Vote for Shalom!

With the holiday shopping season in full swing, I thought I'd share this little documentary.

I'm all for buying gifts for people, it's a beautiful way to love others (though making stuff is awesome too). But let's be conscious of our purchases this year, remembering that ever dollar spent is quite literally a vote for the kind of world we live in.

Vote for a world that reflects the God whose entrance into the world we celebrate this time of year.

Vote for shalom!

From the Thesis

Thought I'd pull a little excerpt from my slowly developing thesis for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!




When Thomas Jefferson arrived in Paris as the newest delegate from the United States, he moved through the city with confidence that belied the youth of his nation. Jefferson relocated to France with his eldest daughter Martha--whom they all called Patsy--in July 1785 bearing, primarily, the responsibility to broker trade deals with his hosts and other European nations. In two brief years since the Treaty of Paris was signed and the Revolutionary War came to a close, the United States had quickly emerged as a state with whom the world must reckon. Militarily the U.S. eked out a victory on home turf, much thanks due their French allies, but the late eighteenth century was an era when naval power defined true might. Everyone knew the U.S. fleet was a shadow of their counterparts across the Atlantic. 

Jefferson’s plomb drew from a new source, one that had already risen as the defining feature on the geopolitical scene: economic power. It was no secret that the New World was a treasure chest of sorely lacking commodities in Europe, and the American ability to exploit its ecological gifts was burgeoning. But this was not the primary mode of profit on the middling diplomat’s mind.

Two months before arriving in Paris, Jefferson was present as the Congressional Congress’s ratified the Land Ordinance of 1785. It was an adaptation of a plan he put forward as representative for Virginia the previous year. As the chief architect behind its elegantly simple, seemingly destined, though ultimately diabolical strategy, Jefferson knew the United States was about to be a very wealthy nation. 

The land claimed by the thirteen colonies more than doubled after the Revolution. To the Founding Fathers, this presented an enormous opportunity dilemma: millions of acres of ‘unsettled’ territory. Sprawling to their west all the way to the Mississippi River (the other side was claimed by Spain) the settlers saw vacant, open wilderness. For Jefferson it was the perfect moment to begin enacting his vision for a nation of yeoman farmers. He and others “devised a plan whereby all the vacant unclaimed land in the young republic could be divided into an almost infinite number of squares, each of them a square mile, or 640 acres--more than enough to satisfy the average would-be settler” (Jennings, 225, quoting Jackson, A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time). Each plot would then be sold off by the government as pure profit. The Public Land Survey System, as it was called, was used to reduce the complexities of thousands of bioregions and Native civilizations to abstract geometry available for purchase. Its methodology was extended with zeal under Jefferson’s presidency as massive new quantities of land entered U.S. control through the Louisiana purchase, and it continued to shape the parceling of nature into property until Manifest Destiny reached its westward terminus. “In this US system, unique among colonial powers, land became the most important exchange commodity for the accumulation of capital and building of the national treasury” (Dunbar-Ortiz, 124). Anyone looking out a plane window today can still see Jefferson’s vision stamped over ancient, disjunctive soil in the patchwork grid of fields and roads so familiar on the middle-American landscape.

Implications abound from the Land Ordinance of 1785, but for now we must simply note that our third president had no concept of America as place. He followed a storied tradition of treating land outside white-European control like space. Colonists saw the New World as a vacuum Domicilium, open and available to their ‘civilizing’ inhabitation. Just before departing with merchants of the Massachusetts Bay Company, Puritan minister John Cotton preached on the settler’s logic: “In a vacant soyle hee that taketh possession of it, and bestoweth culture and husbandry upon it, his Right it is.” The tragic irony is, of course, that many peoples did possess the soil, participated in a rich cultural world, and practiced a complex system of husbandry that, while opaque to most settlers, had cultivated the unprecedented ecological abundance on display for the earliest explorers. 

“Since the particular had no place in the hierarchy of values developed in the post-Enlightenment world, studies of place were often relegated to ‘mere description’ while space was given the role of developing scientific law-like generalizations. In order to make this work people had to be removed from the scene. Space was not embodied but empty” (Cresswell, 34). This philosophical turn to space was excellent at opening the possibility for totalizing projects like Thomas Jefferson’s. Empty space--quite opposite populated, storied place--can make no demands on you. As an ethical void, it can make no claims of truth, value, or morality and is thus free to be filled by whatever the newcomer brings. When space was married to (and eventually subsumed under) a unidirectionally posited theory of time, they collaborated in the minds of Euro-Americans to offer an abstract setting for “progress.” Spacetime became a ravenous, unexamined lie buried in the mind of the colonizer. With its categories the coordinates were charted toward fresh vistas of Manifest Destiny, racial and class segregation, ecological destruction, and globalization. 

