A few thoughts on soccer and oppression

Just after the World Cup in South Africa, I was already anxiously awaiting the World Cup in Brazil. Soccer or football as it's called in the rest of the world has always been one of my favorite sports. When I traveled to Germany I was fascinated by the way football was a religious experience for the spectators, players, and other involved parties. Even more, football serves as an organized, structural religion throughout all the habitable continents of our world. Football serves a predominant religious role in Brazil (after Roman Catholicism) so it seems fitting that the World Cup, the Easter of football, would be celebrated in Brazil.

It is impossible to understand the implications of the World Cup's presence in Brazil without hearing voices outside of the mainstream media outlets. These mainstream outlets paint a picture of capitalism. The picture tells us how much money will come to Brazil as tourists and athletes from all over the would attend the football matches. If one thinks from the American Colonial Consumer Capitalistic framework, it is impossible to see the negative consequences.

Voices have been calling out from the wilderness as the streets of Rio de Janeiro and other places in Brazil are being targeted with art motivated by the World Cup. This art is not in favor of the World Cup's presence, but instead, this art is a call for justice. The people of Brazil are starving while their country pours millions of dollars into hosting the World Cup. Brazil, though independent since 1822, is expressing their colonial roots. They are expressing the capitalistic obsession which is often only seen as plaguing the West and the geographical North.

Because of the World Cup, Brazil is exploiting its people to be the center of the universe, to be football's Jerusalem for a short time. Unfortunately, Brazil is also expressing the same tendencies of Jerusalem--occupation and oppression. All of this simply to appeal to the money hungry. The art popping up around Brazil is similar to the art the is scattered about the apartheid wall in the West Bank/Israel. It seems that there is nothing more to utter than, "How long, lord". We as humans cannot help but offend human rights--it's one human rights violation after another with us!

Despite my deep love for soccer, even the religious experience that I experience in the soccer community--family--I will abstain from watching the World Cup. I encourage others to advocate for the least, the last and the lost and to set aside capitalistic colonial tendencies to seek justice and love mercy. As Bp. Tutu has said, "If we don't stand on the side of the oppressed we are on the side of the oppressor."

Viva Humanity

The United Nations and Our God (A Reflection)

This blog comes as a response and reflection after spending three days with staff from the United Nations and church offices. 

The thing about God is that you can never be quite sure what God is up to… As people of faith, we look at the entire world through theological spectacles even when we don’t try. It’s not a conscious recollection of what God has done in our lives or a realization of what God is doing in our lives. This is just how we see the world and how we see God. That is not to say that we don’t get angry or throw our hands toward the heavens in exhaustion and wonder at times why God has yet to make things right. We expect quick answers, we expect our infinite and intimate God to topple the systems of oppression in our society, but that is not quite who our God is…Our God is a God who shows up in the suffering. Our God shows up in the last reasonable place we would ever think to look. Our God shows up in a stable, walking the dusty roads, and on a cross to die the death of a criminal.

What is more, our God shows up to fight for justice with us. Our God accompanies us as we consider the evils of our society. Our God opens our eyes and breaks our hearts when the least, the last and the lost experience great upsets—Suddenly we realize that WE ARE the least, the last, and the lost. We realize that we have nothing more than the marginalized, the downtrodden, or the heartbroken. We have what they have, namely Jesus the Christ.

Over a three-day stint we met with members of the United Nations community. We met with people affiliated with faith-based organizations, and we met with individuals who worked on a strictly secular basis. We heard speakers from across the world and within various different disciples. We heard about apartheid in the Holy Land, the reconciliation efforts in South Africa, the global food crisis, and many other important topics. We were exhausted, not simply because we were jam packed with speakers, but because we were moved and propelled by the Holy Spirit to consider action. Our hearts were moved by God through the mouth of every speaker to seek justice and love mercy, all the while knowing that Christ walks with us in our times of great triumph and immeasurable pain.

We began to recognize the myth that our church is dying—that all churches are dying. We were moved to realize that our God is doing something amazing in this world, our God is doing something incredible in this world, our God is doing something in this world—it is so bright. God is not finished with this world, and our God loves us more than anything we could ever imagine. Our God is a God of abundance—abundant love, blessing, perseverance, and above all abundant accompaniment—our God will never leave us.

