Creating a Culture of Life Against Ideology and Capital [cross-post]

Creating a Culture of Life Against Ideology and Capital

by Morgan Guyton

I heard a sermon recently on the need to create a “culture of life” instead of the “culture of death” that we currently have in our society. Not only do we love violence in our movies and video games, but our culture of death shows a contempt for the lives of people who are crushed by impersonal forces within our economy and society. Defending a culture of life means more than just picketing abortion clinics or voting for electoral candidates who line up right on a set of issues. A culture of life is a world in which life is sacred in every facet of social and economic interaction.

When people say that they’re “pro-life,” they usually describe their views in terms of yea or nay positions on issues like abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, war, etc. The problem with this issue-oriented understanding of “life” is that life doesn’t occur in issues; every issue is woven into a complex tapestry of sociological forces; treating the issues in isolation is like trying to cure smallpox with skin cream. Our society promotes death in many more ways than the one issue that politicians have successfully exploited as an incredibly effective and cynical electoral strategy that has defined the past 30 years of American politics (I am opposed toboth abortion and using abortion as a wedge issue). There’s no reason why improving access to affordable healthcare, nutritious food, or exercise outlets shouldn’t be part of a culture of life. Or setting the minimum wage high enough that working class parents don’t have to work two jobs, leaving their eight year old daughters in charge at home.

But how do we go after the root of the culture of death? The foundation for a Christian culture of life is our belief that God created all things and called them good. What’s essential about both aspects of the Genesis 1 creation story is that God is the One who gives value to life, not the market, not human philosophy, not the state, not opinion polls, just God. When theDeclaration of Independence was written, Enlightenment secularism had not yet erased this basic presumption from popular consciousness because Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” In other words, God was still seen (or at least described) as the Creator and source of value for all human life.

As I have written elsewhere, the fall of humanity described in Genesis 3 does not have to do with a historical figure named Adam (whose “name” is bad translation). Sin “originates” in the decisions made every day by “man” (h’adam) and “woman” (h’ishah) to dethrone God and replace Him with another source for life’s value. Death enters the world every time we let its talking serpents convince us to be our own gods. In recent history, God has been supplanted as the recognized source of life even by many who profess a “belief” in God. Two forces that supplant God’s role as the source of value and thus create a culture of death are ideology andcapital.

An ideology is an all-encompassing explanation for how the world works. The more ideological people are, the more that their observations have to be bent to conform to the needs of this ideology. To a hard-core union activist, for example, there is no such thing as a compassionate boss, while a fundamentalist Christian cannot imagine a gay Christian father who counsels his son about sexual chastity. Ideologues value people according to how they fit the “us vs. them” categories of their ideology rather than appreciating their beautiful, irreducible idiosyncrasies that exude the image of God.

When peoples’ lives are stripped of their transcendent, intrinsic value and their identity is reduced to membership in a mass category like fundamentalist, liberal, counter-revolutionary, bourgeoisie, Jew, etc, then they can be treated in terms of mass categories which must be defended or exterminated depending on an ideology’s need. The most extreme examples of modern ideologues are of course Hitler and Stalin.

In Hitler’s ideology, “Jew” became the catch-all signifier for the type of humanity which needed to be destroyed in order for the human species to evolve through the Aryan super-race. This was not just random, inexplicable lunacy. The Nazis were proactively advancing natural selection among humanity as they understood it. What was insane was how their absolute commitment to an ideological Darwinism allowed them to categorize a whole race of people as unfit to live.

In Stalin’s case, among other horrors, his ideological commitment to a supposedly “scientific” mode of agricultural production caused him to starve millions of people to death from 1930-1932 by attempting to rapidly collectivize fiercely independent Soviet peasants. Millions of human lives were less valuable than defending the infallibility of his ideology.

Christianity itself becomes ideological when we worship the “beauty” of our doctrinal systems rather than the person of God Himself. At its most extreme, ideological Christianity resulted in the culture of death that predominated 16th century Europe. Catholics burned Anabaptists and Lutherans shot Catholics because ideology trumped their respect for God’s sovereignty over each human life. In our time, ideology has created the ultimate hypocrisy of committing murder in the name of “life,” such as the shooting of abortionist Dr. George Tiller in 2009. A true culture of life must be anti-ideological, because no ideas should trump the sanctity of anyone’s life.

