The Tale of Two Protest Requests: Reviewing 2020

The Tale of Two Protest Requests: 

Reviewing 2020

Did you ask or expect your pastor to protest something during 2020? 

I am an ordained pastor. In my tradition (white, evangelical, reformed) the advice has historically been that pastors do not get involved politically. We are encouraged to not preach or speak out in political ways. The people I grew up around did not protest. The world I was raised and trained in limited its politics to picking up a Christian Coalition voting guide off the literature table on the way out of the service. But I have noticed something interesting this year, members of that community calling for protest and resistance.

Recently on Facebook I stumbled across a comment on a thread where the writer self-disclosed that she was on her third church this year because she was sick of weak pastors who won't stand up to the government over mask-mandates and worship service restrictions. Her comments echoed others (though with much more church hopping/shopping) I've heard throughout the year calling for Christians to stand up and resist - or even defy - government advice on masks and/or in-person worship. I know from talking to colleagues that these sentiments have translated into requests (even pressure and threats in some cases) that pastors resist, defy or protest - even in the tradition I am a part of that tends to be anti-political in its stance.

Over the summer I was invited to join a group of pastors in my city who are seeking reconciliation, in part in response to the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd. That group, made up of African-American and White pastors, discussed the issue first separately and then together. In those conversations it became clear that the expectations for involvement in the issue of race/racism differed greatly in the two communities. What also became clear is that in the white churches there was not much (if any) expectation for pastors to protest on this issue.

Each winter as a year draws to a close we spend time reflecting on the past year. It is natural for humans to do this at the end of anything. 2020, unprecedentedly odd year, may have many not wanting to reflect, choosing rather to charge into 2021 with hope, however naive it might be. But I invite you to reflect on 2020 using the question I opened this blog with: Did you ask or expect your pastor to protest something during 2020?

If the answer is no, I invite you consider what it is about protesting that seems to not be part of the work of a pastor?  Further, what issue would be so important that you would expect your spiritual leader to, well, lead?

If the answer is yes, what did you expect or ask them to protest?

Did you want them to stand up for your right to not wear a mask?
Did you expect your religious leader to fight for your understanding of religious freedom?
Did you put pressure on your pastor to resist government overreach so you could go to church?

Did you ask your pastor to stand against the evil of racism?
Did you expect your spiritual leader to speak out against the freedoms (and lives) taken from others because of their skin color?
Did you put pressure on your pastor to lead in making sure that all people - created in the image of God - are being treated fairly?

During 2020 I suspect many folks in the spiritual tradition I am from protested for the first time. I also suspect that many expected the same from their spiritual leaders, also for the first time. First times, like the end of things, call us to reflect. If this year was your first protest, or call for a protest, what did you protest? What did you call for? Were you concerned about your own comfort, rights, and freedoms or the comfort, rights and freedom of others?

Jesus once said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13). As 2020 closes, my challenge is this, if the thing that caused you to cry out in protest for the first time was the protection of your rights, it might not be Jesus you are following/worshipping. If the thing you were pressuring your pastor to take a stand for was your comfort, rights and freedoms, and not the right for all people created in the image of God to experience the same comforts, rights, and freedoms, the thing you call "good news" may in fact be anything but.


Joel K


Photo Credits:

https://pixabay.com/photos/blm-black-lives-matter-protest-5267765/

Anti-mask protesters outside the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on July 18, 2020. (Jeff Dean/AFP via Getty Images) as it appeared at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/29/both-republicans-and-democrats-cite-masks-as-a-negative-effect-of-covid-19-but-for-very-different-reasons/

 The Spirituality of Bird Feeders   

I haven't had a bird feeder in the yard for over a decade. I never put one up when I moved into my current neighborhood since they are only allowed during the winter.(1) I guess it seemed like too much of a hassle to put it up and take it down annually. A couple of weeks ago, I decided I'd like a bird feeder again.

Not having a feeder for so long was a mistake.

Everyday I wait to see the birds arrive. I find simple pleasure in watching them dive in to the feeder, perch, eat and flutter away. I find the uncomplicated practice of watching the birds calming, centering, and even a bit spiritual.

I am not alone. When I posted on Facebook about the simple pleasure of the birds there were a number of comments. One called the birds entertaining, and another referred to them as support animals. A friend confessed, "Got me through this entire year. Could watch all day" a statement underscored by the fact that the year he is is talking about is 2020 - a long hard year. It seems the birds a have some therapeutic or spiritual power.

The spiritual nature of birds should not have surprised me. The tradition I am a part of has birds in key stories. Noah learns the flood is over from a bird. During 40 years in the wilderness, God's people are sustained by quail. Elijah is kept alive during a long drought, in part, by ravens that feed him. Poets and prophets alike use images of birds all through the Old Testament. Jesus himself has a dove descend on him at this baptism and also uses birds to teach when he tells his listeners to "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."

Here in Alaska the traditional stories also give a nod to the birds. In one understanding the raven creates the world. (2)

On a recent morning I stood looking out the window, cup of tea in hand, and my daughter commented to me "You have become Nana." It is true that in this area I have become my mother. My mother, in turn, has become her parents since they too fed the birds and enjoyed their company. It seems that this simple, spiritual ritual of offering a feast to the fowl is a family tradition.

So as 2020 slowly creeps to a close:

May we all find a simple daily ritual, like watching the birds, to center us. 

If you have a feeder, while you sustain the birds, may the birds sustain you as they did Elijah.

May the avian arrivers in all of our worlds remind us not to worry, just as they did Jesus' listeners. 

May we all stop, and enjoy the simple pleasure of the birds.

Joel K


Footnotes:

(1) This policy is in place to prevent attracting bears.

(2) Katharine Berry Johnson, Myths and Legends of Alaska (Chicago: AC McClurg & co., 1911), 17-32.

Jack White Says Everything on SNL

I missed it on the first pass. 

 

I was excited to see Jack White on Saturday Night Live last night.  However, when he started his first song, I just couldn’t place it.  It sounded great, but I didn’t know what song he was performing.  It turns out he was weaving three songs together.  While I had no idea what he was doing, White knew exactly what he was doing.

