what looks like failure is success
and what looks like poverty is riches
when what is true looks more like a knife
it looks like you're killing me
but you're saving my life
but I give myself to what looks like love
and I sell myself for what feels like love
and I pay to get what is not love
and all just because I see things upside down
what looks like weakness can do anything
and what looks like foolishness is understanding
when what is powerful has not come to fight
it looks like you're going to war
but you lay down your life
but I give myself to what looks like love
and I sell myself for what feels like love
and I pay to get what is not love
and all just because I see things upside down
what looks like torture is a time to rejoice
what sounds like thunder is a comforting voice
when what is beautiful looks broken and crushed
and I say I don't know you
but you say it's finished
-- from Derek Webb's album, I See Things Upside Down
28 September 2007
14 September 2007
11 September 2007
In memoriam / reflections on the anniversary of tragedy
A collection of excerpts from Shane Claiborne's The Irresistible Revolution:
The tragedy of the church's reaction to September 11th is not that we rallied around the families in New York and D.C., but that our love simply reflected the borders and allegiances of the world. We mourned the deaths of each soldier, as we should, but we did not feel the same anger and pain for each Iraqi death, or for the folks abused in the Abu Ghraib prison incident. We got farther and father from Jesus' vision, which extends beyond our rational love and the boundaries we have established. There is no doubt that we must mourn those lives lost on September 11th. We must mourn the lives of the soldiers. But with the same passion and outrage, we must mourn the lives of every Iraqi who is lost. They are just as precious, no more, no less. In our rebirth, every life lost in Iraq is just as tragic as a life lost in New York or D.C.
[...]
Rebirth means that we have a new paradigm of "us" and "them." Our central identity is no longer biological. And our central allegiance is no longer national. Our pronouns change. Our new "us," as Jesus teaches, is the church, the people of God doing the will of the Father. [...] When we hear that "we" were attacked, do we think "we" the church or "we" as Americans? What is our primary identity? When the Bush administration said that a way of life was being attacked, it was true, but it was not the gospel that was being attacked. It is no coincidence that what was attacked wasn't the World Council of Churches but the symbols of the corporate global economy and the arms that would protect it.
[...]
Too often we just do what makes sense to us and ask God to bless it. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us what God blesses -- the poor, the peacemakers, the hungry, those who mourn, those who show mercy -- so we should not ask God's blessing on a declaration that we will have no mercy on evildoers. We know all too well that we have a God who shows mercy on evildoers, for if he didn't, we'd all be in big trouble, and for that, this evildoer is very glad.
The tragedy of the church's reaction to September 11th is not that we rallied around the families in New York and D.C., but that our love simply reflected the borders and allegiances of the world. We mourned the deaths of each soldier, as we should, but we did not feel the same anger and pain for each Iraqi death, or for the folks abused in the Abu Ghraib prison incident. We got farther and father from Jesus' vision, which extends beyond our rational love and the boundaries we have established. There is no doubt that we must mourn those lives lost on September 11th. We must mourn the lives of the soldiers. But with the same passion and outrage, we must mourn the lives of every Iraqi who is lost. They are just as precious, no more, no less. In our rebirth, every life lost in Iraq is just as tragic as a life lost in New York or D.C.
[...]
Rebirth means that we have a new paradigm of "us" and "them." Our central identity is no longer biological. And our central allegiance is no longer national. Our pronouns change. Our new "us," as Jesus teaches, is the church, the people of God doing the will of the Father. [...] When we hear that "we" were attacked, do we think "we" the church or "we" as Americans? What is our primary identity? When the Bush administration said that a way of life was being attacked, it was true, but it was not the gospel that was being attacked. It is no coincidence that what was attacked wasn't the World Council of Churches but the symbols of the corporate global economy and the arms that would protect it.
[...]
Too often we just do what makes sense to us and ask God to bless it. In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us what God blesses -- the poor, the peacemakers, the hungry, those who mourn, those who show mercy -- so we should not ask God's blessing on a declaration that we will have no mercy on evildoers. We know all too well that we have a God who shows mercy on evildoers, for if he didn't, we'd all be in big trouble, and for that, this evildoer is very glad.
