Just a Little Side Deal

I really haven't been up on the news so much lately but I needed to share this little gem. I have been seeing this conflict between the US and Israel because Israel is bulldozing Palestinians houses in Jerusalem (whats new?) to build houses for Israels and America actually said, "hey were not so down with that actually". Its kind of cooled the relationship a little bit. I guess its not enough though. The faithful Amy Goodman posted a little new clip that the US has agreed to give Israel a couple military aircrafts from Lockheed costing a small $250 million. This isn't the end of it though. There are also talks of an agreement to give Israel $3 billion more for military aircrafts.

$3.25 billion? A lot more could be done with that money other than continually arming Israel to the teeth. I don't know if its just me but this kind of stuff really bums me out. It also sucks that very few people know about it. Unless you have your ear to the ground or check un or less censored news, this information just doesn't come up. America's mass weapon sales is really a dirty filthy secret. Did you know that America has sold $154 billion over the last 6 years. Thats a lot of things to kill people.

Emergent to Me

I noticed today that I have a little info about me section on this right section in which I claim to be emergent. I think a lot of people are unsure about what being emergent means. I am going to tell you what it means to me. Because after all that’s all an emergent can do. Please do not take me to be the ambassador of the emergent church or the spokesperson for any of the emergent circles I have crossed.

Let’s start with a little history. Three years ago I got connected with a relatively different campus ministry. This led me to attend a one day conference led by a woman named Phyllis Tickle. She worked for many years as the head religion editor for Publishers Daily and could easily be retired. Phyllis has got to be in her upper 70’s and is just a pure spitfire, doesn’t act a day above 20. She spoke about this Abrahamic pattern detailing a huge rummage sale the church undergoes every 500 years. Guess what? We’re at about 500 since Martin Luther reshaped the church forever with his 99 treaties. Phyllis believes that the emergent church will be what fills this 500 pattern of dramatic change in the church. I hoping for this change right there with her.

Now let’s talk a little bit about emergent organization and doctrine. To put it simply, there isn’t much if any. I would say emergents focus on two things, community and conversation. I really believe in these two parts. For the first time, I have found people who believe their knowledge and reasoning is a gift from God and really want to use it to glorify him. There are heavy hitters like Brian Mclaren, Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt who have helped nurture many emergents but overall I think people want to grow organically with the people being shaped by God shaping the emergent movement. We now can wonder in the term postmodernism because this phrase is often associated with emergent but I wouldn’t say that emergents are postmodern. I personally don’t feel comfortable putting a monopoly on God saying that I know God’s will and this is right or wrong or this person is in or out. I don’t think we are big enough as humans to be able to make that decision. On the other hand I don’t believe that as long as it’s culturally relative it’s ok. There are some acts that are just anti Gods creation. I really think that as Christians that if we are going to have orthodoxy then we should have generous one full of grace and peace (after all Paul began every letter he wrote with the words “grace and peace to you”).

The emergent church has been under some heavy criticism, I mainly think because of biblical authority so let’s chat about that for a minute. On a more personal note, I struggle with the bible every day. I don’t have definitive answers here, only current beliefs. I believe the bible is God inspired but not inerrant. Maybe when the bible was first compiled I could believe that it was inerrant but we have to stop treating it as absolute authority. Let’s be real here, the bible has been through many translations and many year. We have to stop picking it up and reading it literally to this. We must take into account the context in which was written, the vast amount of metaphor used and the rich ancient language that can bring new meaning to stripped English words. God is ultimate authority and I think we have to stop treating the bible bigger than it is. A conversation is a cornerstone of the emergent church. This is putting trust in God work in his beings to tune into his story.

The last thing I want to talk about is where we are turning our eyes. I do not think God has an evacuation plan for all those who believe in his son to abandon earth leaving everyone else behind. “on earth as it is in heaven” I believe Jesus has called us to bring heaven on earth restoring Eden. I have experienced thin places when I feel so close to heaven that I can taste it. On the other hand, there are many dark corners of this earth. I don’t think heaven is ever to far away. I have been in dialogue with a close friend about the astonishing contrast between places of absolute beauty and total devastation. At first I was mad about this contrast but the more I thought about it, the more comforted I felt knowing that in the darkest parts of the world, God is there to remind you that there is something greater. I believe we should constantly ask God to align our hearts with his plan to bring heaven here on earth. After explaining this to some people they tell me that earth has already fallen and cannot meet Gods plan of perfection. I usually respond by asking them “how big do you think God is?”

