sojourn stories...

World Cup Confessions!

Family Time Extraordinaire

or

Confessions of a World Cup Junkie!

in a few days the World Cup will end... and life will have to go back to some sort of regular and productive schedule... bummer

no more arranging my day around 9, 12 and 3 , then 10, and 3 and more recently 11 and 3 when my family would pile on the basement sofa and watch  the world cup games live and in color on our huge 100 inch movie screen!!!

it has been wonderful... time stood still...

and we wagered and watched, reveled in a long time love affair with the beautiful game... so misunderstood and maligned by Americans... slowly growing in popularity around here, but a mainstay in our family for the past 12 years!

when the US did poorly we analyzed and offered our commentary... we have cheered on opposing teams, eating breakfast and lunch on the sofa, together...

raced in from work, just in time to make the games!  and hunkered down together!

key word... TOGETHER!!!

another key word for my son and husband "100 inch screen" and i must admit it has been amazing!  it is like being at a live game! 

so if you are in the neighborhood, come by and watch France beat Portugal!!! (at least that is my hope... but Germany did lose today, much to  my chagrin!!!)

bono's best sermon yet!

Bono's best sermon yet: Remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast

If you're wondering what I'm doing here, at a prayer breakfast, well, so am I. I'm certainly not here as a man of the cloth, unless that cloth is leather. It's certainly not because I'm a rock star. Which leaves one possible explanation: I'm here because I've got a messianic complex.

Yes, it's true. And for anyone who knows me, it's hardly a revelation.

Well, I'm the first to admit that there's something unnatural...something unseemly...about rock stars mounting the pulpit and preaching at presidents, and then disappearing to their villas in the south of France. Talk about a fish out of water. It was weird enough when Jesse Helms showed up at a U2 concert...but this is really weird, isn't it?

You know, one of the things I love about this country is its separation of church and state. Although I have to say: in inviting me here, both church and state have been separated from something else completely: their mind.

Mr. President, are you sure about this?

It's very humbling and I will try to keep my homily brief. But be warned - I'm Irish.

I'd like to talk about the laws of man, here in this city where those laws are written. And I'd like to talk about higher laws. It would be great to assume that the one serves the other; that the laws of man serve these higher laws...but of course, they don't always. And I presume that, in a sense, is why you're here.

I presume the reason for this gathering is that all of us here - Muslims, Jews, Christians - all are searching our souls for how to better serve our family, our community, our nation, our God.

I know I am. Searching, I mean. And that, I suppose, is what led me here, too.

Yes, it's odd, having a rock star here - but maybe it's odder for me than for you. You see, I avoided religious people most of my life. Maybe it had something to do with having a father who was Protestant and a mother who was Catholic in a country where the line between the two was, quite literally, a battle line. Where the line between church and state was...well, a little blurry, and hard to see.

I remember how my mother would bring us to chapel on Sundays... and my father used to wait outside. One of the things that I picked up from my father and my mother was the sense that religion often gets in the way of God.

For me, at least, it got in the way. Seeing what religious people, in the name of God, did to my native land...and in this country, seeing God's second-hand car salesmen on the cable TV channels, offering indulgences for cash...in fact, all over the world, seeing the self-righteousness roll down like a mighty stream from certain corners of the religious establishment...

I must confess, I changed the channel. I wanted my MTV.

Even though I was a believer.

Perhaps because I was a believer.

I was cynical...not about God, but about God's politics. (There you are, Jim.)

Then, in 1997, a couple of eccentric, septuagenarian British Christians went and ruined my shtick - my reproachfulness. They did it by describing the millennium, the year 2000, as a Jubilee year, as an opportunity to cancel the chronic debts of the world's poorest people. They had the audacity to renew the Lord's call - and were joined by Pope John Paul II, who, from an Irish half-Catholic's point of view, may have had a more direct line to the Almighty.

'Jubilee' - why 'Jubilee'?

What was this year of Jubilee, this year of our Lord's favor?

I'd always read the scriptures, even the obscure stuff. There it was in Leviticus (25:35)...

'If your brother becomes poor,' the scriptures say, 'and cannot maintain himself...you shall maintain him.... You shall not lend him your money at interest, not give him your food for profit.'

