't possibly like it. It is not helpful to be that closed minded. I do myself and the people with whom I converse a disservice by not embracing the process with an open mind. It makes me wonder how many of us are so partisan in our politics that we are more concerned about winning than about leading, more concerned about being right than about listening to others who just might be right as well.

So, as much as I don't want to do it, I'm going to listen with as open a mind as I can muster. I'm going to listen to Sarah Palin tonight and listen to how she plans to help John McCain to lead this country should the Republicans win. I'm going to listen to John McCain tomorrow, and rather than dismiss him outright, I'm going to think about what he has to say.

I encourage all of us to remain open, to learn from those with whom we disagree, and to recognize that all of us want what is best for our country, even if we disagree considerably about what that is. This is no Joe Lieberman appeal to Democrats to support McCain. It simply is an appeal to listen rather than speak, to consider that we can learn from "the other side" and a reminder that the political debate, ultimately, is good for all of us.

Forty-Five Years Ago Today

2008-08-28T20:35:00.000-04:00

Michelle Obama rocks the house!

2008-08-26T14:03:00.001-04:00

New ONE video

2008-08-21T17:29:00.002-04:00

This ad features Matt Damon with different Americans' voices - among them Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain and Mayor Bloomberg. Cool!
Click here to add your voice to the ONE campaign to make poverty history.

Acting Globally AND Locally

2008-08-16T09:20:00.005-04:00

My good friend, Doug, commented recently on one of my postings regarding the ONE campaign. He makes a good point and I want to emphasize it here.

He said, "I really wish, though, that the US version of the "ONE" campaign also include a commitment to eliminating poverty -- particularly child poverty -- here in America also. Take a look at the Canadian version of the one campaign: http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/en. Even here in Connecticut, approximately 11% of children are living in poverty (as defined by the Federal Poverty Threshold). In the wealthiest state of the wealthiest nation of the world, we CAN do better, but only if our elected officials hear the message loud and clear that we care about poverty, and that we recognize that it's a problem that plagues not only the developing world, but also families in our own communities."

This is an important reminder that poverty exists everywhere. It makes the news in Africa and other impoverished countries, but it is a real and present reality in the cities and towns of North America as well. In Canada, 15% of children live in poverty (check it out at the Canadian ONE site). According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate in the U. S. in 2006 was 12.3%, representing some 36.5 million people. Equally troubling, 47 million Americans (15.8%) lived without health insurance in 2006.

Poverty is a global problem - not an African problem or an American problem, but a human problem. Poverty is a massive violation of human rights. Regardless of where the poverty exists, we have a moral duty to address the root causes and to find ways to improve the lives of those who go to bed hungry, who do not have adequate shelter or access to basic education, and who die from preventable diseases.

A Bipartisan Effort - perhaps there's hope after all!

2008-08-10T22:51:00.005-04:00

Recently, Senators Tom Daschle and Bill Frist, M.D. National Co-Chairs of ONE Vote '08 traveled to Rwanda. Their reflections were included in an email that I received from the ONE Campaign on Friday. I have included below much of what they said. You can learn more, and add your signature to their petition, at ONE.

From Senator Frist:

Last week, my friend Tom Daschle wrote to you about our trip to Rwanda. We saw the difference America is making on the ground.

We want to support continued economic growth and poverty reduction in Rwanda and across the developing world. To guarantee that, we need to make sure that the next president prioritizes investment in Rwanda and other developing nations to make extreme poverty history.

A great example of the difference we’re making is Rwanda’s gourmet coffee industry, where a lot of hard work by Rwandans alongside strategic support from the United States is driving robust economic growth that is lifting people out of poverty.

USAID (that’s the U.S. government, which spends your dollars), has partnered with the owner of a coffee bean “washing station.” This station purchases coffee beans (“cherries” actually) from local farmers and then they process the bean through a washing cycle that separates the beans by quality, ready for export. This simple step—which was unheard of in Rwanda before 2002—means that Rwanda captures much more of the value of its biggest export crop than it ever could in the past. Rwandan coffee farmers are more prosperous than they were before, because their product fetches a higher price on the world market. And an entirely new processing industry has sprung up, employing thousands. These specialty coffee beans are sold to Starbucks and specialty coffee shops across America.

To accommodate the burgeoning specialty coffee market, these washing stations hire about 200 women to separate and process the beans. These women’s salaries are double what they made before. They use the extra income to pay for medical care and more nutritious food for their children, not to mention school supplies, better clothes, and maybe some livestock.

This is economic development targeted at the poor—a hand-up, not a hand-out. That's a lesson that Senator Daschle and I plan to share with our party leaders at our respective National Conventions in Denver and St. Paul, where new policy platforms will be passed.

