One Pilgrim's Journey

Give it Time It all works out

2012-01-29T16:31:00.002-06:00

I love the saying,"What goes around comes around."

Someone I helped a great deal betrayed and defamed me.

Now when you google this person the first link is a photo of their mugshot.

Justice prevails in time.

Dec 4 Star Tribune Letter to the Editor

2012-01-29T16:05:00.001-06:00

GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry should be commended for using both their heads and hearts when it comes to immigration policies.

We are a nation of immigrants. We need to remember how we treated the Chinese, Irish, Italians and Polish when our ancestors came to this land of opportunity. Where are Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty in our national consciousness today?

If our immigration quotas were the same today as then, the door for a legal pathway would be much wider. Why do we have such a scarcity mentality in this land of milk and honey?

This displaced anger toward immigrants really should rest with the bankers, Wall Street traders and corporate executives. The laborers in the fields, the housekeepers and landscapers are not the source of our economic hardship.

The undocumented laborers among us contribute more to our Social Security system and pay more taxes then they consume in public benefits.

If we are to find a humane and lasting solution to this challenge, we need to address more than just border security and workplace enforcement.

With compassion and reason, we can see the human plight of the undocumented among us and appreciate where their hearts are. Family values for the whole human family.

THE REV. HOWARD DOTSON, MAPLE GROVE

Bill Would Repeal In-State Tuition For Immigrants

2011-03-14T22:42:00.001-05:00

Bill would repeal in-state tuition for immigrants

Published February 11th, 2011

The Education Committee heard testimony Feb. 7 on a bill that would repeal in-state tuition rates at Nebraska’s universities and colleges for children of illegal immigrants who are not lawfully present in the United States.

State legislation passed in 2006 offered in-state tuition to students who:

•resided with his or her parent, guardian or conservator while attending a public or private high school in Nebraska;

•graduated from a Nebraska high school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma;

•resided in Nebraska for at least three years before the date the student graduated from high school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma;

•have the bona fide intention to make Nebraska his or her permanent residence;

•are registered as an entering student in a state postsecondary educational institution no earlier than the 2006 fall semester; and

•provided to the state postsecondary educational institution an affidavit stating that he or she will file an application to become a permanent resident at the earliest opportunity he or she is eligible to do so.
Fremont Sen. Charlie Janssen, introducer of LB657, said children of illegal immigrants should not be considered residents of the state and therefore are not eligible to receive in-state tuition rates.

“Nebraska should not grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants unless they do to all citizens,” Janssen said.

Giving a benefit or subsidy to someone who is not lawfully present and denying it to someone who is lawfully present is in direct violation of federal law, he said.

Dale Monsell, representing Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, testified in support of the bill.

These students are not legally employable in the U.S. after they graduate, Monsell said, and their education should be the responsibility of their nation of origin.

John Wiegert, a resident of Fremont and supporter of the bill, said in-state tuition for illegal immigrants directly rewards people for their parents’ illegal acts.

Shirley Mora James, president of the Nebraska Hispanic Bar Association, testified in opposition to the bill.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mora James said, granting in-state tuition to an undocumented student is not one of the benefits regulated by illegal immigration reform.

Individual states must decide whether or not to allow illegal immigrants to attend post-secondary institutions, she said, and the state of Nebraska has the authority to grant admission to undocumented students if it chooses to do so.

J.B. Milliken, president of the University of Nebraska, also opposed LB657.

The ability of undocumented young people to contribute to the state’s economy depends on their education, Milliken said in a letter to the committee.

The state claims that education is a priority, he said, so repealing a law that promotes education is counterproductive.

Rev. Howard Dotson of the Westminister Presbyterian Church testified in opposition to the bill, saying education plays an important role in the Latino community.

Nationwide, 50 percent of Latino youth fail to graduate high school, Dotson said. Having more Latino high school graduates in Nebraska who attend college will provide the community with invaluable mentors, he said.

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.

Immigration Bill Gets Mixed Reception in Lincoln

2011-03-14T22:38:00.002-05:00

Immigration Bill Gets Mixed Reception In Lincoln

Senator Doubtful Measure Will Get Out Of Committee

POSTED: 2:35 pm CST March 2, 2011

LINCOLN, Neb. -- A Nebraska lawmaker who has introduced an Arizona-style immigration bill said he is doubtful the bill would even get out of the Judiciary Committee as state senators openly questioned it at Wednesday's public hearing in Lincoln.

Sen. Charlie Janssen, of Fremont, told the committee that his bill, LB-48, would help Nebraska get a handle on what he believes is a serious illegal immigration problem. Janssen testified lawmakers cannot ignore their obligation to taxpayers as health care and education costs rise.

Janssen was among the first to testify in a packed hearing room. Janssen said he was grilled by his colleagues during the hearing on everything from costs of enforcement to what constitutes reasonable suspicion.

Janssen said the bill is a cost-saving measure for a state that faces a nearly $1 billion shortfall.

The legislation would require police to confirm the residency status of suspected illegal immigrants who have been stopped for another reason.

"(LB-48) makes it open season on immigrant women and children -- putting targets on their heads."
- Shirley More-James, resident

LB-48 got a mixed reception at the hearing as lawmakers and residents spoke.

"I think you have to look at the overall picture of what LB-48 will do -- deter illegal immigration into the state of Nebraska," proponent Susan Smith said.

But residents opposed to the bill spoke about concerns of racial profiling.

"(LB-48) makes it open season on immigrant women and children -- putting targets on their heads," Shirley Mora-James, a resident who opposes the bill, said.

Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady said he is also opposing the bill because enforcement costs would be too high and many who are arrested would just walk.

" It exposes the state and counties to serious liabilities and expenses in defending themselves." - Judge David Piester A retired federal judge also weighed in on the bill.

Judge David Piester said law enforcement agencies could end up paying the price in enforcing an Arizona-style immigration law if it's approved.

"It exposes the state and counties to serious liabilities and expenses in defending themselves," Piester said. "Equal protection and discrimination claims would almost certainly follow."

Community activists present at the hearing agreed and said they hope the bill never gets out of committee.

"Charity and reason will prevail," the Rev. Howard Dotson said. "It's a federal responsibility -- the senators understand that."

Arizona's bill has been suspended pending a court challenge.

Copyright 2011 by KETV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved

Mayor Suttle's Focus on At Risk Youth

2011-03-14T22:35:00.003-05:00

Day 14: Vote No because Mayor Suttle has focussed on at-risk youth
Posted on January 23, 2011

As an urban pastor, I have seen far too much poverty and violence. I serve on the Mayor’s Clergy Advisory Council and I’ve had the privilege of following his administration’s work over this past year.

Mayor Suttle has the vision and the strategy to bring peace and prosperity to our streets.

His three Es (education, employment and enforcement) and the From Poverty to Prosperity initiative will help keep our kids in schools and bring jobs to our under employed communities. We stop the bullets when more kids achieve their caps and gowns and have access to jobs.

Our law enforcement officers cannot suppress the violence on their own. It takes a village of concerned citizens to bring peace to our streets. We are One Omaha, and Mayor Suttle understands our commitment to educate and empower all of our citizens.

Mayor Suttle has made the difficult but necessary choices that have preserved our essential public services.

This recall will distract and detract us from the critical peacemaking work underway in our communities. The bottom line is that life is sacred.

Mayor Suttle’s vision will continue to help save lives and secure a brighter future for our youth. “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Rev. Howard Dotson
Presbyterian Church (USA) pastor serving in Omaha

P.S. Join Mayor Suttle and Rev. Dotson tonight – From Poverty to Prosperity

Omaha Police and Illegal Immigration Omaha Crime Examiner

2011-03-14T22:25:00.001-05:00

Omaha police and illegal immigration...is business the problem?
By Michael Ramon, Omaha Crime Examiner
December 27th, 2010 10:51 am CT

In a recent letter to the Omaha World-Herald the Reverend Howard Dotson, representing Equality Nebraska, opined that if an Arizona-type law became a reality in Nebraska the result would be disastrous for the immigrant community. He fears that local enforcement of immigration laws would result in immigrants being afraid to contact police if they become victims of crime, and suggests that such a law would encourage the targeting of immigrants since they would have no recourse in getting aid from the law enforcement community. Unfortunately, crime statistics (see www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr) confirm his analysis.

What role, then, is appropriate for local law enforcement? The answer depends on your values. If you think anyone should be able to contact the police if they become a victim of crime, the answer is to leave the enforcement of immigration laws to ICE. If you believe that an immigrant's status is more important than their protection and you are frustrated by the ineffectivement of the federal government in controlling illegal immigration, you would probably be inclined to want the state and local authorities to get involved. Omaha police probably see things differently. Given their limited resources and the expense of putting someone in jail, most officers would prefer not to arrest immigrants who are otherwise law abiding; clogging the jails and courts with these cases in not an effective way to lower the crime rate. It may, in fact, help to do the opposite.

Given this conundrum, is there any way to control illegal immigration? The answer is simple: yes. Illegal immigrants come to the United States, Nebraska and Omaha because they find employment here. Take away employment opportunities and the illegal immigration problem will be solved. Of course than means holding businesses accountable. Our elected officials seem, for the most part, very reluctant to do that. The cynical might suggest this is because businesses and those who run them are politically powerful. Hiring illegal immigrants is a great way to increase profits; after all they will work for less money, they seldom complain about illegal working conditions and the American taxpayer has to pay their health insurance. Maybe we don't have an illegal immigration problem after all, we just have politicians who put self-interest and business interests ahead of our interests.

.

Vigil Honors Five Dead Infants

2011-03-14T22:21:00.001-05:00

Vigil Honors Five Dead Infants

By Martha Stoddard

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
Metro/Region

LINCOLN — Candle flames flickered in the wind Tuesday at a vigil for five babies who have died since Nebraska cut off Medicaid prenatal care for more than 1,500 women.

A small group gathered on the steps of the State Capitol to call attention to the consequences of the policy change.

“Standing witness is important,” said Rev. Neal Jose Wilkinson, a priest who works with Omaha’s Hispanic community.

Health officials have told lawmakers that five infants — four stillborn in Columbus and one born premature in Omaha — died since the March 1 change.

A lack of prenatal care is believed to have contributed to at least some of the deaths.

Shirley Mora James, with the Equality Nebraska Coalition, said there likely are more deaths that have not been reported because women did not seek care from a public clinic.

Jim Cunningham, a lobbyist for the Nebraska Catholic Conference, said the new policy punishes unborn children for their mothers’ status.

Nebraska officials cut off government-funded prenatal care for women who had received the care based on the Medicaid eligibility of their unborn children.

About 1,600 women lost coverage because of the change, of whom about 840 were illegal immigrants. An unknown number could not get coverage in the months since.

Attempts to reinstate coverage failed this year in the face of staunch opposition from Gov. Dave Heineman and others, who objected to providing prenatal care to illegal immigrants.

Three state lawmakers have said they plan to try again in the 2011 Legislature.

Progressive Omaha Sep 11 2011

2011-03-14T08:59:00.001-05:00

Highlights of presentation by Howard Dotson to Progressive Omaha meeting, Saturday, September 11, 2010, by Barbara van den Berg

I tried to take notes at Howard Dotson's presentation, but since so much of this information was new to me, I ended up with a lot of spaces for details that need to be researched at a later time. Never-the-less, perhaps it is useful to write down a few observations that could be used in a follow-up discussion at the next Progressive Omaha monthly meeting.

Reverend Howard Dotson's main objective was to inform us of the up-coming screenings of 9500 Liberty, a documentary about the explosive battle over immigration policy in Prince William County, Virginia. Go to http://www.9500liberty.com to see a trailer. Here is a short list of some of the first screenings in Nebraska.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010, 8:00 p.m, at Midlands College, Fremont, 2nd Level of the Student Center. Saturday, October 9, 7:00 p.m., at Creighton University, Harper Center Auditorium Wednesday, October 13, 7:00 p.m., McFoster's, 302 South 38th Street, (38th and Farnam),Omaha Saturday, October 16, 2:00 p.m. Filmstreams, Ruth Sokolof Theater, 1340 Mike Fahey Street, Omaha

This film is extremely relevant to the situation in Fremont, Nebraska, and its Ordinance 5165 requiring presentation of citizen documentation to police, that has the potential of fomenting a very damaging culture war.

Reverend Howard's analysis is that immigration law is being made into a distraction for the November elections. Instead of focusing on war, peace, economic growth, unemployment, health care, financial reform...in other words...the really big, important issues of the day, campaigns are distracting voters with fears about illegal immigration. This, however, is not going well. Several anti-immigrant laws are being held up because of their unconstitutionality. The national organization of police chiefs recognize that it is impossible to do their work which requires the trust of immigrant communities if they have to follow these new anti-immigrant laws requiring residents to show documentation of citizenship. Police departments around the country do not want to do the work of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US Department of Homeland Security).

Reverend Howard also emphasized the importance of informing voters of the kinds of people and groups who are behind Ordinance 5165, namely FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which has been labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Kris Kobach is FAIR's lawyer defending court cases against Arizona's anti-immigration law. Governor Heineman enabled Fremont to proceed with its ordinance and voters should call him on this. Reverend Howard feels that Heineman's opponent for governor in the November election, Mike Meister, should emphasize Heineman's anti-immigrant stand in campaigns and debates.

The kind of rhetoric that surrounds immigration debate started by these types of anti-immigrant ordinances shows little understanding of the immigration issue in general. Little is said about the demand side of the economy. Immigrants are consumers, business owners, homeowners, and renters, all contributing to the tax base of the local, state, and federal governments. When immigrant groups feel threatened and leave as they did in Prince William County, Virginia, the local economy suffers. Despite claims otherwise, large monopolistic transnational firms and big agriculture like an unending supply of labor that can be intimidated with arrest and deportation. Fomenting culture wars where neighbors turn on each other is a common tactic used by political parties in election years and this midterm election is no exception. Communities must resist being manipulated by our politicians and must stand up for constitutional rights of its residents. The culture wars started by anti-immigrant ordinances and funded by hate groups such as FAIR stir up racism, can lead to hate crimes, and social wounds that take centuries to heal.

Creighton Center for Health Policy and Ethics Roundtables

2011-03-14T08:53:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, September 1, 3:30-4:30pm (CHPE Conference Room)

Prison Populations’ impact on Community Health – HIV as a case in point.
Discussants: Reverend Howard Dotson, Presbyterian AIDS Network, Ann Smolsky, Outreach Coordinator, Nebraska AIDS Project, Mark Foxall, PhD, Deputy Director, Douglas County Corrections, Mary Lou Flearl, MD, Omaha Correctional Center
Moderator: Mark Goodman
_________________________________________________________________

Wednesday February 9, 2011 “Mental Health Care for Crime Victim Families”

Wednesday, February 9, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Center for Health Policy & Ethics Conference Room
Panel:
Beth Croston Hansen, MS, LMHP, CCGC, OneWorld Community Health Centers
Daniel R. Wilson, MD, PhD, Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry, Creighton University
Pat Christopher, MPA, MS, LPC, NCC, Charles Drew Medical Center
Rev. Howard Dotson, Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church

These panelists represent an excellent cross section of our mental health service providers addressing the pressing concern of untreated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and complicated grief present in families of crime victims in the Omaha community.

Moderator: Christy Rentmeester

Bibliography of sources related to this topic: Literature Review of Mental Health Concerns with Crime Victims

The Founder of Homeboy Industries is coming to Omaha

2011-03-14T08:51:00.000-05:00

The Founder of Homeboy Industries is coming to Omaha this week

Cheril Lee (2011-02-22)
OMAHA, NE (kios) - Father Greg Boyle, Jesuit priest and founder of Homeboy Industries, will lead a consultation on microenterprises on Thursday afternoon and present a lecture Thursday night at Metro.

Reverend Howard Dotson is helping coordinate the events. He says Homeboy Industries began 20 years ago in East L.A. with the purpose of taking former gang members recently released from prison and helping rehabilitate them. Reverend Dotson says he hopes local intervention prevention and workforce development specialists are able to replicate the model in North and South Omaha where there are constant challenges due to gang violence. He says Homeboy Industries encourages gang members to, "remove the tattoos and helps puts them into workforce development, giving them job skills that match their skill level because the tagline for Homeboy Industries is 'Jobs, not Jail'. When these guys and gals come out of prison, if there's not a community and a sense of hope, many of them end up going back into prison because they end up being engaged in gang activity."

Father Boyle will lead a consultation from 1:00 to 4:00 at Creighton this Thursday. Additionally, he will give a lecture Thursday night at 7:00 at Metro Community College's South Omaha Campus. Reservations are not required.
© Copyright 2011, kios

Lack of Medicaid coverage hurting Nebraska babies

2011-01-03T14:35:00.001-06:00

Lack of Medicaid coverage hurting Nebraska babies

BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star JournalStar.com |
Posted: Saturday, November 20, 2010 9:00 am

Rebecca Rayman described it simply: The change in Medicaid coverage for about 1,500 pregnant Nebraska women has drastically affected mothers, infants, doctors and medical clinics.

At Rayman's Good Neighbor Community Health Center in Columbus, four babies have died in utero, two in the final four weeks of pregnancy. In the previous six years, the clinic had not lost any unborn babies after five months gestation.

Until the Medicaid coverage change, no women getting prenatal care had ever inquired about abortion.

Andrea Skolkin, CEO of OneWorld Community Health Centers, said the full impact of the lost Medicaid coverage is just beginning to unfold.

One baby delivered at 20 weeks, whose mother did not have prenatal care, did not survive. The mother had come to the center fearful of going to the hospital, in case she was not in labor.

The center has had nine premature births to uninsured women, compared to five for those with insurance, she said.

While the health center used to see 85 percent of patients on Medicaid, they now see 9 percent on Medicaid and 66 percent uninsured, Skolkin said.

Moms can qualify for emergency delivery care, but it is a lengthy process, she said.

Rayman and others testified Friday at a Health and Human Services Committee interim hearing on the costs and effects to women and infants -- and the state -- of Medicaid not providing services to certain low-income women, including undocumented mothers, since March 1.

"I fear that in five to 10 years from now the state is going to have an ongoing expense it cannnot stop because of the decisions made," said Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center. "Children are going to be needing help for 20 years, and it's going to be an expense of the state."

Rayman, executive director of the Good Neighbor Community Health Center in Columbus, said that since the Medicaid change March 1 at her health center:

* The number of women seen per month has doubled, from 53 in January to 109 in October. Seven to nine pregnant women are calling each week for first-time prenatal appointments.

* In October, the clinic provided prenatal care to women from 13 counties, some of them driving as far as from 156 miles away. They say they cannot get care in their towns or counties without insurance and cannot afford to pay for it themselves.

* In 2007 and 2008, over 80 percent of patients entered prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy. In 2010, with Medicaid changes, 32 percent of women are being seen in the first trimester.

* The percentage of low-birth-weight babies has gone from 7.26 percent of all infants to 10 percent, with some months at 20 percent.

With the increase in prenatal patients, and the decrease in reimbursement from Medicaid, the clinic has had to shift away from mental health care. Rayman said the community has seen more mentally ill people getting in trouble and being arrested.

Dr. Paul Welch, an obstetrican-gynecologist in Columbus, said his practice is not getting reimbursed even for the emergency obstetric care it is providing, costing about $100,000, mostly because women are not able to fill out the paperwork properly.

Doctors also are facing increased exposure to malpractice because of the high-risk population they are treating.

Preventive care is the foundation of medicine, he said.

"And yet, inexplicably, the state of Nebraska has done just the opposite," he said. "And I believe that continuation along this course will result in a financial and human course that will make any short-term savings appear minor by comparison."

"It is mind boggling to me as a health care provider," he said.

John Cavanaugh, executive director of Building Bright Futures, said he had not heard one word of testimony on the positive impact of the Medicaid change in policy.

"This is very destructive in terms of consequences for the state of Nebraska," he said.

The Rev. Howard Dotson of Westminster Presbyterian Church in south Omaha came to the hearing to tell of his concern about women in his area considering abortion and the babies dying and suffering because of the loss of Medicaid coverage.

"Each life is sacred. And those four babies that we talked about in Columbus and the one baby in Omaha should break our hearts," he said. "These babies are innocent, and we're punishing them for the documentation status of their mothers."

Dotson said people need to stand up to the anti-immigration sentiment and racism in the state. These children are the casualties, he said.

Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell, who introduced the interim study resolution, said she and other senators who supported a bill in the last session to restore the coverage must gather more statistics on the effect of the loss of Medicaid for these women.

"Anecdotal information is important to the issue, but we need actual numbers" before any future legislation on the issue is introduced, she said.

Reach JoAnne Young at 402-473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com

Immigration reform hope shared

2011-01-03T14:33:00.002-06:00

Immigration reform hope shared
By Sarah Reinecke
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

South Omaha's Tree of Life sculpture at 24th and L Streets is a symbol of immigrant heritage.

Gathering under that symbolic tree Tuesday were people of different races and ages who spoke, prayed and sang in Spanish and English, urging changes in federal immigration policy.

Omaha faith leaders joined in the national campaign of fasting and prayer for immigration reform. This week has been designated as Nebraska's week of action.

The campaign is a response to Arizona's new immigration law, which makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.

It also comes just days before Fremont, Neb., residents vote on a proposed ordinance that would require businesses to take steps to ensure the identity of new employees and restrict landlords from renting to people without verified documents.

Maria Teresa Gaston, director of the Creighton University Center for Services and Justice, said the goal is to get federal leaders to create a new immigration policy that makes the legalization process easier for immigrants.

“If they are here, they should have a path to become citizens, and there is not a path for the majority of them,” Gaston said.

“We are not trying to say we shouldn't have borders and policies to regulate borders. We're talking about reasonable policy. ... We can work things out in humane and just ways.”

More than 50 people took part in the vigil.

Bright orange day lilies were held by many participating in the vigil. Gaston said the flowers were an expression of “what is blooming today” and represented how immigrants are helping Omaha and Nebraska to grow and flourish.

The Rev. Howard Dotson spoke of how much Latinos contribute to society and how everyone deserves dignity and human rights.

Immigrants “seek the American dream, but the reality is that dream has become a nightmare,” Dotson said. “We need to learn from our mistakes and turn a new page.”

Contact the writer:

444-1543, sarah.reinecke@owh.com

Fremont City Council Suspends Illegal Immigration Ordinance

2011-01-03T14:29:00.000-06:00

Fremont City Council Suspends Illegal Immigration Ordinance
Posted: Jul 27, 2010 10:02 PM CDT

FREMONT (KPTM) – The Fremont City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to delay implementing a new illegal immigration ordinance.

The council also voted to appoint well–known, national immigration attorney Kris Kobach to defend Fremont against two pending lawsuits in federal court. Kobach, one of the architects of the Arizona immigration law that has sparked widespread debate, is said to be offering his services pro–bono. He would be the lead attorney for Fremont on the case.

The votes by the council are just the latest chapter in an illegal immigration debate that's captured national attention and divided the community 25,000.

It comes just five weeks after Fremont voters passed the ban on hiring or renting to illegal immigrants and some see it as another attempt by the city to block the ordinance altogether.

It was council members who initially narrowly rejected a similar ban in 2008 and it took supporters circulating petitions to get the measure on the ballot.

The ordinance requires employers to use a federal online system to check if someone is authorized to work in the United States. Landlords who knowingly rent to illegal immigrants could also be fined $100.

Supporters say it's necessary because the federal government isn't doing its job when it comes to illegal immigration. "This idea of everything printed in Spanish as well as English, I think it's a bunch of baloney. It's not right and we need to take our country back," said Fremont resident Leon Rabe.

Headed into the meeting, some were already angry with the council's action. "It's very frustrating to know that they are taking our voices away from us and people who live here, work here and voted and it's just not the American way, it's really isn't," said Fremont resident Johnny Pry.

Others are greeting the news with relief. The ACLU, one of two groups who will argue the ban is unconstitutional in federal court, says the council has made a "responsible decision" that will prevent additional hostility until the matter is resolved in court.

Some say discrimination against Latinos has already scared folks in the community. "There hasn't been confirmed reports, because no one will come forward to file a report. A house was shot with BB guns, and another person had a person knock on their door screaming, 'The ordinance is in effect, you need to move now,' and people don't know someone's documentation status," said Rev. Howard Dotson.

Brian Hendrickson asked: "Why can't we have two Catholic churches in this town? Why can't have Latinos and others living side by side? Instead of building walls, we need to be creating more bridges."

Support boosts spirits at clinic

2011-01-03T14:28:00.001-06:00

Support boosts spirits at clinic
By Cindy Gonzalez
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

It won't be a cure-all, but the moral and financial support flowing into a south Omaha clinic has buoyed staff spirits and should temporarily help fill a gap in prenatal services to illegal immigrants.

Just days ago, staffers at OneWorld Community Health Center were feeling a bit beleaguered and disappointed, said medical director Dr. Kristine McVea.

They were even fielding some threatening calls from people angry that OneWorld was urging state officials to restore government-funded prenatal care for poor and illegal immigrant women.

“It's an odd position to be put in as a physician,” McVea said. “You don't usually think of caring for pregnant women as being controversial.”

The governor and state lawmakers have not restored the Medicaid coverage.

OneWorld staff, however, has been re-energized by other recent events.

Members of the public have donated $20 here, $100 there to help the clinic continue prenatal services to those who lost them.

A group of churches is organizing a June 13 fundraising concert. The Nebraska Association of Social Workers also is raising money.

“It can be disheartening, so you've got to find constructive channels to be part of the solution,” said the Rev. Howard Dotson of Westminster Presbyterian Church, who is helping coordinate the concert.

Fremont Suspends New Law

2011-01-03T14:24:00.000-06:00

Fremont suspends new law
By Cindy Gonzalez
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

FREMONT, Neb. - The Fremont City Council voted Tuesday night to suspend its controversial immigration ordinance until lawsuits challenging it are resolved.

No council debate or sparks preceded the 8-0 vote that took place before a packed council chamber holding about 80 spectators. Several police officers were stationed at entrances.

Council President Scott Getzschman said the decision does not mean the council is disregarding the results of the June 21 public vote to ban the housing and hiring of illegal immigrants in the city.

Advertising
Rather, he said, the council is anticipating a court order to temporarily block enforcement of the law anyway. He said suspending the ordinance could hold down legal fees.

“Truly, the temporary restraining order was imminent,” Getzschman said after the vote. “We were advised that if we actually suspend the ordinance ahead of those legal proceedings, we’d have an opportunity to possibly reduce costs.”

When pressed on how much might be saved, he said, “Costs are costs, and it’s saving money we don’t have.”

If the experience of other cities facing similar legal challenges is any indication, the Fremont ordinance that was to take effect Thursday now could be up in the air for years.

The cities of Hazleton, Pa., and Farmers Branch, Texas, both adopted similar ordinances. Their laws have yet to be enforced because they’ve been in costly court battles for four years.

Pointing to Hazleton and Farmers Branch, Fremont officials have estimated that it would cost taxpayers up to $1 million a year to defend the law. They said the city would have to spend $200,000 annually to cover the staffing to enforce it.

Two civil rights organizations the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) have filed federal lawsuits against the Fremont law.

The groups say the ordinance usurps the federal government’s authority to make immigration laws and discriminates against Latinos and renters.

But supporters of the law say it is needed because the government has been lax and selective on immigration enforcement.

While several people testified against suspending the ordinance, even a man who led the petition drive in favor of the measure urged the council to delay implementing it.

“We should delay it and get it done the right way,” said John Weigert.

He noted that Kansas City attorney Kris Kobach, who helped draft the Fremont ordinance and the Arizona immigration law, had recommended suspension as well.

Kobach told The World-Herald earlier that a delay would save money and some legal maneuvering. It also would allow the court to move more swiftly to a judgment on the full merits of the case.

Terry Flanagan of Fremont told the council that it should not ignore the voters’ wishes.

“We put you in charge of the store,” he said. “But you don’t own the store.”

As the Fremont ordinance is written, every potential renter must give personal information and $5 to the Police Department to obtain an occupancy license.

Police then would submit information on noncitizens to the federal government or check federal databases themselves.

If a renter’s legal status is found to be in question, the landlord is notified. If not remedied in two months, the occupancy license would be revoked.

Employers would be required to check the immigration status of applicants by using E-Verify, an electronic verification system.

Despite the City Council’s decision, attorneys say a hearing Wednesday in federal court to temporarily block enforcement of the ordinance was still on.

Shirley Mora James, a Lincoln attorney who is co-counsel of MALDEF, said the group can’t be assured that the Fremont council won’t vote later to implement the ordinance.

“They could pass a resolution next week to change their mind,” said Mora James.

The ordinance has divided this town of 25,000 west of Omaha ever since the City Council first considered the measure two years ago.

After the council’s vote, a group of about 20 people led by an Omaha Presbyterian minister and a police escort walked 11⁄4 miles to a trailer park inhabited by mostly Latino residents. They delivered roses of “compassion and solidarity.”

The Rev. Howard Dotson said he had learned of a few incidents of alleged harassment since the ordinance was approved by voters. He said a house was shot at by a BB gun. Someone knocked on another Latino resident’s door and said they were not welcome in town.

“This is ground zero for anti-immigrant sentiment in Nebraska,” Dotson said.

Arizona law hinders safety

2011-01-03T14:23:00.000-06:00

Midlands Voices: Arizona law hinders safety
By The Rev. Howard Dotson

The writer, of Omaha, is faith community liaison for Equality Nebraska.

Some people may wonder why I, as an urban Presbyterian minister, am so opposed to the Arizona immigration enforcement legislation possibly coming to Nebraska.

Over these past five years, I have seen the urban violence that gang members have afflicted on many of my Latino brothers and sisters — shell casings, crime tape and caskets.

As urban churches, we seek to preserve public safety in our communities by fostering good community relations between our neighbors and law enforcement. This Arizona law threatens to compromise this relationship.

When people are too afraid to interact with the police, the gang members in our midst will use this to their advantage. Gangs will feel emboldened to act with impunity. They will prey on my Latino brothers and sisters who live in the shadows.

Even in Los Angeles, which is officially a sanctuary city, the LAPD struggles to foster good community policing relations with its Latino residents.

On one fateful night in L.A. in September 2008, blocks from the church I was serving, an 18th Street gang member wanted to make a lesson out of a street vendor who refused to pay his rent to the gang. Shots rang out and baby Garcia, a 23-day-old infant, was struck and killed by a stray bullet as he rested in his stroller.

To date, this remains my most difficult days in ministry: Walking his tiny casket down the church aisle as a pallbearer. Holding up his mother, Daniella, at the grave site as she convulsed with sobs of grief.

I stand opposed to this Arizona immigration enforcement law as part of our legacy to preserve the memory of this precious baby I buried. The tears of these bereaved Latino moms are what drive me to stop this Arizona law from coming to Nebraska.

Many Latinos have moved to Omaha from Los Angeles seeking better lives for their children. How tragic it would be if this same violence that we saw in Los Angeles came to the streets of Omaha.

Community policing is our best measure of crime prevention. We need for there to be a healthy relationship between our Latino community and law enforcement. This Arizona-style immigration enforcement law will compromise our peacemaking efforts in our streets.

Anything we can do to prevent another mom from having to bury her child is worth our time and effort.

Lake Phalen: Ugly bat attacks raise fear and resolve

2011-01-03T14:12:00.000-06:00

Lake Phalen: Ugly bat attacks raise fear and resolve

As police look into the two Lake Phalen beatings, East Siders vow "to take back the park."

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

Last update: August 5, 2008 - 11:06 PM

When the assailants swung their bats, they meant business, aiming for the head in two attacks that occurred three days apart at St. Paul's normally peaceful Lake Phalen.

"Wannabe gangsters" targeted a 49-year-old woman battling cancer -- hoping to live long enough to see her son graduate in two years -- and an 18-year-old man out walking with his wife, police said Tuesday.

Seven people were in custody Tuesday, but no one is charged yet, as investigators from three police units explored possible connections between the assaults -- the second of which occurred Monday night as a vigil was held for the first victim.

"It's not just brazen and cold, it's worse. It's sick," said Sue McCall, a block club coordinator for the city's District 2 Community Council during a National Night Out gathering Tuesday at a Boys and Girls Club near the lake. "You just don't understand that type of behavior."

Charges could be filed today, a spokeswoman for the Ramsey County attorney's office said.

Police spokesman Peter Panos said Tuesday that investigators had yet to determine whether any of the suspects were involved in both assaults.

As the investigation continued, police weighed sending additional patrols to the area and park security officers stepped up their rounds of Lake Phalen.

"Neighbors want to take back the park," said Brad Meyer, a Parks Department spokesman.

Panos said that despite the back-to-back nature of the attacks, police consider the attacks to be "very isolated" incidents.

Safety in a community

At Tuesday's National Night Out event at the Boys Club, Police Chief John Harrington, whose family lives near the lake, said the area is safe.

"The more we're out together as a community, the safer we are," he said.

Earlier, two friends sitting under a tree near where the first attack occurred said they never felt unsafe at Lake Phalen. "It's real cool riding around here," said Sarah Boedigheimer, 18, of St. Paul, whose mountain bike lay in the grass nearby. "Real calming."
But her friend, Shawn Trudeau, 34, also of St. Paul, was a bit unnerved to learn that it was behind that tree where three assailants allegedly hid about 12:30 a.m. Friday, each with a bat. They left the 49-year-old victim, identified only as Tammie, with her hands and left forearm broken, and her left middle finger torn off.

Said Trudeau, "It may be the first and last time I stop at this tree."

Pam McCreary, St. Paul's National Night Out coordinator, said the attack "brought a lot of fear out of people. They're asking, 'What can I do to make this place safer?'"

Exploring gang ties

Just to the south of Lake Phalen, the East Side has witnessed new investment in the form of the Phalen Boulevard transportation and economic development initiative. There is new housing, as well as a new Cub Foods store under construction.

