The Irritating Cliff

Sometimes one might think the danged world is coming to an end with this fiscal cliff business. Every time I open a news sources, there is another article about what it is going to take to avert the fiscal plunge that automatically comes at the beginning of next year with deep spending cuts and expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

This whole story frustrates me for a number of reasons.

First it seems to be just a giant microcosm of the mess of a political system we have. Fresh off a Presidential campaign where we heard all about desires to work together and such, the White House is already deeply embroiled in this mess with Congress. Both sides don’t seem interested in budging unless they get everything they want. It sort of reminds me of two of my former students battling over who gets to go over the Do-Now before class.

“Compromise” comes the rhetoric, but “hold firm to your position” comes the action. The result is the entire country holding its breath and preparing for what the media claims will be the end of the world as we know it. (Although this seems to suggest we may survive the even if we take the plunge.)

I am not naive enough to think if everybody was just nice to each other the whole thing would work out. I understand that a lot of this is just political maneuvering, but I remain frustrated watching the giant power struggle that involves a bunch of punting back and forth.

Second, the fact that so much of this is predicated on tax increases for the wealthiest two percent of our country. I mean seriously though House GOP? In this respect, I certainly appreciate the President holding his ground on these tax hikes unlike 2010.

My degree from what might as well have been a Libertarian Economic think tank still does not allow me to affirm the ludicrous idea that increasing taxes on the top two percent of income earners is going to plunge our economy into deep recession. Warren Buffet says you can tax the mess out of his wealth, and he’ll be just fine. He’ll continue to pursue investment opportunities even with, gasp, a significant tax increase. That seems to make sense.

Third, this battle is so disconnected from the plight of those who are still experiencing the worst of the pain of the 2008 collapse. Despite the rhetoric from the Presidential debates, the middle class was not hit hardest with the collapse. Guess who was? The poor. American’s poorest neighborhoods lost 91 percent of their wealth during the great recession. 

Yep. Ninety. One. Percent.

My guess is folks in the two-percent who are worried about the Bush-era tax cuts expiring did not loose that much. And by gosh, even if they did, they are still in the two percent. They’ll be ok.

This debate is sure to continue to dominate the news cycle during the holiday season. My request/prayer/hope for the President and Congress…

Please work this thing out, and then get to the business of doing something that has a larger affect on the 98%, preferably those that lost almost everything they own.

While they do that, I plan on looking for ways to ease the plight of those for whom the "struggles" of two percent are quite distant from reality: Kiva Cards and Grameen Bank

Join me?

Savannah

When I meet folks and answer the obligatory, “Where are you from?” question, I am unusually interrupted in the following way…

“I grew up in Savannah….”

“Oh, Georgia?” the other person says.

“No, Tennessee”

“Where is that?” comes the inevitable response.

I have rehearsed this line so many times its like clockwork. “Its where Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi all come together.”

Folks do not usually know about Savannah, TN.

It’s an interesting place.

It is a place I have taken for granted.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to go back home and preach at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Savannah. Upon reflecting on my short time being home, I have come to realize just how incredibly blessed I am to have been brought up in Savannah by two of the most ridiculous, incredible parents one could imagine.

I do not always see just how blessed I am…

As with most small-towns, Savannah certainly has a penchant towards conservatism that often manifests itself in folks holding some closed-minded ideas. I often found this frustrating.

However, I have come to realize that in reaction to what I saw as closed-minded thought, I can become equally as guilty if I choose to swing to the opposite end of the ideological spectrum. 

As I prepared to speak this past Sunday, I found myself presupposing folks’ response to my sermon. I tried to season my words to the nth degree. I assumed people might not enjoy my call to take up the cause of fighting for justice.

… the assumption of the haughty.

The outpouring of love and support I received yesterday was truly phenomenal. As I stood in the
back after the service, folks came by shake my hand. Person after person told me how much they appreciated what I had to say.

I thought back to my preparation…

“Well, people are not going to like this.” I thought.

… the assumption of the haughty.

Many of the members of Savannah FUMC came to show their support. First Cumberland Presbyterian welcomed me with open arms. Both were incredibly receptive and supportive.

