The Book of Jim

Nuclear Hypocrisy

2009-05-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

North Korea recently conducted an underground test of a nuclear explosive device. According to an Associated Press news article, nations throughout the world are condemning the test. Here are some quotes from the article, along with the number of nuclear weapons each condemning nation possesses:

The U.N. Security Council was meeting later Monday in New York to discuss what President Barack Obama called Pyongyang's "blatant defiance" of resolutions banning the regime from developing weapons of mass destruction.

The U.S. possesses ten thousand nuclear weapons.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned the test as a "danger to the world."

The UK possesses 200 nuclear weapons.

Russia's Foreign Ministry called it "a serious blow to international efforts" to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Russia possesses 8600 nuclear weapons.

French officials said they would push for new sanctions.

France possesses 350 nuclear weapons.

China said it was "resolutely opposed" to the test.

China possesses 400 nuclear weapons.

Nations possessing hundreds, even thousands, of nuclear weapons can hardly claim to hold the moral high ground. If these nations want to have any credibility at all in condemning North Korea's nuclear weapons program, they must first dismantle their own stockpiles of nuclear weapons. To do otherwise is the height of hypocrisy.

Pot, meet kettle.

Two Questions

2009-02-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

While I am a Christian and believe that God created the universe and everything in it, I don't believe the Genesis six-day account of how he did it. I believe that God created it all, but I think that we have to turn to science to tell us how he did it. I have two questions for those who believe that God created the Earth in six days.

God is all powerful. What is impossible for man is not just possible for God, it's easy for him. He can do it immediately, doesn't even break a sweat. A mere thought, a blink of an eye, and it's done. Yet according to the Genesis creation story, he took six days to create the Earth. So, my first question is: What took him so long?

God is infinite, God is everlasting. He has always been, he will always be. Time has no meaning to God: a thousand years is no more than the blink of an eye. He had forever to create the Earth, yet he finished the job in just six days. Which leads to the second question: Why the big rush?

That's what I saw

2008-10-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

A dozen or so years ago, I wrote a song called “That's What I Saw.” The song is a series of short vignettes of incidents that I had witnessed, incidents that stuck in my mind and returned to my thoughts with some regularity. Here's the chorus of the song:

That's what I saw today;
I'm not saying it's wrong or it's right.
But that's what I saw today;
It's still on my mind tonight.

Three recent incidents stick in my mind; all three took place at the church I attend. As in the song, I'm not going to say whether what I saw is wrong or right; I'll leave that up to you. But here's what I saw; here's what's still on my mind:

About a year ago, I was talking to a man at church about Holden Village, a religious retreat village near here. He was planning on going to Holden soon, and knowing I had been there several times, wanted to know what it was like. Among other things, I told him that the people there were very open and accepting of others, and that he'd likely see openly gay people during his stay at the Village. A few months later, he came up to me after church one Sunday and told me that he'd been to the Village, and that he didn't see any gay people there - “They've really cleaned it up,” he said.

One Sunday shortly before the anniversary of the use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan (August 6 and 9, 1945), I took to church with me a couple dozen copies of a paper I'd written on the U.S. possession and use of nuclear weapons, intending to leave them on the literature table. (I had received permission from the pastor to do so.) A woman told me that I couldn't put my papers on the table; that some people might be offended by them.

A local trailer park was closed down recently, leaving its mostly low income residents to scramble for affordable housing. Churches and other groups agreed to each “adopt” a family from the trailer park, helping them to find affordable housing and otherwise helping however they could. My church adopted a family from the trailer park, and one recent Sunday a woman from the church asked me how the family was doing. I shared what little information I had on the family's current situation, and she told me she wished 'those people' would do more to help themselves out.

There you have it: that's what I saw, that's what's still on my mind.

The Butter Battle Book and Nuclear Weapons

2008-10-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading “The Butter Battle Book” by Dr. Seuss. You may think that the book, being written by Dr. Seuss, is a children's book. It is, and it isn't.

The story is about the Yooks and the Zooks, who live on opposite sides of a great wall. But what really separates them is that the Yooks eat their bread with the butter side up, and the Zooks – horror of horrors - eat their bread with the butter side down.

In order to prevent anyone from the other side from coming over the wall, both sides post a guard along the wall. The Yook guard is armed with a Snick-Berry Switch. The Zook guard breaks the Snick-Berry Switch with a shot from his slingshot, and both sides launch into a race to produce a more powerful weapon than the other side has, producing Triple-Sling Jiggers, Jigger-Rock Snatchems, Utterly Sputters, and finally, the Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo, a weapon so powerful it can completely destroy the other side. The guard from each side goes to the wall, intending to destroy the other side once and for all with his Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo, only to find that the other side has one, too. The book doesn't really have an ending, it just leaves both guards standing on the wall with a Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo in his hand, waiting to see who will drop his first. And when one side drops his Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo, the other side will drop his too, resulting in the destruction of both the Yooks and the Zooks.

The real-life version of the book is, of course, the “Cold War Arms Race” between the United States and the Soviet Union (now Russia). Each side constructed more and bigger nuclear weapons in an effort to outdo the other side.

Like the Yooks and the Zooks in the Butter Battle Book, the real life story has, as of yet, no ending. The United States still has approximately ten thousand nuclear weapons in its arsenal, with half of those ready to launch at a moment's notice, while the Russians have approximately sixteen thousand nuclear weapons, with about five thousand of those ready for immediate launch.

I think the moral of the story is that nobody can win an arms race, whether in real life or in a Dr. Seuss book. The only possible outcome seems to be a standoff, with both sides ready and able to destroy the other, even though it will certainly mean their own destruction as well. As they discovered in the 1983 movie, War Games, “the only winning move is not to play.”

Unfortunately, we've already started playing the game, and we've been playing it for sixty years. But there's still hope: both sides could agree to stop playing the game, to dismantle their Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroos, or their nuclear weapons, as the case may be, and look for other ways to resolve their differences. That is the only way we might still win the game.

Work for nuclear disarmament. Contact your political leaders and tell them you want the United States to work with other nations to eliminate nuclear weapons from the world. Tell all your friends about the madness and futility of the possession of nuclear weapons, and ask them to work for nuclear disarmament.

And be sure to eat your bread with the butter side down.

Living the Sermon

2008-04-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading "Gandhi the man: the story of his transformation" by Eknath Easwaran. In the appendix, Gandhi is quoted as saying "There is no royal road, except through living the creed in your life, which must be a living sermon." To live one's life as a "living sermon" is a high standard to be held to. While Gandhi wasn't by any means perfect, he did in many ways live the sermon he preached. He not only talked the talk, he walked the talk, he practiced what he preached, and I think that is a major reason why people are still talking about him and looking up to him to this day.