It is such an important idea, Jubilee, that Jesus begins his ministry with this. Jesus is a young man, he's met with the rabbis, impressed everyone, people are talking. The elders say, he's a clever guy, this Jesus, but he hasn't done much...yet. He hasn't spoken in public before...

When he does, is first words are from Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' he says, 'because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.' And Jesus proclaims the year of the Lord's favour, the year of Jubilee (Luke 4:18).

What he was really talking about was an era of grace - and we're still in it.

So fast-forward 2,000 years. That same thought, grace, was made incarnate - in a movement of all kinds of people. It wasn't a bless-me club... it wasn't a holy huddle. These religious guys were willing to get out in the streets, get their boots dirty, wave the placards, follow their convictions with actions...making it really hard for people like me to keep their distance. It was amazing. I almost started to like these church people.

But then my cynicism got another helping hand.

It was what Colin Powell, a five-star general, called the greatest W.M.D. of them all: a tiny little virus called AIDS. And the religious community, in large part, missed it. The ones that didn't miss it could only see it as divine retribution for bad behaviour. Even on children...even [though the] fastest growing group of HIV infections were married, faithful women.

Aha, there they go again! I thought to myself judgmentalism is back!

But in truth, I was wrong again. The church was slow but the church got busy on this the leprosy of our age.

Love was on the move.

Mercy was on the move.

God was on the move.

Moving people of all kinds to work with others they had never met, never would have cared to meet...conservative church groups hanging out with spokesmen for the gay community, all singing off the same hymn sheet on AIDS...soccer moms and quarterbacks...hip-hop stars and country stars. This is what happens when God gets on the move: crazy stuff happens!

Popes were seen wearing sunglasses!

Jesse Helms was seen with a ghetto blaster!

Crazy stuff. Evidence of the spirit.

It was breathtaking. Literally. It stopped the world in its tracks.

When churches started demonstrating on debt, governments listened - and acted. When churches starting organising, petitioning, and even - that most unholy of acts today, God forbid, lobbying...on AIDS and global health, governments listened - and acted.

I'm here today in all humility to say: you changed minds; you changed policy; you changed the world.

Look, whatever thoughts you have about God, who He is or if He exists, most will agree that if there is a God, He has a special place for the poor. In fact, the poor are where God lives.

Check Judaism. Check Islam. Check pretty much anyone.

I mean, God may well be with us in our mansions on the hill. I hope so. He may well be with us as in all manner of controversial stuff. Maybe, maybe not. But the one thing we can all agree, all faiths and ideologies, is that God is with the vulnerable and poor.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them. "If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom with become like midday and the Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places."

It's not a coincidence that in the scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It's not an accident. That's a lot of air time, 2,100 mentions. (You know, the only time Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor.) 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me' (Matthew 25:40). As I say, good news to the poor.

Here's some good news for the president. After 9/11 we were told America would have no time for the world's poor. America would be taken up with its own problems of safety. And it's true these are dangerous times, but America has not drawn the blinds and double-locked the doors.

In fact, you have doubled aid to Africa. You have tripled funding for global health. Mr. President, your emergency plan for AIDS relief and support for the Global Fund - you and Congress - have put 700,000 people onto life-saving anti-retroviral drugs and provided 8 million bed nets to protect children from malaria.

Outstanding human achievements. Counterintuitive. Historic. Be very, very proud.

But here's the bad news. From charity to justice, the good news is yet to come. There is much more to do. There's a gigantic chasm between the scale of the emergency and the scale of the response.

And finally, it's not about charity after all, is it? It's about justice.

Let me repeat that: It's not about charity, it's about justice.

And that's too bad.

Because you're good at charity. Americans, like the Irish, are good at it. We like to give, and we give a lot, even those who can't afford it.

But justice is a higher standard. Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice; it makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties, it doubts our concern, it questions our commitment.

Sixty-five hundred Africans are still dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease, for lack of drugs we can buy at any drug store. This is not about charity, this is about justice and equality.

Because there's no way we can look at what's happening in Africa and, if we're honest, conclude that deep down, we really accept that Africans are equal to us. Anywhere else in the world, we wouldn't accept it. Look at what happened in South East Asia with the tsunami. 150,000 lives lost to that misnomer of all misnomers, "mother nature." In Africa, 150,000 lives are lost every month. A tsunami every month. And it's a completely avoidable catastrophe.

