A Map Of The World

How about this for a map ?

I saw one of these maps years ago, but had forgotten all about it.

When I saw it again the other day, I said "Oh I see, it's upside down".  Then I thought about it, and said ... "No, what I mean is - it's the other way up!"

Crossing Boundaries Mark 3:7-12

Mark 3:7-12

In which Jesus is followed by great crowds.  Jesus' fame has spread!  They come from many different places, including Tyre and Sidon.  In Matthew's Gospel, (15 v 21) Jesus meets a Canaanite woman from this region.  It's clear that Jesus initially doesn't want to have much to do with her, but as the conversation develops, he decides to help her.  His mission would cross boundaries of language, ethnicity and background.

It struck me that here in Mark 3, Jesus is already attracting attention from people who come from different areas, and different ethnic backgrounds.

Today is an especially good day to remember this as today is Pentecost Sunday, in which Christians remember the coming of the Spirit to all peoples.  We thought about this in church today.  (I went to one of the Mennonite churches in Harrisonburg today)

To convey to the children present that God's Spirit is at work all round the world, we heard a verse of the reading from Acts 2 in Arabic (Egypt), Portuguese (Brazil), German (American with German antecedents), Chinese (China), and Kirundi (Burundi).

Today we celebrate the power of God's Spirit to bring together people from all backgrounds. Really  Good News not only travels fast, as it has done here in Mark's Gospel, but it travels far.  It travels across boundaries that are otherwise impossible to penetrate.

In my time here, I have reminded of the central message of peace in the Gospels.  The 'Jesus Project' is at its heart one of peace and reconciliation.  

STAR

I have three more days to go with my course on Biblical Foundations for Peacemaking.  I have decided that the best use of my remaining time in the US would be to take advantage of what's on offer here at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute.  So I have put my name down for what they call the STAR course - STAR stands for - Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Healing.  

It includes a whole range of material including conflict transformation, trauma healing and restorative justice.

I went to a brief introductory meeting on Friday and I'm really excited about the possibility of getting on the course.  (I think I will if there's space - it's almost fully subscribed)

http://www.emu.edu/cjp/star/trauma-healing-seminars

One of the things I learned in the brief introduction was to do with the length of time it might take to find healing from a traumatic incident, or set of circumstances.  The recovery time is related to the length of time that a person has been experiencing trauma.

So for someone who has lived in a war affected area for years, or someone who has been abused for years, the recovery is not going to happen overnight.  The work of bringing healing is not likely to be a quick fix one, but one that takes commitment to the long term.

But for now, I must get back to my reading for tomorrow's class.  A great little book called 'Blessed are the Pacifists' by Thomas Trzyna. (About the sermon on the mount)

Brief Encounter

I'm here in Harrisonburg Virginia, doing a Peacebuilding Summer School.  Today is Saturday, a day off, and most people have gone to Washington D.C. for the day.  Steve and I decide to go up into the Shenandoah National Forest and do some hiking.  The weather is glorious, and we walk down from the road to a magnificent waterfall.  The hike back up is strenuous, and all the way I'm thinking about those hardy souls who thru walk the Appalachian Trail.

Just as we are approaching where we parked the car, we cross the AT, and there coming down the track are two women with large rucksacks.  I waylay them to find out if they are walking the whole trail.  They are!  They started three months ago (That would be the beginning of March), and expect to be in Maine by September.  We wish them well, and watch them disappear up the track to the North.

Security Across A Divide

After 9/11 the Muslim community here in Harrisonburg Virginia felt very insecure. In a largely traditional Christian area, some Muslims felt afraid to go out even to shop. The Christian churches in the town made contact with them, to assure the Muslim community that the churches were there to support and help - for example to accompany them to the store to do their shopping.

The place where Muslims felt safest was store run by Old Order Mennonites. Two peoples with deep roots into their faith tradition, very different, but one providing a safe place for the other. As one Muslim woman put it "They wear the veil, we wear the veil"

Learning

One of the great things about being here, is meeting people from different countries, and hearing stories of life and faith, often in places where there is ongoing violence and injustice. I can't go into any detail on this blog, aware that anyone can read this, and not wanting to put anyone in a dangerous position. That comment alone is enough to remind me that however much we want to be open and talk freely about these things, there is a wisdom that is needed here.

Perhaps it is enough for the moment to say that this rich environment gives me stories that, even if I cannot share them in this medium, will give me the encouragement and some of the resources that I need to connect more effectively with those who speak from another faith tradition.

In class today we were talking about the need to speak from 'deep to deep' in our inter denominational and inter faith dialogue. By that I mean - we need people who hold their faith positions strongly and passionately to be willing to engage with others with a different viewpoint. Dialogue, particularly inter-faith dialogue is viewed by some with suspicion, and a concern that we might be 'selling out'. The result may be that it is those more on the fringes that engage in dialogue, those who therefore have less at stake.

It is important that those who have very deep convictions are willing to enagage with those who are different.

Crazy Like Jesus

 This post is about just one of a collection of 'stories of ordinary people behaving with extraordinary hope' that are told in a book by our class teacher - N.Gerald Schenk.  The book is entitles 'Hope Indeed!"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hope-Indeed-Remarkable-Stories-Peacemakers/dp/1561486329/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243631863&sr=8-3

Our class teacher Gerald tells us about Lazar, a young man, a Serbian Christian.  Gerald had been asked by the pastor of the church to speak to a gathering of the young people in the church, and this was on the eve of the armed conflict between Croats and Serbs. The pastor knew that the young men of his congregation would soon be called to join the army. He had come to a pacifist position himself, but wanted someone from outside the church to speak to them.

So Gerald came and outlined the various positions that Christians have taken on the question of war. The young man, Lazar answered by saying: 'That's all well and good, you've told us the different viewpoints. But in ten days time I will be conscripted, what should I do?' Gerald answered that he could say what he himself would do, but that is what up to everyone to make their own decision. Gerald had grown up in a peace church tradition, and were he in the same position, he knew that he would receive support, but L was in an entirely different situation, and to be a pacifist in his context would be entirely different.

Lazar decided to go into the Military, and to try and be a good Christian witness. He drive lorries, which meant that he was not involved directly in combat situations. He explained to his comrades his reasons, but was unable to make any real impression on them. However at one point he was ordered to drive a tank in an attack on a village. He had no relatives there, he had none of the acceptable reasons to refuse, but he did refuse. As a consequence his conmmanding officer said 'Get this man out of here, he is not sane!' Lazar was sent to a military psychiatrist, and tortured, and eventually the military authorities let him go back to his unit - as a non combatant lorry driver. At this point, his comrades were interested. They wanted to know why he had made the stand, which had been so costly to him.

