For the least of these

As the semester finishes, I am reflecting on hunger and poverty in the context of human rights as well as from a perspective of how to lead congregations in our response. Returning to the lessons of Scripture reinforces my understanding of how God calls us to respond and reminds me how our response is grounded in our identity as the Body of Christ.

Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25:31-46 are two principal texts that teach us how God calls us to respond to our neighbor.

Isaiah 58:6-7 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Matthew 25:40 And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'

The gospel accounts of the ministry of Jesus each emphasize different aspects of what our lives in Christ look like. The Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus as Messiah, both for the Jews and all nations, offering an invitation to everyone to join in the blessings of the Kingdom.[i] There is no one and no place that is excluded from God. In the Gospel of Mark we are “called to be part of the unfinished, ongoing story of Christ’s mission on earth.” [ii] Mark describes our role as disciples open to joining in the boundary-breaking work of Jesus Christ. [iii] Luke gives particular attention to the marginalized in society. In this Gospel, it is clear that “all who experience misery are, in some very real sense, poor.” [iv] The theme of Jubilee, or “the re-creation of a just society” is a central one for Luke.[v] In the Old Testament tradition of Jubilee, debts were forgiven and slaves were set free. But it was good news for all involved because it freed the debt-holders as well to prepare for the kingdom of God. And finally, in the Fourth Gospel, John emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit, “[making] our witness for Christ and the kingdom of justice and peace on earth bold enough to confront and rattle the powers that be.”[vi]

Philippians 2:1-7 and 1 Corinthians 12 remind us of our identity and unity in Christ while James 2:15-17 and Micah 6:8 share a vision for what our service looks like. Direct service is a way that many of us participate already, whether it is in donating to area food banks, cooking soup kitchen meals or volunteering at emergency shelters. The Micah text particularly convicts us that we enter into service with a humble spirit and endeavor to complete these tasks with the same deep love that we might have for our own mother, father, spouse or child. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, we are encouraged to stand with others and not alone. We can raise our voices and be heard on behalf of the world’s hungry and poor and we can find strength in numbers. Finally, Ephesians 6:10-20 identifies our calling to struggle against “powers and principalities.” “By [our] peaceful existence in the world, the church community stands as a challenge to the power of evil.” [vii] We are called to be Christ’s Body in the world every day.

---

                [i] Nissen, Johannes. New Testament and Mission: Historical and Hermeneutical Perspectives. 4^th ed. (Frankfurt: Lang, 1996). 135.

                [ii] Nissen, 44.

                [iii] Nissen, 39.

                [iv] Nissen, 51.

                [v] Nissen, 52.

                [vi] Nissen, 79.

                [vii] Nissen,135.

No Rising Tide?

In No Rising Tide Joerg Rieger challenges the relevance of President John F. Kennedy’s well-known statement that “A rising tide lifts all boats.” (1)  As the Occupy movements have brought to the headlines in recent months, “the gaps between the very wealthy and the rest of the population keep increasing” and “life-and-death struggles are no longer just a matter for the poorest of the poor.” (3) Even New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who Rieger identifies as “a long-time supporter of globalization who [has] great faith in the free market” has said, “We are going to have to learn to live with a lot more uncertainty for a lot longer than our generation has ever experiences.” (2)

Rieger challenges us to evaluate our assumptions about the economy and free markets.  Observing that often we believe “the authority of economics is unquestionable and often even infallible, and in the assumption that the current system is the only one that is viable” he suggests that there are parallels between economics and religion.  He cites theologian and Union Theological Seminary professor Paul Knitter as one who has gone as far as to say that the market is a religion and therefore, should be in conversation with other religions. (6)

What would that discourse look like? What would the questions be? Rieger suggests several: “On which authorities, powers, and energies do we rely? [Are they the right ones?] What is it that gives us ultimate hope, shapes our desires, and provides reasonable levels of stability?” (4)

These questions matter because in this disparate world where we live “power and influence determine who gets to shape the world, who gets recognized, and whose ideas count.”(3)  One example of an explicit theology of economics is pronounced by Michael Novak, an American Enterprise Institute scholar to whom Rieger attributes the idea that “the status quo should not be challenged since this is the way God intends things to be.”(6)  Arguing that often the relationship between economics and theology is more implicit than explicit, Rieger suggests “the principles of mainline economics are mostly taken for granted by religious communities, presupposed as part of the way things are, and virtually never discussed in critical fashion.” (10) Because the principles are embedded, “Hope, even in the midst of the most severe economic crisis, is thus built on the faith that things will eventually get between and that the reign of free-market economics will be reaffirmed.” (7)

Why don’t we talk more about “the alternative approaches to the world of economics”? (11) How can we awaken critical self-reflection of our economic positions, and initiate a movement away from market fundamentalism which promotes adherence without “consideration of changes in context or the real needs and concerns of people?” (14-15) At this point, I am not advocating one position over another; instead what I want to do is to echo Rieger that we have a responsibility to understand more about the world in which we live and the assumptions that are built into the systems and institutions that we live within.

Where were we when people learned to hate…?

Abraham Heschel asks, “Where were we when people learned to hate in the days of starvation?…We have failed to fight for right, for justice, for goodness; as a result we must fight against wrong, against injustice, against evil. (“No Time for Neutrality,” Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity, 210)

Twice in the last week, I have listened to people who have endured more hatred and injustice as young children than I expect to experience ever.  I am grateful they speak out, and grieved that we do not seem to learn, to care, to ask why human rights violations persist or to work to stop the violence and hatred.

Charlene Schiff participates in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHHM) Memory Project.  The 82-year old is the only living survivor among the 5,000 Jews in the town of Horochow who were imprisoned by the Nazis in 1939.  She was 9 years old.  Escaping the prison ghetto before the Nazis liquidated the camp, she lived in forests, sleeping during the day and foraging at night under the cover of darkness.  Ms. Schiff lived in these conditions for more than two years.  You can read more of her recollections at the Memory Project website.