At Arlington Hills Presbyterian Church, people gathered before 7 p.m. Monday, preparing to march from the parking lot to the bent tree where Friday's attack occurred.

Then, sirens wailed.

About that time, a married man and woman, both of them 18, were walking on the east side of the lake, Panos said, when a youth ran by them, with four others chasing him. One pursuer continued on, he said, but the other three stopped and asked the married man whether he was a member of a specific gang.

He told them he wasn't, Panos said, but a fight ensued during which both the man and woman were punched, and a bat raised. The man managed to prevent the bat from striking his head, Panos said, but he was struck on the upper body. The injuries were not serious.

When police sirens sounded, the three suspects ran, and they eventually were nabbed on a path in a nearby wooded area. An aluminum bat was recovered, Panos said.

The remaining four suspects were arrested after witnesses said they believed a white minivan was connected to the incident. That van was stopped about three hours later, and three juveniles and a 22-year-old adult were arrested.

All seven suspects are associated with a gang, Panos said.

Among the witnesses to the second attack was Tammie's sister, who with her four children was headed to the vigil.

The Rev. Howard Dotson, who organized Monday's vigil, said traumatic incidents can either force people inside their homes or "bring them together to be productive."
He's hopeful, he said, that the East Side will be coming together.

At the National Night Out party on the East Side with five of his kids, James White, 50, echoed a similar sentiment.

"We all live here," he said. "We can't be scared."

Staff writers Terry Collins and Tim Harlow contributed to this report. Anthony Lonetree • 651-298-1545

Peacemaking in St Paul (2008-2009)

2011-01-03T14:07:00.001-06:00

Another violent attack along the shores of a popular Twin Cities lake

Authorities are investigating the attack of a runner at a popular Twin Cities lake, and whether it's related to other assaults.

The latest attack happened around 6:30 last night. Maplewood police say a woman was running along the west side of Lake Phalen when a man came up from behind and knocked her to the ground.

The suspect began beating the woman, hitting her in the face and grabbing at her clothes. The suspect was eventually scared off when other people walked towards them. Fortunately, the victim was not seriously injured.

The suspect is described as:

•black male
•approximately 5'11"
•170 lbs
He was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

Authorities want to hear from anyone that may have witnessed anything last night.

Police say they do not have any evidence to connect this attack to other recent assaults along Lake Phalen over the course of several months. Still, they have not completely ruled out a connection.

On March 11th, two attackers kicked and punched a 25-year-old woman who had been jogging and stole her iPod. One week earlier a 45-year-old man was attacked while walking his dog.

Last August, a couple and a woman were assaulted by groups of teens with baseball bats. One of the victim's fingers was severed, and she suffered multiple broken bones in her hands and a wrist.

All of these crimes have motivated a couple community leaders. Rev. Howard Dotson and Larry Simpson are actively trying to organize community walk groups. They say it's critical to keeping the community safe.

"I just worry that folks on the East Side are going to get demoralized and they're going to stay inside, and that's the last thing we want to happen," Dotson said.

The police can't do it all, bless their hearts," Simpson said. "Citizens have to take to the streets, but they have to do it in an effective and safe way."

Simpson and Dotson encourage anyone interested in joining a patrol group to attend a meeting, at 6:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month, at the headquarters of the St. Paul Police Department's Eastern District, located at Payne and Minnehaha Ave..

Meantime, police encourage people to be aware of their surroundings and to consider running or walking with a friend.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Maplewood Police through the Ramsey County Emergency Communications Center at 651-767-0640.

A better way of dealing with society's neediest

2009-05-29T17:40:00.000-05:00

A better way of dealing with society's neediest
Steve Lopez
April 19, 2009

Reporting from Washington -- So what exactly am I doing on Capitol Hill? I'm at a congressional briefing, which wouldn't be entirely out of the ordinary, except that I'm not taking notes and not planning to beat up on anyone.

I'm the keynote speaker.

Yes, friends, the republic is in trouble.

I've been asked here to share what I've learned since meeting Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, a former Juilliard student who has taught me about this nation's triumphs and failures in helping those who battle mental illness and end up homeless.

I'm well aware that Capitol Hill briefings are a dime a dozen and that public policy is not likely to be greatly influenced by my testimony. But I was invited here by officials from the Corp. for Supportive Housing, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Alliance to End Homelessness and other agencies.

My instinct was to decline the offer. It's not in my nature as a journalist to become personally involved in a story.

But that struck me as too convenient an excuse for avoiding my civic duty. There's a new administration now and stimulus money needing to be spent. Maybe there's finally hope for more programs to help the Nathaniels of the world.

So here I am, Mr. Lopez goes to Washington, and just as I'm beginning to experience an unwelcome sense of self-importance, I'm told the actual congressional representatives are in recess and out of town.

What? You mean they skipped out just as I got here and sent their minions to hear me?

I swallow my pride and look out on a few dozen congressional staffers, policy wonks and service providers. I've been given 15 minutes. I confess to listeners that I'm not the expert on housing and mental illness that my fellow panelists are, but I have a story.

I tell them about Mr. Ayers, who lost nearly everything at the age of 20 to schizophrenia. By the time I met him four years ago, he had been living on the streets for decades, with little to keep him going but his love of music.

In helping him find a home at Lamp Community in Los Angeles, I learned firsthand how permanent supportive housing is not only the humane approach, but often the cost-effective one too.

Lamp has rescued hundreds of people from lives of despair and saved taxpayers the cost of churning them endlessly through emergency rooms, criminal courts and prisons.

The homeless population is growing across the country because of the recession and returning veterans who are physically and mentally wounded. It's not that we don't know how to help them rebuild their lives, I tell my audience, but that we haven't provided nearly enough support for alternative courts and for programs like Lamp.

And so vets sleep in Santa Monica parks, not far from abandoned VA barracks; L.A. County Jail serves as a mental institution; and there's a waiting list at Lamp and other agencies with good track records but limited funds.

On behalf of Mr. Ayers, I urge my audience to support a better way of dealing with society's neediest, then step aside so the professionals can speak.

Bob Carolla of the National Alliance on Mental Illness talks about how, while working as an aide to former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), he was overcome by debilitating depression and found himself in handcuffs near the Capitol.

"No one is immune from mental illness," he says.

Hyacinth King, a business school graduate, tells how schizophrenia left her homeless until Project HOME in Philadelphia gave her back her life, including a job as both an advocate and computer specialist, and a home with enough support services to help her thrive.

Deborah DeSantis, chief executive of the Corp. for Supportive Housing, lists a number of cities that have reduced homeless populations and asks congressional staffers to go back to their bosses and tell them how it was done.

"Study after study shows we're going to save money by putting people into permanent supportive housing," she says.

DeSantis and other speakers have a specific request: They want a budget allocation of $2.2 billion this year in the Housing and Urban Development Department's McKinney-Vento grants. That would be an increase of about $500 million over this year's funding, and it would pay for 15,000 new supportive housing units.

They also are arguing for $120 million to support programs that help keep formerly homeless people from ending up back on the pavement.

And what are the chances these pleas will be answered?

Gil Duran, a spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), tells me the senator "supports these programs" and "will continue to work to ensure that California cities get the help they need." But it remains to be seen whether President Obama's budget will include the necessary funds.

A staffer for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) tells me that given the current fiscal crisis, it would help convince doubters in Congress if there were more hard evidence that supportive housing can save money over the long term.

I leave it to one of my fellow panel members to make that case. Sister Mary Scullion of Philadelphia is convinced beyond a doubt that with a combination of public investment and private support, investing in permanent supportive housing is humane and cost-effective.

The last time I visited Sister Mary in Philadelphia, she took me to a formerly devastated neighborhood that has been rebuilt by Project HOME, which she co-founded two decades ago. When I asked who did all the work, Sister Mary said, "our people," meaning formerly homeless, mentally ill people who were given homes and jobs rebuilding the neighborhood.

Sister Mary is the last speaker at the Capitol Hill briefing and no doubt the most compelling.

If Congress can find $80 billion to bail out the inept insurance giant AIG, she says, surely it can come up with $2.2 billion for supportive housing. As for the request for $120 million in support services, Scullion adds, that was roughly what AIG paid in executive bonuses.

"I'm not kidding," Sister Mary says as I scribble in my notebook, happy to be back on the other side of the podium.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

President Obama Heads to Cairo

2009-05-24T15:30:00.000-05:00

World Cititzen: Obama's Cairo Speech and the 57-State Solution
Frida Ghitis | Bio | 14 May 2009
World Politics Review

When President Barack Obama finally announced the location of his much-heralded speech to the Muslim world, the news came as a surprise. As a candidate, Obama had promised to give such an address during his first 100 days in office, as part of an urgent campaign to repair relations between the United States and Muslims.

Observers wondered where Obama would go for the potentially historic occasion. Many believed the U.S. president would choose a democratic, Muslim-majority country for the event. Favorites included Jakarta, where Obama lived as a child. Turkey, a U.S. ally, also seemed like a good choice. Even Morocco, one of the more open Arab countries, was considered a longshot.

The choice of Cairo proved controversial, as the White House surely knew it would. When it comes to democratic values, Egypt -- America's autocratic ally -- is something of an embarrassment. Critics pounced, highlighting Egypt's dismal human rights record. Why would the Obama administration choose for its speech a country where the president has ruled for 28 years, human rights are routinely violated, and democratic ideals are regularly trampled?

The White House is giving faint hints about the reasons and the strategy behind the choice.

Egypt, declared White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, is "the heart of the Arab world." Although it remains an eminently non-democratic country, Washington would like it to become an example to emulate for all Arab countries.

This signals that the speech to Muslims is gradually morphing into a speech to Arabs. Improving relations with Muslims is important. But when it comes to U.S. strategic interests, the more urgent item on the agenda is creating a strong coalition with Arab countries. The Obama administration has chosen Egypt because Cairo has taken a strong position on the two major crises brewing in the region: the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and the conflict with Iran.

Obama will seek to boost Egypt's standing by placing it at the center of a coalition to isolate Iran and bring peace, not just between Israelis and Palestinians, but between Israel and the entire Arab world.

Egypt not only has relatively good relations with Israel. It has also confronted Iran openly and forcefully, especially after uncovering a plot by Iran-backed Hezbollah to attack targets inside Egypt. Egyptian officials have publicly accused Iran of trying to "conquer the Arab world."

In the coming months, the Obama administration will speak frequently and loudly about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In reality, however, it will push behind the scenes for a much wider agreement: something harkening back to the old Madrid Process, which sought to bring a comprehensive peace deal for the region. That subsequently went off the rails, pushed aside by the much narrower Oslo Accords between Israelis and Palestinians.

Jordan's King Abdullah, the first Arab leader to visit the Obama White House, is a strong advocate of the plan. He claims that Obama is reaching for a "57-state solution," one that would bring peace between Israel and all 57 member countries -- Arab and Muslim -- of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Obama cannot be accused of holding modest aspirations. The plan may be extremely ambitious, but it is also very clever. If it works, it could break the knot that has tied up the prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as play a key role in breaking the impasse with Iran.

Ever since Benjamin Netanyahu became Israel's prime minister, much ink has been spilled noting that he has so far refused to accept the two-state solution. But that is not the main obstacle to peace today. Eventually, Netanyahu will accept two states. When he does, Israel will have seemed to have made a major concession, even though several Israeli governments have already signed on to the plan, and Netanyahu himself has agreed to accept previous agreements.

The biggest obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians lies in the strength of Iran-backed Hamas, relative to Fatah. Israelis and Palestinians know that if Israel withdraws all its forces from the West Bank, Hamas will take over with the same ease with which it took over Gaza in 2006. A Hamas-ruled West Bank is an existential red line for Israel. Obama knows, understands, and accepts this.

Rather than waste energy on a goal that is unachievable in the immediate future, Obama's plan to bring peace between Israelis and Arabs would help isolate Iran, along with Hamas and Hezbollah, two armed groups that vow to fight Israel's existence until the bitter end. By building such an alliance and imbuing it with popular support -- hence the high-profile speech -- Obama would tell Arabs that he is offering them a new path: a path to the future.

Pressure is already being brought to bear on Syria to jump on the peace bandwagon and leave Iran behind. Simultaneous with overt efforts to reach out to Damascus, the U.S. has also just renewed sanctions, charging that Syria's actions "supporting terrorism, pursuing weapons of mass destruction [pose a] threat to the national security" of the U.S. This was the stick. The carrot may have come delivered by the hand of King Abdullah, who visited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after meeting Obama.

Pressure on Hamas is also mounting. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who will meet Obama later this month -- as will Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak -- has reportedly decided to form a new government without Hamas.

Obama will try to build a front for the future, one based on two pillars: peace between Israelis and Arabs, and rejection of Iran's regional goals. If he succeeds in building the foundation for that new edifice, he will have a strategically placed megaphone to speak to the region -- not about platitudes, but about concrete steps for peace. Arab and Muslim countries will hear the presumably persuasive message that they can stand with the U.S.-backed alliance, or remain on the wrong side of history.

Frida Ghitis is an independent commentator on world affairs and a World Politics Review contributing editor. Her weekly column, World Citizen, appears every Thursday.

Photo: President Barack Obama during a press conference following the G20 Summit, London, April 2, 2009 (White House Photo by Pete Souza).

White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships

2009-05-18T08:34:00.000-05:00

Obama Announces White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

Obama Announces White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Washington (February 5, 2009) – President Barack Obama today signed an executive order establishing the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will work on behalf of Americans committed to improving their communities, no matter their religious or political beliefs.

"Over the past few days and weeks, there has been much talk about what our government’s role should be during this period of economic emergency. That is as it should be – because there is much that government can and must do to help people in need," said President Obama. "But no matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone. There is a force for good greater than government. It is an expression of faith, this yearning to give back, this hungering for a purpose larger than our own, that reveals itself not simply in places of worship, but in senior centers and shelters, schools and hospitals, and any place an American decides."

The White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith based, looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities, learn their obligations under the law, cut through red tape, and make the most of what the federal government has to offer.

President Obama appointed Joshua DuBois, a former associate pastor and advisor to the President in his U.S. Senate office and campaign Director of Religious Affairs, to lead this office. "Joshua understands the issues at stake, knows the people involved, and will be able to bring everyone together – from both the secular and faith-based communities, from academia and politics – around our common goals," said President Obama.

The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will focus on four key priorities, to be carried out by working closely with the President’s Cabinet Secretaries and each of the eleven agency offices for faith-based and neighborhood partnerships:

The Office’s top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete.
It will be one voice among several in the administration that will look at how we support women and children, address teenage pregnancy, and reduce the need for abortion.

The Office will strive to support fathers who stand by their families, which involves working to get young men off the streets and into well-paying jobs, and encouraging responsible fatherhood.
Finally, beyond American shores this Office will work with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world.
As the priorities of this Office are carried out, it will be done in a way that upholds the Constitution – by ensuring that both existing programs and new proposals are consistent with American laws and values. The separation of church and state is a principle President Obama supports firmly – not only because it protects our democracy, but also because it protects the plurality of America’s religious and civic life. The Executive Order President Obama will sign today strengthens this by adding a new mechanism for the Executive Director of the Office to work through the White House Counsel to seek the advice of the Attorney General on difficult legal and constitutional issues.

The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will include a new President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, composed of religious and secular leaders and scholars from different backgrounds. There will be 25 members of the Council, appointed to 1-year terms.

Members of the Council include:

Judith N. Vredenburgh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Big Brothers / Big Sisters of America
Philadelphia, PA

Rabbi David N. Saperstein, Director & Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and noted church/state expert
Washington, DC

Dr. Frank S. Page, President emeritus, Southern Baptist Convention
Taylors, SC

Father Larry J. Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
Alexandria, VA

Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., Pastor emeritus, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church
Cleveland, OH

Eboo S. Patel, Founder & Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Corps
Chicago, IL

Fred Davie, President, Public / Private Ventures, a secular non-profit intermediary
New York, NY

Dr. William J. Shaw, President, National Baptist Convention, USA
Philadelphia, PA

Melissa Rogers, Director, Wake Forest School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs and expert on church/state issues
Winston-Salem, NC

Pastor Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland, a Church Distributed
Lakeland, FL

Dr. Arturo Chavez, Ph.D., President & CEO, Mexican American Cultural Center
San Antonio, TX

Rev. Jim Wallis, President & Executive Director, Sojourners
Washington, DC

Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie, Presiding Bishop, 13th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Knoxville, TN

Diane Baillargeon, President & CEO, Seedco, a secular national operating intermediary
New York, NY

Richard Stearns, President, World Vision
Bellevue, WA

# #

Love is Radical

2009-05-16T10:23:00.000-05:00

Love is Radical John 15:9-17 Sunday May 17

9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

When we think of love we remember all those diamond commercials we see on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s day. Many of us brought our Mom’s out to dinner for Mother’s day last Saturday. When we think of love we remember all the songs on our airwaves. When we ponder such deep topics we can feel like we are at a coffee shop on the West bank of Paris with berets on. Do we really know what it means to love one another as Christ loves us? Let’s pull up a chair, order another cup of coffee and engage this deep question. Is Christ’s love too radical for us?
Yes, Christ’s love is radical. This notion of compassion, solidarity and sacrifice takes us out of ourselves. We are stretched to love the stranger among us, not just our family and small circle of friends. As Christians, we are called to love as Christ loves us. This can seem like a really tall order! Surely we can never measure up to what the Son of God is capable of. We want to do our best to approximate, but sometimes we feel like it is too pie in the sky for us to live this out in our daily lives. These Hallmark card slogans are nice and all, but is this really realistic in our daily lives?
Jesus’ life and ministry challenges us to love our neighbors, near and far. Jesus meant it when he told us to turn the other cheek and to love our enemies. We are branches of the true vine, who sends us out to our communities to bear the fruit of his love. God’s vineyard is always expanding to reach out to our brothers and sisters who live on the margins. We are not called to merely love the holy huddle of the few. We too are called to lay down our life for our friends, and embrace the strangers among us. Our sense of family and parish are to be ever expanding. In spite of the barriers and prejudgments that society too often creates, we reach beyond the fences to open our hearts and hands to our brothers and sisters who feel isolated and misunderstood.
If we are to embrace the least among us, then we will need to deconstruct some of the social barriers that continue to divide us. As American Christians, we have inherited many of the race and class issues that continue to burden us. It can be hard and sobering for us to be students of history. We can grow depressed and dejected when we see how often we have failed to live up to the radical love that Christ calls us to.
The good news is that we can always transcend the past, and reconnect with God’s vine of love. Our branches have always been there. For every painful chapter, we can find the faithful few who understood how radical God’s love is. Instead of dwelling on how many ways have we failed, we can seek out the beacons of hope who stayed true to our calling as disciples of Christ. There will always be a remnant who get it. They have the courage to live out the gospel of love and grace. They can endure the social isolation, and the hammer of public opinion.
Growing up here in the Western suburbs of the Twin Cities in the 70s and 80s, race relations were framed in the black-white paradigm. The new neighbors, “the strangers” among us were the new black families moving into the neighbourhood. My eyes were opened to their journey when I became friends with my new classmates who lived down the street. I saw how they endured life on the margins of our community. Did they experience the radical love that Christ calls us to in our community?
Several years later, my eyes were opened wider in college when I spent a semester as an exchange student in San Antonio. I began to see America in new terms. I had never seen so many Latinos before. As a wet-behind-the ears Yankee, this was a new learning for me. San Antonio is often called little Mexico. I began to understand that is was not only blacks who endured racism and discrimination in America.
This was a learning for me that our nation as a melting pot was broader and wider than the black and white paradigm of my childhood. As Christians living in one of the most diverse nations, we remember our call to love our neighbours as ourselves. We are called to open our hearts and minds to the journeys and the dreams that our new neighbours have to share with us.
For generations, the Eastside of St Paul has been an Ellis Island for waves of immigrants, the Swedes, the Italians, the Poles. This heritage continues today. Every day I drive Payne Ave and see that many of the shops and signs are Latino. The main drag of the Eastside has been transformed by our new Latino neighbours. How has this been received in the wider community? Are we ready and willing to embrace our new neighbours with the radical love of Christ? Yes there are language and cultural barriers, but Christ’s love transcends any and every obstacle!
As many of you know the Latino community is very religious, the vast majority are Catholic. There is also a growing store front Pentecostal presence. As mainline Protestants, have we fully embraced this sacred connection we have with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?
As disciples of Christ’s radical love, we need to take to the time to learn the stories of our brothers and sisters who have travelled north. What did they experience in the Americas before they made the journey? We can’t lose Christ’s grace and compassion in the midst of the immigration debate.
We have something to learn from our Hebrew Bible. The Jewish people have long understood what it means to be a stranger in another land. The Ancient prophets in the Bible remind us that we too were once strangers in Egypt. Therefore, we are to embrace the stranger among us, and extend hospitality and treat them as one of us. This is the radical love Christ is pointing us to.
The next time we see a Latino family, I want us to take the time to look for the face of Christ in their lives. I was moved by a story in the current issue of Christian Century of the Fortin De las Flores, a small town at the foot of mountains in Vera Cruz. They see the Central American migrants making their way north on the freight trains. Many people have lost limbs and some have lost their very lives trying to making it to better life. The local residents in Fortin de Las Flores have established a home for the victims of these rail road accidents. The residents also extend radical love, by breaking their loaves and fishes to share with the pilgrims. They have opened their hearts and minds to the stories of what people have endured on this journey north. Are we too willing to keep our hearts and minds open to their stories?
In recent months we have seen the raids in the Iowa. We have 12 million people in our midst who live out of status, and endure the fear and anxiety that ICE will come knocking and separate their families. What does Christ’s radical love call us to do in these difficult times? Our eyes and ears are to remain open to their story and their journey.
How will we embrace the stranger among us? How will the branches of Christ’s love envelope our brothers and sisters from the south seeking their daily bread? As branches from the true vine, we bear the fruit of Christ’s love. When new neighbours join us in St Paul, let us listen with grace and compassion to their testimonies. We remember our prophetic calling to embrace the stranger among us.
We remember the miracle of the loaves and fishes. God is still with us. The manna from heaven will fall again and again. Many of our new neighbours are pilgrims coming out of their own journey through the wilderness. They have joined us in search of a promised land, a land of milk and honey.
With radical love, we will embrace our brothers and sisters in their quest for their daily bread. We will take the time to hear their story. With radical love, we set aside prejudgments and prejudices. We remember how our ancestors came here with similar hopes and dreams. We share this common dream for our children and grandchildren. With Christ’s radical love flowing in and through us, we lift up the common loaf and trust that it will divide again and again. God’s abundant grace and compassion will provide for us all.
As a fellowship of Christ’s radical love on the Eastside, may our community know the fruit of the Spirit flowing through us. This is the radical love that we are called to share with every child of God.

Evangelical Church of Torture and Jack Bauer

2009-05-08T10:45:00.001-05:00

Jonathan L. Walton is assistant professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He teaches courses in African American Religion; Religion, Media & Culture and Religion & Political Discourse. His new book is: Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Religious Broadcasting (New York University Press).
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Last week the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life released poll data revealing the relationships between religious commitment and support for the use of torture against terror suspects. Those who rarely attend religious services are the least likely to support torture. The more one attends religious service, the greater the level of support. And white evangelical Protestants offered the greatest amount of support for torture with a majority (62%) of respondents believing that torture can at least sometimes be justified.

I am sickened but not terribly shocked.

This glib view of the brutality and inhumanity of torture is bound up in a particular strand of American Christian theology that’s been a growing force for over a century.

Muscular Christianity in America has minimized the vice of torture and extolled the virtue of the Heroic One who endures for a greater cause. The crucified body of Jesus is held up as a paragon of strength, virtue and virility.

This is true not because Jesus offered an alternative conception of society where the first shall be last or the last shall be first. Not because Jesus found virtue rather than vice in the “least of these” among us. And not because Jesus inverted assumptions about authority by his willingness to humbly wash the feet of those who would otherwise worship him.

Rather, Jesus is a moral exemplar because “he was wounded for our transgressions, by his wounds we are healed, and by his blood we are made whole.” Jesus is worshiped as the ultimate “strong man” who could overcome the pain and sting of death for the sake of righteousness. The horror of inflicted suffering is theologically interpreted as an efficient cause toward bringing forth the greater good and thus torture becomes divinely utilitarian.

Is it a wonder why, then, on Sunday morning it is often hard to tell the difference between Jesus and Jack Bauer on Fox’s megahit “24?” Like a long list of American messianic masculine archetypes (John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Mel Gibson), Jesus is situated in this tradition of bulletproof heroes who mock the machinations of torture.

What is more, like Jack Bauer, anyone who is willing to endure torture for others is that much more justified in dishing it out. And, unfortunately, since muscular evangelicals so identify with the mutilated body of Jesus who “suffered for the sins of the world,” it is only right that they, too, would condone the suffering of others in order to purge our world of “evil.”

Finding a vision for the future by discovering the past

2009-05-05T06:22:00.000-05:00

Finding a vision for the future by discovering the past
Presbyterian church first established in 1846 to be demolished to provide affordable housing for seniors
by Paul Seebeck
Associate for Mission Communications

Editor’s note: This is the 17th in a series of stories about congregations engaged in significant outreach and evangelism ministries, reflecting the General Assembly’s commitment to “Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide.” ― Jerry L. Van Marter

QUEENS, N.Y. — Pastor Don Olinger of the Presbyterian Church of Astoria in Queens wears his favorite baseball cap religiously these days.

A friend found it at a garage sale and thought it would be perfect for Olinger when he saw these words: “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”

For Olinger, who is legally blind and uses a cane to get around, it is a sacred reminder of what he has experienced.

“All things work together for good for those who love God,” he said, quoting Romans 8:28. There’s a sense of wonder in his voice even though the congregation he serves was down to 25 members at one point.

The Presbyterian Church of Astoria, where Olinger has been a pastor for 15 years, is about to be demolished. All of the stained glass windows on the gray stone building have been removed. The gas has been turned off. Temporary windows keep the building secure as the congregation waits for the month-long demolition process to begin.

In existence since 1846, the church began construction in this place and space in 1922. Nearly a century later, building maintenance expenses were getting to be too much for the church. The building needed updated wiring and new heating and plumbing systems, and the church was trying to cope with rising utility costs.

Looking forward

In 2002, the church’s session empowered Olinger to begin to explore options for the future.

“All of this started off simply with the idea, ‘What should we do?’” Olinger said. “To save the building would’ve cost us anywhere from $1 to 3 million. Our session said, ‘Pastor, go find out what we should do.”

Olinger began talking with a city council representative and community board, asking them what they would like to see happen to the church. Out of those conversations Olinger went back to the church seeking permission to put together a feasibility study to determine if it might be possible to do some sort of affordable housing on part of or all of the property.

The congregation’s response was clear.

“They didn’t want to lose this place,” Olinger said. “They wanted to serve the community here.”

But at the time, lucrative New York commercial real estate developers kept saying it wasn’t worth their while to develop part of the property.

“They wanted all of our space,” Olinger said. “They wanted us to take the money and get out of the way.”

That’s when Olinger found a “crazy zoning law” that said the church could build a larger facility if it was a “senior domiciliary.”

Even the zoning board wasn’t quite sure what that meant. But research that went back to the 1920s and ’30s told a story of what life was like for senior citizens during those boom and bust years. Before Social Security, there were a lot of indigent seniors with no pensions and no way to support themselves.

Once Olinger understood that this “crazy law” written during the Great Depression could’ve just as easily have been written for today — senior domiciliary is the 1920s phrase for senior affordable housing — he had a moment of understanding.

Olinger remembered what the community planning board had told him in that initial exploratory meeting — that affordable housing for seniors is what the neighborhood and New York City need most because it took most seniors three years to find affordable housing.

Olinger found out the Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Corporation (HANAC) was interested in partnering with a developer that might have interest in affordable housing for seniors. Then out of the blue, the Enterprise Foundation called. The non-profit organization creates opportunities for “low- and moderate-income people through fit, affordable housing and diverse, thriving communities,” according to its Web site.

“‘Don, if you’re still looking to develop your property, we have a group here that is interested in doing an affordable housing for seniors,’” the foundation told Olinger. “God just steered everything in this direction. There were all these serendipitous moments during the time of discovery of that crazy law.”

Olinger could literally see that God’s spirit had been at work through the history of time and space from one economic boom and bust time to another. He had a sense that all things in the church’s time and space were connected, as if he was discovering the future by re-engaging the church’s past.

He went back to the congregation and to the Presbytery of New York City and said, “Listen, we have a sanctuary that seats 500 people and there are only about 50 of us. This isn’t good stewardship. God has put us here for a reason.”

Different points of view

But conflict had broken out in the congregation. Church leadership was very interested in pursuing affordable housing for seniors, but anonymous letters attacking Olinger began to appear and were sent on to the presbytery. Nothing ever came of the attackers’ charges — they were all dismissed by a Presbytery Judiciary Council.

“Presbyteries are overwhelmed by all these churches that just want to survive,” Olinger said. “But Jesus said ‘Those who want to save their life will lose it, those who lose their life for the sake of the gospel will save it’ (Mark 8:35). The majority of us decided we would take that quite literally.”

The decision to replace the church with housing for senior adults though was difficult for the congregation. The final vote was 17-13 in favor of building 94 apartments for 100 seniors.

Community board members believe more than 4,000 people will apply to live here once the two-year project is complete.

There was “creative tension” within the congregation and presbytery as this senior affordable housing project was put together, said the Rev. Arabella Meadows-Rogers, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of New York City.

“It is a remarkable story,” she said. “There were real small congregations with very big economic possibilities. They are usually larger than any one church can fathom or manage. The scope, the breadth, the depth, the mammoth of possibilities makes them afraid.”

The church’s engagement in its community reflects the 218th General Assembly’s commitment to “Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide,” focusing on the four areas of evangelism, discipleship, servanthood and diversity.

Developers were ringing doorbells saying, “I want your building. I’ll give you $40 million for it,” said Meadows-Rogers. The current economic crisis “has been very helpful for all of us. It was very easy in that climate for churches and presbyteries to see gold. Astoria kept its mission at the front. It’s not always easy to do,” she said.

While the presbytery tries to partner with its small churches, Meadows-Rogers said that “inevitably it is the tenacity of the small church and its pastor, its faithfulness and sense of hope that keeps things moving and gets them done.”

‘Defining what we’re about’

The Presbyterian Church of Astoria is being paid $4.25 million for its property. Part of this expense is being paid for out of HUD tax credit. In 15 years, the deed for the property reverts back to the church. At that point, the housing project will in all likelihood be managed by HANAC.

In 40 years, the church will have control of 94 units of housing that can be used for anyone; the HUD enforcement mortgage that demands it be used for senior housing will be done.

Once the project is built, the church will have a 5,000-square-foot condominium in the senior affordable housing project that will be used for office space and worship. It will cost the church about $1.5 million to create and outfit this multi-purpose space that will become the sanctuary.

“All churches don’t have to go this model, but I believe we have to be good stewards,” Olinger said. “Zoning and community defined the best mission for our church.”

The congregation at The Presbyterian Church of Astoria is gradually beginning to move forward. Half of their members left because of the conflict. But already the church is back up to 40 people on Sunday mornings. Worshippers who come from their neighborhood are from seven different countries: Ghana, Trinidad, Philippines, Japan, Indian, Portugal and Italy. That diversity doesn’t surprise Olinger because the neighborhood has always served immigrants.

The congregation is worshipping in what was an old doctor’s office and then a non-profit organization near the site where their church will be demolished. Computer equipment was left behind, and the church is trying to resurrect the equipment so that it can offer computer skills lessons to help members get better jobs.

“God is providing us with guidance and resources,” Olinger said. “Through all of what has happened for this church — in the conflict, in everything — as a result, we are defining what we’re about, and who we’re going to be.”

Recently, a young woman the church hadn’t seen in more than a year came to worship. She went over to talk to Olinger, saying that she was sorry to be late but that she had gone over to the other building.

“Why is it all boarded up?” she wanted to know, with tears in her eyes. Olinger told her that it was being demolished so that 94 units of affordable housing for 100 seniors could be built.

Now the woman began to cry. “At that point I told her, ‘Look, we’re all going to miss the building.’’’ Olinger barely got the words out because the woman was interrupting him. “That’s not why I’m crying,” she said. “I’m crying because at last a church is doing it right. You’re serving the community. You’re getting it right.

Our Mentally Ill Should be in Treatment not Prison

2009-04-30T04:11:00.000-05:00

Some of you may have been the recent PBS program on the Mentally ill in Prison.
Please lobby your State and Federal legislators for mental health funding and volunteer with the group homes in your community.

The only way to break this cycle is for our communities to embrace our mentally ill brothers and sisters with love and compassion. Prisons should not be the new asylums.

The stigma and fear still keeps many of us from reaching out to the least among us.
On medications, the mentally ill are not dangerous. Sometimes, the media focus can skew reality. I'm grateful for PBS and Frontline coverage of this issue.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/released/
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Frontline: The New Asylums (1995)

Once released from prison, mentally ill ex-offenders are faced with the challenges of reintegrating into their communities. Those who do not make a successful transition relapse and return to prison. But across the country, community groups and prison and mental health officials are working together to break this cycle.

In 1999, New York City was routinely releasing its mentally ill ex-offenders into impoverished neighborhoods between 2 and 6 in the morning with only $1.50 in cash and two subway tokens. In a class-action suit against the city, several inmates claim that without provisions for continuing treatment of their mental illnesses or help finding housing, psychiatric care and government services, they were more likely to psychologically decompensate, become homeless, relapse into criminal activity, and return to jail. Though this case was settled out of court with the city pledging to provide services for its inmates after their release, variations of this story are being played out across the country.