 

The first strand to be woven in was "Don't Hurt Yourself," a collaboration he did with Beyoncé for her album Lemonade.  White did a sight re-write, and opened the medley by singing,

 

            When you hurt me, your hurtin’ yourself

            When you lie to me, your lyin’ to yourself

           

            When you hurt me, your hurtin’ yourself

            When you love to me, your love to yourself.

 

The next two yarns woven in to the tapestry came together alternating between the "Ball and Biscuit" from his White Stripes days, and an old blues tune, “Jesus is Coming Soon,” made famous by Blind Willie Johnson.  Like a good folk singer White takes Johnson’s tune about the 1918 epidemic and brings it up to date:

 

        The nobles said to the people,

        You better close your public schools

        And until death passes ya by

        you better close all your churches too

 

        I done told ya,

        they done ya,

        God is comin' soon

 

        I done told ya,

        they done ya,

        The Lord is comin' soon

 

        Tell all the people to get up and get out

        (I’ll go out in the streets where) I can find a soap box where I can shout it

        To you

 

And

 

        The Great disease was mighty,

        And people were sick everywhere (2X)

        It was an epidemic, and it traveled through the air

 

Those lines were mixed in with the White Stripes lines,

 

        It's quite possible that I'm your third man, girl
        But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son

 

And

 

        Let's have a ball and a biscuit, sugar
        And take our sweet little time about it

 

It is hard to remove the performance from its context.  White was performing on two-day’s notice after the originally scheduled artist for the episode, Morgan Waller, was dismissed for not following COVID protocols, just a week after President Trump spent the weekend in the hospital with COVID-19.  Into this situation White chose to sing a song about how one persons actions affect those around them; brought a folk song about an epidemic 102 years ago up-to-date; and conjured up some possible responses to both.

 

In a week where both sides of the Vice Presidential debate accused the other of lying, officials obfuscated about the President’s health and the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in the White House, and American’s are hurting and more divided than ever, the first words out of the mouth of Jack White were “When you hurt me, your hurtin’ yourself - When you lie to me, your lyin’ to yourself.”  Like a low-fi garage rock Mother Teresa, White’s lyrics reminded us that we are all connected and belong to each other. (1)  In this moment, as we villainize those on the opposite side of the political divide and see our daily relationships strained by the binary vitriol of a two-party system gone off the rails, Jack white was calling us to consider how are actions are affecting those around us.

 

After that reminder White notifies us that he’s the seventh son.  In the blues tradition the seventh son possesses special powers.  In this case White seems to be setting himself up as the one who is going to speak, and speak he does.  White climbs on his soap box and invoks the words of an old folk tune, and in doing so settles us into the historical context of the present moment.  Blind Willie Johnson was singing about the Spanish Flu and by connecting us to the history we are reminded that we’ve been here before.  In this way White offers a precious bit of perspective. 

 

But that is not the only perspective switch.  White takes it a step further.  Rather than being focused on what is closed - schools and churches – we are reminded that “God is comin' soon.”  Once again the seventh son is moving our focus.  This time we are not stepping back and looking at our place in history, but rather moving our eyes from the temporal to the eternal.  We are being asked to consider what really matters.

 

The final song offers us a chance to consider how we might respond to the moment we are in.  The lyric “Let's have a ball and a biscuit, sugar - And take our sweet little time about it” is open to interpretation.  One can see the lines as about cocaine (ball) and amphetamines / ecstasy (biscuit).  This is one way to respond to the COVID restrictions and political turmoil.  One could choose to numb the pain away. 

 

Another way to read the lyric is that a ball and a biscuit are symbolic of a performance transaction.  A dog chases a ball and is rewarded with a biscuit.  In this case the response might be to stop being played.  Are we the pawns of the politicians who promise us a biscuit if we just deliver, not a ball, but our vote?  Are we being manipulated on our social media platforms by being promised social interaction and information (as long as we give our data) just to end up being less informed and more divided? 

 

A third response is to see this line as about intimacy and connection.  Ball can be slang for sexual intercourse and biscuit could mean a meal.  What if White is again moving our perspective, from the great out there to the ones around us with whom we share our lives and meals?  What if we took “our sweet little time about it” with the people that mean the most to us?  What if we moved our eyes from politics and COVID to the loved ones we share our days with?   Maybe Jack White is asking us to consider these questions.  He is taking us full circle and asking us to consider how our lives and loves are interconnected -  “When you love to me, your love to yourself.”

 

That was just the first time Jack White took the stage Saturday night.  White’s second performance (with a nod to Eddie Van Halen) "Lazaretto" found him singing “When I say nothing, I say everything.”  Saying nothing was not Jack White’s problem on SNL.  He had a lot to say, and we’d be wise to take heed to all of it.

 

Joel K

 

 

Watch Jack White’s performance on SNL here:  https://www.npr.org/2020/10/11/922788708/jack-white-gives-a-thrilling-performance-on-snl-on-2-days-notice

 

 

Footnotes:

https://www.scu.edu/mcae/architects-of-peace/Teresa/essay.html

No Lives Matter

No Lives Matter

(Unless They Are White)

The assertion that "Black Lives Matter" by protestors has been responded to by some with the statement "All Lives Matter." While the statement "All Lives Matter" should be held by all as true (in particular anyone that chooses to wear the label "Pro-Life"), it is a current and historical reality that some lives do not matter as much as the lives of others. This reality is the lingering legacy of Colonialism. Colonialism was founded on the premise that No Lives Matter (unless you are white).


I recently listened to a podcast in which the guests were talking about the founding date of the United States. This may not seem like much of a show topic to many since the school system in the US pounds a founding date of 1776 into every pupils brain. The panelists on the podcast each offered alternative founding dates for the US. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the editor responsible for the New York Times 1619 project, put forth that date - the arrival of the first slave ship in what is the United States as the founding date. Historian Peter Linebaugh posited the date of 1792 which marks the establishment of an early form of global capitalism. Phillip Deloria stressed interactions between indigenous people in the Americas and Europeans in the 1600's, as well as Columbus' second voyage when he returned with human cargo to Europe for the purposes of slave trade, and the date of 1788 when Native Americans appeared in the constitution described as savages. Each of these dates is important in the development of the United States and in the creation of the moment we are in, but it is the "No Lives Matter" movement that makes it all those dates possible.