Now that there were actions to observe, as well as words to listen to they were intrigued. As a result, eight of his comrades became Christians, and two are known to be faithful to this day.

Three Strikes. Mark 3:1-6

Mark 3:1-6

In which Jesus heals a man, on the sabbath, in the synagogue.

One of the things we have been noticing is that in the Bible, when it talks about 'saving' it usually refers to a physical deliverance or liberation. In the New Testament, the Greek word for save is sozo, (translated by a range of different words in English). Here in Mark 3, it is clear that Jesus is saving the man from disease by healing him. This is first a physical thing.

As in the UK, there is still something of a tension here between those who see salvation as 'getting right with God' or 'having your sins forgiven' (i.e. essentially something personal and private between me and God) ... and those who see salvation as primarily God's rescue plan for the world. This vision is a holistic one. It is something that is for the whole of creation first, and for us as individuals as part of that salvation. Salvation in the Bible has its roots in the Exodus, which was about a physical liberation from oppression. Salvation has primarily a physical meaning ... that means that it is observable in changed lives, in changed situations, in changed structures in society.

Christians who have tried to teach and live this way of seeing salvation have sometimes been seen as heretics in the Evangelical world.

Going back to Mark 3 - We revisit here the conflict between the law as taught by the religious leaders, and Jesus' own interpetation of the law, which is always based in God's justice and righteousness, and in God's actions to save. In doing so, Jesus puts himself (for the third time) in the firing line.

He asks the Pharisees "Is it lawful to do good or to harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill ?" They do not have an answer. Maybe because deep down they have no answer. Their lack of an answer says very loudly that they have not thought deeply enough about salvation.

The end of the passage shows a deep division between Jesus and his own religious leaders. He is angry, and grieves at their hardness of heart.

Here in EMU I have met people from all over the world. David is a pastor here in the USA and was telling me about one of his experiences as an assistant pastor years ago. One weekend, he took some of the older teenagers in the church to the city to visit a homeless shelter. David and the young people spent a Friday evening at the shelter, serving food and spending time with the clients, and slept on the floor in the church basement. It was a good learning experience, and an opportunity to serve those less fortunate. On his return to the church on Sunday morning, one of the lay leaders in the church asked David how it had gone, and how many had been saved. When David explained what they had done (an act of service) the man said 'Well that was a total waste of time.' For David, that weekend would prove to be one of the turning points in his own journey of faith.

This third Sabbath encounter was also something of a turning point, but for the Pharisees. It is at this point that they start to make plans to get rid of Jesus. His willingness to engage with them by being faithful to God's mission of salvation takes him into danger.

Rules. Mark 2:23-28

Mark 2:23-28

Today was my first day at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern Mennonite University.

It's funny how things seem to come together. Several of the others in the class that I am taking are from Pennsylvania, home of the Amish communities, and I must ask my classmates to tell me their perspective on this expression of Christian Faith. (Mennonites come from a similar historical root as the Amish in that they all came to the USA as a result of persecution in Europe)

I've got up to Mark 2:23-28 in my reading of the Gospel, so this evening I spent some time looking at this passage, and asking what it might say to me in this place in my life, considering the subjects of peace and justice. I wrote some brief notes, and then decided to watch one of the videos I brought with me from the UK. I put on a BBC documentary called 'Trouble in Amish Paradise'

Within a minute I realised that this film is talking about exactly the same issue that Jesus is dealing with in this passage in Mark's Gospel. Jesus is in a dispute with the Pharisees because his disciples are breaking one of the sabbath food laws. Plucking grains of corn as they walk through a field.

The Amish film focusses on two men with young families, both of whom are troubled by some aspects of their Amish way of life. They are both in dispute with their church leaders because they have started reading the Bible in English for the first time, and are reading things that seem very different to the High German translation that they use in their church services. So who should they obey ? The Church leaders or what they sense God is saying to them through the Bible ?

"Being Amish is all about following rules," says one of them, "... and it's got out of hand. Rules about the width of headbands, or how braces should be worn. You have to wear braces a certain way, and if you don't, you get excommunicated. What's more, the rules might be different for different church communities."

One of his big fears growing up was 'would he go to heaven when he died ?' He was taught that he must obey all the church rules if he was to be sure of going to heaven.

Now that he feels free to look at the Bible for himself, he believes that going to heaven is not about following rules to the letter, but about a relationship with God.

The parallels between their situation and the Gospel passage really struck me, and then I remembered something that someone said in class today. In situations of conflict, or where people have very fixed views about something, there is a root cause of some kind of fear.

So I have the question for the Amish church leaders, and for the pharisees, and for all who want to exercise control through a system of rules - 'What are you so afraid of ?'

Too Different ? Mark 2:18-22

Mark 2:18-22

Finally, I'm back with St Mark!

In which a paralysed man is brought to Jesus. Jesus pronounces that his sins are forgiven, and then seeing the stir that this causes, he heals the man, to demonstrate his authority.

Brian Stoffregen writes notes on Bible Passages that I find very helpful. crossmarks.com

In his notes on Mark Chapter 2, he writes that what is offensive about Jesus, as far as the Pharisees are concerned, is not just that Jesus forgives sin, but who it is that receives the forgiveness here - a paralytic. The paralysed man would have been considered unclean, possibly suffering his fate through sins that he, or his parents had committed. What right has Jesus got to pronounce forgiveness on THIS MAN. He is beyond the pale.

The healing takes place after the healing of a leper (another outcast) and is followed by the calling of Levi, a tax collector, and another outcast. Jesus then parties with Levi and his friends - described as 'tax collectors and sinners' - more outcasts.

This apporach of Jesus just does not fit in with the way that the Pharisees do things. The two are incompatible - Jesus' way and their way. Hence Jesus responds to their criticism by giving pictures of what happens when two incompatible things come together: new wine and old skins; new patches and old cloth.

They are so incompatible that there is bound to be a problem when the two worlds collide. Jesus hints at what he sees to be the inevitable result for him. (When the bridegroom is taken away ... is the time for fasting)

How often in an intense conflict or disagreement do the warring factions demonise the other, or regard them as beyond the pale ? We sometimes (often ?) have difficulty relating to others who are so different to ourselves. Their whole value system and way of operating seems at odds with our way. This is how the Pharisees must have viewed Jesus. He is just TOO different.

Today we visited Manassas Battlefield and learned something of one of the very early conflicts in the American Civil War. After the conflict, which was eventually 'won' by the North, the federal government made provision for the cost of burials and memorials for the Union dead, but it would be many years before those on the Confederate side had the same treatment. Not surprisingly, for many years, the bitterness and mistrust remained, and the cost of burying the Confederate dead had to be borne by private funds.