In 2004, some 630,000 prisoners were released back into their communities, many of them with mental illness and co-occurring disorders such as substance abuse. Studies have shown that 60 percent of released offenders are likely to be rearrested within 18 months, and that mentally ill offenders are likely to be rearrested at an even higher rate. Experts claim that a major cause for recidivism among the mentally ill is the "epidemic" shortfall in community-based mental health services. "While offenders have a constitutional right to receive mental health treatment when they are incarcerated, they do not enjoy a similar right to treatment in the community," writes Lance Courturier, chief psychiatrist of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Experts and corrections officials like Courturier believe that the solution is to directly link prison mental health services to services in the community. The Consensus Project, a coordinated effort by the Council of State Governments to improve services for mentally ill offenders, recently released a report that recommends planning for post-release services almost from the day they arrive in the justice system. A successful system for reentry would coordinate efforts among specialists in a range of services, integrate treatment for mental illness and substance abuse, combine primary healthcare with mental healthcare, create and improve housing resources for the mentally ill, involve families and the community with the offender's treatment, and ensure that people with mental illness are accessing the full range of government entitlements for which they are eligible, such as Social Security Disability Insurance.

Across the country, communities and organizations are taking up this call, in some cases beginning services a year before an inmate's release and continuing them for as long as those services are needed. One such program, operated by the Allegheny County Department of Human Services in Pittsburgh, has reduced recidivism to less than 10 percent. It helps mentally ill offenders apply for social services, arranges for their temporary housing, supplies them with bus passes, and sets up appointments with community doctors so they can continue to receive their medications. In addition, the program also provides more personal services, such as arranging for someone to pick up offenders at the time of their release and take them shopping for $200 worth of clothing and toiletries.

Compassion, Compulsion and the Mentally Ill

By E. FULLER TORREY
The debacle of deinstitutionalization continues to worsen with each passing year. In 1955, there were 559,000 individuals in America's state mental hospitals. By 2005, there were only 47,000 state hospital beds left in the country, a number that continues to fall. Numerous studies have documented the tragic effects of releasing hundreds of thousands of seriously mentally ill individuals from state hospitals while failing to ensure that they receive treatment.

The latest, carried out by Jason Matejkowski and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, found that individuals with serious mental illnesses are responsible for 10% of all homicides in Indiana. That translates into approximately 1,700 out of 17,034 total homicides in the U.S. in 2006. Over the past 20 years – during which time the public mental-health system has progressively deteriorated – that would mean 38,000 of 388,311 total homicides.

The University of Pennsylvania study examined the records of 723 individuals convicted of homicide between 1990 and 2002 in the Hoosier state. The results were published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

Examples of such homicides include Joseph Corcoran, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, who shot four people in Fort Wayne because he thought they were talking about him. And Frank Salyers, also diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, who killed a policeman in Goshen after his parents tried unsuccessfully to get treatment for him at a local mental-health facility.

Although the Indiana study is the largest research of its kind in the U.S., two earlier but smaller studies reported that seriously mentally ill individuals were responsible for 10% of homicides in Contra Costa County, Calif., and 29% of homicides in Albany County, N.Y.

Most of these homicides were preventable, since the perpetrators in most cases were not being treated. Nontreatment, a past history of violent behavior and substance abuse are strong predictors of potential dangerousness in this population. We have proven options for decreasing such violence, including outpatient commitment. These programs require mentally ill individuals at high risk for violence to continue taking medication as a condition for living in the community.

Kendra's Law, passed in New York state in 1999, established one such program. A 2005 study by the New York State Office of Mental Health showed that physical acts of violence – as well as suicide attempts and arrests – by patients compelled to undergo treatment under Kendra's Law dropped dramatically in just six months; a similar reduction in violent behavior was shown in a North Carolina study.

Despite such data, assisted outpatient treatment is seldom used in the 42 states in which it is available and does not even exist in the other eight states. Even in New York, only a few counties use Kendra's Law widely. Why not? One reason is the reluctance of mental-health professionals to mandate treatment, even for patients with a history of violence and noncompliance with treatment.

Another is the misconception that such programs are expensive. In fact, it is our failure to use such laws that is expensive. Repeated hospital readmissions, incarceration costs, and the costs of homicides and other associated violence take a far greater toll on local, state and federal coffers.

The societal cost of not treating the seriously mentally ill is staggering. They constitute at least one-third of the homeless population. Unable to defend themselves because of their disabilities, they are often exploited and victimized. Approximately 5,000 commit suicide each year – one-sixth of all suicides. An estimated 230,000 are in jails and prisons, 10% of all incarcerations.

According to a 2006 study by the U.S. Justice Department, 56% of state prisoners, 45% of federal prisoners and 64% of local jail inmates suffer from mental illnesses. In fact, there are now more individuals with a serious mental illness in state prisons than in state mental hospitals.

In the end, involuntarily treating people with serious mental illnesses – who, because of their illnesses, are not aware they are sick – does not infringe on their civil rights. The fears of civil libertarians notwithstanding, the paramount civil right of someone who is severely mentally ill should be adequate treatment.

As Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in 1999: "It must be remembered that for the person with severe mental illness who has no treatment, the most dreaded of confinements can be the imprisonment inflicted by his own mind, which shuts reality out and subjects him to the torment of voices and images beyond our powers to describe."

Dr. Torrey is the author, most recently, of "The Insanity Offense: How America's Failure to Treat the Seriously Mentally Ill Endangers Its Citizens," out this month by W. W. Norton.

Shalom: Peace Be With You

2009-04-19T21:56:00.000-05:00

Shalom: Peace be With You

John 20:19-31

19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” 24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

When I visit synagogues I enjoy the greeting we extend to one another, “Shabbat shalom.” When I visit a mosque, we exchange, “ Salaama Laka, Laka Salaam.” Every Sunday we share this peace with one another, “peace be with you, and also with you.” This is significant that peace is such a central part of how the children of Abraham interact with one another.
This world shalom is a Semitic word for peace, but it also means wholeness. Jews say shalom and Muslims say salaama. When we pray for and extend shalom to one another, we work to transform our world into the way God intended it to be. When we pray and mediate on our journey to the New Jerusalem, we remember that the name of our future home is the City of Peace.
For several months, I have been interpreting peacemaking through interfaith dialogue. We are so painfully aware of how little peace there is between the Children of Abraham who share Jerusalem as their spiritual home. The room was full at Mt Zion last month for the Interfaith Passover Seder. God’s shalom moved in our hearts and minds as Jews, Muslims and Christians gathered to remember God’s promise to us. If we are to have peace in our world, we must find and foster peace among the children of Abraham.
Several weeks ago, Professor Reiter was here to reflect on this image in Isaiah 2. This vision of God’s Holy Mountain, where the wolf shall lay down with the lamb. Where swords become ploughshares, and spears become pruning hooks. This is a key passage for us to meditate on when we live out our calling as peacemakers. We remember Jesus’ sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”
How radical this vision of Jerusalem is when we consider the state of our world. For decades, our global community has been struggling to find peace in the City of Peace. Professor Reiter has invited me to join him this summer while he facilitates conflict resolution sessions with Israelis and Palestinians. This is an honor to work with the former Arab Relations advisor to three Israeli Prime Ministers. When and if, we finally achieve God’s shalom in Jerusalem, I know Professor Reiter’s work will have made a substantial contribution.
Our goal is to reach interim agreements on how the holy sites will be managed and monitored. These holy sites that are to be sources of peace and reconciliation have too often been thwarted into instruments of conflict and violence. As a Christian, I want to join our fellow Children of Abraham in our common quest for God’s shalom in the City of Peace.
In times of fear and anxiety, how we need the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding! With our economic crisis, and life in a post 9-11 world, how we need to know and find this peace. Sometimes we forget that we have been through difficult times before, but we made it through the rain. Don’t worry I will spare you a Barry Manilow karoke moment.
We find courage and a sense of groundedness when we remember how Jesus breathed his peace on his frightened disciples huddling together behind closed doors. A week after Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, Jesus moves through the walls and locks to find his scattered flock. It can be hard for us to fathom how scared and anxious these disciples must have been. Whose next? Will they come and pick us all up?
When we think of frightened people behind closed doors we remember the Jews in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s. Many of us know Anne Frank’s diary. She is one of heroes of the 20th century. She gave voice to millions of Jews who had to go into hiding. Jews in Europe living under the looming threat of Hitler could understand what the disciples were going through these first weeks after Good Friday. There is an entire discipline of holocaust studies where scholars examine the letters, memoirs and narratives of holocaust victims and survivors. In this research, we see the resiliency of the human spirit in the midst of the darkest of days.
Victor Frankl, the founder of logotherapy was a holocaust survivor. While in captivity he helped facilitate small groups in the camps. People would lead others in visualizations of some the redeeming moments in their lives, hikes in nature, and memorable milestones in their lives. These stories enabled others to transcend the horror they faced day after day. I hope and pray that they found God’s peace, God’s shalom in the midst of the tragic chapter in human history. God’s peace was present with them, breathing through them peace in the midst of their fear, anxiety and despair.
Our Loving God is a God of promises. God does not direct the cruelty and hate that persists in our world. God loves us enough to give us free choice. As human beings we walk on this razor edge of good and evil, because God makes us in his image. We have the gift and awesome responsibility of choosing whether to live in the image of God or to choose to defy walking in his path. We should put on God what really rests with us and our poor choices.
When we find our brothers and sisters locked behind closed doors living with fear and anxiety, God is not the source of this oppression. Rather God is the healing peace that comes to us beyond the locks and chains. Our Good Shepherd seeks out his sheep when we have taken shelter from the wolves and thieves of this world.
Who are the frightened children of God who are huddled behind lock doors today? We remember the persecuted Christians who lived under communist rule. Today, there are still Christians risking their very lives under theocratic Muslim rule. We should not take for granted the freedom we have here in America. Nor should we use our privileged position to oppress and marginalize others.
Many of our Muslim brothers and sisters have struggled to live here after 9-11. Just this week, Somali women in Minneapolis had to endure racist slurs as they walked to classes at the U of M. Many Muslims in America are living in fear and isolation. May we be instruments of God peace blowing and blessing them with a sense of God’s shalom in our communities.
We practice what Jesus taught us. We must turn the other cheek; we are to love our enemies. As faithful disciples of Christ, we do not return the hatred and intolerance that some fundamentalist have resorted to. We need to remember that all children of Abraham wrestle with this temptation to presume to have the Truth and then oppress their fellow descendants of Abraham. The CNN God’s Warriors effectively makes this point.
Another community among us who lives in fear behind locked doors are the 12 million people who live out of status with INS. We have families in our congregation who endure this fear and anxiety. The Cameroonian government is controlled by the French speaking region. Many of our English speaking Cameroonian brothers and sisters have been oppressed by the government because they seek to know and see God’s justice in their homeland. If they are to go home they face political persecution and the very real threat of torture. Lady Liberty’s torch still burns, and she embraces our Cameroonians brothers and sisters and their quest for liberty in their homeland.
Instead of being intolerant and lumping 12 million people together, we need to take the time and open our hearts and minds to hear each person’s story. Bearing a compassionate witness to their testimony, we are vessels of God’s peace blowing. As we learn more of their stories, we call for compassionate and just resolution to the immigration problem. Our brothers and sisters must be able to come out of the shadows. Most are merely trying to put bread on their table for their children. May the peace of Christ blow in their lives.
Our compassionate Shepherd comes to us in our places of fear and anxiety and blows his Spirit again. These words are shared among us again, “Peace be with you.” God has been assuring us everyday, “Do not be afraid, I am with you. I will give you my peace to sustain you.”
From the locked rooms, Jesus sends us out with the Holy Spirit to reach out to our brothers and sisters who are huddled in fear. Together, we seek to find the courage and wisdom we need to break the chains and open the doors. Many times these locks are on our hearts and minds.
God’s Holy Spirit is the key that breaks every chain and picks every lock that keeps us from being one. Jesus’ ministry of peace and reconciliation sends us into many upper rooms. Peace be with you, come with us and go out into this daunting and frightening world with courage. Hold on and trust that Jesus Christ will blow his breathe of peace on us and give us strength and hope.
Breathe deep God’s peace and share it with others. May the closed doors and locks in our hearts and minds be opened. May God’s peace blow through us and give us his eyes and ears of Grace. God give us hearts of compassion for the people who live in fear today behind closed doors. God, may our witness to your Shalom give others the courage to walk out into the streets with us. Together, we profess and proclaim your Peace. We breathe your eternal Spirit and let it flow to all of your children.

Washington Post Editorial: AIDS at Home

2009-04-14T10:55:00.000-05:00

AIDS at Home
The Obama administration starts to combat complacency in the United States.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009; A16

WHEN IT comes to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, there is an alarming complacency among Americans. Perhaps it's the success of antiretroviral drug treatments. In the eyes of many, those drugs have transformed the disease from one with no cure to a manageable ailment. Or maybe it's the view that AIDS is more of a worry in Africa or Southeast Asia. But it's not just happening "over there." And the Obama administration took a first step last week to remind people that it's happening right here, right now.

"Act Against AIDS" is a five-year endeavor announced last Tuesday with the mission to snap us out of our somnolence as the epidemic rages around us. The $45 million effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services will highlight the fact that every 9 1/2 minutes, someone in the United States becomes infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS. A multimedia ad campaign will direct people to the Web site http://www.nineandahalfminutes.org, which is a portal to a wealth of information on the epidemic, how people can protect themselves and their partners, and where they can seek testing and treatment.

The initial targets of this focus are African Americans. According to the CDC, while blacks make up just 12 percent of the population, they account for "roughly half" of all new HIV infections and AIDS deaths. The agency reports that the disease is the No. 1 killer of black women age 25 to 34 and the second-leading cause of death among black men age 35 to 44. Those frightening statistics are part of a troubling larger story of AIDS in America. Last year, the CDC estimated that 56,300 people became infected with HIV in 2006. The previous estimate was 40,000. The agency defines the epidemic as "generalized and severe" when HIV/AIDS affects 1 percent of the overall population. Last month, the District's HIV/AIDS Administration announced that 3 percent of the city's population has HIV/AIDS.

We applaud the administration for bringing together 14 African American civic organizations to help highlight the importance of testing and treatment among their memberships. But more needs to be done. Many, most notably Robert C. Gallo, one of the scientists who uncovered HIV as the cause of AIDS, have called for a domestic version of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which has been successful in sub-Saharan Africa. President Obama has charged Jeffrey S. Crowley, his director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, to craft a national AIDS strategy over the next year with three goals: lowering the rate of HIV infections, increasing the number of people in care and reducing disparities in care. For the sake of the nation, we hope the administration maintains its focus on this domestic challenge.

We Are A Resurrection People

2009-04-11T19:10:00.000-05:00

We are a Resurrection People Easter Sunday 2009

Gospel Lesson

John 20:1-18

20Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Sermon

He is Risen. He is Risen indeed! All the power and pain the world threw at his Jesus could not keep him down. We are a resurrection people, a people of eternal hope. We know our Messiah has conquered death, once and for all. In a world where jaded pessimism is the order of the day, we must hold fast to our calling as a resurrection people. We gather every Sunday to remember that Easter morning when the stone rolled away and Mary hears Jesus’ voice again.
Billions of our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world have gathered today to celebrate and praise our Risen Lord. Can you see the rainbow of God’s children, with tears and smiles of joy? People who are enduring their own personal Good Fridays are holding on to hope that a resurrection day will come. God will make a way, where there seems to be no way. Yes, all things work together for good for those who love God.
On Easter Sunday, and every Sunday we gather to be nurtured and equipped as a resurrection people. Part of witness to the Gospel in our world is to tend the flame of hope. We remember this definition from Hebrews: “Faith is the assurance for things hope for, the conviction of things not seen.” In Paul’s letter to the Roman’s he reflects on the faith of Father Abraham, who hoped against hope. In our Gospel lesson, Mary Magdalene, Peter and the beloved disciple need to see with their own eyes what has happened. It can be that Jesus has risen. Someone must have stolen his body. Later Thomas will need to place his finger in Jesus wounds to believe. As a resurrection people, we need to hope and believe with our mind’s eye, with the eyes of our heart. Deep within we can see a new day dawning in spite of the pain and suffering that surrounds us day in and day out.
This is our unique Christian mandate and calling to interpret what is means to be a people of hope. We don’t turn our heads or lower our gaze. We hold on to find the glimmers of hope and the testament to the human spirit. We know that in time this Good Friday will pass and Easter morning will come. Like Mary Magdalene, we keep vigil at the Empty tomb waiting to hear the voice of our Risen Lord speaking through the gardners of our day.
Over the centuries many scholars and poets have reflected on this theme of hope and how critical it is for us to preserve our humanity.
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” A. Pope
“If it were not for hope our hearts would break.” John Ray
“Hope is the pillar that holds up the world.” Piny the Elder
Our people will perish without hope.

Hope is a poignant theme in many of our urban churches, where people of color are the majority of the residents and congregants. Unemployement, drugs, gangs and violence pervade the streets, but on Sundays we gather to lay our burdens down and breath deep God’s Spirit of hope. In spite of all we have seen this past week, we know that change is coming. Many of us are going through a Good Friday cruxifixion, but we know God will see us through to the empty tomb. Many of these hardships were never part of God’s plan for us, but God the Good Shepherd is always with us in these valleys. We hold on to hope and the faith that God will see us through.
As a Resurrection people, we resonate with our African American and Latino brother and sisters who do their part to foster this flame of hope. At the end of one of my favourite PBS programs Tavis Smiley closes every program with, “Keep the Faith.” Throughout the 80s, Rev Jesse Jackson’s anthem was “Keep Hope Alive.” Mexicans and Mexican-Americans are familiar with these two adages, at many gatherings people chant is Si Se Peude, “Yes we can” and “Hope dies last.”
People of color who have had to endure far too many Good Fridays, have a deeper and more profound hunger for the hope that our Risen Lord brings on Easter and every Sunday worship.
In our Gospel lesson, like many other moments in Jesus' life and ministry, the women are present to faithfully to tend to Jesus. In Jesus’ life and death, we see how central women are. We remember the alabaster of oil, the washing of Jesus’ feet with tears and the drying with her hair. The women in Jesus’ life keep vigil at the foot of the cross. When Jesus felt betrayed and isolated by his disciples, the women in his life never left his side. This is the eternal truth of the church. Many of our sisters in the church continue to teach us how to focus on the majors not the minors. Let’s keep our egos in check and stay focused on our call to sacrificial service. The women in Jesus ministry had a lot to teach and model for the disciples and the same is true for today.
In the midst of this crisis, the gospel writer makes it a point to note who was winning the race to the tomb. Doesn’t it seem weird to focus on such details at this point in the story? Who cares who get’s there first? Men and their egos! Everything seems to boil down to a competitive sporting event. I hope the beloved disciple did not intentionally trip Peter.
Many scholars have noted this conflict between Peter and the Beloved Disciple. Was this Lazarus? This competition between these two could be a window into the conflict playing out in the early church. Peter represents the growing hierarchical authority of the apostolic tradition and the Beloved Disciple represents the more grassroots, egalitarian church. There is this tension and anxiety in John’s gospel that the church does not turn into the very Pharisees and temple authorities they have been challenging.
One of the telling pieces of this story is that Peter and the Beloved Disciple come and go. It is only Mary Magdalene who stays to keep vigil in her grief. Blinded in her grief she can not hear what the Angels have told her. The folded clothes mean nothing. Until she knows that her Lord’s body is able to rest in peace, she will not leave. Mary is tenacious in holding on until she finds an answer. When Jesus appears to her she thinks it’s the gardner, and pleads with him too.
Many of our brothers and sisters in pain and grief cannot hear the messages God sends them. It is only when we hear the voice of our Good Shepherd speaking directly to us that we understand that our Good Friday is finally over. Like Mary, many of us will encounter the voice of our Risen Lord. Our wrestling with angst and doubts clear away in an instant, when we hear God’s voice calling us by name. All Jesus had to say was Mary, and she knew it was her Rabbouni, her teacher.
On Friday, I was blessed to have the opportunity to attend the Hubert H Humphrey Lecture Series. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman President throughout the African continent gave a speech. When she walked on stage and thousands of Liberians sang their national anthem this brought many tears. The wave of hope that filled the Northrup auditorium was phenomenal.
Liberia is a testimony to hope and the resiliency of the human spirit. Out of the ashes of Civil War and far too many Good Fridays, they are in the garden and celebrating hope as a resurrection people. We have 10-15k Liberians here in the Twin Cities. Just last week President Obama granted an extension for their visas. We can be proud of how many our Minnesota communities have embraced our Liberian brothers and sisters. We walk with them through these Good Fridays to joyous Easter moments.
Yes hope is alive. The Iron Lady of Liberia and the Liberian Christian Women’s Association have continued in the path of Mary Magdalene. They would not leave until they got the answers they needed. They held on with faith and hope in what many people would dismiss as impossible. Resurrection people hold on to hope!
Hearing the roar of the audience brought me back to South Africa, and the Durban stadium in 2002 when we cheered for Nelson Mandella’s entrance for the inauguration of the African Union. Mandella and President Johnson Sirleaf are modern day prophets who bring their people hope, and foster peace and reconciliation.
Like Mary Magdalene, we are a resurrection people, we need to keep vigil in the garden and listen for how God is calling his sheep by name. Every Sunday is an Easter Sunday. We gather at the empty tomb again to remember God’s victory over evil. We don’t need to cling to Jesus, we can hear the voice of our Good Shepherd. Jesus sends us out from the empty tomb every Sunday to bear witness to the hope in the impossible. Our Risen Lord has conquered death. Nothing in this world has a hold on us. We are freed captives!
Hope is alive. We humbly walk beside our brothers and sisters who still have not heard the voice of our Good Shepherd. Could we be a gardner in their lives. Maybe we could be the angels assuring them that yes He is Risen. Each of us have been casted into this eternal production of Resurrection Hope. We witness to our world that the storm is over. No matter how dark the skies may turn, No matter how great the odds may seem against you, these Good Fridays are not the end but only the beginning. Our Lord is victorious. Listen for the voice of our Good Shepherd. Hold on to hope and trust in him.

Bearing Compassion for the Lepers of our Day John 10:1-11

2009-03-31T07:46:00.000-05:00

Bearing Compassion for the Lepers of our Day April 1, 2009

Isaiah 61:1-4
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3to provide for those who mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. 4They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations; they

John 10:1-11
Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Today we reflect on the last of the Lenten passages before we enter Holy Week. Jesus’ public ministry is coming to an end. The showdown in Jerusalem and the garden of Gethsemane is upon us. Can you feel the suspense and how high the stakes are? These three years of public ministry are coming to the end, will the center hold? Can the disciples stay awake and stay faithful after their shepherd is taken from them. Will the sheep scatter and scurry? Will they ever find their way back to the fold?
We will be looking at another MDG (Millennium Development Goal) set by our world leaders at the UN. To halve the number of people living with HIV/AIDS but still do not have access to the essential medicines. The lepers of our day are not only people with HIV, but also our brothers and sisters living with TB and Malaria. The term often used is for this trinity of tragedies is “Diseases of Poverty.” Our UN leaders in New York and Geneva have joined the church in our sacred calling to work for an abundant life to be known by all of God’s children.
Yes, we are our brother’s and sisters’ keeper. Any time a fellow child of God dies of a disease because of poverty this abundant life has been denied to them. Who are the thieves and robbers climbing over the fence to scatter God’s flock? What are the ways and means of the power and principalities of this world that deny our brothers and sisters the abundant life Christ call us to live into being? We must release the drug patents and fully fund the public health ministries so these living saving medicines are accessible to the billions of people who live on one and two dollars a day.
Several years ago in Accra, Ghana I attended the World Alliance of Reformed Churches gathering. Worldwide, there are 74 million Christians who trace their heritage to Calvin’s Reformed tradition. I saw a beautiful tapestry of God’s humanity. Several days in Accra reinforced the reality that the Church of Jesus Christ is growing in leaps and bounds in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In many respects, the face and voice of Christ’s church will be transformed by this new day that is dawning. Will North American and European Christians be open to this new reality? Are we ready and willing to listen to how the Holy Spirit is speaking through our brothers and sisters in the Southern Hemisphere? God’s Spirit will blow where it will. Will we flow with it and soar like an eagle or will be like a stubborn salmon working against the current?
Access to medicine for people living HIV/AIDS is one of the issues where we need to open hearts to the testimonies of our brothers and sisters. All of God’s children should have abundant access to HIV prevention and treatment services. Our Good Shepherd calls us to love our fellow sheep. “If you love me you will feed my sheep.” As Jesus said, "there are sheep of many folds", but we all one have one Good Shepherd, who calls us to our common calling to help secure the abundant life for all of God’s sheep.
This was the theme for WARC conference “I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance.” HIV/AIDS and the diseases of poverty were critical points of concern. Here in America, the issue of HIV/AIDS has become passé. We are complacent because we think the crisis is over. Isn’t this just a chronic illness now? “Just take your pill and life will go on.” We think we are off the hook of having consciences pricked because of President Bush’s emergency plan. Yes, we have made some progress, but we are far from that marker or mile stone that would justify a reduction of our sense of urgency.
People living with HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria are the lepers of our day. We remember Jesus’ healing ministry and the powers bestowed upon his disciples to heal and cure the sick. Embracing the lepers and restoring them to a more abundant life is at the core of our mission. We look back to another era when our churches sent out doctors and nurses to the four corners of the world. Some of the fruit we see blossoming in the global church comes from these historic mission hospitals and schools our ancestors in the faith established.
We can’t be satisfied with a token representation of the people we canonize. A few Mother Theresas are not enough for the millions of our brothers and sisters in Africa, Asia and yes here in North America who continue to die from HIV/AIDS. This crisis of humanity is far from over. The media cycle has runs its course, and they have moved on to the next “If it Bleeds it Leads Story.” As disciples of the Good Shepherd, we must keep our eyes and ear’s open to all the sheep of Christ’s fold. We need to remain connected to the Christ’s global church and commune with them in their struggle to bring abundant life to their communities ravaged by the scourge of AIDS.
We need to open our eyes to the new face of AIDS. Here in North America, the leading cause of death for African American women is HIV/AIDS. Many folks in our pews think of AIDS as primarily a concern for the gay community and Africa. Last fall, the CDC acknowledged that they had underreported the infection rates in North America by forty percent. Last Month, the CDC reported that the infection rate in our Nation’s capital has reached 3 % of the population. In America, the land of milk and honey, we have a community with an infection that is eqaul to many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The face of AIDS has changed. Will we open our eyes to this new reality and respond accordingly?
The face of AIDS has changed, do we see it? African American and Latino American women are part of the new face of AIDS. Will we rise up and speak out for an abundant life for all of God’s sheep? Our Black and Brown sisters are bearing the burden of this enduring tragedy. Will we love and embrace them with compassion? Why do they not receive adequate prevention services? Why are they struggling to secure the essential medicines they need? Why are so many of our sisters living in silence and isolation because of the stigma that still exists?
We are not sent out from the shelter of the flock to judge others who have contracted HIV. It’s irrelevant how the virus entered their body, what matters most is how we love our fellow sheep enduring the modern day leprosy. We are not sent out to judge or condemn. There is only one Good Shepherd. We are merely fellow sheep. We are called to love all of God’s sheep and ensure they can find life in abundance.
Last week I saw the musical Rent at the Orpheum in Minneapolis. If you have seen the play or movie, you will have a sense of what my first encounter was like with someone living with HIV. My senior year in college I moved to NYC and worked in a private psychiatric hospital. I helped counsel heroin addicts in recovery from their addiction. Many IV drug users contract HIV because they share needles.
One day, I saw first hand the stigma and discrimination that people with HIV endure. One of my nurse colleagues was not discrete about his HIV status, and I saw how the other clients on the unit shunned this fellow child of God. For several weeks, I walked with my brother as he went from doctor to doctor learning how low his CD 4 count was dropping. Soon the cancer would come, soon pneumonia would take its hold. He is no longer with us. But his story is seared in my heart and mind.
There is a scene in Rent when Roger, Angel and Tom join a HIV support group. When I hear this song, tears flow for my brother lost long ago:

“Will I lose my dignity, will someone care, will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare. (4x)

My journey with HIV positive IV drug users was a conversion experience. Deep in my bones, I know that no child of God should have to go through this. We must love and embrace all of God’s sheep. We must do everything in our power to secure and preserve abundant life for all. This means everyone should access to healthcare. This is a basic human right. Anyone working to deny this to a fellow child of God is a thief and bandit trying to climb over the fence. The Good Shepherd has a large hook and in God’s time, God’s judgment will be known. Did you love my sheep? Or did you rob them of the abundant life they were entitled to?
Our Good Shepherd stands at the gate. Jesus is calling us on our greed and complacency. How is that we can put a man on the moon, and rovers on mars, but we still cannot provide prevention and treatment services for people living with diseases of poverty?
In Luke’s gospel, when Jesus began his ministry he opened the scroll to Isaiah 61

“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; 2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.”

Our brothers and sisters living with the leprosy of our day need to the know the year of the Lord has come! They need to be released from their captivity! Yes, we will do all we can to love our fellow sheep and to help secure an abundant life for them. Jesus, we will show our love for you, by loving your sheep, near and far. We will confront the thieves and bandits who would try to climb in over the fence and deny our brothers and sisters their access to life saving medicines. As faith partners, we will do our part to achieve the UN MDG of halving the number of people who do not access to these life saving anti-retroviral medicines.

We will not just stop there. We will proclaim your reign of peace and wholeness until the day you come again to bring us all into your great banquet. May we all sit together with you and hear those precious words, “Well done good and faithful servant. You have loved and fed my sheep.” Our Good Shepherd stands at the gate. Through our hearts and hands, may the Holy Spirit use us to bring abundant life to the lepers of our day, our brothers living with HIV/AIDS.

The Cross and the Cross Fire

2009-03-30T07:23:00.001-05:00

The Cross and the Cross Fire
Sojourners Magazine April 2009

Robert Brenneman

I am a sociologist. I’m also an Anabaptist. Two years ago, I began work on a dissertation motivated by a relatively straightforward research question: Why are so many members of the transnational gangs of Central America reportedly converting to evangelical Christianity?

The identity transformations required of a gang member who rejects the gang in favor of a teetotaling, tobacco-shunning, domestically oriented evangelical congregation seemed the perfect place to engage my sociological curiosity about religious conversion. But my motives were also personal. As an Anabaptist who’d spent several years working in peace education in Central America, I wondered if the conversionist religion of the conservative, largely Pentecostal evangelicals of Central America can have any this-worldly consequences for the peace so desperately needed in the region.

A wave of criminal violence has bedeviled Central America’s “Northern Triangle” of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador since the end of the civil wars. They are still among the most violent countries in the hemisphere. All of them have murder rates that approach or exceed 50 homicides a year per 100,000 inhabitants—more than seven times the murder rate in the United States. Many of these murders are carried out by members of the transnational gangs Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Mara Dieciocho (M-18).

These gangs emerged in the Latino barrios of East Los Angeles as immigrant youth struggled to find jobs, housing, and a distinctive identity, often with an “illegal” status that made them outlaws in their own communities. With the crackdown on immigration in California in the 1990s, thousands of youth—especially Salvadorans who came to the U.S. with their parents as refugees from

El Salvador’s civil war—were rounded up and deported to their “home” country. Between 1994 and 1997, more than 150,000 Central Americans were forcefully deported from the U.S.

With weak Spanish and few employable skills, the deported youth began organizing local gang cells in the barrios of San Salvador. The gangs soon fanned out over the rest of northern Central America. Meanwhile the U.S. “war on drugs” targeted sea and air routes from Colombia to Florida, leading to the opening of new, overland drug routes and the creation of a Mesoamerican bridge to the U.S. drug market. In these weak post-war economies, the infusion of drugs, weapons, and cash provided enormous income opportunities for local gangs willing to serve as foot soldiers for the violent but lucrative drug trade.

Today, Salvadoran police report that 30 percent of the homicides in their country are perpetrated by gang youth, although some observers argue that the figure is somewhat lower. Thousands of Central American boys and men, and a few girls, have traded their youth for protection in the close-knit but extremely violent social world of the MS-13 and the M-18. And there is no question that many of these young people and children have engaged in criminal activity, from petty crime to extortion to murder.

TO UNDERSTAND WHAT was happening, I began collecting stories. Take “Julio,” for example. Julio left his home in a coastal town of Honduras when he was 12 years old. He had grown up accustomed to abuse from his parents, but one day when he asked his mother for money to pay for a school fee, she told him to go find the money himself—she said he was not her son anyway. Angry and disoriented, Julio dropped out of school and fled to the city to live with an aunt. He bought a bicycle and sold newspapers to pay for his keep, but he was small for his age and unable to defend himself against MS-13 gang members who took his money and stole his bicycle. When Julio told his employer about the stolen bicycle, instead of helping him find safety the man sold him a handgun.

At 12 years old, Julio told me, he felt powerful for the first time in his life. He tucked the gun into the front of his pants. Sure enough, the gang members noticed the weapon. They left him alone and his aunt stopped abusing him. The gun, however, couldn’t last forever as only a threat. Before long he had fired the weapon, injuring his aunt. This led to more than a decade of life on the streets.

When members of the M-18 gang invited him to join, Julio felt he finally had found a family that would stick by him. Meanwhile, gang leaders had plenty of “missions” for an adolescent who owned his own gun and wasn’t afraid to use it. Soon even non-gang members were seeking him out to request missions and paybacks. By the time he reached his early 20s, Julio had become a professional hit man, with more than 40 notches in his belt.

JULIO’S STORY, while one of the more violent I encountered, is not unique among the youth of Central America’s gangs. Gang members find that their violent experience and marginal social status equip them with employable skills for Central America’s thriving drug economy and world of organized crime.

