Who's Afraid to Say Born Again?

It seems these days that we should all be talking about being born again. Our world, the United States in particular, is in need of some regeneration. I have to admit that I am new to the term but I have to say I like it. I really, really like it, for as the famous evangelist Reverend Billy Graham wrote in How to Be Born Again, the "greatest news in the universe is that we can be born again!" I do not take this news lightly as the very survival of our human race depends upon our ability for rebirth, to change for the better. Otherwise, there is no such thing as hope. Now, what confounds me is that there are some who tend to treat being born again as a club (or in some cases a menacing gang), with the very specific initiation of recitation of prayer or a solitary moment of conversion. Others, like myself believe being born again is about attesting to the power of God in my life and accepting the role as disciple of Christ. Graham writes, the "encounter with Christ, that new birth, is the beginning of a whole new path in life under His control." This is the spiritual transformation all Christians seek, all people of faith hope to achieve in some capacity.

I have not said a prayer for my salvation for I believe that, as Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite recently said, you "are always working out your salvation in fear and trembling in relationship to the world and the way in which you participate in building up the Kingdom of God." My personal holiness, my salvation is dependent upon my dedication to the good of my community and world. In other words, am I willing to bring justice to those who so desperately need it? Graham also wrote that some "churches preach good works, social change, government legislation, and neglect the one thing that will help solve the problems of our world- changed men and women." We need to nurture and develop our inner lives to have a change of heart and be right with God and neighbor.

I can't say there was one defining moment of my conversion. I am struck by God's love again and again and again. Each time I sense this I know I have new life. So, why is it I am afraid to use the phrase born again when describing my life of faith, my conquest (though ongoing) over personal death? Perhaps I choose not to apply the description because I don't want to be associated with a political movement. On the other hand, I feel compelled to say it for these words belong to scripture, to God, and not to a team or an esoteric association. These words are for the world to use and hold dearly. No one can claim to own them.

Also, I have always been afraid of certain words that are used by some churches to exclude (like "saved" and "converted") and create superficial litmus tests marking one's degree of holiness. Mostly, however, I never wanted to threaten or offend America's promise to freedom of religion. I figured that if I just stayed silent then we could all get along. This of course left me with no public faith to express.

As a Christian, I cannot be afraid to use born again, and other words I find intimidating, to work for healing and wholeness. So, I dash my fears against a rock and proudly proclaim I am one more changed heart, one more believer in the love of God, in being Born Again.

Amen.

I Sought My Brother and I Found All Three

I took a seminary class last year about personal and social transformation and I was assigned with a small group to research Martin Luther King, Jr. I can’t say I was thrilled. I grew up attending various MLK Day celebrations, usually at Howard University in Washington, D.C., hearing mostly about his I Have a Dream speech. We would sing Lift Every Voice, I would get chills and then we’d hear about how far we had come and how far we still had to go. We'd watch some children sing and the event would be over. So when I found out that I was going to have to dig into who this person was I sighed heavily to myself wondering what his life and writings could possibly have to offer me and my classmates. Hadn’t we heard it all before? The answer was a resounding “No!”

There is probably no greater shame as an African American (or as an American for that matter), and even more so as a Christian, than having complete and utter unawareness of Reverend Dr. King’s messages of truth, sacrifice and the essentiality of overflowing love for fellow humans. I am ashamed to say I knew nothing about his deep sense of love of God, the world, and his respect for the multitude of expressions of faith. Needless to say, I can’t stop thinking about his writings and his words and hopefully never will. Why we don’t teach our youth (save for the month of February – Black History month) about his democratic and liberating philosophies, his instruction in non-violence, civil disobedience, the requirements of good citizenship and reconciliation is a mystery to me and for another post. I am writing today about how his vision of a complete life clarifies for me what personal and social holiness are.

