In the Company of Strangers

Resources for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel

Demons, Despair, Discipleship

I read a story like this, a story about somebody like Jedidiah Brown, and it's like reading another gospel.  "A Gospel According to Chicago."  It's hard.  It's brutal.  And somehow it's about a real human being, fighting his demons, trusting his love, wrestling with despair.  He picks up a cross and it damn near kills him.  But somehow.  Somehow Jedidiah Brown carries on.  (It's a powerful, prophetic and timely read--for anyone who cares a lot, or too much, in 2017.)

Bravo to writer Ben Austen, and the team, who did the reporting on this.  It's just plain brilliant.  And it's relentless.

http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/trauma-black-activism/

 
 

POEM: "Midnight Beatitudes"

To the poor in spirit, uncertain in matters large and small,
Being gives wisdom and courage, and the kin-dom of blessing!
To the aching and sad, grieving losses beyond our control,
Being gives agency and tears, and the comfort of hope!
To the meek, the willing, the responsive, the servant,
Being gives dust, earth, a low and holy place for kneeling! 
To the ravenous, fasting for truth, hungry for justice,
Being gives vision, resilience and the promises of God!
To the compassionate and bold, merciful in spite of the odds,
Being gives wonder, awe and the eternity that is love!
Let this light shine, refracted through weeping, 
Brightened by the love of friends, made sweet and true
Only by grace, and power revealed in weakness and peace.

DGJ
9/27/17

Nazareth, 2014

 

Getting to Know the Beasts

SERMON: "Un-Settling Faith"

A Meditation on Matthew 4:1-11
Sunday, September 27, 2017
 
1.

So it’s not that Jesus gets lost, somehow, on a hike.  It’s not that he wanders off, singing hymns and plucking daisies, and casually loses track of time.  The text says that the Spirit leads him to the devil to be tempted.  The Spirit leads Jesus to the devil to be tempted.  As if the Spirit knows exactly what she’s doing.  As if she fully intends to test him out there.  As if Jesus’ faith—his GREAT BIG LOVING FOREVER FAITH—has to be tested, tested to be effective.  To be consequential.  She intends to test him.  Do you hear that this morning?  She intends to test him.

So the tests these days are many.  And the tests these days are brutal.  This week I met a man who’s a member of our sister church in Charlottesville, Virginia.  And he was talking about armed white supremacists in the streets of his city, and fear and despair in the black community there.  And his church has been shaken, it’s been tested, and now they’re asking big questions, disruptive questions, about resistance.  How they might resist racism, as a church; how they might position themselves, and even their bodies, between bigots and their targets.  Friends, these tests are serious.  These tests are white supremacy in Charlottesville and the gutting of health care in DC; these tests are Harvey in Houston and policymakers who still don’t believe in science; these tests are the cost of living in Santa Cruz, the cost of housing in Santa Cruz, the cost of staying in Santa Cruz.  These tests are serious.  And all that on top of the family budget you can’t quite balance, the marriage you can’t quite fix, or maybe the depression you can’t quite kick.    

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child

A long ways from home

A long ways from home

And it’s been like that, right?  The more faith you’ve got, the more love in your heart, the more tested you’re going to be.  By the violence in Charlottesville and the storms in the Caribbean.  By attacks on immigrants in Watsonville and leadership in DC that reeks of selfishness.  But could it really be true—this is my question—could it really be true that the Spirit knows exactly what she’s doing?  It’s a strange and unsettling thought.  Could it really be that your faith, my faith, our faith has to be tested to be effective?  The text says the Spirit leads Jesus to the devil to be tempted.  Is she serious about using temptation, even temptation to shake us and wake us and maybe even radicalize us?  It’s a strange and unsettling thought, indeed!

Now I’m not saying that God torments us to test our devotion.  Because that’s just sick.  And that’s not God.  You can’t reasonably say God loves you and therefore God humiliates you.  But I am saying that the Holy Spirit is committed to working through every test, that she’s committed to using every temptation in your life, to refine your faith, to intensify your resolve, to expand your GREAT BIG LOVING FOREVER FAITH.  She’s going to do that.     

So I’m calling my sermon this morning “Un-settling Faith.”  Because I think that’s often what happens when we’re tested, that’s what’s supposed to happen when we’re tested.  I’m calling it “Un-settling Faith”—because un-settling faith goes un-settling places and does un-settling things.  Does that makes sense to you?  It moves when the Lord says move, and it prays when the Lord says pray, and it marches in the streets when the Lord says march in the streets.  Jesus’ faith is an “un-settling faith.” 

