But I'm getting better at fighting the future

They say that there are two topics not to discuss in polite company: religion and politics. I say it's time to shatter that accepted belief and jump right in. Now is not the time to be silent when speaking with friends and family about our politics, or about the way that our faith shapes our politics.

I know that many of my circle are John McCain supporters. This seems to be for a variety of reasons--he appears honest, he is supposedly a maverick, he is the Republican candidate and the Republican Party is the party of moral values. But the major problem with McCain is that he won't be a candidate that chooses life. John McCain has already made it clear that he is not only willing to continue the long slog in Iraq, but is ready for war with Iran as well. He is a supporter of free trade, a free trade that continues to hold down the most impoverished citizens of the world. He made clear in a recent interview that he is not interested in pursuing renewable energy or strict fuel economy standards.

Many of these points have been noted in a previous blog. What I'm saying here is that it's time for us all to examine what it really means to live our faith. Our faith should dictate each and every piece of our lives. I'm aware that this is difficult, oh so difficult, but for goodness' sake, for God's sake, please, please incorporate it into your voting.

From the earliest Old Testament Jubilee years to the prophets crying for justice to Jesus' teachings on "the least of these", it is clear that a belief in God should propel us to call for a change in the policies of the US. Justice means an end to preemptive war. Justice requires a call for fairer trade and development policies that allow the 2/3s of the world living on $2 a day a chance at a life in which they don't worry each day about how they will eat. Justice is caring for our planet so that we don't degrade the soils, pollute the water and flood our cities.

Yes, these are concepts that we can all work toward through our private lives, through our churches and through community organizations. But our churches aren't the ones that sign off on war (most were against the Iraq invasion), our churches can't pledge billions for international development (although we can buy pigs for Haiti), our churches can't impose carbon caps or fuel economy standards. We have a chance to change our country, and through our country the world, but it has to come from both directions--it must come from the grassroots, populist movement, and it must come from the top, from leaders and an administration with courage to look beyond our borders and beyond today.
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Now playing: Jimmy Eat World - Dizzy
via FoxyTunes

I Am My Voice, and I Want to Scream

I've been thinking over the weekend about the direction I'd like this blog to take. I don't think I've been very purposeful with it, just throwing up my random thoughts, observations, and commentary. But I've been reading Jim Wallis and have started thinking about prophetic voices.

Now, I'm not claiming to have a prophetic voice--but I am saying we have lost the words of the prophets. While I may not be a prophet, I do have a voice, and I do have the ability to write well and express my thoughts coherently.

I'm going to start collecting my thoughts and centering them on moving toward a separate blog. Something along the lines of "gracefully green," combining environmentalism, food choices and faith. I don't know if such a thing exists or if I'm even qualified to create it, but I just might try.

I just know I don't want this:


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Now playing: Copeland - Don't slow down

I am but one small instrument

People say, "What good can one person do? What is the sense of our small effort?" They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time. We can be responsible only for the one action of the present moment. But we can beg for an increase of love in our hearts that will vitalize and transform all our individual actions, and know that God will take them and multiply them, as Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes.

- Dorothy Day
from Loaves and Fishes

Loaves and fishes, the subject of our gospel on Sunday and the bible study this week.

How many times I have asked myself...what's the point? What's the point in me recycling a can, paying more for organics, scootering instead of driving? After all, this is a city in which people freely toss cans and bottles in the garbage can (unthinkable to most west-coasters), a nation in which most people strive to find the best bargain on foodstuffs, a population who believes it to be their unalienable right to drive the biggest gas-guzzlers possible. What good does my individual effort really do?

Some days I'm tempted to just let go of the fight. Washing my tin cans is so much more time consuming than tossing them in the garbage sack, and if I didn't pay so much for my groceries, I could probably afford more shoes. When thoughts like these cross my mind, it makes me realize that these choices I make really do stem from my faith, in particular my biblical sense of justice.

God grants us life. God allows us the freedom to choose, from choosing faith right on down to choosing to drink from a disposable water bottle. But God also tells us, over and over, to care for the poor. To do all we can for those that have the quietest voice. To DO justice. I am fortunate enough to both have a voice and be able to make choices. What kind of faith would I be living if I were to not consider the rest of the world, who has no ability to protest when their soils are degraded, their staple food prices too high to purchase, or their waters are polluted?

And so, bit by bit, I consciously make choices that I often feel have absolutely no impact on the wider world. I'm trying to make them more and more, but it's extremely difficult some days (after all, I really do love shoes). But when I interact with others making those small contributions, I'm reminded that I'm not alone. And God gave me a voice. Others may tire of hearing it, but it's a call, a mission, a ministry.