In the middle of the 1400's, as Europeans began to move around the globe, the Pope writes a number of bulls (a public statement or decree). These official statements of the Pope - who, at the time, clearly saw himself as the religious authority for the entire globe - creates the "No Lives Matter" movement. In those bulls (Romanus Pontifex & Dum Diversas in 1452 and Inter Cetera in 1493) the Pope grants permission for Europeans to "take possession” of any lands “discovered” that were “not under the dominion of any Christian rulers” (Newcomb 1992:18-20). Furthermore, he creates the "No Lives Matter" movement by encouraging those same explorers to:

"[I]nvade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ wheresoever placed, and the kingdoms, dukedoms, principalities, dominions, possessions, and all movable and immovable goods whatsoever held and possessed by them and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery. (Indigenous Values Initiative 2018)"

  
Or in other words, "No Lives Matter" (unless you are European).

Mark Charles says of these Papal Bulls that they are,

"[The] Church in Europe telling the nations of Europe that wherever they go, whatever lands they find that are not ruled by Christian rulers, those people are less than human and the land is theirs for the taking. It is this doctrine that allowed European nations to colonize the continent of Africa and enslave the African people. It is also this Doctrine of Discovery that allowed Christopher Columbus, who was lost at sea, to land in a “new world” already inhabited by millions and claim to have “discovered” it. Common sense tells us you cannot discover lands that are already inhabited. (2016:149)" 

The roots of the "Black Lives Matter" movement lie in the historical reality that was created by the "No Lives Matter" movement that began with the Pope in the 1400's. The legacy of deciding that the only lives that matter are those of white Europeans is what we are seeing today in the protests in the streets. To say "All Lives Matter" in response to "Black Lives Matter" is to be ignorant, or to deny, the history leading up to this point that is built on a pervasive white supremacy - the belief that No Lives Matter (Unless They Are White).

Joel K


Works Cited:

Charles, M., 2016, ‘The doctrine of discovery, war, and the myth of America’, Leaven 24(3), 147-154.

Indigenous Values Initiative, 2018, Dum diversas, viewed 14 February 2019, from https://doctrineofdiscovery.org/dum-diversas/.

Newcomb, S., 1992, ‘Five hundred years of injustice’, Indigenous Law Institute, n.d., viewed 30 January 2019, from http://ili.nativeweb.org/sdrm_art.html.

Photo Credit:
https://sea.mashable.com/social-good/11261/12-free-and-printable-black-lives-matter-posters-from-black-artists

The Theology of Pandemic #8: Church Is Not Essential.

The Theology of Pandemic #8:
Church Is Not Essential 

Last week the President declared that churches are essential and that he would override Governors that kept them closed due to Covid-19 and order them open.(1)  With all due respect, I firmly disagree. Church is not essential.

Those that know me might be shocked by this statement. I pastor a church (2). My father is a pastor. I've gone to church my entire life. But I disagree with the president. Church is not essential.

My first objection is that President Trump seems to be of the understanding that churches stopped meeting during the pandemic and thus must be labeled as essential (like a business) and ordered to reopen.  This perspective is rooted in the belief that many hold (not just the Commander and Chief) that church is a gathering of people in a building on Sunday.  This understanding, rooted in physical space and time, could not be further from the truth. The church has never been primarily about a material structure or a certain type of meeting at a specific time. The church is much larger than that. The Apostles' Creed reads, in part, "I believe...in the Holy Catholic Church." My denomination (the Christian Reformed Church) places an asterisk behind the word Catholic and adds a foot note: "that is, the true Christian church of all times and all places." In this sense the church has not, and never will stop meeting because it is beyond time and space made up of all those who are seeking (or ever have) to follow the way of Jesus.  The church, at its core, is the living embodiment of all those seeking to live in the way of Jesus, and "churches" are the local expressions of that reality which goes far beyond the places they meet or the times they convene.

Second, the reality is that the church has not stopped meeting during Covid-19. Churches have shown an abundance of creativity in continuing to gather on Sunday's. Some have shifted to Zoom, or FB Live, other drive-in services and still others record services for distribution in other ways. Churches have done virtual communion or sacraments through windows. I heard of a pastor going to members houses one by one armed only with a chair so she could sit on the porch and talk to, and be with, each one. Priests have administered holy water with squirt guns (ok that one is a little out there).  Online small groups, classes, youth groups and more, have creatively moved into cyberspace, using what they have to do what they can to still be the church. Churches have housed the homeless, fed the poor, and continued the needed social services they provide.  The church has not stopped caring for its neighbors, seeking justice for the oppressed, praying, reading the Bible, listening to the Holy Spirit or any the other ways true followers of Jesus seek to follow his way. The churches don't need to be opened, because they never closed, and cannot ever close since the church is the people of God living the way of Jesus.

The reason that the church has been able to continue is the simple fact that time and place are not as important as presence and community. For example, all through the farewell discourse (John 14-17) with his disciples Jesus keeps telling them he is going away, but he doesn't leave them a building. He doesn't comfort them with a meeting time, a liturgy, or a song.  No Jesus promises a new presence - the Holy Spirit.  He keeps telling the disciples that he is in his father, and his father is in him, and he is in his followers.  The whole idea of indwelling is presence - God's presence among people and an invitation to join into the presence of the Trinity. This is where community comes in. At the the center of the universe is a loving relationship, the relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who are dancing around love. Humans are invited into that dance, that presence, that community.  This joining into the dance of God is what a church is.  No virus can interrupt this dance!