Jesus also lived the sermon he preached. He talked of loving and serving one's fellow man, of being a neighbor to all, and he lived it. He healed and fed many people, he washed the feet of his disciples. He preached nonviolence, and when one of his disciples drew his sword and cut off the ear of a man who had come to arrest him, Jesus not only told Peter to put the sword away, but healed the man's ear. As with Gandhi, I think his living the sermon he preached is a major reason people are still talking about and looking up to Jesus, two thousand years later.

I have been known to "preach a sermon" now and then, here on this blog, and elsewhere. I have been known to tell people what they are doing wrong, what they should be doing instead, how they should live their lives.

I am no Gandhi, and I am certainly no Jesus. My life is not a "living sermon." I talk the talk, but I don't always walk the talk; I don't always practice what I preach. I don't expect I will ever live the sermon I preach in the way that Gandhi and Jesus did. And I certainly don't expect that people will still be talking about me or looking up to me two thousand years, or even a hundred years, after my death. But still, I hope and believe that I have something worthwhile to say, and I hope that people will listen to what I say, and will be able to overlook the fact that I don't always live my own sermons, at least enough to consider that there might be some truths in the sermons I preach.

The same applies to all of us, I believe. You also have something to say, we all have something to say. We all see ways that the world could be a better place, we see in those around us behaviors we feel are inappropriate and would like to see changed, sometimes missing the fact that we are guilty of the same behaviors. While I think that we should all strive to live the sermons we preach, I don't think that we should let our own imperfections keep us from preaching those sermons. We will probably have our hypocrisy pointed out to us now and then, people will point out our own failures. But as long as we can preach our sermons, not with condemnation, but with love, we should preach them anyway. We should listen to other people's sermons, looking for the truths they contain. And we should listen to our own sermons, for surely we need to hear them as much as anyone does.

God's will for me (and you)

2008-04-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

I've had a very frightening experience lately. I've found myself praying that God would show me what his will for me is, and that he'll give me the courage to do his will.

That's a scary thing. There are a lot of things that God could ask me to do that I really don't want to do; that I just don't think I have the strength to do.

Father Roy Bourgeois has spent years of his life trying to close the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, where the U.S. trains in torture and terror tactics. His work has landed him in prison more than once. Could I do that? I don't know.

Gary Smith spent 25 years living among and ministering to the poor, the homeless, the drunks and drug addicts, the mentally ill. I've read his book, “Radical Compassion: Finding Christ in the Heart of the Poor” and while I greatly admire Gary Smith for his work, I just don't know if I could do what he did.

I could give a lot more examples of people who live their lives ministering to the poor, working for peace, curing the sick - names you know and people you've never heard of. I suspect many of them also wondered if they were able to do what God called them to do. Mother Teresa spent years in Calcutta working with the sick, the dying, and the poorest of the poor, yet we are told there were times she had doubts about her ability to do her work.

My pastor wrote a song that includes these lyrics:

“Please don't send me to Africa,
I don't want to go. ...
Please don't make me do what I fear.”

Even Jesus, facing death on the cross, prayed: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from me.” We're in good company when we fear what doing God's will may mean for us.

Soren Kierkegaard writes:

“The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined.”

Kierkegaard is right; if we do as the New Testament instructs us to do, as God instructs us to do, our lives will be “ruined.” How can I have my house in the suburbs with a two car garage and a white picket fence if God calls me to spend my life working with homeless people? How can I watch my favorite shows on a big screen TV if God calls me to work with people with HIV/AIDS in Africa? What will it mean to my career if I spend my life working for nuclear disarmament?

I don't know what God's will for me is; I don't know what God is calling me to do. It's easy for me to say “Please don't send me to Africa” or “let this cup pass away from me.” But I'm trying to listen for God's voice, to hear what God wants me to do, and I know there's more to it than “being a good person and going to church on Sunday.” For me, and for all of us.

Dear Lord, it is easy for us to see the “big picture” of what you want us to do on this Earth: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” But it's not always so easy to see the smaller details, to see where we as indivuals fit into the big picture. Let each one of us see clearly what we are called to do, and give each of us the strength to do your will. Amen.

If You Eat Each Day

2008-03-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

I am a member of the local Catholic church's JustFaith program. JustFaith is a program intended to “empower people of faith to develop a passion and thirst for justice.” I'm not a Catholic, but I am willing, even eager, to get Christian teaching, and perhaps especially Christian social teaching, anyplace I can get it. And the Catholic Church is a good place to go for that!

As part of the JustFaith program, we read books, have discussions on what we read, have guest speakers, visit homeless shelters, and so on. Occasionally we listen to a song. A few weeks ago we listened to Bryan Sirchio's song, "If You Eat Each Day."

It seems Bryan was working in a clinic in Haiti, and was assigned to cut the hair of clinic patients. Well, you know how barbers are, they get to talking with their clients while they're cutting their hair, and just about any subject can come up. Bryan asked the man whose hair he was cutting, “Do you think I'm rich?” And the man responded, “How many days a week do you eat?” Seeing that Bryan was speechless, he asked, “You mean you eat every day? If you eat every day, you are rich.”

Does that affect you the way it affects me? Two-thirds of Americans are overweight. We eat at least three times each day, and many of us are eating much more than we need to. Myself, I am carrying around with me about 35 extra pounds. And here's a man who doesn't eat everyday, because he is too poor to eat every day. Ouch. That doesn't make me feel too good. But, I am inspired to do something about it.

Jesus said, “He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath food, let him do likewise.” Clearly, we have more food than we need – most of us are overweight. Now, there's no way that I can give the excess food that I don't need to be eating anyway to this man in Haiti, but surely I can do more to see that he is fed every day. I can give to relief agencies who feed the poor. I can work with agencies who work to eliminate the root causes of poverty. And I can encourage you to do the same.

You may think, “What can I do? There's so much to be done, and I am just one person.” Well, you don't have to take on the whole job yourself. Find some small thing that you can do, and do that. As Mother Teresa said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” And if you can't feed even one person, then provide one person with one meal when you can.

Here are the lyrics to Bryan Sirchio'ssong, ”If You Eat Each Day”:

Bryan Sirchio
Songs For Justice Walkers
"If You Eat Each Day"

Haiti is the poorest country in this hemisphere
I go there now and then to get my vision clear
Sometimes it gets so hazy in this land of
I consume therefore I am

I was working in this clinic for the dying & diseased
Living skeletons with AIDS and TB
Organized and run by Mother Teresa and her sisters of Charity
I asked the nun in charge, Sister, what should I do?
She smiled and said I've got a job for you
Then she gave me a pair of scissors, and said,
See that man right there
He'd like for you to cut his hair
I said, oh, Sister are you sure?...