A second demonic force that undermines God’s sovereignty over life is capital. What I mean by “capital” is the abstract value created by market exchange and the trust created by capitalism that the market is the appropriate source of all value (instead of God). The problem with free market logic is that it leaps beyond the domains of investment and commerce to invade every facet of life. What people wear, believe, and do with their time is determined by millions of individual decisions which coalesce into a market that revalues fashion, political slogans, and activities. Every aspect of life is colonized by the market and reconstituted as capital.

When I buy a house, I am taught to examine features that will impact its resale value before I move in. Even our children become capital which increases in value through their education, extra-curricular activities, and community service opportunities. When all things are capital with only extrinsic, market-derived value, there is no regard for the intrinsic value creatures receive from their Creator.

It becomes possible for an unwanted child to be created by two humans who view their bodies as capital that increases through the market exchange of casual sex and then to think of this unwanted child as a product to be disposed of to avoid undermining the mother’s capital in terms of her career options and compromising the father’s capital by becoming a monthly child support check. Similarly, workers in a factory are not viewed as people created in God’s image who need family time and health care, but as capital whose value goes up the more that benefits are cut and productivity quotas are raised.

When we float unreflectively through the waves of ideology and capital, we endorse a culture of death, regardless of how many “pro-life” bumper stickers are on our cars. Promoting a culture of life requires actively resisting every value system that dehumanizes others. There are concrete laws we can support and concrete actions we can take to promote a culture of life, but these will only become visible to us if we sustain the dissonance of declaring God’s love for and value of all humanity amidst a world where humans are valued to the degree that they support arguments or trade well in the market. Supporting a culture of life is about as easy as walking on water amidst the incredible gravitational pull of our world’s idolatries. But Jesus showed us how, and he calls us to jump out of our boats and stumble out to Him across the waves.

—

Morgan Guyton is the associate pastor of Burke United Methodist Church in Burke, Virginia, and a Christian who continues to seek God’s liberation from the prison of self-justification Jesus died to help him overcome. Morgan’s blog “Mercy Not Sacrifice” is located at http://morganguyton.wordpress.com.

From the UCC Network: 09/26/2011 "Righteous"

Righteous

Excerpt from Philippians 1:3-14

 ". . . having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

In the Northern Hemisphere, we're in the midst of the great season of harvest and thanksgiving, when the food that we've been working to grow all year will be gathered into granary and store, there to see us through the winter.  Well, in theory, anyway.  For most of us, the only fall vegetables we'll actually be gathering in will be the plastic ones that spill out of the cornucopia we haul out of the upstairs closet every Thanksgiving.

Nevertheless, this is a good time to ask what a "harvest of righteousness" would look like.

Are the vegetables in your fridge righteous?  How many pesticides, how much fuel, how much labor under what conditions and pay did it take to get them to your table?

Or the deli meat in your lunch bag.  Under what conditions would the turkey or the pig have had to live—and die—for your sandwich to be a righteous one?

Or the water in your bottle.  How much plastic, how much fuel goes into a righteous drink?

By definition, a harvest is what you get from the combination of God’s gifts and human efforts.  As we—who are most of us so removed from the sources of our food that it's easy to believe it’s grown in the back of the grocery store—enter the great harvest season, it seems a good time to pause and ask:

Is what I’m about to put into my mouth a righteous harvest, or something else?

Prayer

God, I'm hungry.  Fill me up not with things that will not satisfy, but with righteousness.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

From the UCC Network: 09/25/2011 "Darn That Jesus!"

Darn That Jesus!

Excerpt from Matthew 21: 28 - 32

"'Which of the two did the will of his father?' They said, 'The first.' Jesus said to them, 'Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.'"

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

Darn that Jesus! Isn't it just like him to mess up my Sunday. Here I was planning to go to church where I could pledge my support for truth, justice, kindness, generosity and all right causes and feel pretty good about myself, before coming home to take a long nap, watch a violent football game, have a few stiff drinks with dinner and go to bed.

And then this. This story of two brothers. One a yes-man. "Yup, Daddy, that's right, I'm off to the vineyard. No, don't thank me, it's the right thing to do!" He then snuck out the back to go joy-riding and catch a movie. The other son, never very cooperative, told the old man, "forget it." But then, surprise, he couldn't quite forget it himself and went down to the fields to help out, working a long, hot day.