Tomorrow I begin my Biblical Foundations for Peacemaking, and if I have learned one thing in the last 10 days in Virginia, it is that conflict is all around us, and the world desperately needs the insights and skills of those working for peace with justice.

EMU

No, not the bird, but Eastern Mennonite University. I dropped off my wife and son at Washington Airport earlier today after our 10 days tour of Virginia, and now I have arrived at EMU for a course in 'Biblical Foundations for Peacemaking'

It feels very different being on my own now, having had the company of my wife and son for the first part of the trip. I'm adrift in new waters, looking for familiar landmarks. Driving down the freeway on my own in a rented car thousands of miles from home felt uncomfortable.

However I arrive here and within minutes I find some of those landmarks that I was looking for - that is the welcome of Christian people here at the SPI (Summer Peacebuilding Institute).

The SPI is in its third week now and I am greeted by a group preparing a barbeque. I have no food to bring to the picnic, but am made so welcome. Within minutes I am talking with Micah, who works here all year round looking after the student accommodation; and with David, and Samuel, and Ben. I soon feel more relaxed, and with a burger inside me, ready for anything.

After an hour or so, I have met people from all over the world who have come to the Centre for Justice and Peace here at EMU. From Syria, Kenya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Galilee, India ... and many other countries, they have come, and I am excited at the prospect of all that we will learn together.

There's another Englishman here, someone says. His name is Steve. I remember a Steve from some traning days I have done, and wonder if is him. Shortly afterwards, Steve arrives to claim his chicken leg from the barbeque, and sure enough, it is the same Steve. How strange and wonderful. Steve has been here two weeks already, as part of a sabbatical!

It's now nearly 9 pm, and I am typing this on one of the computers in the lounge, as I cannot get access on to the wireless network with my trusty G4. Tomorrow hopefully.

Over the last 10 days, I haven't got to grips with Mark's Gospel very much, as I have been full of the sights that we have seen all around Virginia. I'm hoping t0 get back to mark very soon, as well as putting down some thoughts about the last few days, when we learnt something of American history - particularly the War of Independence, and the American Civil War.

A Religious People

A couple of days ago, driving a 20 mile journey from Luray to Elktown (just to the west of the Shenandoah national park), we noticed rather a lot of churches.  This is a country road, going through small farming communities of just a few houses, but no shops or other amenities (apart from the Page County High School, which is out in the countryside).

Every mile or so there would be a church.  On our return trip down the same road, I thought I would count them.  I counted 21 on the 20 mile trip, not including the churches in Luray.  And the thing was, they were all different, and I mean ALL.  We saw Methodist, Evangelical Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Community, Church of the Redeeming Love of Christ, Church of God, Grace Church, Beahms Chapel, and more with names I can't remember.

Ice Cream

Jack Skeleton from Nightmare before Christmas sculpted by Joel from Chocolate ice cream on the Appalachian Trail.

A Walk in the Woods

I'm re reading Bill Bryson's book 'A Walk in the Woods' - his account of walking the AT (Appalachian Trail).  It's a great laugh out loud read.  We walked a bit of the AT today as part of a 6 mile 'Big Run Loop' hike.  It started out with about 2 miles gently sloping down the hillside.  As you know, what goes down, must come up, and so we then had about a mile and a half of fairly steep climb.  You then get a feel for what Bill Bryson talks about.  After a while, you don't care about the view, you can't talk to your comrades on the trail, you just look at the ground to make sure you don't trip over any roots or rocks.

We did 6 miles today.  If I was just starting the AT I would need to walk about another 10 miles today, and I would have another 149 days to go.

We were talking to a guy called Chris the other day who was telling us that he met a girl of about 18 and her 17 yr old friend who were doing the AT - she was doing it for the second time.  The first time she did it was 7 years ago - she was 11 and her brother was 8!  They were the youngest girl and boy to ever do the whole AT.

The AT

This is a view looking east from the Skyline Drive, in the Shenandoah National Forest.  The Shenandoah National Forest was established in the 1930's as the first National Park in eastern USA.  At a time of high unemployment, the CCC - the Civilian Conservation Corps - was started to give young unemployed men from poor families a job making the roads, and the trails in the park. They got $30 a week, of which $25 went straight home to their families.

http://www.nps.gov/shen/historyculture/cccoralhistories.htm

Part of the park was the Skyline Drive, a road that runs for 105 miles from Front Royal in the north to Waynesboro in the south.  In order to set up the national park, the federal government had to buy the land, which involved resettling hundreds of people who were living in the area.  Many of these people did not want to move, and their were numerous court cases as they challenged the right of the government to move them off their land.  

Once more, an example of the powerful displacing people from their home !

As well as the conflict between the local inhabitants and the federal government, there was trouble between the newly established Shenandoah National Park and those who had recently set up the Appalachian Trail.  The Appalachian Trail (AT) came from Benton MacKaye who had the idea in 1921 to have a hiking route from Georgia to Maine, a distance of over 2000 miles.  The AT was finally finished in 1937, but when the National Park service was building the Skyline Drive, it turned out that they wanted to use the same route that was already being walked by the hikers!

Today hikers along the AT in Virginia follow a trail that runs close beside the Skyline Drive.  hardly the wilderness experience envisaged by Benton MacKaye, but it has opened up this beautiful country for tourists like us!

White Magnum

No, not the Walls one, this one's a Dodge.  But pretty tasty!  It was supposed to be a Chevrolet compact, but ...

It goes like this.  I was just congratulating myself that we had planned our itinerary pretty well, when it went (a little bit pear shaped).  It was Monday.  We had spent the morning at Union Station - amazing building - and the afternoon at the Zoo watching the Orang utan - amazing animal.  

The plan was this.  Hop on the metro at the zoo, go to the Arlington Metro stop, and find the car rental place, which is on Davis Jefferson highway - which is the same street as the Arlington Cemetery. 

So we emerge from the Arlington metro station, and discover that Jefferson Davis Highway is ... well ... a highway ... that is, like a motorway.  So finding the car hire place was not going to be easy.  Plus, I had forgotten what number jefferson David Highway!

We decided to take a taxi, got in, and then after being assured by the driver that he knew the car rental place we wanted to go to, discovered that he didn't!  Quick exit from the taxi.  back to the hotel where our luggage (and free internet) is ... and find out that the car hire place is actually Ronald reagan Airport.

Eventually arrived at Ronald Reagan Airport, (which is where the car rental place is) and after a long walk, found the car rental desk.  

They had no record of us!  Then the car rental computer went down!  Then he found us on the system, but not at Ronald Reagan Airport, but at their Jefferson Davis Highway branch.

Confused?  Don't worry.  He found us a car, and got us on the road, 2 hours after we had planned.  But the outcome of all this was that we ended up with the Magnum!