Know Your Why

Settlers Are We All

With humility and sadness, let's be honest about our own histories of colonialism and confiscation. 

Don't Be a Bystander

Human Rights, Civil Rights, Voting Rights for All

Bruce Cockburn: "States I'm In"

Prayer: "Migratory God"

Storytelling as a Path to Peace

A Prayer for the Rohingya

Lover and friend to peoples everywhere,
Dear spirit of the refugee and the oppressed,
Shine upon the Rohingya, your beloved,
And show them a way through such madness, such violence.
Bless their hearts with courage and resilient hope.
Move the leaders of the world to see,
And to act, and to protect the vulnerable.
And bring them peace, deep and lasting peace.
Amen and amen.
 

Elegy for the Arctic

At the request of Greenpeace, award-winning Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi created an original masterwork titled "Elegy for the Arctic." He performed the piece while floating on a platform in the Arctic Ocean, with the towering Wahlenbergbreen Glacier (in Svalbard, Norway) slowly melting in the background.

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/own-super-soul-sunday/elegy-for-the-arctic#ixzz4saoNrf3P

O mover of the eons,

O bender of the bluffs,

O great spirit of the glaciers,

We turn to you now, seeking peace and courage

For the great tasks before us.

Make soft and strong our human hearts.

Awaken in us a new devotion to you

And to your passion for life and evolution

And communion through all generations.

Amen and amen.

"I Am Strong. I Am Not Intimidated."

When we visited Issa Amro in his home two weeks ago, Fiona and I were moved by his steady confidence and commitment.  He is so clear about his mission, his network of support and solidarity, and his purpose.  Issa is not only a human rights defender, but a mentor to young activists and an educator of nonviolent resisters.  That he was arrested a couple days later was shocking, but not surprising.  His witness is a threat to powerful people, architects of occupation and protectors of the status quo.  Tonight I thank God for his release, but more than that, for his determination and gentle strength.  In this video, he thanks so many allies--Jewish Voice for Peace, CODEPINK and so many others around the world.  He has created a broad coalition of concern and passion: and we stand with Issa now in his daring work, his nonviolent work, for liberation.

Ordination 9.10.89

Confession and Determination: On White Supremacy

For Those in Irma's Path

A Prayer for Issa

We spent part of an afternoon with Issa Amro, just last week, in his front yard in Hebron.  He's clear, optimistic, committed...and a leader of his peers.  Clearly, his nonviolence is a threat to authorities on all sides.  His ability to organize--especially,  thoughtful young adults--provokes the powerful and throws them off balance.  He was arrested by the Palestinian Authority just days after our visit.  Today, we pray for Issa and support him--as he sits in a PA prison--and insist on his release.  To join that growing outcry of support for Issa, go to this link to add your name: http://www.yashebron.org/free_issa_from_pa_arrest.

God of peace, Liberator of the Bound, Comfort of the Poor:
Draw close to Issa in his imprisonment,
And remind him, in every moment, of his circle of solidarity and support.
When his flesh is tired and his body is hungry,
Be the nourishment that sustains him.
When his captors are callous,
Be the conscience that opens their hearts to other ways.
Bless Issa, and through Issa, so many others,
In Hebron, in all of Palestine, in Jerusalem, in all of Israel,
That they may continue their inspired struggle
For nonviolent liberation, for justice for all,
And for peace.
Amen, amen and amen.

Dreamers Are Our Neighbors

Sister Simone Campbell responds to President Trump's DACA decision this week: "As people of faith, we are called to love thy neighbor. Make no mistake: Dreamers, who have been here for at least a decade and call the U.S. their home, are our neighbors. Faith teaches us to value, welcome, and protect families, not tear them apart. Today’s announcement leads to undue stress with the promise of family separation, and these actions go against all faith values."  (See full statement here.)

They Tried to Bury Us...

Support for Issa

My Visit with Omar Barghouti

From time to time I am truly humbled--by the sacrifices others make for the common good, by their willingness to take up that cause in spite of fierce criticism and even state-sponsored intimidation.  Omar Barghouti is one of those leaders.  He is so clear about his mission, so focused on it.  And all of it is driven by a deep and abiding love for his people.  What an honor to think and talk together, in Ramallah this week!