Imagine a triangle where one side is the Love of God, the second side Love of Neighbor and the third Love of Self. We must have all three sides, in synchronicity, in constant motion in order to create the Kingdom of God today.
Personal holiness is, from what I am slowly grasping, acknowledgement of my sacredness and utter dependence on God and my community. Personal holiness is, as Marilynne Robinson writes in her essay Hallowed Be Your Name, "in fact openness to the perception of the holy, in existence iteself and above all in one another." For it to exist it must dwell and subsist collectively amongst other souls.

Personal holiness is the love of God working in my life, through me, which inevitably and ultimately is expressed as positive action in God’s world to bring about justice, more love and the Kingdom of God. It is in my attempt to mimic Jesus's life and practice obedience to God where one finds social holiness. Sin is the separation of self from the collective and God, thus the collapse of the triagle King described.

The sacred occurs within us as well as between us. We risk losing touch with our sacredness if we only focus on the holiness of the community and conversely we abandon the truth of our interdependence if we only seek our salvation and right relationship with God. Barbara Brown Taylor writes about God’s “upsetting sense of community” in her essay The Company of Strangers. She states that “in order for our public life to work, we do have to respect each other’s dignity as human beings, which is what we have in common, and to act with honor among strangers as well as friends.”

We pray and meditate to find God within us while engaging with our world to fulfill Christ’s ministry. I cannot understand my personal holiness until I first look to God and to my neighbor.
I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see,
I sought my God, but he eluded me,
I sought my brother, and I found all three

Amen

What About Her Human Rights?

The article I copied below speaks partly to my post on the "pro-family" agendas. I am astounded at the disconnect between wanting to save the babies but not the mothers. As Blackman notes in her article, the clinic in Aurora provides more that just abortions. I am sorry that the health and well-being of the fetus seems to always trump the health of the mother. What does this say about how we think about women in our country? By denying access to this clinic they are denying a woman a basic human right to health and medicine and a multitude of other services. Where can we meet eye to eye in this eternal debate? When and how do we enter into dialogue about saving families, dignity and preserving one's right to life (yes, the woman has a right to life as well!),to be autonomous and self-define? Give us guidance oh Lord. We need peace.


Clinic's protesters don't all speak for community

By Joni Hirsch Blackman | Daily Herald Columnist
Published: 9/22/2007 1:51 AM

Tobacco kills.
No one disputes that, yet tobacco is sold in countless stores throughout the country and in our community. In fact, there is a tobacco shop not far from where I live in Naperville, and I -- someone who has watched people die because of tobacco -- sneer when I drive by.

It's tempting, but I'd never harass the people who go in there or try to have the store shut down -- even though the whole purpose for the place being there is to sell something that eventually will kill whoever is using it. Tobacco is legal and the store has a right to be there. So instead, I, and others who feel the way I do, try to educate people about the dangers of tobacco.

That's not good enough for those opposed to abortion. They not only voice their opposition, they want everyone to be "protected" from a new health clinic in Aurora near Naperville offering many necessary health care services besides abortion.


From Planned Parenthood's Aurora location Web site: "At Planned Parenthood, we believe the preventative services this health care center will offer will do more in one day to promote responsible family planning and prevent the need for abortion than our opponents will do in a lifetime of protests."


To "protect" the community -- the new comprehensive facility will replace a small Naperville Planned Parenthood -- opponents of the facility have gone to great lengths, including harassment and intimidation of employees of the clinic. Thanks in part to their protests, the clinic's opening was delayed.

Opponents of the clinic placed newspaper ads misrepresenting why the clinic exists and what its goals are.

But the newspaper ad I found particularly interesting was one that ran Sunday on page 17A in the Daily Herald. The ad supported the clinic, accurately noting it will offer a wide range of reproductive health care services and bring "high-quality, affordable and accessible health care to women who currently do not have such services in their area."

Perhaps surprisingly, this ad was placed by a long list of religious leaders. Yes, religious leaders supporting a Planned Parenthood clinic. Some would have you believe that anyone tolerant of such thing must be a heathen.

