March 24, 2011
Lent: Week Three
As we make our way towards the death of Jesus, and then afterwards to his resurrection, we reflect on his suffering as more than man's inhumanity to the Son of Man, but as God's suffering our oppression, and his identification with the oppressed. Jürgen Moltmann guides us to an understanding of the cross from the point of view of the downtrodden:
Why and in what way did the suffering, crucified God become the God of the poor and abandoned?
In Europe, Christmas and Easter are the high points of the church year, in custom and folklore and popular piety. This is not so in Latin America. The Christian 'feasts of life and hope' mean nothing to Indians and Mestizos. Their feast is Holy Week. The suffering and death of Jesus, the pain and mourning is something in which they can share. There they are at home. That is their life. The submission to fate and ability to suffer of the original inhabitants of Latin America has long been assisted by particular devotional forms. These include the stations of the cross, intercessory processions around representations of the fourteen biblical and legendary stations of Jesus during his passion.
Here, of course, the dominant church has from earliest times so formulated the texts of the stations of the cross that the believers are made aware only of the pains caused to Christ by their individual sins and their private immorality. But the poor no doubt recognized all their suffering in the crucified Christ: what they suffered from society and what they suffered from their fate.
Similarly, the piety of the Negro spirituals sung by black slaves in the southern states of the USA concentrates upon the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. For them his sufferings and death were a symbol of their own sufferings, their despised condition and their temptations in an unfriendly and inhuman world. They saw their fate in his sufferings. On the other hand, they could say that when Jesus was nailed to the cross and the Roman soldiers stabbed him in the side, he was not alone. The black slaves suffered with him and died with him.
"Were you there, when they crucified my Lord?" begins one of their songs. And the answer is: "We, the black slaves, were there with him in his agony." They knew the agony of rejection and the pain of hanging from a tree...Because black slaves knew the significance of the pain and shame of Jesus' death on the cross, they found themselves by his side.
By his suffering and death, Jesus identified himself with those who were enslaved, and took their pain upon himself. And if he was not alone in his suffering, nor were they abandoned in their pains of slavery. Jesus was with them. And there too lay their hope of freedom, by virtue of his resurrection into the freedom of God. Jesus was their identity with God in a world which had taken all hope from them and destroyed their human identity until it was unrecognizable.
"What a wonderful God we have--the source of every mercy and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials."
These words from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians take on greater meaning to me when I see them printed next to a painting of a young black girl, her face streaming with tears, her head turned upward in appeal, under the visible strain of generations of persecution, murder and slavery. Her image and these words hang on the wall in our house as an icon of the suffering Christ.
2 Corinthians continues after this verse to say "So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us."
As Jesus has said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."
Why and in what way did the suffering, crucified God become the God of the poor and abandoned?
In Europe, Christmas and Easter are the high points of the church year, in custom and folklore and popular piety. This is not so in Latin America. The Christian 'feasts of life and hope' mean nothing to Indians and Mestizos. Their feast is Holy Week. The suffering and death of Jesus, the pain and mourning is something in which they can share. There they are at home. That is their life. The submission to fate and ability to suffer of the original inhabitants of Latin America has long been assisted by particular devotional forms. These include the stations of the cross, intercessory processions around representations of the fourteen biblical and legendary stations of Jesus during his passion.
Here, of course, the dominant church has from earliest times so formulated the texts of the stations of the cross that the believers are made aware only of the pains caused to Christ by their individual sins and their private immorality. But the poor no doubt recognized all their suffering in the crucified Christ: what they suffered from society and what they suffered from their fate.
Similarly, the piety of the Negro spirituals sung by black slaves in the southern states of the USA concentrates upon the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. For them his sufferings and death were a symbol of their own sufferings, their despised condition and their temptations in an unfriendly and inhuman world. They saw their fate in his sufferings. On the other hand, they could say that when Jesus was nailed to the cross and the Roman soldiers stabbed him in the side, he was not alone. The black slaves suffered with him and died with him.
"Were you there, when they crucified my Lord?" begins one of their songs. And the answer is: "We, the black slaves, were there with him in his agony." They knew the agony of rejection and the pain of hanging from a tree...Because black slaves knew the significance of the pain and shame of Jesus' death on the cross, they found themselves by his side.
By his suffering and death, Jesus identified himself with those who were enslaved, and took their pain upon himself. And if he was not alone in his suffering, nor were they abandoned in their pains of slavery. Jesus was with them. And there too lay their hope of freedom, by virtue of his resurrection into the freedom of God. Jesus was their identity with God in a world which had taken all hope from them and destroyed their human identity until it was unrecognizable.