I mean its not like I have given
many haircuts in my day
But I was there to help, so I just smiled and said, OK
So there I was, this natural born Vidal Sassoon
just snipping that hair away

We struck up conversation as best we could
His English was broken, my Creole's not too good
But we managed to communicate enough for him to say
Something I never will forget

You see I asked him, do you think I'm rich?
And this was his response to me
He said, well how many times a week do you eat?
Well his question took my voice away
And then he said, you mean you eat every day?
And I said, yeah, and he just said this
Well if you eat each day, you're rich

Somehow that moment felt to me like Holy Ground
I finished his haircut and when I turned around
There was a whole line of customers
who kinda like the way I cut that one man's hair!

So I gave them haircuts but they gave me so much more
They gave me the perspective of the poorest of the poor
And I know I'll spend the rest of my life
trying to somehow respond

'Cause if its true as we often say that wealth is relative
It just might take the dying poor in a place like Port au Prince
To help us see this relativity from God's point of view
To cut through our first world denial with gospel Truth
And as for me, I know I need to receive this paradigm shift
That in a hungry world, if we eat each day...
We're rich

Haiti is the poorest country in this hemisphere
I go there now and then to get my vision clear
Sometimes it gets so hazy in this land of
I consume therefore I am.

Praying

2007-12-01T13:54:00.000-08:00

I don't ordinarily pray much. I know we are told in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing, but I just never got in the habit of it. But this week I have prayed much more than usual.

At the church I attend, we wear stick-on paper name tags. Last week after the service, I noticed Lois was wearing her own name tag, and another that said “Lydia.” I asked her why she was wearing Lydia's name tag, and she said it was an idea Paul had come up with: take another person's name tag with you, and use it as a reminder to pray for that person during the week. And so I took Lois's name tag. When I was telling Mike about it, he asked that I pray for him, too. So, I wrote Mike's name on the tag, and stuck it to the dashboard of my car. Whenever I get in the car, and now and then while I am driving, I see that tag with Lois's and Mike's names on it, and I pray for them. I have been in the habit of sticking my own name tag to the dashboard when I get in the car after church, and now when I see it there, it's a reminder to pray for myself, also. And once I get started, I usually pray for other people I know, or for situations in the world that need praying for.

I now find myself praying at other times, too, and I like it. For whatever reason, it makes me feel good. It is perhaps as Soren Kierkegaard said, “Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.” It's been less than a week, but I do find that my praying has been changing me. I pray for people I love, and I find I feel my love for them grow stronger. I plan to keep putting up reminders to pray until the habit becomes ingrained in me and I no longer need reminders.

If you don't currently pray much, try it. Stick a reminder to pray on the dashboard of your car, or on your refrigerator, or wherever you'll see it often during the week, and pray each time you see it. If my experience is any indication, it will soon become a habit, and you'll be glad you did it.

Peace be with you - or not.

2007-10-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

I am a member of the JustFaith group at the local Catholic church. We have been meeting for 5 weeks now. At the end of each session, we have a “sharing of peace”, which consists of shaking hands with or hugging each member of the group, and wishing them peace, typically, “peace be with you.”

I'm having a bit of a problem with that.

We have read of families living in poverty in Jonathan Kozol's book, “Amazing Grace.” We've had the director of a local homeless shelter come speak to us. We've seen a film on the poor and hungry of the world, including an entire village of people who live, literally, in a garbage dump, and who live on what they can salvage from the garbage.

What we have learned does not bring me peace. It disturbs me greatly. It makes me want to do something. And I want the rest of the group to be as disturbed by what we've learned as I have been. I don't want them to leave after each group meeting with a feeling of peace. I want them to burn with the determination to do something.

Now, I really don't know how the rest of the group is feeling at this point. Maybe they're all feeling pretty much as I do. We haven't discussed it – yet – so I just don't know. But I'm sure going to bring it up at our next meeting. Until then, I will pray that they – and you, dear reader – will feel the peace that comes from knowing that you are doing for others all that you can do. And I will pray that I, too, will someday know that peace.

When it was just God

2007-08-17T13:40:00.001-07:00

One Saturday a few months ago, I attended the funeral of Tony DeRooy. I've known the DeRooy family since I was in high school, and I'm pleased to count several members of the family as good friends. Tony was eighty five years old. Besides being an accomplished singer and musician, Tony was a master gardener, and was well known for several of his large landscaping projects and his expertise with dahlias.

At the funeral, Tony's brother, Henry, mentioned Tony's first job after serving in the military during World War II. The National Parks were closed for the duration of the war, and after 4 years of no maintenance, Glacier Park Lodge was overrun with weeds. It was Tony's job to get the landscaping ready for the reopening of the park.

When the park reopened, a visitor remarked to Tony what a fine job he and God had done with the park. Tony responded, “You should have seen it last year when it was just God!”

God had continued to provide the rain and the sunshine, and to make the plants grow, but without someone there to pull the weeds and prune the shrubs, the Lodge landscaping was a mess. God had done his job, but man had fallen down on his part of the job during the war. The landscaping mess Tony had to deal with is what you get when it's “just God.”

A lot of things work like that. People sometimes ask, why does God allow all the poverty and hunger in the world? Well, God has done his part to feed us all. He's provided the earth with abundant resources, and he's provided the plants and animals we eat and the sun and rain to make them grow. It's not God's fault if we fail to distribute the food to the people who need it. That's our fault. People go hungry when it's “just God.”

And poverty? Same thing there: God provided us with the resources to make just about anything we might want. It's not God's fault that some people decided it was more important for them to have a new car, or a bigger TV, or a new iPod – or the world's most powerful military - than for others in the world to have basic necessities of life. As Gandhi said, “The earth provides for every man's needs but not for every man's greed.” It's not that there isn't enough “stuff” to go around. God has created the Earth to provide enough to meet the needs of all human beings; it is up to mankind to spread the wealth around as God intended. When those of us who have everything we need demand still more, we take it from those who are doing without the basic necessities of life. When I demand a two hundred dollar pair of running shoes, or a new cell phone with a better camera, or any of the other luxuries we take for granted, I'm taking from the impoverished people of the world, from the half of the world's population who lives on two dollars or less per day. Poverty? That's what you get when it's “just God.”

War? There's another example of what happens when it's “just God.” God's been clear on what he wants: “Thou shalt not kill.” “Blessed are the peacemakers.” He's even given us some pretty good advice on how to be peacemakers: “Love your neighbor.” “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” But instead, we go about the business of killing each other, and at any given moment, there are several wars going on in the world. That's what it looks like when we don't do our part, when it's “just God.”

Look around you. What other situations do you see where it's “just God”; where man is failing to do his part? What action can you take to work with God? How can you encourage others to work with God?

When Jesus came back

2007-08-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

It was never like this before Jesus came back. It used to be you could bash gays, or complain about welfare mothers, or walk past homeless people without so much as looking down at them. But since Jesus came back, no more of that, no sir.