Michael Kuany is in his early 30s now.  One of the Lost Boys of Sudan, he escaped his burning village in southern Sudan when he was 6 years old. I didn’t mistype, not 16 (sixteen) but 6(six).  The age when young American boys are throwing footballs, building with legos, fishing and playing video games. Separated from his family, Mr. Kuany joined other children he knew and walked to “safety” in a refugee camp in Ethiopia where he lived for four years.  When war came to Ethiopia, he fled again, forging the Gilo River and trekking hundreds of miles to Kenya where he lived for ten more years in a refugee camp. There he was educated by U.N. aid workers and eventually had an opportunity to come to the United States for additional education.  He now has his undergraduate and master’s degrees and has established a nonprofit, Rebuild Sudan.

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Paul Rusesabagina, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide whose story is told in the film “Hotel Rwanda.”  He tells his story in the book No Ordinary Man. Rusesabagina challenges us to live up to the world’s unfulfilled promise of “Never again.” But the reality is that we do allow these atrocities to happen. Again and again. 

My friend and seminary classmate Christine Cowan records her experiences as an Ecumenical Accompanier in Palestine with the World Council of Churches; there she bears witness to the human rights violations that happen every day in an occupied land. 

Why don’t we learn? Why don’t we care? Why don’t we ask why these horrors continue to happen? Why don’t we work to stop the violence?

Do we think it will never happen here? Do we not believe that the people in these far-away countries are God’s children? Or do we just not care? Do we believe their pain doesn’t affect my day, my commute, my family, my livelihood? Do we believe that there is no relationship between their scarcity and my abundance? Their war and our peace?

Where were we when people learned to hate?

We are a nation living with choices

Bishop Ntambo from the Democratic Republic of Congo opened the 2011 Lake Junaluska Peace Conference telling us stories.  While he told his stories with humor and grace, he poignantly illustrated how in the U.S., we have abundance we don’t even recognize because it is so woven into the fabric of our lives.

Sparkling or flat, bottled or tap, filtered or not, flavored or not, with ice or not. Here we can rattle off a half-dozen choices of what kind of water we may want to drink while in Niger “80 percent of child deaths are linked to lack of access to clean water and sanitation.” (2011 Hunger Report, Bread for the World, 19)

Cardiologist, internist, orthopedist, pediatrician, obstetrician, surgeon, oncologist, psychiatrist, dentist…In the U.S., at least the insured have opportunities to choose the doctor whose specialty will best address their needs; Bishop Ntambo related that people in his country may walk 20 – 50 miles to find aspirin and students who complete high school may be doctors because there are so few treatments and so little medicine to learn.

Private, charter, public, preschool, home school, tutors, colleges, universities, community colleges, trade schools, online degree programs, in-state, out-of-state, full-time, part-time, evening, commuter, residential, distance…in the U.S., our children have choices about what kind of education they want to pursue and where they want to study.  In sub-Saharan Africa, only 70 percent of school-age children attend primary school.

And these are the big choices we make every day: food and water, healthcare, education.  Walk down a grocery store aisle and survey the array of cereal boxes, brands of toothpaste or flavors of salad dressings.  Have you read through a Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts' menu recently?  Surely we can recognize how we are blessed when we have sixteen choices for even the most trivial items.

God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 reminds us that blessing is both a gift and a responsibility:

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

What blinds us to seeing how we are blessed? 

How are we being called to be a blessing in return?

Are you being called to take action?
This week, senators likely will be voting on State and Foreign Operations budget. Senate State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has argued strongly for a fully-funded foreign aid budget: “At a time when we’re broke at home, it remains important to remain engaged in the world and provide assistance to those who would live in peace with us.”  This is funding for programs that alleviate poverty and hunger in developing countries and for programs that fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and chronic hunger - programs that are saving lives today.  If you'd like to know more about how you can become involved, visit Bread for the World.

It’s all in the numbers

In Exodus from Hunger, David Beckmann shares the success stories from seven countries (Brazil, China, Ghana, Mexico, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, UK) who have made strides in reducing hunger, poverty and inequality in the last twenty years.  The stories told by the numbers are brought into even sharper relief when we include the global, and domestic (U.S.), figures.  

Poverty is one of the most significant obstacles to addressing many social issues.  The international poverty line has been defined as living on less than $1 a day. ¹  Mozambique has reduced the percentage of people living in poverty from 70% to 50% (2006), and Ghana has reduced the number of people living in poverty even more dramatically, from 50% to 30%. Despite their success, these numbers are still significantly higher that the global rate of 18% (2004).

Primary School Education is another of the Millenium Development Goals (MDG).  China has made education a priority and 80% of children now finish primary school in China.  While primary school is compulsory here in the U.S., worldwide UNICEF estimated that around 115 million children of primary school age did not attend school.(2005)  This figure is approximately 82% of primary age schoolchildren.²

Infant Mortality measures “the number of deaths of infants under one year old in a given year per 1,000 live births in the same year.”³  Committed to strong social programs, Sri Lanka has one of the lowest rates of childbirth deaths (9.7 per 1000) in the developing world and have expanded assistance for child nutrition triumphed despite civil war and high poverty rates. 

Political Will contributes significantly to a government’s success in finding solutions that address hunger and poverty. Despite a wide disparity in Brazil where the richest 20% owns 61% of wealth (in contrast to 46.4% of the wealth in the U.S.), the country has engaged in “a national solidarity movement” Fome Zero that balances accountability for education and medical care with contributions by its citizens toward eradicating hunger in Brazil. ⁴

Beckmann emphasizes these countries as case studies that demonstrate “healthy societies are more likely to achieve sustained progress against hunger and poverty” and point to the importance of political and government involvement in reducing poverty.  (Beckmann, 59)   

So, as we here in the U.S. approach Election Day 2011 and enter the next twelve months of campaigning and politicking, what goals and commitments will we ask our leaders to make in this arena?