I think about the beauty of this experience combined with my brief time at home with my family this

weekend.

Cindy Rogers shrieks every time she sees me, listens to me as I go on and on about the same thing for hours on end, and showed me a workout at Elite this weekend that still has my legs sore.

(Erin once you have put a little more effort into  an improved spirit of sibling congeniality I will fill in all your merits here :) Jk- Erin is cool)

Then there is Dad with his newest building project, his incredible stories about boats going through windshields, unknown chair craftsman, and his new and astounding penchant towards constant communication.

What an incredibly loving, supportive, absurd, awesome support network I have.

Savannah, TN was good to me this weekend.

Good work Savannah.

Thanks to all of those who were present yesterday. I hope I did not let you down :)

Evolving Ideas about the Old Testament

I have struggled over the past couple of months to figure out what to do with some of the knowledge I have been given in seminary. Seminary busts up a lot of the conventional wisdom when it comes to reading the bible. If you do not like having conventional wisdom busted or think that that bible must be read literally at all times in order to have authority, you may want to quit reading now.

So in Old Testament we are given lots of theories that inevitably lead to the conclusion that… wait for it, “these stories likely did not happen the way they are presented here. This writers of the bible may not have intended for it to be read for literal, historical accuracy.”

I have found these theories profoundly reassuring. I have always had trouble with the massive amount of violence that is carried out in the Old Testament, much of it being attributed to God. It seems God is either smiting somebody over here to telling somebody else to kill another person over there. I was not always cool with that. So, I have learned that maybe, just maybe it did not quite go down exactly like that. However, I have been left thinking, “So what do you do with all this?”

I have come nowhere close to that answer, but I had a small epiphany as I was riding my bike this morning, listening to 2 Samuel. Preface, the theory we have been presented claims this book was likely written or compiled in a time period much later than the events it is describing.

2 Samuel 6:6-7 “Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. The anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark; and he died there beside the ark of God.; so that place is called Perezuzzah, to this day”

Prior to coming to seminary I might have had this thought on this passage: “Jeez, God, the dude just touched the ark. Also, why is it that God went around striking people down back in the day, but he does not seem to do that today? This story makes no sense and sort of makes me want to believe that this Old Testament stuff is a bunch of made up nonsense.”

To me, saying that this text must only be read literally and historically produces an arbitrary demonstration of God’s strength that is completely disconnected from modern reality.

However, seminary has allowed me to discover a slightly different approach to stories such as this. In Old Testament, we have been trained to hear phrases like “so that place is called Perezuzzah, to this day” as etiologies, stories explaining how things came to be.

 So maybe what we have in 2 Samuel is a group of people using their resources, cultural understandings, and stories of the past to describe their relationship to God.

To me, understanding the cultural context of the story allows me to relate to the authors. They were a people trying to understand and grapple with the Unfathomable. In their attempts to understand how this town “Perezuzzah” received its name, they tell this story.

Their story seems insane to modern ears, but an attempt to describe the Divine will always end in craziness.

Their output may seem crazy to us, but I imagine that when people thousands of years from now look back at the ways in which modern communities attempt to understand and wrestle with the Divine, it will likely seem ridiculous.

God was present and moving then. He is present and moving now. I do believe that God was moving in a unique way in the coalition and authorship of Scripture, and thus I see the Scripture as holding an uncommon authority. However, I am learning to be careful about conflating "authority" with "inerrancy."

This specific story these writers told was meant to give voice to God’s power, a claim I can certainly affirm. The way in which we choose to give voice to God’s power today may sound crazy in a thousand years, but that does not diminish the power and presence of God. God moved then, and He moves now. It may sound absurd, but that does not diminish the power and presence of Yahweh. 

Idealism and Presence

I have been called an idealist. It’s a badge I wear with pride.

After three years of teaching in some pretty difficult environments, I claimed that teaching “grounded my idealism” and it did. But it seems that the past six months has shown me that my idealism is still very much alive. Anyone who has been following any of my social media outputs can plainly see that my idealism manifests itself in an outpouring of my opinions online.

