FAITH HOUSE Manhattan

A Sabbath Poem (Berry-2)

EVEN WHILE I DREAMED I PRAYED
~ by Wendell Berry

Even while I dreamed I prayed that what I saw was only fear
    and no foretelling,
for I saw the last known landscape destroyed for the sake
of the objective, the soil bludgeoned, the rock blasted.
Those who had wanted to go home would never get there now.

I visited the offices where for the sake of the objective
    the planners planned
at blank desks set in rows. I visited the loud factories
where the machines were made that would drive ever forward
toward the objective. I saw the forest reduced to stumps and gullies; I saw
the poisoned river, the mountain cast into the valley;
I came to the city that nobody recognized because it looked
    like every other city.
I saw the passages worn by the unnumbered
footfalls of those whose eyes were fixed upon the objective.

Their passing had obliterated the graves and the monuments
of those who had died in pursuit of the objective
and who had long ago forever been forgotten, according
to the inevitable rule that those who have forgotten forget
that they have forgotten. Men, women, and children now
    pursued the objective
as if nobody ever had pursued it before.

The races and the sexes now intermingled perfectly in
    pursuit of the objective.
the once-enslaved, the once-oppressed were now free
to sell themselves to the highest bidder
and to enter the best paying prisons
in pursuit of the objective, which was the destruction
    of all enemies,
which was the destruction of all obstacles, which was the destruction
    of all objects,
which was to clear the way to victory, which was to clear the way
to promotion, to salvation, to progress,
to the completed sale, to the signature
on the contract, which was to clear the way
to self-realization, to self-creation, from which nobody who
    ever wanted to go home
would ever get there now, for every remembered place
had been displaced; the signposts had been bent to the
    ground and covered over.

Every place had been displaced, every love
unloved, every vow unsworn, every word unmeant
to make way for the passage of the crowd
of the individuated, the autonomous, the self-actuated, the homeless
with their many eyes opened toward the objective
which they did not yet perceive in the far distance,
having never known where they were going,
having never known where they came from.

(from A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997,
by Wendell Berry, Counterpoint, 1998)

Christ or Christianity in China

~ for Faith House by Jim Teal (a pseudonym), an artist and a businessman, Portland, Oregon, USA

Over the last 10 years I have built relationships with many Christians in People’s Republic of China. Recently I returned from my fifth visit. I was attending a conference of business people from China and Southeast Asia. For two weeks 40 of us traveled from Beijing to Lhasa and back. The purpose of this journey was to retrace the beginning portions of the Silk Road in order to gain an accurate understanding of both the historical and the spiritual heritage of this great nation.  We were joined by leaders and pastors from the United States, Japan, Singapore, India, Korea, and Hong Kong.

Reflecting on the experience I have come to believe that the church in China, Europe and North America are at the same crossroads. One of the questions we face globally is:  Should we continue to pursue peace, justice, and compassion as Jesus Christ called us to do, or should we continue to spend most of our energies to preserve the institution of Christianity?  The two are not the same. 

In the beginning of the story of which all Christians are a part, it was not safe to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Many a lion dined on Christians day after day. Most of the disciples of Jesus were martyred. Discipleship carried a high price tag.  That changed in the fourth century when Emperor Constantine “graduated” the followers of Christ from the catacombs. The oppressed became oppressors.  Persecuted became persecutors.  Another line to divide humanity had been drawn.  Theology and structure followed.  For many of them, I’m sure it was a long awaited short-term relief, an answer to their prayers. 

But today we see more clearly the long-term effects.  For 1600 years of Christian history, there has been a waltz between the religion of Christ and the revolution of Christ. At times these two have walked the same path, at other times the two parted company, and occasionally the two faced off in a struggle.  But back to China . . .

From my experience in China I have learned that the Kingdom of God Jesus talked about does not need a Western-style church.  In fact some Chinese Christians will tell you that Western Christianity is a major stumbling block to the health of the Chinese Church. 

