Posts
I like my outfit today. I got it out of the back alley one day, and they fit, and here I am. The pants have some little holes and bleach dribbles on them (the bleach dribbles possibly causing the holes), but they still function, and heck, people pay lots of money for the 'distressed' look, which really means that the privilege of having someone else wreck your clothes first instead of you. The shirt had some grease stains once I remember but I think I finally got rid of them. Comfy too--they've definitely been broken in; something I hadn't really thought of when pondering why I never feel as comfortable or happy wearing new clothes. Usually, I'm just disappointed. Most of my favorite stuff came out of the alley or some hand-me-down of another kind.
Which reminds me how much I could sometimes hate that as a kid, but then it was more forced on me as a relational thing--'take these clothes and wear them, this other person doesn't want them anymore but will be so disappointed if you don't like them.'
Yep, freely chosen is pretty darn nice.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Lifetime Peacemakers and Nuclear War
From TIME Magazine obituary section:
"Though he took his most memorable picture--the iconic image of young JFK Jr. saluting his father's coffin--as a White House photographer, Joe O'Donnell began documenting tragedy nearly 20 years earlier when, as a Marine sergeant, he was assigned to capture on film the effects of the atom bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. For the rest of his life, O'Donnell, who became an activist against nuclear arms, carried with him such images as the classroom of children seated at their desks reduced to cinder, aswell as long-term health problems from radiation exposure. He was 85."
From a Marine to an anti-nukes activist; a living testament to the horror of war, truly this man was a saint in his own right.
The image of children incinerated at their desks though raises for me one of those things in a category of sins I struggle to believe that God really will forgive. These include abuse of clergy power (it is better for a millstone to be hung around their necks and they be cast into the sea); and bombing another country into endless misery. Yes, I believe it would be have been better for these human beings to have killed the Son of God! I know what grace doctrine teaches; I know what I'm supposed to teach as a pastor; still, my conscience is not calmed.
I think too about all the times I've heard people, even people I'd have considered to be good people, church people even, casually--or not so casually--remark that they wished we'd just nuke our enemies and be done with them all. Russia, Iraq...nuke them. Let us kill their children at their desks? Let us kill their babies in their hospital beds? Let us destroy their soil and water and air forever? I never know what to say in these situations, wanting to 'keep the peace' in the moment, in that congregation. But now I say, may God have mercy on their souls, to desire such a terrible thing. To want sheer death for people you have never met, innocent people. Prayer and fasting are the prescription for these matters.
"Though he took his most memorable picture--the iconic image of young JFK Jr. saluting his father's coffin--as a White House photographer, Joe O'Donnell began documenting tragedy nearly 20 years earlier when, as a Marine sergeant, he was assigned to capture on film the effects of the atom bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. For the rest of his life, O'Donnell, who became an activist against nuclear arms, carried with him such images as the classroom of children seated at their desks reduced to cinder, aswell as long-term health problems from radiation exposure. He was 85."
From a Marine to an anti-nukes activist; a living testament to the horror of war, truly this man was a saint in his own right.
The image of children incinerated at their desks though raises for me one of those things in a category of sins I struggle to believe that God really will forgive. These include abuse of clergy power (it is better for a millstone to be hung around their necks and they be cast into the sea); and bombing another country into endless misery. Yes, I believe it would be have been better for these human beings to have killed the Son of God! I know what grace doctrine teaches; I know what I'm supposed to teach as a pastor; still, my conscience is not calmed.
I think too about all the times I've heard people, even people I'd have considered to be good people, church people even, casually--or not so casually--remark that they wished we'd just nuke our enemies and be done with them all. Russia, Iraq...nuke them. Let us kill their children at their desks? Let us kill their babies in their hospital beds? Let us destroy their soil and water and air forever? I never know what to say in these situations, wanting to 'keep the peace' in the moment, in that congregation. But now I say, may God have mercy on their souls, to desire such a terrible thing. To want sheer death for people you have never met, innocent people. Prayer and fasting are the prescription for these matters.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
When Feminist Theology Corrupts
This may be the 'summer of my discontent' with the progressive churches movement. Today, I'm going to write about being a young woman in seminary in an age of feminist theology:
Feminist theology is bankrupt if the women who rise to power and renown in the field end up becoming oppressive to their young women students out of fear of losing their bitterly-won status positions in the theological establishment. Call me third-wave, or whatever, but I’ve seen too many women administrators nailing down planks over that glass ceiling they broke through, rather than offering encouragement to a ‘daughter’ or a ‘sister.’ If anything, they privilege the young men in their tutelage—perhaps flattering themselves in denial of the advance of age and death, or merely enjoying their exercise of power over the young of the ‘adversarial’ gender.
