From the UCC Network: 05/31/2011 "Fire"

Fire

Excerpt from Deuteronomy 5:24-25

"Look, the Lord our God has shown us God’s glory, and we have heard God’s voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that God may speak to someone and the person may still live. So now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us . . . ."
Reflection by Mary Luti

In November of 1654, mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal met the Living God. He made a note of the encounter and sewed it into the lining of the coat. He wore that coat every day. He did not show the note to anyone. It was found only after his death. It began like this:

The year of grace 1654
Monday, 23 November, feast of Saint Clement, Pope and Martyr, and of others in the Martyrology
Eve of Saint Chrysogonus, Martyr and others.
From about half past ten in the evening until half past midnight.

Fire

When the Israelites begged Moses to be their intermediary, it was because they had felt the fire. They had no desire to feel it again. They were persuaded that they could not survive it. It was in their best interest to let Moses have the face time. So far he had come away from the divine encounter unsinged, but with God you never knew. Better him than them.

I suppose they were right to be cautious. All bets are off when you meet the Living One who has decided to come to you as is. If we have lost the art—and wisdom—of serious fear and trembling before the God who is God, we may be in more peril than we know. God is love, which is different from saying that God is nice. And this love burns everything up in its passion.

And so they make Moses go instead of them. A smart move, but maybe also a lost chance—for them, and for too many of us, who render God safe.  Never to know what might rise from the ashes of such a consummation. Never to carry in the lining of our daily hearts a red- hot note of inexplicable joy. Why shouldn’t that make us tremble more?

Prayer

O sometimes, Holy and Living God, cause me to tremble, tremble, tremble… and give me fire. Amen.

About the Author Mary Luti is Director of Wilson Chapel and Visiting Professor of Worship and Preaching at Andover Newton Theological School.

Denying the Immortality of the Soul [cross-post]

Denying the Immortality of the Soul

Chester has been my Monday night dinner companion for the better part of five years. He’s my friend, despite having never once lifted a finger to help or encourage me or anyone else, despite having often expressed the most debauched kind of selfishness, and despite his contempt for faith.

The doctor says Chester has six to twelve months to live, but everyone knows he won’t last that long. It isn’t just that he refuses to go back for radiation and chemotherapy; he was in terrible shape already. He lives alone, he eats only fast food, and he started smoking and drinking again as soon as he got home from the hospital. His lung cancer is just the last straw.

I prayed for Chester the other night, but after all the ways he’s abused himself over the years, I wasn’t about to ask for healing. Actually, I’ve never thought prayer was very useful in terms of getting God to do the right thing anyway. It is us who need righteous motivation, not God. If God is Grace, she’s already doing her level best.

I didn’t pray for Chester’s salvation, either. Frankly, what worries me is not that his immortal soul will burn in Hell. What worries me is that I’m no longer sure he—or I—has an immortal soul to burn or save in the first place.

I always thought it was a package deal; if you believed in God, then you must believe in some kind of afterlife, too. And so I did, or at least so I told myself. While Heaven and Hell had nothing to do with my reasons for becoming a Christian, it went without saying that accepting Jesus as my personal savior meant accepting that such eternal destinations actually existed, along with my own immortal soul, which hitherto had been hanging in the balance between them. It never occurred to me that someone might put their faith in the living God without being persuaded that something awaits them beyond the day they die. It only occurs to me now, I think, because I am well on my way to becoming that someone.

It isn’t that I don’t like the idea of waking up on the other side of death, fully conscious as the one and only Bart Campolo, ready to be surprised and delighted by whatever God has in store. Actually, I like that idea very much. My problem is that it seems to me utterly impossible that my individual identity will somehow survive the inevitable demise of my physical brain.

I am no neuroscientist, but I have studied enough to know that each of the many and various parts of my personality has a physical location in my brain, and that if and when that location is altered in some way, my personality will be altered as well. Stimulate my limbic system one way, and I will become more sexually aggressive. Stimulate it a different way and I will become depressed. Damage part of my amygdala and I will become unable to form loving relationships. Damage part of my prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, and I will lose all sense of right and wrong.

In other words, my brain and my soul are essentially one and the same thing. My individual identity is a particular arrangement of particular organic matter over a particular period of time, and when that period comes to an end, that matter will be rearranged into something (or perhaps someone) else. So then, when my ashes return to ashes, and my dust to dust, I reckon Bart Campolo will be no more.

