she’s getting married!
ucc petition to end the iraq war
Along with thousands of United Church of Christ members and supporters, I call for an end to the war in Iraq, an end to our reliance on violence as the first, rather than the last resort, an end to the arrogant unilateralism of preemptive war.
I call for the humility and courage to acknowledge failure and error, to accept the futility of our current path, and I cry out for the creativity to seek new paths of peacemaking in the Middle East, through regional engagement and true multinational policing.
I call for acknowledgement of our responsibility for the destruction caused by sanctions and war and a beginning to rebuild trust in the Middle East and around the world.
I call for repentance in our nation and for the recognition in our churches that security is found in submitting to Christ, not by dominating others.
I will join protest to prayer, support ministries of compassion for victims here and in the Middle East, cast off the fear that has made all of us accept the way of violence and return again to the way of Jesus. Thus may bloodshed end and cries be transformed to the harmonies of justice and the melodies of peace. For this I yearn, for this I pray, and toward this end I rededicate myself as a child of a loving God who gives “light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
To add your name to the petition, go to: Call for an End to the Bloodshed: Sign the Petition to End the Iraq War
let it shine
This week the United Church of Christ gathers in Hartford, Connecticut to convene its 26th General Synod and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the church founded by the merger of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the General Conference of Congregational Christian Churches on June 25, 1957.
As we celebrate our heritage and rededicate ourselves to fulfilling God’s mission, I pray we can rekindle something of the passion for unity that motivated the birth of this new church experiment: The United Church of Christ acknowledges as its sole Head, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior. It acknowledges as kindred in Christ all who share in this confession.
These words from the Preamble to the Constitution of the United Church of Christ represent the UCC at its best. The lines of authority are simple and clear: there is only one source of authority on the church — Jesus Christ! And the lines of connection are simple and clear: any — ANY — who share our dedication to following Jesus are already our brothers and our sisters, no more questions necessary!
Too often, I believe, our church falls prey to the same sort of prejudices and shortsightedness that plague much of Christ’s church. We recognize as kindred in Christ … all who think pretty much like we do! It seems sometimes we expend more energy bashing “right-wing Christians,” “evangelical Christians,” “other-side-of-the-aisle Christians” than bearing a common witness of grace and peace into a hurting world.
I am not suggesting the church forego healthy theological criticism and a faithful prophetic witness. I am not suggesting an uncritical acceptance of “church” in whatever forms it presents itself. But I am saying that the original genius of the United Church of Christ was its recognition that something is broken in the Church and that what is broken is Christ’s own vision of a church that is One.
The integrity of our witness will be demonstrated not only by what we say to the world, but by what we can show to the world, what we can show of our ability to get along even with each other! Does Christ make us one … or not? Do we require further conditions for fellowship and friendship than our common faith in Christ? Is Christ capable of breaking down the walls that divide us … or not?
sometimes you need to follow
New York Times headline: Bush Calls for Global Goals for Emissions
It is not our place to take the lead on this one. We need to follow! Because on this issue, we are way, way, way behind the rest of the world. It is disingenuous and disrespectful to try to set the direction for a global response to climate change, when we are the ones, almost the only ones, who have been ardently resisting any credible response. The standards are already there and most of the world has agreed to abide by them. Let’s get on board! Let’s swallow our pride (or our megalomania) and follow!
moral outrage
May 28 headline: ‘Tortured’ prisoners freed from Iraq hideout
US and Iraqi forces freed 42 Iraqis “some of whom had been held and tortured for months” in a raid on an al-Qaida prison in Iraq, the US military said … US officials said the hostages were kept in a small, concrete and mud compound and were forced to sleep on dirty linens in cramped rooms … Some of the men held hostage had been hung from the ceiling and tortured. Some suffered broken bones. Some had been captive for as long as four months.
Human beings mistreated, abused, tortured, held for interminable lengths of time. It is heartbreaking, a cause for moral outrage ……
But then my heart breaks again when I remember that we have lost our right to moral outrage … because we do the very same things!
talking is easier than doing
It is easier to write than to do. Easier to complain than to do. Easier to rant and grieve about injustice and unfairness, than to do anything substantial to change the course of injustice and unfairness. Easier to say “No matter who you are, you are welcome here,” than to do the actual welcoming. Easier to be moved to tears by a song about “Jesus in all his distressing disguises,” a song about people failing to meet the eyes of a beggar on the street, than to meet the eyes of the beggar who greets you the next morning on the street.
I am in Nashville this week for the Festival of Homiletics, being edified, insprired, challenged, prepared for ministry by faithful men and women, passionate women and men, perceptive pastors and prophetic preachers, and, mostly, by the God who speaks through them. It is a joy to be here, to be embraced by the Spirit of Jesus, by the wonder of the gospel, by the power of the Word … that speaks to us with the help of its interpreters, and even in spite of the help of its interpreters.
But, most of all, I am reminded how much I am a writer, a talker, a teacher, a commentator. That comes easy. That I do well. And that is a task to which I believe God has called me. But, before all that and above all that, I am called, as we are all called, to do … to do what Jesus does, to go where Jesus goes, whatever that means, wherever that means, with whomever that means. And that is harder for me … and maybe for you, too.
We need to help each other to be the church, to be faithful people, to be faithful followers of Jesus … by what we do. We need to prod each other, provoke each other, not let each other off the hook too easily. At the same time, we need to encourage each other and remind each other from where, from Whom we draw our strength. The songs, the prayers, the Bible study, the sermons make us ready — and remind us of the One on whom we depend — to do whatever it is that God calls us to do.
It may be big, it may be small, but it will be something.
the world doesn’t revolve around you
Senator Barack Obama delivered the commencement address today at Southern New Hampshire University. He talked of three lessons he had learned about growing up, about becoming an adult and putting away childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11).
The latter two of the three lessons are typical fare for a commencement speech:
Challenge yourself. Take some risks in your life.
Persevere. Making your mark on the world is hard … It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way.
It was the first lesson Senator Obama cited that caught my attention and is not so standard fare — for commencement addresses or for political speeches:
The world doesn’t just revolve around you.
He continues:
There’s a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit – the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes; to see the world through those who are different from us – the child who’s hungry, the laid-off steelworker, the immigrant woman cleaning your dorm room.
As you go on in life, cultivating this quality of empathy will become harder, not easier. There’s no community service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You’ll be free to live in neighborhoods with people who are exactly like yourself, and send your kids to the same schools, and narrow your concerns to what’s going in your own little circle.
Not only that – we live in a culture that discourages empathy. A culture that too often tells us our principle goal in life is to be rich, thin, young, famous, safe, and entertained. A culture where those in power too often encourage these selfish impulses.
They will tell you that the Americans who sleep in the streets and beg for food got there because they’re all lazy or weak of spirit. That the inner-city children who are trapped in dilapidated schools can’t learn and won’t learn and so we should just give up on them entirely. That the innocent people being slaughtered and expelled from their homes half a world away are somebody else’s problem to take care of.
I hope you don’t listen to this. I hope you choose to broaden, and not contract, your ambit of concern. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, although you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all of those who helped you get to where you are, although you do have that debt.
It’s because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation. And because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential – and become full-grown.
To read the rest of the speech, download the .pdf file: Remarks: Southern New Hampshire University Commencement.