Ethics Reflection: Re-imagining

Ethics Reading Reflection – Erin Kruger April 16^th

Occupy Religion and The Occupy Handbook

Rieger and Pui-lan present a theology of the multitude grounded in the Greek ekklesia nature of church, God’s place in restoring relationships while siding with the abused and exploited, and a consideration of ecclesial practices and rituals that could structure this faith community.  Within light of the Ocuppy Movement’s focus on the ineffectiveness of a top-down economy and the oppressive powers in a hierarchical economic structure, these authors point out that the default images of God are dominant and powerful.  The classic theism originating from dominant Roman philosophical ideas of God as omnipotent, immutable, and impassable contributes to another oppressive hierarchical power system in which God is at the top.  Striving to reimagine these concepts of God through scriptures in which Jesus lives and teaches mercy, kindness, and a preference to the poor also means a reimaging of neighbor towards appreciation and respect. 

            The articles in the Occupy Handbook range in topics from Voluntary Financial Transaction Tax and Medicare to Global Capitalism through Smuggling.  Each author offering different critiques on the current economic system supporting their understanding as to how America (and the world) got here and what could perhaps change towards something more positive.  I must admit, I am still very fuzzy within Gross’s explainations of Procyclicality as to the physics of leverage, and find While and Li’s background on the difficulties of bankruptcy legislation and reform fascinating, mortgages in general I find an elusive realm.  It was Mathews article on a “Globalization from Below” that struck a chord with my worldview.  In response to a story of the reality of a merchant being cheated, Mathews explains “It’s a common story, but most merchants talk neither or cheating more of being cheated, but only of their ongoing efforts to make a living in a business whose parameters, due to ever-changing rates, an ever-changing flow of customers, and an ever- change array of phones for sale, are always difficult.”  (Kindle, 462) 

            In a world in which making a living is always difficult, the theology of the multitude attempts to give a deep sense of hope rooted in God.  Addressing these very real everyday concerns, so quickly can become life or death especially in developing countries, also must address who God is and as followers of God how to live within broken relationships, class oppression, and as events of Monday April 15^th feature – violence.  Rieger and Pui-lan’s question if the dominant images of God speak to our experiences (especially in The Occupy Movement) and the implications to how we understand both humanity and divinity.  Although ones own anthropology does impact their theology, I have become suspicious of approaching God through human experience if not also explicitly also through scripture and tradition.  My own human experience is, like so many others, very broken, and it becomes easy through that brokenness to want God on “my” side.  Grounding in study, solidarity with the community, and scripture all guide me to agreeing with many of the solutions offered in envisioning what church could mean from the bottom up.  I simply hold tightly to keeping the focus of the faith and the church on God, and allowing a firm grounding in the love of God to be what nurtures and inspires people of faith to care for every other living thing.    

I am drawn to this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (in Letters and Papers from Prison) "It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith.... In so doing, we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously, not our own sufferings, but those of God in the world."  

Yes - let's reimagine God together.  

Yes - let's live in solidarity with one another with appreciation and mutual respect.  

Yes - it's going to be hard.  

Yes - let's challenge oppressive hierarchical systems like the economy.  

Always through and with the Triune God who lives and walks in the world as is it, guiding us towards a world as it should be.  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Cheap grace is the mortal enemy of our church.  Our struggle today is for costly grace."  Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Statues found at Westminster Abby

20th Century Saints

from left to right

Mother Elizabeth of Russia, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Oscar Romero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Tonight the power went our for several hours here at camp.  It's been snowing like crazy for the past week or so and I think it's lovely.  I made a snowman, shoveled a bit, and have fallen down a lot.  =)  In general I am loving it!

Losing power was an interesting experience however.  Can't flush the toilet, turn on the faucet, cook anything, let alone have any lights.  We lit a bunch of candles and I sat by the window for a long while reading.

I have been reading "Saints and Villains" a fictional account of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and am loving it.  When I begin to learn about a topic I want to understand it from as many sides as possible.  I have been exposed to some of Bonhoeffers theology and have immensely enjoyed it.  I too struggle with the idea of "cheap grace".  The life of a disciple isn't easy and too often I let it be.  I am content to know that God loves me and accept his gift of grace - without to much change on my part.  While grace is a gift freely given to anyone who accepts God - after we are given that grace we are called to a life of discipleship.  Not necessarily perfection (sorry John Wesley - I'm not sure about that one yet) but a life of serving and obeying God's will.  To follow the law, but as Jesus came to teach us, being a disciple is so much more than simply following rules.

Discipleship is about relationships.  It's about having a relationship with our creator.  It's about having relationships with our brothers and sisters.  It's about loving people, respecting people, and caring for people.  Bringing about the kingdom of God here on earth and having the faith that it is not through our works that it will come about.  But it will not come about without our efforts either.  We must love.  Our Lord and our neighbors.  Bonhoeffer knew this and spoke out against the prejudices and racism of his day - in pre WWII Germany and told over and over again it wasn't his battle.  They weren't after him.  But he held strong to his faith and views on social justice.  He believed if a Christian, or the church, doesn't speak out against injustice against anyone; they aren't really following Christ.

One of his close friends and colleagues Pastor Martin Niemoller wrote this poem:


In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —
and by that time no one was left to speak up.