Senator Daschle and I will bring along your signatures to the conventions and urge the party leaders to prioritize global health and anti-poverty planks in their 2008 platforms.

Help us seize this opportunity to renew America’s commitment to health, education, and entrepreneurship in the developing world during the next Administration.

This is a strategic moment in which our political leaders need to hear from all of us, loud and clear, as ONE.

Thank you for your work,

Senator Bill First, M.D.
National Co-Chair, ONE Vote ‘08

From Senator Daschle:

I just returned from a trip to Rwanda with my friend Senator Bill Frist, MD and leaders from both political parties. Senator Frist and I went to Rwanda not as politicians, but as students, to learn about people who are rebuilding their country after the unspeakable horror of genocide.

My news from Rwanda is very encouraging. The hard work of the Rwandan people and the generosity of Americans are coming together in partnership to create a model for how we can end poverty in the most desperate countries on earth.

I came home more convinced then ever that we’re all in this together. Rwandans' daily struggle to start anew, even as they deal with poverty and disease, is also our own struggle to build a more prosperous and safer world.

To further the progress in Rwanda and spread that hope, we need to take full advantage of this election year. That’s why Senator Frist and I will be meeting with our respective parties' leaders in the next few weeks, as they’re writing the platforms that will be unveiled at the presidential nominating conventions in Denver and Minneapolis. These platforms contain the policies on which Barack Obama and John McCain will campaign for the presidency.

We're going to ask these committees to make sure that their platforms take on the generational challenge of tackling global poverty, and we need your help to do it.

Click here to sign the petition seen below, and I’ll deliver your signature when I meet with representatives from the Democratic Party – and Senator Frist will do the same on the Republican side – to ask these political leaders to include extreme poverty and global disease in their 2008 platforms.

As a proud American, I urge you to make ending extreme poverty and global disease in the developing world a core part of your 2008 platform by including commitments to:

Fight AIDS, TB and malaria and improve basic health services, particularly for mothers and young children
Ensure access to clean water, basic sanitation and sufficient food supplies
Spur economic growth through equitable trade and investment policies
Modernize and increase development assistance, focusing on partnership, transparency and accountability
Achieve universal primary education

In Rwanda, I saw the tremendous impact of some of the very things you’ve worked to make possible. Deaths from malaria have been cut by 66%, in large part because of the increase in bed net and anti-malarial medicine distribution. The death rate from malaria, as well AIDS and TB is going to continue to fall, because of your work pressuring Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR, America’s global AIDS bill, for five more years.

Victories like PEPFAR are saving lives and giving people in places like Rwanda new hope, making the whole world a safer and more prosperous place. Now we have the chance to make ending extreme poverty and global disease a focus for the Democratic and Republican parties.

My late friend Paul Wellstone was fond of saying that, “The poor don’t have a lobbyist. That’s why I went to Washington.” The hope for a better future that Senator Frist and I saw in Rwanda shows what’s possible when two million of us “go to Washington” on behalf of the world’s poorest people. This summer, together, we have the chance to go to Denver and Minneapolis and show that ending global poverty is a priority for both political parties.

Thank you for joining me,

Senator Tom Daschle
ONE Member and National Co-Chair ONE Vote ‘08

Make the Switch, Repower America - From the WE Campaign

2008-08-10T22:39:00.001-04:00

Click here to learn more about the WE Campaign

Sunday's Gospel - Matthew 14.22-36 - Jesus walks on water

2008-08-07T20:05:00.003-04:00

This Sunday, we read Matthew's version of Jesus walking on water, calming the storm, and inviting Peter to walk with him. Perhaps there are two complementary reasons for this story: (1) to serve as an epiphany story and (2) to serve as a short teaching on the nature of discipleship.

First, an epiphany story. At the end of the story, after Jesus has both calmed the storm and rescued Peter, the disciples proclaim, "Truly you are the Son of God." This is reminiscent of the transfiguration story, among others. Something happens that reveals, or makes known, to the disciples the deeper reality of Jesus the Christ. I have to wonder if Matthew added this last part of the story in light of the proclamation of the church of which he was a part. In any case, Matthew's community saw in the inherited stories of Jesus evidence that Jesus was, indeed, the Son of God, leading, of course, to the christological development that saw Jesus as the second person of the Trinity.

Second, a teaching on discipleship. By the time that Matthew compiled his Gospel, the early Christians would be all to familiar with persecution because of their faith. In ancient literature, the stormy sea often represents the forces of chaos and evil. Certainly, it represents here the difficulty of living as a disciple of Jesus. Jesus comes to the disciples in the midst of the storm, thereby reminding the disciples that God will not abandon them in their quest for faithfulness. In addition, and significantly, it is not Peter's faith, but the saving presence of Jesus that matters. Peter's lack of faith does not doom him. It merely creates opportunity to participate in Jesus' divine power.

