Ron Cole : off the map...navigating life.

R(EVOLuTionary ) Faith...in a crisis

It's hard to imagine anyone coming across Jesus in the midst of the " world crisis " of his day thinking that Jesus was about reforming religion; maybe some institutional changes, a revamp of the worship style...more culturally relevant. They would have seen the tide changing, an uprising on the margins of an empire. It was simply a revolution.

 

 

 

Fast forward to today. Empire is still with us, and continues to spin a story of illusion, one of prosperity, security and hope. The empire parades through the streets of the the global village proclaiming capitalism and globalization are still the way forward. Through it's corporate icons, it's incomprehensible economics, it's military power and it's controlled media...a dumbed down world has been fooled.

Mass protests, throughout history have come at a time when enough of the population has been affected by policies of the rulers and elite. They have often been met with brutal, efficient crackdown by the guardians of the elite...as was the case in Jesus day. It was an empire with a global plan to expand it's borders, it's wealth and power...whatever the costs. Also, a religion, a faith community that collaborated with the empire...or at best washed its hands and turned a blind eye.

This was the situation in Jesus day, and certainly even more magnified and amplified today. If you want to get a grasp of what is going on in the world from social, political, economic and environmental issues that effect us " all "...I encourage you to browse " Global Issues."

Jesus, the God-man being birthed into the margins of humanity has always mystified me. We are so fixated with religion as a navigation tool to get from " us " to God. We all have our maps, and compasses and charted our bearings and declared " our " route the only way. But God, in a sense seems to ignore all paths and births the God-man of the grid. Jesus strangely is birthed outside of is own religion. God births the God-man in the humus of humanity...in the midst of the poverty, the injustice, the brokenness...in the midst of the unloved.

I wonder if God didn't birth himself outside of religion to show us that it really isn't that important? Maybe religion says more about us than God? Maybe we view Jesus like some helium filled balloon, that the more lines we have anchored to him, the less of a chance he'll drift off to non-existence. Maybe God won't allow himself to be owned like a piece of property by " any " religion? Maybe that is one of the most profound realities of the incarnation is that God puts himself into the midst of " humanity " not a religion.

Process theologian John B Cobb made this comment recently, " We become devoted to Christianity instead of Jesus. Jesus taught us to be faithful to Christianity is found no where in the Bible." And Bono reminds us, " God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house...God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them."

We know where Jesus planted his life, and throughout the gospels we see Jesus not promoting, trying indoctrinate people into a religion...we see him revealing what it is to be fully human. We see Jesus bringing a new world to life, an alternative, subversive world that stands in stark contrast to the world of the empire. And around us today we see a church that continues to to sink into absolute irrelevance.

" In many churches today, the primary question being asked is, how do we get more members? Behind this is often a painful awareness of the patterns of institutional decline and the need for more bodies and buck's in the pews to sustain things. This is not the primary question we should be asking. Instead, we should be wondering, what is God up to in our neighborhood? How do we join up with it?" ( Dwight. J Zscheile )

God is not concerned about sustaining christianity, ensuring you have someplace to go on Sunday mornings. God is concerned about sustaining life...about redeeming the brokenness of the world around us into this new creation, this alternative world...where justice reigns; where oppression ends, where there is universal health care for all; where there is no hunger; where religion embraces " all " humanity...not the god's we've created; where we become stewards of the earth and it's resources again, where we truly love our neighbor...and where there is no more "us" and "them", but where we live life as one.

Christianity continues to decline in the west depite trying to make it more culturally relevant, putting a new coat of paint on the surface...people are still trickling out the back door. It's not that we've lost faith in Jesus...we've lost faith in the church. We are consumed with the idea that worship pleases God, if we can just get it right...sing the right things, say the right things, we'll turn it around. People will be pounding at our doors to get in.

Incase we've forgotten what pleases God...Jeremiah 7:5-7:11, Amos 5:21-24, Hosea 6:6, Micah 6:6-8, Isaiah 1:11-17...one wonders if God hasn't left the building all together.

Today, to say, we stand in the midst of a crisis is an understatement...maybe it's time to awaken to the reality that God doesn't care about our religion, this Christianity that resembles so little of Jesus, and imagines so little of this profound redemptive alternative world he spoke about and lived in. It is time for a revolutionary Christianity that gets beyond faith in beliefs, but to risk faith on life. Jesus came that we might have abundant life...not just for church folk, nice behaving Christians...but for all humanity. It was about a faith that changed the world, literally to build a new creation. Jesus challenged the worldly empire of the day it's lie, its narrative of prosperity, and security and false hope for the deserving...he was constantly in there face telling a profoundly more redemptive story for everyone. But more than that he was willing to set aside religion this obsession of trying to turn ourselves into pious self-righteous gods...to just be more fully human.