It wouldn't have been so bad if He'd just come back to judge us all. I mean, isn't that the way it was supposed to happen? He'd come back, and He'd look to see whether you'd gone to church, and done a good job of raising your kids and stuff like that, then He'd send us off to our eternal reward or punishment, and that would be that. But no, He couldn't do that. He had to come back and make us do the things we were supposed to do. You know, like if you were supposed to be your brother's keeper, or if you were supposed to be merciful or something, He'd actually make you do it.

And remember how we used to make fun of all them punk hippie kids with their long hair and all? You could call 'em faggots, or ask 'em if they were girls or anything like that. Well, you can't do that anymore, not since Jesus came back. You'd think He'd wear a suit and tie or something, and get a haircut, like a decent human being, but no, there He is, just like in the pictures, with that long hair, and that beard, and half the time He's wearing them stupid sandals. Now how are we supposed to raise up our kids decent with that kind of example around?

And you just can't get away from him. Seems like everywhere you go, there's Jesus, telling you how you gotta live and what you're supposed to be doing. I suppose next thing you know he'll pop up and tell me not to spit on the sidewalk no more or something. He's even on TV. No kidding, there's Jesus himself, right there on the TV for Chri- well, you know what I mean. Sure, we've always had religion on TV, but at least you could get some entertainment out of them TV preachers, all asking for money and pretending to heal somebody. But this is different – Jesus gets on the TV, telling everybody what they gotta do and how they gotta live. I even seen him break in on the news show, talking about what the world leaders were doing wrong, and telling 'em what they gotta do different.

I'm telling you, things just ain't the same since Jesus came back.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The above is just a piece of idle speculation I engaged in one day: What if Jesus decided to do things differently than we're expecting? What if He came back to live with us again? What if He was there to give us guidance and correction, perhaps sometimes in a gentle, shepherd-leading-his-flock manner, and perhaps sometimes in a more overturning-tables, throwing-the-money-changers-out-of-the-temple manner? What if Jesus could pop up in front of you at any minute, to comment on what you're doing? Think about it.

The Lord's Prayer, Part Two

2007-05-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

I recently wrote on the Lord's Prayer, specifically on “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven” and the need for those who would follow Jesus to work to bring about the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth. There's a second part of the Lord's Prayer I'd like to talk about:

“Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.” (Matthew 6:12 ASV)

Various translations use “debts” or “trespasses” in place of “sins.” But that's not the pertinent word here. The pertinent word is “as.” The dictionary definition of “as” is:

To the same extent or degree; equally.

So, when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we are really saying:

“Forgive us our sins, to the same extent or degree we forgive those who have sinned against us.”

If this doesn't make it perfectly clear that we are to be forgiven only to the extent we have forgiven others, Jesus goes on to say:

"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15 ASV)

Ouch. Count on Jesus to spell it out for us in no uncertain terms.

Forgiving people is hard. When someone has done you wrong, when you have suffered at another's hands, it seems natural to want to “get even.” It seems natural to hold a grudge against those who do us wrong. But this is not what Jesus tells us to do. Jesus tells us to forgive those who have done us wrong, and even goes so far as to say that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us.

So what do we do when we find it hard to forgive? I wish I had all the answers. I am still having a hard time forgiving the people involved in an incident that took place several years ago. It helps to remember that I have also wronged others, and of course I want them to forgive me. So, the Golden Rule applies here: “Whatever you want people to do for you, do the same for them.” (Matthew 7:12 ISV)

Prayer can help, too. If God wants us to forgive, it seems reasonable that he would expect us to call on him for the strength to forgive, and that he would give that strength.

Perhaps forgiving can be made easier if we remember that the primary beneficiary of forgiveness is the forgiver, not the forgiven. When we have been wronged, we carry the memory of that wrong, and its pain, with us. When we forgive, although we still have the memory of being wronged, we can leave behind the pain associated with it. As theologian Lewis B. Smedes tells us, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

Remember that forgiving doesn't always come easily, and that you may have to forgive someone more than once. If you find yourself feeling the same resentments and pain again, maybe you need to “re-forgive.” Remember too, that forgiving does not always heal the relationship. Some relationships cannot be healed, probably some relationships should not be. But forgiveness will always heal the forgiver, and open the way to forgiveness for ourselves.

I think we often say the Lord's Prayer by rote, without really thinking of what it means. Jesus only taught us how to pray once, when he gave us what we know as the Lord's Prayer. It seems to me that if Jesus only taught us one prayer, we should give more consideration to it; we should examine it to see what else is in it. Before the next time you say the Lords' Prayer, think about what the words really mean. Is there anything else in the Lord's Prayer that you've been missing? What actions do the words of the Lord's Prayer call you to?

Be like the plants

2007-05-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

Almost anywhere there are sidewalks, you will see plants growing from cracks in them.

A few miles from where I live, there is a rock cliff, several hundred feet high, and several hundred feet wide. Growing out of the face of that cliff is a pine tree.

While riding my bicycle along the highway one day, I saw a cornstalk, perhaps two and a half feet tall, growing from a tiny crack in the pavement.

Plants are persistent. They will try to grow anywhere. They will find any little crack and sink their roots into it. Sometimes they will live long lives, surviving on the tiny bits of nourishment that fall into their crack. Months or years may go by without rain, but as soon as the rain falls, the plants spring back to life. If their best efforts fail, and they are unable to survive, when they die they will leave their bodies in the cracks, to become soil, to nourish the next plant to come along.

We who are working to make the world a better place must be like the plants. We must plant ourselves in every tiny crack. We must be persistent. Even when it looks as though there is no chance of success, we must carry on our work. And if we should fail, know this: like the plant who dies, yet opens the crack and leaves its body for the next plant to grow on, we will have opened the crack for those who follow us; we will have left something behind that will nourish those who follow us. Our work will never be in vain.

The Lord's Prayer

2007-05-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever said the Lord's Prayer? I imagine most of us have. I think it's important to consider what this prayer means, since the prayer comes to us from Jesus himself, who instructed his followers to pray:

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

I'd like to focus on a portion of this prayer:

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven.

I think this is very significant: Jesus told us to pray for God's kingdom to come, and for God's will to be done, here on Earth. So let's think about what that might mean, for God's kingdom to come, and for God's will to be done, here on Earth.

Do you think that there would be any poverty or hunger in God's kingdom? Doesn't seem very likely, does it? Then, do you think that it is God's will that there is poverty and hunger here on Earth? No, I think it's fairly safe to say that the poverty and hunger that exist here on Earth are not in accordance with God's will.

What about war? Is there any war in God's kingdom? Not a chance, and if the kingdom of God is to come to Earth, doesn't that mean that war on Earth will have to end? Is it God's will that there be bombing and killing and destruction? Certainly not! Then if God's will is to be done, doesn't that mean that the bombing and killing and destruction on Earth will have to end, in order to make Earth like heaven?