Today

Today just an update on our travels.  Having had three fantastic, entertaining and informative days in D.C. we are now in Luray, small town in the Appalachian mountains.  Today we went white water rafting, and shot the rapids down the Shenandoah River!  saw an eagle, a couple of otters, a crane, a kingfisher, loads of turtles, a buzzard, and some unidentified jumping fish.  Tomorrow we plan to hike in part of the Shenandoah National Forest ... the weather is great - around 80 degrees,  but will be a bit cooler up in the mountains tomorrow.

Meeting

Today, here in Washington, Barack Obama will meet with Benjamin Netanyahu.  Yesterday, we visited the excellent and moving Holocaust Museum here in Washington.  From the early days of Nazism, through the rise of Hitler all the way through to the post war era, the museum shows in powerful ways what it meant to be a Jew in Hitler's Germany.

In some of the ghettoes, Jews were separated from the rest of the population by high walls and barbed wire.  Their movement was restricted, and they had to go through checkpoints and show papers to move around the city.  Does that remind you of anywhere in the world today ?

Later on in the day we visited the museum of the American Indian, where we learnt about the ways of Native Americans, from Peru in the South, to Inuits in the north.  Today, after many years of being oppressed and marginalised, Native Americans are speaking with a more confident voice, rediscovering their roots and ensuring that their culture survives into the future.

Early in the 19th century, European settlers encountered what they saw as an obstacle to their safety and freedom, the existence of Indian communities (who of course had been there for many centuries).  President at the time, Andrew Jackson pursued a policy of moving the Indians westward, so that the settlers could live in safety.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html

Does that make you think of anything that has happened in the recent past (Think 1948, and Jewish Settlers forcing out Palestinian communities)

We have more in common than we realise!  Whether it is in the Warsaw Ghetto, or the Indian Reservation, or the Palestinian towns separated by the wall, or the segregation experienced by the African Americans in the 20th century, we have this common history, and maybe realising this may help Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu find common ground 

Tax Collectors and Sinners. Mark 2:13-17

Mark 2:13-17

Here Jesus asks Levi (a tax collector) to follow him, and he does.  Later, at Levi's house, there are clearly many other 'sinners and tax collectors' who are also following Jesus.  The scribes ask Jesus' disciples why Jesus will eat with 'these people' (my phrase).

There are six references, (direct or indirect) in these 5 verses to the 'tax collectors and sinners'.  They are people who are attracted to Jesus, so much so that they are desribed as followers.  Reading these verses, my question is this. If Jesus had come today, who would be the equivalent to the 'tax collectors and sinners' ?  Would they be mostly people who are in our churches ?

And where would Jesus be ? (a la What Would Jesus Do?!).  Maybe we could have some wristbands made up! WWJB.  

The question for the church is - how can we be a presence in the same way that Jesus was ? Sitting in the same house with 'tax collectors and sinners' and 'scribes of the pharisees'

Washington D.C. is a good place to look because it is THE centre of power in the world, and is at the same time a city of great need. 

Whilst staying here in Washington, we have been about 10 minutes walk from the White House, the centre of executive power of the only global superpower, and at night, we can hear the sirens of the emergency services at regular intervals.  (D.C. has, or at least has had in the recent past, the highest murder rate in the USA).  It's a city of contrasts.  

 

In 1947, Gordon and Mary Cosby started The Church of the Savior', an ecumenical Christian community here in DC ...

http://www.inwardoutward.org/?page_id=7

From those early beginnings, others have taken inspiration from the Cosbys, among them Jim Wallis, spokesperson for the Sojourners Community, and leader of the 'Evangelical Left' inthe USA.  Today the life of the Church of the Saviour is expressed in 7 separate communities ... Along with Sojourners Community and many others, the Church of the Saviour is setting out to do what Jesus did, a to be where Jesus was ... both engaging with the powers, and sitting with the powerless.

Gran Torino

The film Gran Torino was showing on the plane on the way over.  There's no sex, a little violence, and some fairly rich language (mostly the F word). If you can cope with that, see the film.

It's set in mid west America, is about the relationship between Walt Kowalski, a Korean veteran, and the Vietnamese (?) family that are living next door. Right at the beginning of the film Walt's wife has just died, and the opening scenes show the funeral and the wake.

A teenage boy living next door is under pressure to join his cousin's gang, but does not want to join.  As the story progresses, there is a triangle of relationships between Walt, the next door neighbours, and the gang, and Walt's preconceptions about this Asian family are challenged.  But for Walt, the heart of the story is about the burden of guilt that he carries from Korea.  The big question for Walt is - can violence be justified to solve things ?  I won't say any more on this post ... but I may add another post about - don't read it if you want to see the film.

We're Here

Well, we've arrived in Washington D.C.  Matt kindly drove us to Manchester Airport, picking us up at 4.15, bang on time.  Flight was good, all running to time, and arrived at D.C. 4 pm local time.  That's 9 pm in  English money.

Saw a couple of films on the flight, Gran Torino and the Reader, both great films in different ways.  More about Gran Torino another time, because it fits in well with my earlier post about the myth of redemptive violence.

Long queues at immigration, with fingerprints and photographs taken ... to see if we are on any databases of undesirables ?

My previous experience of USA has been largely very positive, and that was reinforced by two very helpful people getting us sorted it out with where/how to get the tickets for the bus from the airport to D.C.  The guy at the hotel where we're staying was also very helpful ... Good Vibrations.

BFN

Bye for Now.  I won't be putting anything here for a few days as tomorrow I'll be watching the first day of the second test (Cricket), and the next day we fly to Washington.  So I'll be back in a couple of days

The Road to Compostela

Yesterday, I met two women, both Methodist ministers, who have walked the road from St Jean Pied de Port to Compostela.  It's a pilgrim route, 500 miles long.

http://www.santiago-compostela.net/frances/index_cf_en.html

They walked it last May, taking everything except a tent with them, and it took them 5 weeks.  They described the hardships of the walk:  blisters, tiredness, the weather (torrential rain), lack of food.  It wasn't as if there were supermarkets to shop in.  Sometimes they just went without food if there was no shop in the village where they slept. They stayed in hostels, in rickety bunk beds, surrounded by snoring travellers. (Germans and Koreans were the worst offenders).  Hostels sometimes offered food, but you get fed up with steak and chips after a few days.  On one occasion, tired at the end of the day, and with no food, a local family gave them some bread and a bottle of wine.

I get the feeling that walking the pilgrim route in this way would be incredibly challenging.  You cannot book a bed ahead of time at these hostels, so you just have to hope that there is a bed when you get there.  If someone passes you on the route, you ask yourself if they will get the last bed in the hostel, which is an encouragement not to slow down too much.