God is out there in the brokenness, in the midst of the oppression, injustice and poverty in the global village...this is where revolutionary faith begins. Jesus was birthed, lived and died in this place. It is only here that the reality of any new kind of creation can take place. Jesus didn't come to start a new religion...he came to bring heaven to earth now. He came to start a revolution, to turn the world " right " side up...where a new alternative world would capture the imagination of " all " humanity.

 " For the revolutionary, those goals and objectives are directed toward changing reality and toward redemption of humanity. It is humanity itself, ones fellow human being, the redemption of ones fellow human being that constitutes the revolutionary's objective. If we revolutionaries are asked what matters to us most, we will say: the people, and we will always say the people. People in their true sense, that is, the majority of those who have had to live under exploitation and the cruelest neglect. Our fundamental concern will always be with the great majority of the people, the oppressed and exploited classes. We view evrything from this standpoint: Whatever is good for them is good for us; whatever noble, useful and beautiful for them , will be noble, useful and beautiful for us. If one does not think in this manner, if one does not think of the people and for the people, if one does not think and act for the great exploited mass of the people, for the great masses we seek to redeem, then one simply does not have a revolutionary attitude." ( Fidel Castro: Words To Intellectuals, Havana June 30 1961 )

" By breaking the rules of the game, he has disrupted the game as such, he has exposed it as a mere game. he has shattered the world of appearances, the fundamental pillar of the system. He has upset the power structure by tearing apart what holds it together. He has demonstrated that living a lie is living a lie. He has broken through the exalted facade of the system and exposed the real, base foundations of power. He has said that the emperor is naked. And because the the emperor is infact naked, something extremely dangerous has happened; by his action, the greengrocer has addressed the world, He has enabled everyone to peer behind the curtain. He has shown everyone that it is possible to live within the truth. Living within the lie can constitute the system only if it is universal. The principle must embrace and permeate everything. There are no terms whatsoever on which it can coexist wuth living within the truth, and therefore everyone who steps out of the line denies it in principle and threatens it in its entirety." ( Vaclav Havel: The Power of the Powerless 1936 )

Christianity will not save the world...living into Jesus as the way, the truth and the life...of what it is to be fully human...should spark the imagination of all humanity to where we look for hope on the horizon of history.

Chris Hedges says, this at the end of his new book. " Days of Destruction Days of Revolt "...

" They went first. We are next. The indifference we showed to the plight of the underclass, in Biblical terms our 'neighbor', haunts us. We failed them, and in doing so we failed ourselves. We were accomplices in our own demise. Revolt is all we have left. It is the only hope."

The revolutionary faith of Jesus is all we have left...his way, his truth and his life. A faith beyond belief...a faith profoundly and humanly lived. It really is our only hope.

Practicing Resurrection...

From Brian Walsh, pastor, professor and practitioner and author of Colossians Remixed, a book the continues to challenge my faith. Recently, Brian Walsh mused on resurrection.

Thanks to Brian Walsh, for the profound mysterious reminder the " resurrection " is not the theological word to be theorized...it is the reality of a " risen life ." It's not a life lived in suspended animation waiting to be transported to an eternal resort when we've reached the " dead end " sign at the end of the corridor of history. It is about life " NOW ". It's about a life filled with the same Spirit that brooded over the dark mirky void of nothingness and brought creation into being. It's the Spirit that incarnated God into humanity. It is the same Spirit that blew open the door of the tomb, that rushed, that broods over humanity now...to bring about a " New Creation."

Resurrection means...I no longer live. But, it is the risen Jesus within me that lives. The question is...will we release ourselves in to the mysterious reality. It is only then, we discover the potential, and the truth that the Kingdom is truly among us.

        ("Resurrection" by Mattias Grunewald, Isenheim Alterpiece, 1515)

Practicing Resurrection

Practice resurrection
…in a world of quick profits
…and everything ready made.

Practice resurrection
…in a world of obligated consumption
…and generals and politicos.

Practice resurrection against all the odds.
“Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.”

To practice resurrection, my friends,
…we need to be able to see just beyond the range of normal sight,
…we need to expect the end of the world … and laugh,
…we need to do something that will not compute,
…we need to love the Lord,
…love the world,
…work for nothing.

We come together at Practicing Resurrection because we have considered all of the facts,
…or at least enough of them.
We know what real profit is
…and we know enough to abandon that which does not profit.
We know that while sometimes wisdom cries out at the street corners,
…just as often she whispers in the carrion,
…sighs as wind blowing through trees,
…sings in the planting of crops and their harvest,
…rejoices when people break bread together.