We could probably come up with a fairly large list of things that we currently find here on Earth that we can be sure will not be found in heaven. We could probably think of dozens of things that are currently widespread on Earth that are not in accordance with God's will.

Do you think that Jesus intended only that we pray about these things, intended only that we pray that God's will be done, or do you think he intended that we also work to see that it is done? If we see poverty and hunger, did Jesus intend that we merely bow our heads, ask God to end them, then go on about our business? Or does Jesus want us to take action to end poverty and hunger?

When we see the wars in this world, the bombing and killing and destruction, did Jesus intend that we should simply pray that the killing will stop, then stand about wringing our hands in despair when we see that it doesn't stop? Or does Jesus want us to take action to end war?

I think it is clear what Jesus would have us do. When we see people in poverty and hunger, we are to remember these words of Jesus: “He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath food, let him do likewise.” (Luke 3:11, ASV) Jesus intended that we take the action of giving a coat, or food, or whatever is needed, to those in need. And when we see war, we are to remember these words of Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9, ASV) Jesus intended that we take the action of being peacemakers.

But I think the real significance of the Lord's Prayer is this: it applies not just to each of us personally, but to our systems – our social institutions, our governments, our corporations, our churches. We can all agree that there will be no poverty, hunger, or war in heaven. But why won't there be? Will there be no hunger in heaven because those who have food will feed those who do not? Will there be no poverty in heaven because those who have two coats “impart to him that hath none”? No, it will be because the systems in place in heaven will not allow for poverty, hunger, and war. If God's will is to be done regarding poverty, hunger, and war, it will mean replacing our current systems, which do allow such things, with new systems that do not allow such things.

Consider the great disparity of wealth which currently exists in the world. We currently have systems which allow some people to accumulate massive wealth, while simultaneously allowing others to remain in abject poverty. According to Forbes magazine, there are at this moment 946 billionaires in the world; 946 people who have accumulated personal wealth of one billion dollars or more. At the same time, half the population of the world, over three billion human beings, lives on two dollars a day or less. Do you think there will be this kind of disparity of wealth in heaven? I do not. Do you think it is part of God's will that 946 people have a net worth of over a billion dollars, while three billion people live on two dollars a day or less? Again, I do not. Yet, this is the situation we have today. This is possible because we have systems that allow it. If God's will is to be done in this regard, it will mean that those of us who pray “Thy will be done” must work to see that it is done.

Now, most of us are not billionaires, so let me give another example that hits a little closer to home: Let's suppose that you and I are the owners of 48 inch plasma television sets. Most likely, these televisions were built by people in what we call the “developing world” - people who, although they work long hours every day building these television sets, will never own one. These workers aren't paid enough to buy the televisions they spend 12 or 14 hours a day building. Plain and simple, you and I are exploiting these people. No, you and I don't personally own the factories where these televisions are built, and you and I don't personally decide what wages these people will be paid. But we do allow others to pay these people starvation wages. We could refuse to involve ourselves in this; we could refuse to buy the television set unless the workers are paid a high enough wage that they, too, might own one. But this would still allow the system to continue; this would still allow God's will to be denied. If we are going to say the Lord's Prayer, if we are going to pray that God's will be done, then we must be willing to do the work to see that the will of God is done. In this case, applying God's will and the rules of the God's kingdom might look like this: Instead of “Free Trade” laws – systems that allow this exploitation - we could demand Fair Trade laws – systems that do not allow this exploitation. If the factory workers aren't paid an acceptable wage, if the working conditions aren't within acceptable standards - “acceptable” meaning acceptable to God - we simply don't allow the product to be sold in our country. This is justice in the Biblical sense; this is a system in accordance with God's will. And we can make this happen. Right now, we have a system that allows people to pay these workers next to nothing, while reaping massive profits for themselves. We have that system because those who directly profit from that system have lobbied our government to create that system. But what's worse, we have that system because those who indirectly profit from that system, the people who buy those television sets - you and I - allow that system to exist. It exists because we have not refused to participate in it, and it exists because we have not insisted that our government change the system to one that is fair to the workers who build the products we buy. We must not only personally refuse to participate in systems which are not in accordance with the will of God, we must, as a body – the body of Christ - work to create systems that are in accordance with the will of God.

These same standards must apply to all the systems of our world. We must constantly look at the world around us and ask ourselves, “Is this the way God would have it done? Is this, here on Earth, the way it is in heaven?” And if it is not, we must work to change it.

Saint Augustine said, “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” I believe this is what Jesus had in mind when he taught us to pray the Lord's Prayer. I believe that the Lord's Prayer is not simply intended to ask God to make change in the world, I believe that the Lord's Prayer calls all believers to action. I believe that the Lord's Prayer demands not only that our personal behaviors are in accordance with the will of God, but that the systems we create are in accordance with the will of God, and that each of us acts to ensure that they are.

So, the next time you say the Lord's Prayer, think about it before you say it. Remember that the prayer calls for God's will to be done on Earth, as it is in heaven. Remember that the Bible is filled with specific instructions to take action: “Let him impart to him that hath none”; “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Remember that ensuring that the will of God is done will require changes not only in our personal behaviors, but in the systems which regulate our behaviors as a society. Then say the prayer, and let God inspire you and give you the strength to follow through.

New website: ncwpeace.org

2007-04-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

The local peace group has created a new website to keep you informed of peace activities in the North Central Washington area, ncwpeace.org. The site is new, but already we have a schedule of activities, from Wenatchee to the Canadian border, some resources to help with your peacemaking activities, and a page of links to other peace related sites. Check it out!

Why I Protest, Part Two

2007-03-28T23:33:00.000-07:00

I participated in two anti-war protests today. At the first one, a young man came up and talked to us. He had just gotten out of the Marines; a medical discharge due to the injuries he'd received in Iraq. He will be disabled for the rest of his life.

That's why I protest.

At the second protest, a young man was there who I had not seen before. I went over to introduce myself and welcome him to the group. He had just got the news that his step-brother was killed in Iraq. Today. He was in tears as he told me about it. There are tears welling up in my eyes now as I think about it.

That's why I protest.

Why I Protest

2007-03-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

I participate in a protest against the Iraq war nearly every Wednesday evening at a major downtown intersection in the town I live in. While I am completely convinced that the war is wrong, and that my opposition to it is right, I sometimes question whether standing on a street corner holding an “End the war now” sign is the right thing to do. (I think I tend to question it most often when it's cold and snowing outside!) While it is no substitute for other actions, such as writing to my congressional representatives (which I also do), I have decided our street corner protest is appropriate. Here's why:

1. Even though it is unlikely that the President, my Congressional representatives, or others who have the power to stop the war will drive by and see us holding our signs here in my little town, they are undoubtedly aware of the existence of street protests. Street protests have been covered in newspapers and on television. Our representatives in government are made aware that we oppose this war through our protests.