"There is an incorrect impression that all religious people are anti-choice," the ad stated. "Within every major world religious community, there are strong voices that understand their tradition as supporting a woman's right to choose.
We believe that people of faith and goodwill can disagree on this issue and have the right to express their opinions freely."

Sound familiar? Sounds like the First Amendment to me.

The ad was signed by 19 members of clergy of various churches and synagogues. It was paid for by Planned Parenthood.

People whose religious beliefs differ are often able to co-exist peacefully. Mormons who don't drink alcohol don't harass bar owners or patrons. Jews who keep Kosher don't picket or protest places that sell cheeseburgers. Muslims who fast during Ramadan do not attack those who eat. It's not for them, but it's legal. Why can't religious people who oppose abortion behave in the same way?

Better than using this health-care facility as a target of anger and hostility would be to work to change laws they disagree with, while others will work to keep them the way they are.
Why can't those who oppose abortion try to educate others on why they are opposed to it, and let those who choose to be a patient at this facility do so in peace, no matter what their appointment is for?

Simplistic? Perhaps. But also a better example for our children and a better atmosphere for our community.

Our community. Two things have surprised me: how much press and interest this has generated outside of our community and how little I hear people in our community talking about this issue.
Community members should speak up. Don't let extremists from around the country make decisions in your neighborhood.

Spilling Into God

I just read the sermon The Company of Strangers by Barbara Brown Taylor where she admonishes us (those inclined to some level of introspection) to "not confuse our own ideas of God with God."
I must remember this. It is so easy to want God to adjust to me and my desires versus my having to "spill into the will of God."
Amen

Is it Really Pro-Family?

I just wish we could all sit down and decide once and for all what all these categories really mean. For instance, what does "pro-family" imply? I think those of us who are in family units and or have been touched by familial relationships are pro-family. When married or in a committed long-term relationship hopefully we are all devoted to our partners. We are all pro-family. This is of course unless what is really meant by pro-family is anti-gay or anti-equality of the sexes, races etc. If this is the case then don't couch in empty euphemisms, call it like it is, anti-homosexual, misogynistic etc. If "pro-family" advocates were really pro-family they would be marching in the streets about the domestic terrorism that goes on daily in so many households across our country (unless of course this is considered a private matter and should not be discussed publicly - this is the easiest way out of the debate). It is much easier to discuss matters and rights pertaining to a human not present versus those who might ask you for a dollar or a bite to eat, a warm place to stay and a hand to hold.
After reading the Associated Press article Christian Right Rebounds, where the pro-family agenda of a Florida Baptist church was highlighted, I began to wonder what might a pro-family agenda consist of, instead of just being anti-gay.
On the Pro-Family Network there is a notice for a Pro-Family Lobby Day in Ohio. On the sign-up form there are the following "pro-family" agenda items:
Issues and Legislation before the 127th
Ohio General Assembly:
Covenant Marriage
Banning Homosexual Adoption & Foster
Parenting
Total Abortion Ban
Community Defense Act
Abstinence Funding, School Vouchers Plus many
more

"Plus many more...." What didn't make it to this particular list? I hope help for single moms and dads who are struggling alone to raise moral and healthy children is on the agenda. How about some legislation that would assist all those mothers in poverty to get the alimony checks they are entitled? Yes, and what about poverty as one of the biggest factors that breaks families and marriages (the good and desirable heterosexual marriages) apart? Why isn't poverty number one on the agenda? I think Jesus would approve.
How about instead of focusing on the end result of a mistake or carelessness or rape, as pro-family people we create communities that nurtures self-respect in our youth, provides guidance and counseling to those in need, before the need to decide between abortion or not is necessary. A ban on abortion does not solve the spiritual, emotional and societal problems. What about health care for all those children in these pro-family families? Why isn't that on the top of the list as well?