"What a wonderful God we have--the source of every mercy and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials."
These words from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians take on greater meaning to me when I see them printed next to a painting of a young black girl, her face streaming with tears, her head turned upward in appeal, under the visible strain of generations of persecution, murder and slavery. Her image and these words hang on the wall in our house as an icon of the suffering Christ.
2 Corinthians continues after this verse to say "So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us."
As Jesus has said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."
March 23, 2011
Bread
Food is power, produce it!
Waste is waste because we waste it.
Health is life and you can taste it.
Their feedin' us shit and they have laced it
Food is power and they abuse it; Can't be trusted
genetically modified, fertilized and dusted
harvested by migrant workers who's backs are busted, yet they can't afford to eat it
Food is power and we are being defeated
Food is power because we NEED to eat it
Waste is waste because we waste it.
Health is life and you can taste it.
Their feedin' us shit and they have laced it
Food is power and they abuse it; Can't be trusted
genetically modified, fertilized and dusted
harvested by migrant workers who's backs are busted, yet they can't afford to eat it
Food is power and we are being defeated
Food is power because we NEED to eat it
The source of our food has been lost in obscurity
It’s about control & ownership, we need food security!
Food is power and we must produce it.
Food is power and we can use it
to be independent, truly free, and juice it
Food is power & we must produce it
Growin lettuce & justice, beets & peace, Some collards & love,
May His kingdom come to these streets.
Give us this day our daily bread
Food is power and we must produce it.
Food is power and we can use it
to be independent, truly free, and juice it
Food is power & we must produce it
Growin lettuce & justice, beets & peace, Some collards & love,
May His kingdom come to these streets.
Give us this day our daily bread
and free us from the snares where we are normally fed.
March 17, 2011
Lent: Week Two
As we continue our Lenten fast and reflection, as we consider the pain in this world and the Incarnation I want to share a few pieces from the pen of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
"No man can look with undivided vision at God and at the world of reality so long as God and the world are torn asunder. Try as he may, he can only let his eyes wander distractedly from one to the other. But there is a place at which God and the cosmic reality are reconciled, a place at which God and man have become one. That and that alone is what enables man to set his eyes upon God and upon the world at the same time. This place does not lie somewhere out beyond reality in the realm of ideas. It lies in the midst of history as a divine miracle. It lies in Jesus Christ."
As Paul wrote 'He is the image of the invisible God.' -Colossians 1:15
With the incarnation making it possible to bring both the Glory of God and the pain of this world into our gaze, consider the depth of the incarnation. In one such reflection Bonhoeffer writes:
"Ecce homo!- Behold the God who has become man, the unfathomable mystery of the love of God for the world. God loves man. God loves the world. It is not an ideal man the He loves; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find abominable in man's opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, the real man, the real world, this is for God the ground for unfathomable love, and it is with this that He unites Himself utterly. God becomes man, real man. While we are trying to grow out beyond our manhood, to leave the man behind us, God becomes man and we we have to recognize that God wishes us men, too, to be real men. While we are distinguishing the pious from the ungodly, the good from the wicked, the noble from the mean, God makes no distinction at all in His love for the real man. He does not permit us to classify men and the world according to our own standards and to set ourselves up as judges over them. He leads us ad absurdum by Himself becoming a real man and a companion of sinners and thereby compelling us to become judges of God. God sides with the real man and with the real world against all their accusers. Together with men and with the world He comes before judges, so that the judges are now made the accused."
This week we stand with the hungry of this world, just as Jesus has always stood with them.
"No man can look with undivided vision at God and at the world of reality so long as God and the world are torn asunder. Try as he may, he can only let his eyes wander distractedly from one to the other. But there is a place at which God and the cosmic reality are reconciled, a place at which God and man have become one. That and that alone is what enables man to set his eyes upon God and upon the world at the same time. This place does not lie somewhere out beyond reality in the realm of ideas. It lies in the midst of history as a divine miracle. It lies in Jesus Christ."