It's annoying but justice and equality are mates. Aren't they? Justice always wants to hang out with equality. And equality is a real pain.

You know, think of those Jewish sheep-herders going to meet the Pharaoh, mud on their shoes, and the Pharaoh says, "Equal?" A preposterous idea: rich and poor are equal? And they say, "Yeah, 'equal,' that's what it says here in this book. We're all made in the image of God."

And eventually the Pharaoh says, "OK, I can accept that. I can accept the Jews - but not the blacks."

"Not the women. Not the gays. Not the Irish. No way, man."

So on we go with our journey of equality.

On we go in the pursuit of justice.

We hear that call in the ONE Campaign, a growing movement of more than 2 million Americans...Left and Right together... united in the belief that where you live should no longer determine whether you live.

We hear that call even more powerfully today, as we mourn the loss of Coretta Scott King - mother of a movement for equality, one that changed the world but is only just getting started. These issues are as alive as they ever were; they just change shape and cross the seas.

Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market...that's a justice issue. Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents...that's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents...that's a justice issue.

And while the law is what we say it is, God is not silent on the subject.

That's why I say there's the law of the land¿. And then there is a higher standard. There's the law of the land, and we can hire experts to write them so they benefit us, so the laws say it's OK to protect our agriculture but it's not OK for African farmers to do the same, to earn a living?

As the laws of man are written, that's what they say.

God will not accept that.

Mine won't, at least. Will yours?

[pause]

I close this morning on...very...thin...ice.

This is a dangerous idea I've put on the table: my God vs. your God, their God vs. our God...vs. no God. It is very easy, in these times, to see religion as a force for division rather than unity.

And this is a town - Washington - that knows something of division.

But the reason I am here, and the reason I keep coming back to Washington, is because this is a town that is proving it can come together on behalf of what the scriptures call the least of these.

This is not a Republican idea. It is not a Democratic idea. It is not even, with all due respect, an American idea. Nor it is unique to any one faith.

'Do to others as you would have them do to you' (Luke 6:30). Jesus says that.

'Righteousness is this: that one should...give away wealth out of love for him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives.' The Koran says that ( 2.177).

Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The Jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.

That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.

A number of years ago, I met a wise man who changed my life. In countless ways, large and small, I was always seeking the Lord's blessing. I was saying, you know, I have a new song, look after it. I have a family, please look after them. I have this crazy idea...

And this wise man said: stop.

He said, stop asking God to bless what you're doing.

Get involved in what God is doing - because it's already blessed.

Well, God, as I said, is with the poor. That, I believe, is what God is doing.

And that is what he's calling us to do.

I was amazed when I first got to this country and I learned how much some churchgoers tithe. Up to 10% of the family budget. Well, how does that compare with the federal budget, the budget for the entire American family? How much of that goes to the poorest people in the world? Less than 1%.

Mr. President, Congress, people of faith, people of America:

I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective foreign assistance as tithing.... Which, to be truly meaningful, will mean an additional 1% of the federal budget tithed to the poor.

What is 1%?

1% is not merely a number on a balance sheet.

1% is the girl in Africa who gets to go to school, thanks to you. 1% is the AIDS patient who gets her medicine, thanks to you. 1% is the African entrepreneur who can start a small family business thanks to you. 1% is not redecorating presidential palaces or money flowing down a rat hole. This 1% is digging waterholes to provide clean water.

1% is a new partnership with Africa, not paternalism toward Africa, where increased assistance flows toward improved governance and initiatives with proven track records and away from boondoggles and white elephants of every description.

America gives less than 1% now. We're asking for an extra 1% to change the world. to transform millions of lives - but not just that and I say this to the military men now - to transform the way that they see us.

1% is national security, enlightened economic self-interest, and a better, safer world rolled into one. Sounds to me that in this town of deals and compromises, 1% is the best bargain around.

These goals - clean water for all; school for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty - these are not just any goals; they are the Millennium Development goals, which this country supports. And they are more than that. They are the Beatitudes for a globalised world.

Now, I'm very lucky. I don't have to sit on any budget committees. And I certainly don't have to sit where you do, Mr. President. I don't have to make the tough choices.

But I can tell you this:

To give 1% more is right. It's smart. And it's blessed.

There is a continent - Africa - being consumed by flames.

I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things: the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did - or did not to - to put the fire out in Africa.