The author of the Gospel of Luke writes (referring to Jesus), “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel…” There is nothing that gets to the heart of disappointment, the heart of what it meant to be human than to say, “We had hoped”. It refers to the disciples’ hope that Jesus was the one that they had waited for throughout history—the one who would finally take away the pain. The disciples knew what it was like to live in a world of sin and death. Even after Jesus is raised from the dead, it is clear that the disciples and the rest of the human populace still live in a world of sin and death—they still live in a field of crosses. Each and every one of us is still hanging on the cross because we have not yet been raised. A life lived for Christ, a life propelled by Christ, is a life that is lived cruciform. We live in relationship to God (vertically), but the only way that this relationship works is through the relationships that we have (horizontally) with our brothers and sisters on earth. It is through our love for our neighbors that we are able to love God. When we realize that Christ is in every person our hearts burn in the knowing, but our hearts also burn with justice—knowing that the grace that God has given us is one that demands a response. This response remains separate from our salvation, but it is a response that happens when the grace of God overflows from our cups.

The reality of the United Nations is one that we, as Christians, and as humans can be proud of… like Mother Theresa writes, “We have forgotten that we belong to one another”. We belong to each other. We are all one. We must take action against sin, death, and the devil—we must take action against injustice because every human has inalienable rights that reflect the human’s relationship to God. We are made in God’s image and because of this reality we are bearers of God. God resides in us, our faces reflect the face of God, and actions against humanity—crimes against humanity, against human dignity are against God. There is much work to be done in our world, and we recognize how easy it is to throw our hands in the air after pure exhaustion, but the reality is that our God calls us to action. To steal the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s phrase, “It’s God’s work, our hands”.

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia?

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith,” Romans 1:16

During this season of Easter, Christians greet one another with an exclamation of the good news—

Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed!

Another variation of this greeting is adds the word “Alleluia!” During Lent, we abstain from outbursts of “Alleluia!” both in anticipation of the joyous feast of Easter and in penitence that is characteristic of the Lenten season.

The word “alleluia” is what linguists call a “loan word.” It’s a word that comes into one language from a foreign language and keeps almost an identical form in both languages. “Alleluia” comes into English through Greek and Latin from Ancient Hebrew. In Hebrew, it quite literally means “Praise the Lord!” When we shout, sing, or simply say “Alleluia!” we’re literally saying “Praise the Lord!” That “alleluia” is on our lips all throughout Easter is especially appropriate because, indeed—God be praised for delivering us from death to life!

There can be confusion for some folks, though, when to say “alleluia” and when not. One such place there’s some confusion is when we say things such as “Christ is risen!” We know there’s a response to this greeting, but does that response include the “alleluia” or not? That is the question…

During this season of Easter, the response in our prayers of the people during worship is “Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed!” Invariably, I hear a few people in each service ending their response with a muffled “alleluia,” with what I’m sure is followed up with an inward sense of shame for not reading the bulletin for the “proper response.” “Oh, I’m not supposed to say ‘Alleluia!’ right now,” I’m sure is what some are thinking.

The more I ponder just what we’re saying when we say “Alleluia,” though, the more I come to believe that this addition, even if not liturgically “correct,” is anything but shameful. In fact, I could even go so far as to call it a movement of the Holy Spirit. When we hear the words “Christ is risen!” how can we keep from responding in kind, and then for good measure, adding a hearty “Praise the Lord?” It’s not only appropriate, but it’s also admirable and commendable that “Alleluia!” pour off our lips, without thinking, when we hear the good news of Christ’s victory over death!

The next time you hear someone say “Alleluia!” at the “wrong time,”—or even still, the next time you say “Alleluia!” at the wrong time, don’t be ashamed, but see it as God’s Spirit moving you to reflexive praise in response to the good news!

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

-DS

Accompaniment as a Model for Christian Leadership

                Christian leadership has been considered from many different angles throughout the history of the Christian church. There has been a movement in recent time to consider leadership in the Christian church from a model of accompaniment. This creates a greater sense of equality between the leaders and members of the congregation. Accompaniment as a model for church leadership is rooted in the story of the “Road to Emmaus” from the 24^th chapter of Luke. Jesus appears to Cleopas and another disciple, but they cannot recognize him. It is not until he walks with them for some time and sits with them for a meal that they truly recognize that this is the risen Christ. Accompaniment as a model for leadership is about walking with people that each might see Christ in the other. Accompaniment forces vulnerability, which can be seen as risky, but without this vulnerability there is no Christian leader. Pastors are called to stand with their flocks and to walk with them in times of great joy and abundant grief—this exposes pastors and their flocks to vulnerability of the soul.