2. Anybody who drives by sees our protest, and knows that we are against the war. I have hope that those who do not (yet) oppose the war against Iraq will be encouraged to think about the reasons why we oppose the war, and that they may come around to thinking as we do.

3. There are others who oppose the war, but have been reluctant to publicly speak out against it. Seeing our public demonstrations against the war may encourage them to speak out against the war, maybe even to join our public protests.

4. Call it good vibes, or positive energy, or whatever. We are doing the right thing in protesting the war. We know we are doing the right thing. Others know we are doing the right thing. We are creating positive energy with what we are doing, and the overall “mood” or “attitude” of the world is better because of what we do.

Join us!

Wanted: Real Church, Real Leaders

2007-03-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

A group from my church is discussing Tony Campolo and Brian McLaren's book, “Adventures in Missing the Point: How the Culture Controlled Church Neutered the Gospel.” During a recent discussion, it was suggested that we should start using “Fair Trade” coffee at church functions. (Among other things, Fair Trade attempts to assure that producers are paid a fair price for their products, and that the workers are treated fairly.) It was also suggested that we could make an announcement to the church, or perhaps put a small sign near the coffee pots, explaining what Fair Trade was, and why we were using Fair Trade coffee at church functions. One member of the group asked if the church was the appropriate place to be making such a statement.

I was shocked. That a church member could even ask such a question is, to me, yet another indicator of the tremendous failure of churches to do the work of Jesus. The Bible is filled with calls to justice. In Proverbs 21:3 we find, “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice”, and in Isaiah 56:1, “Thus saith Jehovah, Keep ye justice, and do righteousness.” What could be more just than purchasing products with a guarantee that the producers have been paid a fair price for their products? What could be more just than purchasing products with a guarantee that the workers producing those products have been paid and treated well? God tells us in Malachi 3:5, “I will be a swift witness ... against those that oppress the hireling in his wages.” When we buy Fair Trade products, we are assured that workers have been paid a fair wage.

And who better to teach these things than the church? The apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another”, and in Hebrews 10:24, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” By setting an example for all the Church has an opportunity to teach and to stir up its members.

Martin Luther once said, “If you preach the Gospel in all aspects with the exception of the issues which deal specifically with your time you are not preaching the Gospel at all.” In a world in which we have constant war, poverty and hunger, exploitation of the weak by the powerful, and environmental destruction – and Christians who do nothing about them - a church which does not speak out against these things is not preaching the Gospel. The church must take an active role in seeking out injustice, speaking out against it, and taking action against it. Can you picture Jesus, when presented with an injustice, questioning whether it was appropriate to speak out about it, or take action against it? Of course not. Can you picture Jesus, when presented with a sick person, asking whether it was appropriate to heal the person? Of course not. If the church is to be the “body of Christ”, the church must do as Jesus would have done, and those who claim to be leaders of the church must lead the church in doing the work of Jesus. And now would be a good time to start.

Footnote: While I was writing the above, I came across a few quotations from Aiden Wilson (A.W.) Tozer, which I will include here:

We desperately need seers who can see through the mist---Christian leaders with prophetic vision. Unless they come soon it will be too late for this generation. And if they do come we will no doubt crucify a few of them in the name of our worldly orthodoxy.

Perhaps our greatest present need may be the coming of a prophet to dash the stones at the foot of the mountain and call the Church out to repentance or to judgment.

Could it be that too many of God's true children, and especially the preachers, are sinning against God by guilty silence?...I for one am waiting to hear the loud voices of the prophets and reformers sounding once more over a sluggish and drowsy church. They'll pay a price for their boldness, but the results will be worth it.

To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men. This is such a common truth that one hesitates to mention it, yet it appears to have been overlooked by the majority of Christians today.

Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society's own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender.

I see that I am not the first person to notice the failure of the Church to do the work of Jesus. I hope that others will also notice, and will take action.

Thoughts after reading Martin Luther King's "Stride Toward Freedom"

2007-01-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day having just passed, I decided I should read more of King's writings. I read his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, which is the story of the struggle to integrate the buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 and 1956. Black people were at that time required to sit at the rear of the bus, and were also required to give up their seat to a white person if told to do so. For more than a year, the black people of Montgomery boycotted the bus system, organizing car pools and ride sharing, and walking miles to work rather than riding the buses. I won't tell the whole story here, but I do recommend that you read the book.

Several things struck me about the struggle for integration. The first is that King taught that the black people must always be nonviolent, even if they were insulted or attacked. What amazes me is that the black people did manage to remain nonviolent, even when the homes of black leaders and several black churches were bombed. I can easily imagine this violence being returned with violence, but they didn't do it. King must have been an amazing man to have this kind of influence on the black population of an entire city.

The second thing that struck me is that so many of the leaders of the movement were church leaders. Of the 45 members of the Executive Board of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization founded to lead the movement, twenty-four of them carried the title, “Reverend.” Many of the meetings were held in churches, and churches provided office space and other resources to the movement.

I have recently seen many churches refuse to get involved in struggles for justice (or to end wars, or to rid ourselves of weapons of mass destruction, or to stop our government from torturing people, or to stop changing the global climate), often saying that it is “too political.” I believe that God calls us to work for justice for all his children, and while some may see this as a political issue, I believe it is a moral issue. Church leaders and congregation members would do well to read Martin Luther King's books and speeches. Or simply consider this, also from Dr. King: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” That doesn't just apply to individuals, it also applies to churches. When the church fails to speak out about things that matter, it's as good as dead. Pastors, churches, Christian congregations, take a lesson from Dr. King: get active, do something, make things happen.

Can we morally justify our nuclear weapons?

2007-01-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

The United States possesses ten thousand nuclear weapons. As I have previously mentioned, this is enough to kill every human being on planet Earth, perhaps 8 or 10 times over. A single warhead could likely kill over 4 million people, and there are 192 of these warheads on each of the nine Trident submarines based at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor on Hood Canal in Washington State. Just the nuclear weapons carried on the Trident subs are enough to kill every man, woman, and child on Earth, and that's just a fraction of the total nuclear arsenal of the U.S.

I'd like to know under what circumstances we would be morally justified in using these weapons. Remember that these weapons are not intended for military targets, they are city destroyers. A bullet is intended to kill a single enemy soldier. An anti-tank weapon is intended to destroy a single attacking enemy tank. But a nuclear weapon is intended to kill civilians, millions of them, entire cities of them – men, women, and children. A nuclear weapon is intended to destroy millions of innocent lives, the lives of people who would like nothing more than to be simply left alone to go about their business. Under what circumstances would we be morally justified in vaporizing 4.4 million innocent human beings with a single warhead? Under what circumstances would we be morally justified in vaporizing 35.5 million innocent human beings with a single missile? Under what circumstances would we be morally justified in vaporizing 851 million innocent human beings with the firepower we could launch from a single Trident submarine? And under what circumstances would we be morally justified in ending the life of every single human being on planet Earth, something we have the capability to do 8 times over?