And yet, just as I still believe in a living God, I still believe in eternal life and daily strive towards that goal. I very intentionally love and teach as many children and young adults as I can, trusting that by so doing I am becoming part of each one, even as my parents and best teachers became part of me. In this way, I hope and expect to live on through their lives even after I die, and then in the lives of the younger ones they teach and love. As long as my line goes on, it seems to me, so will I. Even so, my personal immortality is not the point.

The point is that, as one who has so deeply appreciated my own human experience, I am desperate to ensure endless generations have that experience as well. I cannot breathe forever, but this air is so sweet that I want someone to breathe it always. I want someone—many someones—to taste this wonderful food, and to savor this fabulous wine. Having family and friends has been such a joy to me, laughing and dancing and making love have been so delightful, working to exhaustion and then resting has been so satisfying, and raising children so terrifying, believing in God so inspiring, and aging so interesting, that I can’t stand the thought that people might cease to do those things. I love life, after all, not just my own life.

Striving towards eternal life, for me at least, is not so much about getting God to punch my ticket for Heaven as it is about doing all I can to ensure that humanity itself endures, and in particular that best part of humanity scripture calls the image of God. It is about asking Grace to guide my thoughts and actions, to literally flow through me into the lives of those who are growing up behind me. It is about keeping the faith by loving my neighbor, and trusting that both of us are thereby becoming part of God’s endless love.

That’s right, both of us. Me and Chester, in this case. We’re in this thing together. So what if I am the lover this time, and he is the taker? I’ve been the taker plenty of other times, and besides, we all need friends like Chester to teach us about loving out of our nature and not just to get a result. I wish he had been less crude and selfish, and I wish he had done more for others during his life, but over the years Chester still became part of me, without even trying. So then, if I live on somehow, I reckon he will too. I know that isn’t fair, of course, but Grace is always better than fair.

In the meantime, however, confused as I may be about matters of eternity, Chester is on his way back to the hospital, and I am on my way to visit him. I may not always know what to believe anymore, but none of us needs to pray very long to know what to do.

—-

Bart Campolo is a veteran urban minister and activist who speaks and writes about grace, faith, loving relationships and social justice. Bart is the leader of The Walnut Hills Fellowship, a local ministry in inner city Cincinnati.

From the UCC Network: 05/30/2011 "Memorial Day"

Memorial Day

Excerpt from Psalm 31 

"My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel 

Memorial Day began after the Civil War as an effort toward reconciliation between the families of veterans in the North and the South. After the war, there was already a tradition in the North of decorating soldiers’ graves, called "Decoration Day." But in 1868 an organization of Northern war veterans decreed it ought to be a national holiday. May 30 was carefully chosen as the date because it was not the anniversary of a specific battle, and therefore would be a neutral date for both sides.

But human beings hold on to their wounds, and reconciliation takes time, grace and mercy. So initially, as the holiday spread, it was an occasion for both sides to give angry speeches about the wartime atrocities inflicted by the other side, and the righteousness of their own. However, as time went on, Memorial Day really did become a time to remember all veterans, a time to visit the graves of family and friends, and to remember their lives.

In 1968, the Uniform Holidays Bill moved three holidays off of their specific dates and onto Mondays, in order to create three-day weekends. Memorial Day came to be associated with the beginning of summer, as well as the Indianapolis 500.

Today, let us remember the spirit in which the day was conceived, as a way to bring together those who had once been bitter enemies. After the fighting is over, the loss and heartbreak are shared throughout the human family. God’s mercy pours out over all God’s children, with no respect for the borders of nation states, which are awfully temporary, from the perspective of eternity.

Prayer

On this day, we pray for comfort for all those who have lost a loved one to the ravages of war. We pray that the peace of Christ, which passes all human understanding, will knit together this weary and war-torn world. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

From the UCC Network: 05/29/2011 "Divine Gentleness"

Divine Gentleness

Excerpt from James 3:17-18

"But the wisdom from above is . . . gentle."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

We hear a lot of talk about lost tenderness, increasing toughness; lost softness, increasing hardness.  The writer of James suggests the divine origin of gentleness.  That origin may matter more than we think.