Okay, so we have an epiphany story combined with an exhortation on discipleship. How does it speak to you today? First, it is a reminder that God has made God's self present to us in a unique and dramatic way through the life, teaching, and early proclamation of Jesus. Second, this same Jesus, through whom we experience God, asks not that we perfect our faith but that we trust in the presence of Jesus. All of us go through difficult times, whether as a result of our faith or simply because we are subject to the complexity of human experience. Part of our challenge is to trust, to believe that God is with us, that God loves us, that God has a purpose for us, and that God will use us to accomplish God's purposes in our world.

"You are the Son of God." And because you are, I am going to step out in faith, believing that you are with me and that you will catch me if I fall. That is good news to all of us who seek to be disciples of Jesus, who seek to participate in the "God project" of bringing about the reality of God's reign here on earth!

Jeffrey Sachs - The End of Poverty

2008-08-02T20:45:00.007-04:00

Book cover via AmazonIn 2003, economist Jeffrey Sachs addressed the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. In that address, Sachs stated, “Ours is the first generation in the history of the world with the ability to eradicate extreme poverty. We have the means, the resources and the know-how. All we lack is the will." It is that statement that inspired the title for this blog - "Do We Have the Will?" Sachs is one of my heros. He is one of the leading voices arguing that it is possible to accomplish the MDG's and to eliminate extreme poverty by 2025. (Sachs is director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University).

In his bestselling book, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our Time, Sachs says "Our generation's challenge is to help the poorest of the poor to escape the misery of extreme poverty so that they may begin their own ascent up the ladder of economic development" (24). I would add to that challenge that of saving the planet from environmental catastrophe (check out this video of Al Gore at the TED Conference, where he talks about the opportunity to create another "hero generation). But I agree with Sachs. If we have the means, how can we not have the will? Sachs concludes The End of Poverty by saying, "Let the future say of our generation that we sent forth mighty currents of hope, and that we worked together to heal the world" (368).

Yesterday, Sachs wrote an editorial in The Namibian called "Where Are The Global Leaders?". His first statement: "THE G-8 Summit in Japan earlier this month was a painful demonstration of the pitiful state of global cooperation." He goes on to give his critique of the efforts put forth by the leaders of the G-8 of whom he says, "It's too embarrassing to watch grown men and women gather for empty photo opportunities."

I'll share this quote with you and then let you read the rest for yourself if you are so inclined:

"President Bush may be too unaware to recognise that his historically high 70% disapproval rating among US voters is related to the fact that his government turned its back on the international community - and thereby got trapped in war and economic crisis.

"The other G-8 leaders presumably can see that their own unpopularity at home is strongly related to high food and energy prices, and an increasingly unstable global climate and global economy, none of which they can address on their own.

"Starting in January 2009 with the new US president, politicians should take the best chance for their own political survival, and of course for their countries' well-being, by reinvigorating global cooperation.

"They should agree to address shared global goals, including the fight against poverty, hunger, and disease (the Millennium Development Goals), as well as climate change and environmental destruction."

Kat Edmonson - Be the Change

2008-08-02T18:37:00.002-04:00

Another reason that I find FOX News so annoying!

2008-08-01T19:52:00.005-04:00

It was innocent enough. I was reviewing the articles on my newsreel (on the right column of this blog), and came across one entitled, "Change We Can Believe In." Sounded good! I clicked on the link and came across an article written by Colonel Oliver North. (If you must, you can read it here.) Yes, I know, I should have stopped there, but curiosity got the best of me. So, I read on. Turns out, North's only intention was to criticize Barach Obama for his sponsorship of the Global Poverty Act of 2007. It appears that Colonel North is not concerned about fighting issues such as global extreme poverty - at least not if it means that the U.S. should fulfill its commitment (made, I might add, during President Bush's tenure), to support the Millennium Development Goals.

The United Nations has asked each developed country to commit 0.7% of its GDP to fund the MDGs. North calls this a tax requested by the "globalists" at the UN. He complains, "The concept of the IRS collecting taxes for the UN might not sit well with American taxpayers when gas prices are soaring, the economy is shaky and the Office of Management and Budget is forecasting a record $482 billion budget deficit for next year." Personally, I'd like to give the people of America a little more credit than that. I believe that most of us really do care that approximately one billion people live on the equivalent of less than one dollar a day. I may be nothing but a liberal idealist, but I believe that we really do want to make the world a better place - not just for those of us who live in this great land, but for the people of all countries. Isn't that part of the responsibility and privilege that goes with living in the most prosperous nation the world has ever know?