Readers that know the Biblical text well might be objecting, "but it says in Hebrews 10:25, do 'not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.'" I think this gets back to what type of meeting we are talking about.  Believers should be in community with one another as the writer of Hebrews says, but I don't believe weekly church services are what the writer had in mind. Contemporary worship services are very music heavy, despite (if I remember correctly) the fact the gospels only record one instance of Jesus singing (Mark 14:26). While the Old Testament is loaded with songs and references to music and singing, the New Testament barely mentions it and spends a great deal of time encouraging follower of Jesus to pray.  My experience in the church today (particularly those with a contemporary style) is that prayer is often done to fill space or transition from one element to another in an effort to reduce the liturgy to six songs and a sermon. So maybe when we look at Hebrews 10:25, it would be good for us to back up and remember that the purpose for meeting in community as believers is not what we often think of as church - singing and sermons - but rather to "spur one another on toward love and good deeds." What is essential is not the weekly meeting (regardless of format), but the community encouraging each other to live in the way of Jesus.

My final argument that church is not essential is that there is no church in heavenly city at the end of time. In the vision of a restored world found in Revelation 21 we read, "I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" (v.22). Henry Drummond titled his 1893 sermon on this passage, "The City Without a Church."  I agree with Drummond that in God's perfect city there is no church. That means that the church is not essential. Why, or how, can there be no church in the coming city of God? Revelation tells us it is because God is dwelling perfectly with his people. It seems we are back to those two essential things, community and presence. Maybe they are more than essential. Maybe the community of those seeking to follow the way of Jesus and experiencing the presence of God - the loving relationship/dance of the Trinity to which they have been invited - is elemental, something beyond essential.

Mr. President the weekly opening of the doors of a building is not essential.

President Trump the churches have not been, and cannot ever be, closed. 

God is dwelling with his people beyond all time and space, beyond buildings, and formats, and liturgies. Wherever there are true believers seeking to live the way of Jesus; anywhere a community is encouraging each other toward love and good works; anyplace the presence of God is being experienced and lived into, that is the church. The church has never been, and can never be, about a building, or a certain time, or a way of meeting, it is about presence and community.


Joel K

D.V.

Footnotes:

(1) Aside from the fact that the word essential has been overused and watered down in this pandemic, this assertion of the President raises all kinds of questions around states rights, separation of church and State (some outlets said the President was "ordering" churches to open), and how church can be seen as essential by someone that does not attend, etc.


(2) In the interest of full disclosure I must state that my congregation has met face to face in recent weeks. We have done this outdoors in a park, wearing masks, and spaced 6-10 feet apart. We are also have followed the State guidelines for group meeting size. We are a small congregation (30-40 on a Sunday) and are in a State that has had a rather low number of cases of Covid-19.

Works Cited:

Drummond, H., 2008, The city without a church, Wilder Publications, Radford.

The Theology of Pandemic #7: The DNA of the City

The Theology of Pandemic #7:  

The DNA of the City

A recent article in The Guardian (Shenker 2020) proposes that the urban world could be significantly different in the wake of Covid-19. That article notes the tension between densification, which is needed to create a more sustainable and energy efficient city, with the disaggregation needed to fight a pandemic. The article further notes migration. On one hand the "declining cost of distance" (Harris in Shenker 2020) in which work at home and work from a distance capability is allowing some to move out of the city to smaller communities, while in other places around the globe rural dwellers are becoming urban residents in large numbers. Other factors considered are an "intensification of digital infrastructure" (Shenker 2020) and an increase in authoritarianism. Elsewhere Daneshpour (2020) has called for a new kind of urban planning in the wake of this pandemic.

While cities will no doubt be affected long term by Covid-19 perhaps even changing the ways urban places are planned and organized, it is something in the DNA of cities themselves that has me wondering. Rocke and Van Dyke (2017:49) note that “Cities are transformed at the same level they are created. They are transformed relationally.” If we sit with that for just a moment one of the implications is that cities are an outgrowth of the human need to be together. Cities are relational in nature because we are relational creatures. Early in Genesis it is noted that it is not good for Adam to be alone, he needs another human (Gen. 2:18). Like Adam, we need other people.

If cities are relational then in this pandemic moment cities themselves could be seen as breaking down. If buried in the DNA of the urban world is the desire to be together the act of social isolation itself wars against that by placing all of us in isolation from one another. If cities are formed relationally, when we cannot relate does the city begin to break down?

It has long been noted that the density of cities does not always equal relational interactions. We can easily walk past the person experiencing homelessness on the street day after day and never know their name. We ride transit daily with people we do not know. We see people everywhere in a typical urban environment, but often do not have personal connection to more than a few. In the movie Crash Don Cheadle's character, Graham, expresses an extreme version of this isolation:

"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

What if in this pandemic moment the relationality of the city is changing too? What if one of the changes that Covid-19 is bringing to the urban environment is a change in the way we interact in the city?

In that same article in The Guardian the author expresses that maybe the social isolation is not tearing the city apart, but bringing us closer together:

"On the ground, however, the story of coronavirus in many global cities has so far been very different. After decades of increasing atomisation, particularly among younger urban residents for whom the impossible cost of housing has made life both precarious and transient, the sudden proliferation of mutual aid groups – designed to provide community support for the most vulnerable during isolation – has brought neighbours together across age groups and demographic divides. Social distancing has, ironically, drawn some of us closer than ever before" (Shenker 2020).

Could it be that the DNA of the city - the relational nature of humans - is not sickened by Covid-19 but rather strengthened by it? Could the fact that we are all in this together - by the simple fact that we are all human, all God's children - be stronger than the social isolation? Could it be that the universality of this pandemic pushes us out of our isolation to a place where we learn the names and stories of those around us?  Can the concern over health bring us to a place where we have concern for our neighbors, and their wellbeing, even in times when we are not threatened by a common enemy?  Can the city be transformed relationally into something new in the wake of this Coronavirus?

Joel K

D.V.