I’ve heard classmates in three seminaries talk about similar oppressive, even hazing-like behavior from the faculty members who look most like them: women students/women faculty; black students/black faculty; Latino/a students/Latino/a faculty, and on, and on.
Does power change you?
Do the best revolutionaries make the worst statesmen?
Must it always be justified as ‘I’m doing this for your own good?’
And when this generation becomes the leaders, how do we prevent it in ourselves?
Are we doomed?
Call me a young disillusioned woman seminarian if you must. Although, I do see some hope in the theological gender wars. The two (and we only have two where I study) straight older white male faculty on my campus are my best listeners and encouragers and advisors. And I am grateful for this. In fact, as I look back over the past three years, it has been mainly this pattern, at the four seminaries where I've actually taken classes. And it's male faculty of a particular generation; those just a bit older are still rather cantankerous and I had to finally give up and say they were products of their times, or go batty. But yes, for those professors who have proven themselves to care about my future, even if they're not perfect--this is hope. This is progress in the world.
Feminist theology is bankrupt if the women who rise to power and renown in the field end up becoming oppressive to their young women students out of fear of losing their bitterly-won status positions in the theological establishment. Call me third-wave, or whatever, but I’ve seen too many women administrators nailing down planks over that glass ceiling they broke through, rather than offering encouragement to a ‘daughter’ or a ‘sister.’ If anything, they privilege the young men in their tutelage—perhaps flattering themselves in denial of the advance of age and death, or merely enjoying their exercise of power over the young of the ‘adversarial’ gender.
I’ve heard classmates in three seminaries talk about similar oppressive, even hazing-like behavior from the faculty members who look most like them: women students/women faculty; black students/black faculty; Latino/a students/Latino/a faculty, and on, and on.
Does power change you?
Do the best revolutionaries make the worst statesmen?
Must it always be justified as ‘I’m doing this for your own good?’
And when this generation becomes the leaders, how do we prevent it in ourselves?
Are we doomed?
Call me a young disillusioned woman seminarian if you must. Although, I do see some hope in the theological gender wars. The two (and we only have two where I study) straight older white male faculty on my campus are my best listeners and encouragers and advisors. And I am grateful for this. In fact, as I look back over the past three years, it has been mainly this pattern, at the four seminaries where I've actually taken classes. And it's male faculty of a particular generation; those just a bit older are still rather cantankerous and I had to finally give up and say they were products of their times, or go batty. But yes, for those professors who have proven themselves to care about my future, even if they're not perfect--this is hope. This is progress in the world.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Seminarians Organizing to Save Chicago Monastery
Our inter-campus student organization here in Hyde Park, SeminaryAction, is trying to acquire a monastery building that's up for sale in our neighborhood before it's gutted for condominiums (which we've been advised is most likely for the site). We're hoping to raise enough funding to purchase it before school starts if at all possible, to offer an ecumenical student housing cooperative dedicated to community service and interfaith peacemaking. Any seminary student from any school would be welcome, in order to foster supportive relationships across school and denominational lines. Eboo Patel of Interfaith Youth Core has been encouraging and advising us on the project also.
We would be grateful for any support or advice you can offer to help us, or recommendations of people we could talk to--this would be wonderful. We've written a press release and started giving media interviews on our project, which I include below if you are interested in more details. We were able to do an interview on NPR this afternoon, which we also hope will help.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Seminary students organize to save Hyde Park monastery from condo developers
August 8, 2007
HYDE PARK, CHICAGO--Students from seminaries across Hyde Park are organizing to save a neighborhood monastery from being turned into condominiums, hoping to create a center for interfaith peacemaking and volunteer community service instead.
SeminaryAction is an organization developed by students from Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Theological Seminary, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, McCormick Theological Seminary, Meadville-Lombard Theological School, and the University of Chicago Divinity School. Just over a year old, the organization has pending non-profit status and rapidly expanding programs in interreligious dialogue, direct action campaigns, and community outreach.
"We're ready to enter a multi-year lease of the facility now, but the has made the decision to sell the property, not lease it. We're trying to raise donations to purchase it, or find a 'custodian' that purchases the property and will cooperate with us for a multi-year lease for our organization," says SeminaryAction director Le Anne Clausen. Clausen is an M.Div. student at Chicago Theological Seminary and preparing for ministry in the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA).