I think more and more people have come to this conclusion and have starting asking God how they can be a part of his plan to bring heaven on earth. I was lucky enough to spend some time with an emergent group called Neighbors Abbey with a great facilitator named Troy Bronsink. This group is passionately working to fight sex slavery in their neighborhood in southeast Atlanta. These are beautifully intelligent people bringing light into the darkest underground corners of Atlanta.

I don’t know about you but I’m feeling pretty excited right now. I’m pumped to wake up every morning and see what a beautiful God has in store for me to help him bring his kingdom an inch closer to earth.

In Remembrance of Oscar Romero

30 years ago today, a goliath in the human right movement was murdered while giving mass to a local church in El Salvador . The archbishop of El Salvador Oscar Romero become one of the strongest voices against the violence occurring in El Salvador. When I say violence, I mean over 40,000 people were killed or disappeared by mostly the nations security forces dressed in civilian clothes that became know as death squads. For years Romero stood up in the face of a very real danger and proclaimed truth and peace. He was aware of the dangers around him as several friends had been assassinated. A day after Romero called on the military to obey God's call to peace and respect for human beings, they came after him. He was shot in the heart literally as was performing the Eucharist (communion). He really followed Gods call to bring heaven on earth and I think we should not only remember him today but also continue the work that he was doing.

It turned out that many of the death squads and military officials of not just El Salvador but most of Latin America had been trained in America. For almost 60 years over 60,000 Latin American soldiers have been trained to in brutal counterinsurgency tactics from intimidation murders to disappearances to torture. All violations of human rights to serve Americas interests in overseas. The main training facility is located in Fort Benning Georgia called the School of Americas. (now renamed WHISC Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooporation)

Every November there is a mass protest outside the gates of Fort Benning. I attended last year and would love to take part again this year. I met a lot beautiful souls standing in solidarity for all those who have died as a consequence of brutal American training. Please if you have the means to attend I highly recommend it. Here is the link to the group that organizes the protest: School of Americas Watch

A Different Direction

So I've had a little bit more internet connection lately and started a twitter account. It will be filled with music quotes, friend quotes and potential blog titles that will never occur. http://twitter.com/ishoutedmyjoy

Check it!

Sorry I haven't written as much. Some of my writing time is taken by this:

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/worldview/blogs/20897-the-hate-heard-round-the-world

We Are Just Starting

I haven't been able to follow exactly what has been happening in American politics but I do know that as I slept last night Washington passed a fairly large healthcare reform bill. From what I see it obviously is not perfect but it certainly is a start. It makes me sad that many people have bickered about politics and have not really discussed what really can help America. I don’t know much, but a piece of legislation has arisen and it’s a step in the right direction.

I don't think anybody is happy with where the bill is but it’s something and know is where we come in. We, the people of America have to fill the gaps. Regardless of what your view is about the bill and where you think it is lacking. It is now time for all of us to stand up and fight for those things that we feel let down by from the bill. If you are really passionate about abortion rights then stand up and ask some questions about what you can do to stop abortion. Or if you believe that illegal immigrants should be covered under this plan then what can you do try to get that to happen? How can we work in the broken system to make your beliefs become closer to practice? Government will never have it right in a million years.

We cannot put our faith in governments. They will always let us down. They’re not big enough to hold the weight of the worries we all have on its shoulders. Only God can do that. We must look upward and ask what his plan is to bring heaven oI haven't been able to follow exactly what has been happening in American politics but I do know that as I slept last night Washington passed a fairly large healthcare reform bill. From what I see it obviously is not perfect but it certainly is a start. It makes me sad that many people have bickered about politics and have not really discussed what really can help America. I don’t know much, but a piece of legislation has arisen and it’s a step in the right direction.

