Dang Christian Hope

There are a lot of problems in this world: children dying of hunger, people exploited as labourers or trafficked for sex, people killed in wars for freedom.  This stuff is bad, and so I ask, what can we do, what can I do, to change the situation?

I've been told that I should do my part, be faithful with what I have, do as I should, and even if I don’t accomplish much, it will all work out in the eschatological end.  God will come back and set things right.  Don’t worry too much if a child dies of hunger, this life is a short trial, but heaven will be so lovely that these earthly struggles will be forgotten.

I don’t like it.  I find this answer to be too simplistic.  It feels like a cop-out to me.  It seems to me to render this live meaningless, or at least relatively insignificant.  While those with such a mindset often seek to alleviate the suffering of others, it seems they often to the good for the sake of doing the good.  They do care for those in their immediate presence, but don’t attempt to make the world a better place for everyone.  They realize they can’t, but they do their part to make life better for a few.  The do their part, God will take care of the rest… after they die.  I don’t like it.  It doesn't sit well with me.

The alternative seems to say, “Make the world better!”  It urges me not to be content with improving a few lives, but to seek world change, mass economic revolution and equality of all.  That begs the question, “how do we get there?”  Here’s the danger.  With such ambitious goals a temptation presents itself.  It is a little voice that answers the question slyly.  “By any means,” it says.  “By any means.”  Then those who dream about economic equality violently fight against the current powers.  Those who long that all be free and democratic use violence to work towards this end.

I don’t like it.  I fear this mentality all too often leads first to violence and rarely accomplishes what it set out to do.  I think extreme is good, but not all extremes.  We forget to do good in our immediate settings and dream only of what the world might be.  We might fight to get there, but in the way do more harm and actually accomplish little good.  A problem exists within this mindset because people are causing the problems, and getting rid of the problems all too often means causing harm to people.  I don’t like it.  It doesn’t sit well with me.

Well, my prof tried to offer me a third option, an option which hopes, which is a call not just to do our part, but to do all we can, together.  It is an option that recognizes limits and means congruent with the end.  It is an option that believe in the church, people, and hopes that they will come together to create social change.  He thinks that the church can have a greater influence than policy makers, politics or radicals…  I’m not sure I’m that hopeful.  I’m not sure I have that much faith.

How do people feel good about themselves when they feed the poor during the day and then go home at night to a comfy bed while the poor they've fed sleep out in the cold or in a crowded shelter?

I don't ask this question in judgment.  I don't even feed the poor, but if I did, if I saw their faces and knew their names.  If they told me their stories as we shared a meal.  How could I leave them?  How could I but invite them home with me?

I don't get it:

                                           *Photo by Kevin Carter

The Candy Shop

The Candy Shop from Whitestone Motion Pictures on Vimeo.

R.I.P Occuplaza, long live OCCUPY!

Every now and then I would hear about Occupy, but never really enough to fully understand it. My favourite way to learn about people is from the people themselves, so I had the desire to go down and talk with the people who were camping out. But, I kept putting it off. Then I read that the court had ordered them out by Friday at 2pm. I did not get down to the Occupy Camp until Thursday night. I took my tent and headed down. I thought that would be the best way to understand what was going on. I wasn’t sure what they stood for, but I believed that they had a right to say it, and that was enough to get me to go a support them.
I had no idea what would happen once I got there. I turned out that they had a plan in mind; plan of creative resistance, a plan to leave the plaza, but not without pointing out the injustice of their silencing. I met people I will never forget; people who have chosen community over comfort.
It was an honour to be a part of their last night at the Plaza, but counter to the media portrayal, this was not their last stand. Occupy lives on. There was such a community created at the camp that ridding the plaza of tents far from disbands the group. “The occupation was in-tents”, but it will continue even when the tents are gone. I believe that is party why the Occupiers could leave peacefully, and even before their eviction. They knew that it was far from the end, as one of the signs read: “ideas can’t be evicted”.
I had conversations with occupiers that I will never forget. One guy felt like history was just repeated itself, but it would not give us any better results this time around. He spoke about how things were rather similar in the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire got me thinking about Jesus. Would he be part of an Occupy Revolution?
Jesus brought his own kingdom, so he didn’t need to transform the one that existed. Rather he invited people to join his movement. But it was a movement that contains many of the values of the Occupy movement; the values of community, sharing, equality, and justice over the “Justice System”.
There were a couple of Jesus stories that came to mind over the night:
I was reminded of the creative resistance of which Jesus spoke in Matthew 5: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” (to understand how this is creative resistance, it helps to understand the culture a bit better. This could help http://dustinfjames.wordpress.com/category/nonviolent-resistance/ I didn't fully read what was said on this site, but I think he's got the idea)
A conversation with a business man who couldn’t grasp the concept of Occupy made me think of the parable from Luke 12: “A man in a crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to give me my share of what our father left us when he died."
Jesus answered, "Who gave me the right to settle arguments between you and your brother?"
Then he said to the crowd, "Don't be greedy! Owning a lot of things won't make your life safe."
So Jesus told them this story:
A rich man's farm produced a big crop, and he said to himself, "What can I do? I don't have a place large enough to store everything."
Later, he said, "Now I know what I'll do. I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I can store all my grain and other goods. Then I'll say to myself, `You have stored up enough good things to last for years to come. Live it up! Eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.' "
But God said to him, "You fool! Tonight you will die. Then who will get what you have stored up?"
"This is what happens to people who store up everything for themselves, but are poor in the sight of God."
And I thought about the teachings of John the Baptist “And he would answer and say to them, "The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise."” And the other John “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?”
I am happy with what Occupy did. Their signs and the art left on the plaza speak their message loudly (though I would say it is being distorted by the media), and they are far from disappearing.