How does this happen? How does it happen that we say "yes" but do "no"? How does it happen that we say things, and really believe them at the time, but they don't translate into the way we live and the actions we take?

And how does it happen that at least sometimes the people that don't seem to give a hoot about all the right values and pretty much thumb their noses at them, go out of their way to help out and give all they've got?

Well, here I am stuck in church, messed up by Jesus . . . Here I am wondering if it's me he's talking about. Here I am thinking the amazing thing is that despite all the times I have said "yes" and done "no," he's come to sit now at my side. And this is what he says, "Let's give it another shot. Don't just believe in me, follow me. Here we go. That's right. Just follow me, you'll get it."

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for disturbing my fool's bliss, for asking hard questions and letting me struggle with the answers. And thank you that when the true, honest answer isn't pretty, your verdict remains the same: grace. 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: 09/23/2011 "Sneaky Resumes"

Sneaky Resumes

Excerpt from James 4:4–10

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Have you ever noticed yourself sneak yourself into a conversation?  You don't really say what you are doing, you just do it.  "When I was in Italy…."  Then you go on to relate to the question of how crusty the whole wheat bread is.  You are not really joining the conversation about the bread.  You are doing what Karl Jung says we all, almost always, do.  He says we "smuggle" our biography into everything.

Post-moderns and critical theorists agree.   We not only smuggle ourselves into the conversation; we also often are so blinded by the presuppositions of our class, race, church, parents, colleges that we don't really think.  We simply react.  That by itself would not be such a problem, if only we would refuse to be proud about it.

Nor would smuggling of ourselves into conversations be a big problem if we weren't proud about it.

Self-satisfaction is a real problem.  We can learn instead to be humble about our blinders.  We can also learn to talk about the bread and openly "brag" about how it is better in Italy.  We can especially brag if we keep a smile on our face and a joke in our heart about how great we really aren't.

Prayer

O God, grant us a way to see that we don't have to prove ourselves with you.  Let us enjoy grace and forswear pride.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press.  Check out her work at www.judson.org.

Thoughts on Seeing the Execution of Troy Davis [cross-post]

Thoughts on Seeing the Execution of Troy Davis

By: JOANN MERRIGAN 

Published: September 23, 2011

I wasn't certain if it was a good idea or not but I asked to be a media witness to the execution of Troy Davis.  I had covered the story on and off for almost seven years and went to the federal evidentiary hearing in Savannah in June of 2010.  After my experiences Wednesday night, I decided to take a day and think about all that I had seen and write about it.  So, this isn't about the legal issues in this case - perceived doubts from one side and resolute belief in guilt on the other.  It's just about life and families and what I saw and what it meant to me.

On the day of the execution, I was assigned to be the Media Monitor, meaning I was supposed to watch the initial stages of the execution setup, i.e. when Davis was brought into the execution chamber and had the IV's put into his arms. Because of that, I was taken into the prison first, before other media witnesses.  An escort from the prison picked me up near the media staging area.  

By the time I was picked up, it was about 50 minutes behind schedule.  I went through security at one part of the prison and the clock said 5:55 p.m.  Then my escort took me through a long, carpeted hallway with lockers on one side.  He told me later this was kind of the main entrance to the prison and the lockers belonged to the employees.  I began to see pictures on the wall, you know those inspirational framed ones that your boss puts up all around your building - pictures that have captions like "success" and "teamwork" on them.  I found it all surreal that I was going to watch an execution and was seeing inspirational message as I walked through this eerily quiet hallway.  

Just a few minutes before, I had been outside with so much raw emotion being displayed from protesters and now I was in this incredibly sterile environment where it seemed I could almost smell the bureaucracy.  Not to mention that I'd seen a lot of guns on the way in and I felt almost like I was walking to my own death in some strange way. The kicker was as we approached the end of the hallway I saw a final picture with an eagle and the caption "Dare to Soar."  It made me think of  Troy Davis dying in a few minutes and would his spirit soar?  Would it be allowed to by WHOMEVER decides these things?  Was that any of my business?  