¹ World Resources Institute http://www.wri.org/chart/population-living-less-than-1-per-day-1981-2004 , accessed Nov. 5, 2011.

² UNICEF, http://www.unicef.org/mdg/education.html , accessed Nov. 5, 2011.

³ CIA Factbook, CIA, Washington, D.C. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2091rank.html , accessed Nov. 5, 2011.

⁴ NationMaster  http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_inc_dis_ric_20-economy-income-distribution-richest-20, accessed Nov. 5, 2011 owned by Rapid Intelligence.

Postscript on Money Matters: Occupy Wall Street

I am still watching the Occupy Wall Street movement and wondering what impact it will have and what role public Christian leaders should be taking. 

Reuters offers its analysis (October 7) arguing that although the majority of Americans are looking at our society through rose-colored glasses and do not recognize the growing division between the haves and have nots.

Kate Sprutta Elliott, editor of Gather, blogged on the Women of the ELCA website and speculated about the timeliness of a Debt Jubilee, an idea taken from Leviticus 25.  Here are more thoughts about the faith factor and the Occupy Wall Street Movement from the writers at Sojourners. They offer a one page congregational discussion guide about the movement if you provide your contact information.

On Saturday, thousands rallied in Times Square in New York City while protests continued to spread to other cities. A local favorite here in western NC, Carolina Chocolate Drops' singer Rhiannon Giddens recorded the following song, "The Bottom 99:"

The movement is gaining support although many are still questioning whether it has leaders who will move it beyond noise-making toward solutions. What is the role of our faith communities?  What is our role as individual people of faith?

Money Matters

Stephen Barton suggests that economic matters are integral to Christian practice and living because Christianity transforms or turns upside down our understanding of “what really counts and …how to attain it.” (56) After a survey of the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and Acts, Barton describes what he calls a “re-narration” of these values. (ibid)  He writes briefly about the continuity and discontinuity that Christianity brought to the world, noting that there are life-giving practices of sharing resources and households that are patterned after pagan practices but there are also ways of re-ordering things and people so that the patron system was dismantled.(57-59) And he leaves us with the challenge that we are neither to proclaim a theology of glory nor a “Manichean separation of the spiritual and material” but instead

(1) follow the lives of the saints in “[creating ]space …where the value of things and people can be seen and practices in new ways” and become “agents of a different [ordering] of things and people”

and

(2) preserve the juxtaposition of money matters in worship  where, through the bread and wine,  we remember the sacrifices made by Christ and offer our own “self-giving” for the sake of the world.

As we reflect on how we adapt to discontinuous change in our post-modern world, perhaps we can retrieve the examples through our history as the church and use those examples to discover new ways of leading and serving.

Reflecting on Barton and the emphasis on reversals in the gospels provoked my curiosity about the recent development of movements throughout the U.S. that have followed the lead of Occupy Wall Street in New York City.  Here in my own city of Asheville, protesters have begun occupying our own Wall Street and organizing in the nearby Pritchard Park downtown. 

The local newspaper covered the story in today’s edition and I noticed the number of businesses and leaders who are now involved and also the absence of churches or faith communities, at least in the newspaper coverage.  In this recent video of the protests here in Asheville, a chaplain speaks at 13:30 invoking the Spirit and remembering civil rights activists who have gone before this group. 

What do you think about this new movement? Is there a role for churches and faith communities?

Barton, “Money Matters” (p. 37-59) in Longenecker, Bruce and Kelly Liebengood, eds. Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.

The Empire Strikes Back

In Christ and Empire, Joerg Rieger, the Wendland-Cook Endowed Professor of Constructive Theology at Perkins School of Theology (SMU), argues for a more comprehensive understanding of how empire shaped first-century life in the Roman Empire.

“Emperors were revered as divine and gave orders to build temples and altars for themselves.” (26) The emperor was credited with healing power and the ability to bring peace and security to the world. (ibid)  The language that Christians associate now with Christ is the same language attributed to Augustus and later emperors then: dikaiosynē (“justice”), eirēnē (“peace”) and kyrios (“lord”). (31)

Explaining that the context of empire was pervasive, he describes the emperor cult as not only political but also economic, cultural and religious and reminds us that the tendency to delineate these different spheres of our lives is a modern phenomenon. (26-27)

Rieger suggests that today we need to be more aware of how empire theology and the top-down “logic of empire” inform our present-day theological understanding and our society.  He commends Paul’s words in Philippians 2:5-11, quoting Antoinette Clark Wire who sees here “the voluntary downward plunge of the divine”: (43)

5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,
8  he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.

Rieger argues that Jesus deliberately and decisively reverses the logic of empire. 

Answering charges that empire is not wholly negative and acknowledging that some people will be unaware of “the pressures produced by empire” and imperceptive of its influence, Rieger asserts that “empire can be problematic even when it is morally correct and benevolent.” (44) By definition, empire builds or increases its own power and benefits its own interests; consequently, there are large groups of people who do not benefit from the work of the empire. This is why it is vital that we understand how broadly empire informs our context and why our Christian witness cannot be apolitical.  (ibid)

Rieger identifies the crucifixion of Jesus as political action, writing “the cross was a well-known political tool for breaking the will of the people.” It was the empire striking back, against the proclamation that urged listeners to not promote themselves on the backs of those less fortunate, but instead “[identify] oneself with those who huddle together on the broken, bottom rungs of the human ladder.” (43) Proclaiming Christ as Lord involves “real transformation of the world in ways that go against the grain of the empire and that the empire cannot envision.” (49)

Want to hear more? In Spring 2011 Rieger addresses Earlham School of Religion in a three-part series on Christ and Empire. You can view it Part 1 here: Joerg Rieger -- Lecture One: "Empire and Economics: The Difference Christianity Makes" on Vimeo. Progressive Christian Center of the South has additional video Q & A featuring John Dominic Crossan and Rieger in dialog about God and Empire.