Decolonizing ourselves to inhabit the co-creative rhythms of human vocation requires us to once again look upon the land as shared place.

Focal Points

The Colorado State Capitol Building lines up with
the city's downtown street grid. It's also a gathering
spot for many of the city's homeless. (pic circa 1950)

Cities designed thoughtfully are filled with focal points. 

Even careless city plans have them in some shape or form. Whether parks, monuments, or significant buildings (public, private and religious architecture all fulfill this function and are a strong indicator of value expression at different points in a city's history), these become the visual reference points that help people orient themselves within the complexities of urban space and hold an "image of the city" (to use Lynch's phrase) in their mind. Sometimes focal points show up as a cluster of skyscrapers. Other times they appear as a strategically placed building at the end of a major boulevard. Whatever they are, these focal points draw our eyes and our bodies to them self and professes to the world what we find most important.

Focal places also function in a very interesting secondary role: they form the city's prime public spaces.

In the modern, capitalist city, public space is often inhabited by the poor. Private space outside the home is mostly geared toward consumption and profit generation in today's urban areas. Thus, the poor have limited private space available to them thanks to their limited purchasing and profit generating power. What's left are the public places available to anyone (though, increasingly, policies are being passed to oust unwanted folks from these places too). Imagine the parks and plaza's in your city's downtown. Who is seated and standing around capital buildings and courts, churches and office buildings? More often than not, this is where we find the homeless and those characters the dominant culture attempts to exclude.

I find it amazing that Jesus associated himself with exactly these people: the excluded, the disinherited, the barred from entry, the kept outside. Where you see the hungry and ignored, there, we are told, you see Jesus.

In the past, when I've thought about the focal design of our cities, the things we have centered our built environment and subsequently our lives around, I'm often saddened. At these center points we find the constructions of empire. The power of our government and financial institutions are set on full display. I have often worried that this leads us away from the true center, Jesus. And I have worried that this construction wordlessly teaches our imagination to value the wrong things.

But could it be that, ever so subtly, the presence of the poor in these places is subverting what the world has tried to place is the middle? That in the grimy faces of the poor, Jesus has planted himself at the center of our social worlds? Perhaps if we look down from the corner offices and emblems of power, if we can listen with humility, we will rediscover a more beautiful way to be human. We will find Jesus at the center, standing among the poor.

Seeing Systems: Resources

Posted this on FB, but thought I'd capture it over here too. Blessings yall!

Lots of political, economic, social, cultural type posts flying through my feed recently, lots more from my Christian friends than I'm used to seeing.

I'm feeling very grateful for that, actually. 

It implies that we as a people are beginning to see more clearly that belief systems (ours included) can never be isolated to individual piety -- the way we act in the world and the societies we create come out of the paradigms we hold. 

But reading the world is incredibly challenging. News outlets share and react to events, but rarely penetrate much deeper. So, even people who believe similarly often come out on different sides of issues. We're stuck asking, "What the heck is actually going on and what does being a follower of Jesus have to do with it?" The tendency is to focus in on these events and the individuals who are involved in them, pin blame somewhere, and try to solve problems that way. Unfortunately, most of us realize that isn't really making any progress...

With that in mind, I thought I'd share some resources on systems thinking that have been very helpful to me in attempting to think through what's going on in the world. The iceberg model below will get you started.

creds to the Donella Meadows Institute

If you are interested in learning more about how almost everything that matters in the world is composed of interrelated systems, here are a few helpful links:

1) Exceptional series of talks by systems guru Donella Meadows, this links to the first of four (she comes in around 6:00):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMmChiLZZHg

2) Article by Meadows on identifying leverage points in systems (i.e. how to we figure out how to create change on a systems level? the iceberg pic below is based on this article)
http://www.donellameadows.org/…/leverage-points-places-to-…/

3) The Center for Ecoliteracy has some helpful, straightforward systems explanations:
http://www.ecoliteracy.org/article/systems-thinkinghttp://www.ecoliteracy.org/…/seven-lessons-leaders-systems-…

4) Our minds are a system...here's how they work, and how to think more clearly about the world:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sfiReUu3o0

5) PBS partnered with some great folks to create a K-12 systems literacy program filled with videos and resource...tons of gold here
http://opb.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/systemsliteracy/

DISCLAIMER: The root word in radical--radic--means, you guessed it, "root." Systems thinking is a process for getting down to the root of things. When you do that, people will think you are a radical. And you might be, but if you do so in commitment to following Jesus yours will be a radicality of love, one that seeks the good of others, lifts up the marginalized and lays down self. 