16 August 2007
14 August 2007
State of the Village Report
If the world were a village of only 100 people, there would be:
- 60 Asians
- 14 Africans
- 12 Europeans
- 8 people from Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean
- 5 people from the USA and Canada
- 1 person from Australia or New Zealand
In the village there would be:
- 33 Christians
- 22 Moslems
- 15 Hindus
- 14 Nonreligious, Agnostics, or Atheists
- 6 Buddhists
- 10 of other religions
In this 100-person community:
- 80 people would live in substandard housing
- 67 adults would live in the village, and half of them would be illiterate
- 50 would suffer from malnutrition
- 33 would not have access to clean, safe drinking water
- 24 would not have any electricity
- of the 76 that do have electricity, most would use it only for light at night
- in the village would be 42 radios, 24 televisions, 14 telephones, and 7 computers (some villagers own more than one of each)
- 7 people would own an automobile (some of them more than one)
- 5 people would possess 32% of the entire village's wealth, and these would all be from the USA
- the poorest one-third of the people would receive 3% of the income of the village
The following is also something to ponder...
- If you woke up this morning healthy... you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
- If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the fear and loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pain of starvation... you are better off than 500 million people in the world
- If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep... you are more comfortable than 75% of the people in the world.
- If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace... you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
- If you can read this, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.
10 August 2007
28 June 2007
An excerpt
Right now there is the biggest pandemic in the history of civilization, happening in the world now with AIDS. It's bigger than the Black Death, which took a third of Europe in the Middle Ages. Sixty-five hundred Africans are dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease. And it is not a priority for the West: two 9/11s a day, eighteen jumbo jets of fathers, mothers, families falling out of the sky. No tears, no letters of condolence, no fifty-one gun salutes. Why? Because we don't put the same value on African life as we put on a European or an American life. [...] We say we can't get these antiretroviral drugs to the farthest reaches of Africa, but we can get them our cold fizzy drinks. The tiniest village, you can find a bottle of Coke. Look, if we really thought that an African life was equal in value to an English, a French, or an Irish life, we wouldn't let two and a half million Africans die every year for the stupidest of reasons: money.
-- from Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas.
-- from Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas.
15 June 2007
Action / ideology
Leviticus 25:35-38:
"If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
Deuteronomy 15:7-11:
"If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart [...] and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'
Acts 2:44-47:
All who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 4:32-27:
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
2 Corinthians 8:14-15:
Your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, "Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack."
Ephesians 4:28:
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Titus 3:14:
And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.
1 John 3:17-18:
But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
"If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God, that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
Deuteronomy 15:7-11:
"If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart [...] and your eye look grudgingly on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and you be guilty of sin. You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'
Acts 2:44-47:
All who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 4:32-27:
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.
2 Corinthians 8:14-15:
Your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, "Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack."
Ephesians 4:28:
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
Titus 3:14:
And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.
1 John 3:17-18:
But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
12 June 2007
An excerpt
The madman's explanation of a thing is always complete, and often in a purely rational sense satisfactory. Or, to speak more strictly, the insane explanation, if not conclusive, is at least unanswerable; [...] If a man says (for instance) that men have a conspiracy against him, you cannot dispute it except by saying that all the men deny that they are conspirators; which is exactly what conspirators would do. His explanation covers the facts as much as yours. [...] Nevertheless he is wrong. But if we attempt to trace his error in exact terms, we shall not find it quite so easy as we had supposed. [...]
The lunatic's theory explains a large number of things, but it does not explain them in a large way. I mean that if you or I were dealing with a mind that was growing morbid, we should be chiefly concerned not so much to give it arguments as to give it air, to convince it that there was something cleaner and cooler outside the suffocation of a single argument. [...] A man cannot think himself out of mental evil; for it is actually the organ of thought that has become diseased, ungovernable, and, as it were, independent.
-- from G. K. Chesteron's Othodoxy.
The lunatic's theory explains a large number of things, but it does not explain them in a large way. I mean that if you or I were dealing with a mind that was growing morbid, we should be chiefly concerned not so much to give it arguments as to give it air, to convince it that there was something cleaner and cooler outside the suffocation of a single argument. [...] A man cannot think himself out of mental evil; for it is actually the organ of thought that has become diseased, ungovernable, and, as it were, independent.
-- from G. K. Chesteron's Othodoxy.
24 May 2007
Speaking of Faith.
NPR's Speaking of Faith devoted a program to the New Monasticism, Shane Claiborne, and The Simple Way community in Philadelphia.
It can (and should) be heard/downloaded here.