Empty Bowls

As I think about how to involve congregations in solutions that address the poverty and hunger in our community, I am taking opportunities to participate in different kinds of events and organizations that are helping hungry people in our region.

Tonight was MANNA FoodBank's 10th annual Empty Bowls event in Asheville. Apparently several hundred early birds came out at lunchtime for the traditional midday event, but my daughters and I joined another three hundred folks gathered for dinner at Manna's first evening event.

If you aren't familiar with it, Empty Bowls began more than twenty years ago. Local artists contribute more than 7,000 hours and their pottery to the Asheville event to provide guests with a bowl to take home as a reminder of all the bowls that remain empty throughout the world. Children are invited to help pack rice bags that go into the backpacks distributed to at-risk families for the weekends. 

Asheville's Mountain Xpress article explains how tonight's event kept local flavor in the event, featuring soups by area eateries like Travinia, Roux, Grove Park Inn and Swallow Soup. AB Tech's Baking and Pastry Arts program provided delicious breads and desserts from the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, Mosaic Cafe', Cold Stone Creamery and Deerpark on the Biltmore Estate were the final tastes of the evening. Throughout the night, music from "The Porch Dragons" could be heard from the "Collector's Corner" where additional bowls were for sale.

One of the things I liked about tonight was that families could participate. In addition to including children in packing the MANNA Packs, children as small as first or second grade were there and children had donated some of the bowls that were for sale. Including children reminds us all that hunger and poverty isn't just a problem for adults. 1 in 4 children in our community doesn't have enough to eat and, on average, 58 youth spend the night on the streets every night in our county.

I don't like the statistics, but something else I did like was that tonight's event was local, sponsored by local businesses, supported by local people and the proceeds will benefit individuals and families here in western North Carolina.  While Empty Bowls events happen all over the country and even internationally, ours was uniquely Asheville. The traditional craftsmanship of western North Carolina, local musicians and generous spirit of local activists all contribute to keep it that way.

There are still far too many empty bowls and events like tonight's cannot eradicate hunger and poverty, but somewhere in letting an eleven year old pick out a bowl to take home, pack a dozen bags of rice for a hungry classmate, share a soup supper, crusty bread and too many desserts, that child hears about other kids just like her except that they don't have enough to eat.  Their bowls are empty.  And hopefully then, each of us can be a little more grateful for what we have and be a little more ready to share, to speak and to act.

Four Portraits of Poverty

While many of the Jesus stories in the gospels address the poor, few Christian texts provide information about why poverty existed in early Christian communities.  Reading the Revelation of John, the Letter of James, the Acts of the Apostles and the Shepherd of Hermas, Biblical scholar Steve Friesen examines illustrates four unique explanations for the causes of poverty and four distinct responses.  (Friesen, 18)

Importantly, Friesen reminds us that in the early Roman Empire, “most or all of the recipients of a particular text lived near the level of subsistence.” (Friesen, 21)  It is very easy to forget that texts are written in a particular context and to a particular audience.  As I read a text it’s helpful to recognize how my hearing of a text is shaped by my context and experiences, and to reflect on the meaning of the text in the very different context where it was first received.  

(1) In the apocalyptic literature of the Revelation of John, the writer describes a satanic beast who “ conquers the world, defeats the saints, and is worshiped by the whole world.” (Friesen, 22) Friesen suggests the beast is how the writer “portrays the Roman Empire as Satan’s tool, opposed to the God of Israel, and destined for destruction.” (ibid)  The domination and oppression is absolute in that no one is exempt, able to be a bystander.  The system requires participation by everyone, even, or perhaps especially, the exploited. The writer urges people to flee from the Empire’s domination: “Come out of her, my people so that you do not participate in her sins…” (Rev. 18:4)  (Friesen, 23) The suggested response is not only resistance, but anarchy.

(2) The Letter of James moves the emphasis away from the systems of the Empire and emphasizes individual responsibility.  Friesen suggests the writer follows “the prophetic tradition of Israel: one should trust God completely and act accordingly, keeping one’s life pure and taking care of those who suffer.” (Friesen, 24)  The writer contrasts “society’s system of honor and God’s system of honor” calling people to seek God and not the world, and “[advising] the community to share what resources they have….” (Friesen, 25-26)  Here the response is more like nonviolent direct action by refusing to participate in actions that hurt neighbor. 

(3) The Acts of the Apostles neither addresses economic injustice nor does it criticize the Roman Empire.  In fact, in contrast to our other texts, the author of Acts describes the assemblies as people with more resources and existing above subsistence levels. (Friesen, 30-31)  Here the emphasis is on charity; Friesen writes, “the author presents personal gifts and household hospitality (rather than redistribution)” as the way to address the poverty of the neighbor. (Friesen, 28)  

(4) The Shepherd of Hermas presents a fourth and final portrait of poverty.  Suggesting the poor are dependent on the wealthy for survival, “Hermas portrays charity as an individual act that gives material aid to the poor and help the rich survive the final judgment.” (Friesen, 34)  It ignores the causes of poverty and credits wealth to the blessing of God. (Friesen, 35)

The four portraits contradict one another, lending credence to Scroggs’ argument that the Bible is better understood as a foundational document for Christianity than as an authoritative one.   They also spotlight the ambiguity and complexity that are present in religion.  (Friesen, 36)  What is hopeful about this examination is that we find the freedom to live into the questions and work toward understanding.