The leaders of unregistered churches are getting old, and many are tired of the battle and want rest.  They wonder if the solution is to imitate Western Christians with their nice buildings and TV ministries: a Cadillac kind of faith. Many are attracted by the safety, security, and comfort of the institutional Christian church they see across their “Wall.”  And it seems that the Chinese government is ready to institutionalize these believers—if they will sign on the dotted line. They can have all the bells and whistles they want.

So their choice is the same choice many others have faced in the past and will face in the future.   

An institutional religion seems to offer many blessings. But it is of no value if it fails to serve something larger than itself, which in case of Christianity is the revolution Jesus commissioned us to pursue.  All religions have to make this kind of choice, including Judaism and Islam.  Will they live (and die) for the causes of common good, justice, and compassion for all human beings, or will they choose safety and comfort only for those who comprise their religion? 

Chinese Christians can do much more for the Kingdom of God than be a great religion or a powerful institution.  I challenge my Chinese brothers and sisters, “Please be who God created you to be!”   

The day Western Christians have to make the same decision is rapidly approaching.  Around the world there is a growing number of people who want to follow the teachings of Jesus, but want nothing to do with the institutional church. I have heard of a growing group of Islamic believers in China who use the term "Messianic Muslims" to describe themselves.  But they remain dedicated Muslims.   We often use the term "Messianic Jews" to describe Jews who follow Jesus.  But these people are not “Christians in disguise.”  I am not sure whether their own religions accept them, but I am sure they don’t think of their faith as Christian at all.  They think of themselves as fully Jewish, and fully Muslim.  Christians can’t understand this. We have no concept of why a group would respect the teachings of Christ but not want anything to do with Christians or Christianity. 

Is God big enough for this diversity?  Absolutely!

I am done with trying to make other people follow God the way I do.  I am at peace with God who is larger than I.  Others don’t have to look, walk, talk, and believe like I.  It is time to learn to value everyone God created, along with their unique stories, experiences, and beliefs.  God is alive and well outside the boundaries of my religion.  If we fail to accept God’s magnanimity, we will add trouble and misery to the world.  I am a devoted follower of Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life for me, and at the same time I am fully open to find my God in the other.  And I can do both at the same time.

Imitating the West is not a solution for the Chinese church.  The economical world is flat.  The church of Christ is becoming flat as well.  Perhaps Western Christians should look over the wall, into China, and see how much beauty, strength, and courage can be found in God’s wonderful, unique creation there.

Let's keep the revolution going!

A Sabbath Poem (Vuletic)

        
            TENACITY
            ~ by Simona Vuletic

            When dreams turn into
            Nightmares
            The only way
            To survive
            Is to keep dreaming,
            Boldly,
            Turning darkness
                        into light,
            Despair
                        into hope,
            Locked doors
                        into sign-posts,
            With perseverance
            Of those who have nothing
            To lose,
            One simple, steady day
            At the time.

Simona Vuletic is from Seattle, USA, where she is engaged in Alzheimer's disease research, and interested in social issues, issues of justice, politics, environment, the brain, the Universe, science, human behavior, religion and beliefs, and human rights.  She blogs at Zvrk's Blog.

Interview with Author Brian McLaren

~ by Samir Selmanovic

Brian and I first met in 1999 when we were both pastoring on the East Coast. Ever since, Brian’s courage to address issues that matter to common good and his generosity towards those who are different has been contagious. Brian helped me love my own religious tradition more deeply and more patiently while also feeding the holy discontent with religion as we know it. I asked him about his upcoming book Everything Must Change. (Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope, Thomas Nelson, 2007)

Samir: I’d like to read a few quotes from your new book and ask you to comment briefly on them. I’m especially interested in how these quotes relate to the vision for Faith House. This first quote comes right after you introduce the central questions the book tries to answer:

All these questions may sound too religious for your taste already. If you have no religious commitment and even if you have a strong anti-religious commitment, I certainly sympathize. Those of us who are deeply involved in the religious community see abundant reasons to be cynical about religion. Though we see many signs of hope, goodness, and resurrection, the truth is that we often keep faith in spite of religion, not because of it. But whatever your background, I think you’ll agree on the most pragmatic level: if [our global] problems are as big as they seem to be, we’ll need all the help we can muster to address them, including the help of the religious community. (pp. 12-13)

Brian: This does relate to the vision of Faith House, and to your own life story, Samir. I know that you come from a Muslim family, and that you spent many years as an atheist before coming to embrace the faith of Christian tradition. You know that many people are atheists because they have seen the downsides of religion. And many people are Muslims because they’ve seen the downsides of Christianity and atheism, and many people are Christians because they’ve seen the downsides of atheism and Islam. We’re all good at seeing the downsides of other people’s commitments and beliefs, and we could spend forever arguing about them. Meanwhile, we’re facing not only new problems but also new kinds of problems these days. So many of our problems are global now – from nuclear weapons that could destroy us all, to global climate change that could destroy us all, to global economic collapse that could bring all our nations to a standstill. So I don’t think we can afford to let our future be determined by religious battles that distract us from this. We have to recruit people from each religion to address the new global problems we face, and that requires – not pretending that all religions are the same, because they’re not – but rather it requires us to invite people from each religion into process of learning how to work together as neighbors for the common good. As Christians, I think the idea of reaching out to our neighbors should come very naturally to us; after all, Jesus had a lot to say about loving our neighbors, not to mention strangers and enemies.

Samir: That’s where you go next in your book. You talk about the Christian religion’s pivotal role in our world because it is the largest:

In addition, since the Christian religion is the biggest religion in the world (with about 2 billion adherents, or 33 percent of the world’s population), whatever constructive things Jesus might have to say about our top global problems could be important in determining our world’s future. This would be the case at the very least because solutions in sync with Jesus’ life and teachings might get more buy-in among his professed followers. Add to that the fact that Islam is the world’s second biggest religion (about 1.3 billion adherents, or 21 percent of the world’s population) and that Muslims revere Jesus as a great prophet, and you discover even more practical value in seeing Jesus’ teachings in relation to today’s global problems.

Brian: This is really one of the key themes of my life – this belief that the issue isn’t Christianity, but Jesus. Depending on your background and what you’re exposed to, the Christian religion can have more or less credibility and appeal. But Jesus has an almost universal appeal. So that’s where I want to work from – not a “Christianity-centered” viewpoint, but from a Christ-centered viewpoint. In the book, I try to take Jesus’ teachings and example and show what resources they can bring to people today in grappling with global crises – whatever the religion of the people is who are getting involved. I don’t want to make the Christian religion the issue, or Western Civilization the issue, or whatever … I want to help people see the resources that Jesus offers to everybody as we and future generations face unprecedented global crises.

Samir: That’s where you go in the final paragraph of this section:

Beyond the Christian and Islamic religions, which together account for more than half the world’s people, and which together share a high regard for Jesus, we could add that many Hindus (14 percent of the world’s population, Buddhists (6 percent), Jews (0.22 percent), and even nonreligious people (16 percent) admire Jesus – even though they may be less enthusiastic about the religion that bears his name.

Brian: This is one reason why I’m so enthusiastic about the work of Faith House, Samir. The old “ecumenical movement” did a lot of good and opened a lot of doors. And current inter-religious or interfaith dialogue brings much to the table that we need. But ultimately, people need to see Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and atheists and others working it out in a neighborhood, on the ground, living as neighbors and friends and colleagues – not hiding their differences, but modeling a way of loving one another across those differences. I hope this book will be a resource for the work you and others committed to Faith House are doing. We’re all in this together.

Samir: When is the book coming out, and how can people get it?

Brian: It comes out October 2. Of course, people can order it online, but it’s especially helpful during the first week if they go into a bookstore and buy a copy. Barnes and Noble, in particular, is making a big commitment to the book, so it would be great if people could drop by and pick up a copy.

Samir: Thank you and keep on writing!