We have come to practice resurrection.
…We have come to embrace the new birth,
…we have come to say to the darkness, “we beg to differ,”
…we have come to ask the important questions:
……Will this satisfy

 

 

God's Economy...the redemptive imagination of the Kingdom

The tactics of Jesus have the power to liberate our imaginations and inspire creative subversions of the status quo. They carve out a space where we can ask questions we never knew we could ask:

What if it's possible to live as citizens of

God's abundant kingdom no matter

what government we live under?

What if it's possible to work against the

principalities and powers of this age

without being captive to them ourselves?

What if it's possible to live God's good life

here and now, no matter what economic

situation we find ourselves in?

What if another world is possible?

What if it's already here?

To interupt the logic of scarcity by trusting Jesus in our homes, churches, and communities is to proclaim the only true economy --- the Kingdom that has broken into this world and will one day utterly consume it in a new heaven and earth. ( God's Economy: Redefining the Health and Wealth Gospel by Jonathon Wilson-Hartgrove; pg 75 )

Nick and Josh round table conversation...a faithful response to the oil spill & creation care

In my most recent post, " the empires new clothes...the naked truth " I skimmed the slippery surface our relationship with the empire. Our insatiable appetite for oil at any cost to the exploitation and destruction of creation, and a global economy in which money is thrown into it like a slot machine and financial experts pull the lever of luck. Where is the prophetic voice of radical subversive faith that critiques, corrects, that reveals an alternative view to that of the empire?

Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation (and a person of faith), raised a prophetic word when he spoke of our “addiction” to oil. Addictions, as many people have discovered, eventually make your life not work anymore. And that is what has happened to the U.S. and the world -- our oil addiction is making things not work. The list of consequences is long -- from critical climate changes, to the loss of jobs, to supplying money for terrorists, to sacrificing the lives of our young people in wars over oil, to watching an oil spill that nobody seems to know how to stop pour hundreds of thousands of gallons each day into the Gulf of Mexico. ( Sojourners GOD'S politics; Jim Wallis )

On Monday Nick and Josh brought together 3 prophetic voices, in this podcast Josh grabs another round table podcast with the likes of Julie Clawson, Ben Lowe, and Tom Sine. The four of them discuss the (lack of a) Christian response to the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico as well as other issues facing the American Christianity’s move towards more active caring for creation.

For more on the three guests click below: Julie Clawson, Everyday Justice
Ben Lowe, Green Revolution Tom Sine, The New Conspirators and Mustard Seed Associates (also, see Christine Sine’s blog)

This is likely one of, if not the best conversations I've heard on faith and it's relationship with creation care. Tom Sine, Julie Clawson, and Ben Lowe speak with great wisdom and passion. They critique. They encourage, and they offer hope with practical solutions.

Do yourself a favor, listen alone or get together with a few friends and listen...but do listen!!!

[Direct link to ep 151 - Oil Spill Roundtable with Ben Lowe, Tom Sine, and Julie Clawson]

You can also sign a petition ( HERE ) against offshore drilling at AVAAZ.org the world in action.

The empires new clothes...the naked truth

From a recent interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales talking about how the US government exempted British Petroleum from environmental review...

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement comes on the heel of a Washington Post exposé revealing that the Minerals Management Service had approved BP’s drilling plan in the Gulf of Mexico without any environmental review. The article notes that the agency under Secretary Salazar had quote “categorically excluded” BP’s drilling as well as hundreds of other offshore drilling permits from environmental review. The agency was able to do this using a loophole in the National Environmental Policy Act created for minimally intrusive actions like building outhouses and hiking trails. ( Read more/ here )

And then earlier last week, on Thursday this story on the mysterious Wall Street melt down in the Huffington post...

At this point no one knows why. Some say it was sudden burst of worries about Greece's debt and the increasing possibility of a default that might cause a run by global investors. Others point to a "trading error." Giant high-speed computers generate millions of trades based on instructions embedded in computer programs designed to move fast enough to beat everyone else. So when there's a glitch in one of them it can immediately spread to all the other programs designed to move just as fast. Some say it was an erroneous trade entered by someone at a big Wall Street bank who mistyped an order to sell a large block of stock, and that the big drop in that stock's price (Procter & Gamble?) triggered "sell" orders across the market.