It is my contention that there are no circumstances under which we could justify using these weapons. It is my contention that there are no circumstances under which we could justify the destruction of millions, even billions, of innocent human lives. So why do we have these weapons? Again I ask you, are we really that insane, or that evil, that we would destroy all human life with our nuclear weapons? If not, why do we have ten thousand nuclear weapons? If we are to be honest with ourselves, we must admit that we are insane enough, we are evil enough to destroy all human life. We must admit that we have, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., allowed our scientific power to outrun our spiritual power.

Or we can regain our humanity by ridding ourselves of these weapons.

That is the path that I choose. I will not participate in the destruction of the human race. I will work for the abolition of nuclear weapons. I will work to remove from political power those who would give the order to use these weapons, and I will work to replace them with people who will dismantle our nuclear arsenal.

And I hope that you will join me. For it is likely that the survival of the entire human race depends on it. Certainly our status as moral beings depends on it.

Martin Luther King Day vigil at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor

2007-01-18T17:34:00.000-08:00

On January 15, 2007 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – I joined approximately 220 people in a vigil for peace and for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. The vigil was held at the gates of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, located on Hood Canal/Puget Sound in Washington State. The action included hanging a sign from an overpass near the gates, with this statement from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.” In a nonviolent act of civil disobedience, seven people blocked the highway into the base, holding a sign that said “Abolish Nuclear Weapons”, and were arrested on “suspicion of attempted disorderly conduct.” An additional six demonstrators were arrested after they entered the base in an attempt to deliver a statement to the base commander.

Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor is home to nine Trident submarines. Each submarine carries up to 24 D5 missiles, and each missile carries 8 nuclear warheads. Each of the 192 nuclear weapons on a Trident sub has an explosive power of 475 kilotons of TNT, more than 30 times the power of the bomb that killed 140 thousand human beings at Hiroshima. Assuming the same kill ratio as the Hiroshima bombing, each warhead could kill 4.4 million people, each missile could kill 35.5 million people, each sub could kill 851.2 million people, and the Kitsap-Bangor based nine sub fleet could kill 7.66 billion people, more than the current 6.3 billion population of the Earth.

In addition to the nuclear weapons on the submarines based at Kitsap-Bangor, there are an additional approximately 1000 nuclear weapons stored on the base. In total, Kitsap-Bangor is home to 24 percent of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and is quite possibly the world's largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Assuming that each of these warheads has the same killing power as the sub-based weapons, they would have the ability to kill another 4.4 billion people.

The total killing power of the approximately ten thousand nuclear weapons the U.S. possesses is beyond imagination.

Are we really that insane, or that evil, that we would destroy all human life with our nuclear weapons? Why do we have ten thousand nuclear weapons? We have truly allowed our scientific power to outrun our spiritual power; we truly are misguided men. If you care about your fellow human beings, work to abolish nuclear weapons. Write to your Congressional Representatives. Join a group working for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. Participate in vigils and demonstrations, and encourage others to join you.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “For years now, we have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can we just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.” In a world in which a single naval base has the capability of killing every single human being on the planet, King has it right: we cannot continue this path of violence. We must dismantle our nuclear weapons. We must stop using violence to settle our disputes. And we must do it now.

The vigil at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor was organized by The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action. Visit their website for more information on their activities, and check out some of the other groups listed on their links page.

What is Social Justice?

2006-11-15T04:18:00.000-08:00

While talking with a friend the other day, I used the term “social justice.” When she asked what that meant, I really didn't have a good answer. I'm a member of the Social Justice Committee of the local Catholic church, a member of the League For Social Justice group on MySpace, and I could probably talk about social justice all afternoon. But I couldn't define it in just a sentence or two.

I did a little web searching, and asked everybody I thought might have a good definition of social justice. Wikipedia says, “Social justice refers to conceptions of justice applied to an entire society. It is based on the idea of a just society, which gives individuals and groups fair treatment and a just share of the benefits of society.”

At the website of the Social Justice Training Institute, I found this: Adams, Bell and Griffin (1997) define social justice as both a process and a goal. “The goal of social justice education is full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure.”

A friend from the Social Justice Committee gave this definition for social justice: “Social policies that allow all people to live with dignity, including access to adequate food, clean water, shelter, security, healthcare, meaningful work, and the freedom to participate in government.”

According to Rachel Brewer at The Centre for Social Justice, “Social justice involves the struggle to create societies where income, wealth and power are collectively shared rather than concentrated in the hands of a powerful few.”

H.G. Wells and friends, in their Declaration of Rights, tell us: “Every man is a joint inheritor of all the natural resources and of the powers, inventions and possibilities accumulated by our forerunners. He is entitled, within the measure of these resources and without distinction of race, color or professed beliefs or opinions, to the nourishment, covering and medical care needed to realise his full possibilities of physical and mental development from birth to death. Notwithstanding the various and unequal qualities of individuals, all men shall be deemed absolutely equal in the eyes of the law, equally important in social life and equally entitled to the respect of their fellow-men.”

Erika Nonken, Public Information Assistant at the Unitarian Universalist Association, says social justice is working to [or actions that] make society more just.

All these are good definitions, but this quote from Archbishop Helder Camara really helped clarify social justice for me, distinguishing it from charity: “When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.” Social justice means asking the hard questions. Merely feeding the poor is charity. Charity is fine, but it doesn't address the question of why the poor have no food. Social justice asks the question, finds the answer, and works to see to it that, from now on, the poor will always have food. Social justice asks why some schools have 30 year old text books while others have the latest texts and a computer for every student, then works to make sure the latest texts and computers will always be available in every school.

There's an old story that takes place in a village on a river bank:

One summer in the village, the people in the town gathered for a picnic. As they leisurely shared food and conversation, someone noticed a baby in the river, struggling and crying. The baby was going to drown! Someone rushed to save the baby. Then, they noticed another screaming baby in the river, and they pulled that baby out. Soon, more babies were seen drowning in the river, and the towns people were pulling them out as fast as they could. It took great effort, and they began to organize their activities in order to save the babies as they came down the river. As everyone else was busy in the rescue efforts to save the babies, two of the townspeople started to run away along the shore of the river.

"Where are you going?" shouted one of the rescuers. "We need you here to help us save these babies!"

"We are going upstream to stop whoever is throwing them in!"

Social justice means going upstream to stop whoever is throwing babies in the river.

Happy Armistice Day!

2006-11-14T19:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Armistice Day! I know, you think it's Veterans Day, but it started out as Armistice Day, the commemoration of the signing of the cease-fire agreement - or armistice - that ended, on November 11, 1918, The Great War, The War To End All Wars, the war we now call World War One.