After decades of war and increasing insecurity, however, Central Americans are growing weary of violence. So it comes as no surprise that the tattoo-bearing, pistol-packing, ultra-macho gang youth have become public enemy number one.

In working-class neighborhoods, where local gangs levy “war taxes” and buy off police, angry residents seek safety and retribution in vigilante justice and hired killings. “Social cleansing,” the elimination of gang members by police or hired hit men, has become alarmingly common. Most gang deaths are never investigated. Meanwhile, politicians in El Salvador and Honduras have launched their careers by promising “zero tolerance” and mano dura (iron fist) security reforms, including mass incarcerations, repressive police tactics, and the lowering of evidentiary standards in court.

But not all Central Americans advocate addressing gang violence with heavy-handed repression. A surprising number of religious groups—especially the largely Pentecostal congregations of the marginal barrios—have taken a decidedly different approach by founding ministries, houses of refuge, and work programs aimed at rescuing gang members from their allegiance—or captivity—to the gang.

LUZ’S STORY is a good example. The Honduran homemaker lives with her husband and four young daughters in a modest house on the dusty outskirts of a coastal town. In 2002, she began a halfway house for gang members in her home, hosting as many as 14 gang members at a time during the intense crackdown between 2002 and 2006—a time many Hondurans still refer to as “the hunt.” Eventually, Luz received financial and technical help from the Honduran Mennonite Church’s gang reconciliation project.

One of the more remarkable programs in the region, Luz and the Mennonites began by bringing together members of two opposing gangs in adjacent neighborhoods for soccer matches, worship services, job training, conflict transformation workshops, and community service. Over the course of several years, more than 25 of those youth managed to leave the gangs and many have started families and found employment.

The commitment of Luz and the Mennonite church reflects more than simply compassion for those in danger. Their motive, like that of so many other evangelical gang ministry workers I interviewed, is rooted in a deep faith in God’s ability to change individual lives.

“I love to do the Lord’s work,” says Luz. “And what I love, what gives me passion, is when I am with them and I can see the change.” Indeed, many of the young men who lived in Luz’s home have been transformed. Julio, now an itinerant evangelist, is one of those men, and he still refers to Luz as his madre. Julio dates his transformation to the day he met Luz. As a last resort, he had decided to visit a church. Luz sought him out after the service and, sensing his need for an advocate, stated, “From now on, I’m your mother.”

Luz and the Mennonites’ gang-reconciliation project are far from alone in their faith and risk in gang ministry. Of the 27 organizations I found working with gangs and gang members, 19 were religious. The majority of those were led, inspired, or funded by evangelicals. Most of these evangelical-Pentecostal organizations include few, if any, paid staff. They have meager resources and rely on the deep convictions of volunteers. Without exception, the ministers and practitioners describe their work as “restoration”—a term that draws snickers from sociologists and secular nonprofit leaders because of its religious flavor.

Yet I can hardly think of a better term for the kind of transformation that many of the youth from these programs reported. Restoration indicates a reconciliation that is both spiritual and social. By providing youth with individual attention and with social networks for reconstructing their lives, the ministries create opportunities for transformation that few others are willing to extend. Their biggest contribution, however, is their belief that no one—not even the worst gang criminal—is beyond hope.

The Anabaptist sociologist in me still has nagging questions: Are these conversions making a dent in the endemic violence of Central America? Or do they simply distract evangelicals from the hard work of nonviolent peacebuilding? The epidemic of gang violence plaguing northern Central America cannot be magically resolved with revival meetings. Much work remains to provide barrio youth with attractive alternatives to the gang.

A number of Catholic parishes have opted to work with children in at-risk neighborhoods, thus promoting prevention as the best means of fighting gang violence. Furthermore, without structural reforms that provide better public schools and expanded economic opportunity, many children and adolescents will continue to view the gang as the most realistic pathway to opportunity. Neither is police repression likely to stop the violence as long as the U.S.-supported “war on drugs,” which emphasizes crime fighting rather than lowering demand, continues to enable the Capone-like cartel bosses in Juarez and Cali.

IF ANYTHING IS to be done for the thousands of youth caught in the death spiral of gang violence, if aging gang members are to be kept from sinking further into the underworld of organized crime, then it must begin with a mustard seed-like faith in the possibility of human transformation.

But believing in transformation is not easy. Sociology has taught me to recognize the structures that bind people in poverty, addiction, and crime. While understanding how structures contribute to violence has made me more sociologically astute, it has hardly increased my faith in individual transformation, religious or not.

Such is the confounding nature of evangelical faith. “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom,” wrote the apostle Paul. Perhaps it is naive to believe that a Christian conversion can transform a life deformed by gang violence. Perhaps it’s more foolish to hope that individual transformations can make a difference in a society rife with violence. But if it’s foolishness, then it’s God’s foolishness.

In Central America, evangelicals are among the few willing to take the risks associated with offering gang members a second chance. Personally, I’ve come to believe that peacebuilding begins with something as simple and unassuming as insisting on the possibility of human transformation when society has given up such hope. To believe that even the most hopeless of criminals can be turned upside down by the Holy Spirit is to extend a new possibility to someone who believes that his only way out, as one gang member put it, is in a “pine-box suit.”

Robert Brenneman is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Notre Dame.

From the One Grain, Grows the Vineyard

2009-03-28T09:16:00.000-05:00

From the One Grain, Grows the Vineyard March 29, 2009

John 12:20-36

20Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. 27“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. 34The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.
On the Fifth Sunday of Lent we remember the prayers flags above our heads. Several weeks ago we made commitments of sacrificial love during these forty days. Like our new year’s resolution, we have always another opportunity to pick it up again and move the ball forward. These forty days in the Wilderness stretches us beyond our comfort, we give till it hurts.

Our gospel lesson today reminds us of the path that the Lamb, the Son of God took on our behalf. There is nothing in our life that will ever compare to the love and sacrifice that Jesus made on Calvary. It’s been many years, but the effect and impact takes a life time to try to comprehend it. When we walk this Lenten path we try to grow more sensitive and knowledgable to what it means to be a disciple of Christ. As an act of love and worship, we pick up our cross and walk this lonesome valley.

Sometimes we want to take the easy road. “Come on, can’t I just come here get my warm fuzzy, a cup of coffee and cookie and be on my way?” This does not measure up to the call that that Christ has set for us. Jesus laid down us life in order for us all to be liberated from any bond that this world tries to place on us. What have we given our Risen Lord as a living sacrifice in return? We remember Paul’s call to the Roman Church, “Therefore I beseech. . . by the mercies of God, that present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” During these forty days of Lent, we need to undomestic the gospel and accept the demands and challenges of being faithful to Christ.
As an act of worship, in our effort to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, we give back as an act of love, not out of a sense of guilt or obligation. Karl Barth wrote, “Faith is never identical with piety.” The Hebrew Scriptures are replete with corrections to the pious attempts to satisfy one’s requirement without a change of heart. Our living sacrifice has to be more than a mere going through the motions. It is not about checking off the boxes and moving on to our next to do list. God does not want our burnt offerings; rather God wants to see that we are practicing the love, peace and justice that God has placed in our hearts and deep in our bones. We make sacrifices of love, knowing that this is the path Jesus of Nazareth set for us in his brief life and ministry.

John’s gospel is rich with symbolism. Jesus is the Lamb, the Living Water, the Good Shepherd. Scholars outline the gospel with these different signs and symbols. In our Lesson today, Jesus is the grain that must be destroyed and broken open in order for the new life to come. It is right that we celebrate Easter in the Spring. Many of us bring lilies and place them on chancel as a symbol of the new life that Jesus has brought us. All around us, we see signs of the new life emerging. The cold night of winter brought death, but know we see that the seeds of new life have been waiting to glorify our Creator God. As Bette Midler sings:
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow.
Lies the seed that with the Sun’s love in the Spring becomes the Rose.

In addition to John’s image of Jesus as the grain, John portrays Jesus as the true Vine. From the one germinating seed cracked open on Calvary has created the eternal vine, the core and center of our Lord’s Vineyard. As disciples, we need to remember how critical it is for us to remain connected to the vine that nourishes the branches. This Vineyard has grown from Calvary and the Empty tomb to the four corners of our world. Every Sunday, we stand and worship in awe of how vast this Vineyard has grown from the one grain that fell on Calvary.

The context for Today’s lesson is that Jesus has just completed his third entry into Jerusalem on the eve of Passover. His followers and new disciples are scurrying to be within listening distance of the long awaited messiah. The powers that be surely have taken notice that the witnesses who saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead are also present. Can you sense everything coming to a head?
The final indication that the hour has come is when even the Greeks join the Passover feast. The celebration that commemorates liberation from bondage in Egypt, is now being embraced by even the Greeks who once oppressed the Jews. (Remember the story of Hannukah? )

We see several times in the gospels where Jesus is very intentional about the timing of his expanding kingdom. First to the house of Israel, and then to the nations. The vine must incorporate these first set of branches before the vineyard expands to the nations. What began as mission to God’s chosen ones has expanded to (Gentiles). Jesus’ life and ministry is a completion of the promise God made to Abraham that his spiritual descendants would be like the number of stars in the sky. How appropriate that at the end of the passage Jesus charges the disciples to be children of the light. We are the promised stars.
These fruits of the Vineyard have transformed our world in ways that we still try to comprehend. Yes, we have a separation of church and state, this protects both the government and the church, but one really can not understand Western Civilization without factoring in how Judeo-Christian values have shaped who we are. These are some of the fruits that grew from the one grain that fell on Calvary. Read the moral documents of the modernity and you see will principles that generated from the Lord’s Prayer and Sermon on the Mount. When we advocate on behalf the least and most vulnerable, this is fruit that grows out of the germinating seed Jesus Christ placed in the soil of our hearts and minds.

We can embrace these more pastoral images of who we are and move away from the militant metaphors. Jesus has transformed our world through his life and death, but this would not come through the sword but rather through his instruments of sacrificial love. We remember that in his final hours, Jesus admonished his disciples to put their swords away. “Those will live by the sword die by the sword.” We must practice non-violent sacrificial love. If our faithful trek the valley brings death, the seeds from our witness will be dispersed to fertilize the soil with love. We must be willing to lose our lives to save our lives. The only sword God uses is the sword of truth that breaks up our hearts of stone.
Last week our nation mourned the four slain officers in Oakland. Like our men and women in uniform, these officers did not die in vain. They made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. Every time an officer or fire fighter put on their uniform there is weight upon their shoulder. “Could this be the day that I don’t come back?” Our public servants who risk their to protect us understand the path of Christ on a deeper level. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families who bear the burden of grief and loss. Their sacrifice is a seed that will bear fruit in God’s time. May we find ways to make meaning out of these tragedies. When we see the processions of officers and fire-fighters we remember the fallen and recommit ourselves to memorialize their life and service.
As a church, we should also remember the martyrs of the church who had the courage to lay down their lives for the gospel. There are many regions of our world where converting to Christianity could cost you your life. Families and communities shun and ostracize our brothers and sisters who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. In America, it can be hard for us to fathom the courage and resolve required to be faithful to the Gospel in these situations.
When I went to Austin last week for Interim training, I visited the LBJ library again. My grand parent’s and parent’s generations went through a terrible time in the 60’s. So many of our nation’s leaders perished in just 6 years. JFK, Malcolm X, Dr. King, & RFK were willing to lose their lives in order to their save their lives. They had the courage to stay true to their calling in spite of the threats the powers and principalities of this world threw at them. They were literally living sacrifices for the building of a more just and peaceful world. Our fallen heroes gave their lives as seeds that would blossom later as treasures in heaven.

Walking through the LBJ museum, I shared this experience with colleagues who grew up in this tumultuous time. Gen Xers like myself need to be students of history, with teachable spirits. Life is always more complicated than the sound bites and news clips. As our Boomers move into the ranks of AARP, I hope their children and grandchildren will learn from them about this time in their lives. A difficult time, but a critical time for us to understand our calling to to lay down our lives for what we believe in.
As branches of the Vine, we remember the grain that fell in order for us to be here. We prepare ourselves to bear the seeds that spread the fruit to all of God’s children. We pray and commune with the furthest branches of the one true vine, who gave his life to be the seed that this glorious vineyard into being. The fruits of our love and service produce additional seeds and pollen that are carried on by the winds of history.
Today, the church is in a new context. The branches are strong and the vine will always be with us to nourish us with the life giving water, and the wine from the cup of salvation. In these final days of Lent, we approach the glorious day of Palm Sunday. We shout Hosanna, knowing that a painful week will follow. We don’t dismiss Good Friday, but we take comfort in knowing this was not the end. These three days from Calvary and Empty tomb bring us the one grain, the eternal, life-giving seed that has brought this glorious Vineyard into being.

Senate Bill 650: Abolish the Federal Death Penalt:y

2009-03-26T13:17:00.001-05:00

Abolish the Federal Death Penalty: Support S.650

As momentum builds in states to abolish the death penalty, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold reintroduced legislation on March 19, 2009 to abolish the death penalty at the federal level. Feingold's Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2009 would put an immediate halt to federal executions and forbid the use of the death penalty as a sentence for violations of federal law. The use of the death penalty has been questioned by a range of prominent voices across the country, recently repealed in New Mexico and New Jersey. Feingold's bill would stop executions on the federal level, which are part of a death penalty system that has proven to be ineffective, wrought with racial disparities, and alarmingly costly.

"I oppose the death penalty because it is inconsistent with basic American principles of justice, liberty and equality," Feingold said. "Governor Bill Richardson and the New Mexico legislature's action to abolish the death penalty in that state adds to the growing momentum behind ending the death penalty in this country. It is truly unfortunate that we are in a shrinking minority of countries that continue to allow state-sponsored executions."

Feingold is not alone in his opposition to the death penalty. A range of prominent voices have questioned the system in recent years, including former FBI Director William Sessions, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, law enforcement officials and many others across the political spectrum. In 2007, only China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan executed more people than the United States.

In 2007, Feingold chaired a Senate Judiciary Committee, Constitution Subcommittee hearing on oversight of the federal death penalty that highlighted the lack of transparency at the Department of Justice in the decision-making process about the death penalty and continuing problems of racial disparities in the federal system. Also in 2007, the American Bar Association called for a nationwide moratorium on capital punishment based on its detailed study of state death penalty systems, which found racial disparities, convictions based on bad evidence, grossly inadequate indigent defense systems, and a host of other problems with the implementation of capital punishment in this country.

Peacemaking in Our Streets March 2009

2009-03-24T10:40:00.000-05:00

Peacemaking in our Streets
Rev. Howard Dotson

When our seminarians leave the ivory tower, many are ill prepared to confront the violence and despair so prevalent in our urban communities. Gang violence is an epidemic in cities across America. In our pastoral care and counseling courses, we do not receive adequate preparation to walk with the crime victim families after a violent tragedy.

As a Presbyterian pastor with four years of urban ministry, I have walked with forty families who have lost loved ones to gang violence. Again and again, I saw families experience isolation and a lack of emotional and spiritual support. As Christians, we must confront the gang-banger-stigma that blames the victim for this tragedy. No mother or father should have to bear being stigmatized on top of their grief and loss.

This urban peacemaking ministry began several years ago when three young adults in our community in West Los Angeles were shot and killed in just three days. This was a baptism by fire into the peacemaking ministry our urban congregations are called to be engaged in. Gang violence has placed far too many families into the darkest valley of grief and loss. In the summer of 2006, Anna Interiano was on her way home from summer school at Hamilton High when she was gunned down in an alley, just blocks from Palms Westminster Presbyterian Church.

While trying to help raise money for the family, I joined family and friends for some pizza across the street from their residence. I was not comfortable with how the kids were exposing themselves to the risk for robbery with these shoe boxes filled with money. My fears were warranted, William Alavos and Julio Perez, two of the guys I had just broke bread with were killed thirty minutes after I left.

This second shooting took place as Mayor Villaraigosa was approaching the residence to offer condolences to Anna’s family. He and his staff were evacuated because the shooting was just a few blocks away. All three grieving families went into hiding. Three gang-related homicides in three days, just blocks apart! We opened the manse of the church to literally be sanctuary for the Interiano, Perez and Avalos families. Here in an undisclosed location they could meet with elected officials who wished to extend compassion to these families.

It just so happened this was the same day we were to baptize Baby Jordan whose aunt, Kim Canedy is now an elder at Palms Westminster. Her sister, Dana Canedy, and baby Jordan flew in from NY, where Dana is a Senior Editor for the New York Times. Ordinarily, we do not baptize children who can not be regular participants in the life of the church, but these were special circumstances. Jordan’s father, Charles, was serving in Iraq as a commissioned officer in the US Army. This was a pastoral moment for a family making great sacrifices on behalf of us all.

It was a delicate situation to explain to Dana that we would need to make some adjustments for the worship service when we would baptize her baby. Two of the grieving families would be joining us for worship, along with the Mayor and Councilman Wesson and Councilman Weiss. As we learned on 9-11, when tragedy befalls a community we need to keep the doors of our sanctuaries open.

There were many layers to this worship service, we also prayed for Charles’ safety as he served in Iraq. Tragedy upon tragedy, Charles never made it back from Iraq. We lost another life to violence when an I.E.D went off beneath Charles’ Humvee. While in Iraq, Charles kept a journal for his son. These words of wisdom from a father to his son were compiled by Dana Canedy into a book, A Journal for Jordan. We see this movement again and again, how God is at work bringing hope out of a tragedy. The movie rights have been sold and Denzel Washington will play Charles in an upcoming movie. Charles has been able to provide for his baby son long after he is gone.
In the book released last December, Dana writes about the Sunday we baptized Baby Jordan. This was a very dramatic Sunday. Several police cars blocked the streets leading to the church to ensure that there would not be a repeat of what happened just a few days earlier. The word on the street was that the suspects for these three murders were African American gang members. So here we are gathered at the baptismal font with an African American family and two grieving Latino families just a couple pews away. This baptismal moment has transformed our understanding of what these sacramental waters truly mean. In these waters we are reconciled to Christ and to one another as one body.
After I baptized baby Jordan, Dana graciously placed him in the hands of the grieving Interiano and Perez families. Anna’s older brother, Christian, held Jordan as if this was the most fragile and precious gift from God. Christian, an angry young man, who had just been released from custody for smashing a police car windshield and resisting arrest is now holding our new brother in Christ with a sense of peace and reconciliation.
We have many Presbyterian churches in our urban centers where gang violence continues to traumatize the community. My hope and prayer is that more of our Presbyterian pastors and congregations will open their hearts and minds to this peacemaking ministry that is on their door step. We are called to walk with our brothers and sisters through these dark valleys of grief and despair. They need to know that God is with them. They need to understand that this tragedy says more about who we are as a society, rather than who God is or what God’s plan are. May these grieving families find a glimmer hope emerging from the tragedy. May our congregations embrace them in their wilderness journey, and together find ways to create meaning through our ministry of peace and reconciliation.

Rev. Howard Dotson
Founder and Director, Urban Peacemakers
Non profit agency in St Paul, MN that facilitates crisis intervention and gang intervention services in the Twin Cities Metro

Journal for Jordan

2009-03-21T22:15:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends:

You may recall that tragic summer when we lost three young adults in three days in West LA.

Many of you were there when Baby Jordan was baptized at Palms Westminster.

Jordan's Mom, Dana Canedy has written a book about Jordan's father, Charles, who wrote a journal for his son while he served in Iraq.

Charles was killed by an IED in Iraq just a few months after we baptized his son.

In the book, A Journal for Jordan, pp 161-165, Dana reflects on the baptism and the ministry of reconciliation that took place that Sunday.

Indeed, Baby Jordan was a blessing to Anna and Julio's family in the midst of their grief.

Let us pray that the baptismal font continues to bring peace, healing and reconciliation for our brothers and sisters in Los Angeles and around the world.

Jesus Cleanin' House

2009-03-14T18:45:00.000-05:00

Jesus Cleanin’ House March 15, 2008

John 2:13-25

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.

In our Gospel lesson today we take a break from Mark’s gospel. The next several weeks we will reflect on the passion story in John. This is a powerful image of Jesus cleaning house. It runs contrary to the Jesus is my boyfriend mindset that tends to go around. Yes, there is a time and place for righteous anger. This is where Jesus finds himself at the Temple on the eve of Passover.
I like to think of on old Western movie when there is a showdown at high noon. John Wayne or Clint Eastwood is portraying Jesus. They are having a showdown with the powers that be, because the town bullies have pushed the towns people around long enough. It takes a hero from the outside to come into to town to confront this oppressive situation.
Have you ever been in crowd where you feel you hardly have room to breathe, let alone adjust your elbow? That is what Jerusalem was like during Passover. Thousands of people throughout the country side have come into Jerusalem to offer their animal sacrifice at the Temple.
So what is Jesus so ticked off about? Well for starters the temple authorities have moved the money changing tables from the traditional site the Mount of Olives to the Gentile Court in the Temple. There are corrupt temple authorities placating the Roman occupiers, and allowing price gouging and unfair currency exchanges to take place. When a faithful Jewish came into the Temple they were not allowed to carry anything with a graven image. These poor peasants from the countryside, trying to be faithful Jews, only had the Roman currency. In order for them to purchase the doves and other animals for sacrifice, first, they had to exchange their coins with the Images of Caesar on them into the local currency in Jerusalem. King Herod was smart enough not to mint coins that set off the revolutionary masses who would not tolerate a graven image in the Temple.
Jesus sees how the powers that be are exploiting a situation and profiting on the backs of people trying to be faithful observers of Judaism. This is what set him off. Why should the faithful have to go the Gentile Court to be price goughed? This is how the authorities have turned to the house of prayer into the den of thieves.
So what’s going on today that would be an equivalent? The NAACP just brought a law suit against several banks and lenders who are charged with unfair lending practices. They directed African American with the same credit history and lending status as Euro American into sub-prime loans. The temple authorities of our day are some dishonest bankers and lenders. This has been a concern for decades, yet we seem to have not made much progress. There is a time for righteous anger, when we see that the people who wield power do not seem to be held accountable. Jesus stands in the long line of the prophets of old who remembered the least among us and gave them a voice and sense of agency.
Another example comes to us from Cameroon. Sally shared this article with me from the Reuter Press. The Roman Catholic Pope, Benedict, is due to visit Africa to partake in the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of the church in Africa. The security forces in Yaoundé forcibly demolished the street vendor kiosks to give the city a face lift for the Papal visit. The powers that be need to hear this story again from John’s gospel. Jesus was angry because he heard the cries of the poor and oppressed. The blinders of idolatry have again eclipsed a people’s vision of where Jesus dwells. Jesus sees and hears the plight of these streets vendors whose livelihood has been taken from them for the sake of appearances.
Those in power need to remember where God’s ultimate allegiance rests. We will always have some modern day temple and religious authorities with us. They get so caught up in the game they loose sight of what really matters. Every child of God is entitled to their access to daily bread. The authorities in Yaoundé should have explored alternative ways of using the vendors to sell all the tourist trinkets that come with a Papal visit. We all know the tourist trap and the memorabilia that is sold. Instead, the powers that be thought God’s was on their side when they pushed aside our brothers and sisters doing their best to put bread on their tables for their families.
The Judeans had a hard time understanding Jesus’ teaching and the sign he presents to them. Destroy this temple and you will raise it again in three days? The Jewish people had no idea what was on the horizon when Jesus cleansed the temple. They did not know that Nero would torch the place in 70 AD. The audience in John’s audience, however, understood what this cleansing of the temple meant, because the gospel was written a good twenty to thirty years after the Jewish temple was no longer in existence.
Jesus is trying to explain to the crowds that the temple will be destroyed and recreated through the death and resurrection of the Messiah. John’s gospel is filled with various signs and symbols that help explain Jesus life and ministry. Do you remember the first miracle in John? Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Now we are approaching the Passover, when the cup of Elijah is lifted up and the Jewish people remember God’ s promise to send a Messiah who will complete their exodus from Egypt long ago.
It’s interesting that in John’s gospel the cleansing of the temple comes at the beginning of the Gospel, where in Matthew, Mark and Luke this showdown comes at the very end. This is the cataclysmic event that gets Jesus arrested and tried for treason. Several scholars have questioned whether it’s accurate to place this event at the beginning of Jesus ministry.
What many people don’t realize is that every year at Passover, false prophets would ride in on a donkey, and proclaim to be the messiah that has come to deliver the Jews from occupation. And every year, the Roman centurions would arrest these people and they would be executed for treason. Jesus knows the cross he is picking up when he gets on that colt and donkey makes the fateful procession on Psalm Sunday.
For too long, Christians have pinned the blame on the Jews for Jesus’ death. We all as a collective humanity put Jesus on the Cross. If Jesus was to come back today, there are powerful people in this world who want to put him back on the Cross again. As Christians, we need to take an ongoing self-inventory lest we continue the anti-Semitism that comes from a literal reading of the passion story. Mel Gibbon’s Passion is not adequate source material to understand the historical and sociological reality of Jesus time.
The Good News is that the Temple has been restored through the death and resurrection of our Risen Lord. The body of Christ is the new temple that transcends time and space. No more animal sacrifices are required for us to have access to God. We do not need any intermediaries between us and God. We open God’s word, commune in the Spirit and we are in the standing in the temple which is the Body of Christ. Each of us carries the presence of God’ s Spirit into our communities.
In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus has modeled for us how there is a time and place for righteous anger. When we see the poor and vulnerable being exploited by the money changers of our day, we too should flip some tables and clear away the den of thieves. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the millions of unemployed today because of the money changers in Wall Street.
May the fires of God’s justice burn and a brighter day dawn. Jesus is still cleaning house and we are the brooms and mops. We keep our ears, eyes and hearts open to know where God is calling us to be. We too carry a cross of love and make sacrifices on behalf of our brothers and sisters on the margins. Never again will God’s temple be made den of thieves.
Gracious God, cleanse our hearts and minds so we can serve as pure vessels in your new temple the Body of Christ. Send us out from here to flip any table that keeps our brothers and sisters from having access to their daily bread. May your manna from heaven fall among us. We may not carry whips but we seek the sword of your Spirit. May hardened hearts be shattered into hearts of compassion. May we see and hear where you are calling us to go, and express the righteousness anger you shared long ago. We want to dwell in your holy temple all the days of our lives.

HIV Testing in Prisons

2009-03-12T23:11:00.000-05:00

Georgia Senate Passes Bill Requiring HIV Testing Among Prison Inmates Prior to Release

The Georgia Senate on Tuesday voted to pass a bill (S.B. 64) that would require HIV testing for inmates prior to their release from state prisons, GPB News reports. Current state law requires HIV tests when inmates enter the prison system. Under the new bill, the HIV tests, which cost about $4 each, would not be required unless the state agrees to fund them, GPB News reports. According to state Sen. Kasim Reed (D), the bill aims to stop the spread of HIV as data indicate that "when people know their status, they change their behavior." Some lawmakers opposed to the bill questioned if the testing requirements will actually protect people from the spread of HIV after former inmates living with the virus re-enter the community. State Sen. John Douglas (R) said there is "nothing to force" HIV-positive former inmates "to tell their partner that they have HIV." The bill now goes to the state House for consideration (Zornes, GPB News, 3/10

Urban Peacemakers

2009-03-12T03:54:00.000-05:00

My next chapter in life includes starting a local non-profit Urban Peacemakers.

Please let me know if you have some funding suggestions or prospective board members.

I am in the process recruiting board members and filing for a 501.C3.

Our mission and vision will be to provide crisis counseling and gang intervention services to partner city agencies in the Twin Cities metro.

Our services will include:

1. crisis counseling training of clergy and community stakeholders who can then provide emotional and spiritual support to crime victims and their families.

2. Crisis intervention and conflict meditation between gang members and at-risk youth.

3. Advocacy for people living with HIV/AIDS: Prevention and Access to treatment.
The leading cause of death for African American women is HIV/AIDS.

I have consulted with my colleague Jeff Zimmerman who operates the Crisis Response

Team in LA. He has given me some direction on the foundations that have helped fund the LA Crisis Response Team program.

The LA Mayor's office and Chief Bratton's office will be providing reference letters to the work we did together in LA (2005-2008).

Rev. Howard Dotson
(612)702-3151

Another Bat Attack at Lake Phalen

2009-03-07T20:48:00.001-06:00

4 thugs attack man near Lake Phalen
By Mara H. Gottfried
mgottfried@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 03/03/2009 03:47:49 PM CST

St. Paul police are investigating an attack of a man walking his dog near Lake Phalen last week.

Four males, who appeared to be teenagers, came up to the man Friday night and asked him for change, said Peter Panos, police spokesman.

"The next thing he knows, he's knocked out," Panos said. One report said a baseball bat was used and another said it was a rubber object, Panos said.

The man was brought to the hospital. He didn't have life threatening injuries, Panos said.

Nothing was taken in the attack, Panos said.

Police are looking into whether Friday's assault is connected to an attack last summer at Lake Phalen, Panos said. On Aug. 1, a woman in her 40s was walking at the lake when three young people wielding baseball bats attacked her.

They tried to hit her over her head repeatedly, but the woman held up her hands to protect her head. One of her fingers was severed, and she has multiple fractures in both hands and her wrist. The case is unsolved.

On Aug. 4, a young married couple was assaulted with bats while taking a walk around Lake Phalen. Three teens with gang ties were charged in that case.

Picking Up our Crosses Mark 8:31-38

2009-03-07T15:18:00.000-06:00

Picking Up our Crosses Mark 8:31-38

31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and
be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels

On the Second of Lent, we remember that being a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ is a tall order. Are we ready to lose our life to gain it? Do we have the courage and strength to pick up the cross that is at our feet. How many times we have tripped over it trying to get beyond it without having to pick it up?
How many of us have felt that twist in our stomach when we saw something that was so wrong, but we couldn’t find the courage to stay anything. We did not want to stick our necks and be ostracized. We struggle to find the inner strength to take the risk, and pick up the cross God had set before us. In reality, we will have many different crosses before us in our life time.
Our necklaces with crosses on our chest are good reminders for us of how we are daily called to carry our cross. Yes, ultimately it’s about what Jesus did on Calvary, but is also symbolizes the personal cross that we bear every day. Every morning when you pull the cord or chain over your head, say a prayer for strength and courage to carry the cross that is at your feet for this day.
When I see so many jewels and sparkles on the Crosses we wear, I wonder if we have gotten away from the pain and hardship that bearing the cross brings. May be we should wear more simple, plain wooden crosses, lest we sanitize and dilute the true meaning of this symbol. Just as Jesus suffered for us, we must be willing to endure the Cross set before us. We can not discover who we are as a resurrection people without the Cross that is set before us. There is no way of side stepping the Via Dela Rosa and the ascent to Calvary.
Yes, we want the Messiah, we want Christmas and Easter, but can we just move along with all this Lent and Good Friday stuff. When do we get to the fun stuff? Lent can be a difficult time to market coming to church. We live in the era of consumer spirituality. Too many of us have succumbed to the entertainment mode of being church. Give me the warm fuzzy I came for. I want to be moved, but don’t ask too much of me. I want to be able to move in and out without much accountability. Let me just stay anonymous.
In the early church, it was pretty hard to be invisible. Poor Peter, he really gets a bum rap in Mark’s Gospel. Surely it hurt his feelings when Jesus says to him, “Get behind me Satan.” Peter did not want the suffering servant. He wanted to see King David back on his throne, and hopefully a seat on his cabinet. Many of Jesus’ followers could not understand the path that was before them. Let us get to Easter Sunday through another path shall we?
Perhaps Jesus was stern with Peter because in Jesus’ humanity he was struggling with the temptation to agree with him. We see in the passion how Jesus struggled with the cup that was set before up. “ Father, I will do your will but could you take this cup from me?” We see how Jesus prayed in isolation and despair while the disciples slept. Jesus knew this was going to be a lonesome valley. He could see that many of his disciples would betray and deny they knew him when the time of trials came. Yes, Jesus, in his humanity wished there was another way, but his love for us compelled him to carry the cross that was set before him.
Do we have the courage to carry the cross that God has set before us? Now not many of us will be required to give our lives for the Gospel. But this is our spiritual legacy. Our ancestors were willing to give it all, so they could save their lives by losing it. 1700 years of being the official religion of Western Culture has made some of us grow complacement. We don’t fully appreciate just how demanding it is to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
We need to be daily engaged in spiritual practices, so we can be conditioning ourselves for the day when we face the heaviest cross we will be required to carry. How do we find the courage and strength to pick up our cross and follow our Lord to Calvary? I am amazed at the courage so many people have had for the cause they believed in. They were willing to face the threat of death in order to proceed down the righteous path.
Jesus’ life and ministry has been the source and inspiration of many courageous saints. For instance, people take notice when the women get organized. In every social movement that has brought us closer to a realization of our Lord’s Prayer “On Earth as it is heaven”, there has always been the backbone of women who were willing pick up their cross. I have always been inspired by how women seem more willing to carry their personal cross for the sake of others. They definitely seem to out number the men. Brothers, we can learn something from our sisters about what it means to stick your neck for the welfare of others. Our moms, aunties and grandmas have this more comprehensive sense of what it means to carry the cross for all of God’s children. There is this maternal empathy that women share. This huge sense of responsibility for nurturing of others.
Many years ago, in 1872, Susan B Anthony walked into a barber shop that served as a polling station and demanded that she be allowed to register to vote. She promised the election judges that she would cover their legal costs if they accommodated her and the other women who would follow. Many courageous women would follow. With a copy of the 14th amendment in hand, they practiced civil disobedience. They carried their cross to right the wrongs of sexism.
They did not just do this for themselves. They were willing to bear the weight so others one day would not have to. Can you imagine Susan B Anthony’s smile when she sees so many of the first milestones we’ve had. There is still a work to be done in our world but we can rest for a minute and celebrate the progress we’ve made.
I mentioned a few weeks ago about the Iron women of Liberia. After years of war they elected the first African woman to be President Ellen Johnson. I encourage you to go the theatres and see the documentary, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.” This is an inspiring story of how the Christian and Muslim Women’s associations joined forced to work for peace and end the civil war in Liberia. These ladies courageously picked up the cross set before them.
These iron ladies of Liberia put on their white sack clothes and kept vigil on the road that leads up to President Taylor’s house. These courageous ladies bent the ears of their pastors to mobilize the congregations to be part of the pressure that brought all parties to the peace table. Their Muslim sisters worked in the mosques to pressure the Imams to urge the rebel group leaders to also come to the table. The ladies even went on a sex strike. They refused their husbands affection until the peace process started.
When the talks finally began in Ghana, it was clear that many of the delegates were dragging their feet. Just as the talks began, Charles Taylor was indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Sierra Leone. The talks seemed to doomed to fail. Then the rebel forces started the siege of Monrovia. This is where millions of internally displaced persons had fled to.
The Iron women of Liberia had had enough. All dressed in white they encircled the building where the peace negotiations were taking place. They locked arms and refused to let the delegates out until they made some progress. When one of the rebel delegates tried to jump over human chain, the former President of Nigeria rebuked him. “You get back in there. You are not a real man. You are killing your own people. Your acting like a boy and these Mamas are right!”
We have a cloud of witnesses of followers of Christ who had the courage to carry the cross. Not merely for the sake of their personal salvation, but so that the kingdom of God could be more fully known in our midst.
These prayers flags remind of us of the commitments we have made to practice acts of sacrificial love. To pick up the crosses before us so other people do not bear their burdens alone. So often we wonder if anyone will care. When I allow myself to be humbled and ask for help will someone be there?
Every day, there are people in our lives who are our Simon of Cyrenes who come to walk beside us and take a part of the cross for us. Jesus promised to make the yoke easy, and we are the hands and feet that help fulfill this promise. There will always be a yoke for each of us to carry, but this is the path our Lord has set for us.
We can’t find who we are as a child of God until we let go of the life we try to set on our own terms. During these days of Lent, let us lay down our own agendas, so our arms are freed to pick up the cross Christ calls us to carry. We will never be alone, our Triune God is with us every step of the way. Even when it seems the world is on your shoulder, our Awesome God can sustain each and every burden. This path is not easy, but man is it worth it! We follow the loving Shepherd who loves us enough to give it all away for our sake. Let’s pick up our cross as an act of love and praise.