My escort took me to a room that looked like a hallway with a copy machine but there were some chairs there and I sat down.  It was 6:02 p.m.  A few minutes later, a lawyer from the Georgia Attorney General's office came in.  He said they were now waiting on the U.S. Supreme Court and a last minute appeal filed by the Davis defense team.  So I waited and waited and time passed.  First 7:00, then 8:00, then 9:00 in that room.  They checked on me about every fifteen minutes and at one point gave me a diet coke and a cookie.  But I had a lot of time - as it would turn out, almost four and a half hours to think about what was most surely going to happen.  And I thought about my own brother dying a few months ago and the grief I felt and still do.  And I thought about the Davis sisters and how long and how hard they had fought for their brother and I wondered frankly if I would have done that for anyone in my family, and I was pretty sure the answer was yes.  But I have been known to be selfish. 

And then I thought about the MacPhail family and the siblings there and the brother they surely missed seeing become a mature man, the guy they missed laughing with and seeing at family reunions, the one they probably assumed they would grow old with. And the shock they must have felt when they were forced to reckon with the violent way their brother died.  And I sat in that room and I wondered about love and grief and why some people have more than their share and why others who are lucky are often so stupid about their good fortune.  

And time passed and I was amazed at how solitary that room became and how loud the sound of my own thoughts were and I thought of all those jailhouse converts who "find faith behind bars."  And then I told myself if I had to sit in this room much longer I might need to find God myself. And then I thought of God and "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and I wondered where God really was in all this.  

And by now, four hours had passed.  And frankly, I thought of the years of appeals on one side of this true life drama and a heartbroken family on the other that said every time the case came up in the news, they felt the pain all over again.  And how they wanted it to end and how police said that anyone who gunned down one of their own should be put to death.  And then I thought about a family who had loyalty to their loved one, who said they believed he was innocent. And then I thought about all the manpower, security, guns and incredible time and money spent by the state of Georgia to make this "thing" happen on this night.  And to be honest I wondered if it wouldn't have been a lot easier over the years if they had just decided to let the guy live?  He was in a maximum security prison and hadn't gone anywhere for 22 years.  That's what I thought, maybe you would have thought something different, alone there in that room with the idea of death before you.  And what it means to be alive one minute and gone the next.  And I'm sure that the MacPhails had thought about that many times and I knew the Davis family was thinking about it in that very second. 

By about 10:20 p.m., my escort came to the door and he told me we were going to the execution chamber.  And I knew okay, it's real now.

Then I followed a group of about a dozen people, including Attorney General Sam Olens and the warden, Carl Humphrey. The people ahead of me got into several black cars with tinted windows.  By now it was dark and the black cars looked like a funeral procession as they traversed quickly through the prison grounds and through a huge gate with more armed guards.  

Then the cars parked and we all went inside a brick building.  The door opened immediately into the witness room, which strangely enough had what prison personnel called "pews" to sit in.  There was no curtain drawn on the windows to the execution chamber.  I was led up front, and sat probably four to five feet from the window.  The warden and another man came in.  And then five guards came in backwards with Troy Daviskind of sandwiched in between them.  And they backed him up and laid him down on the gurney.  He appeared calm, I remember that distinctly.  There was no talking and things moved quickly after that.  He was meticulously strapped to the gurney, not easy to watch.  Then two women came from behind a curtain and stuck him in each arm and quite quickly completed the process of attaching the intravenous lines which would carry the lethal injection. And I wondered if this was part of my job, if I would be able to agree to do it. And he looked up briefly and I wondered what he was thinking. 

And for all the people who have been smarting off for weeks about how they would "love to be at that execution" I truly doubt it.  This is a somber experience, there's no room for big talk. And trust me, you understand that when you sit in a room filled with the grim silence of those who know what is about to happen because they've seen it before.  The reality is brought home by paper bags that are sitting everywhere because many people apparently throw up at the sight of a person actually dying before them.  And it's not like that Clint Eastwood movie, where the governor calls right before they start the flow of lethal drugs.  This is real, it is happening before your eyes.  And the only sound you hear is the scraping of your pencil as you write down what you see.   

When several members of the MacPhail family came in, I just felt tense.  I couldn't think of anything except that they had wanted this and now it was about to happen.  They sat in the front row, where I had been, close to Davis.  And I'm sure you've heard by now that he spoke to them, told them he was innocent, even told them he was sorry for their loss. I couldn't fathom what they were thinking since I know they have always been grounded in their conviction of his guilt.  

And then Troy Davis said "to all those about to end my life, I forgive you."  Whether you think it sincere or not, it was said.  His very last words were "God Bless You."  I didn't know if I would offer anyone forgiveness if I was the one strapped to a gurney.    