UGM - youth drop in

Solemnly they walked through the line. Some smiled, other wouldn’t make eye contact, but most said thanks. I offered them mixed peas and corn, but most rejected them, so there were many left when I went and found someone I knew with whom I could sit. The lighting was dim, and the atmosphere was mellow. Earlier they had told us that there were black lights in the bathroom so people could not find their veins and inject drugs, I could not get the image out of my mind. I found myself in a conversation with a youth I didn’t know, and as was best, she did most of the talking. She was homeless. She had been kicked out of one shelter, not allowed in another, and the rest were forbidden to her for she was only fifteen; only fifteen yet homeless. Something from deep within me burned against this injustice. I felt utterly useless, and angry that there was nothing I could do to help this girl, this child. I wanted to storm up to the gates of those agencies and beg that they let her in. She had been kicked out of the one place because her skirt was too short. Her skirt was too short; had they even thought to offer her anything else to wear. I knew I was only hearing her side of the story, but that didn’t matter. There was no reason which I could comprehend that justified having a fifteen year old sleep on the streets. On the filthy perilous streets of East Hastings. I wished I could have offered her a home, a family, and some love, but I was there only to leave again. She couldn’t escape her situation but in a few days I would get in the 15 passenger van and drive home. I offered her all I could; I listened, and in doing so I received more than I could have given. I received a passion, a passion that ten years later continues to fuel what I do. Black lights in the bathroom. Unwanted peas and corn. Dim lights where they ate their food. Rejected teen. I was only 13.

to whom will you listen?

The Voice of Justice from The Justice Conference on Vimeo.

"Opinions are good"

That is what my roommate told me the other night as we were chatting, “opinions are good, but society tells us to be so open minded that we lose the ability to form opinions”
I don’t know how I feel about that. I think when she said opinions, she largely meant religious convictions. I have an opinion about what is true. I have an opinion about whether or not that shirt looks good on you. I have an opinion about the meat industry and I have an opinion about God. Is that okay? My opinions might be wrong. If I say your shirt is ugly, I might be wrong, but if I say that I don’t like your shirt, you cannot argue with that. Opinions hurt people, and I don’t like hurting people. I also think that we can be far too set in our opinion that we fail to see where others are coming from, and fail to see the good in their opinion. Their opinion might be wrong, but I can still learn fron it and accept it as their opinion. And I shall try to learn to share my opinion without hurting other. These are just my baby thoughts ont this, I still have much to learn. What are your thoughts?

Unrelated quote for the day:
“Whenever you are in doubt, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and weakest person you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to them.” - Gandhi

I want to look the poor in the face, and see the face of God

"I wasn't exactly sure what a fully devoted Christian looked like, or if the world had even seen one in the last few centuries. From my desk at college, it looked like some time back we had stopped living Christianity and just started studying it." -Shane Claiborne

“He pled the cause of the afflicted and needy;
Then it was well.
Is not that what it means to know Me?”
Declares the LORD."
-Jeremiah 22:16