Launch of Discipleship & Ethics website/newsletter!!!

What up LtoS readers!

I have a big announcement I'm very excited to make to you all.

Starting almost a year ago, I began dreaming and scheming with one of my favorite professors--Dr. Mark Baker--about creating new ways to grow the impact of his course called Discipleship & Ethics. Mark has been looking for ways to stay in touch with former students around the themes, challenges and growth that happens in this class, and I am passionate about getting his message out to more people.

After months of conversation, surveys, focus groups, strategizing, website design, mailchimp setup, writing, resource curating and on and on....we are officially launching DiscipleshipandEthics.com!!!

The site brings together a unique set of paradigms for what it means to follow Jesus at this moment in history, then explores how these paradigms play out across a diverse group of contemporary themes. It's set in an Anabaptist accent, which I believe gives the site a uniquely generative point of departure. Go here to read more about what that means.

As we say on the home page:

To follow Jesus is to move and press against the flow. This site seeks to point out the direction of the currents, provide you with a paddle, and link you with friends for the journey. Together, we are challenged to follow Jesus in living an ethic of freedom from the forces of death and alienation.

D&E.com is packed with videos, articles, blogs, book suggestions and will continue to grow in the months (and years!) to come. We hope this will become a place of dialogue, and a place where others we are journeying alongside can share their insights, ideas, resources, and requests as well.

Hope you can check it out and please share on social media to help get the word out!

Be Not Afraid: Theology of Liberation, Shalom and Structural Causes

I finally started reading Gustavo Gutierrez's classic, A Theology of Liberation, this week and was 

excited to see him framing "the praxis of liberation" as the task of shalom makers! At times I worry that my focus on shalom may be a point of departure located more within the ranks of white bible scholars that a perspective actually being voiced from the margins. Native American theologian Randy Woodley is a significant representative of someone speaking contextually from an oppressed people's point of view who has made shalom the organizing feature of his theology (his book Shalom in the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Perspective is phenomenal), but he has seemed more like an exception than the rule. 

But here I am reading one of the major pioneering works of non-North Atlantic theology, the father of Liberation Theology, speaking about shalom. It feels like a good affirmation. However, it's also clear that his thought cannot be reduced to what can be said through the lens of shalom by itself. Nor should we (I) fall into the trap of harmonizing the diverse voices of Majority World and US minority theologians into a single message. One of the favorite forms of neocolonialism practiced by us privileged folks today is acting as the all-seeing outsider who is able to articulate the core, unified message at the heart of what all those "other" people are saying. But this is both naive, dehumanizing, and flat out wrong. Their words are many and varying and should be held with an appropriate degree of dissonance that keeps us listening for notes of unity, harmony and divergence. And listening, particularly for us white folks, is one of the most Christian things we can do today.

All that said, here are Gutierrez's comments around shalom:

The praxis on which liberation theology reflects is a praxis of solidarity in the interests of liberation and is inspired by the gospel. It is the activity of "peacemakers"--that is, those who are forging shalom. Western languages translate this Hebrew word as "peace" but in doing so, diminish its meaning. Shalom in fact refers to the whole of life and, as part of this, to the need of establishing justice and peace. Consequently, a praxis motivated by evangelical values embraces to some extent every effort to bring about authentic fellowship and authentic justice. For faith shows us that in this commitment the grace of Christ plays its part, whether or not those who practice it are aware of this fact.

This liberating praxis endeavors to transform history int he light of the reign of God. It accepts the reign now, even though knowing that it will arrive in its fullness only at the end of time. In this practice of love, social aspects have an important place on a continent [Latin America] in which socio-economic structs are in the service of the powerful and work against the weak of society. But in my understanding of it, "praxis" is not reducible to "social aspects" in this narrow sense. The complexity of the world of the poor and lowly compels us to attend to other dimensions of the Christian practice if it is to meet the requirement of a total love of God.

Excellent thoughts, I'd say.

While I'm at it, I thought I'd share another quote from his introduction because it expresses so well the journey I have been on--one I would couch under the categories of Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" and Romans 6:11, "count yourselves dead to sin [in my case: privilege, whiteness, the desire social acceptability, etc.] and alive to Christ."  