Friesen, “Injustice or God’s Will” (p. 17 - 36) in Holman, Susan, ed. Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society.     Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

What Does the Bible Say?

New Testament professor Robin Scroggs argues that identifying the Bible as an authoritative source – one that is decisive about modern social issues – creates obstacles to genuine dialogue.  Instead he suggests that we dismiss the language of “biblical authority” and replace it with an understanding of the Bible as a foundational document for Christianity.  He is careful to affirm that the New Testament is “absolutely indispensable in learning what it means to be Christian.” (Scroggs, 25)  For its critics, the question of authority creates a focus on textual variances, historic inaccuracies, and the conflicting theological positions of the different biblical writers.  Scroggs suggests that an understanding of the Bible as a foundational document would create freedom to move the focus to how the Bible guides us in the ambiguity of life.

While I agree the debate on scriptural authority contributes to a lot of division and strife, I am uncomfortable with Scroggs’ suggestion in the abstract.  I am concerned about what could be lost in translation and hold in tension an interest in defending scriptural integrity without falling into biblical fundamentalism.  However, the reticence vanishes when I take up the question in the context of studying Christian responses to poverty; there, Scroggs’ arguments resonate.  

Scroggs, Robin. 1995. "The Bible as Foundational Document." Interpretation 49, no. 1: 17-30. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed September 17, 2011).

More than a few cans

This fall at Luther Seminary I am engaging in a guided reading and research project that focuses on ancient and contemporary Christian responses to hunger and poverty.  The project is modeled on a course that was offered at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg by David Creech, Ph.D. who is now the Director for Hunger Education with the ELCA World Hunger Program; David tweets @hungerbites and blogs at Hunger Rumblings.  Throughout the semester I’ll be blogging about my reading, my experiences with advocacy organizations and policymakers and my questions.  I will also be developing strategies for engaging congregations in a response to these issues.

Why focus on hunger and poverty?

Volunteering for Meals on Wheels, in a shelter for homeless, at a food bank and at food pantries has helped me understand that poverty, hunger and homelessness are not just headlines.  The faces of people affected by these problems are the faces of my neighbors.  It confounds me that 58 children go to bed homeless every night in my county; that 1 in 4 children in our county schools may miss a meal every day because they are in households that cannot feed them; that children go hungry on school vacations because the school nutrition programs shut down.  And this is what happens in a first-world country with adequate infrastructure, education and economic activity.  

Where to begin?

I’m beginning by reading the 2011 Hunger Report, the 21^st Annual Report on the State of World Hunger which was written and produced by Bread for the World Institute. 

The first myth to bust is that addressing the hunger crisis is simply a matter of providing “enough.” The services that are provided by food banks, food pantries and direct client services are all important, but they will not end hunger.  David Beckmann writes in Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger that “Charitable programs are important to hungry people, but it is impossible to food-bank our way to the end of hunger.”(Beckmann, 11) 

What are the questions we need to ask?

Hearing “It takes more than meals to feed the world.” from ELCA World Hunger, I quickly realize how little I understand about the complexities of the hunger crisis.  The factors that contribute to the global hunger crisis are varied and interwoven:

gender disparity: “Women suffer twice the rate of malnutrition of men.  Nor are children spared: girls are twice as likely to die from malnutrition as boys.” (“Hunger Report”, 13) When an emphasis is placed on improving maternal health and on small householders, the health of the whole family unit improves.

economics: global food prices are impacted by petroleum prices, commodity trading, restrictions on imports and exports (“Hunger Report”, 17-18)

environment: global food security is affected by increases in biofuel production because grains and oils seeds are diverted into production; climate change has created the need for drought-tolerant seeds and seeds that can tolerate high-saline environments but agricultural research that would develop new seeds is chronically underfunded; where does agricultural research end and genetic engineering begin? (“Hunger Report”, 22-23)

partnerships: what misperceptions do westerners have about African countries and their leaders and governments.  “The stereotype of a giant vacuum of leadership in the developing world doesn’t fit with reality.” (“Hunger Report”, 23)

While these are the factors driving the global hunger crisis, it is not difficult to recognize how the same factors are perpetuating hunger here in the United States, too.  And although I have a measure of pessimism about the political process in Washington, D.C., I don’t think their folly absolves me from learning and taking action.

So far as it depends on you

“If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”  (Romans 12:18, NRSV)

These straightforward words from Paul to the Romans have been rattling around in my head ever since I read them during worship on Sunday.  In a world where the headlines scream about middle school bullying, high school gangs and armed violence in an endless list of countries throughout the world, including western first-world cities like London, I don’t think that just putting one step in front of the other and staying clear of trouble is adequate.  Living peaceably begins with each one of us living differently. 

So far as it depends on you.

Or me.  Defy the temptation to look out for ourselves first, disprove the cynics who promote ruthless competition and refuse to apply a Darwinian idea of survival of the fittest to our human relationships.  Learn to create communities with accountability and rapport. Learn to trust one another.  Leave preconceptions and labels at the door and discover who “those people” are.  Pretty quickly we’ll discover they are not “those people” at all.

Martin Luther’s words from the Small Catechism help answer, “How?”  Luther encourages us to “come to the defense” of our neighbors, and “interpret everything they do in the best possible light.”  (Eighth Commandment in the Small Catechism, Book of Concord)  How many times do I approach a new situation or relationship with a critical (e.g., negative, not discerning) eye? Am I really listening? How would that interaction change if I change my role, my posture, my stance? How would our dialog change if I remembered that the person I disagree with is just as passionate, educated, thinking as my peers or allies?

So far as it depends on you. 