History, like God, is watching what we do.

Thank you. Thank you, America, and God bless you all.

Oprah addresses Human Trafficking: Children Sold into Sexual Slavery!

Oprah is one the most popular and influential evangelists of our time!  Regardless of your opinion of her, she has stepped forward and taken on the mantle of responsibility taht accompanies her level of power and influence.  Recently, Oprah has gotten increasingly involved in issue of Justice. 

Today, she is hosting a show on the issue of Children Being Sold into Sexual Slavery... Human Trafficking happening in many parts of the world, and shockingly in here in America!

The International Justice Mission put out the following  blurb:  Watch Gary Haugen's interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour Wednesday, November 2nd on Oprah.

Tune in as Haugen discusses the problem of human trafficking and what IJM is doing to bring freedom to victims and accountability to perpetrators. Check local listings for air time.

Find out more about the International Justice Mission

www.ijm.org

Sojourner's 30,000 campaign during upcoming World Summit!

Reminder:  World Summit, September 14-16

 

A Call to Fast &Pray on Behalf of those in Extreme Poverty!

Read Sojourner's call and plans for the 14-16th, read my original post, read about various ways of fasting...

If you are going to fast, please email me at susiealbertmiller@gmail.com and we can help encourage each other, share the ways we will fast and remember those who live in extreme poverty...

katrina...

Katrina... a name that now carries so much weight and meaning...images, words, silences, triumphs, failures, heroism, horror ...in the USA.

These are not stories about another country, another people, another place, but about us and what we are capable of as a human race in response to great pain and struggle...there is both hope and horror in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Dumbfounded, I have had little to say, much to think about, and been slow to write anything...

The United Methodist Committee on Relief has set up an excellent way to help, one of many.  Our church, Crossroads UMC is a drop site for the items listed on the webpage, simple items really, urgent items...blankets, bottled water, health kits, flood buckets (specific items & instructions via website)

Anj has a remarkable list, and Dwight posted a link to Chris Seay's plea for help in Texas, along with an excellent downloadable video.  Natala has ideas, inks and resources in the midst of her beautiful words & poetic reflections...

there are many more bloggers, voices and hands being raised in aid... too many to mention here...find one...do something...

fasting and praying on behalf of those in extreme poverty

Tell President Bush you will pray and fast to fight global poverty

Every day 30,000 children die a preventable death due to extreme poverty. Yet we have the power to prevent this silent tsunami. What is missing is the moral and political will to do so.

We are calling on more than 30,000 people to declare to President Bush their intention to fast and pray during the World Summit at the United Nations, September 14-16. A fast can be as simple as sacrificing one meal during the course of the Summit, which can serve as a spiritual and personal act of solidarity with the billions of people across the world who go without food and basic necessities every day. Even this relatively small sacrifice will strengthen our call for real and specific policies to fight global poverty.

Sojourners is calling for 30,000 people to fast and pray during the World Summit at the United Nations, September 14-16, 2005.  visit the site and read about their 30,000 campaign and sign up to participate! 

I don't know if you have ever fasted...but i have found that it is an important part of spiritual formation.  Fasting offers a chance to be truly present to a deeper hunger, the hunger of the soul for the goodness of G-d  to be seen in the land of the living.  Fasting offers us a chance to experience for a brief time the hunger that many people, that millions of children live with day in and day out until they slowly starve to death. 

When i was young, we would fast the first Sunday of every month, from after Saturday dinner around 6pm until after church on Sunday's around 1pm.  This seemed like an eternity to me as an 8-12 year old... my stomach would rumble as the church service seemed interminably long... and then there was the wonderful smell of the roast (that had been coking while we were at church), wafting through the air, assaulting my senses, as soon as i walked in the front door! 

thin places: preaching sermons, serving sodas, juggling way too many commitments...and learning alot along the way

I have not written much recently… It has been a very long two weeks… on top of our swinging summer door (which I love, because it means alot of kids at our house), and the general frenzy in getting ready for Kate to go back to college (she is renting her first apartment), juggling clients due to various vacation schedules, and writing, I also preached for the first two Sundays in August.  Quite honestly, it was a blast to preach… we have an amazing worship director, whose creativity and excellence made the whole process a learning experience for me.  I am astounded at all the details that she handles in order to orchestrate the morning services every Sunday… the graphics, the music, the timing, the volunteers who make the whole worship experience rich and meaningful…she has a huge job and she does it so well.