And then it began and Troy Davis closed his eyes.  And I don't remember them opening again.  There was no clock on the wall but I think about ten to fifteen minutes passed, I'm not quite sure.  And then the wardenpronounced him dead at 11:08 p.m. by saying "the lawful execution of Troy Anthony Davis has been carried out by the state of Georgia."  

And later, one of the Davis defense attorneys who had been in the execution chamber said "just because it was legal doesn't mean it was right."  And I saw pain in his eyes, like he should have been able to do more.  I realize most people have no use for defense attorneys except when they need one. But they feel compassion and sorrow like anyone else. And his lawyers said "we loved Troy" and I thought how hard it must have been to watch someone you know die that way.  

And as I left, I caught a glimpse of Mark MacPhail, Jr. walking arm and arm with a relative.  And I thought of what a nice guy he is, and how he reminds me of my nephew Jay, who is young and handsome and kind just like Mark, Jr. appears to be.  And I just hoped somehow that this spectacle we had all just endured, would be worth it to him.

I'm not sure why I did this.  I think in some ways I wanted to know what all this means, what the people who have to do it go through, how the family members of the inmate bid farewell in that last visit, and how heartbroken they must be when they hear that cell clang shut for the very last time. And most of all, to try to figure out if it brings true closure or peace for the victims of the crime, who never had a chance at all to say goodbye to their loved one. 

I saw something I will never forget and don't think that I should forget. And I found myself just hoping somehow I would end up being a better person and learn to appreciate every day of my life.  And I found myself hoping that I would always have courage to try and tell the human side of the things I see. And I found myself thinking about another Clint Eastwood movie, I'm sorry I like him a lot.  A line from Unforgiven - "It's a hell of a  thing, killing a man.  You take away all he's got and all he'll ever have."  The MacPhails have known that for a long time.  Now the Davis family knows it too.  And now unfortunately, they have more in common than ever.

From the UCC Network: 09/20/2011 "Quibbling and Quoting"

Quibbling and Quoting

Mark 1:21-22

"When the Sabbath arrived, Jesus lost no time in getting to the meeting place. He spent the day there teaching. They were surprised at his teaching—so forthright, so confident—not quibbling and quoting like the religion scholars."  (The Message)

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

"So what does your church believe?" If someone asked you that question, what would you say?

In the spirit of confession, let's acknowledge that many of us might respond by telling the person what our church does not believe. We might say, "We're not closed-minded, but open to all ideas. We welcome everybody, unlike some other churches. We're not like the fundamentalists who take scripture literally. And we're not like the churches who won't ordain women."

"OK," says the patient inquirer. "So what do you believe?"

We might continue, "Well, we believe that people can be free to believe many different things, so that's a tricky question to answer."

"OK, then," says the inquirer, now less patient. "Then what do you believe?"

"Well, I'm on a journey. It's a private matter. Here are the authors who have meant something to me and can say it so much better than I could. . . Blah, blah, blah."

Oh, just stop it.

We are told that one of the things that impressed Jesus' listeners was that he spoke plainly, "not quibbling and quoting like the religious scholars." He just put his beliefs and teachings out there and was ready to withstand some debate.

You can be open-minded and still know what you think. You can be accepting of other people's ideas but still willing to articulate your own. You can rejoice in the many diverse paths to God and still invite your neighbor to church.

Just say it.

Prayer

God, you have already given me the words to express how I know and love you. Help me get over the quibbling and quoting, and just say it. Otherwise, how will they know? 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.

Can only difficult action be called good and virtuous? [cross-post]

FROM THE CCBLOGS NETWORK

Can only difficult action be called good and virtuous?

Sep 19, 2011 by Don Scrooby

The German poet Schiller said this: "How gladly I'd serve my friends, but alas, I do so with pleasure. And so I have this nagging feeling that it's unethical."

What I find so sad about this quote is that Schiller feels almost guilty about something good (serving his friends) which he naturally finds  pleasure in doing. And so because it's pleasurable it has this unethical flavour about it. 

Where does this kind of feeling stem from? I think it comes from that unbalanced view that we are naturally evil and that our natural inclination is always to do evil. It says further that only action which is hard and difficult to perform can ultimately be called good or virtuous. Many will say, well, yes, the words of St Paul affirm this - "For what I do is not the good that I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing." There's truth here, but as with everything, when you push it too far it starts becoming false.