ONE Campaign Music Video

2008-07-30T13:38:00.003-04:00

If you watch to the end, you can choose other ONE videos as well, including one by Bono,

Feeding the Multitude - a reflection on Matthew 14:13-21

2008-07-30T12:41:00.008-04:00

Imagine living in poverty-stricken Niger and hearing today’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus provides food for the five thousand in such abundance that the disciples filled twelve baskets with leftovers after everyone had had their fill. The fact is that I cannot imagine what it would be like to read this story in light of actual poverty. Poverty is so far beyond my personal frame of reference that I cannot interpret the Gospel as if through the eyes of one who suffers such physical anguish every day. That is the thing about interpretation. Our context is a large determinant in our ability to understand a text. Our life situation shapes what we believe, the choices that we make, even the meaning that we give to the words and actions of Jesus.

You and I read this miracle story with our satisfied eyes. We read it as people who will not go hungry this evening, whose children will not cry from the pain of malnutrition, whose lives are filled with the comforts of relative prosperity. However, we can allow the experiences of others, even if all we do is read about them, to serve as correctives lenses to our own interpretive eyes.

One such corrective lens comes from Archbishop Desmond Tutu. We all know Tutu as the Nobel winning spiritual leader who fought apartheid in South Africa. Several years ago, Tutu spoke at an Episcopal Charities luncheon in Chicago. He reminded his listeners that the omnipotent God that we worship became impotent by becoming one of us.

“Why,” the Archbishop asked, “doesn’t God come down and intervene when the most appalling atrocities are happening? When brutality is all around? Why didn’t God send lightning from heaven against the apartheid government in South Africa?

“Because,” said the Archbishop, answering his own question, “God was waiting for a human partner! God was waiting for a human partner to transform South Africa. And God found human partners in many people, especially in Nelson Mandela.

Summing up his message, the Archbishop said, “God is even willing to put at risk the God Project while God waits for a human partner, while God waits for you and you and you and you and you,” pointing to members of his audience.

You and I read about today’s miracle feeding, the God Project in Tutu’s language, not as the hungry but as those with bread. As the haves of our world, God calls us to participate as partners in the God project. Notice in today’s story that Jesus did not act alone. Sure, he did the hard stuff – blessing, breaking, and giving the bread to the disciples to distribute. However, he did not act alone. He said to his disciples, “You give them something to eat.” When they responded that they had very little to give, Jesus asked only for what they had. Ronald Wallace (sorry, I've lost the citation) describes this when he says of the disciples, “They had little to offer. Yet, he took what they brought and used it and used them … The glorious adequacy of our inadequate resources only appears if we surrender them into his hands.”

Could it be that those who participate in the fulfillment of the MDG's, regardless of their religious tradition, participate in the God Project? Much has been written of late about the fact that the world is falling behind in its effort to accomplish the goals set for 2015. However, when we participate in the God Project, in whatever form it might take, we commit not so much to success as to faithfulness, believing that we offer to God that which we have and trusting that God will turn it into enough - in fact, into more than enough, into an abundance!

Things temporal vs. things eternal - what's that about?

2008-07-28T16:01:00.006-04:00

In the Collect for Proper 12, Year A, the church prays, "that we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal." Hmm. What does that mean? Don't we live in the realm of the temporal? Don't we spend the majority of our time working to secure enough of life's temporal things to make us comfortable, to quench our thirst for more, to make us feel good about our existence? Well, yes. And to a certain extent, we need to pay attention to "things temporal." However, the temporal things of life are merely tools, instruments by which we find the things of eternal value.

This Collect reminds me of the writing of Eckhart Tolle, who, in A New Earth, differentiates between the ego and the conscious self or awareness. The ego is that part of us that is unconscious, unaware that we are so much more than our thoughts, compulsions, desires, fears, etc. At the core of our existence, if we can get to it, we won't find "things temporal." We won't find stuff, status, self-aggrandizement. Rather, we'll find self-giving love - love that does not seek to own or co-opt or win. We'll find pure love that does not need to protect itself with artificial barriers that serve to divide, to make us right and the other wrong. That's the problem with so much religion. We want to be right, to believe that our doctrine is better than someone else's. So, we create a barrier, a limitation that keeps us from loving freely. Then, we can't get to the "things eternal" because we are trapped in a cycle that exists in the realm of the "temporal."

How do we break free of the temporal and experience the eternal? Tolle says that consciousness or awareness is the answer. We cannot eliminate the temporal. We can't pretend that it doesn't exist. We can't even deny that we long for it. However, we can have an awareness that it is not who we are. We can create a little distance between who we are and the temporal things of life. We can make room for the eternal, for the divine, for love. Who we are is eternal, is love, is Truth, is divinely created.