The first Sunday, I preached a sermon entitled: Thin Places, based on John 5:4-42, the story of the Samaritan woman and Jesus at Jacob’s well.  Thin Places is a Celtic term for the places that the veil between heaven and eath is lifted and we have encounters with the Divine.  Jacob's well was such a place.

I approached the text focusing on all of the things that Jesus does in relationship with her, and thus exemplifying God's desire for relationship with us.

He pursues, initiates, engages and more! One of the fun parts of preparing was searching the web and various art archives for portrayals of Jesus and the woman at the well in different ethnicities.

I found some beautiful artwork of Jesus and the woman at the well from Africa, China, Japan, Malaysia and India.  Hopefully, this variety of cultural and ethic art visually communicated that Jesus is not white man’s god, made in our image… Additionally, I got to write the daily devotional that our church puts out each week, which corresponds to the sermon.  It has been a while since I have spent time writing simple commentary and questions to ponder, so that we might go deeper into the passage, the message and their application to our lives.  (listen to the sermon).

This week was a totally different type of service.  It was a far more difficult service to prepare for and it deserves a post of its own.  We did an awareness service on the situation in Sudan, southern Sudan and Darfur, Sudan.  After the peace vigil that planned in mid July, our pastor asked if I would re-work it for a Sunday service.  I agreed with a bit of trepidation, wondering how people would receive such a difficult message at the Sunday morning service. (Most people come to Sunday worship with the hope of being encouraged and uplifted, assuming that they will leave “feeling better,”  and this service was going to challenge, confront, convict in its inspiration and encouragement).

We shared about the genocide in Darfur, and the history and fallout of the 21 year civil war in Southern Sudan.  We had a variety of visual portrayals of the reality of the horrors and atrocities experienced by the Sudanese people.  We set up prayer stations around the room that offered propel a place to respond to the message of the morning the highlight of the service as the participation of Angelo Mangar Maker, one of the lost boys of Sudan, who shared his story of tragedy and triumph, putting face on the horrors of Sudan, and the miracle of faith. 

This week, I have been spent with the emotion of planning and carrying out this service… my heart has been so burdened, for the people of Sudan, and for the hearts and minds of those who would hear these stories for the first time.  I am thrilled to be part of a body of Christ that believes in being not only aware, but active in the world and is committed to the call to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.

I will post more in the days to come… I need a really long nap and a bit of silence to gain the space to write about this powerful experience and the privilege it was to participate in bringing the story of Sudanese to the people of the our church community.

The Invisible Women of Darfur-- take 2

After removing the images of Beverly Collins  artwork "The Invisible Women of Darfur," from my blog, I received a follow-up phone call from her stating that she was unaware of the way that a blog worked and now that she understood the differences between a blog and a website, she was granting permission for me to use her images on my blog, because of her desire that this story be told and her knowledge that posting the images would help this happen... (how cool is that!  a follow-up call and an apology for making a mistake to begin with, i was thrilled to get her message... thanks beverly ;)

...and i cannot think of a more eloquent and haunting way to tell the story, than through her paintings of the women who have become invisible and forgotten in the wake of the war Sudan.  Sexual violence and systematic rape are used as weapons of terror against the women and girls, they are part of the strategy of war.

All the paintings are hauntingly beautiful, but these few specifically speak to me, capture me, haunt me, and require some response from me...for they tell a tragic truth of our sisters in Darfur, Sudan, and they resonate with the universal story of pain and loss in the human experience...

Oppression ~ "As you have raped me, please don't leave me alive...the shame I will suffer upon my return will be too great."

Invisible ~ "Invisible though I am...I am and I will prevail."

Together ~ "Together with out collective strength we will endure the loneliness and that shame that has been cast upon us through no fault of our own."

Those of you who linked to her website, this post and/or posted images on your own blog...please do so, as the more people who see these images the better, and the more awareness we will build...