What about balancing, then, Paul's experience with Jeremiah's words; "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts." Just maybe in these words a natural going with the grain of our inmost being naturally issues forth in goodness and virtue. Maybe, expressing virtue doesn't have to be this hard and demanding struggle. Maybe it's the most natural thing we can do. Perhaps, we've just lost touch with this part of ourselves because for too long we've been told otherwise.

Matthew Fox makes the point that for ages we've laboured under the weight of original sin conveniently forgetting the innate beauty of our original blessing, and that the time has now come to correct this sad imbalance. What would that ultimately mean for us? A new found trust in the Divine and ourselves? I believe so.

Originally posted at Seeing More Clearly.

From the UCC Network: 09/19/2011 "A Blessing for God's Handy-Persons"

A Blessing for God's Handy-Persons

Excerpt from Exodus 31:1-11  

"...and I have filled him with the spirit of God, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft."

Reflection by Maren Tirabassi

Until my son Matt became a master bicycle mechanic, I didn't know there was such a trade. Not a job, a trade. The technology, tools and technical expertise translate as well to most gym equipment . . . and to wheelchairs. At his shop they tune up and repair wheelchairs for free.

God asked Moses to set aside and consecrate Joshua's nephew Bezalel and his friend Oholiab because of their gifts of stone-cutting, woodwork, metallurgy, and fabric arts. They were going to create the tent of the ark of the covenant and its furnishings. Five chapters of Exodus are devoted to the details of their crafts. They shaped furnishings, vestments, curtains, a table, a lampstand, and a mercy seat. God said, "I have given skill to all the skillful."

This is a wonderful day to celebrate the spirit of God in every kind of craft. All around our churches and our communities are quilt makers and auto body mechanics, plumbers and watercolorists, potters and pipe fitters. Some of us use God's handy skills for amateur activities; some of us use our gifts for employment. Many of us are fortunate enough to be able to do both. Let's give ourselves a hand!

Prayer

God, take my hands and let them be – consecrated to you, every bit as much as my head and my heart. Amen.

About the Author Maren C. Tirabassi is Pastor of Union Congregational UCC of Madbury, NH. Her book, Gifts in Open Hands: More Worship Resources for the Global Community has just been published by The Pilgrim Press.

Celebrating the Interruption of Death [cross-post]

Celebrating the Interruption of Death
by Shane Claiborne

Two nights ago death was interrupted.  Duane Buck was set for execution.  His execution would have been the second this week and the eleventh this year in Texas alone… and two more executions are scheduled for next week.  When Presidential candidate Rick Perry celebrated his 234 executions as Texas governor last week in the debate, the audience roared in applause.  As a Christian I found that deeply disturbing.


There is an incident in the Gospels where Jesus is asked about the death penalty.


Here’s the scene.  A woman has been humiliated and dragged before the town, ready to be killed.  Her execution was legal; her crime was a capital one.  But just because it’s legal, doesn’t make it right.

Jesus interrupts the scene – with grace.

He tells all the men who are ready to kill the woman, “Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.”  And of course he reminds us all that if we have looked at someone with lust in our eyes we are adulterers.  If we have called our neighbor a fool we are a murder.  You can hear the stones start to drop, as the men walk away. The only one who is left with any right to throw a stone is Jesus — and he has absolutely no inclination to do so.  We can see that the closer we are to God the less we want to throw stones at other people.

It is this dual conviction that no one is above reproach and that no one is beyond redemption that lies at the heart of our faith.   Undoubtedly it’s why the early Christians were characterized by non-violence, even in the face of brutal evil, torture, and execution.  Of all people, we who follow the executed and risen Christ should be people who are pro-life, pro-grace, anti-death.


The last 2000 years of Christianity have been filled with those interruptions of death.  After all, many evangelicals believe that Jesus’ own death on the cross was an interruption (“the wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ” Romans 6:23) – according to conventional evangelical wisdom, our sin would warrant us all the death penalty were it not for Jesus.  How then can we who have been spared death so quickly become people who are ready to dish it out?


Besides, much of the Bible is written by murderers who have been given a second chance — like David (who committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba and then had her husband killed).  How can we rejoice in death, even the death of a “terrorist” like Osama bin Laden when half of the new testament was written by a terrorist named Saul of Tarsus (who went door to door trying to kill the early Christians before his radical transformation), whose conversion was so radical it was as if “scales fell from his eyes” (Acts 9:18) and so fundamental that he changed his name.


