Sword of Peace

Matt and I have been working on a way to practically resist American materialism and individualism. We have increasingly been trying to set up a system of commonality and sharing with things that we possess.

Matt and I both have similar interests, and in the past have each bought things that we could have shared with each other. Now, we are intentionally not purchasing duplicates of anything. Even though he lives in Baltimore and I live in Philadelphia, we are significantly reducing how much junk we purchase. As somebody who is trying to get rid of a great deal of what I own in order to live more simply, this is great! I have read Acts 2 many times and haven’t been really trying to live it out until recently. We should turn to radical sharing, and remember how everyone had all things in common and redistributed to those in need.

I no longer feel as if I own anything. I have certain ‘things’ in my possession, that need to be viewed as gifts rather than stuff I earned or purchased. When you view everything as a gift, you are more grateful, and become more and more willing to share it with others.

We should also take this a step further as did the Disciples and Apostles. The whole purpose of their redistribution was so that they could give to those in need. Our true motivations should lie in our desires to care for others and take care of those who are marginally oppressed. I would like to explore this in a more practical way, by creating a system of sharing that not only includes my friends and family, but includes those who really need us to share. Something other than just sharing money. Something like inviting people over and sharing dinner. Sharing is a powerful tool that can change the world.

I am writing this not to sound condescending, but to encourage everyone who reads this to try this more often. I admit my failures and shortcomings, but am sincerely trying to retreat from the entrails of individualism and materialism. I feel my life changing as I am less and less attached to my material belongings, and I am very excited about the positive changes that I’m trying to make in my life.

Thanksgiving is a strange holiday. First of all, it’s built a fairy tale. It is true that there were a few people who gathered together to share a meal, but this is only a small account that was later turned into a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln.

Go here for story.

I tend to despise Thanksgiving due to the fact that it portrays a picture of pilgrims and Native American’s getting along. This becomes indoctrinated into our minds at a very young age, and sticks with us in our adulthood. We need to remember the true bloodshed experienced by the Native people.

The other part of me thinks that thanksgiving is a great day where we can express what we are thankful for. I don’t think this is done enough in our society. I love that we can all sit down and have a meal and share what’s important in our lives and all that God has done for us.

We need to reclaim this holiday for what it should be. We should take out everything out of it that involves pilgrims and native americans (or just mourn for their lose of life). We should just eat turkey (or tofurkey) and be thankful. I think it would be an even better idea to spend this holiday with those in need: those without a family or without food.

The following post comes from a reflection on Globalization for an Urban Studies course I’m taking at Eastern University:

We live in a global age. This is the tragic result of capitalism. We often believe here in the United States that we are becoming wealthier and wealthier and that our standard of living keeps rising. We isolate this from the fact that this causes degradation in other parts of the world. We are not consciously connected with the people who make our material ‘goods’ yet we are physically connected to them intimately. We deprive them of a meaningful and valuable life. We dehumanize them.

We connect globally in many different ways. Some of the ways in which I connect globally are:

1) Internet communication
2) The food I eat
3) Things that I purchase

I believe these all have negative effects on people around the world. I want to start off by claiming that I believe internet communication devalues face-to-face contact and gives us an informal, impersonal way to connect with each other. In this, we forget the meaning reconnection with people we haven’t seen in a long time, our social groups grow larger which results in a thinner interconnectedness, our culture also gets swallowed up by the technological machine which causes us to loose things that once made us unique.

I am guilty of purchasing food that effects people all over the world. Many people (myself included) cannot afford food that is organic and local. Shopping at co-ops can deplete our pocket books. this means that we acquire food nationally and even globally. If we check the packages on our food, we would be surprised to find how much food is imported. I wish to someday buy food exclusively from supermarkets that support fair wages. Trader Joe’s relatively inexpensive compared to places like whole foods and coops, yet still out of my range.

Our purchases can have a large impact on the world around us. I try to buy all of my clothing second hand in order to avoid the ungodly textile industry. The Hidden Face of Globalization is a video that shows the unimaginable conditions of factories and their workers. It showed them working 14, 16, even 20 hours a day, 7 days a week with little breaks and next to no pay. If we start buying our clothes from places that are fair trade, or from thrift stores, we can in some part avoid being contributers towards this type of injustice. I am still guilty of buying a majority of my possessions first hand rather than second hand, but I am working on trying to buy everything second hand or fair trade to remove myself from participation in the global economy.