You can check out Brian's resourceful website and meet him in person during the Everything Must Change Tour 2008.

A Sabbath Poem (Hafiz-3)

WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE
~by Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hafiz (c. 1320-1389)


Admit something:

Everyone you see, you say to them, "Love me."

Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise
someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one who lives with a
full moon in each eye that is
always saying,

with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in
this world is
dying to
hear?



(from the Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices
from the East and West, translation Daniel Ladinsky
- Penguin Compass, 2002, on this website)

Celtic Trail: A Better Way to Believe

~ by Danut Manastireanu, Romania

Whatever our deeply held religious beliefs or worldviews, there are different ways to communicate it to others.  How we believe is equally important as what we believe.  Recently I had the extraordinary opportunity of a study trip on Celtic spirituality, following in the footsteps of St. Patrick, Columba, and Aidan.  Sharing cherished convictions and practices in a way that honors the others is the true test of our faith and character. 

The trail began in Downpatrick in Northern Ireland the origination point of the magnificent story of St. Patrick. In the fifth century, Irish raiders abducted the boy Patrick and made him a slave in Celtic territory.  There he had a personal encounter with God that changed his life. After a miraculous escape, Patrick returned to Britain, became a priest, and felt God's call to return to Ireland and become an apostle and prophet among the Celts.

Missions and missionaries do not always have a good name these days. Patrick, however, was a different kind of missionary. He did not have a faith to sell, but a story to tell. And his incredible personal life gave authority to the story. He did not try to uproot the druidic traditions of the Celts, but reconstituted them and incorporated them into a creative, courageous Christian faith. At the end of his life, one chronicler observes, Celtic lands knew a long-lasting peace unprecedented in the history of this most temperamental nation.

From Ireland, we moved to Iona, a tiny island south-west of Scotland, where Columba, a Celtic monk from Ireland landed in 563 AD with twelve of his disciples. Columba’s arrival changed the face of the island. He established a monastery, and taught the community to read and write.  They were known as "people of the Book" and brought the Christian faith to the Hebrides and Britain, and to the feared Picts that inhabited Scotland at the time. Columba’s version of Christianity, inspired by the vision of Pelagius was:  a rural community, close to nature, democratic, gender balanced, optimistic about the goodness of humanity, poetic and passionate.  This community stood in striking contrast to the Roman version of the Christian faith rooted in the vision of Augustine: an urban community, imperial, hierarchical, institutional, pessimistic about the human nature, and somewhat impersonal.

The last leg of the Celtic trail took us to Lindisfarne, the "holy island" in the north of England, where Aidan, a monk from the Iona community, came at the request of Oswald the king of Northumbria and established a Christian mission to the population in that territory in 631 AD. Aidan served the poor and liberated slaves with the riches he received. He established schools, challenged the powerful about their abuses and preached the love of God in Christ to this troubled generation. Not long after Aidan, the Roman version of Christianity became prevalent, and Celtic Christianity faded into the background, surviving only as an undercurrent in a world dominated by Rome.

Who knows what the history of the world could have been if the faith of Patrick, Columba and Aidan had prevailed?  Who knows what the future of the world can be if our religions would learn to follow the trails like these?

Danut Manastireanu is an economist and theologian who lives in Iasi, Romania. Danut is married to Mihaela and they have two grown up children and five grand children.  He holds a PhD in theology from Brunel University, London and works as Director for Faith & Development for the Middle East & Eastern Europe region of World Vision International.

A Sabbath Poem (Milosz)

            

             untitled
             ~ by Czeslaw Milosz

            "In this world
            we walk on the roof of hell
            gazing at flowers."

            To know and not to speak.
            In that way one forgets.
            What is pronounced
            strengthens itself
            What is not  pronounced
            tends to nonexistence.

(received from Danut Manastireanu, Romania)

Spiritual Discipline of Receiving

~ by Samir Selmanovic

On a steamy hot summer day, after our Christian worship gathering, a group of us went to one of the New York city parks with gallons of homemade ice-cold lemonade, offering it to anyone who wanted it—for free. But people did not want it. That is, until we asked them to pay for it. Only then they would take it and happily guzzle it down.