When we operate from within the eternal, we realize that all barriers are artificial, that all people are worthy of dignity and respect because they also are eternal. So, the challenge is to live and interact with people with the awareness that each is created in God's image and that we don't need barriers to make ourselves feel superior. We can transform our world by raising our awareness, by shattering barriers, by living into the love of "things eternal."

Dreaming

2008-07-25T14:45:00.003-04:00

Randy Pausch died today. He became famous on September 18, 2007, when his "last lecture" was webcast and went viral. Later, it became a best-selling book, The Last Lecture.

Pausch's last lecture was called "Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." It is a wonderfully inspiring speech and well worth the hour and sixteen minutes it takes to watch it on YouTube.

Pausch says many memorable things in his speech, including this: "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." No, it is not original to him, but the words have serious weight coming from a man with only months to live. The fact is, life often is about what happens when we don't get what we want. How do we respond? How do we learn to channel our energies in new ways? How do we keep our creative edge when life takes an unexpected turn?

Pausch says that he learned a lot from the dreams that he accomplished. However, it is no surprise to hear him say that he learned so much more from the unfulfilled dreams - at least those that he tried to accomplish but for one reason or another could not.

Pausch delivered his lecture to about four hundred people at Carnegie Mellon. But, he says, his real audience was his three children - he wanted them to hear his dreams and to be inspired to create theirs - even when he wouldn't be there to guide them!

In memory of Randy, lets think about our dreams - those that are current and those that seem now like distant memories. It is never too late to move towards your dream. Growing up, I remember my father saying countless times, "He who builds no castles in the air, builds no castles anywhere." Build a castle today. Dream something big - and then go and do it!

The G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit - July 7-9

2008-07-18T14:55:00.003-04:00

This month's G8 Summit provided opportunity for world leaders to discuss some of the most pressing issues that affect literally all people, but especially those who are poor and marginalized. You can read daily press releases and find much more information at the Summit website.

Topics on the agenda included concerns regarding the world economy, global environmental issues, and the challenge of accomplishing the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

The Leaders' Declaration of July 8 addresses at some length the MDGs, recognizing that, while there has been considerable success to date, significant challenges remain. One of these is the continued commitment of member nations to fulfill their commitments to official development assistance (ODA). This is where the will of the people is so vital. As long as leaders in the west know that it is politically important, they will continue to support the goals. It is up to individual constituents around the world to make their voices heard, to make sure that leaders know that the people do, indeed, have the will to change the world!

When Did We See You Hungry?

2008-07-16T13:02:00.002-04:00

What a scene! All the "nations" are gathered around the Son of Man, who begins to separate them one from another. It is the Great Judgment, according to Matthew 25. At this judgment, what criteria is used to determine who did well and who fell short in their earthly pilgrimage? What determines the success or failure of our spiritual journeys? Of course, many answers come to mind, many of which make great sense. Some don't - like did we get our theology right or did we worship the right way, or did we use the correct prayer book?

In the midst of all that divides people of faith, Matthew's gospel offers one criterion by which we can judge our spiritual health. (This seems particularly relevant this week as Anglican bishops from around the world gather for the Lambeth Conference). To those on his right, the Son of Man says, "Come, you that are blessed . . . , for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me" (NRSV - Matt. 25: 34-36). Wow! Jesus was all of these things? Understandably, these "blessed" people ask, "When was it that we saw you" (in one of those conditions)? And, here comes one of the great sentences of the Christian sacred tradition: "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Matt. 25: 40).

This, of course, is reminiscent of the commitment of the Israelite tradition to take care of the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. Why? Because when the people of ancient Israel found themselves in a tough spot, God was there for them!

Want to reach out and know God? Want to find Truth as you travel the spiritual journey? Look for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned - for there you will find God.

What about the others, those who found themselves on the left, or wrong side of the judgment? Matthew has some pretty harsh words for them. However, I believe that God's grace is sufficient for all, that no matter how much we may have messed up the spiritual journey, God waits for us with open arms, loving and accepting us for the beloved that we are.

How relevant this text is for the fight against global poverty! This text can inspire you to make changes so that we can find God in the midst of the struggle to lift up those who suffer.

What Kind of Society Do We Want to Live In?

2008-07-13T15:25:00.003-04:00

"What kind of society do we want to live in?" This question is posed by Nancy Krieger, professor of society, human development, and health at the Harvard School of Public Health in the cover article of this month's Harvard Magazine. The article titled, "Unequal America: Causes and consequences of the wide - and growing - gap between rich and poor," and written by Elizabeth Gudrais, states that the gap between the rich and poor in America has reached levels not reached since the Gilded Age (roughly 1870 - 1900).