Regardless of why it happened, it's further evidence that the nation's and the world's capital markets have become a vast out-of-control casino in which fortunes can be made or lost in an instant -- which would be fine except for the fact that most of us have put our life savings there. Pension funds, mutual funds, school endowments -- the value of all of this depends on a mechanism that can lose a trillion dollars in minutes without anyone having a clear idea why. So much of the market now depends on computer programs and mathematical models that no one fully understands, so much trading is in the hands of a few people whose fat thumbs or momentary carelessness might sink the economy, so much of global wealth now depends on who can move their money quickest at the slightest provocation -- that we are toying with financial disaster every day. The luck or foolishness of a few traders, and inside knowledge and information that some possess and others don't, combined with ultra high-speed computers, put us all at the whim of a system whose risk is way out of proportion to any public benefits. ( Read more/ here )

You're probably wondering what do these events have in common? The demonstrate the reality of the empire, its exploitation of creation; it's obsession to serve the god of money and greed. The government and corporate industrial giants use " Green " the same way criminals launder dirty money. There communications specialists stick the label and lingo into everything. BP trying convince onlookers that it is investing big in " Green " all the while the Gulf continues to fill at a rate of over 200,000 gallons of crude oil per day. The plan that should such a disaster should occur has come down to nothing more than trying to put a band aid on a severed artery under water. A three week moratorium on drilling is nothing more than time for the spin doctors to weave their magic and tell us, the emperor has his finger in the dike and the empire is great.

Since the financial melt down of 2+ years ago, we've learned nothing. We have an idea what caused it, but really have no idea or understanding how it works. It is a casino where people drunk with greed continue to pull the leaver hoping for the big pay out. Sitting at the table with pockets turned inside out, penniless, while governments continue to throw money to these pigs at the trough like BP pumps oil into the Gulf. The empire is recklessly out of control and crumbling.

(image courtesy of Deviant Art )

But the spin doctors like in the story of the " Emperor's New Clothes ", the emperors seamstress continue to weave there magic...

Your Highness, you'll have to take off your clothes to try on your new ones." The two scoundrels draped the new clothes on him and then held up a mirror. The Emperor was embarrassed but since none of his bystanders were, he felt relieved.

      "Yes, this is a beautiful suit and it looks very good on me," the Emperor said trying to look comfortable. "You've done a fine job."

      "Your Majesty," the prime minister said, "we have a request for you. The people have found out about this extraordinary fabric and they are anxious to see you in your new suit." The Emperor was doubtful showing himself naked to the people, but then he abandoned his fears. After all, no one would know about it except the ignorant and the incompetent.

      "All right," he said. "I will grant the people this privilege." He summoned his carriage and the ceremonial parade was formed. A group of dignitaries walked at the very front of the procession and anxiously scrutinized the faces of the people in the street. All the people had gathered in the main square, pushing and shoving to get a better look. An applause welcomed the regal procession. Everyone wanted to know how stupid or incompetent his or her neighbor was but, as the Emperor passed, a strange murmur rose from the crowd.

      Everyone said, loud enough for the others to hear: "Look at the Emperor's new clothes. They're beautiful!"

      "What a marvelous train!"

      "And the colors! The colors of that beautiful fabric! I have never seen anything like it in my life!" They all tried to conceal their disappointment at not being able to see the clothes, and since nobody was willing to admit his own stupidity and incompetence, they all behaved as the two scoundrels had predicted.

      A child, however, who had no important job and could only see things as his eyes showed them to him, went up to the carriage. "The Emperor is naked," he said.

Probably what saddens me the most is that supposedly radical subversive communities that are called to live in, and imagine another alternative have remained for the most part silent. They are called to be prophetic voice critiquing the empire, a voice of correction. A child can see the emperor and empire are naked, and we at best turn the other way, and at worst nod our heads. Faith communities committed to the reality of Jesus and his Kingdom, of revealing, redeeming, restoring and building the world upside down would expose and reveal the alternative of the Kingdom. We would connect the dots that lead to the redemptive imagination of Jesus. We would rally humanity to awaken that we are all children of God called build the stunning redemptive beauty of the Kingdom, the home of all humanity. Is this even on the radar of your faith communities conversations?

I close with these powerful words of subversive preaching in a postmodern world, a targum based on Colossians 1:15-20 by Brian Walsh.