A Wilderness Experience First Sunday in Lent

2009-03-01T08:12:00.000-06:00

A Wilderness Experience March 1, 2009

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Mark 1:9-15

Last Wed. We began our forty day journey to the Cross and Empty Tomb of our Lord. Many of our Catholic brothers and sisters will forgo meat on Fridays. At the age of fifteen, my first job was working at Burger King, I remember how many fish sandwiches we sold for lunch on Fridays. Have we domesticated the wilderness experience we are called to during Lent? We are called to remember the personal sacrifices Jesus made in these forty days in the wilderness. It is enough to give up red meat one day a week, or reduce our intake of chocolate.
Leading up to the cross in our chancel, we have draped our prayer flags. We have made commitments to practice acts of sacrificial love during Lent. In our wilderness experiences, we don’t need to worry about wild beasts. Our confrontations with the evil of this world are milder forms of temptation. Very few of us will endure the hungers pangs or sleep without shelter above our heads. How will grow in love and compassion for our brothers and sisters walking through the wilderness right now?
In the Ancient Near East, when you heard the number of forty you knew this was a time of testing. This was not a punishment from God. Rather this was a time of spiritual purification. When Jesus departs into the wilderness for forty days, he is repeating the spiritual pilgrimage of his ancestors. Moses led the people out of captivity into forty years in the wilderness before they reached the promised land. Moses spent forty days and nights on the Mt. Sinai before he delivered the law. Elijah spent forty days on Mt. Horeb. Every time that we are set apart for spiritual formation, God does not abandon us.
God is preparing us for the trials and tribulations that still lay ahead. The path Christ set for us is not always tranquil. Speaking the truth in love and proclaiming the gospel will place us in the wilderness more times than many of us would like to accept as reality. God did not promise us a rose garden. We make sacrifices now for treasures in heaven.
Yes there will be hunger, temptation and wild beasts, but the angels of God are always with us to sustain us. If the very Son of God has to go through his own spiritual preparation, how much more do we? How is the Spirit of God calling us today to take some time in the wilderness. We leave the ways and means of this world to appreciate how God’s voice is speaking to us. We silence the distractions and competing voices, so we can hear the still, small voice that nurtures our souls.
Many of our peers like to see themselves as more spiritual than religious. They say to themselves, “I don’t need to go to church, I can find God in nature, this is where I commune with the Spirit.” Many people no longer see the need to be part of a faith community. God does not send us into the wilderness to just feed our own psychic needs. God gives us Sabbath in the wilderness so we are prepared for the demands of sacrificial love we will share with others when we return. As Westerners, we need to acknowledge our propensity for being self absorbed and accustomed to navel gazing. God sends us into the wilderness as a time of preparation for service.
When I think of Jesus growing hungry in the hot noon days and frigid midnights, I pray for our brothers and sisters throughout the world who live in refugee camps. The violence they had no part in has forced them to flee the life they knew into settlements where life is precarious. Charlie and George spent ten years in Kampala at a Sudanese refugee camp. For twenty years, the Southern Sudanese people fled the conflict zones. This tragedy isn’t over, millions of the people of Darfur, another region of Sudan, have also had to flee the Junjaweed and the Sudanese gunships. When we think of wilderness, our brothers and sisters fleeing the war zone are living it.
It’s hard to embrace this spiritual sacrifice of self denial when you are struggling for your daily bread. At times, it can be hard to find God’s presence with you, when the wild beasts surrounding you are fellow human beings. Their acts of evil and cruelty create a crisis of faith. The refugees of our day living in exile are searching and praying every day for the angels to tend to them in their wilderness. Our prayers are with the people of Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as they endure a harsh wilderness journey they never chose for themselves. May the angels tend to them, and the day of peace and prosperity come soon.
God has given each of us our own time in the wilderness to prepare us to be the angels God sends out to tend to others. Every one of us will encounter a wilderness experience. It’s part of the journey. Yes there will always be testimonies of someone who has had it more difficult than we have. One of the redeeming points is that these experiences of self denial enable us to have compassion and solidarity with others, who currently endure a wilderness moment. Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness, hungry, tired and tempted. Our Lord knows our struggle to keep perspective and to restrain from our temptations to give into our baser natures.
When we have our dark nights of the soul, when we feel God is far from us, we can take comfort in remembering that God gave the Israelites manna from heaven, God gave Elijah the food to sustain them. God does not send us out into this wilderness to fend for ourselves. Rather, we are taught again and again, we need to step out on faith and trust God will provide. Many of our brothers and sisters throughout the world are praying and trusting that God has not forgetten them. May of our acts of sacrificial of love during these forty days be answered prayers for those enduring wilderness moments.
In many cultures young men are sent out on a vision quest as part of their initiation into adulthood. Native Americans here in North America and many tribes in Africa still practice this rite of passage. Jesus, has also modelled this path of spiritual maturity. Sometimes we need to descend to ascend. To grow in mind and spirit, we let go of some of the comforts that have become crutches and chains holding us back. We step out on faith and struggle with the elements to learn and trust that God will always provide.
We grow in the image of Christ when we get of ourselves and the comforts that serve as substitutes for the spiritual food only God can provide. In this Lenten journey, there is manna in the sky awaiting for us. Are we willing to endure the hardships and hunger in order to get to the clouds carrying this for us?
We have begun the Lenten Journey. As we receieve the bread and cup today, we remember how much God loved us. God was willing to lay down his life for us. Somehow red meat or chocolate really seem to pale in comparison. How will we give to others an act of sacrificial love as an act of worship and praise to the Lamb who gave it all for us?
Yes the bunnies, lilies and Easter baskets will come at the end of this wilderness experience, but we need to abstain for a while to appreciate the sweetness of Easter morning. How will we walk with our brothers and sisters through their personal Good Fridays? How will we help sustain one another in the wilderness moments that life brings?
Are we ready to serve as vessels and channels of the peace of Christ in a world filled with wild beasts? We are the people we have been waiting for! Through our acts of sacrificial love this Lent, we are angels tending to fellow spiritual pilgrims enduring their time in the wilderness.
May our eyes always be open, our ears always attentive. The voice of God carries through the cries and tears from the wilderness. May the manna from heaven fall again and again. May the Kingdom of God be proclaimed and be made known in every corner of God’s creation. Soon and very soon, we will complete our journey across this dry and desolate land and rest our weary feet in the still waters and green pastures again.

Timing Is Everything

2009-02-16T10:07:00.000-06:00

Timing is Everything Feb 8, 2009

Mark 1:29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

A certain minister who was known for long sermons, with many divisions, that day when he was advancing among the teens he reached at length a kind of resting place in the sermon, when pausing to take a breath, he asked the question, “ And what shall I say next? A voice from the congregation responded, “Amen.”
If pastors are honest with ourselves, we will acknowledge that sometimes we have this vocational liability of being long winded. Sometimes we grow enamored with hearing our own voices. We want to throw in everything, including the kitchen sink, into one sermon. We forget the adage of Ocaam’s razor. We fail to practice parsimony. One of my professor’s in seminary told us, “You want to leave them wanting more.”
We have all been there where we sense, “Oh that would be a great place to stop, the pastor’s takes a breath and keeps on going.” Pastors can be a tough a crowd as folks in the pew. Congregations with a lot of retired pastors are tough crowds. You can the see the wheels spinning in their head how they would have said it differently. It’s all about timing. A sermon must have something meaningful to say, but it should be brief enough to keep folks engaged. This delicate balancing act leaves many of us sweating bullets come Saturday crunch time.
In our gospel lesson, Jesus is wrestling with timing issues. In Year B of the lectionary, we continue in the beginning of his ministry. Jesus is still casting out demons and healing the multitudes. We notice in v. 34, that he silences the demons so they can not identity him. In the Ancient Near East, you had sort of a power over someone when you called them by their name. This is one aspect of why Jesus refuses to let them speak.
There is another possibility though. Scholars of Mark’s gospel call this the messianic secret. Timing is everything. Jesus is just getting started and he needs this time to build his ministry, to spread the gospel and train his disciples. Jesus know these evil spirits, he spent forty days in the wilderness wrestling with the likes of them. Their motives for declaring him the messiah are disingenuous. They want to throw Jesus off his game.
Some of you will recall the feeding miracle that Jesus performed and how the crowd responded. They picked up their arms and were ready to start war with the Romans. "Now we are have our Messiah, let’s roll." He can keep dividing the fishes and loaves for us to sustain us through the battles. This was not Jesus’ game plan. The evil spirits knew the hearts of the people and how many of them tempted they were to resort to violence to be free once again. The evil spirits are trying to force Jesus’ hand and derail him from the ministry he has just barely started.
Recently, we have seen how many of our world leaders have struggled with issues of timing. Their constituents want change now, but we often do not have all the information. Nor we do know the ins and outs of what needs to happen behind the scenes for the legislation to make it through the sausage making process. I like to joke that it sure tastes good on spaghetti, but you don’t want to know how it was made. Paul calls us to pray for people in authority and we should support them as they make many difficult decisions.
Dr. King struggled as a mediator in the civil rights movement. His elders and critics said he was moving too fast and the younger generation said things were not moving fast enough. Dr King was a minister, a shepherd of a flock. He had to keep things moving, but he could not lose his people along the way. It is hard to be patient to move when the time is right. Being patient with pregnant hope is a spiritual discipline. You show your cards when its time.
In several of the gospels we see how people grew frustrated with Jesus’ ministry. They wanted God to work things out on their time line. As Isaiah cried out long ago, “How long o Lord.” But we must not forget what God told Isaiah, “My thoughts and not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways.” We need to be diligent in what we have set before us, and trust that in God’s time, the Holy Spirit will reveal to us what we need to know and where to go next.
When I was in the Army we heard this all the time, “You are on a need to know basis.” Perhaps the church could use a little more military discipline. We don’t want to be like the mislead folks who think they know what God’s time line is. We can never force God’s hand, to get things on a pace that we are more comfortable with. Yes, patience is a virtue.
We struggle in this hamster pace world of ours. We fast forward through the commercials, and microwave our dinners in 3 minutes. We are used to things clipping right along. We bring this pace of life to how we commune with God. Our prayer life is not like our email inbox or instant messaging. God will give us an answer when the time is right. God is still cooking the stew and it is not supper time yet.
Jesus understood that timing is everything. He needed to be sure that the disciples were ready for what was going to confront them soon enough. Jesus needs this precious time to instill in them the teachings, while other folks only got the parables. When Jesus was telling a parables there was usually an edge to it that convicted the person of something. The disciples heard the parables directed towards others and understood their corrective purpose.
As I have mentioned before, Jesus is pretty tough on the disciples in Mark’s gospel. They seem kind of thick headed and slow to learn. Matthew and Luke’s gospel go much easier on the disciples. In Mark, we see Jesus’ growing increasingly frustrated with them. Timing is everything. Surely, Jesus worried if they would get it down before the final exam that was looming on Calvary. If they didn’t get it, how would the ministry be carried on when he was gone?
Jesus is the Great Shepherd who cares for his flock and tries to shield them from the evil forces that would have us get derailed. Jesus is able to muzzle those voices in our heads that tempt us to get ahead of where God is leading. God wants us to trust the process and take some time to breathe deep the spiritual oxygen of the Holy Spirit.
Not to mix metaphors, but as God’s sheep we need to remember the story of the Tortus and the Hare. We best pace ourselves for the race we are set to run. The power and principalities of this world will set up barriers that we will have to clear. If we push too fast, our feet will not clear the bars. God is gracious. There is no stop watch for us to have to contend with. This is a race on God’s clock. What matters more is that we all get there together, not who gets there first.
Timing is everything. Like the Special Olympics commercial that ran a while ago. When one of us falls down, we all stop to pick up one another. It’s not about the clock, or who gets the yellow banner on their chest. In God’s time, what matters most is that we all get there together.
There will always be new things that we need to learn in order understand where God is leading us. They say the best teachers are the one who are still students. None of have ever truly arrived. We are all in this relay race together and God is setting the pace. Let’s trust in God’s promises and reserve our energy for that great sprint when we run to Jesus waiting for us at the finish line.

Across The Nation | HIV Disproportionately Affecting Blacks in U.S

2009-02-12T21:46:00.000-06:00

Across The Nation | HIV Disproportionately Affecting Blacks in U.S
Fauci Says [Feb 09, 2009]
HIV/AIDS is disproportionately affecting blacks in the U.S., with almost half of all new infections occurring in the population, Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said recently, Reuters reports. According to Fauci's statement, which was released to mark National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Saturday, blacks comprise 12% of the U.S. population but account for almost 50% of all people living with HIV in the country. Fauci pointed to the majority black city of Washington, D.C., where one in 20 residents is living with HIV -- about the same proportion of people in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, one in 50 district residents has developed AIDS, according to Fauci.

Fauci said the "shocking statistics would be tragic anywhere but are particularly inexcusable in a wealthy country such as the United States." He added that it is "crucial" for blacks and all U.S. residents to follow HIV testing recommendations from CDC and the American College of Physicians. Reuters reports that statistics show that 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV, of whom 20% are unaware of their status -- increasing the odds of transmission and the risk of becoming ill without treatment. Fauci said that scientific evidence has shown that initiating treatment for HIV "as early as possible ... appears to improve the odds of staying healthier longer." However, he added that "[t]reatment is no substitute for prevention" and that NIAID and its partners are "working to develop and validate new methods to protect against HIV infection."

According to Reuters, CDC in 2006 reported that more new HIV infections occur among young black men who have sex with men than any other group in the U.S. and that black women acquired new HIV infections at 15 times the rate for white women. Reuters also reports that NIAID is conducting HIV/AIDS research with an aim of benefiting blacks (Reuters, 2/6).

Sermon: The Great Physician’s Touch Mark 1:21-28

2009-01-31T09:31:00.001-06:00

Feb 1, 2008
The Great Physician’s Touch Mark 1:21-28

21They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Now a days, educated and sophisticated people don’t want to talk about things like evil and demons and all that stuff. We are all basically good people, right? It’s all just bad conditions that lead people to do bad things. If we just worked harder to improve things then acts of evil would not happen. Now I appreciate humanistic psychology, and our human capacity to be who God has made us to be. Yet, there are times when we need to be healed by our Great Physican. There are times when we need God to cleanse us from the spiritual poisons and toxins that hinder us from growing as Christians.
Have you ever had a moment where you sensed you encountered someone or something that really seemed evil? Have you ever wanted to have the authority of the priest in the Exorcist movie, and splash holy water on someone, “The power of Christ compels you!” Some of you have seen the documentaries of how the Roman Catholic Church still continues this ritual of purification. Many religions have a similar ritual that gives someone a psychological and spiritual release from the inner demons that are tormenting them.
When I was in seminary I volunteered as a chaplain at San Quentin State Prison. Every week we brought the chapel service to the people living with HIV/AIDs who had to be kept separate from the general prison population. One of the most remarkable encounters I have ever had with the forces of evil came while I was trying to serve communion. There was this scraggly, wild eyed prisoner on the other side of the fence who was determined to do every thing he could disrupt the sacrament. He yelled and screamed and tried to derail the service. I will never forget the looks he gave me. If there was ever a time I wanted to perform an exorcism it was then. He’s lucky I didn’t bring holy water with me that day.
One of the things we need to remember when we wrestle with these questions of good and evil, and the body of Christ’s role in confronting it; is that we too are vulnerable of becoming infected. We need enough humility to go through our own process of being cleansed. Blaise Pascal wrote, “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” We should never be so proud and sure of ourselves, that we presume that we do not need to receive a healing touch from the Great Physician.
We have seen the church at it’s worst when it is too sure of itself. In M Scott Peck’s People of the Lie, he warns us that we are on thin ice when we think we are good and all the evil in the world is outside of ourselves. When we have these blinders of denial on, this is when the forces of evil can work on us under the radar.
The Twentieth Century presented us with some challenging questions. Are we basically good as human beings? Students of history and psychology have been debating with the pop-self-help gurus for decades. As Christians, our tradition has kind of a middle of the road position. Yes, we have this notion of original sin. Evil has a stronger hold us, when we don’t have Christ in our life. But in our baptism, this is in some ways an exorcism, where we are cleansed and purified. We are united with Christ, as our new Adam who lifts this burden from us.
When we are baptized we participate in the death and resurrection of our Risen Lord. These cleansing waters enable the Great Physician to enter our lives in a deeper and more complete way. In our Baptism, we have received some of antidote we need against the forces of evil that try to possess our hearts and minds. One of our challenges is not be so puffed up that we think we are immune from evil taking hold in our lives. What’s the old saying, “ Well, Physician heal thyself !” We need to take our medicine if we are to be able to help heal others.
It’s appropriate that the priest performing an exorcism uses holy water. These cleansing waters are instruments of the Great Physician’s touch. What would have happened if a German Catholic priest had the courage to perform an exorcism on Hitler, or a Russian Orthodox Priest to sprinkle holy water on Stalin? Can you imagine how different our world would be today?
There is a remarkable story of two Jewish kids growing up in the Bronx. Philip Zimbardo and Stanley Milgram attended the same kindergarten class. These two boys grew up to be two of the most famous psychologists. It’s poignant that these two Jewish men’s did research that gives us some insight into how something as evil as the holocaust could happen.
Milgrim’s conformity study had people in a lab turning a dial that would shock someone as a form of punishment. The doctor in a white lab coat would tell the subject to keep turning up the dial on the machine to shock this disobedient person in the other room. “It’s for their own good.” The actor would be screaming bloody murder, yet some of the subjects were still willing to turn up the dial.
Zimbardo, Milgrim’s classmate from the Bronx, is well known for his Stanford Prison experiment. He set up a mock prison where college students took on the roles of playing guard and prisoner. Things got so out of hand they had to stop the experiment. Students playing the guards were mistreating the prisoners. If this happens at one of our most prestigious universities with some of our brightest and gifted, what does this say about our common humanity. We need to be humble enough to acknowledge that evil exists in this world and none of us immune from its influence.
Most of our children stories and cartoons have the same overarching theme. The forces of good battling against the forces of evil. As adult we see this all the time in the movies, Star Wars, the Matrix, Batman & Superman. We look for these heroes that give us courage that in the end the forces of evil will be defeated.
In some ways it’s appropriate that we now have a Jesus action figure (minus the kung fu grip). We really don’t need all these super heroes to be inspired and comforted by the hope we have that in Christ, good will finally triumph in the end. When Jesus walked that path to Calvary, and walked out of the empty tomb, Jesus, our Redeemer, conquered evil once and for all.
God’s entire created order was transformed that Easter morning. It’s hard to put words to such an incredible event. When we are baptized, the promise and deliverance of Easter is more fully realized. In these cleansing waters, we are initiated into the body of Christ. Here, the Great Physician is able to administer the vaccine for our souls.
Every Sunday when we pray our confession and assurance of pardon this is a cleansing ritual where our Great Physician can heal us again and again from any emotional or spiritual poison. Like the flu, we will never be fully immune from the evils of this world. But we know whose touch can always deliver us.
The Good News is that we are never beyond the reach of our Great Physician. There is grace and redemption extended to every child of God. We take our own medicine, so we are able to be instruments of God’s healing touch to others. Jesus is always ready and willing. He’s one of the doctors who still makes house calls. Any hour, any distance.

Howard's Proposed Dissertation Project Design

2009-01-28T00:22:00.000-06:00

San Francisco Theological Seminary
Dissertation Project Design

1. Title: Empowering Clergy as Crisis Counselors in Urban America

Author: Rev. Howard Dotson Advisor: Rev. Dr. Paul Hertig
Context: Rampart Div. of L.A.P.D. & the Eastern District of St Paul P.D.

2.Problem:

In the North American urban ministry context, gang violence is claiming the lives of far too many young people. In the City of Los Angeles there are forty thousand gang members; most of whom were baptized in Latino Catholic and African American Protestant congregations. In the Rampart Division of LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) it has become evident that many of these grieving families are not receiving immediate pastoral care following a gang related homicide. This is due in part to communication gaps between the Police and the faith communities, but there is also the stigma of being the bereaved parent of a child who is presumed to be a gang member. Like the LAPD, many police departments have clergy councils that could serve as referrals and first responders to provide emotional and spiritual support for these grieving families. Many of the clergy representatives on these councils, however do not have adequate crisis counseling training to serve in this capacity.

3. Purpose:
Improving the communication and response time between the Los Angeles Police Department and the volunteer clergy councils in Los Angeles, CA, where Rev. Dotson worked for 3 years. Such an arrangement of clergy councils will also be assessed with the St. Paul Police Department and the East Side of St. Paul, MN community where he has recently relocated. Rev. Dotson objective is to facilitate the ongoing training with LAPD Clergy Council members and assess the benefits of this model being replicated with the Eastern District of the St Paul Police Dept.
Another objective for this dissertation project is to increase the number of clergy who are equipped with the crisis counseling skills and training necessary to serve bereaved families traumatized by violence in their communities. With this continuing education training, an increased number of clergy will be more effective urban pastoral care providers. They will join a more comprehensive interdisciplinary system working to decrease the psychological and social barriers that hinder the traumatized and grieving families from gaining access to emotional and spiritual resources. These bereaved families need every resource available to them to enhance their coping skills, and thereby minimizing some of common psychological risk factors and vulnerabilities.

4. Scope:

Crisis counseling is a specialized form of pastoral care and counseling that centers around providing emotional and spiritual support to persons who experience a crisis due to a tramautic event that has overwhelmed one’s coping skills. Howard Stone and David Switzer have presented crisis counseling models that are readily applicable to the context of urban pastors providing pastoral care and counseling to bereaved families coping with emotional and spiritual stressors associated with a sudden and traumatic act of violence. The psychological literature demonstrates that there are some common yet unique psychological risk factors that bereaved families encounter as they cope with the loss of a loved one to violence.
In Rev. Dotson’s clinical and pastoral work, these families have frequently presented with vulnerabilities for developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Complicated Grief and an increased risk for suicidality. His master’s degree in psychology prior to seminary and ongoing training with the Dr. James Bugental’s Art of Psychotherapist Institute provides some unique clinical and theoretical insight into how clergy can be trained and equipped to provide pastoral care for grieving and bereaved families.
His clinical orientation as an Existential-Humanistic pastoral counselor specifically focuses on how a pastoral care provider assists someone with their ability to face the givens of their human existence and the existential crisis that this traumatic act of violence presents. One’s own mortality is front and center when one grieves the loss of a loved one. One of the coping resources that can be fostered in these crisis counseling sessions is an exploration of how the bereaved might discover meaning in the midst of their despair and feelings of emptiness. How will they define the legacy of their loved one? How might they invite others to join them in paying tribute to their loved one by working together to assure that another mother will not have to endure the tragedy they are facing ? In Rev. Dotson’s pastoral counseling experiences with dozens of bereaved families, this existential-humanistic coping mechanism has consistently proved effective.
This theological and social framework provides a mechanism for the community stakeholders to engage the families in ways that transcend the all too common condescending modes of sympathy. Many grieving families resent and repel being fussed over by people who have good intentions. The bereaved family members increasingly feel isolated as the well wishers quickly shift and go back to life as normal, while they remain in their grief and bereavement.
When the bereaved families see how the community has come together to memorialize the fallen through commitments to peacemaking and reconciliation, their coping resources will be strengthened. Together they find a common mission that enables them to engage these new friends and colleagues. Bereavement is for a life time. Clergy crisis counselors can help organize these community stakeholders as agents of meaning-making that envelope these bereaved families. This is a long term coping strategy that helps sustain the bereaved over the months and years following the loss of their loved one.

5. Method including data sources and research steps, and the implementation, evaluation, and testing of the project;

Over the past four years, Rev. Dotson has worked with the LAPD and the Mayor’s Crisis Response Team to provide pastoral care and counseling to dozens of grieving families following a gang related homicide in the West LA and Rampart Divisions. The City of Los Angeles and the City Attorney’s have presented him with several commendations for this work.
In his new context on the East side St Paul, the scale and scope of violent crimes is fractional compared to Los Angeles, but the community surrounding Arlington Hills Presbyterian Church (AHP) has the highest crime rate for the entire city. This is a diverse community predominantly comprised of impoverished African American, Latino and Asian at-risk-youth vulnerable to gang recruitment. When Rev. Dotson was hired by the AHP session as Interim minister, the session members endorsed his community outreach to the Police Dept and the ecumenical community.
Rev. Dotson presently serves as a volunteer chaplain with the St Paul Police Dept. Commander Martinez, the Senior Commander for the Eastern District of the St Paul Police Dept. has engaged him to serve as a resource and liaison with the growing Latino community in the district. As collaborative partners, they are actively confronting the stigmatization families experience after a gang-related-homicide. As an extension of the St Paul PD Chaplaincy unit, they partner to ensure that the grieving families receive the emotional and spiritual support they need to cope with the traumatic event and their grief and bereavement.
Over the past six months, five candle light vigils have been organized to provide emotional and spiritual support to the bereaved family members and the traumatized community members. This has been well received by the community stake holders in St Paul. Many residents feel powerless and overwhelmed. This liturgical ritual allows the community to come together and provide emotional and spiritual support to the families. After the clergy crisis counselor has provided this ritual, the family is more receptive to the clergy for a follow-up consultation that enables pastoral assessment, crisis counseling and possible referral to appropriate mental health professionals.
The candle light vigils are points of contact with the family members and friends to assess the level of emotional and spiritual resources available to them. If they are affiliated with a particular parish/congregation and have already connected with their primary pastoral care provider, then deference is afforded to this clergy person. More often then not, however, the family has yet to engage their pastor because the funeral is days off.
In the Los Angeles context, if there is a crisis counselor already working with the family, then the pastoral care provider defers to h/her and takes their lead on what the families’ presenting needs are. In the St Paul context, the chaplaincy unit provides the short term crisis counseling at the scene of the crime or at the hospital. Clergy in both contexts will be advised and trained on how to function appropriately within the duties and responsibilities assigned to the various agencies that have been organized to assist the crime victim’s families.

6. Representative Bibliography

Batestone, D. (1993) New Visions of the Americas: Religious Engagement and Social Transformation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press

Bodenhamer, D. (1998) Voices of Faith: Making a Difference in Urban Neighborhoods. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

*Bugental, JFT. (1965) The Search for Authenticity: An Existential-Analytic Approach to Psychotherapy. New York Holt Rhinehart & Winston

Corr,C. & Balk,D. (2004) Handbook of Adolescent Death and Bereavement. NY:Springer.

Claerbaut, D.( 2005) Urban Ministry in a New Millenium. London: Authentic Media.

Culbertson, P. (2000) Caring for God’s People: Counseling for Christian Wholeness.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Delgado,G. (1994) Beyond the Politics of Place: New Directions in Community Organizing in the 1990s. Oakland, CA: Applied Research Ctr.

Doyle, P. (1980) Grief Counseling and Sudden Death: A Manual and Guide. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas

Dolendorf, D. (1999) Post Traumatic Stress Disoder. Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine.

Guder & Barret. (1998) The Ministry of the Missional Church: A Vision for the
Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Lawrenz & Green (1996) Overcoming Grief and Trauma. Grand Rapids, MI. Fleming H. Revell.

*May, R. (1950) The Meaning of Anxiety. New York: WW Norton.

Humprhey, G & Zimpfer, D. (1996) Counseling for Grief and Bereavement. London: Sage.

Pattison, S. (1994) Liberation Theology and Pastoral Care. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Press.

Oates, W. (1997) Grief, Transition and Loss: A Pastor’s Practical Guide. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Peters R. (2007) An Introduction to Urban Ministry. Nashville: Abingdon

Rogers-Fuller, D. (2002) Pastoral Care for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Philadelphia: Haworth Press.

Rosenthal & Mizrahi (1994) Strategic Partnerships: How to Create & Maintain Interorganizational Collaborations & Coalitions. New York: Hunter College School of Social Work

Schoenberg, B.M.(1980) Bereavement Counseling: A Multidisciplinary Handbook. Wesport, CT:Greenwood Press.

Shapiro, E. (1999) Grief as Family Process: The Circumstances of the Death and the Structure of Grief. Guilford, NY

Stone, B. (1996) Compassionate Ministry: Theological Foundations. New York:Orbis

*Stone, H (1993) Crisis Counseling. Rev. ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

*Stone, H (1994) Brief Pastoral Counseling. Minneapolis:Fortress Press.

Stone, H (2001) Brief Pastoral Counseling: Short Term Approaches and Strategies. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

* Switzer, D (1986) The Minister as Crisis Counselor. Minneapolis: Fortress Press:

* Switzer, D (2000) Pastoral Care Emergencies. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Van Gelder, C.(2007) The Ministry of the Missional Church. Grand Rapids, MI:Baker Books.

Wicks, Parsons & Capps (1993) Clinical Handbook of Pastoral Counseling. V. 1& 3 New York: Paulist Press.

7. Contributions which you expect the work to make to the practice of ministry in the contemporary world;

This training model of empowering clergy as crisis counselors will enhance an urban pastor’s ability to partner with local law enforcement personnel and city officials to confront the psychological and sociological barriers that hinder families from receiving critical emotional and spiritual resources. Urban pastors are called to be prophetic social change agents who confront some of the deleterious social patterns that too frequently blame the victims.
The bereaved families need the broader community to surround them with love, compassion and spiritual support. How will we make meaning out of this? How can we discover hope in the midst of this tragedy and despair? Finding a constructive answer to this pervasive existential question is a critical coping resource that helps decrease the bereaved person’s vulnerabilities for further psychological problems as they continue their difficult journey. Urban pastors serving as crisis counselors need to posses some specific knowledge and skills set to provide emotional and spiritual support to these bereaved families and to engage the proper referral mechanisms, when and if it is warranted.

8. The time schedule you expect to follow;

Feb 24 2009
• Clergy consultation with Rampart Clergy Council
• Compile course evaluations

April 2009
• Present findings to Commander Martinez and the St Paul Chaplaincy Unit
• Assess the feasibility of replicating this model
with St Paul clergy serving the Eastside of St Paul
• Arrange a clergy consultation with Latino clergy in
the Eastern District of St Paul PD to address the stigma and isolation that bereaved families frequently endure after a traumatic act of violence.

May 2009
Continued research, pastoral praxis and the production of the dissertation.

A Broken System: Sojourners Magazine

2009-01-24T22:59:00.001-06:00

For the first time in history, according to a recent study by the Pew Center on the States, more than one in every 100 adults in the U.S. is in jail or prison. There has not been, however, a correlating decrease in crime. “The education system, particularly for inner-city youth where the bulk of our prisoners come from, is abysmal,” Carol Fennelly, executive director of Hope House, a Washington, D.C.-based organization supporting prisoners’ families, told Sojourners. “We need real job opportunities and a reformed society in which people don’t end up in prison in the first place.” Here are some numbers:

67 percent: People released from prison who are re-arrested within three years.
32 percent: Increase in federal prisoners between 2000 and 2007, which coincides with the 454 new offenses added to the federal criminal code during that same period.
7.4 million. Number of people under the control of the U.S. criminal justice system in 2007.
83.5 percent: People in jail in 2002 who earned less than $2,000 per month prior to arrest.
64 percent: Increase in criminal justice-related government spending between 1996 and 2005, reaching a height of $213 billion in 2005.

Sources: “Moving Target: A Decade of Resistance to the Prison Industrial Complex” (Justice Policy Institute, September 2008); “One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008” (The Pew Center on the States); The Washington Post.