We live in a country where the prevailing wisdom suggests that anyone can "make it" if they work hard enough. Gudrais cites the World Values Survey, which finds that "American respondents were much more likely than European respondents (71 percent versus 40 percent) to agree with the statement that the poor could escape poverty if they worked hard enough." Also, Americans were far less likely to agree that luck was a determent in income generation.

This rugged individualism may have served us well as our nation grew. However, I wonder about its wisdom. All effort is contextually driven, as are all opportunities. If the poor do not have the opportunity to eat nutritiously, to attend college, to network with hiring managers, etc, they cannot escape poverty.

Gudrais notes that the opportunity for upward mobility forms the foundation of the American dream. However, she points out, "analysis indicate that intergenerational mobility is no higher in the United States than in other developed democracies." She notes that "42 percent of children born to parents in the bottom income quintile were still in the bottom quintile a adults." In this land of opportunity, why aren't more people experiencing this upward mobility? What are the structural, social, psychological impediments to this mobility?

Whatever the answer, the widening income gap is troubling. As the rich get richer, the poor continue to struggle to survive. How can that be fair in a nation that holds as one of its core values that all people are created equal? How can it be fair that some are excluded from the opportunities that most of us take for granted? How do we overcome the "opportunity divide" that keeps millions of Americans from experiencing the abundance that America offers?

The Opportunity Divide

2008-07-12T13:15:00.003-04:00

I first heard this term while reading the website of Year Up, a very cool organization in Boston that has an audacious vision - "In the future, every urban young adult will have access to the education, experiences, and guidance required to realize his or her true potential." How cool is that! It is the word "every" that makes it audacious. This is an organization with the power of conviction sufficient to claim its vision of making a major difference in its area of influence.

And they claim a mission that is up to the task as well - . . . "to close the Opportunity Divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education."

As I explore the nonprofit world, I continue to find amazing organizations that are doing incredible things to lift people up - in this country and around the world. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the nonprofit world as organizations use best practices and quantifiable metrics to execute their strategies and to measure their successes. I am very excited to have this opportunity, at this point in my life, to make this career shift so that I can be part of this movement.

Okay, back to the "opportunity divide." According to Year Up's website, in 2006 there were 4.3 million young adults who were neither employed nor enrolled in postsecondary education. In a technologically driven and very competitive labor market, this won't work. Young adults need the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to find meaningful work that pays a living wage. Sometimes, young adults with ambition simply need a little direction and support to find their way. What a great investment to make - to provide that opportunity!

By the way, Year Up was one of 45 organizations to receive the 2008 Fast Company Social Capital Award. Cool!

British PM and Pope Share Correspondence on MDG Commitment

2008-07-06T20:13:00.002-04:00

In a letter released today, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown addresses Pope Benedict XVI on issues of development. He notes, "As things stand today, we are not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. We are falling short on the commitments we made back in 2000." I commend the Prime Minister for his honesty and for his desire to see through the commitment that his country (and many others) made in 2000. Brown's fear is that the MDGs will "slide down the political agenda" and that "the opportunity to deliver on our promises to the developing world will be lost for another generation." What a travesty that would be. Now that we have the technology and the infrastructure to achieve the goals, we cannot let the moment pass because we lack the political will. How can we sit back and allow millions to starve unnecessarily?

His Holiness, in a response delivered by his Secretary of State, refers to the Pope's prior request for a "courageous effort to 'globalize the expectations of solidarity.'" Indeed, a sense of solidarity that transcends national or ethnic boundaries is essential if we are to accomplish these goals. Every human being is of infinite value, regardless of where they live or the circumstances of their lives. The Pope also points to the need for a "deeply-felt and responsible sense of generosity." Indeed!

How wonderful to see such a high level correspondence between two world leaders on such an important subject. Hopefully, their efforts will go beyond words or political posturing and form the heart of their efforts to transform our world. We can only hope that their work will help to mobilize the millions of people around our world who have the power to make a difference - if only they have the will.

Read the article in "Scoop" here.

A Brief Thought on Globalization

2008-07-03T12:24:00.005-04:00

Bill McKibben, in Deep Economy, challenges the prevailing wisdom of globalization, claiming that it is destroying community rather than enhancing it. The cult of “more is better,” he claims, is having the unintended affect of making us less happy.”[1] At the same time, the relentless pursuit of more devastates poor communities around the world and takes a tremendous ecological toll.

One of my goals is to look beyond the question of what we can do to raise the standard of living of the poor (although, of course, that is essential) to ask the more difficult and challenging questions regarding our responsibility and our future well being. Are we willing to change our lifestyles so that others can move beyond poverty and so that the tyranny and seduction of consumerism will not numb us to the simpler joys of life?

