eucharistic people

I got an email from my friend Carlos Delgado, who just moved back to California two weeks ago. He is a wise sage and a deep, reflective writer who even at a distance regularly encourages me in my journey as a follower of Jesus.

Our community, the Open Door, is regularly wrestling with what it means to be an authentic community living among the urban poor. How does pursuing the true religion the God accepts not become a paternalistic handout that perpetuates white middle class privilege? How do we, like Jesus move into the neighborhood and journey with the marginalized?

Carlos in reflecting on Henri Nouwen’s journal Gracias: A Latin American Journal, from the six-month mission he took down to Bolivia and Peru gave us some encouraging words that speak to this incarnational mission with our neighbors. In Carlos' words: "May it remind us all that gratitude and celebration and sharing meals fit together naturally, even though only in Christ do they make the most sense."

Henri Nouwen, (from Gracias: A Latin American Journal, pp. 146–147)

Gratitude is one of the most visible characteristics of the poor I have come to know. I am always surrounded by words of thanks: “thanks for your visit, your blessing, your sermon, your prayer, your gifts, your presence with us.” Even the smallest and most necessary goods are a reason for gratitude. This all-pervading gratitude is the basis for celebration. Not only are the poor grateful for life, but they also celebrate life constantly. A visit, a reunion, a simple meeting are always like little celebrations. Every time a new gift is recognized, there are songs or toasts, words of congratulation, or something to eat and drink. And every gift is shared. “Have a drink, take some fruit, eat our bread” is the response to every visit I make, and this is what I see people do for each other. All of life is a gift, a gift to be celebrated, a gift to be shared.

Thus the poor are a eucharistic people, people who know to say thanks to God, to life, to each other. They may not come to Mass, they may not participate in many church celebrations. But in their hearts they are deeply religious, because for them all of life is a long fiesta with God.

A few of us reading Mark Gornick's book, To Live in Peace in which he similarly states, “Building communities of grace in the inner city entails creating spiritual and social spaces of freedom and acceptance where relationships of honesty, support and encouragement are sustained in the grace of God.... A central task of the church in the inner city is to learn how to build communities of reconciliation that express the newness of the kingdom in social, economic, political and gender relationships.”

May the Lord continue to shower us with his grace to become such a people!!!!!

MLK the prophet

The prophet Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this in April 1963 and it is still true today.

From A Letter from the Birmingham Jail,
In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? I am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great-grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an arch-defender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

Howard Thurman - praxis prayer

I am reading Howard Thurman's Meditations of the Heart for an Advent devotional. I read Jesus of the Disinherited in seminary and was really impacted by the book. Thurman (1899-1981) was the co-founder of the first inter-racially pastored, intercultural church in the US. He was a mentor and significant influence on the life and ministry of MLK Jr; and in my opinion he is dreadfully under-read by most Christians; for he is an amazingly insightful theologian, mystic and social critique who was way ahead of his time. I am continually struck by how similar African American/Black theology is to the theology emerging from emergent folks. Why is it then that more African Americans are not engaged in the emerging church conversation? For some great insight into this questions check Anthony Smith's blog, and his chapter, Practicing Pentecost in Emergent Manifesto of Hope. Anyway my main reason for writing is to share with you a section of Howard Thurman on prayer that is typical of African American theology. It is a model of what I will call, praxis prayer which is holistic, active and rooted in a Hebraic understanding of knowing - that if you know, you act and if you do not act then maybe you do not really know; knowledge cannot be separated from action. Thurman, reflectively outlines the natural movement of ones prayer to God which he says ends in the...

"...sharing of one's desires and hopes for others, and one's sense of need which the whole human family shares - the need for peace, for health, for justice and for decency...one must share with God in the whole task of redeeming human life. It is never quite sufficient to place all the needs of mankind before God and leave them there. The efficacy of prayer is often measured by the degree to which the individual is willing to become involved in actually working in the world to meet these needs. A man may share his prayer concern fore peace in the world and yet in his own little world, be unwilling to change his private attitude of antagonism or prejudice toward his fellows."

May we be willing to participate in the activity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the world - which may be the answer to our own prayers and the prayers of others!!!!

the TRC and ubuntu

Yesterday I had the privilege of hearing a lecture by Dr. Piet Meiring on Reconciliation: South Africa and the World. Dr. Meiring was asked by Nelson Mandela to serve on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and has had a long-term commitment to racial reconciliation and to care for the poor. He has been an advisor helping in similar processes in Indonesia, Israel, Palestine, Ireland, Fiji, Rwanda, India and Sri Lanka.