Whether it be the institutionalized power structures
of the state, the academy or the market
all things have been created in him and through him
he is their source, their purpose, their goal
even in their rebellion
even in their idolatry
he is the sovereign one
their power and authority is derived at best
parasitic at worse
In the face of the empire
in the face of presumptuous claims to sovereignty
in the face of the imperial and idolatrous forces in our lives
Christ is before all things
he is sovereign in life
not the pimped dreams of the global market
not the idolatrous forces of nationalism

the church is
the flesh and blood
here and now
in time and history
with joys and sorrows
embodiment of this Christ
as a body politic
around a common meal
in alternative economic practices
in radical service to the most vulnerable
in refusal to the empire
in love of this creation
the church reimagines the world
in the image of the invisible God
In the face of a disappointed world of betrayal
a world in which all fixed points have proven illusory
a world in which we are anchorless and adrift
Christ is the foundation
the origin
the way
the truth
and the life
In the face of a culture of death
a world of killing fields
a world of the walking dead
Christ is at the head of the resurrection parade
transforming our tears of betrayal into tears of joy
giving us dancing shoes for the resurrection party
And this glittering joker
who has danced in the dragon's jaws of death
now dances with a dance that is full
of nothing less than the fullness of God
this is the dance of the new creation
this is the dance of life out of death
and in this dance all that was broken
all that was estranged
all that was alienated
all that was dislocated and disconnected
is reconciled
comes home
is healed
and is made whole
everything
all things
whatever you can imagine
visible and invisible
mountains and atoms
outer space, urban space, and cyberspace
every inch of creation
every dimension of our lives
all things are reconciled in him
And it all happens on a cross
it all happens at a state execution
where the governor did not commute the sentence
it all happens at the hands of the empire
that has captivated our imaginations
it all happens through blood
not through a power grab by the sovereign one
it all happens in embraced pain
for the sake of others
it all happens on a cross
arms outstretched in embrace
and this is the image of the invisible God
this is the body of Christ

Surely we we can imagine and see something radically more alternative and subversive to the empire that surrounds us, and speak and build it into existence. The Kingdom is about ...NOW!!!

Jesus washed the feet of those he loved...could you wash plates

Poverty is on the increase. Working poor is becoming an ever increasing reality in the Victoria landscape. Single moms that might be able to afford a roof over their kids heads, can't afford food. BC has the lowest minimum working wage in all of Canada. Social programs are surgically amputated by the Provincial government, and it's victims are left to fend for themselves.

A place that has become an open table, of grace, hospitality and love is the Rainbow Kitchen over in Vic West, the corner of Henry and Catherine Streets; in St. Saviors a 118 year old Anglican Church. The volunteers come from a diversity of faith backgrounds; Anglicans, Lutherans, Salvation Army, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, mystics, seekers. Besides the smell of great food, and the homeless will tell you the RK serves the best lunches anywhere...there is a fragrance of love the permeates everyone and everything.

Most days there is a shortage of volunteers, especially where I work on Mondays in the " dish pit." I think almost everyone can remember a first job working in the dish pit of some restaurant. There's no glamor, and no glory...just cleaning up everyone else's mess. You can do the math and pretty much figure it out, the number of pots and pans, dinner plates, dessert plates, glasses, and coffee cups for feeding 120-150.

Anyways, we are short in the dish pit especially between 1:00pm and 2:30pm...we're desperate. How desperate...I'll tell you. The last few weeks there has been a retired priest, not much older than myself. She wears an apron, I don't know why. She says grace, we all used to take turns, but now we have a professional. So I guess much like the rubber stamp of the Canadian Standards Approval these prayers pass, are sanctified good. Anyways we were short and desperate, so I gently tapped her on the shoulder and said, " Jesus washed the feet of those he loved, and served...would you mind washing a few dishes."

You can contact the Rainbow Kitchen @ 250-384-8773 and ask for Walter, or you can send me an e-mail at  ( labmanster at gmail dot com ). Like I say if you can help out for an hour and half on any day, they would love to have you.

Haiti...how you can help

As the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, Haiti has the highest rates of mortality for mothers, infants, and children under 5. Sixty percent of the population lacks access to basic health-care services. Most Haitians survive on less than $2 a day and depend on remittances from relatives in other countries to meet their basic needs -- remittances that have plummeted with remittances that have plummeted with the global recession. Even in the capital of Port-au-Prince, impoverished communities have few resources to cope with the acute impacts of this disaster.

With an estimated 3 million people affected by the quake, Haiti is in urgent need of immediate and ongoing assistance. The U.S. government is sending medical and disaster response teams, along with critically needed supplies. Catholic Relief Services has pledged $5 million for immediate relief efforts. World Vision, Oxfam, Lutheran World Relief, and many of our other partner organizations are preparing to meet the needs of all those displaced and wounded.