To these effects, Gutierrez says the following:

Structural analysis has thus played an important part in building up the picture of the world to which liberation theology addresses itself. The use of this analysis has had its price, for although the privileged of this world can accept the existence of human poverty on a massive scale and not be overawed by it (after all, it is something that cannot be hidden away in our time), problems begin when the causes of this poverty are pointed out to them. Once causes are determined, then there is talk of "social injustice," and the privileged begin to resist. This is especially true when to structural analysis there is added a concrete historical perspective in which personal responsibilities come to light. But it is the conscientization [the process by which the poor/marginalized gain a broader sense of the world, its oppressiveness toward them, and are inspired to act for liberation/transformation] and resultant organization of poor sectors that rouse the greatest fears and strongest resistance.

Boom! 

It gets scary for those of us who have always had a seat at the table to come face to face with Jesus' words that the first shall be last. But, as the angels always say, "do not be afraid." Shalom--when you look at it squarely--may seem like bad news to you, my fellow privileged friend, but be not afraid. For it is a tiding of great joy, if only you will lay down your nets and follow the King.

What is Justice?

I recently read this piece from Shalom: The Bible's Word for Salvation, Justice and Peace by Perry Yoder and was impressed by his clear articulation of a much muddied word. Misguided ideas of what constitutes justice is one of the Church's (many) big issues in terms of coalescing around a shared mission and making movement on it. The selection I'm offering hits stronger when built up to by first reading the exegesis he does on previous pages, but I thought it was still well worth sharing and reflection. Contrast this restorative, redemptive, reconciliatory, relational model to the retributive, punishment-centric model we see expressed through our criminal justice system, schools, and many of our homes.

"To sum up this material, we can say that God's justice is characterized in two basic ways. First, God is judge of all the nations, the whole earth (Ps. 9:7-8; 9:20; 67:4; 82:8; 94:2; 96:13). This we might describe as the range of God's justice, its quantity.

Second, this universal justice expresses itself through acts on behalf of the underclass who gain relief and liberation through the exercise of justice (Ps. 7:11; 9:8; 10:18; 37:9; 76:10; 103:6; 140:6; 140:13; 146:7). We might label this the quality of God's justice. 

We return now the questions with which we began: what is the nature of God's justice? what are the marks of God's justice? Two things seem obvious. First, in terms of its object, God's justice is shown to the poor, the disadvantaged, the weak. This was seen not only in the persons named as objects of God's justice, but also in the reversal of fortunes theme and in the plight of those praying for God's justice. 

Second, in terms of its results, God's justice helps the needy, it delivers people from bad circumstance, whether it be hunger, prison, or another case of suffering or form of oppresion. God's justice sets things right, it is a liberating justice. 

God's justice which sets things right takes two forms. First, God's justice delivers the underclass from their oppression and transforms their situation. Second, God's justice judges the oppressors; it shatters the power which enables them to oppress. In the psalms quoted above, oppressive power opposes God's rule--it is a sign of atheism, it is a sin. In short, God's justice as shown and sought in the psalms demolishes the oppressive status quo by acting for the disadvantaged and oppressed, and by crushing their oppressors.

Since material want, oppression, and lack of moral integrity are the opposites of shalom, God's acts of justice reverse a non-shalom situation. God's justice makes things right by transforming the status quo of need and oppression into a situation where things are as they should be. This transformation forms the basis for shalom. Given this connection between God's justice and shalom, we shall call this shalom justice. And where shalom justice is missing, there shalom is missing. Peacemaking means working for the realization of shalom justice which is necessary for the realization of shalom. 

Flowing from these two aspects of God's justice--the object (the underclass and needy) and the objective (shalom)--is another major characteristic of God's justice, perhaps its most basic aspect: God's action for justice is not based on the merit of individuals, but on their need. The fact of their oppression calls forth from God an act of justice. The fact that they are blind makes them an object of God's care. Nothing in Psalm 146 says that it was some special merit on the part of the needy that caused God to act for them. Shalom justice is not based on calculating what people deserve, but rather on making an unright situation a right one. God's justice is a response to the lack of shalom in order to create the conditions of shalom. 

While we are prone to assess blame--the plight of the poor and disadvantaged is their own fault--or to assign responsibility--someone else is responsible for their situation--Jesus acts to deal with the need. He performs an act of shalom justice. Regardless of all other consideration, people ought to see rather than to be blind! People ought to be liberated rather than be oppressed. As a result, shalom makers are more concerned with transforming situations rather than meting out what people deserve."