Is this really about the family or are they merely phrases and "hot button" topics used to rally a community to organize their biases better?
Abortion, pornography, gambling, stem cell research... (Social issues from Focus on the Family site) Where are the agenda items about lessons in becoming a peacekeeper, learning to love one's enemies, creating safe homes for our families?
Instead of asking our politicians what their position is on abortion, when will we change the agenda and begin asking "What is your position on poverty and what are you going to do about it?"
God help us. Help us to love more and find a way to come together on these issues. We debate while people continue to live in fear and isolation, live without a proper meal or a proper hug. Teach us all to bring the kingdom here and flow in the same direction as your life.
Amen.

Jesus Walks into Hip-Hop

Chuck Currie’s most recent blog posting of Kanye West’s Youtube video Jesus Walks is of great interest to me for a number of reasons. First, I silently rejoiced at the thought that we, as African Americans, might finally be creating a legacy of love and compassion with hip-hop, including powerful messages about God and not about retribution and death. Second, I was grateful to see there were not any women wearing bikinis in Jesus Walks. We are killing one another in spirit with constant misogynist messages dominating our hip-hop music culture. Third, by posting this song Rev. Currie is acknowledging the impact hip-hop has on our youth.
I wonder why more hip-hop artists don’t choose to create music more about the equality of men and women, equality of the races, God, the need for self-love (even if we don’t feel it we have to fake it!!), a community building up out of our own holocaust and less about anger and materialism. I understand there is so very much anger and hurt but I know we can, with God’s love and the love for one another, send a different message to our children. It is our choice what we sing about and what we praise.
I listen to an international reggae station and am continually struck by the fact that our Rastafarian brothers and sisters regularly sing about Jah, love and peace. They have also endured slavery, oppression and spiritual devastation. They have made a choice to praise hope and not death.
Let us learn from these lyrics and create a new future for Jah’s people.


Anthony B – All God’s Children
Different focus, different purpose
But a one man make us
We are
All Jah's children

Gingy Moses – Why Worry
Tell me why worry when you can pray
I see dem falling along the way
Tell me why worry when you can pray
A chapters a day keep the devil away


Everton Blender – False Words
False words are spoken
With twisted tongue
The truth is mistaken
Lies are told to the young
Stand firm with your pride
With nothing to hide
Our aim, our destiny
Is to be free
From Babylon mentality
And brutality
Yes I will love my enemies
Because they show me my weakness


Abyssinians- Jah Loves
jah loves u man
ever know jah needs u, woman
and to know the things u did
to him,
it makes u want to die.
for greatest love,
all u ever learned
is to love,
and be loved in return.
jah loves in return
why hate your brotha man
do the things to please jah woman,
do the right and not the wrong,
and b strong,
for u surely gonna die...
for greatest love,
all u ever learned
is to love,
and b loved in return.
jah loves in return (jah loves u man)

Amen.

Letting Our Fingers Do the Marching

So, the old news is the Jena 6 movement, the events that transpired in that small southern town. The news today is a message for the generation that marched and sang with Martin Luther King, Jr.. The civil rights movement(or as I also like to call it human rights/human dignity movement) is not defunct or in a state of repose but is alive and well, with new vigor (I pray) and a renewed sense of justice. The almost mythical leaders of the Civil Rights era appeared to have been caught off guard by the public's response to the incidents, possibly because the internet is where much of this particular movement and protest was organized and articulated. This is a youth movement and the youth are communicating their discontent more with their fingers than their feet. Blogging in conjunction with mass emails and sophisticated networking is the new medium for change. Just ask the youth to show you the way.

We feel it is the duty of Christians to create the kingdom of God on Earth among our brothers. This kingdom will exist only when we all have enough to eat, when our children, brothers, parents don’t have to die from hunger and malnutrition. That will be the "Glory," a Kingdom for we who have never known it.