Gentleness turns the tide of a conversation, when we respond with a smile to a person headed straight to the land of rude.  It changes the tone of meetings, when we insert a joke onto the table where everyone else has decided to take matters too seriously.  It changes what we say about recessions, when we insert a fact, quietly, about how white families have a dollar for every dime black families have in accumulated wealth.

How do we say something like that with gentleness?  We say it quietly, softly, and slowly.  We acknowledge every time we complain about how the recession is hitting us that it has hit others longer and harder.  What is gentle about such truth?  It takes the long view. It depersonalizes.  Gentleness is wisdom from on high.  We are allowed to bring it down to earth.

Prayer

Spirit of Gentleness, tenderness and grace, grant us a divine tone to our speech. Let it be gentle, wise and real.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her most recent book is Sacred Chow: a Guide to Holy Eating.

International Ecumenical Peace Convocation offers a challenge to churches in the U.S. [cross-post]

International Ecumenical Peace Convocation

offers a challenge to churches in the U.S.

By Jordan Blevins

Kingston, Jamaica, May 27, 2011 -- These words, from the concluding “Message of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation," summarize the spirit of the nearly 1,000 Christians who came from across the globe to consider what the Decade of Overcome Violence had offered the churches in terms of seeking peace:

"God blesses the peacemakers. Member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and other Christians are united, as never before, in seeking the means to address violence and to reject war in favor of “Just Peace” – the establishment of peace with justice through a common response to God’s calling. Just Peace invites us to join in a common journey and to commit ourselves to building a culture of peace."

The resounding conclusion of the delegates is that there is work to do.

“The DOV has given us the tools, information, and connections we need as Christians to be effective peacemakers,” said Jordan Blevins, Ecumenical Peace Coordinator and Advocacy Officer for the National Council of Churches of Christ, USA, and Church of the Brethren. “It is now up to the churches to use all of that to build a culture and community of Just Peace in their context.”

"The IEPC was an incredible opportunity for representatives of US churches to participate in a global conversation on Just Peace as the emerging consensus for peacemaking in the church," said Michael Neuroth, policy advocate for international issues in the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries’ office in Washington. "The United Church of Christ declared itself a Just Peace Church in 1985 and welcomes the opportunity to work ecumenically to sharpen our witness on Just Peace and address the inequality and violence all too common in our world today."

Over the course of the week, participants considered how the four themes -- Peace in the Community, Peace with the Earth, Peace in the Marketplace, and Peace Among the Peoples -- worked towards building Just Peace. 

Rachel Stacy, a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) and a Steward from the United States, offered these words of how challenging this could be for U.S. based churches during a youth presentation, “My country suffers as its hatred, the poison drunk in pursuit of revenge, dominance, and righteousness sinks deeply through its veins and murders not only the indigenous, the immigrant, the union worker and the poor."

For churches in the United States, the confluence of the four topics could not have been more timely -- as evidenced by events happening back home.  During the Convocation, Congress and President Obama were visited by Prime Minister of Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and considered bills that will have an impact on funding for programs supporting persons living poverty. Congress is also wrestling with issues from the war in Afghanistan to Environmental Protection Agency rules for clean air and water. 

“Each of the issue areas bear witness to the need of the US based churches to take an active role in the direction of our country,” said Blevins. “This Convocation made clear what we have been seeing at home -- all of these issues are connected."

The Convocation took place on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, a former sugar plantation. The reality of the scars of the location were not lost as participants considered the legacy of violence that has persisted throughout human history in all of its forms, and what response the churches can bring in casting an alternative vision -- God’s vision.

As participants headed home after a week of bible study, workshops, plenary sessions, prayer, and the community of Jamaica, the call to action from the Message was clear. “The church is called to go public with its concerns, speaking the truth beyond the walls of its own sanctuary ... We as churches are in a position to teach nonviolence to the powerful, if only we dare.”

For more reflections on the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, read Jordan Blevins’ blog, which was posted throughout the event (http://blog.brethren.org). For more news and photos, visit the website of the World Council of Churches (http://www.oikumene.org).

Blevins is Ecumenical Peace Coordinator and Advocacy Officer for the National Council of Churches of Christ, USA, and Church of the Brethren.

---

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 37 member communions -- from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches -- include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

From the UCC Network: 05/28/2011 "God is still gathering"

God is still gathering,

Excerpt from Genesis 8: 13-19

"And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families."