People know that a gift is almost never just that, a gift. Philosopher Jacques Derrida argues that what we have historically regarded as a gift was actually never a gift. We give to gain. In return, we covet a favor, thankfulness, a sense of satisfaction in seeing ourselves as a giving person or simply the warm sensation of buying something for someone we love. Our gifts are a form of exchange. We give something obvious, to receive something subtle.

Sensing this dynamic, people who stand to lose anything don’t easily accept free help, advice, favors or money from others. To receive means to lose control. Gifts change relationships.  The recipient becomes a “weaker part” in the transaction.

Accordingly, receiving anything associated with someone else's religion is far more difficult than receiving a glass of lemonade.  That's why this reluctance to receive has become a grave problem among religious people today. Yes, we have learned to tolerate one another to some extent. Jews, Christians, Muslims and atheists have learned to live parallel lives and have parallel monologues, like toddlers who enjoy parallel play. But in order to make progress toward peace and justice in the world and in order to increase joy and beauty of human life, we must learn to appreciate, and at times receive what others have to give us. 

For many, this amounts to recanting of one’s own faith. Religion is an expression of what we hold as true, valuable and beautiful. Because religion—or any other worldview (including atheist varieties)—holds the meaning of our life together, accepting a gift of insight, truth, or beauty from other groups feels like losing face, control or power over life we think we have mastered through our religion. It potentially exposes the weaknesses of our faith structure, casting us as weaker and therefore dependent on the relationship with others.

That’s why many people who are sure about everything don’t know how to recognize their needs or receive a blessing from others.  Even within groups that want to learn to love others, we say to each other, “Love people, in your school, in your neighborhood, in your workplace. And then give them the truth.” We call each other to ministry, which always means serving people, caring for their needs, teaching them what they need to know to live better lives. Giving, giving, giving. Giving keeps us in control, subtly communicating the superiority of our worldview not only to others, but to ourselves as well.

And we like to be in control—even of God, goodness and love.

Our giving is actually becoming a way of taking.  We exalt the virtue of giving, saying, “It is in giving that we receive.” This is true and the world would perish without people who understand this law of life of any human community. But, how about giving up the role of being the sole giver of truth to the world?  That would be the ultimate act of giving, expressed (paradoxically) through receiving. In the relationship between religions, the attitude of being a sole dispenser of the blessing is becoming terribly counter-productive.  When it comes to God and truth, every group wants to teach and no group wants to learn. Everyone wants to stay in control by giving and nobody wants to seem weak by receiving. That’s why, for example, religions often don’t know how to repent of their historical failures. Repentance means one needs to receive forgiveness. And receiving means our religion is not as perfect as we think it must be. 

Religion (or a worldview) that will matter in the future will not pretend to be faultless, self-sufficient and above the frailties of human existence. In my Christian tradition, for example, concept of sin revolves around self-sufficiency. And this should include matters of spirituality. To grow spiritually should mean to journey to a place where we get better and better at receiving goodness, grace, and God from others. God is in others, even in the enemy. God is in a stranger. That’s why in the Bible hospitality is of such value, not just as a custom of the day but as a way God visits us, unexpectedly.

Love knows how to take what others have to offer even when that is something we think we are in charge of! That’s why evangelism—sharing the good news of Christianity—at its best is primarily a process of receiving, in humility, before the mystery of God, thus acknowledging our creaturehood to other creatures, becoming their sojourner.  When we receive from others, we celebrate the wisdom God has given them, we affirm grace in their experience, and we find footsteps of God in their life. Rewards are far greater than a cup of lemonade. 

It is often by giving that we control or take and by receiving that we actually love and give. In the matters of God, only learners can be safe teachers. “Teachers of others” who are not “learners from others,” will sooner or later lose their authority. It is already happening. And the world will be better for it.

(from Signs of the Times, Australia, September 2007, adapted by the author)