- Rigoberta Menchu
I, Rigoberta: An Indian Woman in Guatemala

Our Struggle is Far From Over

There were two cover stories in the New York Times today highlighting the persistent oppression and violence millions of women and girls face on a daily basis throughout the world. What kinds of monsters deliberately and ceremoniously remove the clitoris of a child so that (as they assert) she remain chaste? This practice has been condoned in Egypt for centuries under the banner of Islam. How is it that we live in a world where girls are still considered subhuman, slaves, tantamount to beasts of burden? The spirit of the child is removed when her body is cut to make her sole purpose in life for the use and service of a man. Fortunately there is a movement that is challenging genital mutilation in Egypt, labeling it as haram and in violation of Islamic faith.
The other cover story is shocking in that domestic violence, in this particular instance found in the African American community, is treated as an anomaly and not the epidemic that it is. The self-proclaimed prophetess the Reverend Juanita Bynum was known for preaching about the woman’s role primarily as serving and uplifting the man in marriage until her own experience with domestic violence made her rethink her message. Once again, women were and are instructed to endure the violence, the dehumanizing and draining existence of subjugation and the humiliation of pretending to be without thought and feeling and independent spirit. One’s spirits dies if it is not nourished in return and given life by being free, the freedom of self-determination.
Oh, and then there was the story of the polygamist who is being prosecuted for raping his 14 year old wife, a young woman who was forced into the marriage. In all three instances what is claimed to be religious piety serves to deny the humanity and dignity of the girl or woman by making men their caretakers, masters, creators and destroyers. Religion is used to justify these oppressive codes yet, as history repeatedly demonstrates, the Bible and the Koran can liberate the very same people it condemns and enslaves. When will the women of the world be liberated to breathe the air on their own terms and walk out of the shadow of despots and cowards? We tell their stories and remind them of their sacredness, their power.

What About Our Sacred Democracy?

So, what is the truth about sacred violence today, in the United States? Author Chris Hedges presents a horror-like scenario in his book American Fascist describing apocalyptic violence aimed at cleansing the population of non-believers (or inadequate believers) of Christianity. I don’t want to become yet another victim to and devotee of fear. I don’t want to have my suspicions and anger consume me. I don’t want to become like those we are supposed to fear and look behind every speech and sermon, organization and a stranger's expression of Christ’s calling as a threat to my practice, my family, my life.
Yet, it might be my disbelief in the potential evil in humanity that will leave me regretting my inaction today. As I read about the youth movement BattleCry (I also reluctantly checked out their site and was saddened to find the “seductive language of violence” Hedges describes) I began wondering why it is I try to share a text with people who can turn the Bible into a weapon of war and oppression. What is the balance between keeping vigilant watch of our human rights and sacredness - with a trace of requisite anxiety for self-preservation - and maintaining a secure belief in our country’s system of checks and balances, Bill of Rights and supposed culture of tolerance (however forced it may be)?
In a recent editorial in USA Today (I am sure to the great dismay of millions of fundamentalist readers), the author revealed the greatest non-secret in the history of our Republic: the United States Constitution does not in any way explicitly or implicitly establish a Christian nation. God, nor Christianity is mentioned, not once. In fact, the very first Amendment secures our rights to worship (or not) unhindered, unbounded, unfettered! We all know the founders were Christian but they did not write their faith in words (though perhaps in spirit) into this brilliant document.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amen!

Are there really individuals and movements who truly believe this nation is singularly devoted to the preservation and spread of Christianity? This is where scrutiny, curiosity and contradiction are essential in a democracy. If there is one thing I am grateful for about attending law school it is that I was taught to think critically. If we as a people fail to question and unconsciously (or very consciously) adopt dogma spewed by this reverend or that politician then we will find ourselves without a democracy.
Traits of some of the nefarious movements Hedges discusses are the absence and restriction of critical analysis, introspection has ceased and disagreement (as Umberto Eco states in his essay Eternal Fascism) is viewed as treason. So they become nothing but gangs, inviting isolated souls to join them on their crusades. We all want membership to something, to belong. We all have passion for something, it just depends for what. This is what gives meaning to life. Of course the “battle against darkness” is one of the most appealing. In the extreme fundamentalist movements, the battle against darkness appears to also be a battle against our sacred democracy.
We cannot fear. We cannot run. We must begin each day with ideas on how to grow the churches and synagogues and mosques that teach love and tolerance. We must expose the language and agenda of those orchestrating the rumblings of apocalyptic victory. Most importantly, we can't do as they do and turn the language of God's love on its head and make the Bible a book about hate and death.