He told many stories of the TRC, stories of grief, pain loss, shame and reconciliation. It seems that the US has historically lost the opportunity to engage in its own TRC since most of the historical players have since died. 40 acres and mule never happened. This in my opinion has left us with many unresolved issues. There has been no truth telling and therefore no reconciliation has happened or is even possible. I do not know the history of my people and the history I do know is not the whole truth, it is a tainted history told in order to cover up the truth and the atrocities committed and the wounds that were made. One phrase Dr. Meiring presented yesterday that are still ringing out of the South African context into ours are as follows. You cannot close the book on Apartheid unless we wrestle with the truth of the book. In our context we have supposedly closed the book on slavery and racism and work hard to keep it closed and never open it again. We think that this is moving on: forgiving and forgetting, but not addressing the truth and the necessary healing memories for the oppressed and the oppressors. After hearing of the healing process of telling the true stories of how some had been sinned against and other have sinned it seems to me that we have inherited a history of untold stories, and not just untold stories but an intentional attempt to not tell the stories, to ignore the stories and live not in the light but in the darkness. What kind of effect does this have on the psyche of our collective souls, the hearts and minds of the oppressors and the oppressed in our country? We live in the dark and deny the truth and thus cannot be set free.

This was further exemplified as last night I watched the movie, In My Country, which is the story of an American reporter (Samuel Jackson) and an Afrikaner reporter (Juliete Binoche) covering the TRC in South Africa. This is a must see film!!! The film portrays the deep anger, bitterness and unresolved issues that Americans have in regards to race. How we are unwilling to let go of our anger and rage and how we have no concept of ubuntu. Ubuntu is a Bantu word and the concept which defines the individual in terms of their relationships with others and community; it is a quality and character that a person has. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “ A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed. Ubuntu is solidarity; it is commonality; it is unity; it understands the inherent and integral relationship that you have with the family of God. It is saying that there is no true understanding of myself apart from the person next to me – we are connected, we are fellow citizens, we are family. In th film and in the reality of the US we have not concept of how the history of slavery and racism has wounded hurt and oppressed all of us, not just African Americans but anything that hurts another human being in turn hurts us. Ubuntu is allowing S. African blacks to forgive white Afrikaners and allows white Afrikaners to offer amends and restorative justice for their wrongs because they know that they are all connected to one another and bitterness, unforgiveness will eventually effect them.

Jesus said, “those who live by the truth come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” To walk in the light is to live in the open, honestly, authentically, plainly and transparently. Light and walking in it is about truthfulness with your self, with others and with God. Light is about being exposed and freed from hiding. Darkness is about sneaking around, hiding, shame, fear, and covering up who we really are. May we learn from our South African brothers and sisters to come out of the darkness and into the light of truth.

the voices of the others

Over the past three weeks God has been sending his hound of heaven to speak, pursue and convict me of the importance of diversity, plurality, unity, racial reconciliation and multiculturalism in the church. It started as I began preaching through the book of Ephesians and revisited the reality of the Gospel being communal, social and reconciliatory as it torn down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Greek and that Jesus is our peace and creating one new humanity; I then read Anthony Smith's article Practicing Pentecost in Emergent Manifesto of Hope; that some week I want to a seminar on the multicultural church by Rev. Jin Kim who pastors the Church of all Nations; and just his weekend Dr. John Franke talked about how if the PCUSA is going to allow for emergence it will need to continue to reform by listening and learning from the voices of the "other", the minority and realize that there is no culturally free theology and we are in need of hearing from and learning from those who tend to have minority voices; finally at the same Presbymergent conference by my good friend Derrick Weston, I was challenged to reconsider the necessity of reconciliation, relocation and redistribution of the CCDA's vision birthed by John Perkins.

OK I get it Lord! I feel as though God is reminding me a vision that he planted in my heart many years ago. And yet at the same time it is new and fresh. God is renewing in me a passion for justice, peace, a visible multicultural church and the passion to pursue it. I have shed many tears these past weeks. Tears for forsaking the call of the Gospel. Tears for the broken relationships, alienation and injustice among people of different cultures in the church. Tears for the forthcoming struggle of what it will mean to shift, change, let go and surrender to the Holy spirit who is calling the Open Door to more explicitly and actively engage the whole gospel of human reconciliation, justice, peace and the celebrating the marginal voices of the 'others" in our midst. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ empower me to lead and surround me with others who share the vision of every tribe tongue and nation gathered before the throne of the Lamb. May I have the courage to use my white privilege to be a prophetic voice, casting a picture of the shalom of God in our church and city.

I am going to do my best to begin to reflect on some of these thoughts over the next week or two so stay tuned.

Postmodern Celts???

In my class on Celtic Christianity Dr. Purves listed some characteristics of Celtic Christianity that he is discovering i his reading. I was struck how the mindset and worldview of the Celts lined up with many postmodern Christians. I have heard it said before that the premodern (the Celts) era is very similar to the postmodern era. Could these not also be characteristics of an incarnated church in a postmodern and post-Christendom, 21st century culture?