Works Cited:

Daneshpour, Z.A., 2020. Out of the coronavirus crisis, a new kind of urban planning must be born. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zohreh_Daneshpour/publication/340491887_Out_of_the_coronavirus_crisis_a_new_kind_of_urban_planning_must_be_born_-_Post_pandemic_urban_and_regional_planning_and_the_lessons_that_can_be_learned_from_Coronavirus_pandemic_2020/links/5e8cbfe94585150839c779a0/Out-of-the-coronavirus-crisis-a-new-kind-of-urban-planning-must-be-born-Post-pandemic-urban-and-regional-planning-and-the-lessons-that-can-be-learned-from-Coronavirus-pandemic-2020.pdf

Rocke, K. & Van Dyke, J., 2017, Incarnational training framework: A training guide for
developing leaders engaged in city transformation, 2nd edn., Street Psalms Press, Tacoma.


Shenker, J., 2020, 'Cities after coronavirus: how Covid-19 could radically alter urban life.' 26 March, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/life-after-coronavirus-pandemic-change-world

It Comes at Night (A poem)

It Comes at Night (4.3.2020)

During the day I’m fine.

The numbers come out each eve.

Nighttime is the worst of every timeline.

I’d go, but no one can leave.

Another 10 or 20 Alaskans diagnosed.

Numbers added to the news where the national state is exposed.

I can feel it rising inside.

The anxious tightening of my chest.

My racing mind on a wild ride.

A bore tide wave that won’t crest.

The creeping onslaught of low level panic.

The dread that lays dormant while I work now becomes manic.

How long till it comes for someone I know?

My friends? My Family? Me?

These are the questions death doth bestow.

I pray in an attempt to be free.

But the not knowing just wont let me rest.

Living day-to-day, day-after-day, is hard, but best.

We are instructed to stay if not essential.

We are told to ‘bend the curve.’

But my thoughts leave on journeys tangential,

careening around swerve upon swerve.

Is this what it felt like back in 1918,

wondering when a normal life could reconvene?


- Joel K

D.V.

The Theology of Pandemic #6 (Palm Sunday Edition) - Brooding over Chaos

The Theology of Pandemic #6  (Palm Sunday Edition)
Weeping, Gathering and Brooding

Jesus does something on the way into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday that we tend to ignore - he weeps. In Luke's account of the triumphal entry as Jesus goes down the Mount of Olives and approaches the city he sees it an begins to cry. Later in the week, as Jesus teaches in the Temple courts he again expresses his love for Jerusalem. There he says:

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." (Matt. 23:37-39)

In that moment Jesus is connecting his coming return in the future to the entry he had made into Jerusalem just days before.  Remember people cry out to him as he rides the colt across the coats "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."  

The interesting thing here is the image of a hen gathering her chicks. This is a very maternal image that follows the statement that the city always mistreats and murders its prophets (see also Lk. 6:20-23; 11:45-51; 13:34-35; Acts 7:51-53; I Thes. 2:14-15). Jesus is expressing the desire of God to gather his children to him/herself. There is in the statement a foreshadowing of the statement coming later in the week, "“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).  In both cases there is a murderous offense that is being responded to, not with retaliation, but with tenderness and love.  Revenge is not the first thought of Jesus on the way into the city and to execution (or after His resurrection for that matter), but rather tears and the nurturing image of gathering and forgiving.

This hen-like image is also seen in the very opening words of the Bible. In Genesis 1:1-2 we read:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

The word that is translated into English as "hovering" is the word in Hebrew for brood. Brooding is what a hen does with her eggs. Brooding is the act of protecting, incubating, and bringing new life into existence.  What is interesting is that the Spirit is brooding over not eggs, but the waters.  The images in these opening verses is one of chaos.  Water in the Old Testament, in particular moving water, was seen as chaotic.  So this verse can be understood to mean that the Spirit of God is brooding over chaos.

What does all of this have to do with the pandemic period we are processing through?  I believe three things speak to us on this Palm Sunday. 

First, Jesus was not moved to tears by humanity only that one time he stopped and looked at Jerusalem on the way into the city seated on a colt.  I suspect that often Jesus looks out at the part of creation that was made in God's image and cries.  I believe that today, on this Palm Sunday, thousands of years later Jesus is weeping again.  He is weeping for those who have died from Covid-19.  He is weeping for those who have suffered in any way from this Corona Virus.  He is weeping over the inequality that is exposed by the stay-at-home orders.  He is weeping for all of humanity in this moment.

Second, I believe it is still Jesus' desire to gather us under his wings.  Though we may not physically stone prophets, we all, in one way or another, reject the arrival of God's love in our lives.  Yet, Jesus comes to us with open arms and embraces us.  I am confident that in this uncomfortable time Jesus is inviting you to find comfort in His arms.  I am certain, in the midst of all this uncertainty, that the maternal instinct of God has never been higher.  In this moment when we all feel vulnerable we have a mother hen of a God that whats to protect us.

Third, I don't think the Spirit ever stopped hovering over chaos.  While the dark, formless, chaotic waters in Genesis 1 were separated and the entire world created this resulted in only a temporary peace.  Chaos has reigned throughout human history and the Spirit has never stopped brooding over it.  The Spirit still seeks to protect, incubate, and bring new life into existence.  In this pandemic moment of chaos the Spirit is still brooding.  The Spirit is resting over the unrest.  The Spirit is moving over our orders to move as little as possible.  The Spirit is nurturing into existence the creation, the new thing, that is coming.

So this Palm Sunday, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  Blessed is the one who comes weeping, and gathering, and brooding on our behalf.

Joel K

D.V.

The Theology of Pandemic #5 - Scarcity and Abundance in the time of Covid-19

The Theology of Pandemic #5

Scarcity and Abundance in the time of Covid-19

In my previous post I wrote about the apocalyptic moment we are in, specifically what the Covid-19 pandemic is revealing. One specific thing this global pandemic is bringing to light is a belief in scarcity.

Scarcity has shown up in this crisis in the North American context in the crowds of people that rushed to the stores and over bought basic supplies. The fact that toilet paper was hoarded is a glowing example of my cultures belief that there is not enough. This greed, often exercised by those with the resources to "stock up," came at the expense of those who did not have the ready income to stockpile much less buy enough food for staying weeks at home.