The interruptions of death continue.  I recently heard a friend of mine who is living in prison tell me his story… a story very similar to that of Duane Buck in Texas.  My friend, admittedly and regrettably, committed a terrible crime.  But the victim’s family were Christians, and so in court they argued against the death penalty.  They insisted that we are all better than the worst things we do, and that no one is beyond redemption.  And they knew that there is something wrong with killing someone to show that killing is wrong.  Because of their persistent grace, my friend was spared the death penalty.  In prison, he pondered their words, and began reading the Gospels… and became a Christian.  To this day, his life is a resurrection story.


Our Gospel is a Gospel of grace, in spite of how scandalous grace may be, and in spite of all the ways we Christians have forgotten that grace.


When Duane Buck got the news last night that the execution had been stayed, these were his words: “Praise the Lord Jesus. God is worthy to be praised. God’s mercy triumphs over judgment, and I feel good.”


This is the good news – mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13).  Death has been interrupted by grace.  No one is beyond redemption – no one – not King David or Saul of Tarsus, not Duane Buck or you or me.


Their stories, and our own, remind us that we should never write any one off.  God’s grace is bigger than our mistakes.   Death Thou Art Dead.


May the interruptions of death continue.  And may our lives become a part of the interruption.

—-

Shane Claiborne is a prominent author, speaker, activist, and founding member of the Simple Way.  He is one of the compilers of Common Prayer, a new resource to unite people in prayer and action. Shane is also helping develop a network called Friends Without Borders which creates opportunities for folks to come together and work together for justice from around the world.

From the UCC Network: 09/17/2011 "Shout Out to Sunday School Teachers"

Shout Out to Sunday School Teachers

Excerpt from Psalm 105: 1-6, 37-45

"Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold, and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

It occurs to me this being Saturday, and early in September, there may be a fair number of folks preparing their first Sunday School lesson of the year today (or tonight). Thank you. Thank you for teaching, for telling the story, for loving the kids, and for helping all of us in the church to fulfill our baptismal promises to our children and their parents. It matters.

The long 105th Psalm basically tells the story of Israel and thus the story of God, or part of it. One of the main things we are up to in Sunday School is helping people learn and love the stories, the great stories of our faith.

Some opening lines from the novel Ceremony by Native American author, Leslie Marmon Silko, have stuck with me. "I will tell you something about stories . . . They aren't just entertainment. Don’t be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death. You don’t have anything if you don’t have the stories."

Imagine that: stories as health care! Stories to strengthen our immune system, set our broken bones and mend our torn hearts.

As people of faith, we have lots of amazing and wonderful stories. Together they make up one big story. It's the story of a God who created this good world and all of us in love and won't ever give up on us. It's the story of a God who has the first word and will have the last one, and that word is "Yes." It's the story of a God who finds a way when we don't, and who will be the way through life's many dangers, toils and snares.

So Sunday School teachers (preachers and parents), tell the stories. Furnish the imaginations of your children and adults with the stories. They aren't just entertainment. You don't have anything if you don't have the stories.

And Sunday School teachers: thank you.

Prayer

Dear Lord, bless all those who are your storytellers tomorrow. Grant them such grace that they may be so caught up in your story as to forget themselves and be truly found alive and anew in 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: 09/16/2011 "The Test"

The Test

Excerpt from 2 Corinthians 13:5-10

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!"

Reflection by Felix Carrion

Among the most dreaded things we hold in common is the surprise quiz. I doubt there has ever been a student who shouted for joy at the sound of the teacher saying, "This morning you will be given a quiz."

In college, mid-terms and finals meant the dreaded "all-nighters." Whether they worked or not, they almost always meant you left it all for the last minute. (And no one really knows if all-nighters are effective or not.) At some point in the night, or as the sun made its appearance bringing you ever closer to the test, you resigned yourself to what you thought you knew and/or didn't know.

Well, Paul here instructs the folks in the church of Corinth to test themselves. Rather than the teacher giving the test, Paul is urging self-examination. Test to see if you are living in the faith. Test to see if your faith is vital. Test to see if Christ is in you. You can know the answer if you take the test.