A proclamation by President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 made the 11th of November an annual celebration. Wilson's proclamation ended with these words:

To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nation.

The “thing from which it has freed us” was, of course, the war; the bloodshed and killing.

In 1926, Congress recognized Armistice Day with a resolution including these words:

“it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.”

I like the original intent of Armistice Day: to recognize the armistice which ended war, to give America an opportunity “to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nation”, and an opportunity to “perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.”

Unfortunately, “The War To End All Wars” didn't end all war, and in 1954 Congress changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day, a day to honor the veterans of all wars. I don't mind honoring our war veterans, I suppose, I just don't want to make any more of them.

I'd like to see us make November 11th once again a day to celebrate that moment when the world believed it had just ended The War To End All Wars, and I'd like to see us work to make those dreams of peace into reality. I'd like to see us make November 11th once again a day when the councils of the nation show their sympathy with peace and justice. I'd like to see us make November 11th once again a day when we work to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations. I'd like to relegate Veterans Day, and war, to the dustbins of history. Instead of war heroes, I'd like to honor peace heroes. I'd like to bring back Armistice Day.

On Ted Haggard

2006-11-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

I feel kind of sorry for Ted Haggard.

Ted Haggard is the founder and senior pastor of the 14,000 member New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and President of the National Association of Evangelicals. Or rather, he was, until it came out last week that he is also a homosexual and has been involved in an adulterous homosexual relationship for the past three years.

Teg Haggard didn't suddenly change one day late last week. If he was qualified to be senior pastor of New Life Church and President of the National Association of Evangelicals last week, then surely he is qualified for those positions this week. One's sexual desires, and what one does with them, do not define a person.

The discovery of one's shortcomings, and I'm referring here to Haggard's adulterous relationship and his lies and denial of it, not his homosexuality, also do not define a person. Ted Haggard was an adulterer, a liar, and a deceiver last week, just as he is an adulterer, a liar, and a deceiver this week, yet last week he carried out his responsibilities as pastor and NAE President to everyone's apparent satisfaction. The discovery of his status as adulterer, liar, and deceiver does not change who he is, nor does it affect his ability to carry out the tasks that he carried out to everyone's satisfaction last week.

So, why is Ted Haggard no longer the senior pastor of New Life Church and President of the National Association of Evangelicals? If you believe that homosexuality is a sin, and that adultery and deceit are sins, then Haggard is a sinner. But, as Jesus said, “let he among us who is without sin cast the first stone” (thus ensuring that no stones will be cast). May he who is without sin also be the first to ask Ted Haggard to step down from his leadership positions. If being a sinner was grounds for removal from one's job, we'd all be unemployed and nothing would get done.

So, let's acknowledge that Ted Haggard is a sinner, as are we all. Let us then acknowledge that Jesus loves sinners – every one of us – and let us continue to love Ted Haggard as Jesus does. Let's let Haggard get back to the work he does, knowing that he has done that work well in the past regardless of his being a sinner, and knowing that he can continue to do that work just as well now that we acknowledge his status as sinner as he did before we acknowledged his status as sinner.

Let us from this day forward acknowledge that all of us, like Ted Haggard, are sinners, and that Jesus still loves every one of us and expects all of us to love one another in spite of our being sinners. Let us not judge each other on the basis of the sins we know or believe the other has committed, but rather on the status of each one of us as a child of God.

And let us pray that those who choose to treat homosexuals differently than they treat other people – and that includes Ted Haggard and many of his followers - will recognize that the homosexual could be anyone: your neighbor, your brother or sister, somebody you work with, or even the senior pastor of New Life Church and President of the National Association of Evangelicals.

I am a racist.

2006-10-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

I am a racist.

And I'm not very happy about that.

A few weeks ago I visited the MySpace page of a woman I met online. On her page, there is a picture of her with her boyfriend. She's white, and he's black. And the first thing that came to my mind was: what is she doing with that black man?

Ouch! It hurt to have that thought.

In the town where I grew up, there were no black people. All I knew about black people was what I heard from others. My dad, as I recall, nearly almost called black people “niggers.” I saw as a child the news on TV about the riots in Harlem, Watts, and Detroit, and I'd hear people around me say, “Well, what do you expect from niggers?” And they might toss in a comment or two about how they were all on welfare, too. That's what I learned about black people as a child.

As an adult, I lived in North Carolina for 8 years. Unlike the rural Pacific Northwest town I grew up in, there are black people in North Carolina! And I got to know some of them. Griffith was a technician where I worked, and a good technician. He was quiet and soft-spoken, and I don't think I ever heard him speak a harsh word to anybody. Sometimes a bunch of us would go to lunch together, and I doubt it ever occurred to anybody to exclude Griffith. He wasn't a nigger to any of us, I don't think anybody even thought of him as a black man. He was just one of the guys.

Then there was Wheatley. Wheatley was bright, witty, pleasant to everyone, and beautiful. And married, which broke my heart! I don't think I ever thought of Wheatley as a black woman; I just thought of her as a woman, and a damn fine woman at that!

Back in the town I grew up in, there are now a few black people, and I know several of them. I've had two of them work for me in my electronics business. And I never really thought of them as black people, just people. One of them is married to a white woman, and I have never looked at the two of them and thought, “What is she doing with that black guy?” They're just another married couple.

So why the reaction to the picture of this white woman with a black man?

I think that what I am guilty of is not so much racism as it is prejudice. Prejudice means, literally, “pre-judge.” I looked at the picture of a white woman and a black man, and I pre-judged him. I know nothing about him, yet I made the judgement that he was not the right man for this woman.

It's a lot harder to do that face to face. When I see a person in front of me, I find it much easier to just see a person. I don't generally see a black person, or a white person, or a brown or red person, I just see a person. Maybe it's seeing their smile, or hearing their voice, or maybe it's feeling the presence of another human soul before me. But I am unable to pre-judge a person who is standing right in front of me. My heart feels what my eyes and brain have learned to not see.

I am not happy that I pre-judged that man in the picture. I'm not happy that things I learned as a child still come back to haunt me. That bothers me. But I am happy that I was bothered by it enough that I have been thinking about this ever since that day when I looked at that picture and pre-judged - wrongly pre-judged – a man I knew nothing about. I'm happy that I was bothered by it enough to talk to several friends of mine about it, and I'm thankful for their insights. I'm glad that I was able to see this prejudice, and to see the error of it.

Almost certainly, I harbor more prejudices that I am yet unaware of. I hope this experience will help me to see them too, and to deal with them. I hope that in the future I will not see skin color, or hair color, or whether a person is fat or skinny, or tall or short or old or young. I hope that instead I will simply see another human being, another person much like myself. And I hope that you have been inspired to look for any prejudices you may harbor, and to work through them.