There are many ways in which we can contribute positively towards reducing the negative effects of globalization.

1) Increase awareness
2) Join with missional groups who are making positive change in areas around the world
3) Pray for people all around the world.
4) Love our neighbor and our enemies

Increasing awareness can have a large impact on people around us as well as the world at large. It’s easy to become self-righteous  if we shop at thrift stores and whole foods. We need to understand that the effect of these personal lifestyle changes is extremely small compared the impact unveiling injustice at large can have. Modern media buries the real important issues that are going around in the world for the exchange of entertainment. We need to expose them of their half truths and deceit. We need to align ourselves with alternative forms of news and information sharing.

There are many great global organizations that have a positive impact on the world. I’m a fan of amnesty international and the Mennonite Central Committee. I think both organizations work hard to expose injustice and help people around the world. If we are blessed with the money to do so, we can visit poor nations and help out in a way that positively effects their lives. Meeting the basic needs of people is a large task, but I believe that Jesus calls us to take care of the oppressed; and in today’s terms, this means we need to take care of those who are affected by the countless injustices perpetuated by globalization.

We need to not underestimate the power of prayer. We now see images of people from all around the world who are living in abysmal conditions. We can see their faces. We can almost feel their pain. We can pray that people in power will become aware of the affect that they have on the world, and redirect their position of power and wealth for the common good of humanity and the earth that God created. We can pray for the people who work endlessly just so we can enjoy having a car and having a bunch of stuff that we don’t need.

We need to love our neighbor. If we truly learn to love our neighbor and love our enemies, how can there be any injustice in the world. This profound love that Jesus calls us to can change the world. Where love is absent, we see hierarchical structure and an uneven distribution of wealth. God’s economy is all about sharing, equality and freedom. We can work towards God’s kingdom just by the simple action of loving our neighbor.

I haven’t posted in a while. I don’t have much other to say at the moment other than:

God is good.

Is there anything more to say?

I haven’t posted anything vocational on here in a long while. Probably since I first started teaching last year. I am no longer a teacher. I have been trying to figure out where God is leading me into the future. After last school year. I began counseling, praying, and searching. I am really serious about serving others in the way that God is calling me. I have had extreme difficulty hearing where God is leading me next.

This summer I took a course in special education. I was enrolled in the Wilmington University special ed program and thought that this was where God was leading me. I always had a heart for these kids and worked in a class for students with severe mental and physical handicaps 3 summers ago. I really loved what I did. I took the course and something just didn’t seem right. I felt like I just jumped the gun and chose this because I needed to decide what to do with my life immediately. By the end of the course, I knew that this is not where I was geing called.

Last spring, I was accepted into Eastern University’s Urban Studies program. I was very interested in the community development program and thought that this was definitely interesting. I wasn’t sure if I was going to go through with the program, but decided to take a course in the fall to explore it and really feel it out. I am taking a course right now called: Urban Issues in a Global Context. I am learning a great deal about historical and sociological reasons for why we experience so many problems in the urban environment.

Guidance counseling was something else that was on my plate. I have always been somebody who people feel open to talk about anything with, even people who I first meet. I feel that I have some sort of gift that allows people to open themselves up to me. I can’t really explain it. When I was a teacher I wanted to get to know every single student I had. I couldn’t do this to the capacity that I wanted to when I saw 130 students everyday. There were a few students who would come to see me during their lunch periods, or even cut class to come and talk! They were students who were struggling with some pretty serious problems. I believe I was about to counsel some of them and think I had a serious positive impact in their lives. I would love to work with kids one on one. I think this is a specialty of mine. I don’t do well when I have a classroom of 35, or even 15.

At some point towards the end of the summer. God just started placing tangible ideas right in front of my face to make it easier to discern where to go with my life. I went to an Urban Farm Team meeting, which is a mission team connected to Circle of Hope, and was told that Circle of Hope is likely to acquire a huge chunk of land. There where many ideas on what to do with this land, but a few people were leaning toward starting a honey and fresh-cut flower orchard on the land. This is something I have been dreaming about doing for about a year. I can see myself as a gardener or a small urban farmer. Getting the community involved and creating jobs for people in the neighborhood. Or is this my dream?