Linda Crockett defines accompaniment in her book, The Deepest Wound, where she writes,

Accompaniment goes beyond solidarity in that anyone who enters into it risks suffering the pain of those we would accompany. Accompaniment may include all of these actions [protest marches, pressing for changes in law, civil disobedience] but it does not necessarily share the assumption that we can fix, save, or change a situation or person by what we do. It calls for us to walk with those we accompany, forming relationships and sharing risks, joys, and lives. We enter into the world of the one who suffers with no assurance that we can change or fix anything… Accompaniment is based on hope despite evidence that there is little reason for optimism.[1]

Through accompaniment, we share the sorrows and hopes of our brothers and sisters, and consequently we interact with the Spirit of Christ in each and every one of God’s creation. Church leadership often refers to this as a ministry of presence. It is clear that pastors and other church leaders cannot fix the situations of life that people are exposed to because every human is subject to the human condition and human brokenness.

            Accompaniment is about seeing every Christian as a missionary. Christians tend to think that missionaries are people sent around the world to share the message of Jesus Christ with people less fortunate. The reality is that every Christian is a missionary and churches are beginning to lean towards accompaniment as a model for their missionaries. The new buzzword for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and many other Christian churches, is MISSION. Everyone talks about how churches can become more missional, how congregations can be more missional, and how our national church is being missional stateside and around the world. The word is not easily defined and it tends to carry different meaning depending on who one asks, but missional really refers to the sending out of God’s people into the world—to walk with people, to sit with people, and to act towards people the way that Jesus acted. Individuals, called by God and sent, are propelled into the world to serve the other, to love every neighbor, and to treat everyone with inalienable dignity.

The pressing reality facing the church is the ever-present concern of the times. That is to say, the church must address the concerns facing people in the time and place they find themselves. Darrell Gruder, author of Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America, is correct to identity the gospel message and its relevance as important matters. The church must always be grounded in the reality facing people—namely, their human condition. In this way, the church must ultimately speak prophetically about God—not humanity. The church must speak truth to power by witnessing on one hand to the wretchedness of this world and on the other, to the embodiment of God’s radical love in Jesus Christ. Every Christian is pushed by the Holy Spirit to respond to the gift of grace, which God has freely bestowed upon them. The way that every Christian responds is missionally—that is in the way of a missionary—and accompanies one’s brothers and sister on a mission or journey.

Church leaders are often depicted as shepherds. The prophet Jeremiah writes,  “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”[2] In the gospel of John, Jesus says to “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”[3] In 1^st Peter the author writes, “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly.”[4] The Bible is littered with references to the leaders of God’s people tending to the people like a shepherd tending sheep. It can be incredibly difficult for the shepherd to watch the sheep suffer and to not be able to be the superhero who swoops in and saves the day. Adversely, it can be incredibly difficult for the flock to watch the shepherd or other members of the flock to suffer. Accompanying the members of the flock is difficult because it can be incredibly painful and lonely for the shepherd. The advantage that accompaniment modeled leadership has is that the congregation, the sheep, the people of God are also accompanying the shepherd, the pastor, their fellow brother or sister in Christ.

It is important that the shepherd is understood as one who gets her hands dirty, who walks barefoot with the sheep, the one who sweats, the one who becomes exhausted, the one who needs as much direction as the one’s who “follows”. The accompaniment model of leadership remains a reaction or counter to the remnants of 16^th century understandings of church leaders. In the 16^th century and prior, clergy and other individuals under vows were considered holier than their lay counterparts. They were considered to have chosen a holier lifestyle and consequently God favored them. In the accompaniment model of leadership there is a solidarity shared between the leaders and the congregants—each is able to teach, be compassionate, give hope, and paint a picture of the new life available in the resurrection. Each is able to be a good steward of hope and to show that hope to the other.

In her article, “Toward a Spirituality of Accompaniment in Solidarity Partnerships[5],” Kim Marie Lamberty suggests that this solidarity is one of spirituality. She proposes that it is vital that we recognize that each person has the same amount of dignity—leader or follower. Once this is recognized there is a breakdown and the words leader and follower become less about what the positions traditionally connoted and more a system to which humans organize information. The ELCA defines accompaniment as “walking together in solidarity that practices interdependence and mutuality. In this walk, gifts, resources, and experiences are shared with mutual advice and admonition to deepen and expand our work within God’s mission.”[6] This allows one to see more fully that accompaniment is about interdependence and a journey together, and the traditional hierarchy is destroyed. The pastor and the congregants are on a journey together absorbing God’s grace and watching that same grace radiate out beyond the four walls of the church. Upon the culmination of the liturgy the congregation is often said to be recessing out of the worship space. Accompaniment is about processing, going out, into the world to walk with one’s brothers and sisters—in life, love, hope, pain, struggle, and suffering.