"God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them." -Bono

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." -James 1:27

Remand Centre

I was sitting on the city train and listening to the conversation of two men behind me.
“Did you just get out of the Remand Centre?” the one asked.
“Yep. You too?”
“Yep.”
I looked up and out of my window I could see the Remand. Its tiny windows are like keys, but they seem to be hopeless keys that will never fit the lock. Hearing them speak about the Centre, and seeing it up ahead I was filled with emotions which I cannot quite understand, but I felt them in my gut. The Remand Centre which was built to house 340 prisoners now holds upwards of 800. I have heard that the human right activists have spoken harshly against the conditions inside. It is understaffed and as I gazed up at it I felt sick. This isn’t right, I thought. The train headed underground and the Remand was no longer in my sight, but it was still in my heart as I thought about the horrible treatment which is experienced there. The say that once people are finally sentenced they get two or even three days taken off of their jail term for every day they were in the Remand Centre because the conditions are so horrible. I heard the one man mention that he had gotten off “Scot Free”. I don’t know what he did, but it made me hurt for those who end up at the Remand even though they are innocent.
The train stopped and the Transit Police got on. “Tickets, transfers and passes” they demanded. I searched through my bag until I found my transfer to show to the Policewoman. She continued down the aisle. When she got to the men who had just gotten out of the Remand one was up front confessing “I don’t got one”. The other man searched in vain through his bag hoping to make it appear as if he had lost his ticket. They were both escorted off of the bus at the next stop.
I think it is just a fine if you fail to pay for the train, but I have come to realise that some people have no money, they cannot pay off a fine. If the fines don’t get paid I can only imagine that these men will end up back at the Remand.
The thought made me angry. I wished I could do something about it. I considered giving them my transfer; I didn’t know what else could be done. I wanted to offer them grace, but I wasn’t sure what it would have cost me.
The simple fact is that the train costs money. They didn’t pay, so they deserve the consequences. That is what is fair. That is justice... right?
I don’t know. It doesn’t sit right with me. The problem is far greater than the surface. It goes back further than I’ll ever know. Sending them back to the Remand seemingly with just perpetuate hopelessness. I am not convinced that incarceration is beneficial or even just, but I fear that I don’t have the better option. I just wanted to offer them grace, but maybe it wasn’t mine to give.

Beautiful Beyond description

The bus came promptly so I got on, and there in the very back of the bus was a guy and a girl (let's say late 30's) and well, I sat in the furthest back forward facing seat that is not the very back and kinda listened as she slurred her words, and asked "for a swig of that."
She was definitely drunk, and while I questioned his soberness, he was definitely better off than she was.
As the bus rode down the road she asked someone for a light, no one responded to her question, and the man told her that she couldn't ask for a light on the bus.
A while later she asked "What time is it” I turned around to face her and answered "7:49” she slurred back angrily "I wasn't talking to you." But at this time I had a short chance to observe. Definitely, wrapped in a paper bag, was a bottle of beer.
The main thing that kept entering my mine was that I shouldn't fear; not only that, but I was concerned to do anything that would make me look afraid. I just sat where I was, never turning around, but listening.
The bus stopped and a number of people got off. At this point, the driver took the opportunity to confront the couple. I could not hear what he said, and I do not know if he asked them to leave, or just to get rid of the alcohol. Either way, they seemed surprisingly willing to get up and leave.
I watched then as they stood outside the bus; the man supporting the woman. Again, she put the bottle to her lips, but he had had enough. He ripped the bottle from her hand, and though she tried to forbid him, she was unsuccessful. She stomped off in defeat while he poured the drink onto the thirsty ground, threw the bottle in the waste bin, and then ran off after her.
He loved
He cared
He pursued
I don't know if he caught up to her, nor how their story ends, for the bus drove away. A song contemplating God's greatness came into my mind, and I started to sing it, as if to comfort myself. That situation, and God's goodness clashed so severely, that I wasn't sure how to handle that. I changed the words to the song

There is brokenness beyond description
Pain to deep for words
Too hopeless for comprehension
Like nothing I have seen or heard
Who can grasp the depth or her hurting?
Who can fathom the full of her guilt?
There is brokenness beyond description
Sickness and despair

You're still, You're still
In love with her
You're still, You're still
In love with her
Holy God to whom all praise is due
You're still in love with her

And then as I walked home from the bus, there was one more song I found fitting

You are the God of the Broken
Friend of the weak
You washed the feet of the weary
Embraced the ones in need
I want to be like you Jesus
To have your heart in me
You are the God of the Humble
You are the Humble King

To have that heart in me: Oh God I pray that I may have your heart in me; to love the Broken and be friends with the weak. Even if they are weak because they are drunk, oh God, you love them. Give me a love that overpowers my fears. God, so many are weary, so many are in need; give me your heart for all who I come across. Amen.