A few weeks later in my blackboard (online education tool) courses list for Eastern, I found counseling psychology right at the top of the list. I clicked on it and there was a great deal of information on counseling psychology. There was a whole section on school counseling, which told you about internships, how to find a job, how to switch into the program, pretty much everything I needed to know about school counseling. I had previously met with a friend who is enrolled in Eastern’s school counseling program. I also asked Gwen White, who is the head of the Psychology department as well as the pastor of Circle of Hope’s wife if she could find somebody for me to shadow to figure out if school counseling is right for me.

Through a lot of thought prayer, tears and discernment, I came to the conclusion that counseling was where God is leading me. This was very difficult for me. It doesn’t seem as glamourous as a community developer and organizer. It doesn’t seem like something where I can change the world, or have a large impact on my neighborhood. Counseling just seems like a gift that I am blessed with. When I decided that this was the path that I was going to take. I felt extremely excited at first. I finally knew what I was going to do. I told a whole bunch of people, and they were happy for me. I then started to feel less excited as if I was now being placed in a mold. Usually when I make a large decision between two options, I always want to regret the decision that I make. I have a hard time really going with it. Did I do the right thing? What if I continued in Eastern’s Urban Studies program? It just seems so attractive! See for yourself!

To complicate matters even more. I began my residency last friday for my Urban Issues course. Our residency consists of 9 days of workshops, discussions, group outings in the city, lectures, shared meals and more. There are about 50 students in the program, and I am only 1 of 2 students who are not fully involved in the program. Over the last week, I have been meeting all kinds of wonderful people. They are really excited about the program, and I got to be honest, I’m pretty juiced about it myself. I am having difficulty really making strong connections, since I know that I am probably going to go through with school counseling.

Is this the right decision for me? How come I’ve been having trouble hearing God’s voice in the whole situation? Am I really listening?

I know that whatever path I take, He will be there beside me. I need to trust that as long as I follow Him, He will use me as a tool to help bring his kingdom here to earth. I need to trust in Him always, even when I can’t hear a clear answer.

I believe that I would make a great guidance counselor. I believe that I could bring in my faith in Jesus to teach young students about how to avoid violence, how to resolve conflicts peacefully. I can play an active role in fighting for student rights, making sure the school doesn’t waste resources and energy, I can set up field trips for students who don’t think they have a shot at college to visit university campuses, I can really have an impact on individuals, I can make many connections, I can fight the fight. God doesn’t call us to choose something for the rest of our lives, even though that is the plan for many of his people. He just calls us to do something in his name, and do it well.

I pray that He shows me the way.

I remember how I felt September 11th 2001. I was 16 at the time. I was very confused. I remember feeling as if something was missing in all of the information that was presented to us. I remember the days following the attacks that the way Bush was talking about the whole thing sounded like a story between good and evil. Something didn’t seem right to me.

I then thought, “Well maybe the world is going to end now”. The U.S. and the Middle East is going to start World War 3 and the rest the World is going to choose sides and join in. This was a little naive thinking that this was such a huge even that it would trigger a world war, but that’s what I thought as a 16 year old boy.

When I saw the constant bombardment of bombs in Afghanistan starting on October 7th 2001. I was shocked and horrified. I couldn’t believe that the United States would retaliate by just leveling the place. I began to disbelieve the idea of redemptive violence. My friend Blaze was a pacifist, and I remember telling my mom that night that I was a pacifist, but she explained to me that pacifism was foolish philosophy, telling me that many peopled died for our country and stuff like that. I remember her arguement being persuasive and I think I agreed with her.

It wasn’t until college that I really began to disbelieve the myth of redemptive violence and really began see how it went against God’s plan for Peace in the world. It’s funny that my first real experience with God’s “enemy” love and forgiveness was at the age of 16 and now is a real important aspect of my faith!

Lord,

May we remember everyone who has died because of war; everyone who has died in war, everyone who was a victim of war. 

We pray for peace to reign. Turn our swords into plowshares so that we may no longer know war.

You are the only answer and your way is love. May we love our neighbor and our enemy. In this we will see who you truly are.

Let’s stop the fighting and killing. This is false redemption. Jesus is true redemption.

Amen

Howard and I both agreed to give up posting a review of each chapter of Surprised by Hope. I am about 2/3 of the way through the book and I just read a section on salvation. This is an interesting topic and worth discussing.