I said to them 'After all these hardships, you must have had a great sense of satisfaction when you finally arrived at Compostela'  

They answered that it was not the arriving, but the journey that was important.  The first morning after they arrived at Compostela, they felt like they should be walking again.  Having spent 5 weeks walking day after day, it didn't seem right not to walk.  They even described a feeling of bereavement having finished the pilgrimage.

Another reflection that they shared with me was this.  For many Christians, faith is about arriving at our final destination (heaven) - We are saved for heaven.  The Christian message is often explained in terms of having sins forgiven so that when we die we can go to heaven.  For them, the pilgrimage made them realise that however important the destination is, it's the journey that teaches us and shapes us.  Being 'saved' is about life and living, here and now.

Thanks  to Sue and Bev

The Scribes Mark 2:6-12

Mark 2:6-12

‘The Scribes and the Pharisees’ will appear more and more as Mark’s Gospel continues.  But this is their first appearance, and it’s the first sign of conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders.  We had a hint in an earlier incident, when the people in the synangogue comment that Jesus is not like the scribes (the scribes were the acknowledged experts in the religious law).

In this exchange, the scribes object to Jesus telling a paralysed man that his sins are forgiven.  (Only God can forgive sin)  Jesus responds by healing the man, as if to say - ‘You want to know if I have authority to forgive sin, well yes I do!’

The scribes thought that they knew what religion was all about.  Thier job was to know the scriptures and to interpret them.  But for them it had become a set of rules to follow rather than a relationship to grow in. When religion has become just a set of rules or rituals, rather than a relationship, then we have lost it. 

It happens in all areas of life, not just religion. And some people stick to rules not just for themselves, but so that they can control others. But it is especially dangerous when people use God, or rules about religion, to exercise control over others.

Wilberforce Way

During the 2007 celebrations that marked the 200th anniversary of the passing of the Slave Trade Act, a waymarked path was established linking Hull (The birthplace of William Wilberforce) to Pocklington (Where he went to school) and then on to  York.  (Wilberforce was an independent member of parliament for Yorkshire)

The Yorskshire and Humber Faiths Forum organised three days of walks along the Wilberforce way this week, and I've just been on day two, a nine mile circular walk around the Market Town of Pocklington, North Yorkshire.

It was an amazing day for me, with so many links to things that are buzzing around in my head.  I'm going to save the detailed posts for another time, but I learned some interesting facts about modern day trafficking, and cities of refuge; met two people who did the Compastela pilgrimage last year, 500 miles in  five weeks; heard about a modern day presentation of the Passion that took place in Malton, North Yorkshire, learned some things about being an army chaplain; chatted with a bishop, and ended the day with a tour of the Buddhist Centre in Pocklington, complete with meditation and soup.

At home. Mark 2:1-5

Mark 2:1-5

After Jesus' tour round Galilee, he comes back home.  (Living with Simon and Andrew's family ?)  News of his reappearance soon spreads, and the crowds are there again.  Jesus was making a big impact wherever he went.

On this occasion, he is teaching in the house.  (he spoke the word - logos - to them).  Then four people arrive, carrying a paralysed man on a mat.  They can't get in.  In desperation they go up on to the top of the house, and unroof the roof!

When they lower him down, Jesus saw their faith and said to the paralysed man 'Your sins are forgiven'

The focus of this part of the encounter is not to do with the man's presenting need, being paralysed, but to do with a deeper need to know forgiveness.

The old rhyme - 'sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me' isn' true.  And in the same way that words can do deep damage to our soul, they can also bring deep healing.  In our churches, we have often imagined that our first task is to make people realise how sinful they are, so that they then seek God's forgiveness. If we go on about sin long enough, people will realise how worthless they are and turn to God!?

But the world does a pretty good job already of telling us that we are not worthy.  The visual images that accompany the the advert that tells us 'You're worth it', just tell us the opposite.  Maybe if we have that beautiful hair and waif like figure we are worth it.  But witness the alarming rates of suicide in young men; the illnesses connected to self image; the effects of redundancy; the drug and alcohol culture.  All of these are signs that we don't feel 'worth it'

What the church can and must offer, in word and action, is an experience in community of acceptance and forgiveness that can go beyond ideas of self worth to a realisation that we are loved, immeasurably loved.

Love - George Herbert.

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

Triggered by an article in Third Way magazine: Love Trying To happen by Sebastian Moore.

Wrath

As someone who plans and leads worship, and as a musician, I have a keen interest in the hymns and songs that we sing in church.  And being brought up in a conservative evangelical tradition, hymns and songs about the cross featured heavily in my experience of worship.  Whilst the Cross of Christ is clearly a central feature of Christianity, it has become in some traditions, the only feature in a landscape that surely contains the life and ministry of Jesus, and the resurrection. (To name two other landmarks).

Songs about the cross usually point in one of two ways ... to the great love of God, that inspires us to worship, or to the work of Christ as paying for sin.

A contemporary example of the former would be 'I will offer up my life', which has the refrain,  

Jesus what can I give, what I bring, 

to so faithful a friend to so loving a king, 

Saviour what can be said, what can be sung, 

as a praise of your name for the things you have done.  

O my words could not tell, not even in part, 

of the debt of love that is owed by this thankful heart

An example of the latter would be 'In Christ alone' in which one verse says: 

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

I can remember some years ago, being in a service with other clergy, and looking round as we sang this verse, seeing several people frown and shake their heads at the 6th line of that verse.  I understood their unwillingness to sing that line, because I felt it too, although I think I still joined in and sang it.

In many ways, it's a great example of a modern hymn, but I now find I can't sing that line about the wrath of God being satisfied.  Yet in the same hymn, we have the fantastic line 'Light of the world by darkness slain'.  It was the forces of evil that Jesus challenged, and it was evil and not God that crucified him.  So, do we still sing the hymn ?  Have we the right to leave out that verse, or amend it ?  

It is our sung worship that often shapes the way our congregations think about God and the world. (As much as other parts of our liturgy). If we are to be happy for that to happen, then good theology must also shape our sung worship. 

Redemptive Violence

I read thrillers for entertainment.  I like reading them, but I don't like that I read them.  I'm watching '24' for entertainment.  I enjoy watching it, but I don't like that I watch it.

The hero stands up for ordinary people, for freedom, for security.  But the hero uses exactly the same means as the villain in order to bring the freedom and the security.  Robert Crais writes thrillers that feature two such heroes: Elvis Cole (private detective) and Joe Pike (ex marine, ex L.A. police officer, killer).  They are on the side of the good.  But they use the same methods as the 'evil' criminals and terrorists whom they oppose. 

Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) in '24' does the same job.  He's intrinsically a nice guy.  You trust him.  But he is willing to torture and kill in order to expose the oppressor and the terrorist. However, in series 7, I'm not sure what 24 is saying, because there are now voices that are challenging Jack's methods.  An anti Jack Bauer US senator (unsympathetic character) and President Taylor's Chief of Staff both express their disdain for his methods.  Even Bill Buchanan, Jack's ex colleague from CTU (the counter terrorist unit) baulks at torture.

Are we meant to go along with Jack in the end ?  And am I still going to watch '24' and read Robert Crais, knowing that they shape the way we think about how to deal with evil.  Knowing that they perpetuate the myth that 'good men' can use violence to defeat evil ?

A quote from Ched Myers -  "As René Girard and his followers have long argued, the myth of redemptive violence empowers not redemption, but only more violence"

   http://www.thewitness.org/agw/myers040704.html

Perhaps the most chilling example of this in recent years has been the whole Iraq thing; the invasion, the subsequent violence, both anti the West and sectarian between Shiite and Sunni; Guantanamo ...  

Going back now (here it comes!) to the cross and the atonement theory of Penal Substitution.  I fear that this is just another face of redemptive violence.  The idea that punishing Jesus (who although innocent, actually stands for the guilty) achieves anything.

If we see God punishing the innocent Jesus, we're back to cosmic child abuse (see earlier post).

If we see God punishing the guilty through Jesus, we're accepting that violence is an acceptable way to deal with evil.  (Which it isn't)

As long as Christians hold on to this theory of the cross, any commitment to non violence will be contradictory and empty.

And, conversely, as long as Christians support the methods of redemptive violence in the world's affairs, it will be impossible to regain a true understanding of the cross.

Informed or Uninformed ?

I'm back on how we read stuff.  I've already written about how I need to remind myself that reading scripture, for me as a Christian is a potentially dangerous thing, and something I need to do carefully.

I've read a couple of things in the last week about bloggers and journalists and particularly the future of news reporting.

In the Church Times (8th May 2009) Andrew Brown writes in his column that none of our national papers has a reporter at the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Jamaica.  He makes the point that if there are no journalists there, the only reports that we will get are heavily biased.  Maybe some of us would say that no news reporting is unbiased, nothing is truly objective, but we do hope that our media reporters are at least attempting to give us a fair account.

In a piece on the radio yesterday, I was listening to a conversation about the future of newspapers in the internet age, and the down turn in advertising revenue for newspapers.  If the cover price does not make for a profitable business, and advertising revenue continues to fall, does the printed press have a future ?

In his piece on 1st May, Andrew Brown writes about informed and uninformed opinion.  Brown comments on another columnist, Timothy Garton Ash: He is well informed.  "His views are worth having because he knows more than  his readers about the subjects on which he writes.  There will be of course, some readers who know more than he does, but they won't think he's writing from another planet"

Garton Ash - "I can look through a hundred comments, and only two will tell me anything I don't know;  that's because they will have links"

Some blogs are well informed and worth reading.  I have a couple that I look at.  But uninformed opinion is pretty worthless.  I pray that I will be able to tell the difference between the two, and that informed opinion continues to have a place.

 

Compassion and Change

Mark 1:40-45

A man with leprosy comes to Jesus and is healed.  But the end of the incident is just as striking.  Jesus warns the man not to tell anyone what has happened, but the man can't keep quiet and as a result Jesus goes into hiding.  Why does Jesus say this ?  Was it because he didn't want all the attention from the people who needed him ? Was it because he was already aware of how the authorities viewed him, and didn't want to draw attention to himself for that reason ? 

Or was it more to do with a tension in Jesus himself ? We already had a similar scenario when Jesus is pressured to stay with the people of Capernaum.  Jesus' response to that pressure was to move on, saying that he needed to 'proclaim the message ... for that is what I came to do'

It seems as though there are two things going on in Jesus.  On the one hand there is his awareness that his mission is to 'proclaim the message' and on the other hand we see his compassion for those in need.

Maybe Jesus knew that however many people he healed, his core mission was to do with transforming lives.  Earlier in Chapter one, Jesus says "The time has come.  The kingdom of God is is near.  Repent (change) and believe the good news."

At the Greenbelt Arts Festival a few years ago, I remember Rowan Williams, who had just been announced as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, being asked what for him was at the heart of the Christian faith.  His answer was - 'Change'.  The possibility that individuals and situations can change.

Jesus is moved with compassion, but he is also concerned with change.  I think we are also learning that it's not enough to put on a bandage, or give water to the thirsty, but we must also address the reasons why people are sick and thirsty, and give attention to changing the structures that cause poverty in the first place.

The Collect for the Second Sunday of Epiphany:

Almighty God, in Christ you make all things new: transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known your heavenly glory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen

Be Careful

We must take care how we read ... whether it's a news report, or a blog, or the scriptures.

Before I go back into Mark's Gospel, I remind myself that it is important how I read these words.   I come to these words believing that they speak with authority.  I pray that through God's Spirit, the words of the scriptures will shape my life.

When we come with our agenda to much to the fore, it can easily distort, or obscure what the scriptures are saying to us.  We can easily then make the scripture say just what we want it to.  For example, christians have often made the mistake of reading the scriptures asking only what it says to me as an individual, about salvation for example.  The result is a very individualised form of religion that in the end is human centred, and not God centred, and is only concerned with whether we go to heaven or not.

I am trying to read Mark's Gospel with issues of injustice, oppression etc in mind.  And that's fine.  We can't read the Bible in a vacuum.  But I must be careful to let God's word speak to me on its own terms, and not on mine.

I use this prayer a lot, because it makes God the centre of action in shaping our lives and our worship.

Faithful One, whose word is life, come to free our praise, inspire our prayers and shape our lives, according to the kingdom of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

(From Common Worship in the Church of England)

Peace Week

In June there is a special week of prayer - World Week For Peace In Palestine And Israel.  I didn't know about it, but here it is if you want to have a look.

http://www.scottishpalestinianforum.org.uk/SPF/Events_files/WWPPI%20flyer.pdf

Jesus Prays

Mark 1:35-39

Even Jesus needed to get away from it all.  After all the activity in Capernaum, he gets up in the middle of the night, and finds a deserted place to pray.  It doesn't last long!  Simon and the others soon find him.

I suppose this is what I am trying to do in these nine and a bit weeks.  Refreshment of body, mind and spirit is what it's all about.  Maybe regaining things that have been lost in the busyness of life and ministry.  Maybe discovering new things about myself, the world and God.

These verses about Jesus going off the pray and get some spiritual refreshment are very appropriate for today (Sunday), and in a few minutes, I'm heading off to St Columba's in Hull, where I was a curate for three years.  It'll be good to be sitting in the pew, receiving.