I have gone on so many tears that I can’t even keep up with them all. I’ve railed against churches, politicians, the media, schools systems, and on and on. I’ve found myself creating a system of elevation in which my “enlightened” opinion is superior and those that disagree “just don’t get it.” Grounding was needed.

A bit of the grounding came after a sermon I preached while I was in Helena on fall break. A good friend, who is well versed in bringing me back down to earth, told me she was distracted by the strong content of my sermon by my punchy delivery.

“But I’ve learned all these great things, and its my time to set people straight,” I thought to myself.

“Do you not understand yet?” Jesus said to his disciples over and over.

I hear him saying the same to me.

"Yes, of course I do! I’ve got this figured out, and its time to go change some folks’ minds!" I think to myself.

I see Jesus smiling and laughing my way… “Haha, just keep going. One day you will see just how much you have yet to understand.”

As I think back on all my rallying points, my self-righteous indignation towards those who refuse to see the world the way I see it, I hear Jesus words “Do you not understand yet?”

The answer to that question is no. I do not. But I will keep moving forward, hopefully with a bit more humility.

I firmly believe there are issues about which I should scream loudly to anyone that will listen. But I am simultaneously reminded of a story about a boy who cried out so many times that people stopped listening.

My idealism tells me to cry out all day everyday, in whatever manner I feel compelled. If folks are offended, they need to get over it.

But the problem with idealism is that it doesn’t always work so well in reality.

Regardless, the point where the beauty of idealism meets the harshness of reality is the point where I feel called to exist.

It is to that point I will bring all my frenzied, hyper, shouts for justice.

It is to that point I bring who I am and marvel at what can happen when I allow myself to become truly present in the fullness of a situation.

“Vocation is where our greatest passion meets the world's greatest need.” As I search for that vocation, I am reminded of the necessity of my presence here.

In a season of learning, rest, and discernment, I pray that I can simultaneously ignite my passions while cultivating the seasoning of my words.

Amen. 

What is Success?

Topic: Based on what you are reading, discussing and experiences provide a minimum of 500 words about the meaning of success as it relates to homelessness.  Provide your current theological perspectives about this topic as well as experiential examples.

Response: Life experiences often form us in ways that keep us moving forward but holding on at the same time. Over the past three years, I have seen the notion of “success” with children and families in poverty framed in a very different way than it has been framed during my time at Candler.

The Teach for America and “No Excuses” charter school model under which I worked ususally gave a very straightforward definition of success. In these environments, achievements were often seen as a number. Perhaps it was a test score or a graduation rate, but success was often defined in a very straightforward way. Despite that fact that I experienced some quantitative “success” by these definitions, I usually chose to measure accomplishments with my students in a more holistic way. I took into account the relationships I developed with students and their families as well. This holistic measuring was encouraged by these organizations, but in the end, they looked at numbers. Likewise, I often let the numbers by which the schools and organizations defined me play into my notion of success.

In bringing those experiences to my work at Genesis and my future ministry work, I see some positive attributes that can be claimed. I do believe that there is value in measuring our ministry work in a quantitative manner. To me, being able to ground our work with a tangible output helps keep our heads on straight. We are flawed human beings, and we often need numbers, goals, and action steps to keep our work on track.

However, I believe that defining success should transcend our numbers in a myriad of ways. As George stated, the Christ we serve did not experience much quantitative success in his time on this earth.

Some of what Myers wrote spoke to me as it pertains to this transcendence. Myers wrote that, “Restoring identity and recovering vocation must be the focus of a biblical understanding of human transformation.” This seems to be a great starting point as we consider how to measure our success as ministers with those in poverty and homelessness.

If churches and faith-based non-profits took this two-pronged approach to ministry with the homeless, they may have a good starting point to measure success. Obviously, the measurability of these two would be difficult, but that does not preclude me from agreeing with Myers that both a restored identity and restored sense of vocation are necessary in order to work with folks to move them forward from difficult situations. 