2009-01-24T19:19:00.000-06:00

Children of Abraham United As Peacemakers

Isaiah 2:2-4

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Luke 22:47-53

47While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; 48but Jesus said to him, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?” 49When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, “Lord, should we strike with the sword?” 50Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. 51But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. 52Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? 53When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”

Many times, with candles burning and hearts warmed by family and friends gathered to comfort one another, we have read these passages at candle vigils for peace on the Eastside and Los Aneleges. In these scriptures, our prayers and songs; we remember God’s enduring vision of a world where there are no more tears. One day there will be no more mothers bearing a broken heart because she has lost her precious child to violence.
Today, Dr Reiter will share with us a beacon of hope from the Holy land. In at least two places in the Holy Land, Jews and Muslims can cooperate and accommodate one another’s need to worship and praise God. In our interfaith dialogues, we discover this eternal truth. As children of Abraham; Jews, Muslims and Christians alike, are called to be peacemakers. Father Abraham and the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us are waiting and hoping us to realize greater peace and reconciliation here on the Eastside and across distant shores in the Holy Land.
Now I’m not naive to presume that soon and very soon, we will create a utopia through our bent knees and strained backs. Like Reihnold Neibuhr, we recognize a realism that there is evil in this world that from time to time we have to confront. Nonetheless, we pray and work for that day when the swords and spears are transformed into instruments that bring us our daily bread instead of daily headlines, “if it bleeds it leads.” As the children of Abraham, we work for this vision of a Wew Jerusalem to come into reality, but our human efforts alone will never make things complete. The Spiritual descendants of Abraham join hearts and hands to grow closer and closer to this vision of what God has created us to be. As fellow instruments of peace, who see our neighbours near and far as precious and fragile jar of clay carrying the image and destiny of our Creator.
One of things that I continue to press when people question if these tragic losses are God’s will. These bullets, missiles and bombs that bring far too many broken hearts are not part of God’s will. The violence here on the Eastside of St Paul, in the streets of Gaza and Southern Israel are not part of God’s plan. We remember the call of Isaiah and how Jesus lived the final days of his ministry. When Jesus was most tempted to resort to violence he kept the cup that was set for him and healed the temple guards ear. For two thousand years, Jesus’ words transcends the chapters of history. “No more of this!” Those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.
Our ancestors have endured many oppressive nights. In spite of the hate and rage, we must transcend these poisonous temptations and embrace our higher and truer natures. Jesus reminds us in his Sermon on the Mount the difficult but necessary work of forgiveness and loving our enemies. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. (Matthew 5:38–39. “If we practice an eye for an eye and tooth for tooth, we will all be blind and tootheless.”

For too long we have allowed the thirst for revenge to shape our sense of what justice is. We pick and choose from the sacred texts to justify our tit for tat understanding of justice. We don’t wont to swallow the hard and bitter truth that if we are ever to see this new Jerusalem in our lives we must forgive and turn the other cheek. At some point, the madness of this back and forth has to stop. Our hearts and minds must experience the touch of God’s healing Spirit that enables us to forgive and forego our thirst for revenge. Are we willing lay our lives and let go of our temporary and fleeting sense of satisfaction? When will we finally accept that this emptiness will remain long after we our futile attempt to achieve closure through revenge? Its only God’s healing touch and the promise of God’s liberating Spirit that will enable all the Children of Abraham to be united in our common calling to be peacemakers.
May the swords and spears become instruments of food security. May the wounds we have afflicted one another be healed by God’s healing touch. Not only the wounds that bleed, but the scars deep within our hearts and minds that hinder our ability to join hearts and hands as the stars in the sky that God promised to Abraham long ago. May these lights of the new Jerusalem shine brighter and truer, this very hour and forever.

Sermon: Keep Looking for the Angels John 1:43-51

2009-01-20T16:38:00.000-06:00

Keep Looking for the Angels

John 1:43-51

43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Tommorow across our nation people will gather to remember the life and ministry of Dr. King. As a denomination, thousands of our congregations will be observing race relations Sunday today. Presbyterians were very active in the Civil Rights Movement. My mentor in seminary led a busload of seminarians to work in Selma. This is part of heritage that we remember as a nation remembers Dr. King’s dream. We have made huge strides but the dream is still not fully realized. As Christ’s disciples, we continue to dream and seek out the angels. These angels of love and forgiveness lead us in the difficult but necessary work of reconciliation among God’s children.
We are a people who have struggled to keep our practices in line with our principles. Our forefathers fought to lift the yoke of colonial oppression, but the rights of native Americans, Africans and women were not on their radar. I am not shaming or bashing America. I want to see her light shine bright on the hill.
When the Mayflower set sail from Holland they had a vision of this new promised land where followers of Calvin could shape a new order. That first winter was brutal. Half of the pilgrims perished. It was the native Americans who were angels that came to their aid and gave them food. When the ground thawed the Native Americans coached the pilgrims on the native plants that would thrive in this new land. Let’s keep looking for the angels that God sends us today.
Like Thanksgiving, tomorrow is a day when we remember where we came from and discern where we are going. We have a painful history but we also have an awesome story of growing into a more just society. The Hebrew prophets and Jesus’ life and ministry have been the conscience of our nation. When we find ourselves off track we look to this book for guidance. We are kept honest by the eternal truth the Holy Spirit shines in our hearts and minds.
In our gospel lesson we see some of Jesus’ first followers joining his ranks. Even the Son of Man, had to face some prejudice. Nathaniel is credulous. He asks with derision, “ Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Use your imagination, if you were a minority in America, how do you think this passage would come across to you? Do you think some folks find comfort knowing that Jesus too faced prejudice in his public ministry? Jesus faced a tough crowd and his poor, rural roots defied many of his peoples expectations.
In our second reading, Jesus has to show his power and insight to convince Nathaniel that he is the promised one sent by God. So what if Jesus does not exactly come from the area where some of the prophecies predicted. God is God, and we are mere mortals. If God chooses to adjust the game plan, we are mere water boys on the sidelines. You will see in Matthew’s nativity how careful he is to line up Jesus’ childhood with the historical sites associated with the promised messiah. We can see some of these differing concerns that each gospel writer has. What is critical for Matthew, is not an issue for John. So when it exactly did Nathaniel see the angels descending and ascending upon the son of Man? Was this at the transfiguration? Did this take place in the upper room when Jesus returned to them after the empty tomb?
Ever since the Temple was destroyed in 70AD, the holy of holies is no longer a building. The church of Jesus Christ is made up of the hearts and hands who gather in the name of Jesus. The church is present wherever two or three are gathered. John Calvin wrote in his institutes that each of us are temples of the Holy Spirit. We carry the light and salt within us wherever we go. Every place is sacred where two or more have together proclaim the Gospel of our Lord.
Whenever we are about the ministry of peace and reconciliation the angels of heaven come to attend us. Yes, this world has a cruel history, but for every painful chapter there has been a gathering of faith disciples who carry the Holy Spirit within them. Someone once said, that we help set the thermostat of our society. When things get cold and frozen, God sets a fire in us to dethaw the frigid hearts that refuse to extend the love of Christ.
I am not a life long Presbyterian. I grew up Nazarene in the north-west suburbs. As I have mentioned before, I struggled in this church. I felt our perspective was to narrow. The social gospel emphasis on peace and reconciliation was ridiculed. They only wanted to focus on winning people souls and disregarded any of the social ills plague the least among us. I could no longer be part of a fellowship that allowed racism and prejudice to go unchecked.
After I left the U of M, I went to New York to work in a private psychiatric hospital. I attended worship with one of the physicians who happened to be a Presbyterian. I like to joke that it was predestined that I became Presbyterian. The very first Presbyterian sermon I heard, the pastor used an illustration of serving as Freedom Rider in Selma. I knew then, that I found a home where my hunger for peace and reconciliation could be fed.
We are not mere social activists. In today’s officer's class, we will study the PC(USA) list of the Great Ends of the Church. One of the key points is the promotion of social righteousness. As people of faith, we must not shy away from our calling to be prophetic voices. It’s not always comfortable, but we must stoke a holy dissatisfaction for this gap between the conditions of our world, and the New Jerusalem we are called to help create through the Holy Spirit.
God’s angels are ascending and descending with every social movement that works to preserve the rights and dignity of God’s children. In every chapter of history, we can find a remnant that walked their own Via Dela Rosa to be faithful to Christ’s calling. We need to prepare ourselves for what the world throws at us when we shine the light of Christ through our lives.
Even when we are unpopular and hated for being faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we walk on. Dr. King knew for a long time that the path he was walking could lead to his own Calvary. The night before that tragic day in Memphis, Dr King assured the congregation. “I’m not worried I have seen the promised land. My eyes I have seen the glory of the coming of Lord.” In Dr. King’s dream do you think these angels were coming and going to tend to the people who would carry the mantel for him after he was gone? Dr. King gave his life so our nation could be transformed into the dream that has become our dream as a nation.
Now I understand that not many of us have the courage of a Dr King or Ganhdi. We won’t be called to lay down our lives for our friends. Nonetheless, every follow of Christ is called to extend sacrificial love to others. Yes, we are brother’s keeper. This is a key part of growth in spiritual maturity. To get out ourselves, and pour our lives into something that is bigger than any one of us.
Without the Angels above and beside us, we lose perspective on what God has placed us here to do. When we feel that hunger in our bones. When a chill goes down our spine, and we feel a heart connection with one of God’s children on the other side of a social divide, an angel has visited us. When we sense the Holy Spirit moving in us and through others, let’s be awake to the dream that is working become a reality.
Our nation is preparing for remarkable chapter in our history. May Dr. King’s dream continue to unfold as a fuller reality. There is still a lot of work to be done. God never promised this would be easy. Keep looking for the Angels who will come to help carry this yoke we carry. We may grow tired and weary but God’s eternal Spirit will come again to sustain us.
Tomorrow may our hearts and minds be renewed with hope and a renewed resolve to love all of God’s children. We don’t see a race, gender or a class of people. Whether we are from Nazareth, West Africa, Norway or Sweden, we are all part of God’s family. May God’s Spirit clear anything from us that keeps us from seeing the wonder and beauty of God’s creation in all peoples.

Lola Michaud's Funeral Meditation

2009-01-20T16:31:00.000-06:00

Lola Michaud’s Funeral Service Jan 17, 2008

God's Love Endures Forever Romans 8: 35, 37-39

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ....” 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jan, Sharon and Debbie our thoughts and prayers are with your family as you place your mom to rest. We hope that our gestures of love and compassion help lift the yoke you bear. We will do our best to just be with you and not say things because we don’t know what to say. Like our Good Shepherd, we are here to walk with so you don’t feel isolated in your pain. This journey of grief and bereavement is longer than many of us ever anticipate. Life will not just go back to normal in a few weeks. As a congregation, as family and friends, we walk with you all the way.
One of my favourite lines from the movies is, “We say never say goodbye, only see you later.” As Christians we understand that when we received the waters from this font, we participated in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were born again in these waters of Jordan, so death no longer has a hold on us. Jesus has signed, sealed and delivered our passport to eternity. Paul wrote, “Death where is thy victory, where is thy sting.” Yes, we grieve but these tears in the context of knowing where we are going when we Passover into the New Jerusalem. It’s not goodbye, its see you later. No more tears, no more pain. Celestial choirs, placid lakes and all of our friends and loved ones waiting with our Good Shepherd to embrace us again.
When Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome he was ending his
ministry.Paul knew what was in store for him. His colleagues warned him not to go to Jerusalem but he kept on, knowing the risks he would face. The very people Paul once led, are now after him to silence his voice and the truth he could not help but shout from the roof tops.
Paul knows something about death. He oversaw the group that killed Stephen, our first Christian martyr. It can be hard for us 2000 years later to appreciate the hardships that our ancestors went through before we became the official religion of Rome. Paul is writing to a people who face the very real threat of losing their life for their faith. Paul is being pastoral to a community very anxious about their own mortality. They are human, having second thoughts and doubts are part of our humanity.
It’s in this context that Paul reminds us that God is good, and God is faithful. God came to us in Bethlehem and liberated us once and for all on Calvary. This storm is over. We never have to wonder if God will follow through. When we read God’s holy Word we see how God has kept his covenants with Noah, Abraham, David and now with Jesus our Redeemer.
If there was any question of whether God will follow through Jesus’ departure from the empty tomb and reappearance in the Upper room helps us resolve any doubts.
Lola and Jim are together again. They are watching over their family and friends. Like that scene in Our Town, they are looking back over their lives and seeing more of what life is really about. There are so many opportunities that are before us. Take the time to be with one another. Lola and Jim are with the cloud of witnesses’ nudging us to remember our baptism and trust that God will follow through on his promise when our times come to join them.
Lola came into this world when cars were starting to fill the streets. She was only six years old when the depression hit. The family gathered around the radio to listen to FDR give fireside chats. A reassuring voice in anxious and difficult times. She was part of the greatest generation who led our nation through the war to end all wars. Lola and her generation can teach us something about how we can of triumph over adversities.
We live in anxious times. Yet we walk on with hope and assurances because we know who holds the future, and who holds us in eternal love.
One of the things that stood out for me when I heard some of Lola’s life review was that she was Lutheran and Jim was Catholic. I guess being Presbyterian was the goldie-locks option right in the middle. AHP's first campus on Edgerton was just a block away from where they raised their girls.
When Lola and Jim chose AHP they wanted to be part of a neighbourhood church. These denominational differences did not matter so much. Jim made sure that the girls got to church on Sunday. Lola and Jim have modeled for us the unity that we are called to live out as humble servants in Christ’s body. We are all parts of one body. Branches leading out from the one true vine.
No matter where we started, we come together to appreciate all that we have in common. AHP continues to be a neighbourhood church that embraces folks from many backgrounds. I have a hunch that Lola and Jim were part of the building of this come as you are hospitality. No one has all the right answers. We just want our children to grow and learn how to love their God and their neighbors as themselves. We come together to learn how to love one another as God loves us. We will never reach the top but we keep our compass aligned with how Jesus lived and what he continues to teach us.
Brothers and sisters this is the Good News. God’s promise to us will never fail. God’s love will hold us forever. The Good Shepherd will never abandon his sheep. Lola has passed through her darkest valley and the Shepherd has carried her through to calmer waters and green pastures.
Her life and legacy lives on in you. Tell each other the stories about Lola. I bet there are new things you will learn about her. Remember her for the entire life she lived. Well done good and faithful servant. Be at peace.

Flyer for Feb 24th 2-5 Rampart Station of LAPD

2009-01-20T16:21:00.000-06:00

Empowering Clergy as Crisis Counselors
Tues. Feb 24th 2-5 PM

Many of our community stakeholders look to their faith community leaders for emotional and spiritual support when tragedy strikes. Far too many Angelenos have endured the hardships of losing a loved one to gang violence without adequate emotional and spiritual support.
There is a significant gap between the average clergy person’s counseling training and the common perceptions and expectations in our communities. Most seminarians only receive one course in pastoral care and counseling. Crisis Counseling skills and the common risks factors associated with traumatic acts of violence are not usually in the curriculum. Several psychologists on staff with the LAPD will lead workshops on:

• PTSD
• Complicated Grief
• Assessing for Suicide risk

As urban pastors, we need continuing education if we are to serve as effective pastoral counseling resources for the LAPD clergy councils. By attending this consultation and remaining active in your local LAPD Clergy Council, you will be part of a growing community of faith leaders working together for peace and reconciliation in Los Angeles.

Rampart Clergy Council
Community Room at the Rampart Community Police Station
1401 W 6th St LA, CA 90017

Parking is available across the street on 6th St.
RSVP with Rev. Howard Dotson
hr_dotson@yahoo.com (612) 702-3151

Dr. King’s I Have a Dream - Address at March on Washington

2009-01-17T15:07:00.001-06:00

Dr. King’s I Have a Dream - Address at March on Washington
August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Marriage Equality Act: MN State Senate

2009-01-16T05:42:00.000-06:00

Dear Friends:

I was at the State Senate hearing today with my collar on to witness with our GLBT brothers and sisters. They need to see that there are clergy out there who are blinded by bigotry and intolerance. There is a lot of healing and reconciliation work ahead of us. I left a note for State Senator Moua to listen to her conscience and the hunger for justice that resides in her bones.

Please alert your friends and allies in MN to lobby for this bill to clear through the MN senate. Prop 8 in CA is not the last word. All people of faith and conscience must be heard this time.
______________________________________________________________________
Marriage Equality Act
S.F. No. 120, as introduced - 86th Legislative Session (2009-2010)

1.1A bill for an act
1.2relating to marriage; providing for gender-neutral marriage laws; enacting
1.3the Marriage and Family Protection Act;amending Minnesota Statutes 2008,
1.4sections 363A.27; 517.01; 517.03, subdivision 1; 517.08, subdivision 1a; 517.09.
1.5BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 Section 1. CITATION.
1.7This act shall be known as the "Marriage and Family Protection Act."

1.8 Sec. 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.
1.9(a) The legislature makes the findings and declarations in paragraphs (b) to (h).
1.10(b) Marriage is a legal institution recognized by the state to promote stable
1.11relationships and to protect people in those relationships and their children.
1.12(c) Minnesota's current marriage law discriminates against same-sex couples,
1.13denying them and their families rights and responsibilities, including the right to pension
1.14and Social Security survivor's benefits, the right to family and medical leave, and
1.15numerous other benefits and obligations.
1.16(d) The state has an interest in encouraging stable relationships regardless of the
1.17gender or sexual orientation of the partners and the entire community benefits when
1.18couples undertake the mutual obligations of marriage.
1.19(e) Despite long-standing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
1.20transgender Minnesotans, many have formed lasting, committed, and caring relationships
1.21with persons of the same sex. These couples share lives together, participate in their
1.22communities together, and many raise children and care for dependent family members
2.1together. Permitting same-sex couples to marry would further Minnesota's interest in
2.2promoting family relationships and protecting family members during life crises.
2.3(f) Fundamental fairness requires that same-sex couples be permitted to marry on
2.4the same terms as heterosexual couples.
2.5(g) Minnesota's exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage serves no legitimate
2.6government purpose and is contrary to the public interest. The discrimination and harm
2.7caused by the prohibition of same-sex marriage cannot be remedied except by permitting
2.8those couples to marry.
2.9(h) The state should not interfere with the religious beliefs of its people. Just as a
2.10church or religious denomination that objects to same-sex marriage has the right to refuse
2.11to solemnize those marriages, a church or religious denomination that believes in the value
2.12of same-sex marriage should have the right to solemnize those marriages.

2.13 Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 363A.27, is amended to read:
2.14363A.27 CONSTRUCTION OF LAW.
2.15Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to:
2.16(1) mean the state of Minnesota condones homosexuality or bisexuality or any
2.17equivalent lifestyle;
2.18(2) authorize or permit the promotion of homosexuality or bisexuality in education
2.19institutions or require the teaching in education institutions of homosexuality or
2.20bisexuality as an acceptable lifestyle; or
2.21(3) authorize or permit the use of numerical goals or quotas, or other types
2.22of affirmative action programs, with respect to homosexuality or bisexuality in the
2.23administration or enforcement of the provisions of this chapter; or.
2.24(4) authorize the recognition of or the right of marriage between persons of the
2.25same sex.

2.26 Sec. 4. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 517.01, is amended to read:
2.27517.01 MARRIAGE A CIVIL CONTRACT.
2.28Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract between
2.29a man and a woman two persons, to which the consent of the parties, capable in law
2.30of contracting, is essential. Lawful marriage may be contracted only between persons
2.31of the opposite sex and only when a license has been obtained as provided by law and
2.32when the marriage is contracted in the presence of two witnesses and solemnized by one
2.33authorized, or whom one or both of the parties in good faith believe to be authorized, so to
2.34do. Marriages subsequent to April 26, 1941, not so contracted shall be null and void.

3.1 Sec. 5. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 517.03, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
3.2 Subdivision 1. General. (a) The following marriages are prohibited:
3.3(1) a marriage entered into before the dissolution of an earlier marriage of one of
3.4the parties becomes final, as provided in section 518.145 or by the law of the jurisdiction
3.5where the dissolution was granted;
3.6(2) a marriage between an ancestor and a descendant, or between a brother and a
3.7sister, whether the relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by adoption; and
3.8(3) a marriage between an uncle and a niece, between an aunt and a nephew, or
3.9between first cousins, whether the relationship is by the half or the whole blood, except as
3.10to marriages permitted by the established customs of aboriginal cultures; and.
3.11(4) a marriage between persons of the same sex.
3.12(b) A marriage entered into by persons of the same sex, either under common law or
3.13statute, that is recognized by another state or foreign jurisdiction is void in this state and
3.14contractual rights granted by virtue of the marriage or its termination are unenforceable in
3.15this state.

3.16 Sec. 6. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 517.08, subdivision 1a, is amended to read:
3.17 Subd. 1a. Form. Application for a marriage license shall be made upon a form
3.18provided for the purpose and shall contain the following information:
3.19(1) the full names of the parties and the sex of each party;
3.20(2) their post office addresses and county and state of residence;
3.21(3) their full ages;
3.22(4) if either party has previously been married, the party's married name, and the
3.23date, place and court in which the marriage was dissolved or annulled or the date and
3.24place of death of the former spouse;
3.25(5) if either party is a minor, the name and address of the minor's parents or guardian;
3.26(6) whether the parties are related to each other, and, if so, their relationship;
3.27(7) the name and date of birth of any child of which both parties are parents, born
3.28before the making of the application, unless their parental rights and the parent and child
3.29relationship with respect to the child have been terminated;
3.30(8) address of the bride and groom parties after the marriage to which the court
3.31administrator shall send a certified copy of the marriage certificate;
3.32(9) the full names the parties will have after marriage and the parties' Social Security
3.33numbers. The Social Security numbers must be collected for the application but must not
3.34appear on the marriage license;
4.1(10) if one or both of the parties to the marriage license has a felony conviction
4.2under Minnesota law or the law of another state or federal jurisdiction, the parties shall
4.3provide to the county proof of service upon the prosecuting authority and, if applicable,
4.4the attorney general, as required by section 259.13 ; and
4.5(11) notice that a party who has a felony conviction under Minnesota law or the law
4.6of another state or federal jurisdiction may not use a different surname after marriage
4.7except as authorized by section 259.13 , and that doing so is a gross misdemeanor.

4.8 Sec. 7. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 517.09, is amended to read:
4.9517.09 SOLEMNIZATION.
4.10No particular form is required to solemnize a marriage, except: the parties shall
4.11declare in the presence of a person authorized to solemnize marriages and two attending
4.12witnesses that they take each other as husband and, wife, or spouse; or the marriage shall
4.13be solemnized in a manner provided by section 517.18 .

4.14 Sec. 8. REVISOR'S INSTRUCTION.
4.15The revisor shall change any terms that specifically refer to husband or wife or male
4.16or female in the context of a marriage relationship to the gender-neutral term "spouse" or
4.17to include that term wherever those terms occur in Minnesota Statutes or Minnesota Rules.

HIV/AIDS Awareness Meditation for the PC(USA) Mission Yearbook

2009-01-15T06:02:00.000-06:00

Sunday, October 11

Minute for Mission: HIV/AIDS Awareness

The Lord’s Day

The face of AIDS is changing, but how many of our congregations are aware of this? Many people see HIV/AIDS as primarily a concern in the gay community and sub-Saharan Africa. Our last PC(USA) policy statement on HIV/AIDS was adopted in 1988. Imagine how dramatically the face of AIDS has changed since then! For such a time as this, the 218th General Assembly (2008) directed the Advisory Committee for Social Witness and Policy (ACSWP) to organize a small group of experts and stakeholders to study our faith response to this crisis and to prepare a report for our 219th General Assembly (2010) in Minneapolis.

In these past twenty-five years, just as the face of AIDS has changed, so has the Twin Cities area been transformed by the diversity of our new neighbors from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. We rank fourth in the nation for refugee resettlement populations. The Hebrew prophetic call to embrace the stranger among us has new and special meaning.

In Minnesota, 68 percent of the new HIV infections among women occurred in women of color, according to the Minnesota AIDS Project. Micah’s call to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God challenges us to develop new, local HIV/AIDS ministries in our diverse racial ethnic communities. The face of AIDS has changed but do our ministries reflect this new reality? The church of Jesus Christ needs to see the new face of AIDS and to live out Micah’s call for justice, kindness, and humility.

—Rev. Howard Dotson, board member, Presbyterian AIDS Network

Prayer

Loving God, touch our hearts with your immense love and compassion. We are all connected as members of your one body. When one of us has AIDS, we all have AIDS. Open our eyes to see and respond to the new face of AIDS. We pray for the day when we have a cure that is accessible to all. Melt us and mold us into instruments of your peace. Amen.

What You Dont Know About Gaza

2009-01-09T06:32:00.000-06:00

What You Don't Know About Gaza
By RASHID KHALIDI

NEARLY everything you've been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip.

THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gazhttp://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42197a like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

THE OCCUPATION The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel is still widely considered to be an occupying power, even though it removed its troops and settlers from the strip in 2005. Israel still controls access to the area, imports and exports, and the movement of people in and out. Israel has control over Gaza's air space and sea coast, and its forces enter the area at will. As the occupying power, Israel has the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip.

THE BLOCKADE Israel's blockade of the strip, with the support of the United States and the European Union, has grown increasingly stringent since Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in January 2006. Fuel, electricity, imports, exports and the movement of people in and out of the Strip have been slowly choked off, leading to life-threatening problems of sanitation, health, water supply and transportation.

The blockade has subjected many to unemployment, penury and malnutrition. This amounts to the collective punishment - with the tacit support of the United States - of a civilian population for exercising its democratic rights.

THE CEASE-FIRE Lifting the blockade, along with a cessation of rocket fire, was one of the key terms of the June cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. This accord led to a reduction in rockets fired from Gaza from hundreds in May and June to a total of less than 20 in the subsequent four months (according to Israeli government figures). The cease-fire broke down when Israeli forces launched major air and ground attacks in early November; six Hamas operatives were reported killed.

WAR CRIMES The targeting of civilians, whether by Hamas or by Israel, is potentially a war crime. Every human life is precious. But the numbers speak for themselves: Nearly 700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the conflict broke out at the end of last year. In contrast, there have been around a dozen Israelis killed, many of them soldiers. Negotiation is a much more effective way to deal with rockets and other forms of violence. This might have been able to happen had Israel fulfilled the terms of the June cease-fire and lifted its blockade of the Gaza Strip.

This war on the people of Gaza isn't really about rockets. Nor is it about "restoring Israel's deterrence," as the Israeli press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: "The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people."

Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia, is the author of the forthcoming "Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East." He serves on the advisory board of Friends of Sabeel-North America.

January 8, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08khalidi.html

Lisa Albrecht: Its Not Hateful to Criticize the Israeli Government St Paul Pioneer Press

2009-01-08T11:05:00.000-06:00

It's not hateful to criticize the Israeli government
By Lisa Albrecht

Updated: 01/07/2009 05:40:31 PM CST

As a Jew and citizen of the U.S., I am outraged, sick to my stomach, and aching in my heart. First, I say that it is not anti-American to criticize the U.S. government, just as it does not signify Jew-hatred to criticize the Israeli government.

Second, I say that there is not one monolithic Jewish community or voice in the world, the U.S., or Minnesota, though mainstream Jewish organizations that are pro-Israel get the most media coverage.

There are many Jews all over the world who do not unequivocally support Israeli government policy. I am a member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network; we support a free Palestine that can determine its own future and an end to Israeli apartheid of Palestine. We stand in opposition to the ideology of Zionism, which has resulted in Israeli government policy to try to remove all Palestinians from Israel. By being a Zionist state, Israel legally privileges Jews over Arabs. Over the past 12 days, you have seen this ideology dramatically in action — an air and ground war that has killed more than 650 people in Gaza, and injured more than 3,000 Palestinians. Shifa Hospital in Gaza reports that the majority of the injured and killed have been Gazan families, not armed Hamas soldiers.

The Israeli government says that it is acting to end Hamas' rule in Gaza. Remember, both the U.S. and Israel supported democratic elections in Palestine, and Hamas was democratically elected. When countries negotiate for peace, they

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advertisement

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
do not get to tell the other side who can sit at the table.
Israel says it has attacked Gaza because Hamas soldiers have shot thousands of rockets at Israel. I do not condone this bombing, but let me ask you, what would you do if you were part of a population of over 1.5 million people in one of the most densely populated places in the world? Your borders have been closed by Israel for 18 months. You do not have access to enough food for your family, or medical care, electricity, water or gasoline. You have no income, live under constant curfew, and your olive and vegetable fields have been destroyed by Israel. When a people are treated inhumanely and violently, it is no surprise that they fight back. No wonder that the Israeli government will not allow foreign journalists into Gaza to report on its destruction.

Again, the Israeli government justifies the war because of the thousands of rockets fired by Hamas into Israel. However, since September 2000, here is some startling data that we do not read about:

1,062 Israelis killed AND 4,876 Palestinians killed;

123 Israeli children killed AND 1,050 Palestinian children killed;

8,341 Israelis injured AND 33,034 Palestinians injured;

One Israeli political prisoner held AND 10,756 Palestinian political prisoners held;

And for us in the U.S., perhaps the most important number, during fiscal year 2007, the U.S. government gave $6.8 million a day to Israel (and less than $300,000 to Palestine). (My source for these numbers is the Web site ifamericansknew.org.)
I was in Gaza in December, 1990, with a women's peace brigade 15 days before the first Gulf War started. I met with Palestinian peace activists, mothers, daycare workers, teachers and doctors. The poverty was dramatic. Children played in crowded alleys as open sewage ran between their legs. The people wanted peace, and did not hate Jews. And I thought that the conditions I witnessed then were horrendous. I also visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum; when I saw the photos of the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, I started to shake. They looked like the Palestinians I had just visited in Gaza.

Israeli government policy gives me, an American Jew, the right to "return" to Israel and get immediate citizenship, even though it is not my homeland. However, Palestinian families who have lived on the land for generations, and were removed in 1948, have no right of return. Nor do they have any recourse when the wall put up by the Israeli government separates them from work, family, access to water and highways, and even divides Palestinian villages themselves.

The Jan. 5 headline in Haaretz, the largest Israeli newspaper, quotes foreign minister Tzipi Livni, saying "Israel will no longer show restraint when attacked." This is the person who is hoping to be the next prime minister of Israel in elections happening in a month. If 18 months of total lockdown of Gaza was showing restraint, what in God's name is going to happen to the innocent people of Gaza?

What must we do? We must demand that our elected officials call for an immediate ceasefire and an opening of Gaza's borders. I do not believe that using violence will end this crisis. History has shown us that there are successful nonviolent ways to work for justice. In the 1980s across the globe, individuals, colleges, entire cities and states, and businesses stopped buying anything made in South Africa, and governments that had invested in South African bonds got rid of them. Working with black South African leaders, the world ended apartheid.

We must challenge the Israeli government by hitting them where it hurts — financially. We must call on Gov. Tim Pawlenty to cut our trade and investment ties with Israel. We must support the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee. Read labels when you shop. Find out where your retirement money is invested. Hold Israel responsible for its violations of international law and Palestinian rights, and hold our elected officials responsible.

Do not let mainstream Jews and their organizations call you "Jew-haters." Have courage and speak out. Do not be silent about Gaza. Salaam/shalom.

Lisa Albrecht is an activist educator and writer. She is associate professor and Morse-Minnesota Alumni Association Distinguished Professor of Teaching in the School of Social Work of the University of Minnesota. The views expressed here are her own. Her e-mail address is lalbrech@umn.edu.

Rabbi Heir: The Jews Face a Double Standard Washington Post

2009-01-08T11:02:00.000-06:00

The Jews Face a Double Standard

Why doesn't Israel have the same right to self-defense as other nations?

By Marvin Hier

The world-wide protests against Israel 's ground incursion into Gaza are so full of hatred that they leave me with the terrible feeling that these protests have little to do with the so-called disproportionality of the Israeli response to Hamas rockets, or the resulting civilian casualties.

My fear is that the rage we see in the protesters marching in the streets is far more profound and dangerous than we would like to believe. There are a great many people in the world who, even after Auschwitz , just can't bear the Jewish state having the same rights they so readily grant to other nations. These voices insist Israel must take risks they would never dare ask of any other nation-state -- risks that threaten its very survival -- because they don't believe Israel should exist in the first place.

Just look at the spate of attacks this week on Jews and Jewish institutions around the world: a car ramming into a synagogue in France; a Chabad menorah and Jewish-owned shops sprayed with swastikas in Belgium; a banner at an Australian rally demanding "clean the earth from dirty Zionists!"; demonstrators in the Netherlands chanting "Gas the Jews"; and in Florida, protestors demanding Jews "Go back to the ovens!"

How else can we explain the double-standard that is applied to the Gaza conflict, if not for a more insidious bias against the Jewish state?

At the U.N., no surprise, this double-standard is in full force. In response to Israel 's attack on Hamas, the Security Council immediately pulled an all-night emergency meeting to consider yet another resolution condemning Israel . Have there been any all-night Security Council sessions held during the seven months when Hamas fired 3,000 rockets at half a million innocent civilians in southern Israel ? You can be certain that during those seven months, no midnight oil was burning at the U.N. headquarters over resolutions condemning terrorist organizations like Hamas. But put condemnation of Israel on the agenda and, rain or shine, it's sure to be a full house.

Red Cross officials are all over the Gaza crisis, describing it as a full-blown humanitarian nightmare. Where were they during the seven months when tens of thousands of Israeli families could not sleep for fear of a rocket attack? Where were their trauma experts to decry that humanitarian crisis?

There have been hundreds of articles and reports written from the Erez border crossing falsely accusing Israel of blocking humanitarian supplies from reaching beleaguered Palestinians in Gaza . (In fact, over 520 truck loads of humanitarian aid have been delivered through Israeli crossings since the beginning of the Israeli counterattack.) But how many news articles, NGO reports and special U.N. commissions have investigated Hamas's policy of deliberately placing rocket launchers near schools, mosques and homes in order to use innocent Palestinians as human shields?