After Sunset

Mark 1:29-43

Here it is again - (euthus - immediately) - Immediately they left the synagogue, and go to Simon and Andrew's home, where Simon's mother in law is sick with a fever. Jesus heals her and then heals many who are brought to the house.

So - all this happens on the same day. A healing in the synagogue, a very personal healing in the home, and then the healing of a whole crowd of people.  And it's the sabbath.

So is it significant that the large crowd only come to the house 'after sunset' ?  That is, when the sabbath is over.

Jesus sabbath activity would quickly become a cause for conflict between himself and the religious leaders.  We have the seeds of that conflict already, and in those two words 'after sunset', an idea of how much influence the religious laws had on the people, so that they wait until the sabbath is over and it is safe to come to Jesus.

As I ask how this gospel might speak into situations of oppression, it makes me think of situations where there are obstacles that prevent people from accessing health care, and other basic necessities.  

For Palestinians, the many regulations and checkpoints mean that people cannot live normal lives.  Every morning from 3 am, hundreds of Palestinian men will come to the Gilo checkpoint in Bethlehem to go through to work in Jerusalem.  They have to arrive this early to be sure of getting work.  They leave their homes while their families are asleep, and arrive back when they are once more asleep.  The checkpoints open at dawn, and they must wait in line, directed to move by red and green lights.  They can be turned back after waiting several hours even though they have been security checked.  It is a life without dignity and respect.

Watch it here ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5is-SAPSrQ&feature=player_embedded

Next week, Pope Benedict will visit Jerusalem.  He will pass through the same checkpoint. But he will arrive at 8 am, when the authorities have dictated that he will arrive, and it will be quiet. 

So I have two pictures in my mind.  The first is a crowd of people in Capernaum, waiting for sunset, when it will be safe to come to Jesus.

The second is a crowd of people in Bethlehem waiting for sunrise, and eventually passing through to work, and an hour or so later the Pope arriving.

For the story that inspired this post, see: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/what-the-pope-wont-see-1679011.html

7 Days

In just 7 short days, we will be in Washington. (D.C. that is)  Can't wait!  Just planned the itinerary and booked some motels.  The theme of conflict will be well served by a visit to civil war battle sites at Manassas. (Which made me think of an album by Stephen Stills 'Manassas' which I am now listening to on Spotify)!

I'm trying to decide whether to take the laptop ... it'll make blogging easier ...

Proposed itinerary:

Day 1 - 3 Washington ... the sights, including Smithsonian Institute, Native American Museum

Day 4 - 6 Shenandoah National Park - including white water rafting, a hike and a drive down the Skyline Drive

Day 7 Charlottesville

Day 8 Williamsburg

Day 9 ??

Day 10 Manassas Battle Site and home for Bev and Joel, while I head off to Eastern Mennonite University at Harrisonburg for my course.

Authority

Mark 1:21-28

Jesus rebukes an evil spirit.  Those around Jesus soon learn that he speaks and acts with authority.  The root of authority is author.  If I'm the author of a book, then I speak with authority.  Jesus is described elsewhere in the Bible as 'The author of life'.  (Acts 3:15).  Who better to speak and act with authority?

The way that Jesus influences situations is to do with who he is, and not the power that he has.  Contrast that with the comment about the scribes -the religious leaders-  who do not speak with authority.

Power is about position, and strength, and being able to make people do things even if they do not want to.  Authority comes from who you are as a person.

I discovered early on in my teaching career that although I had a limited amount of power, in the end, what I needed was to have authority. That authority needed to be a part of who I was as a person, and what I said and did needed to be fair, if the students were to respect me.

I'm reminded again of EAPPI, (Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Israel and Palestine), which is based on acting not with power but with the authority that comes from resistance to evil in a non violent manner.

Consuming Passion

I'm reading a book of essays about the cross - about why the death of Jesus really matters.

If you're a Christian you'll have thought, prayed, sung about the cross.  If you're not - (a Christian that is) - you may have never given it a second thought.

I think about it a lot.  And because I believe it's at the heart of what it means to be a Christian, I want to be able to talk about it intelligently and accurately.  (As far as that is possible).  Because it is SO important a part of Christian faith, it's important not to get it wrong.

There's a school of thought that says it something like this.  People are sinful. Sin needs punishing.  We can't be in relationship with God because sin has created a barrier between us and God.  We deserve to take the punishment, but God has provided another way.  Jesus, the sinless one, is punished for our sin.  God punished Jesus instead of us.  If we accept this, then we can be saved.

It's what I grew up with, and I accepted it completely.  (Although there was always something at the back of my mind that didn't really like it as a good solution to the problem).  The roots of this way of seeing the cross go back a long time, but it was only really expressed as 'God punished Jesus instead of us' in the 19th century.  Increasingly over the last 10 years or so I've changed my view on this.  In its pure form, this 'Penal Substitutionary Atonement' theory of the cross is based on some pretty dodgy ideas.  

1.  That God is violent.  (Well, you have to be violent to punish someone by crucifying them)

2. That violence can solve things. (Might is right).

3. That broken relationships can only be restored by punishment

There may be more ... but I'm going to come back to this, don't worry.

By the way, leading evangelical and social activist Steve Chalke got himself a lot of hate mail when he called this theory of the cross 'Cosmic child abuse'

I'm hoping that one of the things I'll be able to do in the next two months is give this some more careful thought - watch this space.

see here for some more http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_050726consumingpassion.shtml

Follow me

Mark 1:16-20

This is the bit where Jesus calls four named disciples.  The word 'euthus' (immediately) comes in twice here.

Two disciples are casting their nets - fishing.  The other two are mending their nets.

The call is to follow Jesus.  The call comes to them, not in church or synagogue, but at work.  The call is not to go it alone, but be part of something bigger, with Jesus leading the way.

The two aspects of their old life will also be a part of their new life.  Instead of catching fish, they will be catching people.  Instead of mending nets, they will be involved in mending (making 'perfect'/whole) people.

But following Jesus will mean much more than that.  If we follow him all the way, it will take us to places where we might not choose to go.  Places where we are not comfortable, places where we risk losing our dignity, or our freedom of action.  

So when I think about following Jesus, I am trying to put myself with those who have not chosen to be where they are.  Those in hospital.  Those without work.  Those going through a breakdown in a relationship.

And I think of those who, like the EAPPI volunteers, are aligning themselves in a practical way with the oppressed.

Communities living under oppression

This is an aside/reflection to my general notes.  I'm just getting into this frame of thinking - where Mark's Gospel is the framework for these next two months, and situations of conflict/oppression are the context for today.

I'm remembering also that Mark's Gospel could well have been written for the early Christian community in  Rome - a community that knew something about being in conflict with the ruling powers.  So it seems entirely appropriate that I write my thoughts on Mark's Gospel whilst being attentive to what is happening in places like Israel Palestine.