Reflection by Ron Buford

Though feeling somewhat ill last summer, I simply could not pass up an invitation to Fire Island. My feeling withdrawn yielded the gift of added capacity to observe.

Walking almost the length of the beach alone one afternoon, I saw many diverse couples on the beach—straight, same-gender loving, interracial, all ages, shapes, sizes, and mixes—nearly  everyone in a couple.   That’s when it hit me:  God is still gathering, two by two. . . the same way God gathered the animals into Noah's Ark and later scattered them.

The ark, long a symbol of church at its best, still gathers people like you and me, nurturing families of all types in love. But it also sends us out into the world empowered to be our best selves, fruitful in new ways, increasing capacity for all the earth’s creatures to eat, love, pray, and dream.

In 1972, only three years after the Stonewall riots in New York City, San Carlos UCC, in the Golden Gate Association of the UCC's Northern California Nevada Conference led the church, and the world, as it struggled to ordain William R. Johnson, an openly gay man.  Johnson, when asked if he would be willing to be celibate, said, "No, ordain me as I am."  He became the first openly gay man ordained in mainline Christendom. In 1977, the UCC's Anne Holmes became the first openly lesbian woman ordained in mainline Christendom.

Ever since, the United Church of Christ has been an ark of safety for many.  Through the last nearly forty years, others have followed suit because God is still gathering men and women, boys and girls into God’s ark of safety, no matter who they are or where they are on life's journey . . . . And by God's own hand we are saved. Praise the Lord, Church!

Prayer

Gracious God, thank you not only for the United Church of Christ but for every place of worship in your name that withstands the storms of controversy, ostracism, and change to become a house of prayer for ALL people. And thank you for putting Your rainbow of blessing and promise, in the sky and not in a closet, O God, a bold witnesses of Your unwavering promise, and of a church community that dares to live in answer to Christ’s prayer "that we may all be one" despite the costs, guided and gifted by Your Holy Spirit . . . not our own.  Amen.

About the Author Ron Buford, former coordinator of the UCC's God is still speaking campaign, consults with religious and nonprofit organizations, leads workshops, and preaches in churches across the U.S. and U.K. Ron also appears in the DVD-based progressive theology series, Living the Questions 2.0.

From the UCC Network: 05/27/2011 "Your Courage Will Follow"

Your Courage Will Follow

Excerpt from Acts 27:13-38

"When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore. But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete. Since the ship was caught and could not be turned head-on into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control."

Reflection by Felix Carrion

After accessing favorable conditions, you set out to accomplish your purpose. Then without notice or expectation, these conditions flip on you, and a violent force blows against you and your best-laid plans. You feel caught, you can’t seem to turn, you are driven by outside forces, and you are scarcely able to get control of your life.

The apostle Paul was being transferred to Rome on this ship as a prisoner. In the turbulence of the storm at sea, Paul urges all to have courage, for he was visited by an angel who had assured him that there would be no loss of life. Paul goes on to provide direction to the crew and all 276 passengers make it to safety.

Forget about trying to forecast your way toward smooth sailing. This won’t work. Instead, consult God in the midst of the adverse conditions that assail you. Learn to perceive God’s vision for your life. When you do this, you learn to find something that is more central to your life and purpose than any and all conditions you may face: courage

We are all familiar with the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he proclaimed, "I have a dream." What few know is that in one of his writings he also declared, "I have a determination." The force of his dream (vision) summoned up his determination (courage).

So, today, open up to the visitation of God in your life, and your courage will follow.

Prayer

O God, I know you are there. I know you are greater than any storm assailing me. I know that in and with you I find my heart, my courage, my determination, to sail on. O God, I praise you from within the storm. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

From the UCC Network: 05/26/2011 "Ark"

Ark

Excerpt from Genesis 6:5-22

"'Make yourself an ark of cypress wood . . ."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

Noah's ark scares me.  It all just seems so precarious, you know?  All the life on earth, every bit of viable DNA that still exists, is floating there, just one well-placed hoof-kick through a bulkhead or one escaped ember in the hay away from the end of all life forever.  And only Noah and his family trying to keep it all going and alive.