As Paul wrote 'He is the image of the invisible God.' -Colossians 1:15
With the incarnation making it possible to bring both the Glory of God and the pain of this world into our gaze, consider the depth of the incarnation. In one such reflection Bonhoeffer writes:
"Ecce homo!- Behold the God who has become man, the unfathomable mystery of the love of God for the world. God loves man. God loves the world. It is not an ideal man the He loves; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find abominable in man's opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, the real man, the real world, this is for God the ground for unfathomable love, and it is with this that He unites Himself utterly. God becomes man, real man. While we are trying to grow out beyond our manhood, to leave the man behind us, God becomes man and we we have to recognize that God wishes us men, too, to be real men. While we are distinguishing the pious from the ungodly, the good from the wicked, the noble from the mean, God makes no distinction at all in His love for the real man. He does not permit us to classify men and the world according to our own standards and to set ourselves up as judges over them. He leads us ad absurdum by Himself becoming a real man and a companion of sinners and thereby compelling us to become judges of God. God sides with the real man and with the real world against all their accusers. Together with men and with the world He comes before judges, so that the judges are now made the accused."
This week we stand with the hungry of this world, just as Jesus has always stood with them.
March 15, 2011
Dear Composters,
Every year America throws away 96 billion pounds of food; 263 million pounds a day; 11 million pounds an hour; 3000 pounds a second. We live in a society of consumption and waste. Our community is determined to use less and produce more as an act of repentance and justice. What we are striving to do through our composting efforts is to help in the development of disciplines among our community that remember tomorrow and use/reuse every resource we can. We now know that natural resources are not infinite and that they are actually rapidly diminishing. This depletion of the earth’s resources directly, negatively and most severely affects the poor of the earth. Social injustice, which finds itself at the heart of our ecological mindfulness, is the manifestation of violence against the most complex being in all of creation, the human being. Many people in this world go without their basic needs and we as a community are learning compassion. Compassion is generally expressed when need is immediate and clear. (we share our meal, clothes or our house with one in need) We must also consider the needs and rights of future generations as well as the current needs of the earth today.
We know old habits are hard to break especially when we live in a culture that reinforces ecological sin but we must continue to walk out our faith in even the smallest of details. Your organic waste is a gift to our community and it's potential to produce food (which we believe is power). It is also an act of justice on your part. It is a small change but directly effects your relationship with the earth and the poor throughout our community. Thank you so much for your fragrant offerings.
With Gratitude,
The Lake House Composting Co-op
March 03, 2011
What a Week (Applied Theology)
I haven't even been back in the country one week yet and already I don't think I could possibly report about all that has gone on. I love Tampa and I always love coming home. There have been several guests staying at the house since I have been back, others stopping by to get rest or to do laundry and a mosaic of other exciting ministry initiatives blossoming all around us. Our life is fun, busy, hard, joyful and at times confusing. There just are no easy answers. Each moment we must live and decide how to act or react as though we live at the foot of Jesus' throne. Because we do. We act in front of Him in faith that we are, as best we understand, doing His will. This of course does not mean that we actually are doing his will. This is the challenge of applied theology. We all have lots of ideas about God, His kingdom, His will, and especially about right and wrong. But we must avoid the temptation to try to imagine every possible scenario and predetermine the 'right' response because we just can't. Not when you are living in this world. Its unimaginable. Its only here that these experiences can be conceived of, as they happen. Applied theology is existential in nature and we must work out these ideas and ideologies in concrete reality. We must act and do and build and respond, we must live. We spend ourselves on behalf of others and hold tight to the promise that our righteousness would go before us and God's grace and glory would have our back. But in a life where you are, in each moment, doing theology as you walk into hard relationships and messy reality it is dizzying. We never quite feel balanced. We live our lives trusting in each other as together we trust in Jesus and lean out into the pain, darkness, and the unknown. Often we are surprised by joy, we are always stretched and challenged, and occasionally we are dumbfounded and unsure of what we are supposed to do. There is a powerful reality being addressed by the cheesy christian WWJD bracelets "What would Jesus do" right now in this moment and situation. Apply your Christology. But you know it is even harder than that. We could ask that question about anyone and we often do. "What would Tyler Durden do?", "What would my dad say?", etc. But the reality of Jesus is not only that He was a teacher and a model but that He is alive and present as well. He is in the moment with us, working and moving, and we must, in every moment try to discern "what is Jesus doing?" now in this moment and situation. Apply your Christology.