The time has come

Mark 1:14-15

The world tells the time with clocks and appointment diaries.  We like to control our time.  But in these verses, Jesus says the time (kairos) has come.

Kairos time is God's time.  Like good comedians, God has a sense of timing.  In the context of Jesus, Kairos is the time for God to do something unique, never to be repeated.  Everything that God has ever done finds its centre, its heart in the presence of Jesus in the world.  Everything has been leading up to this time, and everything leads from this time. The western world has acknowledged this in dating our calendar from God's kairos time.

(Although the world probably no longer accepts or realises what it really means to date time from the coming of Jesus into the world).

I was hearing about the experiences of a South African woman yesterday.  She grew up under the apartheid regime, and never expected it to end in her lifetime.  South Africa still has its particular problems, and no doubt some of them are as a result of years of apartheid, but there is no doubt that things are different now.  The kairos time came for that inhuman regime to end.  

And what about Israel Palestine ?  It seems - well not hopeless because there are cracks of hope - but certainly not hopeful as far as a lasting, just solution is concerned.  But if it could happen in South Africa, where there was also little hope at times, then it could happen in Israel Palestine.

There are people, both Palestinian and Israeli, who are doing good work.  There are those on the outside who have influence.  What we need is a combination of the two, so that there will be a kairos time for change.

For more on this see:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/10/palestine-israel-peace-campaigners

Angels attended him

Mark 1:12-14

The Spirit, the Desert, Satan, Wild Beasts and Angels!

We live in a more or less hostile environment. There is much in the world to pull us down.  Whether it is the physical situation, or loneliness, or temptations, or danger.

What we need is angels.  God provides Jesus with the help he needs.  Neither does God forget us in our need.  We are all children of God!

Angels waited on him.  Angels attended him.  Angels ministered to him.  It means they were there for him.  That was their purpose.  It still is.

Back to Palestine/Israel.  There's an organisation called Ecumenical Accompaniment Progamme in Palestine Israel (EAPPI).  EAPPI is a work of the  World Council of Churches, set up in response to pleas from Christian in Israel for the church to do something about the conflict in Palestine Israel.

EAPPI provides groups of individuals who go for three months to be a peaceful presence in the region.  They stand at checkpoints to support Palestinians, they may report human rights violations, and are a vital part of the efforts to bring peace with justice to the region.  See http://www.eappi.org/ for more.

These EAPPI volunteers are among the angels who attend the Palestinian people.

You are my Son

Mark 1:9-11

The first chapter of Mark's Gospel has the Greek word meaning 'immediately' 11 times.  (It's not always apparent in the English translations, because the translators use different words).  Here is the first use of the word - 'And just (Greek - immediately) as he was coming up out of the water ...' 

As soon as Jesus enters the story, things take off.  There's an urgency about the Mission.  But, before the mission  can begin, Jesus is baptised and affirmed as God's son.

To know who we are can take a lifetime.  The journey of self understanding can be a tortuous one for many.  The most important part of our identity is our place in relation to God.  God's child.  Everyone should be able to know this, and be afforded this dignity by others.

I have just been watching the documentary film 'Occupation 101' about Israel/Palestine.  Palestinians are treated by many Israelis as second class citizens.  The are treated by the Israeli state as people with no rights.

They have to stand in line to cross checkpoints to get to work, or school, or hospital.  There is a recent documented incident of a Palestinian woman dying in childbirth because she was not able to get to hospital.  (Her new born  child also died)

I could say much more about this, and probably will.  The trauma of living in a war zone in conditions of poverty, and oppression has had devastating effects on the Palestinian people.

The children of Gaza will need an army of psychiatrists to help them if they are ever to live anything like a normal life.

The wall that separates Israeli from Palestinian is called the wall of separation.  In South Africa there was no wall, but Apartheid (which means separation) meant that black South Africans were treated as less than human in the same way that Palestinians are treated by Israel.

One small thing that we can do is to treat everyone with the same respect.  We all need to know our identity as a child of God

He will baptise

Mark 1:4-8

John the Baptist is the link between the Old and the New.  he stands in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets - proclaiming a message of repentance (metanoia - radical change) and forgiveness.

John's prophecy - that someone will baptise with the Holy Spirit - is referred to later in Acts 1:5 by Jesus after the resurrection.  The baptism that will take place at Pentecost, with the coming of the Spirit.

So what Mark is looking forward to in these words of John  'He will baptise with the Holy Spirit' - is beyond Christ's death and resurrection, all the way to the coming of the Spirit.

Mark is setting his stall out in its entirety.  This is what it's all about in the end, he is saying.  The fulfilment of God's plan through Jesus, that will culminate in the coming of the Spirit.

As it is written

Mar 1:2-2

What Jesus brings is not a new religion.  We have enough of that.  More than enough.  Jesus was rooted in the Old Testament scriptures, in the faith of his ancestors.  What Jesus brought was a fulfilment of the promises made long ago.

These words are addressed TO Jesus 'See I am sending my messenger ahead of you' 

The old is often rejected in favour of the new.  The old is often scorned.  It's boring, irrelevant.  But this new thing that Jesus does is rooted in the ancient revelation of God through the prophets. Christians (especially evangelical and charistmatic ones)  sometimes think that by singing a load of new songs and listening to inspirational preaching, we can get everything we need to feed our spirit.

This is in  danger of being Do it Yourself Christianity.  There are ancient ways of reading, and praying and living that we miss at our peril

The Beginning

Mark 1:1

The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Opening words are important.  This is Good News.  Whatever else it will be, it is Good News.

The Greek for in the beginning is 'en arche' ... these two words are at the start of the book of Genesis, and also John's gospel.  In Genesis, the new beginning is creation.  Everything has a starting point.  'En arche' is about something new.

In Genesis God's new beginning brings life out nothing.  Mark the evangelist is now talking about another new beginning, God's new creation, which is all about who Jesus is and what Jesus will do.

Week one

It's Thursday 7th May 2009.  I'm on day 4 of a nine week sabbatical.  I thought I'd keep a diary.

For about 6 yrs I've been learning about conflict and peacemaking - through Bridge Builders, an offshoot of the London Mennonite Centre.  So when it came to thinking about a focus for some study, I decided to look a bit more at conflict and peacemaking in the Bible, and especially think about the cross.

I'll be spending a month in USA - partly family holiday, partly study at Eastern Mennonite University.

I'll be doing some related reading, but I also wanted a devotional focus, so I picked Mark's Gospel to read - a few verses at a time.  I'm making some notes on it as I go, with particular reference to conflict, power, oppression, and related themes.

Well that's an outline ... so here goes.