PARAKLETOS

So we have been on the road for about 3 days.  We have went to the Civil rights musuem in memphis, 16th street baptist church (birmingham), the national civil rights institue, kelly imgram park, and the King distric in Atlanta.

I have seen so much that i can hardly believe it and take it all in and this is my second time on this trip.

Today we went to MoreHouse college in Atlanta , a all black school where King went.  They have one of the larges collection of Kings wrotes.  the orginals are there for research.  We where able to get into the room and look at some of kings orginal sermons that he gave at Dexter, and then some that he gave at Ebenezer around 1965.  It was a special and holly experience to see the works of such a world leader.

The more i study king the more i am amazed at what he did, how fast he did it and how much he is recognized by the world. 

Here are a few pictures of what we have done.  I will do some more reflecting later but i am too tired right now.

click here  and here

For some of you it might be easier to recieve this blog in your e-mail in box.  If that is the case just go to http://rssforward.net/rssfwd  first type in parakletos.blog.com click on submit and then type in your e-mail address and they every time we update the blog you will get it in your in box.

thanks,
Tanden

One of the thing that i think the world needs a lot more of is farmers.  I believe that one of the ways that we are going to create a world that is good for all of us is for all of us to start going much more of our own food.  The current food system that we have in place in this country is not working and will not last. Part of the solutions is for us to start taking what land is around us and growing food on it.  this summer we are going to once again farm the empty lot across the street and help a few neighbors a few blocks away do the same thing.

here are a few really good resources to understand why we are doing this.  the first is an article that was in the New York Times before the Nov election.  it was written to the new president telling them about how important food production is.  for that article click here

The next is an interview that Bill Moyers did with Micheal Polan (Micheal also wrote the above article) to here it click here http://www.archive.org/details/BillMoyersInterviewWithMichaelPollan

If you can seriously think about planting something is spring and trying to go just a little food, I think that you will find it to be easier then you thought and a lot of fun.

As we think about the cross of Christ,  I think what James Cone has to say is some really powerful stuff.  I first hear this speach by James Cone a year ago and as i have set on for a year i believe it to be very powerful for American Christians to think about the cross in light of our history of lynching.  If we are going to talk about the cross then we better be willing to talk about lynching because the cross was a 20th century lynching.  I would say that sad reality is that most christianity does not have the courage to talk about the cross this way.  We would rather talk about the cross in some abstract otherworldly terms but we could never talk about it way that Cones does.

To see the whole lecture of James Cone called “Strange Fruit: the Cross and the Lynching Tree” go to http://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/events_online/ingersoll_2006.html

The question that is before us is, are we fearful or faithful?  Are we doing to live lives that are fearful towards the “other” or are we going to live lives that are faithful towards the “other”

 

John 6:16-24

 

Is this just another cute story of showing us that Jesus has some super human ability to walk on water?  Are we just watching a first century magic show?  Or is John telling us this story to fill us in on the details about how and where Jesus and the disciples traveled.  Or is there more happening in this story?  Often we read over these narratives in such a way that we just want to get to the “important stuff”.  And in our haste we have missed large and important parts of the scriptures.

 

I believe that there is a lot more happening with this story.

 

In the story that we read John refers to them crossing the “sea” but it is technically a freshwater lake.  He does this because he is tapping into the OT tradition of Noah’s ark, the red sea crossing, and the psalms references to the sea.  The Sea represented great turmoil, chaos, and the sea was the home of the great Laviathan, which is the embodiment of chaos.  It is the great Laviathan that rules the great expanse of the sea, and only God controls it. Those are the images that John is provoking at the very beginning of this narrative, “When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea…”

 

But most of all John talks about a sea because he is referencing the story of
Jonah. 

 

When we compare the Narrative of John and the Jonah story, we find:

         two stories about boat crossings

         two stories about going to the “other” Nineveh/ “other” side- Between the cities around the sea of Galilee there was great tension.

         two stories about the sea being calmed

         Jonah was sleeping while the storm was raging and Jesus was sleeping while the storm was waging- in Mark

         And most importantly two stories about the journeys not being stopped by the great storms or sea, but they where completed bringing to Jonah and the Ninevites and the disciples’ and the “other” side

 

Just as Jonah realized that God was serious about him going to Nineveh, after God went to the effort of having him eaten by a whale, the disciples have there fears calmed as Jesus walks on water, speaks to them and then enters the boat. And they arrive on the “other” side.  Even the crowds travel to the “other” side and find Jesus there.  This is not just a story of a select few making the dangerous journey this is about the crowds making the dangerous journey.

 

Now that reflection brings me to these sets of questions:

         What are the dangerous journeys that need to be undertaken in our world?

         What names should we give to the Leviathan and the sea of our time?

         What are the fears in my heart, in our hearts that keep us on the “other” side, that keep us separated from others?