In relation to a reclaimed sense of identity, I will use an example from my previous work. I saw many students experience this “restored sense of identity” as it pertains to confidence in their abilities. Many students came into my classroom fully convinced that they were incapable of experiencing any success when it comes to school (especially math.) Unfortunately, many students left my classroom with the same feelings of inadequacy. However, it is those in whom I was able to see progression that showed me that a reclaiming of identity is possible. Seeing a student who told me “I have always flunked the End-of-Course test and I always will” score proficient on their EOC shows me that we can reclaim identities. Receiving a Facebook message from a student with whom I constantly battled about anger issues that said “I am trying to grow and better myself as a student and as a man” shows me that reclaiming identities is essential.

As it pertains to a restoration of vocation, our reading for Dr. Charles’ class comes to mind. Christopher Jencks states quite simply, “In principle, almost everyone can do something useful, and most people of working age are better off when they have a job.” I would argue that a sense of vocation goes far beyond simply having a job, but having work can certainly be a key component. In speaking to mothers at Genesis who are either on the brink of work or who have recently received work, I see a light of hope that comes through the validation they feel in vocation. By the same token, I have spoken to mothers who seem destitute because of their inability to find work. People need to know they were created with a purpose in mind. We must all reclaim the idea that our lives can be spent in a creative vocational outpouring of thankfulness.

I have already far eclipsed the 500 word minimum, so I will wrap up. In sum, tangible measurements can help measure our success, but they should not be ends in and of themselves. Reclaiming identity and restoring vocation are a great start, and with those large categories comes much effort and discernment on the part of the ministers. 

excerpt from one of my class readings...

"If you study people who have climbed to the pinacles of power and influence in American society, you usually find they they have had "all the advantages." Most started life with competent parents, had more than their share of brains, energy, or charm, and then had unusually good luck. Without any one of these advantages they might have done well, but not as well as they did.
The same rule applies to those at the bottom of the economic ladder. Those who end up on the street have typically had all the disadvantages. More started life in families with a multitude of problems; indeed, many came from families so troubled that they were placed in foster care. Many had serious health and learning problems. A large number grew up in dreadful neighborhoods and attended mediocre schools. After that, most had more than their share of bad luck in the labor market, marriage, or both. It is the cumulative effect of all these disadvantages not bad luck alone, that has left them on the streets."  The Homeless - Christopher Jencks

Things seminary has taught/is reminding me…

 …. sometimes I need to calm the mess down and be where I am.

…. the meaning of the words “anthropomorphic, anachronism, and catechesis.”

…Scripture is super confusing but one thing is clear throughout the Old and New Testament….. God is intimately concerned with the plight of the poor, the marginalized, and the underserved in society.

  

…. the more I learn the more I want to know.

…..I cannot underestimate my privilege.

….I miss teaching sometimes and more than that I miss my kids.

….starting with the disciples, we as followers of Jesus just can’t seem to get it right. We’ve done a lot failing to “get it” over the years. We cannot hide that fact, but it does not mean that there is no hope for the church.

….God is seriously concerned with the plight of the poor, the marginalized, and the underserved in society.

….we can create all sorts of excuses to sit around and do nothing while injustice is happening all around us.

….sometimes, it is important to season your words, even if I don’t want to.

….I don’t get to build myself up as being “above” those who I see as “not getting it.”

…. refusing to use one’s privilege in a way that benefits society is not ok.

….God  is seriously, seriously, concerned with the plight of the poor, the marginalized, and the underserved in society.

….sometimes I need to be still and sometimes I don’t get to fix everything.

....I miss Helena, AR... the people, the kids, the delta. I did not think I would miss it all so much.

…..if you are going to take following this Jesus guy seriously, you must engage the political sphere.

…… Facebook is not the best way to engage the political sphere.

…. regardless of where you are, it is the people with whom you choose to surround yourself that makes your situation more beautiful. 

….speaking out is great, but sometimes you need to make sure people are listening before you start talking.

….listening and patience are the skills that I have the most difficult time cultivating in my life, and it is those skills that I need to develop. Now! :)

…. I am here for a reason. I will continue to ask the Lord to quiet my impatient and restless soul while I figure out exactly what that reason is.

…. there are some good people in Atlanta, GA. 

Hope or Hopeless?