To support the work of these organizations and learn more about their programs, please visit:( here )

2010, Faith, Hope...and challenge

Well we've just ticked across the threshold of a new year, and a new decade in which I think of hope. Not just sentimental hope, but hope which requires faith...and which challenges me. It challenges me to live better, to live life that makes a difference. To realize that how I live has an impact, even if I can convince myself that I can't see it. That humanity and creation are woven into such an intimate fabric, that even the smallest tear effects us all. That we, all humanity, are brothers and sisters and need to live as a family. I need to live differently. I need to move from being a Christian, to being a radical disciple of Jesus. I need to move from believing the gospel, to living it fully no matter how difficult it might seem. That the more I live the gospel, the more the Kingdom comes into the world around me.

2010, Hope, Faith and challenge...to live life better.

Think of no one as " them"

Don't confuse your comfort with safety

Talk to strangers

Imagine other cultures through their art, poetry and novels

Read the sacred texts of other world religions

Have an inter-faith conversation

Get involved in inter-faith missional projects

Listen to music you don't understand

Dance to it

Think local and global...Act in both worlds

Notice the workings of power and privilege in your culture

Question consumption

Know where your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up and smell the exploitation

Look for fair trade

Help build economies from the bottom up

Acquire few needs

Learn a second ( or a third ) language

Visit people, places and cultures...not tourist attractions

Watch films with subtitles

Learn people's history

Re-define progress

Know physical and political geography

Look at the moon and stars and imagine someone else, somewhere else, looking at it too

Read the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Understand the global economy in terms of people, land and water

Know where your bank banks

Never believe you have a right to someone else's resourses

Refuse to wear corporate logos: defy corporate domination

Question military/corporate connections

don't confuse money with wealth, or time with money

Have a pen/e-mail pal

Honor indigenous cultures

Judge governance by how well it meets all peoples needs

Be skeptical about what you read

Eat adventurous

Choose curiosity over certainty

Know where your water comes from and where it goes

Pledge allegiance to the earth: question nationalism

Assume that many others share your dreams

Know that no one is silent though many are not heard: Work to change this

Lost...the voice, the cry, the shuffling feet of Climate Refugees

They are not victims of political upheaval or violence, who have access to financial grants, food, tools, shelter, schools and clinics through governments and international organizations. They are environmental refugees. Rising sea levels and catastrophic flooding, expanding deserts and drought...races of people are losing land in which they've lived in all their life. They are a people on the move in search of any piece of life sustaining land.

Lost in the economics of who's going to pay what, and lost in the science of whose at fault, and lost in the technology of can it save us, and lost in the voices babbling of politicians...is the voice, the cry, and the shuffling feet of refugees on the move.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
–William Butler Yeats, from “The Second Coming”

In Copenhagen we've assembled the rich, the powerful, and the brightest. It's my prayer we won't see the best, and worst...and have done nothing.

 

While the disastrous consequences of climate change may seem a ways off for some in the developed world, the International Organization for Migration reported today that it has already driven an estimated 24 million people from their homes--a number, they warned, that could rise to as high a billion people by 2050.

In most cases, these "Climate Refugees" are fleeing rural regions stricken by desertification, water pollution, and famine--problems caused directly or made worse by global warming--and heading into already crowded cities. As these factors become more common with the rise of temperatures in the coming years, the effect of these mass migrations on hard-hit regions will be devastating and eventually become worldwide.

The research sites that the number of people affected by natural disasters has more than doubled in the last 20 years as being a major cause of the migrations. Those impacted most are the poor, who have no means of migrating internationally, which tends to drive internal movement, namely into urban centers--many of which are unequipped to handle the influx.

As time goes on and the situation becomes more dire, these climate refugees may be ending up at the doorstep of the world's wealthier nations, so says the report:

While acknowledging that the impact of climate change on migration is predominantly internal movement, international migration is nevertheless likely to be increasingly important in the future and will necessitate policy and program responses that are currently lacking.

A BILLION people - one in seven people on Earth today - could be forced to leave their homes over the next 50 years as the effects of climate change worsen an already serious migration crisis, a new report from Christian Aid predicts.

The report, based on the latest United Nations population and climate-change figures, says conflict, large-scale development projects and widespread environmental deterioration will combine to make life unsupportable for hundreds of millions of people, mostly in the Sahara belt, South Asia and the Middle East.

---

About 155 million people are known to be displaced now by conflict, natural disaster and development projects. This figure could be augmented by as many as 850 million, as more people are expected to be affected by water shortages, sea level crises, deteriorating pasture land, conflicts and famine, the report says.