         What is it going to take for us to hear the voice of Jesus say it is “I”, and give us courage to live faithful lives towards each other

 

It does not take a rocket scientist to look at the world and to realize that the Leviathan is causing great chaos, great chaos of division, but most of us in this country and in this social economic class are doing all that we can to avoid the chaos.  We are not much different then the ostrich that barriers her head in the sand.  Pause for a minute with me and ask, do you really think that we are being real with ourselves and others?  Or are we hiding?  Think deeply about that are you facing who you really are, are you facing what this world has really become?  Do you have the Courage to do that?

 

We as a nation have this collective fear of the “other”.  Why are we today building a wall between us and Mexico?  We are doing that to keep “them” out, because if they come then… And we start to list all of are fears.

 

This morning John is coming to us pulling our heads out of the sand and giving witness to us that with Jesus the chaos is calmed.  Our fears can be overcome and we can make it to the other side.

 

Now don’t get John wrong.  The chaos is not calmed with out us.  The disciples where in the boat rowing, Noah built the ark, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, and Jonah preached in Nineveh.

 

So we can face all the many fears that we have of each other, from

         The jobs that they will take

         Of sharing resources

         Facing the greed in our hearts

         How do I ask forgiveness

         Fear of extending forgiveness

         What does it look like to pay reparations to someone that I have stolen from

 

Those journey’s will be traveled, those seas will be calmed do we have the faith to get into the boat?

 

 

 

I found this very powerful video on youtube and i wanted to share it with all of you.  Let me know what you think

here are the handouts of a workshop that erin and i gave a couple of weeks ago.

timeline

go deeper timeline

tail of two families

the end of white america

we hope this is helpful.  if you ever want to talk about this let us know

The last week for me has been very exciting.  On Monday I got to host Dr. John Perkins at
Bethel.  If you don’t know who Dr. Perkins is I recommend you check out the John M Perkins Foundation in Jackson Mississippi.  Dr. Perkins is one of the great civil rights leaders and one of Americans leading Christian leaders.  I call him an intellectual activist.  So I got to spend the day with him at breakfast, chapel and then at luncheon.  To hear what he had to say at lunch click here.

 

Then just last night Erin and I got to speak at a conference in the Twin Cities called Common Root.  It is a gathering of 100 Christians asking the question of what does it mean to follow Jesus in the shadow of the American Empire.  Our workshop dealt with white privilege.  The gathering is mostly white so I figured we would only get about 10 people to the workshop, but to my great surprise we have about 25 of us there, so a ¼ of the group wanted to talk about white privilege, what???  With my work on this issue I found it shocking that that many people would want to engage such a topic and not only did they come but we had a great conversation.  It was a conversation that I found very enriching for my own journey.  The audio is just the presentation that erin and I gave we did not record the Q and A time because we wanted people to feel free to say whatever they needed to say but I wish I would have  because it was during that conversation some very profound and powerful things where said.

 

One of the things that impacted me came from a wise Pastor.  In a loving way I called out my speech about how I talked about white privilege with words like “giving” “receiving” but really I need to use is the language of “taking” “selling” “pillaging” “genocide”.  We have created such a cultural myth of the good white person that we really need to get real with ourselves and talk about how this country was really founded and what is currently still happening in this country.  I am so thankful for our brothers and sisters of color who are willing to call us out of our privilege and help us embrace a new way of being human.  To there the talk click here

The last few days have been crazy.  Monday was MLK day and we did some family things at the global market.  Then Tuesday was the inauguration of Barack Obama. And Wednesday my friend Dante and I spoke in chapel at
Bethel.

 

I got a thousand different ideas and feelings that are going through me but at this time I don’t have time to blog more about them.  But what I am able to do is post two lectures that where given at Bethel in the last week.  Part of my job at Bethel is to lead a trip called Sankofa.  It is a trip that we do over spring break where we take a bus tour of the civil rights sites of the south.  To prepare the group for the experience we have put together a lecture series, where we have invited leader from the twin cities to come and share about the African-American experience in the United States.

 

The first lecture was given by Professor Mahmoud El-Kati.  He has taught history for the last 30 years at one of the local universities, has spent his life being a civil rights leader, and is very involved in many community projects.  To listen click here

 

The second lecture was given by Pastor Earl Miller.  Pastor Miller grew up in Jackson Mississippi, was very involved in the civil rights movement, and is currently pastoring a church in St. Paul that is corner stone of the community.  To listen click here

 

I really believe that if we are going to understand MLK day and the inauguration of Obama we have to learn from people like Pastor Miller and Professor El-Kati.  To be honest I have heard too many people over the last few days say some really ignorant things because they don’t know our history.  Please educate yourself.

This is an event that we are doing in the neighborhood.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  Regardless of your political affiliation, come celebrate this historic milestone.