Which isn't so different from the situation on this planet.  Just one planet, only one, equipped by God for sustaining life as it floats a lonely path across the face of the void.  Like the ark, carrying all the viable DNA in the solar system, maybe all the DNA in the whole galaxy, maybe all that there is in the entire universe.  Precarious.

I believe that from time to time, God calls new Noahs to tell the rest of the family how to care for our ark, what to do to keep the life here safe and thriving.  Among them: John James Audubon, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Chico Mendes, Wendell Berry.  Tomorrow is the birthday of another: Rachel Carson.  I plan to celebrate it as a kind of ecological saint's day, reminding myself what she taught us and praying to live accordingly.

Why not spend today learning about these new Noahs and what God sent them to do for the ark?  Why not spend today praying to see whether you might be the next one?

Prayer

Dear God, all this life, all this life on just this one tiny planet.  Show me what to do.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts.

Archbishop Dolan's Love Letter ... [cross-post]

Archbishop Dolan's Love Letter to Rep Ryan Betrays Catholic Teaching

• Post by DANIEL C. MAGUIRE
• 
  
  When bishops really disagree with someone, they are not tepid. Their language glows hot and they follow it up with strong action.
  
  
  I know this from personal experience.
  But Archbishop Dolan’s letter to Representative Paul Ryan blessing the Republican’s budget proposal was an epic of fawning tepidity and outrage deficit. Suppose a Catholic thief in the act of robbing the homes of the poor were to proclaim his fervid commitment to “Catholic teaching” against theft... while busily robbing. Would Archbishop Dolan praise the robber for his knowing about and proclaiming Catholic teaching?
  If Archbishop Dolan were serious, he would blast that thief.
  In 2006, I also received a letter form Archbishop Dolan (then Archbishop of Milwaukee where my Marquette University is located). My oh my, how different was the letter Dolan sent me from his mellifluous effusion to Ryan, criticizing my support for pregnant women making their own decisions about problem pregnancies and my defense of marriage for those whom God has made gay. He was rabid! My teaching, he said, was “preposterous and disingenuous,” “totally at odds with clear Church teaching, Sacred Scripture, the Magisterium, and Natural Law,” and “contrary to the faith and morals of the Catholic Church.” He then followed up by banning me from ever speaking in any parish of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee on any topic whatsoever. 
  That’s Dolan when he’s serious.
  But conservative Catholic Ryan is a different case. In the terms of the bishops’ pelvic-zone orthodoxy, Ryan is pure. He scorns same-sex marriage and wants the government, not pregnant women, to have control of pregnancies. That marks Ryan out for tepid handling and adulatory congratulations for even knowing about Catholic social teaching and Jesus’ mission to be “good news to the poor.” Dolan’s letter to the man who wants to kill Medicare and starve the poor while glutting the rich was dripping with praise, using words like “kind” and noble to describe Ryan’s work. The Archbishop “appreciates” (three times,) “commends,” is “grateful” (twice) and prays for Ryan’s continued good work.
  No wonder Ryan and Boehner, who was, a week earlier, criticized roundly by Catholic scholars, welcomed Dolan’s sweet nothings.
  Come now, Archbishop Dolan, where is that fire you can unleash when you are serious!        
  Could you not be as tough as Jesus was when he rebuked those in power who were mouthing pieties, while stripping the poor and favoring the pillaging rich? “Whitened sepulchers,” Jesus called them, covered with platitudinous posturing on the outside but inside filled with the stench of moral decay. “Hypocrites,” Jesus called them repeatedly, “blind guides” who are “fit for hell.” “Outside you look like honest men, but inside you are brimful of hypocrisy and crime.” (Matthew 23)               
  Nothing tepid about Jesus when poor workers and children were being trampled.
  The seventy Catholic scholars who rebuked Boehner when the bishops welcomed him to Catholic University were in the Jesus mode. “Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress... you gutted long-established protections for the most vulnerable members of society... particularly pregnant women and children,” while lavishing trillions on corporations, military kill-power, and the super-rich.         
  And to all of that Jesus and the other prophets of Israel would say “Amen!”

Navy Honors and Discredits César Chávez [cross-post]

Navy Honors and Discredits César Chávez

by Bryan Farrell 05-25-2011

No one delivers sad irony quite like the United States Military. Yesterday the U.S. Navy announced that its next new ship will be named after nonviolent civil rights and labor leader César Chávez. The  Chávez family and the president of the United Farm Workers Union, along with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus were on hand to make the announcement at a San Diego, California shipyard where the USNS César Chávez is being built.