For the last 2 years or so I have constantly been asking myself what does salvation mean? Growing up I learned about the need for people to be saved. But what exactly does saved mean? Saved from what? How is one saved? I believe this question is deeper than the surface level answers we usually get from people:

“The world is full of sin and if we believe that Jesus died for our sins, we are saved from this world”

or

“Salvation guarantees us a place with Jesus in heaven”

Is this what it’s all about? This type of thinking can lead people to a type of evangelism that’s out to rescue people from hell (or something like that) and can steer us off course from the mission of loving others and bringing the Gospel of Jesus to people. When we look at evangelism in this type of systematic way, we are clearly missing the point.

But is this the type of salvation that the Bible speaks of?

Wright argues that salvation is about the present as much as it is of the future. In previous chapters, he argued against a heaven where the soul rests in a timeless place with God. Wright also discussed the importance of the bodily resurrection that we are to await for. he calls this life after life after death. 

Wright claims that we are saved by Jesus’ death on the cross. What that means is that through Christ’s resurrection we are chosen to be God’s instruments in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth. If we can truly experience the hope in resurrection we will understand that Jesus didn’t just die for a salvation that is personal. He arose from the grave and conquered death and we are part of the story! That to me is salvation.

How is one saved exactly? that is a question for a different post.

Chapter 7 starts out by sharing that our belief in heaven is etherial. We take ‘Jesus ascended into heaven’ to mean that he became spirit and was physically lifted upwards towards the sky. Wright claims that we are unable to understand the realm of heaven. We are unable to read between the lines and come up with an idea of what the relationship between heaven and earth is supposed to look like. He gives C.S. Lewis credit for paining a picture of how two worlds can be intertwined in the Narnia story.

After taking many philosophy and theoretical physics courses in college, the subject of multiple realities and parallel universes became a subject of interest to me. Getting a grasp on the theory of relativity gave me a new appreciation and sense of the flow of time. I took a class called the philosophy of time travel which introduced me to parallel universes, multiple dimensions and the philosophical implications of stretching time. I am now able to conceptualize a worldview that can have intertwined realities. I can see how heaven and earth can be in separate realms and can still interact with each other. 

But we do not need to dive into complex philosophy and theology to understand how God is relating with us today in the present. It is almost unexplainable. We can sense his presence, we can show people who God is through our love and deed, but with this being said, I wanted to add that we can never prove any experience of God. This is why we cannot show people who God is by using rational arguments, logic, reason, metaphysics, theology, science, etc. 

I’m not hung up on the idea of the physicality behind how God plans to transform us into eternal beings (if, that is, we are eternal beings). I like where Write is going with so far, but I don’t necessarily think it’s important to agree with him, or put weight on how God works out the resurrection. I do agree with him that certain views on resurrection can lead to how we live our lives in the here and now, but I think the problem may be deeper than just our specific views on the topic.

The Myth of Progress

I have been thinking about progress lately. It seems to be a subject that coincidentally has been a hot topic at the forefront of my consciousness.  N.T. Wright deals with it in chapter 5 of Surprised by Hope, Jacques Ellul deals with the issue of progress in his book What I believe, which I am currently reading. Rod gave a talk last week on the importance of Sabbath and how we believe we need to constantly progress in society, I have also been thinking about progress a great deal as I have been teaching my biology students about genetic engineering, stem cell research, and cloning.

Thinking about how far technology has progressed since I was a child is mind boggling. Dial-up internet and the original Super Mario Brothers are now unheard of to today’s generation of children. Where is this leading us? I believe we are becoming slaves to the technological system. The other day, Howard and I were discussing if spending time on the internet ever truly feels satisfying. Does it give the same satisfaction as reading a book, or taking a walk, or riding a bike? I believe it doesn’t, yet we waste away our lives spending hours and hours on the internet. We are slaves to technology.

This reliance on technology has left us disconnected to the natural world. And with a world that is constantly changing and evolving, it becomes easier and easier to be left behind. How are we to connect with God in the business of our daily lives? We can no longer take a breather and ponder what life is about.

Now I only spoke of technological progress. In America, we are constantly bombarded with the idea that progress is the answer to our problems. Progress in medicine, progress in politics, progress in the efficiency of machines, progressive thought. Does this make our lives easier or help us connect with our Creator? I believe it only makes it more difficult.

I believe in simplicity. I believe in regression. I believe the less we have, the easier it is for us to rely on God. I believe that computers disconnect us from our natural environment. I believe genetic engineering will introduce unknown consequences in the natural world. I guess I have a utopian view that Eden was the true representation of God’s plan for us. I believe that progress has replaced God with the human desire to control it’s environment.