For those of you who are in any way watching my Facebook, Twitter, or blog, you can probably sense a bit of a theme… I’m overly excitable and I’m fired up.

I just can’t help it.

Over the past few weeks I’ve read books about transformational development, asset-based community development, fair-trade movements, shifting mindsets away from limitless economic growth, sustainable food initiatives, community gardening, and economic development.

I’ve read old and difficult biblical passages about wives submitting to husbands, slaves submitting to masters, God hardening the heart of Pharaoh, Israelites escaping Egyptians, the creation of the world, Jesus calling a woman a dog, and the anti-Christ. In all of these difficult texts, I have felt new life being breathed into the passages, and I have again and again found a God who is concerned with the plight of the poor, the marginalized, and the underserved in our communities. Through these passages, I hear that we are called to speak out against injustice and participate in the life giving work Jesus began.

I read these things, and I get excited. I get hopeful for our world. I reflect on my time in Helena and my experiences with kids whose societal dictates would suggest they aren’t capable of amounting to much. I remember the ways I watched them blow societal stereotypes to pieces. I remember experiences I had, and I challenge you to find me a student as innovative as some of the ones I met in Helena, Arkansas.

All of this makes me hopeful. All of this makes me glad.

Just when I am brimming with excitement for the future of our nation and world to the point that my soul cannot bear it, I turn on the presidential debate. This does not make me very hopeful. This does not make me very glad.

I watch the presidential debates, and I see that my notion of hope is very disconnected to either party’s platform. I read about a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives who called “slavery a blessing” for African Americans, and I brim with anger to the point that I want to give up.

I then must decide. We then must decide. How do we respond?  Do we respond with hope or with hopelessness?

I choose to respond with hope. There are so many people in this world, in this nation who are fighting for justice, and that makes me hopeful. Many are doing it the name of Christ, and many are not. Either way, I feel called to join that pursuit of justice as I seek to live this kingdom lifestyle Jesus inaugurated.

The road of hope is not an idealistic world where everything is great, the middle class is thriving, and rainbows pervade the universe. The road of hope is the narrow way that involves our internalizing the idea that our world is reaching a capacity. It involves us all realizing that sacrifice will be necessary, but it is possible through crossing political, religious, and societal lines. The road of hope involves us breaking down barriers of “us” versus “them.” The road of hope is not on a party platform. The road of hope is not in stuffy religious dogma. The road of hope is the road less traveled; the narrow and winding road that leads to wisdom, peace, and life.

Just for MJL (And Jesus) – Amen 

Exodus, Missing the Point, and Halloween Candy

Over the past couple of days in Old Testament we have been reading through the Exodus story. Our class has a Facebook page in which we get to process some of the craziness that comes up in the Old Testament, and over the weekend we were embroiled in a rich discussion about how God could “harden Pharaoh’s heart” and then punish him based on that. I was very much in the thick of this discussion and was frustrated by God’s seemingly arbitrary punishment, then had the realization this morning that we were all missing the fuller beauty and thrust of this story. The point of the Exodus narrative is that the God we serve is a God that liberates people from slavery and oppression.

My thought today is this is one of the many problems we run into when we as modern, Westerners read a story written by a people group in exile and oppression. Those of us reading as privileged Americans are not the Israelites; we are the Egyptians. We are the oppressors (this may sound harsh, but if  we buy chocolate halloween candy, etc it is a reality, see bottom). We can’t really relate to the Israelite telling of the story so we latch on to a peripheral theological point, while missing the fullness of the story. While I think the peripheral theological points are important, they are not the story.

When Jesus came to Nazareth and read from the scroll of Isaiah ““The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” This is the story. Our God is a God of liberation, and his plan for liberation comes through us. (We haven’t gotten to that part of the story yet, but I know its coming.) That is the theme I keep stumbling upon in my five whopping weeks of seminary.