Friends, please pray for my path of discipleship - for it is a difficult one for me to take.  I will pray for yours.  May we love everyone we meet and always reach out to the needy, the suffering, the oppressed for they are among us even here and now.  


In peace with love, 
your sister in Christ~Erin

Courage

Today I go into my meditation with concerns and seeking specific wisdom.
I want to have courage.
Courage to stand up for myself.
But I AM afraid
Afraid of what people will think

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

We all want to liked.  I have this issue - I would really like to be loved.  But I have this little hunch that part of this year is God teaching me that the only love I need is his.  I took this year off.  I took time to go teach kids and play outdoors.  I made the choice against some of my better judgement.  But there are many lessons I'm being taught as well.  I only have to look out to the wonder and beauty outside to be reminded of God's hand in my life.

I have expressed to some of my close friends that I am feeling very isolated.  It is not like me at all to sit alone or leave a group to go read a book or take a walk.  I LOVE people.  It is not that the staff where I work are not caring individuals, they are wonderful people.  I have seen many really reach people with they way they teach and the way they care.  But I don't fit in.  Often I remove myself from the situation if possible because I am uncomfortable.  I'm searching for the strength to stand up for myself and say something.

I have been reading a book about Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Saints and Villians.  It's wonderful.  And while I am reading it I find I am loving his character.  I'm not sure if it's because of the way this author is portraying him or if that's really how he was, but I love him.  I can completely relate to the way that he (his character in the book) goes through moods and takes to himself.    Sometimes he makes comments that make him seem arrogant, but soon you learn he is just trying his best to be honest.

He is famous for his courage to stand up against Hitler, from the church, and speak out for the Jews.  Many Christians at this time didn't have the courage.  They were worried about themselves.  Many ideas and ideologies as well as sterotypes and prejudice played into the situation, but the church of Germany actually split.  The Reich church held the belief that the church existed to serve the state.  Not humanity.

Bonhoeffer spoke out against this.  I'm looking forward to delving into his work "The Cost of Discipleship."  I hope it will give me courage as well as direction.



Philippians 1:20
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

I pray for the strength and the courage of my brothers and sisters in Christ to stand up against the ideas of the world and the words to speak to do so in love.  Even in the small places in my own life.

In peace with love,
your sister in Christ~Erin

Love and Struggle

I am so filled with emotion, often I don't know how to make anything of myself!!

I am a thinker.  I have tried to stop, or at least tone it down - with little to no success.  And I am also a hopeless romantic and lover.  I will love, to the best of my ability, everyone who crosses my path.  =)

My personality is caring I suppose, but there are a few places when I feel completely myself.  When I am singing, caring for another, teaching or learning.  These tendencies have lead me to the church where I have met a God who has become the lover of my soul.  This love is what keeps me going and gives me energy to go out and love others - it is a love that completes me.  I have also fallen in love with the church, but it is not a perfect love.  As I was reading "Saints and Villains" today - a fiction book about the like of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I read a passage about him falling in love with the church seemed to echo my own thoughts.  I feel like I love the church like Hosea loved Gomer.  I have fallen in love with the people of the church and what the church is about.  To have the security that there is a whole group of people out there who will love me because I am a child of God.  No other reason.  That there is a group of people out there who are willing to give everything to serve.  Yet sometimes I do not love what the church does, I still have this unexplainable love for the body of Christ.

Yet this love and knowledge leads to so much internal struggle for me.  I suppose it is because I want everything to be good for everyone and the more I learn the more I know it's not so.  The more I read some of the things people of the church say it breaks my heart.  It breaks my heart to see the church pick and choose who they deem appropriate and who they disregard.  It breaks my heart to see the dicotomy of the rich and the poor.

I don't want to preach, but somehow I feel like that is because what I have to say isn't going to be well received.  I want to hang out with my friends and spend a carefree afternoon like any other young American.  Like any other young American of privilege.

I was born to privilege.  I see that now.  I can't hate myself because of it or my family.  I love the opportunities and education they gave to me.  But I can't just sit around happily watching a movie, going to work, and hanging out with my friends.  Not when I know so many of my brothers and sisters are starving in poverty, oppressed, and abused.  The church can't either.  The more we do, the more it breaks my heart.

But I don't know how to change, I know I must.  I must leave everything and follow Christ.  Right now I have committed myself to study.  Study the scriptures, study the saints, study the needs of my world.  But after I have studied (yes even seminary) I want to LIVE.  I want to live among the rest of the world and care for them with my heart, my hands, my head, and my love.

But I don't think my calling is to serve alone.  As I try to discern my calling I feel that there needs to be a connection to the American church of today.  A way of helping people discover themselves, how to connect with others (for love is all about healthy relationships!!!), learn about their passion, and put them in an opportunity to live a life of service as well.

I am enjoying learning.  I have a stack of library books so high it seems daunting yet so thrilling of the inspiration and enlightenment awaiting for me there.  It's just that the stories found there do pull at my heart and make me want to get out of my comfortable house and do something about it!!! (even if it happened 100 + years ago...)

Dear Lord, lover of my soul, to one to already knows my every thought, every care, every burden - I pray for your children around the world.  I pray that you wrap them in your arms and meet their every need.  I pray that your children hear your gentle calling to be disciples and accept the difficulties and gifts that come along with that life.  I pray for wisdom and patience as I find my way to a closer walk with you.  Amen.

In peace with love,
your sister in Christ~Erin