I like this because the administrator and taker of the test are one and the same. Really! You can take it any day, week or year. You can take it at any time of the day: morning, mid-morning, noon, early afternoon, late afternoon, early evening, late evening, or in the middle of the night. And, you can take the test wherever you wish to take it: at home, at church, at work, in the park, or walking down the street. The thing is this. You choose when and where you get to take the test that will help you judge how vital or listless is your faith; that will help you to judge if the divine life of Jesus Christ is being communicated in and through you.

The one thing you don't want to do, however, is put it off.

Prayer

O God, I don't care what anyone else says. You are my favorite teacher. You in me! Your voice speaking to me! You judging me, in love and in truth, for my own good, my own salvation, my own joy! Amen.

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

What is 'Biblical Politics'? (cross-post)

What is 'Biblical Politics'?

I was talking the other day to a Christian leader who has given his life to working with the poor. His approach is very grassroots -- he lives in a poor, virtually all-minority community and provides basic services for low-income people. He said, "If you work with and for the poor, you inevitably run intoinjustice." In other words, poverty isn't caused by accident. There are unjust systems and structures that create and perpetuate poverty and human suffering. And service alone is never enough; working to change both the attitudes and institutional arrangements that cause poverty is required.

Sojourners has always tried to understand and advocate for "biblical politics." But what does that mean now, especially as we approach another major election?


To change injustice, you must confront politics. British abolitionist William Wilberforce, for example, didn't just call upon English Christians not to possess slaves, he wanted to end the slave trade, and that required a long political campaign. Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't content to just ask U.S. Christians not to personally practice discrimination against black people; he understood that the nation needed a civil rights law and a voting rights act. Both took leadership from the White House and votes in Congress. All these changes took politics to accomplish.


Another friend of mine recently told me that she had watched the powerful movie about Wilberforce, Amazing Grace, five times this year and was deeply inspired. I was too when I first watched the story of the Wesleyan convert who made ending slavery the mission of his life. But I've always thought that the movie focused too much on the man and not enough on the movement that swept the United Kingdom and made the political victory possible. Likewise, it was more than the inspiring rhetoric of King that propelled the civil rights movement. It was the Birmingham campaign, the dramatic events in Selma, and the march to Montgomery that focused the nation’s attention and lead to important legislative actions.


It takes a movement to change politics. Change doesn't ever start in Washington, but if public momentum can be built among millions of people, it eventually arrives in the nation's capital.


This is what the Bible teaches us. The scriptures reveal a God of justice, not merely a God of charity. Words such as oppression and justice fill the Bible. The most common objects of the prophets' judgments are kings, rulers, judges, employers -- the rich and the powerful in charge of the world's governments, courts, economies, systems, and structures. When those who are in charge mistreat the poor and vulnerable, say the scriptures, it is not just unkind but also wrong and unjust, and it makes God angry. The subjects of the scriptures' concern are always the widow and the orphan, the poor and oppressed, the victims of courts or unscrupulous employers, debtors whose debts need to be forgiven, strangers in the land who need to be welcomed. And the topics of the prophets' messages to the powerful are things like land, labor, capital, judicial decisions, employer practices, rulers' dictates, and the decisions of the powerful -- all the stuff of politics.


I believe that makes very suspect those who want to privatize most of these very public decisions, who claim to trust "the market" to work things out, who want to leave the powerful alone and the corporate elites unregulated and to relegate solving poverty to private charity, and who want to further reduce political accountability on those who rule the economy and society by "making government so small it can be drowned in a bathtub," as they proudly claim as their goal. The question should never be just about "big" or "small" government, but rather about effective and smart government that has the ability to hold both wealth and power accountable to the common good.


But biblical politics is never just about the candidates either, and some have made that mistake in recent elections. Putting one's hopes in political candidates and parties has only led to disappointment, frustration, and dangerous cynicism. There are systems and structures that undergird and shape the limits of the political agenda, and challenging those limits to get to root causes and real solutions is always the prophetic task. It is always movements that "change the wind," and only a change in the political wind can change political policies in Washington.


People of faith at our best may be the ultimate independents, engaged in politics only because of those moral issues that command our attention and willing to challenge all political sides on behalf of them. Moral independents will change politics more than will religious partisans, who make compromises on behalf of electoral victories. Fighting for justice, not partisan political goals, is the core of biblical politics -- and that will continue to be our vocation at Sojourners.

Jim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery, and CEO of Sojourners. He blogs at www.godspolitics.com. Follow Jim on Twitter @JimWallis.