A beloved and now-retired colleague taught his students about being a ripplemaker.  Our actions connect us to one another; we impact the people around us and we do have responsibility for whether that will be a positive or negative impact.  Thinking about him, I also recalled the quote “no man is an island” which I could not have attributed with any accuracy but I looked it up and learned that it originated in a poem by John Donne, (1572-1631):

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Living peaceably requires some intentionality and the recognition that you and I are living in this world together and we are connected, even when culture promotes individualism and even anonymity.  Living peaceably depends on you. And me.

Twitter Potluck #genchurch

Tonight, a group of faith-filled folks joined in conversation, just like we were having a potluck dinner in the fellowship hall.  Moderated by @KGDebus, this discussion was about how we can foster truly multi-generational faith communities and the hashtag was #genchurch.

Our conversation focused on 4 generations defined by @KGDebus as:

• Millennials: aged 7-28, our community-minded, selfless, hopeful and interactive young adults;
• Generation X: aged 29-50, perceptive, pragmatic, self-reliant, up-and-coming leaders
  (With an identity with more depth than "the MTV Generation", I don't mind being labeled Gen X!);
• Boomers: aged 51-68, principled, resolute, creative, visionary leaders and new retirees;
• Silents: aged 69-85, our adaptive, flexible, caring, open-minded elders. 

Sharing how we define God, what our experiences in church and leadership are, why we participate in church and faith communities, the hour flew by.  I am grateful for the voices of the Millenials and Boomers that mixed with many of us Xers, and to see where we shared and differed on points-of-view, between generations and within generations.

I'm not sure why I was surprised by the give-and-take, rhythm or cadence of the conversation.  About a month ago, another group of interested, talkative and faithful folks began a Tuesday night (9 pm EDT) tweetchat #chsocm where we talk about social media and churches, covering blogs, Facebook, friending, personal vs. institutional profiles, branding, tagging, etc.  If you're interested, you can see last night's transcript on the chat's blog and plan to join us.

These two tweetchats illustrate the intersection of communication, community and faith that is happening today. Face-to face, in real life interactions aren't replaceable, but these interactions and these communities are authentic and important, and I'm grateful for the chance to meet and talk with folks who I wouldn't find in my corner of the world.

Child Brides

Often news stories blur together but this weekend, I read an article about child brides from National Geographic. It was shared on Facebook by The Girl Effect an organization working to break the cycle of poverty in developing countries by focusing on providing education and opportunities to girls and getting them to adolescence whole and healthy. Read the article and watch the video and read why it haunts me.

This video by Stephanie Sinclair and the article by Cynthia Gorney are all connected through a documentary project at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting: Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides.

Why this story haunts me I cannot imagine either of my two daughters marrying, even though they are years older than the girls in this story.  However, that isn't what makes this story so startling. What keeps rattling around in my thoughts and haunts me about this story is what I have in common with at least some of the parents of these children. Pay attention to the conversation that takes place between an activist and a father in the article and to the words of the girl in the video who "escaped" child marriage and instead was introduced into child prostitution.  These child marriages, which are conducted illegally and covertly, are, at least some of the time, preemptive. At least some of the families believe that giving their daughters to marriages at the age of five, seven, or even eleven is a way to protect their daughters against rape and other violence. Is there anything I would not do to protect my daughters from violence?

While it doesn't make child marriages any less disturbing, Sinclair and Gorney's work makes me ask harder questions before firing off an indignant email or letter.  How do families survive, how do children find safety and security, and what are the obstacles that people face?  If legislating no child marriage has failed, what are the possible solutions?  I don't have easy answers but I think looking at each other as daughters, sisters and parents is a start.

The Girl Effect documents the extraordinary odds that face girls and explain how difficult it is for girls to stay in school and reach adolescence.  The National Geographic article introduced readers to a half-dozen organizations who are working on this issue.

There's a beautiful shot in the video when the narrator says: "Childhood is not for cooking and cleaning and having babies. It is for education and having friends and having fun."  I'm not sure what the next steps are, but I hope more of us can live into a future where children the world over can  spend their childhoods being children.

Where am I now

    Just as we begin each educational leadership class by looking at our knowledge competencies, we conclude each class by reassessing our skills, knowledge and attitudes, measuring what we have learned and how our classroom experience has informed our understanding of education.  Early on in Media and Technology in Parish Education I identified two goals that were still growing edges for me.  The first one is supporting intergenerational learning, and the second one is supporting theological and biblical reflection in a variety of contexts, and with a variety of people involved.
    Often when we talk about intergenerational learning, we talk about forging relationships between older adults and youth, but I am in the middle and personally, I am much more comfortable reaching out to older adults than children, teenagers and even college-age young adults.  However, technology and media create openings for conversations in ways that might not happen otherwise across multiple generations.   Three of us in my family shared this video with each other – my retired Navy officer father, my eleven year old flute-playing daughter and me.

    Similarly, my almost sixteen year old daughter commented recently on the way that we watch people grow up through the photographs they share on Facebook.  I have classmates who have posted scanned photographs from our high school years and for my daughter, cameras have always been digital so pictures from kindergarten through high school are easily shared online.  Comfortable with using social media and technology to tell our families' stories, now we are beginning to discover how we can use them to tell our faith stories as well. 
    Blogging our theological and biblical reflections for this class has let me invest time in Blogger, adding elements to my blog like a cloud of the tags, labels or subjects in my posts and a blog roll or listing of the blogs I subscribe to in Google Reader.  The reader itself has a search engine to find blogs based on keywords so I can search for a title or a topic and add it quickly.  And for a twist, in Blogger, when I list my favorite musicians, I can click on a name and find other bloggers who share an interest in that musician. (So look out for more bluegrass theologians.)
    These tools and resources have connected me with other people who are blogging particularly about faith, leadership, education and social media.  But just making the connections isn’t the same as having conversations.  For conversations, I will always hope to find and make opportunities to sit down across a table with other people in a concrete, physical space, but as a distributed learner, I am also very comfortable with asynchronous conversations. 
    Using Hootsuite I can read feeds from Facebook and Linked In, and even RSS feeds from blogs, but I primarily use it to follow conversations on Twitter where I tweet @christinaauch.  In Hootsuite, I set up streams or feeds – lists of Tweets by other people - in Twitter using hashtags.  Hashtags are words preceded with a pound or number sign (#).  Right now I have my main Twitter feed where I can read anything posted by someone I am following, but I also have a half-dozen or more streams that I read that are based on the hashtags or subjects:

#chsocm (people interested in how churches are using/can use social media; tweetchat begins July 11)
#isedchat (independent school education chat)
#edsocialmedia (education and social media)
#finalsite (a web communications conference in June near Hartford, CT)
#gather2011 (Bread for the World’s conference in June in Washington, D.C.)
#WGF11 (the Greenbelt-esque Wild Goose Festival held in June in NC)
#NN11 (Netroots Nation 2011 conference in June in the Twin Cities)

Here I see tweets from many more voices, anyone who uses the hashtag in fact. For tweetchats we are actually engaging in synchronous chats, at a given time and date, but you can also stumble onto them and go back to them if you can’t be online at the proposed time. 
    It is in these conversations that I hear a number of voices, including Lutheran, Episcopal, United Church of Christ and Unitarian Universalist, and other Protestant voices, and now the Pope as well.  Different nonprofits and denominational offices and ministries (Bread for the World, Vibrant Faith Ministries and David Creech at ELCA World Hunger, for example) are on Twitter, too.  Tweets are conversation starters, and the conversation grows as comments are retweeted or people reply to earlier tweets. 
    For people who don’t think real conversations happen in 140 characters or less, in the past few days, I have had a conversation about how to talk to our children about Jesus, our gathered community and worshiping together without answering “Why do we go to have to go church?” with “Because that’s what we do on Sunday.” and connected with someone who has written his thesis on themes similar to Clay Shirky’s. Earlier this year, I spoke to David Creech about a course he had taught on Christian responses to poverty and hunger.
    These are real conversations happening without the benefit of a landline phone, knowing someone’s full name or having a peer introduction. They are respectful, engaged and thoughtful conversations about God, wealth and poverty, justice, faith, fear and pain as well as places where joys and sorrows are shared. The participants often are more diverse in racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds than I would find at a roadside diner or coffee shop in my corner of the world, and probably in my congregation, although I’m less convinced that we are any more successful at bridging class divides.  Nor do I think our digital spaces should replace our physical spaces and face-to-face conversations, but they afford unique opportunities that complement and even enrich those conversations.

Everybody Can Be An Activist

In Here Comes Everybody Clay Shirky examines the ways in which social media have influenced political activism.  He tells the stories of people who have gone far beyond clicking the “Like” button on a political candidates’ Facebook page or even submitting a petition by email to their local representatives.  

Shirky tells the story of one of the first flash mobs with political purpose which happened in September 2003 on behalf of presidential hopeful Howard Dean. (See the September 8, 2003 invitation in the online archive of “Doonesbury” by Garry Trudeau.)

Another story he tells is from May 2006 when protesters in Minsk in Belarus organized themselves to appear in Oktyabrskaya Square and showed up eating ice cream.  (Read more about “turning information into action”.)  By the way here’s a disappointing update from the Christian Science Monitor on the political situation in Belarus now, five years later.

But political protest persists, and just yesterday student protesters in Chile demonstrated against their government over their failed education system. 

Social media is not only changing how we communicate but how we organize and use information to inspire action.

SPOILER ALERT - How the film fest wrapped up

Tonight I finished the sixth of the movies I chose for a weekend (and a day) film festival that looked at how faith, culture and media mix and what messages about humanity, God and faith may be implicit in these films and what messages may be explicit. (Here's the original blog with the movie list.)

My interest stems from an acknowledgment that pop culture is a place where these conversations are happening, just as in social media today, and I haven’t been present, let alone participating. 

Where was I? Well, for one thing, 4 of the 6 films were rated R. I pretty much stopped watching anything stronger than PG-13 in 1995 when my oldest daughter was born.  4 of the 6 films were set in a post-apocalyptic world where artificial intelligence had overrun human beings.  I am more likely to read Agatha Christie than George Orwell and was perhaps even more telling, I was convinced upon finishing college I could find a job that didn’t require a computer.  (Clearly, I don’t have a future in telling the future)  Finally, 2 of the 6 films were set on death row, and 1 of the 6 was released when I was 12 (1982) so I definitely missed those. 

What were the common themes?

• All of the films looked at the criteria we use to value life and create identity. Do humans have greater intrinsic value than other created beings? Why or why not?  Does it matter who one’s parents are, where someone came from, how they experienced childhood?  Are we malleable? Can we change our identity?

• There were questions about sin, judgment, and grace. What is sin? Or some sins worse than others? What does judgment look like? What does hatred and division spawn? What does fear do? What is redemption? What is integrity? How do we preserve hope?  Can hope be restored?  What does grace look like?

• There were questions about love.  What is unconditional love? Can love exist among difference? Can relationship exist apart from physical intimacy?  How do children love differently than adults? Are love and faith related?

• There were questions about human finitude, grief, compassion and death.  Why does our world have disease? What happens to us at death? What happens to the people who are still alive? What distinguishes life from death? How are freedom and life related; what about slavery and death?