Many people ask why there are so few Israeli casualties in comparison with the Palestinian death toll. It's because Israel 's first priority is the safety of its citizens, which is why there are shelters and warning systems in Israeli towns. If Hamas can dig tunnels, it can certainly build shelters. Instead, it prefers to use women and children as human shields while its leaders rush into hiding.

And then there are the clarion calls for a cease-fire. These words, which come so easily, have proven to be a recipe for disaster. Hamas uses the cease-fire as a time-out to rearm and smuggle even more deadly weapons so the next time, instead of hitting Sderot and Ashkelon, they can target Tel Aviv and Jerusalem .

The pattern is always the same. Following a cease-fire brought on by international pressure, there will be a call for a massive infusion of funds to help Palestinians recover from the devastation of the Israeli attack. The world will respond eagerly, handing over hundreds of millions of dollars. To whom does this money go? To Hamas, the same terrorist group that brought disaster to the Palestinians in the first place.

The world seems to have forgotten that at the end of World War II, President Harry Truman initiated the Marshall Plan, investing vast sums to rebuild Germany . But he did so only with the clear understanding that the money would build a new kind of Germany -- not a Fourth Reich that would continue the policies of Adolf Hitler. Yet that is precisely what the world will be doing if we once again entrust funds to Hamas terrorists and their Iranian puppet masters.

In less than two weeks, Barack Obama will be sworn in as president of the United States . But there is no "change we can believe in" in the Middle East -- not where Israel is concerned. The double-standard continuously applied to the Jewish state proves that, for much of the world, the real lessons of World War II have yet to be learned.

The Eternal Word: Source of us All

2009-01-03T11:10:00.001-06:00

The Eternal Word: Source of us All January 4, 2009
John 1:1-9

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world

Happy New Year! The ball has dropped on Times Square, and the champagne bottles are in the recycling bin. Have you made your New Years resolution? Don’t worry if the one from last year was never achieved, like our library books, we can always renew them for another year.
What if we had a New Years resolution to be better stewards of God’s creation and serving as our brother’s keeper ? This New Years resolution needs to include how we treat one another as fellow sojourners in addition to recycling our cans and bottles and reducing our carbon foot print. We need care to just as much about one another as we do the animals in our shelters and humane societies. The Eternal Word is the source of us all, the lilies of the field, all living things. God’s light shines in all God has created. Do we see it, or do we dim it. Its still shining even if we are blinded by our idolatries.
When I was in Kenya I was somewhat puzzled by the tourists who were so preoccupied with getting a chance to see the Big 5 on safari they seemed to overlook the beauty of God’s creation made evident by the Kenyan people. We must always remember that our common humanity is a glorious part of God’s creation.
In our Gospel lesson John reminds us of how God came to us as the Logos (the Word) that has been present with us from the beginning of time. We worship the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit who spoke the world into being through the Word. Sometimes we get off track being understanding through phases. First there was Yahweh and the Hebrews, then came Jesus and his disciples then Pentecost and the Holy Spirit for us gentile churches. Our Triune God was there in the beginning and will remain with us until the end.
In the beginning when God created Adam and Eve, God says in the plural, “let us make them in our image.” Who do you think God was talking to? Surely, it wasn’t the section leader for his choir of angels. The image of God has been imprinted on everything God has created. God’s divine light is present in every creature and living thing.
I have been to many beautiful places of nature, the boundary waters, the Grand Canyon, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite. One of the highlights of my time in Kenya was climbing Mt Kenya and watching the sunrise. For six months, I saw this mountain from my bed room window. It was beckoning me to explore her and grasp a new vista of God’s remarkable handiwork.
Our communal time in God’s creation can be an act of worship. It’s humbling to see the grandeur of what God has ordered. We can feel small and insignificant. Likewise, the great Cathedrals in Europe instils in us this sense of humility in the midst of the columns and spires. Still, there is something more pure about reflecting on the things God brought to be without the use of our hands. It’s not our project or building campaign that brought these beautiful works of nature into being. I love the gospel song that goes, “Im working on a building for my Lord, a building not made by man’s hands.”
We are called to help build God’s shalom, here and now. With humility and a sense of awe, we commune with all God has created. We need some time away from all this concrete, glass and steel to appreciate our place within the creation that came to be through the Logos (the Word).
As Christians we need to confess that our agendas and interests have not always been faithful to God’s call for us to be stewards of creation. Some of you may remember that commercial from the 70s, the native American with a tear flowing down his cheek as looks over a land fill. In reality that man’s face is a metaphor of how God sees what we are doing to what has created for us.
In the beginning the Divine Logos created all of this around us and our ability to see this light has been dimmed by our actions. The light is among us but we don’t comprehend it. The issue of global warming is something that people of faith must confront. It’s really something when we can get to see a commercial with Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson sitting on the same couch to raise awareness about the environmental crisis that is before us.
Rev. Richard Cznick, the vice President of the Evangelical Association has carried a cross for some time. He had the courage to speak out about our call to be stewards of creation. There were some Christians leaders who were out to get him because he was getting off message. This doesn’t fit into our family values agenda. “You need to the tow the line mister!” There is a great Bill Moyers interview with Cznick on PBS. I’ll see if I can get a copy for the church library.
For too long, we have been idolatrous of our special place in God’s creation and failed to see God’s light in the creation. Our interests and agenda have usurped God’s commandments to care for what God has created. There are peoples lives at stake! When we see these droughts and famines in Africa we need to confess that some of our actions have contributed to it. When our brothers and sisters living on the coast lines are displaced or worse yet killed by the storms we should be confessing and repenting.
The gas crisis of this past year has forced us to make some tough choices. I hope that the drop in oil prices while not lull us back into complacency. When I bought my first econo car my buddies teased me about how unmipressed the ladies would be. They drove those supped SUVs. Ha, ha, who’s trying to sell their guzzlers now? This current gas holiday will not last forever. We have an opportunity to finally to take some corrective actions. There is too much at stake. Let’s let the smoke clear so we can appreciate God’s light still shining in midst of our smog.
President Elect Obama has many huge challenges in front of him. His plan to create green jobs as part of the stimulus package is consistent with our call to be good stewards of creation. If the rest of the world lived the way Americans live we would be in huge trouble. There are some costly prices for our comforts. We are only six percent of the global population, but next to China, we lead the globe in producing green house gases.
The Good News is God’s light has come to us in Bethlehem. God came to tabernacle, to pitch his tent with us and show us the way to the promised land. John’s theology lifts up the reality that God is present in everything. Our sense of being a neigbhor and steward to creatures that bear this imprint of God needs to be renewed.
For too long we have practiced the idolatry of speciesism. Our lust for greed and comforts have taken a heavy toll on the sacred garden that got has created for us. Part of the problem rests with the pendulum swing that came with a debate between Emil Brunner and Karl Barth, two prominent theologians of the past century. This was a great debate over general revelation and special revelation. Brunner argued for a natural theology. God’s spirit was evident in the created order and can be perceived by all humanity. Barth strongly disagreed. God can only be known through the special revelation brought to us in Jesus Christ’s life and ministry.
So where does our Gospel lesson fit into all this? If Jesus Christ is the Logos through which all things are created, than it would make sense that this light (the world) still shines through God’s creation. We need to step back from this heated debate about general or special revelation and appreciate that our Creator God calls us to be stewards of creation. Christians can get too puffed up in their specialness and lose sight of their calling to be humble servants. Our calling is not just to some narrow scope of family and friends, but to all of God’s creatures.
God’s light has come into our world to help us see God’s image, God’s handiwork among us. We should not be motivated by guilt and shame, but by as a sense of love and gratitude to God for beauty of the earth. When we walk the trails and canoe across the waters, let us we remember that Jesus, the Logos was there when all this was coming into being.
God’s eternal light that came into being out of nothing actually came to be with us as a fellow sojourner. Jesus light was too bright for many. His words of truth ruffled many a feather. Our Risen Lord has set a path for us that will often bring sacrifice and hardship. Being a faithful disciple is not easy but man its always worth it.
God’s eternal word is the source of us all. In the beginning was the Logos, the light, the Living Word. All that we see around us came to be through this light. May God touch our eyes so we can see anew the splendour of God’s creation. May our hearts and minds be transformed so we can walk the path before us as faithful stewards of God’s abundance. We are our brother’s keeper, the birds, the lilies, and the distant shores. God’s light burns bright to show us how.

Homily for the Lynn Scantlin Memorial Service

2008-12-30T10:10:00.000-06:00

Dec. 29 2008
Mike, Sarabeth, Craig and David and extended family members our hearts go out to you at this difficult time. There are no words or gestures that can fill the void that Lynn’s death brings. We will make a vow to spare you the hackneyed sayings and platitudes. There are no words that adequately express our compassion and empathy.
In the Presbyterian Church, we refer to the memorial service as a witness to the Resurrection. As Christians we grieve and mourn the loss of loved ones, but we do so with some perspective. In this journey we are all on, we know that there are things that are more eternal. This is what matters most. From the day we were born, our name was in God’s book of life, and it’s a mystery only known to God when we will be called home. Our walk together is centred on building treasures in heaven, where no rust, moths or thieves can take away what God built through our lives and testimony to the Risen Christ.
The family chose this passage from 2 Corinthians for today’s memorial service. The Apostle Paul had his struggles with the churches he planted in his ministry. They struggled as jars of clay. In Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth he had to deal with a pressing issue. What’s going on? We thought Jesus was going to come back in our lifetime. "Our members are dying and still Jesus has not come back!" Paul had a pastoral challenge to resolve. Some scholars see his second letter to Corinth as part of his solution to this faith crisis.
Just as the early Christians in Corinth, we are fragile creatures, who have to come terms with our mortality. One of life questions for us is, “Did we live of quality or mere quantity?” Are we focused solely on our outer nature, and the number of candles on or cake, or are we centred in the growing of our inner nature being renewed day by day by God’s Spirit in us?
Lynn lived out her testimony of faith. She courageously confronted the reality that she was a jar of clay. She was a vessel for God’s spirit to dwell. Like Paul, she had a thorn in her flesh that presented many obstacles and challenges. She endured these burdens with grace and perspective. I can see that she and Mike lived life to the fullest because of this horizon that was always before them. One of the residual benefits of facing our mortality is that it pushes us to live life to the fullest.
One of my favourite movies that I suggested to Tom Kline who is battling cancer is the Bucket List. Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson are two terminally ill patients sharing the same room at the hospital. They set off on an adventure to check off their bucket list. The things that wanted to do before they kicked the bucket. Not many of us have the money to do all the things they did but in small ways we too should set out to live each day with a sense of purpose. Lynn has modelled for us how to confront life’s challenges and embrace our quality of life. To stay focused on our inner nature.
My sense is that Mike and Lynn along with many church family members were actively checking off their bucket lists with Lynn. I have heard great stories about your trips together. You are centred on renewing your inner natures, accepting that our outer nature would one day fade away. You cherished your time together and lived to the fullest because in life there are no guarantees.
We would have loved to see Lynn’s face on the Smucker's jar on the Today Show when she turned 100, but this was not to be. We embrace this eternal truth that it’s not only about the quantity but the quality of the life we have lived.
Did we love others with our whole hearts? Did we make a difference and embrace others with compassion and forgiveness? Part of the legacy Lynn leaves with us is her committed service to others. She pursued higher education to be more effective with the people she help cared for. She walked through the dark valleys with folks who needed a compassionate presence. All along our Good Shepherd was walking with Lynn. God has been with her since she was knit together in her mother’s womb until the very moment she was enveloped God’s light and received into his loving arms.
I have seen in both Mike and Lynn a remarkable testament to sacrificial love. Today, the wedding vow “In sickness and in health, till death do us part” may seem to have lost its deeper meaning. This was not the case with Mike and Lynn. Mike, you have been by Lynn’s side and she was blessed to have you as her life partner. May this be part of Lynn’s legacy for the other couples here? Her journey with her family is testimony of what it means to embrace our inner nature. Build your treasures in heaven together. May the light of sacrificial love in our lives be our testament to the life that Lynn lived so well.
We have many metaphors for God, but the one that seems appropriate today is comforter. God’s Spirit is present with us to bind our hearts burdened with grief. The shortest verse in the New Testament is, “Jesus wept.” Jesus understands what it means to lose someone you love. Our Comforter is the Good Shepherd who will always be with us when we walk through these dark valleys of grief.
Mike, Sarabeth, Craig and David, my hope and prayer is that you will discover that there are family and friends who too will walk with you through these months and years of bereavement. Let’s get off the hamster wheel and take some time to savour our quality of life together. Let’s be present to one another over these years ahead, to celebrate the life and legacy of Lynn Scantlin. A life well lived. Her inner nature remains with us always. That extra sparkle in her grandchildren’s eyes reminds of us her legacy of love.

Baby Jesus, Light to the Nations

2008-12-30T09:43:00.000-06:00

Sunday Sun. Dec. 28, 2008

Baby Jesus, Light to the Nations Luke 2:22-40

22When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), 24and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” 25Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 29“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; 30for my eyes have seen your salvation, 31which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” 33And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” 36There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. 39When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Next Sunday, we will celebrate Epiphany Sunday. It’s appropriate then today that we hear this song from Simeon. He rejoices that Jesus, the promised Messiah has finally come to serve as God’s light to the nations. God has come to us with a Star above the stable to demonstrate that yes the light of the world has come to us a fragile Jewish baby born to Mary and Joseph.
I think the Nobel prize should be given to who ever came with the idea of placing day care centers next to senior care facilities. Have you ever been in the community room when these precious little ones are brought in and the elder residents play with them? I have this image in mind when Simeon and Anna see Jesus being presented in the Temple.
A promiment African scholar Malida Some tells of a tradition in Ghana. When a child is born they spend a lot of time with the elders in the village. There is a belief that the child has come from another dimension where their ancestors dwell. The child is communicating wisdom to the elder as he/she prepares to eventually join with the ancestors, the cloud of witnesses if you will. Some of our favourite pictures of our grandparents are them holding their grandchildren and great grandchildren. This circle of life will never be broke n.
Simeon and Anna are like Sara and Abram who had to wait a long time for God’s promise to be fulfilled. In the words of Dr. King “How long, not long, my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Simeon’s song resonates with a people who are extremely hungry for freedom and deliverance. God how it that your chosen people constantly seem to live under occupation? When the House of David be restored again?
Last Wed. we sang, O Come, O Come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, who mourns in lonely exile, until the son of God appears. Rejoice, Rejoice. Simeon has been a faithful Jew trusting in God’s promises. He can rest these last days of his life knowing that he has seen the promised one. Like Moses, he will have to pass it on Joshua, but his soul is at peace knowing the light is shining bright through this baby named Jesus. Yeshua, God saves.
There are poignant parallels between what Jesus’ community was going through under Roman occupation, and what his ancestors were going through in the Book of Isaiah. Here God’s chosen people were faced with yet another occupation, this time is was the Babylonians. God’s chosen people have had to endure being kicked around many times over the centuries. The Hebrew people have grown weary and wonder if God’s promise will ever come to pass.
Many scholars have noted how this song of Simeon harkens back to the 40th chapter in Isaiah. We also see these parallels with Mary’s song and Hannah song for her son Samuel when he was presented to God as a servant in First Samuel. It is Jewish custom to present your first born son to God as a servant. Hear these words from Isaiah 42:6-7.
I am the Lord I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you. I have given you as a covenant people, a light to the nations , to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.
Can you hear these parallels with what Jesus reads at the beginning of his ministry in Luke 4 when Jesus opens the scroll to Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to preach Good News to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.
These are words of comfort for a people who are facing the crisis of a yet another occupation, this time it’s the Babylonians. Isaiah was trying to warn King Hezekiah what was going to come to pass. A popular Advent song, Comfort, Comfort O My people comes from this section of Isaiah.
Isaiah was being pastoral to a people very anxious about what the future would home for them. Will we be killed? Will our families be broken up as we are taken into captivity? Many Jewish families were taken into captivity. It was not until Cyrus, the King of Persia conquered the Babylonians that God’s children could return to Palestine and begin the process of rebuilding. Can you imagine the struggle they went through wondering if they could return home again? We get home sick at summer camp and when we off at college. Our Jewish brothers and sisters endured a lot but God’s light and promised remained with them.
The Jewish people of Isaiah’s day and Jesus time were hungry for the Good News of God’s promise to be fulfilled. They endured and thrived in spite of the oppressions heaped upon them. The voices of their prophet have carried throughout the generations. God let your light shine through your children, raise up your anointed one. The one who will lead the nations down your righteous path.
God’s chosen ones continue to lead us in this eternal song of peace and justice. In line with Isaiah, Hannah, Mary and Simeon, we sing of God’s promise to us. The Messiah has finally to come and bear his light to all the nations. May we continue to serve as vessels and instrument reflecting this light in the world.
Our Western Civilization is founded on the Judeo-Christian morals that the Hebrew prophets have taught us. We need to mine deep the wisdom and truth found in Hebrew bible.
God’s chosen people have endured far too many dark nights, but God’s light has always shined through. God’s love endures forever. As children of Abraham, we embrace our common calling to be peacemakers. We seek out we share common ground and roll up our sleeves to chop the wood, and carry the water together. Jesus was a good Jewish boy,and he stands on the shoulders of the Hebrew prophets who prepared the highway for him. They carried the torch until Jesus was ready to pick it up in Luke chapter 4.
Today, we heard from Rabbi Dworsky, the Jewish chaplain from Carelton College about the tradition of Hannukah, the festival of lights. During these eight days, the Jewish people remember how their ancestors heroically resisted the occupation by the Greeks during the Maccabean Revolt. God performed a miracle and kept the oil replenished in the menorah candles. God’s promise for his chosen ones to be lights to the nations was being fulfilled once again.
When I look at the work of the United Nations, and remember the words that are posted in the front entrance, I am very moved by how Christ’s light shines in their peacemaking efforts. If you are ever in New York visit the UN in midtown. There you will see a sculpture of a gun with a twisted barrel. In front of this are these words from Isaiah 2: “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks.” When you read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Millenium Development Goals you can see the light of Christ shining through their efforts to release the captives and bring sight to the blind fail to see the plight of their fellow children of God.
Our hearts and minds are warmed by the light of Christ shining in these darknest of nights. There is a lot of work to be done and our hearts can feel like they will break when we see the headlines. As Paul reminds the church in Phillipi, shine like stars in the world. When we follow the call of the prophets and embrace the stranger, the widow the orphan, Christ light shines through us. When we embrace the least among us and give voice to the voiceless, we shine as one of the spiritual descendants of Abraham. We are one of the stars God promised to Abraham.
Jesus was a child who brought immense hope to his people who longed for the day they would be free. Today, we are a nation that can truly like up to its calling to be a shining city on the hill. This is going take a lot of effort, and there will be resistance. These songs of old calling us to prophetic action do not promise peace and tranquility. No matter where we are and how dire things may seem God’s light will always shine. Like Paul’s account of his road to Damscuss experience, when Jesus tells him, “I send you to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light.” It takes courage, resolve and the constant dwelling in God’s Spirit to be able to bear the light of Christ in our world. God’s promise and the light of Christ will never fail us. The oil will never burn out. All of God’s children share in this festival of light. May the light of Christ burn bright in our hearts and minds. Baby Jesus, thank you for coming to show us the way. Shine, Jesus, Shine.

Christmas Eve 2008 Homily Prince of Peace

2008-12-25T23:17:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve 2008

Prince of Peace Isaiah 9:2-7

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. 3You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. 4For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. 6For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Homily

Have you ever noticed how contagious stress and anxiety can be? Where are you Prince of Peace? We need you right now. Many of us are still catching our breath from our run on this thirty day hamster wheel; Thanksgiving to Christmas. I have to admit I found myself getting testy at the Mall, “Come on where I can park, ” excuse, let me pass. Folks walk so slow when they are talking to other. “People, make room I’m shoppin over here.”
I’m hosting Christmas dinner and man does this bachelor need to upgrade on kitchen supplies. Three minutes in the microwave is not going to cut it! Yes there is a lot time and energy in the preparation, but when we see everyone gathered and the smiles and laughter reveberating through the room there is a sense of peace and gratitude as we share at the table together.
In the midst of all this hustle and bustle, there are special moments when we catch a glimpse of what this season is about. People are not just a little friendlier. This is more than a couple notches above Minnesota nice. There are extra measures of compassion extended to people struggling to make ends meet. Knowing that there are people out there who care brings us a sense of peace in the midst of the storms that life can bring.
Take a minute, what is your most memorable Christmas experience? When did you experience the presence of the Prince of Peace in your life in a special way? ....God’s peace is something that comes to us in both personal and corporate ways.
In our self help, pop culture sometimes we want to psychologize this sense of Jesus as our Prince of Peace. We narrow the scope of the meaning to mean: “me, my family and circle of friends.” This is understandable this is the common worldview in Western Culture. Part of the Spirit of Christmas is to widen this circle to include people that do not attend our parties and dinners. To remember the people tonight who have low expectations of what Christmas will be like this year.
It’s great that AHP participates in the Angel Tree program. There are so many families tonight who do not have Mommy and Daddy with them for the holidays because they are incarcerated. In seminary, I was a volunteer chaplain at San Quentin. I sat with many fathers in support groups as they poured their hearts out. They held each other accountable. “How we are going to step up as to make sure our children do not end up where we are?” Our brothers and sisters in prison need us to help them keep their kids on the righteous path. Helping to lift some of the stigma of being a child of a prisoner is one cog in this wheel that needs to keep rolling. Today in America, we have 2.3 million people in prison. We have more people behind bars than we have folks working in the fields. We need to stem this tide. Families are broken and children at risk seem to be moths flying into the flame.
There are thousands of children this week who will receive gifts from their mom and dad night through the Angel tree ministry. Let’s pray that these gestures make an impression on these young hearts and minds of kids who are very vulnerable to following in the foot steps of their incarcerated parent. We hold on to hope for grace and redemption.
Tonight we also remember our men and women serving in the armed forces. Their families have an especially hard time on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The USO and impromptu visits by politicians are nice, but it’s not the same as being home with your family. We pray for the one hundred thousand plus families tonight who are making personal sacrifices. It meant a lot to me my first Christmas away from home in the Army. The military families come together in a special way. We are all in this together. The circle of peace is wide enough to include everyone.
When I think of widening our scope of what it means to celebrate our Prince of Peace, I remember the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914. I know there have been many wars since then, but it’s hard for us to fathom how senseless WW 1 had become. The trenches were dug in, artillery shells and gas canisters were flying, and the machine guns were mowing people down left and right. Our brothers in arms were growing very weary and tired.
On Christmas eve 1914 in the Ypres region of Belguim the German troops began to decorate the trenches with trees and candles. An anonymous British soldier wrote:

This will be the most memorable Christmas I've ever spent or likely to spend: since about tea time yesterday I don't think theres been a shot fired on either side up to now. Last night turned a very clear frost moonlight night, so soon after dusk we had some decent fires going and had a few carols and songs. The Germans commenced by placing lights all along the edge of their trenches and coming over to us—wishing us a Happy Christmas etc. They also gave us a few songs etc. so we had quite a social party. Several of them can speak English very well so we had a few conversations. Some of our chaps went to over to their lines. I think theyve all come back bar one from 'E' Co. They no doubt kept him as a souvenir
The Brits must of have been taken back when they heard , “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” carry across the no man’s land. Then comes the song that seals the deal, Silent Night. As a sign of the truce, the white flag of Christmas, the German soldiers lifted up their tannebaums and walked across no man’s land to celebrate Christmas with their enemies. Tonight let us lay down our arms and worship our Prince of Peace.
In some areas, this truce lasted all the way to New Years. During this Pax Christi they helped each other bury their dead. In journals and letters, we learn that together they recited the 23rd Psalm as they mourned together their fallen comrades. They exchanged swigs from their flasks, chocolate bars and even enjoyed some competitive soccer matches. Can you imagine what our world be like if we could just send our Olympic teams to compete and who ever wins, wins! On 11 November 2008, the first official Truce memorial was unveiled in Frélinghien, France, the site of a Christmas Truce football game in 1914. 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh (The Royal Welch Fusiliers) played a football match with the German Panzergrenadier Battalion 371. The Germans won, 2-1
Well you know these guys were in a heap of trouble when the brass heard about this. The next Christmas, British commanders ordered specific bombardments to ensure that this truce and fraternization would not happen again. German and French troops intentionally aimed away from their targets, and only fired at precise times. One letter records how one shell got too close and the German troops shouted “Opps, sorry that was a mistake.”
The next Christmas Eve, when the church bells range in the Village of Vosges the shells and rifles grew quite again. This time it was the French and German troops who made their ways through the tunnel system to trade wine, cognac and cigarettes for black bread, biscuits and ham. Can you picture these men gathering together to celebrate Holy Communion?
Tonight we sing and worship our Prince of Peace. Along with our pilgrim’s gathering tonight in France to remember the Christmas Truce, we will sing Silent Night. I hope this carries new meaning for us. The Christmas bells are ringing. May the peace of Christ bring calm on this winter night. May our hearts and minds be warmed and transformed. Our Prince has come to bring us peace. Peace on earth goodwill to all. Amen

St. Paul pastor won't let East Side victims of violence be forgotten

2008-12-18T10:40:00.000-06:00

St. Paul pastor won't let East Side victims of violence be forgotten
Candlelight vigil tradition follows him from L.A. to East Side
By Mara H. Gottfried
mgottfried@pioneerpress.com

When the Rev. Howard Dotson was a pastor in Los Angeles, he vowed to hold a candlelight vigil for every homicide victim from his neighborhood. But in an area where there were once 15 homicides in 15 weeks, Dotson recalled it was almost too much for one person to handle.

Now, as interim pastor at St. Paul's Arlington Hills Presbyterian Church, Dotson has brought the candlelight vigil tradition to the East Side.

St. Paul doesn't have anywhere close to the number of homicides as L.A., a city with roughly 14 times as many people. There have been 18 slayings in St. Paul this year and 357 in Los Angeles, as of Tuesday.

Still, the need for vigils carries over to St. Paul, Dotson said. He said he plans to hold gatherings when there is a "traumatic act of violence" on the East Side.

"There is a spiritual component when the community comes out and says, 'This isn't going to be tolerated,' " Dotson said. "It does have an impact."

Dotson is planning a vigil today for the city's most recent homicide victim. Leon Dewaun May, 32, was fatally shot outside his girlfriend's home at 417 Jessamine Ave. on Dec. 11. Four people have been charged in the apparently drug-related case.

Sarah Banashak, who said she and May had been together for more than 10 years and have two children together, said she liked the idea of a vigil for May.

Of May's killing, she said, "This is definitely something he did not deserve."

Since Dotson came to Arlington Hills Presbyterian
on July 20, he has organized two other East Side vigils.
One was for Jaques Jamir Dortch, an 18-year-old woman who police said didn't appear to be the intended target of a fatal shooting. The other was for a woman named Tammie who was brutally beaten by strangers with baseball bats while walking around Lake Phalen in August.

Betty Brandt Passick, an Arlington Hills parishioner who lives in Oakdale, brought some youth from the church to Dortch's vigil. She normally wouldn't have attended, but she said she was glad she did.

"I got a firsthand experience of what it feels like to be living life in a more dangerous community, where gunshots are fired and people are trying to keep their children safe," Passick said.

At the vigils, there are "songs of peace," remembrances of the victim and biblical passages, Dotson said.

"It's not about proselytizing, but trying to reach youth that have some connection to the church and may have lost their way," he said. "If you were baptized in the church, you're called to be a peacemaker."

Dotson, who has master's degrees in psychology and divinity, has a particular interest in gang violence and helping victims of it. He said he's working on a doctorate of ministry through the San Francisco Theological Seminary about "how clergy can be empowered to be crisis counselors."

He is looking into how communication and response time can be improved between L.A. police and volunteer clergy councils and is assessing the benefits of a similar model in St. Paul and other cities.

Dotson, originally from Maple Grove, worked as a pastor in Los Angeles for three years. He was also an HIV/AIDS counselor in Kenya for a year.

Legislative Commission to End Poverty

2008-12-16T02:50:00.000-06:00

Legislative Commission to End Poverty
in Minnesota by 2020
Mission Statement
Develop guidelines to end poverty. Prepare recommendation on how to end poverty in Minnesota by 2020.
The commission must be guided by the following principles:
(a) There should be a consistent and persistent approach that includes participation of people of faith, nonprofit agencies, government and businesses
(b) All people should be provided with those things that protect human dignity and make for a healthy life, including adequate food and shelter, meaningful work, safe communities, health care and education.
(c) All people are intended to live well together as a whole community, seeking the common good, avoiding wide disparities between those who have to little to live on and those who have a disproportionate share of the nation's goods.
(d) All people need to work together to overcome poverty, and this work transcends both any particular political theory or party and any particular economic theory or structure. Overcoming poverty requires the use of private and public resources.
(e) Alliances are needed between the faith community, nonprofit agencies, government, business and others with a commitment to overcoming poverty.
(f) Overcoming poverty involves both acts of direct service to alleviate the outcomes of poverty and advocacy to change those structures that result in people living in poverty.
(g) Government is neither solely responsible for alleviating poverty nor removed from that responsibility. Government is the vehicle by which people order their lives based on their shared vision. Society is well served when people bring their values in the public arena. This convergence around issues of poverty and the common good leads people of varying tradition to call on government to make a critical commitment to overcoming poverty.
Established by the Legislature in 2006. - Minnesota Laws 2006 Chapter 282, article 2, section 27.
Sec. 27. LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION TO END POVERTY IN MINNESOTA
BY 2020.
Subdivision 1. Membership. The Legislative Commission to End Poverty in
Minnesota by 2020 consists of nine members of the senate appointed by the Subcommittee
on Committees of the Committee on Rules and Administration, including four members of
the minority, and nine members of the house of representatives appointed by the speaker,
including four members of the minority. Appointments must be made by members elected
to the 85th session of the legislature and no later than February 15, 2007. The governor
may appoint two nonvoting members to sit with the commission.
Subd. 2. Guiding principles. In preparing recommendations on how to end poverty
in Minnesota by 2020, the commission must be guided by the following principles:
(a) There should be a consistent and persistent approach that includes participation
of people of faith, nonprofit agencies, government, and business.
(b) All people should be provided with those things that protect human dignity
and make for a healthy life, including adequate food and shelter, meaningful work, safe
communities, health care, and education.
(c) All people are intended to live well together as a whole community, seeking the
common good, avoiding wide disparities between those who have too little to live on and
those who have a disproportionate share of the nation's goods.
(d) All people need to work together to overcome poverty, and this work transcends
both any particular political theory or party and any particular economic theory or
structure. Overcoming poverty requires the use of private and public resources.
(e) Alliances are needed between the faith community, nonprofit agencies,
government, business, and others with a commitment to overcoming poverty.
(f) Overcoming poverty involves both acts of direct service to alleviate the outcomes
of poverty and advocacy to change those structures that result in people living in poverty.
(g) Government is neither solely responsible for alleviating poverty nor removed
from that responsibility. Government is the vehicle by which people order their lives
based on their shared vision. Society is well served when people bring their values into
the public arena. This convergence around issues of poverty and the common good
leads people of varying traditions to call on government to make a critical commitment
to overcoming poverty.
Subd. 3. Report. The commission shall report its recommendations on how to end
poverty in Minnesota by 2020 to the legislature by December 15, 2008.
Subd. 4. Expiration. The commission expires December 31, 2008.

Jews, Muslims plan joint memorial for Mumbai victims

2008-12-14T23:49:00.001-06:00

December 5, 2008

Jews, Muslims plan joint memorial for Mumbai victims
by Nicole Neroulias
Religion News Service
NEW YORK -- In an effort to continue interfaith cooperation and prevent backlash against Muslims, Jews and Muslims are coming together here to memorialize the Jewish victims of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India.

Imam Mohammed Shamsi Ali and Rabbi Marc Schneier, who recently appeared together in Manhattan during November’s national Jewish-Muslim “Weekend of Twinning,” will each speak this Friday (Dec. 5) at New York City’s Islamic Cultural Center.

On Saturday morning, the Consul General of India in New York, Ambassador Prabhu Dayal, will join them at the New York Synagogue for a second tribute.

“We don’t allow the terrorists to divide us and we don’t allow the terrorists to defeat us,” Ali said. “Terrorism doesn’t know God, terrorism doesn’t have any religion. All religious people are united against these terrorist attacks because all religions are enemies of terrorism.”

Mumbai’s Chabad House, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community center directed by Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, was one of the targets in the attacks in late November. The Holtzbergs were among more than 170 people killed in the Indian metropolis over the three-day period.

Ali and Schneier say they hope the joint tributes will help prevent grieving Jews, Hindus and others targeted in the Mumbai attacks from turning their anger towards Muslims, a major concern for Muslim groups in India and the United States.

On Dec. 2, the Muslim Public Affairs Council sent a letter to the Bush administration and the Obama transition team, calling on them to promote a message of tolerance and to encourage India to take precautions against a possible backlash against its Muslim minority, about 13 percent of the country’s population.

Schneier, who helped organize the recent Weekend of Twinning events involving more than 100 mosques and synagogues, said there have been several interfaith statements condemning the attacks, but he wasn’t yet aware of any other Jewish-Muslim memorial events.

As a Muslim cleric, Ali said he felt compelled to explain that terrorists, despite calling themselves Muslims, do not represent his faith.

“It’s very painful and sad to us whenever a Muslim commits terrorism and says it’s in the name of religion,” he said. “Terror and terrorism cannot be justified at all.”