Oh Villain, Where Are You?

As I read the essay Hallowed Be Your Name by Marilynne Robinson where she describes ,as she terms, the anti-Darwinists or neofundamentalist assault on the "holiness of the human person and of humanity" and Chris Hedges chapter outlining the Dominionist's agenda of cultural, religious and political domination I became afraid. My fear stemmed equally from the idea of distortion and restriction on the freedom to love, the destruction of sacred words like liberty and the restructuring of our democratic system to resemble a totalitarian Christian state (where only complete surrender of one's moral discernment and abandonment of "rational and intellectual inquiry" is accepted) and from the simple fact that I can't see them. I can't find these dominionists or tyrannical fundamentalists on the street or in my supermarket. Maybe I should say they have not adopted the swastika or an armband or a certain dress code, yet, that distinguishes them, sets them apart from the "dilettante Christians" and other humans occupying this planet. I don't want to start pointing fingers at whole groups of people, labeling them without knowing who they are, what their motives and beliefs are. Otherwise I become like them, whoever "them" might be. Perhaps this is why we need to be on watch.
It would be much easier if they were like those startlingly malevolent villains in my son's comic books, Doom, Sandman or Venom. They are a known quantity evil with faces, in direct competition with good. Who are the villains outside of this graphic dualistic world? If there is a beast, a villain attempting to dominate our thoughts, our lives and potentially the planet, right in our very midst, I will stand guard to make sure that we don't awaken one day to wonder, too late, what happened to love (the real love for one another and for our enemies), to equality and our own ability to decide between what is right and wrong.

One More Brick Towards Building The Kingdom

In the light of day, as I watch hummingbirds from my window flutter from one tree to another, disappearing like fairies into the branches, it occurs to me that UCC minister Chuck Currie is right. The world is turned upside down and is not prepared to hear the message of God's love. My Seminary class chatted with him online yesterday late into the evening and he graciously and patiently answered our many questions about his blogging ministry. As our conversation progressed the answer to my question of "Why blogging?" became apparent. I learned that as an advocate for public theology I need to be able to articulate to people, my congregation, friends, family and strangers why public theology is so very important and powerful. Also, how I, we, the Christian and human community can use it to do good in the world and help build the Kingdom of God here on earth, today!
Though the world may not be ready for the message of love, Reverend Currie said that as Christians (and I assert as all humans living in community, in mutuality) it is our duty through baptism to give "loving critiques of conventional wisdom" or attempt to turn this world right-side up. Susan Thistlethwaite, President of Chicago Theological Seminary, would add, a loving critique framed from a theological perspective. She said that theology is changed by the issues and perhaps more importantly that properly articulated and studied theology from the heart can change the issues.
To blog is to build. It is one more brick in the edifice of the Kingdom we so passionately pray for and dream about. In the light of day, I understand that simple prayers alone won't get us there, that the prophets challenged us out of complacency and guided us towards hope and that my public ministry, God willing, will serve to turn even one heart towards love.