Bene Brown in her book Daring Greatly writes,

"Scarcity is the “never enough” problem [...] Scarcity functions in a culture where everyone is hyper aware of lack. Everything from safety and love to money and resources feels restricted or lacking. We spend inordinate amounts of time calculating how much we have, want and don’t have, and how much everyone else has, needs, and wants" (2015:26).

Walter Brueggemann agrees,
"We who are now the richest nation are today's main coveters. We never feel that we have enough; we have to have more and more, and this insatiable desire destroys us." (1999:344)

In our culture we are called "consumers" because we are defined by what we have and what we buy or own. Advertisers manipulate us to buy based on the fear that we “have not.”

While the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed how much we believe in the the myth of scarcity (Brueggemann 1999), scarcity is not the normal condition of God's economy. God's economy is one of abundance.

Scripture paints a picture of abundance. In Genesis chapters one and two abundance and goodness spill off every page. In the final pages of the Bible the eternal city has enough for everyone (Revelation 21 & 22). In between the beginning and the end we see story after story of God telling his people that in God's economy there is enough and that God is enough. One example is the Manna story in Exodus 16. Commentating on that story Brueggemann (1999) notes three things:

"First, everybody had enough. But because Israel had learned to believe in scarcity in Egypt, people started to hoard the bread. When they tried to bank it, to invest it, it turned sour and rotted, because you cannot store up God's generosity. Finally, Moses said, "You know what we ought to do? We ought to do what God did in Genesis 1. We ought to have a Sabbath." Sabbath means that there's enough bread, that we don't have to hustle every day of our lives. There's no record that Pharaoh ever took a day off. People who think their lives consist of struggling to get more and more can never slow down because they won't ever have enough" (1999:344). 

Let me be clear, there are real needs in this pandemic moment. For some rent has gone unpaid. We are experiencing record amounts of unemployment. Hospital supplies running short. There is real scarcity taking place, and that is not even counting they long term effects to the local, national and global economy.  However, Brueggemann asks an important question, what if we “came to the realization that the real issue confronting us is whether the news of God’s abundance can be trusted in the face of the story of scarcity?” (1999:345). 

An ancient middle eastern teacher once stood on a mountainside and told his followers,

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matthew 6:31-34 -ESV).

Brueggeman's question, and Jesus' teaching, are key in the midst of the hoarding and scarcity we are experiencing.  Covid-19 has exposed that many of us believe there is not enough, and others are experiencing lack.  That revelation could lead to an increased grabbing for ourselves, or drive us to generosity toward others.  But which will it be?

Each time we choose to help our neighbor secure what they need in the face of the impulse to take more for ourselves we are living into the liturgy of abundance that is God's economy.  I pray as our in-person, in-church liturgies go silent that the liturgy of abundance is incarnated (made real in the flesh) in our neighborhoods, communities and world.

Joel K

D.V.

Works Cited:
Brown, B., 2015, Daring greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we
live, love, parent, and lead. Avery, New York.

Brueggemann, W., 1999, ‘The liturgy of abundance, the myth of scarcity’, Christian Century
116 (10), 342-34

The Theology of Pandemic #4 - Apocalypse

The Theology of Pandemic #4

Apocalypse

I watched a lot of Scooby-Doo after school when I was a kid. There was always a moment toward the end of each episode where the mystery was solved and the villain revealed. More often than not in those reveal scenes a mask was pulled off the head of the bad guy. As we experience this moment in time a revealing is also taking place.

The word apocalypse could be used to describe the time we are living in. Most often when the word apocalypse is used images of the end of the world or some other catastrophic event comes to mind. So in that sense the word is fitting in our present global crisis. However, I think there is an older definition that proves helpful at this time as well. Apocalypse can also mean a revealing or revelation. Just like in those old Scooby-Doo episodes, an apocalypse can unmask and show us what is going on.

In this apocalyptic moment it is important to think about what is being revealed on a number of levels - Global, national, local, personal.

On the global level some things are being revealed. We can see societal differences in how counties respond to the crisis. The interconnection of all living things sharing the planet is being uncovered. The disparity between those who have secure housing and those that don't is being seen on a huge scale. The disparity between developed and developing countries is coming into sharp focus.

On the national level, leadership (or the lack there of) has a light shined on it. The priorities of different sectors surface. The rather unsexy trio of vigilance, preparedness, and planning move to center stage.

The large scale revelations are something to be considered, but it is the local and the personal that interest me most. Maybe it is my affinity for Practical Theology, which is "always local, concrete and specific" (Müller 2004:296). It is the local and personal where each of us experience this pandemic.

In the local we see the vulnerability of our neighbors revealed. In the local we see what matters to us as our groups cease to meet, our work moves to home, and our favorite businesses shutter. In the local we see exposed who has a home to go to and who does not. In the local we think about the supply chain. The local is where this all hits home.
One more layer down the apocalypse arrives in our personal space. It shows up in what is being revealed in our bodies, our minds, and our souls. In our bodies we carry tension locked in our tightened jaws and stiff shoulders. In our minds a thousand wonderings and worries keep us up at night or distract us all day long. In our souls, there are questions some so deep they are without words.

"In your heart
That's the place
Where you must answer the phone" *

That song lyric from Vigilante of Love tells us the personal truth of this apocalypse. What is being revealed in our hearts? What thing is the pandemic revealing in you?

If we are to create a Theology of Pandemic it must include the prayer offered by the writer of the Psalms:

"Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts."

This searching must encompass the global, national, local and personal, but especially the personal. This must be taken seriously so that whatever is hidden can be disclosed, and whatever is concealed can be brought into the open (Mark 4:22).

In this apocalypse may we be open to all that is revealed in our world, our nation, our local communities and in us.

Joel K

D.V.

For more thoughts on apocalypse check out Joel Aguilar's blog post "Apocalyptic Pandemic?" here.