McKibben focuses attention on the value of the local. “It’s enough to say that, for reasons of ecological sustainability and human satisfaction, our systems and economies have gotten too large, and that we need to start building them back down. What we need is a new trajectory, toward the smaller and more local.”[2]

I agree with McKibben. Buying local, participating in Community Supported Agriculture programs, and other efforts can be very helpful and satisfying. However, I would hate to think that we would become so local in our thinking that we forget about the rest of the world. After all, globalization is not all bad. It creates the opportunity to learn from people of other cultures, it makes us aware of the richness of diversity, it challenges us to be responsible with what we have and to care what others have (or don't have). It has generated the resources to lift millions of people out of poverty.

The debate about globalization is difficult. However, it is here to stay. So, how do we move find this new trajectory about which McKibben speaks and at the same time embrace the globalization that brings with it such incredible possibility?

[1] Bill McKibben, Deep Economy, 35.
[2] Ibid, 141.

My last sermon - The Road Less Traveled By

2008-07-02T16:32:00.006-04:00

Preached at Emmanuel Church, Newport, RI, February 17, 2008

In his famous poem, The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost says,

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Some four thousand years ago, Abraham confronted two diverging roads. He could continue to live with all of the familiarity that life offered in Haran, which was in present day Turkey on the border with Syria, or he could set out on a journey into the unknown. God called Abraham to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house and to go “to a land that I will show you.” That’s not much information. All he had was a call to take a journey to the unknown and a promise that God would make of him a great nation. Not really much to go on, is it? Yet, in Frost’s words, Abraham took the road “less traveled by” and his choice became the pivot upon which history turned.

This morning, I want to explore Abraham’s call because I believe that it is paradigmatic of the call that God offers to all of us who seek to travel the spiritual path. I would suggest that the spiritual path is more often than not the “one less traveled by.” Certainly, this was the case for Abraham and Sarah. They did not know where they were going, or even why they were going – only that God had called them. This goes against so much of what both human nature and the pressures of our culture call us to do. We are taught to journey from the unknown to the known, from what we do not have to what we want or think we need, from the unpredictable to the safe and secure, and from promises to guarantees. We demand security and act cautiously.

Author Dan Clendenin writes that responding to God’s call requires that we “move beyond three very powerful and deep-seated fears – fear of the unknown that we can’t control (ignorance), fear of others who are different from us (inclusion), and fear of powerlessness in the face of impossibilities (impotence).”[1]

Lets look at each of these. First, choosing the road less traveled by requires that we embrace ignorance – that we move from the certain to the uncertain. Abraham’s move was not simply a change of geography. It was a giving up of the familiar, of all that gave life meaning, of the rhythms of life that brought comfort and security. Ignorance sounds negative. However, ignorance simply is a lack of knowledge or information. When we contemplate stepping out in faith, when we say yes to God, when we choose the road less traveled by, we can’t wait until we have all of the answers. We can’t wait for certainty. That is why the spiritual journey is a journey of faith, of movement into the unknown, of trust that God will lead us where God wants us to go.

Second, choosing the road less traveled by requires that we over come our fear of those who are different, that we embrace inclusion. Abraham’s ancestors had moved from Ur, in what is now southeastern Iraq, to Haran, in Turkey. They moved into a different culture. Now Abraham was doing the same. The move from Haran to Canaan placed Abraham in a foreign land with people of a different culture and language. To say yes to the call required that Abraham leave behind not only his homeland but also his narrow-minded parochialism that limited his vision of the larger world around him. It can be challenging for any of us to see beyond the world that we inhabit day by day.

The promise that Abraham received was that God would bless the entire world – not just his family, not just the people he knew, not just people who believed in the same God or who dressed the same way. Inclusion is a difficult challenge. We tend to surround ourselves with people who are like us, people with whom we are comfortable, and people who do not threaten our way of life. Yet, in order to embrace God’s call, Abraham, and we as well, must expand our horizon to embrace the other.

Third, choosing the road less traveled by requires that we overcome our fear of being powerless in the face of the impossible. Impotence is not a kind word. However, we don’t have to spend a lot of time in this world to recognize that so much is out of our control. When we try to manipulate our world or when we try to live with preconceived notions of how life must unfold, we usually are disappointed because it just doesn’t work that way.

Life is uncertain enough. Then, in the midst of that uncertainty, God calls us to do something or to be somebody that seems completely impossible. How could Abraham and Sarah be the parents of a new and great nation? What did they have to offer? Were they crazy to step out in faith as they did? They could have been paralyzed by fear instead. They could have seen the impossible in God’s call rather than the possibility that unfolded as they trusted that God was with them.