I am in a place I never thought I would go to...

Meat is not Green
I never thought I would become a vegetarian, though, when I slowly started such behaviours it didn’t seem so far off any more. Even during the last few months of not buy much meat I never thought I would become a vegan... but here I am... thinking.
I am not a Vegan.
I don’t think I will ever become a vegan. I have always felt so blessed to not have food allergies, and be able to accept food from people, and have no reason to be picky. I value my ability to eat everything, so I still don’t want to be picky.
That being said I have a beef with the meat industry. If you know me at all, you probably realize that I do not care very much about animals, though I think I should, and I don’t like the thought of animal cruelty. However, even if there were no animals hurt or killed in the meat industry I still have this against them: they harm the environment and oppress the poor.
God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, is whom I follow. He made a wonderful world, allowed us to live in it and asked us to care for it. Respect for God involves respecting his creation. As I look into the meat industries environmental effects, the statistics I find are repulsive. Animals poop a lot, and when their waste, ends up in water system, this is just not a happy situation. The United Nations has labelled the meat industry as one of the most environmentally destructive forces both globally and locally. It produces more greenhouse gases than all cars, truck, ships and planes combined.
“According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than a half-million cars off U.S. roads."
Not only is meat industry responsible for a large portion of pollution, it also carelessly uses resources. It takes 16 pounds of grain to create 1 pound of meat. The rain forest is being cut down, not only to provide a place for cow to be farmed, but to grow food for them. About 80% of agricultural land in the U.S. is used in some way for animal production. The world’s cattle alone consume more calories than is needed for 8.7billion people, which is more than this world’s population. It takes 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat; this seems like a lot (and I don’t even know how big a gallon is) until it is compared with the 2500 gallons of water required to produce a pound of meat; in fact, if the water used in the meat industry was not subsidized, it would cost 35 dollars per pound of hamburger meat. Over half of the utilized water in America is used to produce feed for livestock and provide them with water. I cannot justify supporting an industry that is blatantly devastating the world God created and continue to claim that I follow him.
There is something more important to me than all the trees in this world. On the sixth day of creation God created people in his image, and he saw that his creation was very good. Throughout the scriptures God commands us to care for the poor, and Jesus came to preach the good news to the impoverished. As a follower of Christ I have been called to care for the poor, look after the needy and love. Developing countries that are dying of starvation, are exporting their grain to feed cows.
“Human beings who could be fed by the grain and soybeans eaten by U.S. livestock: 1,300,000,000Number of people who will starve to death this year: 60,000,000
Number of people who could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 60,000,000”
Just not eating meat will not get that food to the world’s poor, but it is standing up against something that is wrong, and reducing my carbon footprint, as I fight for justice.
The first change is to change myself. I have decided against supporting the world’s meat industry in any way. This, sadly includes giving up purchasing milk and eggs. If someone has barbequed me a steak, I am going to eat it rather than let it go to waste, but I am going to try my best to do nothing that will support the meat industry. If I get offered milk, and I know I have other options and that my consumption will cause the other person to need to get more milk sooner, then I sure hope I do not accept it. This will be hard, real hard, but if it is wrong, then it is wrong and I want nothing to do with it.
"It now seems plain that [a vegan diet] is the only ethical response to what is arguably the world's most urgent social justice issue." –The Guardian
My facts are from:
Deep vegetarianism: http://books.google.ca/books?id=Z0s3X_vh1_EC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=meat+industry+injustice&source=web&ots=8mA-QcLh45&sig=JlaFHyzceBYBcpN6bSa5WzKCh7M&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPA100,M1
GoVeg.com
EarthSave: http://www.earthsave.org/support/index.htm
Animal Liberation Front: http://www.animalliberationfront.com/
Vegan Outreach:http://www.veganoutreach.org/

James 5:1-6
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

Is it I Lord?

He said he might
clock out soon
he was sick,
very sick he told me
but he didn’t want the bug

to kill him.
He tried to cough it out
he tried to sneeze it out.
There where a lot of

sick people there
And what he had

wouldn’t go away.
He had tried everything;
Cough medicines,
Cold medicines,
Syrups and pills,
but it didn’t work,
so he said he might clock out.

The clock there was dead.
Someone in anger must have ripped it off the wall.
They had scrunched the hands,
and left it on the table.
Left it to find someone who,
could feel the pain

that they felt inside.