I'm baffled that this is not seen as a crisis by the worlds faith communities. All faiths have a profound connection, woven into the very fabric of creation. On the deepest level we are all related, what ever your color, race, or langauge. Like DNA there is a divine strand of something beyond us that connects us. It is a global village in which we are all...neighbors. All God's people...or if you're an atheist we all come from one cosmic bang.

 

I'm rather shocked reading various faith based blogs, and websites for the past week that there has been a great void, a vacuum...lots of church stuff, lots of deep theological rambling and missional musings. But it seems there is no link between the church and creation, no link between theology and creation...and no link between mission and creation.

 

The plight of environmental refugees my friends is a crisis of faith of biblical magnitude.

 

Jeremiah 9:23-24 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.”

 

You can follow the United Nations Climate Change Conference news here on their site.

The research sites that the number of people affected by natural disasters has more than doubled in the last 20 years as being a major cause of the migrations. Those impacted most are the poor, who have no means of migrating internationally, which tends to drive internal movement, namely into urban centers--many of which are unequipped to handle the influx.

As time goes on and the situation becomes more dire, these climate refugees may be ending up at the doorstep of the world's wealthier nations, so says the report:

While acknowledging that the impact of climate change on migration is predominantly internal movement, international migration is nevertheless likely to be increasingly important in the future and will necessitate policy and program responses that are currently lacking.

A BILLION people - one in seven people on Earth today - could be forced to leave their homes over the next 50 years as the effects of climate change worsen an already serious migration crisis, a new report from Christian Aid predicts.

The report, based on the latest United Nations population and climate-change figures, says conflict, large-scale development projects and widespread environmental deterioration will combine to make life unsupportable for hundreds of millions of people, mostly in the Sahara belt, South Asia and the Middle East.

---

About 155 million people are known to be displaced now by conflict, natural disaster and development projects. This figure could be augmented by as many as 850 million, as more people are expected to be affected by water shortages, sea level crises, deteriorating pasture land, conflicts and famine, the report says.

I'm baffled that this is not seen as a crisis by the worlds faith communities. All faiths have a profound connection, woven into the very fabric of creation. On the deepest level we are all related, what ever your color, race, or langauge. Like DNA there is a divine strand of something beyond us that connects us. It is a global village in which we are all...neighbors. All God's people...or if you're an atheist we all come from one cosmic bang.

 

I'm rather shocked reading various faith based blogs, and websites for the past week that there has been a great void, a vacuum...lots of church stuff, lots of deep theological rambling and missional musings. But it seems there is no link between the church and creation, no link between theology and creation...and no link between mission and creation.

 

The plight of environmental refugees my friends is a crisis of faith of biblical magnitude.

 

Jeremiah 9:23-24 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.”

 

You can follow the United Nations Climate Change Conference news here on their site.

(Hope)nhagen...a Genesis Accord, or exit theology

The original aim was to find a successor deal to Kyoto, which expires at the end of 2012. The international community had set a December deadline to make it happen.

However, a rift between developed and developing nations over emissions — who should cut, how much, and who should pay for it — has dampened expectations for what will come out of Copenhagen.

The words of yet to be Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2002 when he was leader of the now-defunct Canadian Alliance party, "Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations." His rationale may have shifted slightly since then, but, Canada is still more of an obstacle to see constructive action in the Global Warming/ Climate Change Crisis. And with the down turn in the economy globally, the huge loss of jobs in the global work force, the continual shifting sands in the Stock Markets and national debts that are entering the realm of infinite...the reality to do something about Global Warming effects the climate of many many factors. Global warming is an insidious self inflicted disease that not only destroys life, but also spreads injustice especially in the poor marginalized spaces on the planet.

It is surely not a socialist scheme, I would like to coin the term a " Genesis Accord ". Above any thing it is about " All " creation, every speck...every race and language of people; beyond borders and boundaries; all land, all waters, all the landscape, the air in which we all breathe communally with each other. Without a an accord in which all inhabitants of creation take seriously as individuals and as countries...we can without a doubt say creation is coming to an end. It's Over!

Sadly a lot of the worlds faiths are not engaging their communities in the importance of this crisis. There are pockets of conversation and action, but not what you would expect. Especially when all faiths theologically are woven into the very fabric of creation.

Since the last reformation  " Christianity's theology of redemption and salvation have been pretty myoptic in terms of vision...saving the individual soul. One of the biggest challenges for the emerging/ missional church will be to develope a theology that is cosmic where redemption is about " ALL " of creation, and how that will play out interms of the church's missiology.

We need to re-read the creation story of Genesis...waking up to the reality that we're not outside of it, innocent by-standers...we're actaully in the midst of it.