Eventually, I want to write up the extensive notes I have on each film, and dig more deeply, particularly into intersections with Scripture, but for now this experiment in mixing theological reflection and popular culture has taught me to listen more carefully to the world around me and to look at how we ask questions about ourselves, others and about God in our everyday lives and experiences, whether that’s in a Friday night movie, a Saturday morning cartoon, church on Sunday morning or a lazy afternoon in a hammock reading a best-selling novel.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (part 3 of 3)

**Spoiler Alert: This post explores various theological questions and topics that are present throughout the film's storyline**

When David, Teddy and Joe arrive in Manhattan and find the place “where the lions weep”, they find a young boy who looks identical to David.  David asks, “Is this the place where they make your real?” Then David asks the second boy his name and discovers he is also named David and he erupts in an uncontrollable rage bashing in the head of the second mecha boy, screaming, “I am David! I am special! I am unique!” Dr. Hobby comes in and tries to calm him, reassuring him that he is special, that he is “the first of a kind” and that he is real because, in his quest for the Blue Fairy, he has succumbed to “the great human flaw – [wishing] for things that don’t exist.” 

Questions: Where do find our identity? How do we experience the difference between who the world says we are and our identity as God’s children?  What makes us or our lives real? What icons or idols do we chase?

When Dr. Hobby leaves David to assemble the other team members, David wanders around the offices and discovers a production line of Davids and Darlenes, child mechas in various stages of assembly and packaging.  The scene changes and David is sitting on the edge of a windowsill overlooking the sea and he jumps, tumbling into the depths.  Joe watches from the helicopter they were using and then fishes David out of the sea, depositing him inside the cockpit.  Inside, David tells Joe he saw the Blue Fairy at the bottom of the sea.  In a final confrontation between orga and mecha, the police arrive and drag Joe off; as he gets pulled into the sky, Joe yells, “I am. I was.” and pushes the button to submerge David and Teddy into the water so that they can go to David’s Blue Fairy. 

Questions:  Are there times in our lives when we have tumbled down in despair and been rescued? How do we respond? Where do we find hope?

David maneuvers the capsule toward the Blue Fairy, the remnant of a Coney Island Pinocchio attraction, and parks himself there, praying “until the sea anemones died… the ice encased [him].”  With open eyes, David stared “through the darkness of the night and the next day and the next day….” 

Questions:  How is our faith childlike? How do we pray? Do we pray expectantly?

The scene shifts and we see a snowscape and the Blue Fairy, no longer under water but part of the frozen landscape.   A subtitle indicates two thousand years have passed.  David is awakened by a new being and climbs out of the capsule but when he reaches out to touch the Blue Fairy, she shatters and disintegrates.

It doesn’t matter though because here in this world, the new beings tell him that because he knew living people, he is “unique in all the world.” They create for him, from his memories, the house where he lived with his mother and Martin, but when he asks , “Will Mommy be coming home?” they explain she cannot because she is no longer living.  When they tell him that they are able to regenerate people from pieces of DNA, we discover that Teddy is still carrying a lock of hair from David’s mother.   They agree to bring her back but they explain to David that the experiment is not perfect; after the first day, the recreated humans die again when they fall asleep at the end of the day.  David insists and he has his “perfect day” with his mother, finally closing his eyes when she does, after she says, “I love you, I have always loved you.”

Questions: What are the stories we have in Scripture about being raised to new life? What does a new life in Christ look like? Read Lamentations 3:22-26,31-33. How can we talk about grief and compassion in light of God’s mercy?

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (part 2 of 3)

**Spoiler Alert: This post explores various theological questions and topics that are present throughout the film's storyline**

Hidden in the woods, David first encounters other mechas.  Near his hiding place, a dump truck deposits its refuse, a collection of mangled mecha body parts and scavengers swarm the site to find new eyes and limbs. He wanders into a mecha shantytown where damaged and discarded mechas roam. 

Questions:  What is disposable in our society? How do we define wholeness? What about community? Many of the mechas are created for one job - nannies, lovers - which they do extraordinarily well; are people disposable when they are no longer useful or productive?

Caught in an orga police raid of the camp, David and other mechas are hauled away in a trawling net and taken to a “Flesh Fair.”  The fair combines the most exploitative elements of a circus and a demolition derby, taking aim at imprisoned mechas and destroying them in public and humiliating displays.  It bears an ugly resemblance to the slave trade markets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with mechas corralled in cages. 

Questions:  Whom do we call neighbor? How do we treat our neighbor? When do we avert our eyes to oppression or bigotry? When do we even participate in oppression? What effect do hatred, division and fear (sin and brokenness) have on our world?

Led into the center ring, David surprises everyone when he pleads for his life.  People are confused and shout, “Mechas don’t plead for their lives.”  Dismissing their arguments, the despicable master of ceremonies taunts, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”, recalling the verse from John 8:7 when Jesus challenges the crowd who would stone the woman,“Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  The crowd turns on him and pelts him, creating a riotous melee during which David, Teddy and another mecha named Joe escape. 

Questions: What do we learn about sin, judgment and grace here?

When David explains to Joe that he is looking for a woman called “the Blue Fairy” Joe thinks he knows how to help and the trio travel to Rouge City in a journey and meeting reminiscent of Dorothy seeking out the Wizard of Oz.    After they arrive in Rouge City, David sees a status of an angel at a curbside chapel, “Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart”, prompting Joe’s observation that “the ones who made us are always looking for the ones who made them.”  Then they go to visit “Dr. Know”, asking how to find the Blue Fairy. 

Questions:  To whom do we turn for knowledge and revelation? What language do we use to describe our Creator God? What assumptions do we have about God?  How do we respond when we cannot find answers? What do we do with our unanswered questions?

With an improvised verse from W.B. Yeats for an answer, David urges Joe to help him get to the “end of the world” which Joe knows as “the lost city in the sea at the end of the world” or Manhattan.