American Blood and Treasure

I am certain it has all been said before but I will add to the flood of critique and consciousness about the war in Iraq. After reading and browsing a number of other faith-based blogs I am seeing that this war is clearly very much on the minds and hearts of many in the faith community. I'm new to the blogging culture and so I'm not surprised about this but I have jumped in headfirst to find out that yes we are still talking about the war and not about feeding the hungry or building community or creating jobs or helping single moms and dads get through the day.
In Jim Wallace's blog entry entitled Hagel to Petraeus, September 12, 2007, he sounded almost defeated, or perhaps just simply exhausted at the prospect of yet more misery and suffering, lies and lives lost. "For what?" Senator Hagel asked the General. One wonders why in these hearings, in political debates and community forums why folks like you and me, and the ones we put in the seat to represent us don't just ask the very simple questions like "Why?" or "Did you tell a lie?" or "Why can't we put those funds into our schools and infrastructure like we are putting in areas of Iraq?" and "What evidence is there that you are a man of God other than the fact that you simply say you are?" (Isn't there a higher standard like action in the form of peacemaking and cooperation just for starters?)
Well, for what? What are we doing now other than what seems to be waiting for something else to happen to the war, to the world, so that we don't have to make any more bad decisions. We are simply waiting while our children and their children are continuing to dye. After a few minutes of prodding by Senator Warner about another big question of whether the United States is in fact safer or not staying the course the General presented, he must have been caught in a moment of grace, freed to speak the truth when he answered, "Sir, I don't know, actually."
When a significant and frightening percentage of Americans say they think we are safer after all of the American blood and treasure spent on this war maybe the same things need to be said again and again lest we forget the truth. Lest we forget to keep asking these questions and demanding answers. We have laid the stone on this course hand in hand with General Petraeus. Are my questions and emails and intimate conversations with family and friends enough to prove my faith? What action have I taken?
I am tired of the blood and and treasure burned in this catastrophe. For now I am sticking with my questions and words put out on a line flapping in the wind until I can think of a better way to stop it all.

Host to the Apocalypse

Humanity seems to be throwing its arms and hearts wide open to the End Times. We are ushering her in out of the cold and into our homes. We are providing her with food and shelter, slippers and tea by the fireside with the hopes that she will bear down the gauntlet unmercifully on the unsaved while crowning the saved with God's glory. It is afterall the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and we should all be humble hosts to our demise, our doom. Or is this just a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Author Chris Hedges points out in Chapter 10 of American Fascists that there is regretably some evidence of the end of community found in the ubiquitous tar grids lined with uniform and souless fastfood restaurants, strip malls and nail shops. He wrote that the "disdain for nature, balance and harmony is part of the deadly, numbing assualt against community." p183 I have been thinking a lot recently about architecture, inspired in particular by the wave of green thinking and building, and I beleive that the architecture of isolation is something we need to give more attention to as ministers, activists, humans. I am coming to understand that how we live, in what environments and certainly under what conditions impact our levels of joy and health and how we relate to our community. If Christ is found in community then how we build and live must be taken into consideration. I love to buy old design and architecture magazines from thrift stores and found an interview with the famous American architect Richard Meier. Regarding the single family home he said it "served a critical social function; it makes a comment on society as well as on architecture." He went on to say that there is a direct connection between architecture and culture. He questioned whether architecture must become a vehicle for renovating society. Meier revealed to me that there is a distinction between "the moral content of the work from its symbolic function."
Yes, even architects will play a role in, as Meier says, "renovating" society. We all play a part in whether doom will be put to the curb with the morning trash. Ultimately everything will come to an end but let us not forget our Architect of Hope. We have no time to host doom. We have a world to love and a message of hope to pass on.
Love or perish. Love or perish. I choose to love.

Welcome!

The title of this blog celebrates two of my spirtual heroes. Both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. applied the theories and principles of Satyagraha to, first, transform themselves then the world. The Love Force, or Truth Force, maintains that through the Love of God and non-violence, injustice and violence (in the forms of both physical acts and oppressive ideologies) can be overcome. We are asked by Jesus to do just this: to love our enemies. By loving them we hopefully change hearts. It is through this active search of truth, our deliberate acts of love, that we make peace in the world and serve God.

My search for Truth and Love is ongoing. I think understanding that Truth is Love, that God is Love is the best place to begin.

I am blessed to share this blog with family and friends. By blogging I am celebrating freedom of speech, creativity and of course love.

Paz,

Kathryn Price