Additionally, the following articles by Shane Claiborne are freely available:
Downward Mobility in an Upscale World
The Whispers of Troublemakers
Yeast of the Pharisees (Room for Grace)
The Whispers of Troublemakers
Yeast of the Pharisees (Room for Grace)
Cuts from the editing room floor are available here.
Krista's (the interviewer) journal can be viewed here.
Recommended reading and all music played during the program can be viewed here, while other resources can be viewed here.
If anyone actually takes the time to check these out, I'd be curious as to your reactions.
04 May 2007
Everything I've learned I have forgotten.
The "Virginia Tech massacre" occurred nearly (or more than, depending on your math) three weeks ago. Usually I respond to such things in a more timely manner, but I haven't quite known what to say. Still don't.
The Associated Press released a story last Thursday (April 26) that, when I read it to my dad, left us both a bit choked up. You should read it (below), even if the events aren't in the news cycle anymore.
This is the Greenville News version of the story, which is what I read to my father. The full version (which I do not prefer as much) can be found at http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3085731.
Va. Tech Has Little Anger for Gunman
By SUE LINDSEY
BLACKSBURG, Va. Apr 26, 2007 (AP)— Kelly White and her two children visited the semicircle of memorials on the Virginia Tech campus, leaving 32 pink tulips one for each victim in last week's massacre. They also placed a tulip on the stone for gunman Seung-Hui Cho.
"Forgiveness is part of being freed from anger," said White, a Blacksburg resident with relatives who attended the school.
Cho killed 32 people in the worst shooting in modern U.S. history. But there has been surprisingly little outrage directed toward him around campus.
He is memorialized alongside his victims, and students preach forgiveness and talk about him like a troubled family member.
Campus leaders, experts and those touched by the tragedy say there are several reasons for the spirit of forgiveness. Many people are too overcome by grief to think about anything else. The fact that Cho killed himself provided enough retribution, some say. Others say the forgiveness is rooted in the strong Christian values of this area.
And there's also the loyalty to the "Hokie Nation."
After a student organization placed the stone memorials in a semicircle last week on the main campus lawn, senior Katelynn L. Johnson added a 33rd stone for Cho.
"I believe his life had value no matter what he did," she said. "We lost 33 people."
After the first stone for Cho was removed, someone else came forward and placed a new one there. As of Thursday, the stone remained.
In a letter that lay on Cho's stone Thursday, "Erica" said she wished she could have helped him:
"Even though my eyes are tired of crying;
"Even though my campus, my home will never be the same …
"I forgive you.
"And I love you."
The Associated Press released a story last Thursday (April 26) that, when I read it to my dad, left us both a bit choked up. You should read it (below), even if the events aren't in the news cycle anymore.
This is the Greenville News version of the story, which is what I read to my father. The full version (which I do not prefer as much) can be found at http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3085731.
Va. Tech Has Little Anger for Gunman
By SUE LINDSEY
BLACKSBURG, Va. Apr 26, 2007 (AP)— Kelly White and her two children visited the semicircle of memorials on the Virginia Tech campus, leaving 32 pink tulips one for each victim in last week's massacre. They also placed a tulip on the stone for gunman Seung-Hui Cho.
"Forgiveness is part of being freed from anger," said White, a Blacksburg resident with relatives who attended the school.
Cho killed 32 people in the worst shooting in modern U.S. history. But there has been surprisingly little outrage directed toward him around campus.
He is memorialized alongside his victims, and students preach forgiveness and talk about him like a troubled family member.
Campus leaders, experts and those touched by the tragedy say there are several reasons for the spirit of forgiveness. Many people are too overcome by grief to think about anything else. The fact that Cho killed himself provided enough retribution, some say. Others say the forgiveness is rooted in the strong Christian values of this area.
And there's also the loyalty to the "Hokie Nation."
After a student organization placed the stone memorials in a semicircle last week on the main campus lawn, senior Katelynn L. Johnson added a 33rd stone for Cho.
"I believe his life had value no matter what he did," she said. "We lost 33 people."
After the first stone for Cho was removed, someone else came forward and placed a new one there. As of Thursday, the stone remained.
In a letter that lay on Cho's stone Thursday, "Erica" said she wished she could have helped him:
"Even though my eyes are tired of crying;
"Even though my campus, my home will never be the same …
"I forgive you.
"And I love you."
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