So how do we do that? How do we become part of this liberation theme? Well there’s about a million different ways. Oppression is all around us. People are oppressed by political systems, educational systems, religious systems, familial struggle, socio-economic hardship, and on and on. Our job is to speak out. Let us go on ahead and do that and try not to get too hung up on the smaller points of disagreement. Oh, one way we can do that, as it is October (Halloween) PLEASE DO NOT BUY THAT CHEAP CHOCOLATE HALLOWEEN CANDY!!!!! Child slaves made it. Sorry to ruin your Halloween. I am posting a link below where you can buy non-slave made candy. It is more expensive, but it wasn’t, ya know, made by child slaves. Ok, I’m done. Don’t buy it. For real though.

Child slaves made it?!?! What?!?!

http://www.good.is/posts/child-slaves-made-your-halloween-candy-stop-buying-it/

Where to buy your Candy instead -

http://interfaith.equalexchange.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=18615

Is Development the Answer?

First of all, forgive me for I may get a bit fired up here. At church yesterday we read Ephesians 6:1-9 and discussed the ways in which it has been used to condone slavery throughout history, then talked about the ways in which slavery still goes on today. This lead me to do some researching this morning, and I have found some organizations that seem to be doing some pretty meaningful work in terms of fighting modern day slavery (notforsalecampaign.org). Thus, the nature of my post very much has to do with the exploration I have been doing in this vein. The assumption that I bring to the post ties the word “development” to organizations such as these (not simply dealing with slavery, but with the overall betterment of humanity.) This correlation may be natural, it may be artificial, but it will undergird the intensity that may come across here.

Onto the actual question, “Is Development the Answer?” If we choose to define development as Myers does “improving the human condition,” then I see the answer to this question as “absolutely, unequivocally it is.” My belief is that if we choose to answer this question in any other way, it can lead to some unfortunate consequences. By this I simply mean that we as Western Americans living in inexplicable comparative luxury cannot be content to look at the vast inequity that exists in the world we inhabit and choose any other response. By the same token, I certainly appreciate my classmates’ discussion on the ways in which development has been done in awful, life-robbing, ways that do little to nothing in the way of improving the human condition.

We have spoken in depth about how the issues around of the idea that “we” of socio-economic privilege must go and help “them” who do not share our socio-economic condition. As we have discussed, this line of thinking is extremely problematic, however, we cannot look at the ways in which development has been done poorly and allow ourselves to come the conclusion that this truth invalidates the overall necessity for holistic, transformational development. My fear is that if we allow ourselves to look at the missteps of the past it will permit us to sit in complacency in the present.  I can hear this line of thought becoming pervasive in a society “All we are doing by contributing to development organizations is creating dependency, therefore I choose not to get involved.” It becomes imperative that we hold on to the notion of development, as defined above, as a necessary yoke of thought and action for those of us living in privilege. Even if the causes of inequity can often be attributed to developers who go before us, we cannot now walk away from a problem we’ve often created and deemphasize the need for development.

I realize that the word “development” in and of itself brings forth understandable negative connotations of which we would hope to avoid. I understand my classmates’ aversion to development as it has been done in the past, but we cannot let this taint our idea of the necessity of improved development practices in the future. Later on in the development Chapter, Myers goes on to discuss Jeffery Sachs book, The End of Poverty, in which he “argued that there are nations – representing one-sixth of humanity- that are locked in a poverty trap created by disease, geographical isolation, and a limiting environment. These countries cannot escape from this trip without outside help; they simply do not have the resources or capability.” Now, we may disagree on the ways in which that “outside help” may manifest itself, but I do not believe we can say that this disagreement renders development avoidable.

I too, have much trouble with the ways “development” has been done. As I always seem to do at some point, to speak to James’s point of “the bloodbath of World War 1 and the atom bomb of World War 2” in the name of development is a misnomer that cannot be understated. Seeing these atrocities done in the name of development simply pushes me further towards a desire to reclaim the term in a more loving capacity. I fear that if we allow ourselves to push away from the idea of development as opposed to trying to draw near and reclaim the term we risk an abandonment that leaves one-sixth of humanity in dire straights and in need of someone to give a damn. Perhaps in my embrace of the narrow definition given by Myers of “improving the human condition” I am missing some of the large holes and problems that come alongside development. However, I prefer to air on the side of seeking to save the term in the hope of searching for compassion towards the human lives that are calling out for somebody to do something.