Would something be done?
These were people here;
People.
Not Animals.
They were not to be picked up and squished in a van.
If they were dogs,
Animal Rights would have gotten mad,
but they are people.
Oppressed,
Dignity stolen.
Who will stand up for them?
Who will shout out?
Who will yell?
Someone has to talk for them.
They could talk for them selves,
but who would listen?
Who wants to hear from the ones they crushed?
We don’t want for those we stepped on,
to stand up.
We want them to be forgotten
Unheard
forgotten
Unheard
Unseen.
LONG ENOUGH

Its been long enough.
The time is now;
before the clock goes out,
before more clocks get broken.
Its been long enough.
The time is now.
Time for someone to stand up.
Time for someone to shout out.
Are we ready to listen?
Its time.
Ready or not.

Joy, the gift of God's presents(presence)

I got my drivers license today, but now i never wanna drive, the thought scares me... (so i can't drive to Lacombe or Belfast)... but on to more weighing matters.

Christmas:
I was talking to a friend today
a lonely friend
a hurting friend
mediocre, mellow, moderate, modest
But mostly, he was lonely
and when we talked about Christmas
it meant nothing to him
no family to see
no friends to gather
no money to buy gifts
and no one to buy gifts for
sure the shelters would have a special Christmas event
music
food
and gifts
but on Christmas they are silent
the volunteers at home
warm
with friends
enjoying their time of refreshment
Christmas day must hurt
it is a time,
A time of friendship, spend alone
Of feasting, spent hungry
of presents, spent giftless
I wanted to cry for him
his face was as though he didn't care
his words portrayed that he wished he had made better choices
and now,
it was too late

He was one of many
and not the only one i talked to today

Richard hadn't had Christmas in nine years
Nine years with no joy, no presents
nine frost biting years
nine years ago (or so) i got a toy seal,
and a pink folder with stickers
and many other things, i no longer remember
and then when the gifts where all opened
and i had my toys lined up behind me
They were so few
I though
I should get more
but nine years ago Richard didn't even have a Christmas
he had nothing to line up
nothing to show off
and no one to show it off to

Richard never seems that lonely to me.
always he is there with a friend
or two
and he is happy
smart
friendly
yet he has no one to have Christmas with
no where to gather together
so he is left alone
and is that really a holiday?
i look forward to Christmas
mostly to see my cousins
and aunts and uncles
and may Grandparents
But if i had no one to go see
no good food to eat
no presents for me
I would dread that day
a time of joy
but i would loathe every moment of it's approaching
I'd give up on every having a good Christmas
leave behind my Childhood memories
Forget that i ever liked it
but Richard has not given up
he says
He is finally going up in the world
he thought
maybe next year
maybe then he would have a house
and have a celebration
don't loose hope,
never loose hope Richard
Please.

hurting

this world is hurting you know. many a people are hurting, lost and afraid. poeple are hurt by themselves, by others and by disease. my life is pretty easy going, but i feel sick to the stomach for all those i know who are hurting. i feel so helpless, i bet they do too. i geuss a bit of a poem i wrote, about the world, I cry to God, cause i know he could change it all, but he doen't he has a bigger plan that i dont see.

titled: a need to be still

How can I say it,
about what you’ve created?
This world suck.
Look what we’ve done,
from perfection to sin.

Where are you?
Cause we’ve gone so far from the truth.
In death and tears,
still you promise to be near.

In all the pain
You promise to be faithful
You’re still true;
you have control so
why do you do what you do?
Why don’t you do what I want you to?
I need to be still and know you are God.
I need to be still.

How can I say it,
about what you’ve created?
This world suck.
Look what we’ve done,
from perfection to sin.

Where are you?
I’m searching and longing for truth.
In death and tears,
still I've felt your presence near.

There’s so much pain,
cause you’ve given us freewill.
You still control,
but you let us choose.
Why do we do what we do?
Why don’t we do what you want us to?
We need to be still and know you are God.
I need to be still.

How can I say it,
about what you’ve created?
This world suck.
Look what we’ve done,
from perfection to sin.


i just wanna take away all hurt, God can, but you know maybe it has a purpose. maybe being in pain and suffering isnt all that bad and good comes out of it. but i can hardly believe that and i dont much suffer, how could someone in pain believe that, but i need to be still and know i'm not God, i dont got it all figured out. i wish my friends didn't have to hurt. and it aint a part of God's plan, it is a part of this messed up world we live in. yet somehow God can use it for good, and he is waiting for us, i think. you know? we cant get mad at God for doing what he does, what he does is always right, but what we do isn't always right.