Let s Go Down to the River and Pray Mark 8:1-8

2008-12-08T14:49:00.000-06:00

Dec 7, 2008
Let’s Go Down to the River and Pray Mark 8:1-8
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
3the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
This has been a week of challenging weather. Last Sunday, we had a dramatic drop in attendance, due in part to our first snowfall. Then again, on Friday, we had to navigate the slippin and sliden to attend our Lessons and Carols. Folks were late but the Prince of Peace made his known presence in the proclaiming of his living word, in the testimonies and songs of praise. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
With our shovels in hand and the blustering wind in our ears, it can be hard for us to fathom making a trek out into the wilderness. Are you kidding me, I want to stay here by the fire? Besides I have to make my Christmas shopping list. Where did I put those ads from the Sunday paper? I’m sorry, but there is way too much to done. I don’t have time to walk all the way to the Jordan to hear some locust eating, bible thumper, telling me what a sinner I am!
We have seen and heard these street preacher types in our faces with their their fire and brimstone rants, repent! repent! We just keep walking forward with our eyes on our feet to avoid engaging them. When I lived in New York, I got a kick out of watching the tourists in Times Square trying to get their plays without making eye contact. Yes, 42nd Street and Broadway attracts all kinds!
In all this hustle and bustle, we do need some prophets who point us back to what life is really about. In this time of Advent, are we on the hamster wheel, too busy to reflect on what it means that Jesus is coming to us a fragile baby in Bethlehem? Regardless of how crazy God’s messengers may seem, there is some truth in their message. Sometimes, even in spite of their methods.
What was John saying with his sporty camel coat and leather belt that led such an exodus of people out of the city into the wilderness? Surely the Spirit of God was anointing his efforts. Scholars suggest that both John and Jesus had connections to the Essene sect in Qumran. This group left the city to dwell in the wilderness away from the corruptions of the city. They were ascetics who wanted to live a life of simplicity apart from the Temple and religious authorities who were in bed with the Romans and the Herodians.
City folks knew all too well how toxic things had become under the Herodians and the Roman occupation. If they were to be faithful Jews preparing for God’s anointed one, they needed to resist the ways of the world. These temporal comforts and social pecking orders threaten to make us complacent, blind, deaf and numb to this prophetic hunger for peace and justice.
John the Baptist is still calling us out from the city to the shores of the Jordan, prepare the way! If John the Baptist was with us today, would we be willing to listen to him? Would we discount him as a mad man who needs to take his meds? The life of the prophet is not for the weak of heart. You have to be ready to face what the world throws at you when you speak the truth and shake things up.
Are we willing to listen to these men in orange reflective vests and triangle slow signs in their hands? “ Slow down, we are laying down God’s highway over here.” Will we stop and help them prepare the way? During this time of Advent, how will we slow down to appreciate how God’s reign is breaking in around us? Are we willing to make some personal sacrifices in order for the Good News of Jesus Christ to be heard and lived out?
The path of being a disciple of Jesus Christ will always have its wilderness moments. No, we won’t have to live off of locusts and wild honey. Most of us, however, have something in our lives that we need to wean ourselves off of . We need to let go some of these material trappings that interfere with our ability to experience greater spiritual maturity. Lent is not the only time when we should give something up. Advent is a time of waiting, where we can spend some time in the wilderness and detach ourselves from all this consumerism. Let us gather around the banks of the Jordan, and wade in the water. We hear again these words from prophets of old, Prepare the Way. Like those lyrics from Godspell.
Some scholars have struggled with this story because it presents a problem. Doesn’t this story make John look superior to Jesus? Isn’t this a baptism for the repentance of sins? What does this say about Jesus? Isn’t he supposed to be the spotless Lamb of God? In order to resolve this question, we need to appreciate the historical role of prophets among the Hebrew people.
Jesus is not repenting from his sins. Rather he is being anointed by the John the prophet as the Christ, the anointed one. Similarly, Saul, David and Solomon were anointed by prophets to legitimate their ascension to the throne . Jesus is God’s humble servant, who kneels in the Jordan to receive an anointing of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Jesus will need the Spirit to strengthen him for his journey in the wilderness.
John’s followers at the Jordan readily understood how long ago, Moses crossed the Red Sea, but he could not take the Israelites all the way. It was Joshua who led his people across the Jordan into the Promised land. There is theological significance that it is here again, along banks of the Jordan that Jesus knelt down for his cousin John to anoint him as the promised messiah. Just as before this river is the marker for new beginnings. Jesus needs to leave Galilee and center himself in these waters before he embarks on his public ministry. The New Moses will be able to pick up where his predecessor left. After all, Jesus name in Hebrew is Yeshua (God saves).
As gentiles, two thousand years later, we need to put on the lens of a faithful Jew in Palestine longing for freedom. These folks understood what it meant for Jesus to start his public ministry in the waters of the Jordan. These people have left the city to gather at the Jordan to bear witness to the Promised One that John has been telling them about. Can you imagine their hunger and thirst for the Messiah to come and liberate them from yet another bondage? Finally, our Mighty Counselor and Prince of Peace has come! We have seen enough phonies, we want the real deal. Yes, we will walk this wilderness with you as you lead us into the promised land, again!
John and Jesus are always there waiting for us along the shores of the Jordan. These life giving waters of baptism bring us into the new reality of God’s reign. We no longer have to go the temple to cleanse ourselves in ritual baths in order to approach the holy of holies. We have been baptized once and for all in these life giving waters of God’s grace. Every Sunday, we see this font as a reminder of our own Jordan river initiation into the community walking onward from Jordan to the new Jerusalem.
During these days of Advent, let’s go down to the River and pray. We patiently await our coming Prince of Peace. May the white dove descend upon us and assure us that the storms are coming to an end. We continue to walk through the wilderness until Jerusalem has been restored. We join the prophets in their chorus, Prepare the way! One day the gaps will be bridged, one day all these wrongs will be made right. God will come to us again and the nations actually follow his counsel.
As we approach Christmas eve, we wait along the river and pray for renewal and restoration. May the Peace of Christ unite as brothers and sisters working to prepare the way. Just as Jesus did, we need these waters of Jordan to anoint our efforts. Every time we baptize a child of God, we have a respite from the wilderness. We pray and sing at banks of the Jordan, Prepare the way. We wait and pray, Come, O Emmanuel.

Nov 30: Eyes Wide Open for the New Dawn

2008-11-29T13:57:00.000-06:00

Nov 30th 2008

Eyes Wide Open for the New Dawn Breaking Mark 13:24-37

“But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 27Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. 28“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 32“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

It seems like just a few weeks ago we were in shorts and fishing at the cabin. The seasons have definitely changed and the first Sunday of Advent reminds of us where we are in the liturgical year. We see the purple paraments in the chancel and we can’t help but notice all the pipped in holiday music as we elbow our ways through the black Friday shopping spree.
As modern day Christians, it can be hard for us to stay centered in who we are and what this time of Advent means for us. Kudos to the Unity Church in St Paul who hosted a Black Friday service last Friday. I have to confess that I joined the masses but I went to thrift stores first before I hit the mall. I was kicking myself for missing out on all those doorbuster specials. This frugal Scottsman still got the door buster price at JC Pennys for my new Christmas tree!
It’s sad but true that these 30 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas can be some of the most difficult days of the year. Many of us have lost loved ones and see the empty chairs at the dinner table. Our matriarch or patriarch who helped hold the center is gone and the holidays are just not the same. Many of us had to revisit the family feuds and endure all those passive aggressive jabs that are thrown around. Like being part of a church family, we put up with the negatives to appreciate the fuller positive of belonging to a fellowship in spite of all the peccadilloes and shortcomings.
Many of our holiday gatherings are transformed when the next generation join us in the festivities. Have you ever noticed how a little baby or toddler transforms everything ? We can live vicariously through their joy and playfulness. Can you picture baby Jesus cooing and getting into mischief as little boys do. I feel guilty when I see Moms with their young boys and wonder how my Mom put up with me. Boys look more and more like energizer bunnies.
I am moved by the story of Elizabeth and Mary visiting together with John and Jesus growing in their wombs. Surely most moms lie in bed imagining what is in store for this precious child that is growing in them. Our Moms endure the pain and hardships of pregnancy because they know they have to wait until its time. She knows she can’t rush the process, for if the baby was to come to soon there will be complications, worse yet a still birth.
In the interest in of full disclosure I’m a bachelor and I have no clue what its like to be a young couple expecting a child. Friends tease me about my bad case of baby fever. Every time I see a baby, I need some time to hold this precious bundle beaming with hope and promise. It’s a critical vital sign for a congregation that they have young families with children. These babies in our midst help us keep our perspective. Our congregational vows to help raise these precious children of God centers us in what our mission is. Its’ sad that so many of congregations do not benefit from these precious little ones among them. Our children help us remember to major on the majors and not on the minors.
During this time of Advent, we remember that this a time of waiting. Like the expectant couples, we can get impatient and try to rush the process. We want Jesus to hurry up and come back. We strain ourselves trying to figure out what the tell tale signs are. Unlike the 9 month gestation calendar, our world is in labor but we will never know when it is time to make that frantic drive to the maternity ward. In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans he reminds us, “For we know that all the rest of creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time.” Romans 8:22.
When I was in highschool, I had a huge crush on Molly Ringwald. I kept her poster up in my room for years. I thought she had the prettiest smile. She and Andrew McCarthy starred in a movie For Keeps. The reviews were not friendly but Molly could do no wrong in my eyes. Molly plays a young expectant mother who struggles with the pressure of disapproving parents. The father of her child is a young man who is not as mature and stable as she hoped he would be. This dramatic character understood in some ways what Mary went through. It can be hard to wait with hope when the people around you are so disapproving and you feel judged.
During Advent, we remember this young Jewish mother in Palestine facing stigma and isolation in her community because they do not understand how God is working through her. We remember how Mary endured the hardships of pregnancy and gave her very body in order for Jesus to come to us as our Emmanuel.
Mary was patient and trusted that in God’s time Jesus would come. She may have known the ninth month time frame, but she had to wait and trust to see how the community would treat this child who came to them under a cloud of scandal. Would Joseph remain faithful and stay by her side? Being a single mother in this time was an incredible hardship. Mary faithfully waits with her eyes wide open to see how Angel Gabriel’s promise will be realized.
Many of us feel like we are constantly bearing the weight of a psychic pregnancy but are never able to get to the delivery room. One of my favourite metaphors for the psychotherapy is the image of a midwife. Our therapists and counselors walk with us on our journey to discover who we are and a fuller sense of meaning in our lives. We do not want to spend all this time and money on therapy just to tweak a thing here or there. In reality we are there on the couch to find at least on space and one person who can bear witness to us as we search within to discover a fuller sense of who we are as child of God.
Too many of us have walked through this psychic pregnancy in pain and isolation. We dismiss therapy as something for the weak and sick. In reality, taking the time to search within and learn more about who God has made us to be is as a sign of health and healing. For those of us considering therapy, I encourage to invest in yourself and invite a compassionate midwife to assist you as go through the birthing process of self discovery. Like the lesson of Advent, it will take a lot of patience and waiting. But the promise of self discovery and a fuller sense of God’s love and mystery at work in you is worth the wait.
The lesson of Advent has some valuable teaching points for us as we grow in our spiritual maturity. We don’t want to wait. We want quick fixes. The latest self help guru will do. A couple of tapes or a half day seminar is all I can fit in right now. Our life long journey of learning is like making a soup or stew. Would you rather have a mircowaved soup with cold pockets still here and there? Or, would rather let it simmer in its juices? We wait, with eyes wide open to see how God’s reign is at work in our lives and our communities.
Mark’s community was struggling with waiting for the second coming. Just as Jesus predicted the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. They were seeing the earthquakes and famines unfold around them. Surely Jesus is coming back and again soon. Mark’s community was struggling with an inferiority complex. If Karen Horney, a prominent psychologist, was to offer her analysis to Mark’s community she may have said that these false teachers and prophets were exploiting some of the disciples neurotic inflated selves. They were struggling with a PR problem. If Jesus is truly messiah why hasn’t he returned when clearly the signs are all around us? We need to remember this point when people are tempted to try to rush Jesus’ return.
God’s creation is still in labor waiting for that glorious day when God incarnate comes to us again. In God’s time, all the darkness will be dispelled and the mountains and valley will be made straight for God’s highway. Like some of our freeways, we grow impatient with the never ending under construction signs and fantasize just breaking through the barrier signs and driving free as a bird.
We gather for Advent knowing that Jesus fulfilled God’s promise and came to us as precious, fragile infant. We savour this expectant hope as our world waits for the promise of his glorious return. We don’t know the day or the hour, but we know God’s promise still stands.
We keep awake, with our eyes wide open to see how the glimmers and glimpses of God at work unfolds in our lives. We are a people charged to be a people of hope. In spite of the anxieties, fears and all the negative object lessons. We know that one day all that is wrong will be made right. God’s creation will finally deliver us into our new lives as citizens of the New Jerusalem. Just as a mom holds her newborn close to her chest, we will breath sighs of relief and appreciate that it was worth it all. We make the necessary sacrifices and wait with our eyes wide open. We will continue to take our Lamaze classes and keep our bags packed for the mad dash to the hospital. We wait, trusting in God’s time that one day this new dawn will come.

Howard's Christmas Letter

2008-11-27T06:57:00.000-06:00

Happy Holidays !

After three years of urban ministry in Los Angeles, I’m back in the Twin Cities. I accepted a call to serve as the interim pastor at Arlington Hills Presbyterian Church in St Paul.

www.arlingtonhillspresbyterian.org

I feel right at home here with a multicultural church. Folks here have a heart for outreach in their diverse community. The eastside of St Paul has been an Ellis Island for the Midwest for many decades. We are proclaiming Kingdom of God with our new brothers and sisters who join us from many lands.
I made the long drive east after completing the first residential component of the Doctorate of Ministry program at San Francisco Theological Seminary. My dissertation project will explore how clergy can collaborate with local law enforcement in LA and St Paul so victims of violence can receive timely and effective pastoral care. My work in LA made it abundantly clear that far too many grieving and traumatized families were not receiving adequate emotional and spiritual care. The tears and sobs of grieving mothers have been seared into my heart.
The vigils for peace continue. We have hosted a of couple candle light vigils here in St Paul. Last summer, just three weeks into my new call, Tammie, a cancer patient, was attacked by three Asian gang members wielding bats. This was just a few blocks from our church. This outraged and grieved the community. With short notice, and much needed assistance from the St Paul police, a hundred of us gathered at the site of the attack to pray for Tammie’s healing. Our prayers, songs and candles push back the darkness of violence with the light of love.
Praise God, Tammie has recovered from her injuries and her cancer has stabilized for the first time since she was diagnosed. If you google (Lake Phalen and Tammie) you can see her amazing testimony on Fox 9 and Kare 11. She joined Mayor Coleman to flip the switch for the Holiday Lights in Lake Phalen.
I have brought the tradition of Lessons and Carols that I cherished so much at San Francisco Theological seminary to Arlington Hills. Several local church choirs and Eastside pastors will join us to help transform this British tradition into a multicultural celebration of our coming Prince of Peace. We are honoured that Tammie will be one of our readers. She is a poignant testimony that out of tragedy comes hope!
Another highlight this year was going to Haiti for the Haiti Mission Connection conference. Paul Farmer’s Partners in Health is an inspiration for many of us. Their healthcare model sets the template for our church partners. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. At times, I felt like I was back in Africa. I was surprised that the burden of poverty and political instability was more evident in the Haitian peoples eyes’ than my experiences in Eastern and Southern Africa.
After seeing many depressing houses, I will finally close on my new home next week. It’s a cozy three bedroom home just off of Payne Ave, the heart of the Eastside of St Paul. You all know me, I’m an urban dweller. Several shops and restaurants are within walking distance. It’s a reality check that this house is nearly a tenth of what the average house is going for in LA. Surely, having a house will enhance my eligible bachelor credentials.
Don’t worry folks I’m putting myself out there to see what the universe presents. I’m easing up on the speed dating though. It’s a real conversation stopper. “So what do you do?” When I was seminary, a group of us would go into the city for Karokee. We had rehearsed our answer to this question. “Well, I am a theological anthropologist.” The glazed over look bought us time to move on to another subject. In time she will know, but those first impressions and preconceptions really narrows the romance pool. Now that we have President-elect Obama, maybe I should just say I’m a community organizer!
After three mild LA winters, my veins are still thickening. I keep telling myself, “ It’s cold outside but warm in our hearts.” When I am not running on the hamster wheel, I steal away to the Fitzgerald to enjoy live recordings of Prairie Home Companion. I was thrilled that my shout outs were shared with my fellow SFTS alums and comrades in the First Cav. Division. I miss having an abundance of independent theatres. Part of my Sabbath is going to the movies once a week. The best movie I have seen this year was Changeling. Of course, I am biased because its showcases a prophetic Presbyterian pastor taking on the powers that be and keeping them honest.
I am so relieved that we have a new year upon us that promises to bring change and a greater possibility for peace and reconciliation. I’m looking forward to seeing my chosen families in LA (late Feb) and Bay Area (June). Hey, maybe we can have a Karaoke party. Remember, I’m a community organizer specializing in theological anthropology.

Sending psychic hugs and prayers for peace, Howard

653 Jessamine Ave St Paul, MN (612) 702-3151 hr_dotson@yahoo.com

All African Council of Churches Statement on HIV/AIDS

2008-11-27T05:38:00.000-06:00

27 November 2003
All Africa Conference of Churches Yaounde, Cameroon

Covenant 1: Life and HIV/AIDS Prevention
• We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that, the Lord our God created

all people and all life and created life very good (Gen. 1-2) We shall, therefore,

seriously and effectively undertake HIV/AIDS prevention for all people Christians

and non-Christiana. married u,, s single, young and old, women and men, poor and

rich, black, white, yellow, all people everywhere-, for this disease destroys life

and it, goodness, thus violating God's creation and will.

Covenant 2: Love and HIV/AIDS Care

• We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that love is from God and

everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Those who say ‘I love God,' and

hate their sisters and brothers are liars, for unless you love your sisters and

brothers whom you see, you cannot love God whom you have never seen (I John 4:7-21).

We shall, therefore, do all that is necessary and within our power to encourage both

men and women to love, care, support and heal all those who are infected and

affected by HIV/AIDS in our communities, countries and continent.

Covenant 3: Treatment and HIV/AIDS Drugs

• We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that the earth and everything in

it belongs to the Lord and that He has given it over to all human beings for

custodianship ( Psa . 24:1 &Gen. 1:29). We shall therefore, openly and persistently

undertake prophetic and advocacy role for all the infected who are denied access to

affordable HIV/AIDS drugs until anti- retrovirals are available to all who need

them.

Covenant 4: Compassion, HIV/AIDS Stigma & Discrimination

• We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that the Lord our God, is a

compassionate God, who calls upon us to be compassionate, to suffer with those who

suffer, to enter their places and hearts of pain and to seek lasting change of their

suffering (Luke 6:36; Matt. 25:31-46). We shall therefore, have zero tolerance for

HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination and do all that is necessary to eliminate the

isolation, rejection, fear and oppression of the infected and affected in our

communities. We shall declare HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination an unacceptable sin

before God and all believers and in all our communities.

Covenant 5: Poverty and HIV/AIDS •

We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that the Lord our God, who

created all the resources of the earth, blessed both women and men and gave them the

resources of the earth for their sustenance (Gen.1:28-29). We shall, therefore, work

to empower all the poor and denounce all the cultural, national and international

structures, laws and policies that have condemned billions to poverty thus denying

them their God given rights and, in the HIV/AIDS era, exposing them to infection and

denying them quality care and treatment

Covenant 6: Gender Inequalities and HIV/AIDS

• We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that the Lord our God, created

humankind in his image. In his image, he created them mal and female, he blessed

them both and gave both of them leadership and resources in the earth; he made them

one in Christ (Gen. 1:27 -29; Gal. 3:28 -29). We shall, therefore, denounce gender

inequalities that lead boys and men to risky behaviour, domination and violence;

that deny girls and women leadership, decision making powers and property ownership

thus exposing them to violence, witchcraft accusation, widow dispossession, survival

sex – fuelling HIV/AIDS infection and lack of quality care and treatment.

Covenant 7: Children and HIV/AIDS

• We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that, Lord our God welcomes

children. He has given his kingdom to them and he is the father of all orphans (Mark

9:33 -37; 10:13 -16; Psa . 68:5 & Psa . 146:9). We shall, therefore, work to empower

and protect all children and denounce all the national and international structures,

cultures, policies, laws and practices that expose children to sexual abuse and

exploitation, HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination, dispossession and poverty thus

exposing them to HIV/AIDS infection and lack of quality care.

Covenant 8: Church, PLWAs and HIV/AIDS

• We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that we are one body of Christ

and if one member suffers, we all suffer together with it; that the Lord our God

identifies with the suffering and marginalized and heals the sick (1 Cor . 14:26 ;

Matt. 25:31-46). We shall, therefore, become a community of compassion and healing,

a safe place for all PLWAs to live openly and productively with their status.

Covenant 9: Human Sexuality and HIV/AIDS

• We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that the Lord our God, created

human sexuality and created it good (Gen. 2:18-25). We shall, therefore, test for

infection, denounce sexual violence, abstain before marriage, be faithful in

marriage and practice protected sex to avoid HIV/AIDS infection and plunder on life,

for all life is sacred and prevention should be seriously pursued to protect life.

Covenant 10: Justice and HIV/AIDS •

We shall remember, proclaim and act on the fact that the Lord our God, sees,

hears, knows the suffering of people and comes down to liberate them (Ex. 3:1-12;

Luke 4:16 -22). We shall, therefore, declare the jubilee and we shall proclaim

liberty throughout the land and to all its inhabitants (Lev. 25:10), for unless and

until justice is served to all people in the world, until justice rolls down like

waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, HIV/AIDS cannot be uprooted.

Where Can We Find Jesus?

2008-11-22T17:20:00.000-06:00

Nov. 23rd 2008
Where Can We Find Jesus ? Matthew 25:31-46

31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will

sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and

he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the

goats, 33and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my

Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was

sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37Then the

righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you

food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you

a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that

we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40And 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.’ 41Then he will say to those at his left

hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the

devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and

you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked

and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44

Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or

a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45Then he

will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least

of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal

punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

One of my favourite movie scenes comes from Dustin Hoffman in the Rainman. He is a

developmentally disabled man who is fixated on seeing People’s Court at 4 oclock.

Tom Cruise, his brother and conservator, is flummoxed by this need to schedule their

road trip to ensure they can see Judge Wapner at 4. We have many images of our

legal system as part of our entertainment. For one generation it was Perry Mason.

I’ve sat through many episodes with my Dad. I grew up with the comedy, Night Court.

Now we have Allie Mcbeal, Boston Legal and Shark.

What is our fascination with court room dramas? It's right up there with

hospital dramas. Perhaps this stems from an inferiority complex that we never became

the lawyers and doctors that society pushes us to strive for. These are not callings

for everybody, but we have a sacred vocation nonetheless. I treasure Dr. King’s

reframe of our sense of vocation. He highlights the dignity of being a street

sweeper. God calls us to making meaning relationships where we are. God can use in

might ways in the various stations of life where we find ourselves. God can use our

mustard seeds of faith and transform our world into arboretums and orchards.

We often like to see Jesus as our friend, our comforter. I like to joke about

some of the praise songs we call Jesus is my boyfriend songs. There is this tension

between the intimacy of God and the mystery of God’s grandeur. On Christ the King

Sunday, we need to remember that Christ Jesus is the Sovereign judge , and one day

there will be a reckoning for how our world has unfolded. Yes, Jesus is our

comforter but he is also our eternal judge. One day we will have to present our

case, were we are our brother’s keeper? God is all knowing. God sees how our

brothers and sisters are being treated and mistreated. There will come a time when

the sheep and goats are separated. This will be in God’s times and the decision

rests with God.

In our pop psychology era, we need to be careful not to domesticate God and make

our Triune God merely our best friend. Our parents have understood that they could

not just be friends with their children. There were times when they strictly needed

to be our fathers and mothers. They had to practice tough love, regardless of

whether what their preference was. God is our truest parent, holding us in

unconditional love but also holding us accountable. God is the parent who loves us

all uniquely and equally. But God also loves us too much for us to stay stuck as

goats when we were meant to be sheep.

When we look at our world as a family system, we see that we are siblings

trying to vie for God’s approval and blessing. Do we measure our relationship with

God based on our material wealth? Is this the only way God blesses our brothers and

sisters? I know many of us like to think we live in a post colonial world. Do you

think God was blessing the American, British, French, Dutch and Spanish slave

traders who denied our African Brothers and Sisters of their freedom and dignity? I

know and trust that the God of the Exodus and Empty was more present with the least

among us in shackles than the masters above aboard who considered themselves

faithful Christians.

We need to humbly confess that sometimes as a society we have presumed that we

are God’s favorites and trampled on our brothers and sisters who truly are the least

among us. Some of our ancestors may have been wealthy but they grew distant with God

when they oppressed the least among us. Our bigotry, prejudice and mental jujitsu

enabled folks to live with this lie. We need this gospel passage to remind us just

where it is we will find Jesus.

Our Gospel lesson presses the point that we need to broaden our definitions of what

constitutes a blessing from God. The next time you hear a politician say, “God Bless

America”, I want us to remember this point. We need to pray that God blesses us with

the spiritual gifts we desperately need to live out our calling. We are not God’s

favourites just because we have an abundance of comforts in this life. As Jesus has

taught us, we need to keep our eyes on the treasures of heaven, where no thieves, no

rust or moths can diminish.

Having been in several countries in the developing world, I have heard a unique

understanding of what Gospel message is for us. As I mentioned a couple of weeks,

this realized eschatology stresses that the kingdom of God is breaking in here and

now. We understand that ultimately the New Jerusalem will not be complete until

Christ the King is seated on his throne to separate the sheep and goats. If we are

to be faithful sheep of Christ’s fold, we need to commune with the least among us.

I am grateful to see that this congregation has an ongoing ministry in Haiti.

This is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. They have 75 %

unemployment. The average yearly income is only $ 440. Imagine. . . many of us make

more than that in just one week, or even a couple of days. 50 % of Haitians have no

access to drinkable water.

Recently, I spent three hours driving around Port Au Prince trying to find St

Joe’s Home for Boys. I felt like I was back in Africa. The most profound encounter

came when I visited the mothers holding their babies suffering from Spinal Bifida

and Hydrocephila. When I placed my hand on their children’s feet and prayed with

them, I sensed Jesus presence in a powerful way. In spite of the language barriers,

I could tell the parents were receptive to prayers. Yes, Jesus is truly present with

the least of among us, especially parents struggling to care for their sick child.

The least among of us are also here on our doorstep. We need to remember that

the Eastside has a history of different immigrant communities coming to America to

pursue our common dream. Many of the Swedes, Italians and Poles have moved on and

now the Hmong, African Americans and Latinos carry this torch of the making the

American dream a reality. Jesus is present with our brothers and sisters and their

struggle to make ends meet. Parents are having to work two and three jobs to be to

send money home and to still be able to put something on the table for dinner.

We are remembering the least among us when we collect food for our local

pantries and collect the shoe boxes for the children ministered to by Samaritan’s

purse. We find Jesus present with them as they realize that they are not alone, nor

are they forgotten. We stretch ourselves to move beyond mere acts of charity, and to

walk humbly with our brothers and sisters struggling for their daily bread.

In these difficult economic times, we realize that many of our families or only

paycheck or mortage payment away from dire straits. No one needs to feel they are a

charity case, or that our acts of kindness come with strings attached. We are not

waiting to see if you say thank you or demonstrate adequate appreciation. It’s

enough for us to know that God has used us a means to answer prayers and commune

with the least among us.

We serve a God who has a preferential for the poor. This is one of truths that

liberation theologians throughout the world have taught us. God is all knowing, and

God hear their cries for deliverance. Our faithful response is more than just being

a good person or the warm fuzzies we receive. In God’s mysterious economy, we

receive at the very same time that we are giving. God is waiting for us to encounter

the Spirit that dwells in our brothers and sisters on the margins. We let our

hearts and minds be softened so we can hold the pain and sorrows so many of us

carry.

As the holidays approach, we know there will be a lot campaigns and photo ops. As

sheep of the Good Shepherd, we will stay the course long after the holiday season.

Christ will be communing with our brothers and sisters these other eleven months of

the year. We will do our best to find ways staying connected. This is

where the rubber meets in our faithful witness to Jesus Christ. Bearing the light

and salt of Christ requires genuine relationships with people. We are called to be

more than another local non-profit cutting a check now and then.

May people continue to catch glimpses of the New Jerusalem in our ministries.

This is what makes us who we are. Our mission is reach out with love and compassion

to the people Jesus has been waiting for us to join all along. We don’t bring Jesus

to them, God has been there waiting for the sheep of his fold to catch up with him.

On that glorious day when Christ holds court as our eternal judge and King, I pray

that each of us will be among the sheep, side by side, with our afros of wool

touching. Our sheep wool grows, every time we witness to the Kingdom of God, and

fellowship with the least among us. Here, we find Jesus drawing us into his fold.

Howard's Dissertation Project

2008-11-19T02:46:00.000-06:00

TITLE: Empowering Clergy to Serve as Crisis Counselors in their Communities

PROBLEM: What is the PROBLEM or AREA of STUDY you wish to explore?
In the North American urban ministry context, gang violence is claiming the lives of far too many young people. In the City of Los Angeles there are forty thousand gang members; most of whom were baptized in Latino Catholic and African American Protestant congregations. In the Rampart Division of LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) it has become evident that many of these grieving families are not receiving immediate pastoral care following a gang related homicide. This is due in part to communication gaps between the Police and the faith communities, but there is also the stigma of being the bereaved parent of a child who is presumed to be a gang member. Like the LAPD, many police departments have clergy councils that could serve as referrals and first responders to provide emotional and spiritual support for these grieving families. Many of the clergy representatives on these councils, however do not have adequate crisis counseling training to serve in this capacity.

PURPOSE: 1. Given the problem what do you want to CHANGE?

Improving the communication and response time between the Los Angeles Police Department and the volunteer clergy councils in Los Angeles, CA, where I've worked for 3 years. Such an arrangement of clergy councils will also be assessed with the St. Paul Police Department and the St. Paul, MN communities where I am slated to relocate within the year. My aim is to facilitate the ongoing training with LAPD Clergy Council members and assess the benefits of this model being replicated with the St Paul Police Dept. An increased number of clergy would be equipped with crisis counseling skills and training to decrease the psychological and social barriers that hinder traumatized and grieving families from gaining access to pastoral care and counseling.

2. What GROUP will join you in bringing about this change?

An interdisciplinary team of mental health professionals, civil servants and pastoral theologians will be enlisted to facilitate the teaching of the psychological, sociological and theological skill sets related to pastoral counseling in a situational crisis. Clergy representatives in both LA and St Paul will be engaged as well.
This program shall serve as a model that can be replicated in other police and fire departments.

3. What will you DO to bring about the desired change?

1. Survey representatives from the St Paul Police Dept and faith communities about the extent and quality of their interactions.
2. Recruit the LAPD trainers and volunteer clergy to attend the ongoing training sessions in Los Angeles.
3. Evaluate the program with the LAPD Clergy Council and revise the protocols for replication in other divisions of LAPD and other police departments.
4. Meet again with St Paul Police and clergy to consider the LAPD clergy council model as an enhancement to their community relations efforts.

METHOD:
1. What QUALIFIES you to do this D/P? (Experiences and/or involvement that have raised this issue for you and make it a current practical and academic concern)
Over the past three years, I have worked with the LAPD and the Mayor’s Crisis Response Team to provide pastoral care and counseling to dozens of grieving families following a gang related homicide in the West LA and Rampart Divisions. The City of Los Angeles and the City Attorney’s have presented several commendations for this work.
My new context in East St Paul does not have nearly the number of violent crimes compared to Los Angeles, but the community surrounding Arlington Hills Presbyterian Church (AHPC) has the highest crime rate for the entire city. The AHPC session has endorsed my community outreach to the Police Dept and the ecumenical community.

2. How is this topic related to YOUR MINISTRY?
Arlington Hills Presbyterian Church in East St Paul is committed to their ongoing transformation as an urban, multicultural congregation. Their surrounding community is comprised of many immigrant families whose children are at-risk of joining gangs. The police and clergy need to be prepared to respond quickly with compassion when there has been incident of gang related violence. We can’t wait until there is an emergency and then try to make a referral. There needs to be some intentional training to equip clergy to respond to these crises effectively.

3. SOCIAL ANALYSIS: What will you do to place the problem in its historical, cultural, and social context? What literature will you read and with whom will you interview or talk to about it?
In our urban centers, there is often mistrust and strained relationships between the community and law enforcement. Many residents are undocumented and they fear deportation if they cooperate with the police. Other family members fear retaliation from the gangs. Clergy often serve as liasons and bridges to the broader community. I will research the historical role of clergy in urban community organizing and examine some of the contemporary models and case studies. In particular, how clergy as crisis counselors can integrate the psychotherapy and sociological literature that addresses the anxiety and stressors associated with urban life and the increased incidents of violence.
To contextualize this problem, I will research the relevant psychotherapy, urban ministry and criminal justice literature.

4. THEOLOGICAL RESOURCES: What are the biblical/theological lenses you will use to examine this problem? Identify 3-5 writers who help you deal with this problem theologically. With whom will you discuss the problem theologically?

Many clergy still narrow their scope of pastoral care and counseling primarily to active members of their congregation. The definition of parish ministry in an urban setting needs to be expanded to include noncongregational members who do not have adequate pastoral care in times of crisis. I will explore how liberation theology and missional models of ministry inform this pastoral praxis in an urban context. Authors will include: Craig Van Gelder, Darrel Guder, Ronald Peters, Stephen Pattison, David Switzer and Howard Stone.