The monastery was due to be sold to a for-profit corporation when talks recently fell through, creating the opportunity for students to act. "This is a beautiful spiritual space in our neighborhood, that has a history shared by several religious traditions who have used it. We want to honor the tradition of this place. We also want to provide affordable housing and an important learning experience for our students. We don't need more high-priced condos in Hyde Park," says Clausen. Increasing numbers of the neighborhood's residential space has been converted into high-end condominiums in recent years.
The building was home to Hyde Park's Church of Latter Day Saints before its purchase by the religious order to house students attending CTU. The modern chapel features stained-glass windows depicting the pain of warfare. "These are reminders of what has been done in the name of religious intolerance. We need a place for creating peace among religions. Getting students who will become leaders in their faith traditions to live and work together and be active in the community would go a long way toward that goal."
The proposed center would provide housing for 10-12 ministry students from differing faith backgrounds, who share household tasks and volunteer in the Hyde Park/Kenwood/Woodlawn neighborhoods on a regular basis. The center would also have a volunteer outreach center, a 'Peacemaker's Library,' a space for counselors and spiritual directors to meet with clients, and a small non-profit guest house.
Over a thousand seminary students study each week in the Hyde Park neighborhood. However, "most of our students don't have a good way to connect with the churches, organizations, and residents of our community. Students come here wanting to be immersed in Chicago as a ministry classroom, but too often, they end up withdrawing into the walls of their campuses. Very few even get to know students from other church denominations and faith backgrounds while they're here. We want to change that," says Clausen.
SeminaryAction's previous projects include an inter-campus independent student newspaper, interreligious student forums on topics such as 'Seminarians with Disabilities' and 'LGBTQ Seminarians Speak,' as well as joining forces among student groups on each campus around issues such as Eco-Justice, human rights, immigration, and the war in Iraq. Already this summer, SeminaryAction began fostering an intentional community of international and U.S.-born students from seminaries and universities in Chicago, which will also do community service projects on a regular basis. Further details about their projects can be found on their website, www.seminaryaction.org. The organization estimates that some 300 students have already participated in their programs since it first started.
Clausen developed her passion for interreligious peacemaking while serving as a human rights worker in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, through Chicago-based organizations Christian Peacemaker Teams and Voices for Creative Nonviolence /Voices in the Wilderness. As a student organizer, she has found encouragement from additional local organizations such as Interfaith Youth Core and Interfaith Worker Justice. With a previously-earned MA in Christian-Muslim relations, she hopes to continue interfaith and inter-church peacemaking work around the world.
Time is short, but Clausen and the students are hopeful. "It's possible we could make this happen before September 1st, when most classes begin. But we're going to keep trying for this as long as there's hope of it happening."
###
We would be grateful for any support or advice you can offer to help us, or recommendations of people we could talk to--this would be wonderful. We've written a press release and started giving media interviews on our project, which I include below if you are interested in more details. We were able to do an interview on NPR this afternoon, which we also hope will help.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Seminary students organize to save Hyde Park monastery from condo developers
August 8, 2007
HYDE PARK, CHICAGO--Students from seminaries across Hyde Park are organizing to save a neighborhood monastery from being turned into condominiums, hoping to create a center for interfaith peacemaking and volunteer community service instead.
SeminaryAction is an organization developed by students from Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Theological Seminary, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, McCormick Theological Seminary, Meadville-Lombard Theological School, and the University of Chicago Divinity School. Just over a year old, the organization has pending non-profit status and rapidly expanding programs in interreligious dialogue, direct action campaigns, and community outreach.
"We're ready to enter a multi-year lease of the facility now, but the has made the decision to sell the property, not lease it. We're trying to raise donations to purchase it, or find a 'custodian' that purchases the property and will cooperate with us for a multi-year lease for our organization," says SeminaryAction director Le Anne Clausen. Clausen is an M.Div. student at Chicago Theological Seminary and preparing for ministry in the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA).
The monastery was due to be sold to a for-profit corporation when talks recently fell through, creating the opportunity for students to act. "This is a beautiful spiritual space in our neighborhood, that has a history shared by several religious traditions who have used it. We want to honor the tradition of this place. We also want to provide affordable housing and an important learning experience for our students. We don't need more high-priced condos in Hyde Park," says Clausen. Increasing numbers of the neighborhood's residential space has been converted into high-end condominiums in recent years.