According to the Las Vegas Desert Sun, Mabus highlighted Chavez’s nonviolent leadership as a reason for naming the ship after him.

His nonviolent movement helped to end discriminatory practices against Latinos beyond California’s fields, Mabus said.

“His example will live through this ship,” he told the crowd gathered in front of the beginnings of the ship, which will be completed next May. “It will continue to inspire Americans to do what’s right.”

He added that the ship will sail around the world assisting people “acting a lot like its U.S. namesake.”

“Everywhere it goes the story of César Chávez will spread and the words ‘si se puede’ (yes you can!) will echo around the world,” Mabus said.

While such praise for nonviolent leadership coming from military leadership is no doubt encouraging, there is a dangerous level of hypocrisy that should not be overlooked. It’s the kind of hypocrisy that has a way of whitewashing history and turning noble dissidents into symbols of the state — thereby extinguishing the true power of their work.

Thankfully, the USNS César Chávez is a cargo ship and not a battle ship. Nevertheless, boats of its class — which are part of the T-AKE Program – have served as prisons and fired upon Somali pirates. Neither practice are exactly in keeping with the life and work of César Chávez.

As a César Chávez biographer noted in a CNN article:

“We’re talking about a person who believed in nonviolence — the absolute core belief was nonviolence,” said Randy Shaw in San Francisco, where he is the executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. Shaw also is the author of “Beyond the Fields: César Chávez, the UFW and the Struggle for Justice in the 21st Century,” published in 2008.

“Do you think he would want a military ship named after him?” Shaw asked. “It seems pretty unlikely.”

Perhaps the saddest aspect of this development, however, is that Chávez’s family fully endorses it. In a press release on the César E. Chávez Foundation website, César’s son Paul speaks as though he’s speaking for the military, not his father.

Like his hero, Mahatma Gandhi, “César Chávez was an apostle of nonviolence,” Paul Chávez said. “No one yearns for peace more than those who get sent in harms way during times of war. So it is our hope that this ship will fill out its service during a time when it can help promote peace and democracy in the world.”

Paul Chávez said his father’s “example of nonviolently struggling to fulfill the promise of America for farm workers carried over into other arenas where Latinos battled to realize the promise of equally — in housing, in business, in law, in politics, in government, in the military and in the promise of a quality education for their kids. That is why we must now enact the DREAM Act, so the sons and daughters of immigrants who contribute to America by achieving a college education or serving their country in the armed forces can also earn the right to legal status and citizenship — because among them there are many César Chávez.”

It seems unlikely that Chávez would have supported the version of the DREAM Act that basically makes poor Latinos prey for military recruiters by being able to offer a path to citizenship through military service. Although he was a Navy veteran, having served in World War II, Chavez had mixed feelings about the experience. According to his official biography on the United Farm Workers website, “He served two years and in addition to discrimination, he experienced strict regimentation.”

All of this reminds me of a phrase I heard recently. It goes something like this: We let our heroes die twice. The second time is when we whitewash their legacies. In a sense, that is far more tragic.

[This article appears courtesy of a partnership with Waging Nonviolence.]

Bryan Farrell is a New York-based writer, covering topics that range from the environment and climate change to foreign policy and militarism. His work has appeared in The Nation, In These Times, Plenty, Earth Island Journal, Huffington Post, and Foreign Policy In Focus. Visit his website atBryanFarrell.com.

From the UCC Network: 05/25/2011 "The Third Mile"

The Third Mile

Excerpt from Matthew 5: 38-42

" . . . and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

"Yes," said a friend, "it's true Jesus asked us to go the second mile, but he didn't say nothing about no third, fourth or fifth mile."

Is there a limit to extra chances, to second miles? If there are times when we all need a second chance, are there also times when it is wise and right to draw a line and set a limit? Are there times when it's best to say, "We've gone the second mile with you, but we're not going to go no third, fourth or tenth mile." I think there are.

I notice in congregations that some people ask for more attention than others, sometimes a lot more. They want others to listen to them and accommodate them, but don't return the favor. They seem to have to get their way. And they never, it seems, stop asking. You may think that saying "yes" this one time will satisfy them. But with some people, giving in only whets their appetite and keeps them coming back for more. They don't seem to notice that there are other people in the church, too.