I don't think anybody is happy with where the bill is but it’s something and know is where we come in. We, the people of America have to fill the gaps. Regardless of what your view is about the bill and where you think it is lacking. It is now time for all of us to stand up and fight for those things that we feel let down by from the bill. If you are really passionate about abortion rights then stand up and ask some questions about what you can do to stop abortion. Or if you believe that illegal immigrants should be covered under this plan then what can you do try to get that to happen? How can we work in the broken system to make your beliefs become closer to practice? Government will never have it right in a million years.

We cannot put our faith in governments. They will always let us down. They’re not big enough to hold the weight of the worries we all have on its shoulders. Only God can do that. We must look upward and ask what his plan is to bring heaven on earth and how we can be a part of it No government can do that. Even if we disagree, I think we can all find a bigger common ground.

I’m not trying to say stop trying to bring positive change to the government but they have taken a first step and we must continue to reach farther than it could ever reach. We must lift our brothers and sisters higher than any tax code or unjust law.n earth and how we can be a part of it No government can do that. Even if we disagree, I think we can all find a bigger common ground.

I’m not trying to say stop trying to bring positive change to the government but they have taken a first step and we must continue to reach farther than it could ever reach. We must lift our brothers and sisters higher than any tax code or unjust law.

Donate with Love

When I first entered our school library I took a quick glance around and though wow this seems to be a pretty good library (of course in comparison). The relatively small room was full of books and many of those seemed like text books. Looks can be deceiving though. As I started to peruse the shelves, I realized that many of these books had never been touched and with good reason. The library has a random assortment of donated books that have little to no meaning to anybody. For example, what on earth could the school do with 10 copies of Business Code for the State of Texas or 8 copies Making DOS Work For your Family or 5 copies of a history book about Wisconsin? There are many irrelevant titles like these two that I feel will never see the light of day.

Overall, Rwanda is kind of a culture of used or donated things. It’s very difficult to find new any type of clothing. I’m starting to gauge that almost all clothes are donated from mostly Europe then sold again in the markets. This leads to a wide array of people wearing an assortment of wonderfully ironic and random t-shirts. For example: I didn’t lose my mind, I sold it on ebay, worn by a little boy who lives a million miles away from ebay. Our silly t-shirt from fifth grade actually do go somewhere other than a black hole.

My friend k-ray works for Habitat helping manage their used book store and she was describing to me how many people donate books that are just pure junk and there is no way they can be resold. Then not only does Habitat have a bunch of junk books they have to pay money to have the useless books recycled. That’s a double bummer.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is, make sure your donations are donation worthy. It is very nice that places like Goodwill, Salvation Army and Habitat take in donations but I think it can really be a hassle to weed through the junk to actually find good things to give to people. Trust me, I know it’s hard to recycle or throw away things but if they cannot have use to anyone else it might be best to toss it and not donate it. So save these good organizations some headache and money and think about what you are donating.

Just an FYI

I was checking out one of my favorite websites, Democracy Now and learned something that I just found appalling and have decided I wanted to share it with you. The Spectrem Group just released a new study that revealed that the number of millionaires in America rose by 16% last year. Pardon my language but that’s just fucked up. I have heard countless stories of people just hurting, the economy is not so great right now and many people are looking for jobs. The discrepancy between rich and poor in America is just getting astronomical. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. I don’t know if its just me but when I read the headline that the number of millionaires rose by 16% it just made my stomach turn. Oh we need change. Another world is possible. Please lets cry out for justice.

Don't Have a Cow (literally)

I was doing my normal stroll home after school yesterday. I was feeling good about the day, watching the sun set over the hills when I was stopped by one of the groundskeepers who pointed behind some bushes to show me something. Of course I was intrigued and strolled around to check it out. Of to my surprise, I cruise around the corner to find a man with about 3/4s of his bare arm inside the rear of a cow. I know what you’re thinking, so what, I’ve seen Mike Rowe on dirty jobs do this a million times. I promise you, seeing it in real person and without any sort of glove makes things different. I do have to be fair to the guy and say that he did take the precautionary measure of taking off his shirt before starting his adventure. So me and the other groundskeepers end up spending the next 30 minutes watching this guy pull a calf from this mother cow. After all was said and done, I would guess that it looked like someone had been slimed at least 10 times on Family Double Dare. I’m not sure but that might have been a life changing experience. Oh also for those that are counting, this makes it school number two that I have been at that has cows.

