Healing Israel/Palestine

Hope for Peace from Jerusalem

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For two weeks (interspersed with two nights in the Galilee) I have been in the Holy City with a group called Living Stones. Our main intention was to show solidarity with the Christian churches during Unity Week 2012. This involved sharing in prayer in Anglican, Lutheran, Latin, Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian, Syrian and Coptic Orthodox, and Greek Melkite communities each night, meeting members of the communities and trying to understand their concerns. Much was fruitful and hospitality was wonderful. But there was a feeling of sadness that church leaders — with one exception — did not take the opportunity of the coming together to address specific peace issues.

Culture

Stepping into Power while Maintaining Connection

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“One of the greatest problems of history is that the concepts of love and power are usually contrasted as polar opposites. Love is identified with a resignation of power and power with a denial of love….What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
I have read and re-read these lines countless times.

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Windows into Transcendence: Lightning and Sophia in "Red Tails"

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In the movie “Red Tails”, the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, we see how religious icons serve as “windows into the Kingdom of God.” The images that the fighter pilots take into combat with them help them to see a kind of divine transcendence that gives their lives meaning. The icons help them to come closer to God. One of the major characters in the movie is the skilled, fearless, self-confident, improvisational and independent-minded pilot nicknamed “Lightning.” He is a womanizer who falls in love at first sight with an Italian woman named Sophia.

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I Would Plant My Apple Tree

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A few days ago the image of a green ribbon came across my facebook news feed. The text went like this:
The pink ribbons have always bugged me…the idea of putting the energy and effort of well-meaning citizens behind “the search for a cure for cancer” just irritates me, because let’s face it, we know what causes cancer, and therefore we can do better than cure it, we can prevent it! Maybe not 100%, but we can take it back to the modest rates that previous generations of human beings enjoyed…If you really want to make a difference in the war against cancer, forget about those ridiculous pink ribbons. Use the power of your wallet and your ballot to insist that the government step up and do its job in regulating the industrial agriculture sector. It makes sense that people are focusing on ribbons in the wake of all the controversy about the Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood.

Culture

The Imperatives of Whitney Houston

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I still sometimes dance in the car while waiting at a red light. However, back in the day, when I had less sense than I have now, I would throw the car in park, jump out and dance in the street. When Whitney Houston sang “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, the joy, the exuberance, the hope, the possibility was too much to contain inside the car. The imperative: turn the volume up, put the car in park, jump out and dance. Celebrate life.

Culture

The Freedom of Committing to a Path

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In June, 1996, I had an epiphany. In a motel room in Indiana, the night before returning home from a solo camping trip in Michigan and Canada, I discovered how much I had lost in my life because of so fiercely protecting myself. Up until that day, bringing forth my vulnerable self was to be avoided at all costs, which kept me numb much of the time, disconnected from myself and from much of life. Alone in my room, I cried, I talked out loud, and I finally exclaimed to myself that I wanted to reclaim every last bit of my vulnerability, just like I had it as a child. I have had other dramatic moments in my life, before and since; rare and precious experiences of life opening up, my heart expanding, my spirit soaring, defenses falling away.

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Books as Community Building Blocks: How PJ Library Changes Jewish Lives

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When one man dreamed of sending Jewish books to young children, he never imagined the transformative impact it would have on families all over the world. More than 200,000 children receive blue and white envelopes from PJ Library each month across the globe, packed with books such as Something for Nothing, Bagels for Benny, Chicken Man, and A Coat for the Moon. Those tales spark a special magic as they become part of a child’s nighttime routine, a family ritual, a bond between parent and child, and the fusion between generations and Jewish communities. The brainchild of Jewish philanthropist Harold Grinspoon, the PJ Library grew from his desire to engage families who had moved away from their Jewish roots either through intermarriage or simple disconnection from the faith. By delivering a beautiful picture book that carries Jewish stories, traditions, and folklore into the homes and bedrooms of children, the message would permeate in a gentle, welcoming way.

Culture

Create a Prayer Breakfast for the 99 Percent

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The local chapter of NSP in Washington, D.C. has been involved in creating an alternative to the standard conservative prayer breakfast that takes place each year, and we are inviting you to do the same in your community. We’ve been working with Occupy Faith D.C. to create “the People’s Prayer Breakfast.” You can do the same in your area of the country. It doesn’t have to be this week – take your time and make sure you do outreach to Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Ba’hai, Sikh, Wicca, Buddhist, Quaker, Unitarian, Religious Science, and all other possible communities of faith to get them involved in the planning. The breakfast can be a moment to affirm support for the 99 percent, opposition to all forms of oppression, and solidarity in the struggle for real human community based on the NSP’s “New Bottom Line.”

Education

Lessons Learned About Resilience & Resistance from the Occupy Oakland Street Medics

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Between January 9-13, I taught an ethics course called “Resilience and Resistance” at Starr King School for the Ministry, a member school of the Graduate Theological Union. Eleven faith leaders of multiple religious traditions explored life stressors, historical trauma, and health in the context of oppression, white supremacy and social movements. Through rigorous study, dialogue and spiritual reflection, the students analyzed and interrogated the historical and cultural dynamics of stress and resilience, hoping to identify contextual factors and healthy strategies and promote cultures of resistance in their ministries and activism. Course readings, guest presentations, and class discussion drew heavily from the scholarship from and lessons learned through movements led by people of color and poor/working class people. A website designed for the course will make available to the public some of the student’s final projects and begin a collection of web resources designed by seminarians for faith leaders involved seeking social justice.