So we go the second mile, and we should, giving others an extra measure of patience, time and effort. That's okay. For sure, someone has given that to you and to me. But there's also a time to say, "This far, no further." There's a time to say to the person who's asking everyone to adjust to them but who isn't making any adjustments to others, "No."

There's a time to say that misbehavior, being demanding, popping off at others, being mean or unfair is not okay here and won't be tolerated. We went the second mile, but we aren't going no third mile. We say that not because we don't care, but because we do.

Prayer

Teach us, Lord, when to say "yes" and when to say "no." Help our "no's" to be because we've said a deep and abiding "Yes" to you. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts atwww.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

From the UCC Network: 05/24/2011 "Don't Try This at Home"

Don't Try This at Home

Excerpt from Psalm 111:1

"Praise the Lord!  I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

This fall, a beloved saint in our congregation, Marjorie Scoboria, died just short of her 104th birthday.  The Sunday before her death she was in her usual spot in the congregation in the fourteenth row on the left.  (Did you think we preachers don't notice that sort of thing?)  She was offering her witty little quips to those around her, standing for the hymns.  In other ways, however, she was limited in how she could participate.  In recent years, her eyesight and her hearing were almost completely gone, but she continued to come to worship every Sunday.  When I asked Marjorie about that (after all, if I were over a hundred years old, I think I would stay in bed every once in a while), she looked surprised by the question, and replied, "Because I need to be in the congregation with the people."

Woody Allen famously said, "Ninety percent of life is just showing up."  But he's wrong.  Ninety percent of life is showing up over and over again.

People sometimes speak of "going to church" on Sunday morning, as the church had some kind of existence without the people, or as if it were a building.

We all know the children's game, "Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people."  That may be a good game, but it is bad theology.  As Marjorie knew so well, the church is the people.  So you have to show up.  It's not a church until you get there.

Prayer

God, thank you for the saints in our congregations—the ones who show us how it is done.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

From the UCC Network: 05/23/2011 "Last Year’s Compost"

Last Year’s Compost

Excerpt from Acts 7:17-40

Then the Lord said to him, “Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 

Reflection by Donna Schaper

I have never liked the idea that some ground is more holy than other ground.  I appreciate the reminder to notice how holy the ground is, but I am not willing to elevate one ground over another.  Nor can I pick out one great time and lift it above another. Or take a Sabbath only on Sundays.  Monday can be very holy itself.  I like the phrase one of my parishioners uses: remember the future.  Now is then.  Then is now.  I might argue that we should keep our sandals off all the time, in all spaces.

Yesterday we carried two weeks of frozen compost to the local community garden and placed it in the offering plate. The offering plate was a white drum with a handle you can turn. Our egg shells, onion skins, coffee grounds, apple cores, grapefruit peels, squished limes and garlic casings were on their way to resurrection as next year’s Swiss chard. Or red leaf lettuce. Perhaps even a sweet pea will rise from these offerings. Remembering the future is the only way to have a future. You have to build now for later. As the very successful head of Amazon says, over and over, we need to be three steps ahead of our last three steps, which steps will shift each time we take them.

OK, OK, OK. I know we’re supposed to “carpe diem,” seize the day, live in the moment, and all that. Still, the truth of every moment is the way it treated yesterday. It has a past as last year’s compost, a present as this year’s onion, and a future as next year’s chard. Now is later, later is now, and soil needs eternal, not temporal, attention. Forgetting that taking out the garbage involves holy time and holy ground is a mistake.  Maybe sandals have a use . . . but spiritually we need them on less than we think.

Prayer

O God, keep our sandals in our hands and our minds aware of how sacred time and space, here and now, then and later, are.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her most recent book is Sacred Chow: a Guide to Holy Eating.

From the UCC Network: 05/22/2011 "The Pursuit of Happiness"

The Pursuit of Happiness

Excerpt from 1 Peter 2:2-10

"Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house."

Reflection by William C. Green

One of the myths of America is that we became a great nation thanks to individualism and a do-it-yourself spirit. Tell that to the Founders! They understood the Declaration's "pursuit of happiness" to mean social happiness, social well-being—a collective, civic achievement.  Strength and satisfaction were not just individual attributes developed alone.