So while we are on the topic of cows, let me share with you some devilish little facts about cows. Cows can be monster producers of greenhouse gasses. I use the words “can be” because if they are grass fed and graze in a pasture the amount of greenhouse gasses are cut down tremendously. You might be asking yourself, well why? And are my cows grass fed? Cows that are raised in factory farms are corn fed. Cows cannot digest corn so they are pumped full of all sorts of chemicals to be able to digest corn. If you were wondering if the cows you eat are raised in a factory farm then they probably are. 98% of livestock is raised in factory farms. Another fun fact about cows is that while they are in these factory farms they pick up all sorts of nasty diseases that can be transferred to you and me like salmonella and e-coli. Cows are kind of cool animals though. If they go from the factory farm and graze in a grass pasture for just five days, they clean themselves of all harmful bacteria. Do you think factory farmers do this? Nah, it’s cheaper for them to slaughter the cows and send the meat off to nice old ammonia baths to clean them.

Conserve Water

It has become clear that the weather is starting to shift from the dry to the rainy season. A couple of weeks ago we would hope for a little bit of rain once a week. The water barrel outside our house had been dry for quite a few days. Small sprinkles were little victories until about a week and a half ago. We have started to get rain almost every other day and when I say rain, I mean a lot of it. I mean the skies go black and it’s going downpour for hours.

Thankful for the rain that we get, we try to conserve as much water as we can. We are aware the rainy season is coming but that is usually followed by a particularly harsh dry season for this area. We try to be careful of what kind of water we use and how much we use. The rain water from the roof and water barrel outside is usually collected with jerry cans and put into our 2 larger 10 gallon barrels. This water is used for drinking after being boiled. There is water that comes from the tap, which only runs a couple hours a week, we use for doing dishes, laundry and showers. Lastly there is water from the river. This is the dirtiest water which we usually use for cleaning the house and toilet. If we run out of one, we have to use the others to fill those needs. For example we had to use the collected tap water as our drinking water for a couple weeks when we had no rain.

Every day we see children and adults carrying jerry cans to the river for water. Many collect this water and walk it back to their homes to use to fit their basic needs. Many people use this water for everything as they have no devices to use to collect rain or this no rain to be collected. As I said earlier, this water is as dirty as it gets and everybody drinks it. This is why so many people die each year from water borne illnesses. I suspect when the dry season is upon us in full force we will have no choice but use the river water as drinking water.

Please maybe think about these things as you turn on your tap water to get a drink of water or take a shower that water is a luxury and millions in the world are living without fresh water. If you have house, maybe consider purchasing a rain collection barrel to use when watering the plants or washing the car. There are many things that can be done to conserve water. Please think about them.

Maybe we Could Ask the Government to Stop Killing People?

Right before moving to Rwanda I saw a news blurb saying that Rwanda will be joining the British Commonwealth. To be honest, I really didn’t know what that meant but somehow it came up in conversation in the teacher’s lounge and I learned that one of the requirements to be in the Commonwealth is that you cannot have capital punishment. Out of only a few requirements, not having the death penalty is one of them. So of course Rwanda doesn’t have the death penalty as well as a vast majority of countries. I find this quite interesting. Why America? Why do we still have the death penalty? There is no benefit to having the government kill people. The death penalty costs more than keeping someone in prison for life. It also has been determined that the death penalty in no way is a deterrent to violent crime. Another problem is that there are a lot of innocent people sitting on death row. Maybe you could check out Amnesty and their campaign to free Troy Davis.

Oye, I really believe that it just follows the myth of redemptive violence. I promise it doesn’t work. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. What can we do in America to stop these cycles of violence where we have continued to hurt each other again and again. I would like to end not with my own words but those of a man who understood the consequences of hate. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”- Martin Luther King Jr.

Rwanda made the choice to stop the cycle of violence and I can see it, I can see how happy people are to turn the other cheek. I would be lying if I said that everything was peachy here but things are good. People want peace and are working toward it.