The building was home to Hyde Park's Church of Latter Day Saints before its purchase by the religious order to house students attending CTU. The modern chapel features stained-glass windows depicting the pain of warfare. "These are reminders of what has been done in the name of religious intolerance. We need a place for creating peace among religions. Getting students who will become leaders in their faith traditions to live and work together and be active in the community would go a long way toward that goal."
The proposed center would provide housing for 10-12 ministry students from differing faith backgrounds, who share household tasks and volunteer in the Hyde Park/Kenwood/Woodlawn neighborhoods on a regular basis. The center would also have a volunteer outreach center, a 'Peacemaker's Library,' a space for counselors and spiritual directors to meet with clients, and a small non-profit guest house.
Over a thousand seminary students study each week in the Hyde Park neighborhood. However, "most of our students don't have a good way to connect with the churches, organizations, and residents of our community. Students come here wanting to be immersed in Chicago as a ministry classroom, but too often, they end up withdrawing into the walls of their campuses. Very few even get to know students from other church denominations and faith backgrounds while they're here. We want to change that," says Clausen.
SeminaryAction's previous projects include an inter-campus independent student newspaper, interreligious student forums on topics such as 'Seminarians with Disabilities' and 'LGBTQ Seminarians Speak,' as well as joining forces among student groups on each campus around issues such as Eco-Justice, human rights, immigration, and the war in Iraq. Already this summer, SeminaryAction began fostering an intentional community of international and U.S.-born students from seminaries and universities in Chicago, which will also do community service projects on a regular basis. Further details about their projects can be found on their website, www.seminaryaction.org. The organization estimates that some 300 students have already participated in their programs since it first started.
Clausen developed her passion for interreligious peacemaking while serving as a human rights worker in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, through Chicago-based organizations Christian Peacemaker Teams and Voices for Creative Nonviolence /Voices in the Wilderness. As a student organizer, she has found encouragement from additional local organizations such as Interfaith Youth Core and Interfaith Worker Justice. With a previously-earned MA in Christian-Muslim relations, she hopes to continue interfaith and inter-church peacemaking work around the world.
Time is short, but Clausen and the students are hopeful. "It's possible we could make this happen before September 1st, when most classes begin. But we're going to keep trying for this as long as there's hope of it happening."
###
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Of Churches and Presidents
I struggle with the right relationship between faith and politics. A motto for me might be, "Progress is not necessarily synonymous with the Democratic Party." Yet, sometimes in progressive church circles I get the sense it's one and the same. I believe that a church or other nonprofit organization cannot (legally, to keep 501c3 status), and should not, endorse a particular political candidate. However, a church has a right and an obligation to speak to the issues of the day out of its values, such as "we are to feed the poor, care for the sick, shelter the homeless, and make peace with our enemies." When a piece of legislation is before Congress and has the power to do great harm or great good to creation, then the church has an obligation to speak to the ethics of such a law. This is how we can be responsible, informed citizens--rather than withdrawing from the needs of the world and our structures of power and governance. That's also where I draw the line between theology and theocracy--even a liberal/left theocracy is something I wouldn't want.
A commentor on our seminary blog questioned the UCC giving the floor to Barack Obama during their churchwide assembly. I don't know (I'm Presbyterian and wasn't there) how I feel about the speech as it happened. However, I have some opinions on what constitutes the just relationship between a church denomination and a presidential candidate. Surely a church denomination shouldn't endorse a candidate simply because he's a member of that denomination--to do so is to so easily overlook areas of that candidate's policy that can be harmful to others, in search of the denomination's own power and fame as much as the candidate's. However, I think it's good for a denomination to hear what a candidate of their denomination has to say, to give him or her space in which to articulate what they stand for, so that each member can make up their minds whether this person shares their values or not. The latter is where I would want to see a candidate given so much berth in a whole-church assembly.
A commentor on our seminary blog questioned the UCC giving the floor to Barack Obama during their churchwide assembly. I don't know (I'm Presbyterian and wasn't there) how I feel about the speech as it happened. However, I have some opinions on what constitutes the just relationship between a church denomination and a presidential candidate. Surely a church denomination shouldn't endorse a candidate simply because he's a member of that denomination--to do so is to so easily overlook areas of that candidate's policy that can be harmful to others, in search of the denomination's own power and fame as much as the candidate's. However, I think it's good for a denomination to hear what a candidate of their denomination has to say, to give him or her space in which to articulate what they stand for, so that each member can make up their minds whether this person shares their values or not. The latter is where I would want to see a candidate given so much berth in a whole-church assembly.
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