26-28 God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them
      reflecting our nature
   So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
      the birds in the air, the cattle,
   And, yes, Earth itself,
      and every animal that moves on the face of Earth."
   God created human beings;
      he created them godlike,
   Reflecting God's nature.
      He created them male and female.
   God blessed them:
      "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
   Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
      for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth."

29-30 Then God said, "I've given you
      every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
   And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
      given them to you for food.
   To all animals and all birds,
      everything that moves and breathes,
   I give whatever grows out of the ground for food."
      And there it was.

31 God looked over everything he had made;
      it was so good, so very good!
   It was evening, it was morning—

The above from Eugene Peterson's Message in Genesis chapter one. Another piece of scripture that I have often sited for a more cosmic approach to redemption is Colossians 1:15-18

15-18We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

18-20He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross .

Emphasis mine of course, but in the context of above, people of faith can not ignore any part of creation. Lay hold of this thought...if Christ spoke all creation into existence, is in and holds it all together...on that cross it wasn't just your redemption and salvation that hung in balance...it was " all " of creation. So...the resurrection, the new creation...has to be about redeeming " all " of creation. This is the Missio Dei for people of faith.

I'm not a theologian...more of a dreamer, that prays that the same Spirit that filled Jesus would fill me with the imagination of Christ. The thought that Jesus spoke " absolutely everything " into existence, seen and unseen...and that when the Father saw it, he said it was good...very good. And, that even at this moment...He is in, and of all things...and holds it all together.

If I make " the theology of redemption " about " All " of creation, instead of just you and me...and people...am I diluting, watering down what the cross is about. And if the " new creation " in to which Jesus calls as as partners, to co-create to build the new creation " the Kingdom "...is about everything. Everything...from people, to the environment, to social justice, global equality, poverty, politics, wealth, ...what does that mean for the Missio Dei of the church, for your faith community and for you as an individual. Could it be our view of redemption is so incredibly shallow...compared to the imagination of Christ. The challenge for the missional/emerging church will be to write and live a theology...that captures the imagination of the Kingdom Jesus wants to live.

Despite protests to the contrary, modern Christianity has become willy-nilly religion of the state and economic status quo. Because it has been so exclusively dedicated to incanting anemic souls into heaven, it has been made the tool of much earthly villainy. It has, for most part, stood silently by while a predatory economy has ravaged the world, destroyed its natural beauty and health, divided and plundered its human communities and households. It has flown the flags and chanted the slogans of the empire. It has assumed with the economists that the " economic forces " automatically work for the good and assumed with the industrialists and the militarists that technology determines history. It has assumed with almost everybody that " progress " is good...It has admired Caesar and comforted him in his depredations and faults. But in its de facto alliance with Caesar, Christianity connives directly in the murder of Creation.

Wendall Berry: Christianity and the Survival of Creation

We can do nothing, justified by our faith alone and wait for the mass exit at the bus stop to Eternity...or we can act as partners, as brothers and sisters, as all God's children and redeem, restore creation...building a new creation.

Update from Mike Todd over @ Waving or Drowning...

Mike has a video posted of activist, writer and author Naomi Klein in a hard hitting, sobering and brutally honest video around the conversations, and dealings of striking an accord with substance. She mentions the Convergence of Movements, Mike asks, as I have, " Where is the Jesus Movement ", or broader, " Where is the voice and presence of faiths from around the globe."

Despite protests to the contrary, modern Christianity has become willy-nilly religion of the state and economic status quo. Because it has been so exclusively dedicated to incanting anemic souls into heaven, it has been made the tool of much earthly villainy. It has, for most part, stood silently by while a predatory economy has ravaged the world, destroyed its natural beauty and health, divided and plundered its human communities and households. It has flown the flags and chanted the slogans of the empire. It has assumed with the economists that the " economic forces " automatically work for the good and assumed with the industrialists and the militarists that technology determines history. It has assumed with almost everybody that " progress " is good...It has admired Caesar and comforted him in his depredations and faults. But in its de facto alliance with Caesar, Christianity connives directly in the murder of Creation.

Wendall Berry: Christianity and the Survival of Creation

We can do nothing, justified by our faith alone and wait for the mass exit at the bus stop to Eternity...or we can act as partners, as brothers and sisters, as all God's children and redeem, restore creation...building a new creation.

Update from Mike Todd over @ Waving or Drowning...

Mike has a video posted of activist, writer and author Naomi Klein in a hard hitting, sobering and brutally honest video around the conversations, and dealings of striking an accord with substance. She mentions the Convergence of Movements, Mike asks, as I have, " Where is the Jesus Movement ", or broader, " Where is the voice and presence of faiths from around the globe."