The only way that one can understand accompaniment is to accompany others. Gregory Lee Cuéllar argues in his book, Voices of Marginality, that proximity is necessary to fully understand the plight of the other.[7] His argument is rooted in Post Colonial thought and an effort to recognize the plight of the other and how imperialism and colonialism have caused many of these negative outcomes—for instance the aforementioned 16^th century understanding of the holiness of individuals under vows. It is difficult for individuals to speak for their parishioners if they have not accompanied them and truly heard their stories. It is of equal importance for the congregation to hear the stories of the pastor, which are rooted in sermons and ways in which the pastor frames pastoral care narratives.

The ELCA endows a program entitled Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM), which sends young adults around the world as missionaries to do nothing more and nothing less than accompany the community they are part of—this is the fruit of accompaniment partnerships. Many individuals seeking to be pastors in the ELCA have spent a year serving with YAGM, which is revolutionizing ELCA clergy leadership and their colleagues. Hannah Wolfe, a current YAGM participant reflects on Gregory Boyle’s book Tattoos on the Heart where he writes, “Mother Theresa diagnosed the world’s ills in this way: we’ve just ‘forgotten that we belong to each other.’ Kinship is what happens when we refuse to let that happen.” Wolfe reflects,

We forget about our brothers and sisters, we forget about God, we forget about the earth, and we forget our collective belonging. This is what causes the systemic sin that separates us from one another and allows us to build walls. If we refuse to forget that we belong to each other and that God says, “You are mine,” we get closer to achieving what we have in mind when we think of a world free of the barriers that separate us and the chains that bind us. When we do this, we have kinship and we have community, and most of all belonging. We belong to each other.[8]

Accompaniment as a form of leadership is about walking with people and discovering their true identity, it is about them discovering your true identity, and ultimately it is about finding the place where these identities rest in each other—the crossroads of identity is where ministry happens and love abides.

[1] Linda C. Crockett, The Deepest Wound : How a Journey to El Salvador Led to Healing from Mother-Daughter Incest (Lincoln: iUniverse, 2001).

[2] Jeremiah 3:15 ESV

[3] John 21:16 ESV

[4] 1 Peter 5:2 ESV

[5] Kim Marie Lamberty, “Toward a Spirituality of Accompaniment in Solidarity Partnerships,” Missionology 40 (2012): 181, accessed April 27, 2014, doi: 10.1177/009182961204000207

[6] The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, “ELCA GLOCAL Mission Gathering – Accompaniment, 2013. [www.elca.org]

[7] Gregory Lee Cuéllar, Voice of Marginality: Exile and Return in Second Isaiah 40-55 and the Mexican Experience (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2008).

[8] Hannah Wolfe, (November 15, 2013), Searching for Logos, “Naming and Belonging” [http://searchingforlogos.wordpress.com].

A Little Theo-Fun

Life can't be all seriousness!

The Death of A Sinner

Fred Phelps is dead. The country watched on as reports of his failing health came in and we waited for what we know to be the enviable end for everyone.

Given his notorious history, there was question about how people would treat his death. In case you don’t know, Fred Phelps was the founder of West Boro Baptist Church—a small, radical group of folks who targeted various events around the country to spread a message of, quite literally, hate. They’re most known for carrying picketing signs at the funerals of soldiers which read such ignominious things as “God hates fags,” “God hates America,” and “Thank God for dead soldiers”—to name just a few of their many slogans.

In my very, very small hometown, we had the misfortune of having the West Boro Baptist Church come and protest the funeral of a man who had died after having fought in Iraq. It caused quite a stir among the community, and people from all walks of life agreed that protesting the funeral of a fallen soldier, no matter on what grounds, was despicable.

But what do we as good, loving Christians make of the death of Fred Phelps? Two particular readings from Scripture come to mind for me as we might seek to come to a faithful answer to that question:

Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’ –Luke 18:9-14

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live? –Ezekiel 18:23

It’s easy for us to look at the behavior of the West Boro Baptist Church—in particular of Fred Phelps who founded it—and say to ourselves and others, “Well, at least I’m not that bad.” In that place, we’re acting just as rottenly as the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable above. It’s not our place to sit in judgment of others. Instead, like the verse from Ezekiel tells us, we know in fact that God doesn’t take pleasure in the death of any of his children, no matter how misguided or corrupted they might be. God desires for us to have life and have it abundantly. For in the end, we’re all a bunch of sinners, wholly dependent on the grace of God for anything—our lives, ourselves, and everything we have.