What about us? God calls each of us to do great things – to proclaim God’s love, to live in ways that lift others up, to strive for justice and peace throughout the world. Are we afraid of the impossible? Can we look beyond what we cannot do on our own and catch a glimpse of what God can do through us? That is the road les traveled by, the road with God, the road that leads beyond our ignorance and our powerlessness in the face of the impossible.

I invite you to journey with me to the place that can only be reached by the road less traveled by. On that journey, we will discover that, indeed, God can work the impossible in our lives! Amen.

[1] http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20080211JJ.shtml

Promises, Promises

2008-07-01T23:14:00.002-04:00

The Financial Times reported yesterday that "leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations are set to backtrack on their landmark pledge at the Gleneagles summit in 2005 to increase development aid to Africa to $25bn a year." You can read the article here.

If you want your voice to be heard so that your government does not backtrack, go to ONE and sign the petition.

The world is half way through the allotted time to accomplish the goals. Great progress has been made. But, we can't stop now. Our governments, and us, must keep working to make a poverty free world a reality.

The Kingdom of God is Like . . . Sweetgrass

2008-07-01T12:23:00.005-04:00

My parents used to live in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. One of the local crafts is the making of handmade baskets using sweetgrass. This morning, I read a reflection on sweetgrass in a newsletter from Holy Cross Faith Memorial Episcopal Church in Pawleys Island, SC. It quotes Karl Ohlandt, an ecologist and landscape architect. He says, "Sweetgrass thrives in poor, sandy soil exposed to hot sun, strong winds, and salt spray." He note, "It's a tough life." Apparently, some time ago, people tried to increase sweetgrass yields by planting it in rich soils away from the hardships of its natural habitat. It grew well. However, the "easy living" produced "long, weak leaf blades," wholly unsuited to making good baskets. As Ohlandt says, "the grass has to have survived difficult times: long periods of drought, storm winds carrying salt spray, and soil with little nutrients." (Thanks to Callie, of Holy Cross, for writng about this in the newsletter.)
I love these types of parables. I can almost hear Jesus starting a story with, "The Kingdom of God is like the sweetgrass that . . . " As much as we want life to be easy, as much as we plan to avoid the hardships, it is just those times that bring strength to our weary souls and minds. This parable applies to life in general. It also applies to the struggle for economic and social justice that inform the MDGs. The struggle makes us stronger. It nurtures us, teaches us, strengthens our resolve to press forward. The struggle helps us to weed out the wheat from the chaff of our lives, helping us to see what we truly value and where we really want to go.
Thanks for the sweetgrass that thrives in less than ideal conditions, for the Kingdom of God is like that too!

Do Morals Matter?

2008-07-01T10:13:00.005-04:00

In Do Morals Matter?, Ian Markham says, “It is the unnoticed and unappreciated ease of the middle class in the western world that makes it possible to create a world that is so small it stops at the limited interactions of oneself with the immediate environments.”[1] The lack of reflection caused by this ease leads to a life marked not by gratitude but self-absorption. Markham’s project is to address this problem by creating what he calls “morally serious person(s)” (MSPs) – people with “an attitude that believes moral questions are of fundamental importance.”[2]

This world needs MSPs who take the plight of the poor seriously and who share a willingness to move beyond the "ease of the middle class" so that they can ask the difficult questions:

What does it mean to live with such abundance when so many live on the equivalent of less than $1 per day?
What does it mean to us to live with such massive gaps between the rich and the poor when most of us live as we do simply by accident of birth?
Can we make changes to our lifestyles that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of others? I am reminded of Bishop Geralyn Wolf's words: "After living for many years below my means so that others can live above theirs, I wouldn't have it any other way" - words to contemplate in our culture that is obsessed with material abundance.

[1] Ian Markham, Do Morals Matter? A Guide to Contemporary Religious Ethics, 182.
[2]Markham, 181.

Why a blog?

2008-06-30T22:43:00.001-04:00

For sixteen years I served as an Episcopal priest in parish ministry. This gave me a voice for the things about which I care the most. Now, I am searching for a new way to proclaim the values and passions that inform my life. I don't have a pulpit any more, so perhaps this medium can serve, for now, as a sort of electronic pulpit. I am not interested in preaching to, but in sharing with, those who care about the world in which we live.

In particular, I am interested in issues of extreme global poverty. For a number of years now, I have been captivated by the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). I believe that the goal of eradicating global poverty and the other seven goals form a moral imperative that we cannot ignore. We have the resources and technology to do great things for humankind. The question is, "Do we have the will?" (I believe that Jeffrey Sachs first asked this question.)