Works Cited:

* = "It's not Bothering Me" by Vigilantes of Love

Müller, J., 2004, ‘HIV/AIDS, narrative practical theology, and postfoundationalism: The emergence of a new story’, HTS Theological Studies 60(1-2), a516, 14 pages. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v60i1/2.516

The Theology of Pandemic #3 - We're All In This Together (Part 2)

The Theology of Pandemic #3

We're All In This Together (Part 2)

My sister has a Master's degree in Public Health. At the very beginning of the of the Covid-19 crisis she wrote in a family text conversation about the stay-at-home orders:

"I think it's the right call, don't get me wrong, just trying to keep people I love calm about things from a public health lens :) (Look I'm using my degree finally🤣🤣)”

When I read that a bit of sibling rivalry arose in me, as did my insecurity and need for affirmation. Not wanting to be left out, I wrote back:

"I'll use mine...this is a product of globalization. The virus spread is b/c of global travel. The market instability and product shortages (or fear of such) is b/c the world markets are intermeshed. The panic is driven by a interconnected network of networks of media and information. And God is in control and dwelling in the midst of it."

While that was simply a family exchange, life in this pandemic time brings the reality of globalization into sharp focus.

Globalization is something each of us experiences each day of our lives, but many of us would struggle to define. One way to begin to see the affects of globalization is to start observing where the products we use come from. I once did this with my daughters. We put pins in a map for all the locations around the world where our clothes had been manufactured. The world map we were using was littered with pins underscoring the fact our wardrobes are globalized. One could do this with all of the products we use daily and discover just how much we use products drawn from far away from where we live. Theologian James Perkinson (2001), notes that cities are like giant mouths sucking in resources beyond what they can produce from sources far beyond their boarders.  Living in the rural world no longer exempts one from this reality.  We are now living in the era of "planetary urbanization" - simply meaning that every place on earth is urban or effected by the urban reality (Brenner & Schmid [2011] 2018 & 2015).

But it is not just products being draw from far way that makes for a globalized world. Immigration, travel and advancements in communications put us in constant contact with people from around the globe. Pastor and Theologian Herbert Anderson writes, “One consequence of globalization has been a blurring of these boundaries between Us and Them that have divided people for centuries” (1999:4).

These are just a couple of examples of globalization. In reality all of our lives now are tied together in an unpresidented array of ways. Social scientist Manuel Castells describes our contemporary world as the "Network Society" (1996) marked by new information technologies; globalization; electronic hypertext; the collapse of the nation state (2000:693-694); and a redefined “relationship between culture and nature” due to scientific progress (Castells 2000:694). In Castells' view the world is now network upon interconnected network.

In this pandemic moment we are connected in a deeper more intimate way. We are connected by the air we breath. My friend Kris Rock recently wrote the Street Psalms network:

"My goodness, who’d a thunk that we would become so aware of something so simple as breathing, but that’s what the virus has us paying attention to. We are all breathing the same air. In fact, we now know that with each breath, we breathe a small fraction of the air Jesus exhaled in his last breath on the cross. And we also are breathing the same air as Hitler too. We don’t get to choose with whom we are related…(though please practice healthy habits during this time)…we are all in this thing together and always have been. It’s such a teachable moment we are in. If this isn’t the human catechism, I don’t know what is."

Over twenty years ago Anderson was thinking about this shared experience of living we call globalization and how we might respond to it. In the years that have followed his words have gained in importance as we have become even more interconnected.  In this pandemic epoch his “habitus for globalisation” (1999) might offer us a way forward. He first encourages us to live in a way that marvels (he uses the word wonders) at the uniqueness of each human. As a second step he posits that we recognize the Other, which is the act of really seeing them. This action is moving beyond simply co-existing where we physically see one another but remain physically distant, to a place of empathy. The next step is living out hospitality to the other - the sharing of our lives together.  Finally, Anderson encourages reconciliation. When we begin to wonder at diversity, really see each other, and share our lives together around tables, the need to address the differences we need will arise.

As we breathe each others air and share this planet together in ever more interconnected ways may we also learn to wonder, see, share and reconcile with our neighbor. One might ask, like the teacher of the law long ago, "'And who is my neighbor?'” (Luke 10:29 - NIV). In this globalized world, everyone is.

Joel K

D.V.

Works Cited:

Anderson, H., 1999, ‘Seeing the other whole: A habitus for globalisation’, in P.H. Ballard & P.D. Couture (eds.), Globalisation and difference: Practical theology in a world context, pp. 3-17, Cardiff Academic Press, Cardiff.

Brenner, N. & Schmid, C., [2011] 2018, ‘Planetary urbanization’, in X. Ren & R. Keil (eds.), The globalizing cities reader, 2nd edn., pp. 447-451, Routledge, New York.

Brenner, N. & Schmid, C., 2015, ‘Towards a new epistemology of the urban?’, City 19(2-3), 151-182. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2015.1014712

Castells, M., 1996, The information age: Economy, society and culture, Volume I, Rise of the
network society, Blackwell, London.

Castells, M., 2000, ‘Toward a sociology of the network society’, 29(5), 693-699. https://doi.org/10.2307/2655234

Perkinson, J., 2001, ‘Theology and the city: Learning to cry, struggling to see’, CrossCurrents 51(1), 95-114.

The Theology of Pandemic: #2 - We're All In This Together (Part 1)

The Theology of Pandemic: #2 

We're All In This Together (Part 1)

Last week on Facebook I jokingly posted, "It's a good day to remember the words of theologian and social-scientist Red Green, 'Remember I'm pulling for ya. We're all in this together.'" It was meant lightheartedly, but bears a real truth - in this pandemic we are all in this together.  The universal nature of this moment in time was driven home yesterday morning as I joined in on a Zoom call with colleagues from cities around the world to pray.  On the screen were representatives from The United States (Sarasota, Salem, Seattle, Tacoma, Grand Rapids, Camden), as well as cities around the world (Montreal, Santo Domingo, Manilla, Halifax, Port-au-Prince, and Guatemala City.  While those gathered on that call (and others in Africa and India) have been a community with some commonality for a long time, we have never all been going through the exact same thing at the exact same time.

According to Dictionary.com the word pandemic means:

adjective
1)  (of a disease) prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world; epidemic over a large area.