God doesn’t promise us that it’s believing the right thing or doing the right thing that earns us our place in the Kingdom. The promise is quite simply that Jesus, God’s love incarnated, has already earned our place in eternal life and given it to us freely. This knowledge frees us from judgment of others and encourages us to call us to live in the hope and freedom it gives us. And perhaps we ought to do well to remember that in this period of Lent, how much God loves the whole world and desires not for its destruction but its life—even for those rotten sinners we call ourselves.

-DS

A Different Look

Baptism has become a tranquilizer, a Xanax for the terrified conscience of humanity. Baptism is a commodity to be bought and sold like the consumer capitalism that stole our families. Individuals want to shop for churches and leave churches when they are upset with something that one part of the body is doing—instead of remaining in the body and loving the least of these, people flee. They flee to other churches where faith can be found like a good pair of shoes. The shoes we find in churches are stilettos, they are uncomfortable, they just look nice, but they do not serve a real purpose besides sex appeal. Because we have changed faith into something that is bought and sold like prostitution, like sex, Baptism and consequently Eucharist has become about power.[1]

Baptism is not for the individual but instead baptism is for the community. It is a community affair because once one is baptized the community is responsible for that one. The community is like Jesus who leaves the flock of 99 and goes out to find the one lost sheep. The community is the guardian of the baptized—the community is the keeper of all the brothers and sisters. Baptism is about radical hospitality. It is about recognizing that one of the community members is absent and missing and knowing that without that one the whole is not the same. The community is more than the sum of its parts—each individual is important, essential, and with all the individuals the whole community is powerful.

Eucharist is also a community affair—it is a family dinner! The Eucharist, like dinner, strengthens the body to continue the service to the other. The Eucharist empowers the community to be one, to be unified, and the Eucharist mobilizes the community to process, never recess, into the world—to continue the liturgy in the world. The Eucharist has become about the linens and colored paraments instead of what is actually in the chalice. Christ, the dirty, sweaty, bleeding Jesus is in the cup of salvation, which draws the community into faith, into fraternity, and into love for God and neighbor. Christ says to the community—to the body of Christ on earth, “this is my body given—FOR YOU and this is my blood shed—FOR YOU”.

Like Janet Walton writes in the Dictionary of Feminist Theologies, the Eucharist is a ritual meal that embodies memory, imagination, power, encounter, freedom, relationships, presence, and blessing. She highlights that some feminists think that the Eucharist cannot be redeemed from its present oppressive form. They believe that it is too married to the patriarchal structure that it cannot be fully embodied by women. The 16^th century and prior made the Eucharist into a fancy host to be worshipped, but not eaten. The bread lost its ‘breadness’ and the wine was never shared with the community—instead it was hoarded for the male priest, the one who was considered holy enough. The women could not be priests because their ‘womanness’ made their holiness null. Walton calls into question how the community of Christ might breakdown the walls that gender, class, race, age, and physical disabilities, etc. have placed as stumbling blocks around the people. The Eucharist and the liturgy has become an obstacle course for women to navigate as men sit in the Eucharist and navigate worship like rowing on a placid lake.

Women have allowed themselves to have Stockholm syndrome—they have come to love the abuse that they have endured. Women allow themselves to be complacent and compliant because that is what they are meant to do. Individuals’ misunderstanding of Paul have led to the women of times past and present to submit to the idea that they are less than, but what Paul is really saying and what the church should be saying is “You are ours! We love all of you from the blood that flows from you lower lips to the blood that flows from the chalice of Christ’s body to your beautiful red lips.” The Eucharist tells the story of the church—life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The Eucharist tells the story of the humans that eat and drink at the table. People bring their messes to the table and are sanctified and made whole.

Women and others who have been silenced throughout history are called upon in Post Colonial thought to engage the Eucharist in new ways. Like Walton expresses, the Eucharist is festive yet mournful. It expresses the resurrection of Christ but it allows us to recognize that we are still on the cross awaiting our bride to save us from our oppressed existences.

In the ELCA’s document, “Means of Grace” it outlines many aspects of the liturgy. Baptism and Holy Communion are both emphasized, but even the suggestions that the ELCA puts fourth are not the lived reality. The ELCA writes, “Water is used generously” but often the reality is that there are a few drops placed on the head of the baptizee and are immediately wiped off. The water creates a mess that must be contained because humanity has taken the mess out of God. God cannot be dirty, God cannot be seen as sweaty or wet, God must be secured in a host because if God gets out something incredible might happen. The document also states, “Holy Communion is celebrated weekly.” This is the reality in some places but in many places it is rarely celebrated because individuals are scared that the Eucharist will not mean as much (sacrality) if it is celebrated too often. Many individuals still have an ex opere operanto view of Eucharist while others keep the sacraments and faith at arms length.

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[1] As Oscar Wilde states, “Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.”