So last night is a good example, home church was over and everyone had left. It was about midnight when there was a knock at the door. It was a young guy that used to come around a lot but had left town for a good amount of time. Robby and Drew were the ones that were there to answer the door. Apparently this guy gave them a different name and asked to come in, he was obviously drunk and had a fairly menacing looking buddy with him who we had never met. They called me to come up front and I remembered him immediately. He was a very strange schizophrenic that I hadn't seen in a while. I remember him being very quiet and odd while sober and very wild and unpredictable when intoxicated. So he is at the door, drunk and high, and asking to come in. I told them it was late and that we were on our way to bed but that they could come in and sit down for a few minutes. They came in and this guy was just spouting one ridiculous thing after another. His friend seemed to get more and more bothered by him and more and more nervous about him doing this in our house with what was now four of us standing around (Will had showed up too). Then he looks at Will and says, "You remember when I robbed your house?" Of course we are all like "No.... we didn't know who robbed us." "Yeah when that back window got broken....y'all still mad at me about that?" It was unbelievable!!! His friend got real nervous and start getting up to leave and we just said "That was you? We didn't know that."
This is what I'm talking about. Adrenaline shot through my skull as I thought of a few other guys that I had confronted about breaking in our home (which they did another time so....whatever). If I am honest I immediately wanted to slam this dudes head into the wall and choke him out. I'm a work in progress and still learning the way of peace. I didn't and as all my anger and confusion started spiraling out of control in my head and I looked around at what seemed like a room full of confused housemates. I told him that it was about that time and that he should probably get going. He asked for prayer. So we all joined hands as the guest turned on a Lil John song on his cell phone and the lot of us gathered and prayed for these two men (with the most amazingly profane musical backdrop ever). God be with them, protect them, guide them. And I remember David praying after the break-in last year, "God forgive me that I care more about what was stolen than those who stole it" and i said goodbye.
I am still in the thick of the question. I am replaying the event over and over in my head trying to see what God is doing here. What is the move that I am to make? I must look out for my housemates and guests and I must love neighbors, strangers and even enemies. I don't want him back at the house but I do hope to engage him at the conscious party or meal sites, or just when I see him around on the streets. These are just initial reactions but the truth is, it will come down to the moment. I will see him, maybe at my door and maybe on the block, and I must act, in front of the throne of God, in obedience to His will and kingdom. In every moment at every turn, whether in peace or trial, we must walk out our prayer for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So last night is a good example, home church was over and everyone had left. It was about midnight when there was a knock at the door. It was a young guy that used to come around a lot but had left town for a good amount of time. Robby and Drew were the ones that were there to answer the door. Apparently this guy gave them a different name and asked to come in, he was obviously drunk and had a fairly menacing looking buddy with him who we had never met. They called me to come up front and I remembered him immediately. He was a very strange schizophrenic that I hadn't seen in a while. I remember him being very quiet and odd while sober and very wild and unpredictable when intoxicated. So he is at the door, drunk and high, and asking to come in. I told them it was late and that we were on our way to bed but that they could come in and sit down for a few minutes. They came in and this guy was just spouting one ridiculous thing after another. His friend seemed to get more and more bothered by him and more and more nervous about him doing this in our house with what was now four of us standing around (Will had showed up too). Then he looks at Will and says, "You remember when I robbed your house?" Of course we are all like "No.... we didn't know who robbed us." "Yeah when that back window got broken....y'all still mad at me about that?" It was unbelievable!!! His friend got real nervous and start getting up to leave and we just said "That was you? We didn't know that."
This is what I'm talking about. Adrenaline shot through my skull as I thought of a few other guys that I had confronted about breaking in our home (which they did another time so....whatever). If I am honest I immediately wanted to slam this dudes head into the wall and choke him out. I'm a work in progress and still learning the way of peace. I didn't and as all my anger and confusion started spiraling out of control in my head and I looked around at what seemed like a room full of confused housemates. I told him that it was about that time and that he should probably get going. He asked for prayer. So we all joined hands as the guest turned on a Lil John song on his cell phone and the lot of us gathered and prayed for these two men (with the most amazingly profane musical backdrop ever). God be with them, protect them, guide them. And I remember David praying after the break-in last year, "God forgive me that I care more about what was stolen than those who stole it" and i said goodbye.
I am still in the thick of the question. I am replaying the event over and over in my head trying to see what God is doing here. What is the move that I am to make? I must look out for my housemates and guests and I must love neighbors, strangers and even enemies. I don't want him back at the house but I do hope to engage him at the conscious party or meal sites, or just when I see him around on the streets. These are just initial reactions but the truth is, it will come down to the moment. I will see him, maybe at my door and maybe on the block, and I must act, in front of the throne of God, in obedience to His will and kingdom. In every moment at every turn, whether in peace or trial, we must walk out our prayer for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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