• Embodiedness, for the Celts life was whole; there was no split between body and spirit
• They had a strong sense of the immanence the nearness of God especially on earth
  
• The believed in and depended on the Power of God and the supernatural
  
• They were Penitential
• Incarnational
• They had a Sacramental world view
• They were Ascetics – they like it tough and with self denial
• Strongly affective, relational and communal
  
• Trinitarian
• Non-dualists
• Liminality – the distance between heaven and earth is very thin
• Missional
• They were Perepatic people or wonderers, journeyers; yet for whom home was important
• They were non-hierarchical and communitarian
• They were oral people, story tellers
  

Man I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

C.I.T.Y.

It was a tough week in the CITY so this is a little something I wrote:

The C.I.T.Y
Makes me cry
And wonder why?
Urban dwellers
shuffle the poor like papers
we are...
still separated by the shade of face
every one knowing their place
we race
setting a pace with…
no grace.

We are all…
Stuck and F***ed
Needing to see the need
The need needing to be seen
The needy needing to be seen
and
acknowledged by those who go to college
and choose to use
the system to
unintentionally bruise
those who inevitably loose.

Straining like camels
hitting our humps
squeeee…zing through the gate
like a gnat
who is too FAT
You see...
distance is the key
close but not too
“Roll ‘em up!”
‘Keep clean!”
“Lock the doors”
“Beware!”
“Is it safe?”

Deafened by distance, division, and disgust
Incarcerated by ignorance, indifference and individuality
Chained by choice, chocking our spirit
binding and winding and grinding
us and them up into self…
absorption
a paralytic contortion
of mind and spirit
with no relation, connection
simply isolation,
starvation
we are emaciated partners
needing nurtured nutrients
one from the other
but
busyness blurs
and blinds our beings

be still my soul!

smash and shatter the shackles
galvanize gentries without gentrification
bolster beauty without bureaucracy
garner generosity without greed
judge justly without jealousy
render restoration without relocation

may we be free to see
may we see you in thee
may we be you to thee
may they be thee to me

Are plights deepening for black men?

My new blogsphere comrade (pomonegro) has a post on Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies Warn from a NY Times article that has to be read byany of us who are engaged in inner city work or ministry. Make sure you watch the video about Strive in Baltimore, MD. Here are some of the findings.

The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990's. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless, that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000. Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990's and reached historic highs in the past few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20's who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30's, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison. In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.

The journey of racial reconciliation

Over the past month many of us have gathered on Mondays nights to talk about race, economics, and how we can continue the journey towards racial reconciliation and justice. Here are some random thoughts about continuing that journey from our last meeting.

Here is our reality: By the year 2050 there will be more nonwhite than white Americans and most of the nonwhite population will be Asian and Hispanic, not African American. There are over 2 million mixed-race children in the United States. One in every 20 children born is of mixed-race in the United States.

How do we live into this growing multicultural nation of ours? As cliche as it sounds start with yourself. Examine yourself and understand your context. Become familiar with your own cultural heritage. Become familiar with your own story and the circumstances and people who have influenced who you are. Allow that self reflection to lead you to confess your stereotypes and prejudices. Study your own situation (neighborhood, city, state). What does its story reveal to you about race and ethnicity?

Commit to a lifelong journey and persevere regardless of response and outcomes in all areas of life. Ask yourself, "where do you eat, shop, worship, live, hang out etc." Is that furthering reconciliation and education or separation and ignorance?

Step out of what is familiar to you. How can you place yourself in the context of another group? Seek a situation where you are invited and welcomed. As a majority culture person, be an observant listener and learner as you engage in a place where you are a minority

Build friendships with 1-2 people of another race or ethnicity, who share common interests; where you can practice hospitality; where authentic conversation can happen. Bring others along; share with others what you are learning; speak out when issues come up.

Jointly develop cooperative partnerships and build on a foundation of friendship and trust. Resist the temptation to be sole initiator, wait and choose to plan unilaterally from the ground up. Include styles and forms from each ethnic group represented.

We, the Open Door and Union Project do not have all the answers but we trust God as we seek his face and journey further up and further in towards him and his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

For some interesting thoughts check out pomonegro.

They CANNOT take your pride...

Thanks be to God for the work of his Holy Spirit in and through his people to bring out 300+ people to the Open Door and Union Project to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. last night. The choirs were riveting, the building was packed, the message was inspiring and challenging, the food was somehow multiplied, and God was at work.

As a way of building on last night we will be hosting 4 conversations on each Monday in February, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Union Project. Please come out as we struggle together to discern what it looks like to continue and build on Dr. King's work and dream for racial justice and reconciliation in the East End of Pittsburgh.

If you have not read any of Dr. King check out Letter from Birmingham Jail.