2)  general; universal: pandemic fear of atomic war.

It is that second definition that interests me.  Despite the limited ways that some have tried to use this virus to divide humankind we are all experiencing the Corona Virus Covid-19 together.  There are cases on every continent except Antartica.  Lockdowns, stay at home orders, washing hands, cancelled plans, school closures, etc. are all happening at once around the world.

However, we rarely experience life in this universal way. Most often we are isolated by the identity politics of our lived experience. Humans seek out ways to divide ourselves. We look for the differences so that we can define ourselves in contrast to the others around us. 

Theologian Namsoon Kang describes our need to define ourselves as an "identity passport" (2011:279-280).  She sees this as a document we carry around that defines us by our race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, class, etc. In contrast she suggests a cosmopolitan theology (2011 & 2013) with five characteristics: trans-identity, radical affirmation of the Other / radical neighborly love, trans-religious solidarity, counter-empire, and boundary-transcending solidarity (2011:272-275).  In short Kang calls for a theology rooted not in what divides but in the "mobilizing discourse" of love spoken about by Spivak (2011:259).  She writes, "Cosmopolitanism calls for a 'planetary neighborly love' and 'deep and radical compassion' for living beings, which I believe should be the central message of Christianity" (2011:277).

Kang notes that her cosmopolitan theology is not a reality, but comes from the future (2011:276-279) because it has "not yet had the opportunity to actualize its universal potential" (2011:277).  But what if in this pandemic moment the time has come for all of us to put aside our identity politics, and all the ways we divide ourselves, in order to begin to live into the the passportless cosmopolitan theology Kang is envisioning?  What if we can, in this universal moment, see that we are all simply human?  What if we can begin to live out the Biblical reality that every human on this planet has a single identity as a child of God?  What if the future reality Kang is calling to is coming in this moment?  Has the opportunity that has not yet come, now, in this pandemic period being actualized?  

I believe that the potential for a passportless reality rooted in universal love has arrived disguised as Covid-19.  Saint Mother Teresa has been quoted as saying, "[W]e have forgotten that we belong to each other."*  Maybe in this pandemic moment we can remember that "We're all in this together."

Joel K

D.V.

Works Cited:

Kang, N., 2011, ‘Toward a cosmopolitan theology: Constructing public theology from the future’, in S.D. Moore & M. Rivera (eds.), Planetary loves: Spivak, postcoloniality, and theology, pp. 258-280, Fordham University Press, New York.

Kang, N., 2013, Cosmopolitan theology: Reconstituting planetary hospitality, neighbor-love,
and solidarity in an uneven world, Chalice Press, St. Louis.

* = https://www.scu.edu/mcae/architects-of-peace/Teresa/essay.html

The Theology of Pandemic: #1 - The Return of D.V.: Deo Volente

The Theology of Pandemic: #1

The Return of D.V.: Deo Volente

I often feel like my mind is a type of junk yard where things are left laying about in a disheveled manner until they are needed or I happen to stubble across them. Yesterday, as I sat in the bathtub soothing my body and my anxiety (I know too much information), I wandered past a long forgotten memory. The memory was fuzzy and came to me as a question, "In the old days, wasn't there an abbreviation that churches placed at the bottom of a schedule or calendar that meant "If the Lord wills it?" 

As it turns out old documents of many kinds were often signed "D.V." It is short for the Latin phrase Deo Volente, which translates, "If the Lord wills it." Letters were signed in this way as a hope, or prayer, that the letter would arrive in the hands of its addressee. Schedules and plans bore this note. If you search "Deo Volente" in Google for an image boats and ships come up bearing the name - a prayer to return home safe.

Over the past weeks as the Covid-19 pandemic has emerged into an event rivaling the global geographic scope of either world war many plans have been cancelled and schedules rearranged or erased. Graduations, proms, weddings, funerals, and other countless events and milestone moments have been upended. Schools have closed and church services have moved online.  Groups have been redefined from 500, to 100, to 10, each time erasing more and more of the anticipated gatherings of our lives.  As I write this post somewhere between 25-33% of the United States is being told to stay at home. All of life has been altered. Our schedules, plans and routines, which felt predictable and secure, have become tentative if they continue at all.

Added to the upheaval of deleted calendars and cancelled events is mortality. In this moment the frailty of human life is staring us in the face daily. We are concerned for our elders and those at high risk. We try to keep our families safe. Every cough bears with it concern. Each news report and press conference raises anxiety. The long incubation of the virus produces a protracted state of uncertainty. All of this connected to human health - yours, mine, our families, everyone. If you have any doubt about it think about how many times someone has asked you about your health or told you to "stay safe" or "stay healthy" in the past week, and then ask yourself how many times that happened before this pandemic.

Somewhere along the line signing letters and plans "D.V." fell out of favor and disappeared. I suspect it was a casualty of modern life. As deadly diseases that were once common became eradicated and advances in health care made life longer, healthier and seemingly more predictable there was less need to say "If the Lord wills it." As communication became reliable, and ever faster there was no need to jot "D.V." at the end of a letter as a prayer that it would arrive. As life got busier, travel more common, and as time became an increasingly valuable commodity we felt more and more like we controlled our schedules rather than God.

Yet here we are in our modern age having meetings on Zoom and posting on Facebook all the while being plunged into the human experience of the past where schedules and plans, and even our own health and life was uncertain. We are back in the the days of "D.V."  We have re-entered the time of "If the Lord wills it."

In the fourth chapter of the New Testament book of James we read:

"Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil." (James 4:13-16 - NIV)

James knows that the first step in forming a Theology of Pandemic is to realize that everything is dependent on the Lord's will. Understand me here, I'm not saying the pandemic is the Lord's will or that God is the cause of suffering. I am saying that the control we think we have over our plans and schedules, and even our health and life are an illusion of the world we live in. Those in older times knew this well, and it prompted them to write "D.V." on their plans. The mist like nature of our lives caused them to hold their schedules loosely and say, "If the Lord wills it." We might do well to do the same in these uncertain times.


Joel K

D.V.