Scripture, which was among the influences shaping our country, teaches much the same thing. Like the faith they inspire, these teachings are social before they are personal: they speak of personal happiness and well-being in relation to a broader community of which you and I became a part—the church. As part of the church we depend as much on others as ourselves as we receive and grow in the spirit of Jesus. Jesus himself couldn’t have been who he was, and who he is today, without a band of disciples, the model of the church.

Sometimes our faith is weak because we try too hard to make sense of it on our own. Sometimes our prayers falter because we pray alone, except for a unison prayer on Sunday. Sometimes the healing power of Jesus is remote and hard to believe because we don’t give it a chance: we don’t want to be touched.

What the Founders understood for our country, we can know in the church. Our happiness and, still more, our salvation depends on the quality of our relationships with others.

Prayer

Keep me from pursuing what I need by myself, God. Draw me closer to others with whom your Spirit can reach me and help me as never before. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. His new book, 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving, has just been published.

From the UCC Network: 05/21/2011 "The Blood of the Lamb"

The Blood of the Lamb

Excerpt from Revelation 7:13-17

"They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 

Reflection by Christina Villa

How do you wash something in blood and have it come out white?  Well, you can if it's symbolic.  It's not real blood.  Or a real lamb.  Or even a real robe. And it's not literally "white" either.  The blood, the lamb, the robe, and the color white symbolize other things.  Once we're taught what those other things are, we can think about them.  We can think about the ideas of suffering, sacrifice, innocence, and redemption. 

We are not fundamentalists; we don't take the Bible literally.  This leaves us, sometimes, not quite knowing what to do with robes washed in the blood of the lamb.  We usually rush straight to the meaning of the symbols, so we can think, discuss, and move on.  Next idea, please!  Ideas are great because, unlike real things, they go away if you stop thinking about them. 

There is so much real blood of so many real innocents flowing in the world. Literally flowing in the gutter, soaking into the ground, and collecting on the floor in emergency rooms.  Surely the blood of the Lamb is a real thing. 

At the beginning of the Iraq war, a widely-printed photo showed an American soldier with a stricken look on his face carrying the dead body of a very small child, her head hanging back at an unnatural angle.  Such a picture always has the last word, I think, on the subject of bloodshed.  People often say they don't need the graphic detail to understand these things.  Maybe not.  But why should we be spared them?  Who are we to avoid dipping our robes in the blood of the Lamb?

Prayer

Keep me from turning away, from turning real things into ideas, from thinking the world into harmlessness.  Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

From the UCC Network: 05/20/2011 "Why a Bush?"

Why a Bush? 

Excerpt from Exodus 3:1-12

"There the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing; yet it was not consumed."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel 

Given that God can do absolutely anything, why did God appear to Moses as a burning bush? When God finally decides to appear, this smoldering shrub has always struck me as decidedly anticlimactic. Yes, a bush suddenly on fire is unusual, but let's be honest, if this were a scene in a movie, would you be on the edge of your seat? I don't think so.

Why not a burning mountain? Or let's push physics even further and have God appear as a giant glacier on fire in the middle of freezing ocean depths. Now that would be impressive.

I personally would have preferred God to appear as some kind of creature, but not an ordinary one, like a fox or a muskrat. How about a dragon? If I were God, I would definitely appear as a dragon. It would rock Moses' world, impress everyone else, and allow me to fly, all of which seem divine to me.

But the mystery of God's motives is what this story is all about. God is not like us. God couldn't care less about impressing people, or flying, I imagine. God has already created all there is to experience. So when it came time for the big reveal, God appeared as a burning bush, a bush that was on fire but not consumed by fire.

I think God was trying to let Moses know that God isn't just in the amazing things, but in the ordinary things. I think God wanted Moses to never again look at a boring old bush the same way. I think God wanted Moses to see the possibility for a fiery miracle in every hedge, shrub and potted plant from then on.

I think these things, but of course I don't know them. No one knows God's motivations. Instead we are left with these amazing stories of the weird ways people encounter God.

Prayer

God, help me to be on the lookout for you in the most unexpected places. Open my eyes to see you in the small and the boring, as well as the majestic and the impressive. Because you can start a fire just about anywhere. Even in me. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.