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Now playing: Sherwood - We Do This To Ourselves
via FoxyTunes

Just the Two of Us, a Silver Cross

It's been quite the stressful day at work. I feel the tension eating its way up my neck and spreading through my shoulders. I took a break to check out my newest guilty pleasure, www.foundmagazine.com. They collect and post notes, letters, postcards, pictures, etc that people find in various places. This one caught my eye today.

What DOES it mean when our average congregates are over 50? Are churches losing relevance, or are young people losing faith?

What amazes me so much about my church in New Orleans is that it shows that God is not irrelevant, and that we do not need to create fancy programs and eye-catching gimmicks to attract younger people to church. It is definitely the youngest congregation of which I've been a part, but we're not there for high-tech presentations, a crazy worship team, contemporary music, or a coffee cart (not that I'd mind a coffee cart...). In fact, it seems in some ways the opposite of what many claim young people enjoy in church, with its emphasis on liturgy and classical hymns.

So what is it about Redeemer that goes against this little note? I believe it's the mission-mindedness of the congregation. Most of the young adults that attend are recent comers to NOLA, and they're here to do their part to put the city back together. It's a tough job, so it's really no surprise that so many who come here permanently are doing it because they have a strong sense that God has called them here. I believe it is that shared mission that keeps the young people coming.

So what does it say when the average age in the church is over fifty? Maybe it's not God that's irrelevant...maybe it's the fact that the church has lost sight of its true mission. It may be expressed in many different ways or words, but if the congregation is not living out their faith in the world, maybe it's the church goers that are making the idea of church seem a little, well, pointless.

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Now playing: The Refreshments - Blue Collar Suicide
via FoxyTunes

The Comfort We Create To Prove We're Something

"The comfort we create to prove we're something
But we're starving
Screaming in the night cause you want answers
From the one..."

Solace for the Soul is the result of a cry of my heart. It was a cry that I never expected to lead me here; to this moment. Eight years ago I asked God to light a fire inside me, to show me who He is, and to give me a passion for Him unlike anything I’ve ever known. God heard my cry. The Lord was quick to reveal a few things to me. He showed me that I did not know Him because I did not spend time with Him. He showed me that I did not have a passion for Him because I did not spend enough time in His word. He also showed me that I did not pray expectantly because I did not trust Him to answer my prayers. He showed me, in a sense, that I needed to start over in my relationship Him. So I started with the basics. First, I dedicated a part of each morning to reading God’s Word. I faithfully read the one year bible and journaled everything I learned from that particular day’s reading. Second, I carried an index card around with me with a verse for the day and a list of prayer requests. I read them frequently and found myself crossing things off and adding new things to the list each day. Third, I emersed myself in good music. I played worship music in my home even when I wasn’t there. Fourth, I surrounded myself with people who love Jesus, and learned alot about God by listening to them and by watching them live their lives. These are simple actions that dramatically changed my life. By taking the time to sit at the feet of Jesus, I grew to know my Savior in a way I never thought possible. I read the Bible anticipating that I will learn something new. I pray expectantly that God will answer me. My simple cry to know God allowed the Holy Spirit to renew me, and filled me with a passion for Christians to know God’s Word and for Christians to make it a priority in their lives to spend time in prayer, to seek solace for their soul.

This is what is written at the bottom of my Auntie Amy's blog.
Let's see, she is...12 years older than me, which would mean that it was when she was (roughly) 30 that she decided to seek a deeper relationship with God. I can only hope that if I start now, at a younger age, I can be as on fire as she is when I reach the same age. Auntie, I admire so much the way that you live out your beliefs and the way that your relationship with God permeates every thing that you do.

And lately I've been realizing that all that I do, the freakouts I have, the sorrow that I feel, it all comes down to the fact that I do not trust in God enough...the faith that I've always thought is so strong in my life is nothing but a smoke screen. It is there in the fact that I believe in God and probably always will, but trusting him to guide my days...well, apparently that is giving someone else too much control.

So what to do? It seems I have the guideposts right here. Dive into the Bible. Read it all (for once; never made it through those Kings that I was required to reading in confirmation...sorry Dad). Make commitments to prayer. Faithfully attend my community group and cross my fingers that another standard poodle does not try to sink its teeth into my wrist.

I have so many issues with control, with giving it up. I've been fighting with God, trying to say that I am ok, that my faith is just grand, that I don't need to do more. And then I spiral down and I know that I can't do it myself, but still I try and try.

Now my strength will be in my weakness...after all, that is where God's power is made perfect.