(if you post on these paintings, the images are be limited to three and the size must be no larger than 150 pixels as per the artists permission for blog posting)

Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince

I just finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the 6th book in the Harry Potter Series, by JK Rowling.  We have one copy, my oldest daughter ordered it ahead of time and it arrived the morning of the release.  She read it quickly, and currently Zack and I are sharing it.  We keep trading off, and this moring we had a brief time when i convinced him that since we were on the same page, we should read together for a bit... so we sat on the big chair and read... my long lanky teenage son and me...just like old times...except he wasn't really snuggling and we were both reading silently... he commented once or twice that it felt kinda silly...i imagine that his remarks were provoked my my beaming face, as it has been a while since we have read together, but the lure of Harry Potter outweighed his momentary awkwardness.

We sat there for the better part of an hour, until his stomach began to rumble loudly... i tried to read a bit slower, so not to embarrass him or put undue pressure on him to read faster, but once he got up to eat breakfast, i raced through the chapters, consuming as much of the story as i could before he returned, flashed his charming smile and asked if he could read the book now...please ;D

so the day unfolded with us trading the book back and forth, as i secretly hoped that his friends would call and ask him to go to the pool, i mean how could i not give him the book, when i am always on him to read more... and here he is wanting to read, so i couldn't really say no and keep reading it myself... though i did put him off a few times...

True confession...i was thrilled when his buddies called and asked him to go out for the evening... and i had the book all to myself... i holed up in the sunroom and devoured the rest of the book.   JK Rowling does not disappoint in this book.  The ending is unexpected, hard and sad.  i will not say alot, so as not to ruin it for those who are mid book...

I know that there is a lot of contorvery surrounding these books and that the conservative evangelial community have condemned them as promoting the occult.  This is simply not true.  Wizardry and magic are only part of the story, not unlike The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien or The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis.  Like these classic stories, the Harry Potter series is a tale of good and evil, of the ultimate power of love over all that is dark, evil, and destructive, the importance of friendship, bravery, lack of prejudice...all good and godly lessons.  So, I have to disagree with those who condemn these books.  The themes of loyalty, integrity, and love are the greatest forces in battle aganst evil, are thems of the Christian faith.

Once you read it, email me and we can chat about it... it is just so hard to hold it in and yet i don't want to give anything away... like who the half blood prince is... (my guess was wrong), what Malfoy is really up to, the true nature of Snape, and if Harry gets the girl?  ;D

Otherwise, if you are reading it, let me know where you are in the book inthe comments below and what you think so far....

Senate approves $100 million more for life-saving efforts of Global Fund to Fight AID, TB & Malaria...

A few days ago, I posted on the ONE campaign's plea for everyone to contact their Senators and urge them to approve the Sanatorium-Durbin.  The phone lines on Capitol Hill were flooded with over 23,000 calls and on Tuesday, the Senate voted $100 million more for the life saving efforts of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria.  Read the update on the ONE blog.

The Sanatorium-Durbin provides that the US will contribute a total of $600 million to the Global Fund next year.  In the weeks ahead, the amendment needs to pass the House of Representatives.  The US also encourages international participation in the Global Fund, requiring that every US dollar contributed to the fund, be matched by $2.00 from international contributors.  Additionally, the Global Fund has instituted a system of checks and balances to fight potential corruption and ensure that the funds received are disbursed properly and that funding reaches those most in need.

The Global Fund uses the funds in some of the following ways:

In Nigeria, tens of millions of doses of a newly, highly effective malaria medication will be distributed, whereas just two years ago only 10,000 doses were available in all of Africa. In Mozambique, more than 55,000 people will receive life-saving AIDS treatment, which will help them remain healthy and alive long enough to raise their children, tend their farms, raise crops and build businesses and communities.

In Kenya, the Global Fund supports the The Kenya Network of Women with HIV/AIDS (KENWA).  KENWA is a community-based organization formed and run by women living with HIV/AIDS. It is currently reaching about 470,000 people through a country-wide membership of 2,430 women.

With its US$ 220’875 share of the US$ 137 million approved over two years by the Global Fund to finance HIV/AIDS activities in Kenya, KENWA offers counseling, home-based care and psycho-social support in some of the most deprived slum areas of Nairobi.

KENWA runs six drop-in centers which serve as information, dissemination and walk-in counseling centers for the general public and cater mainly to HIV-infected women as well as orphaned and vulnerable children.

Thanks to everyone who made phone call, just thought you might want to know how it turned out and where the funding goes.

Darfur 101: Crash course on who, what, where, when & why...along with other thougths and feelings that have been brewing in my soul for a while...

Smith College professor, Eric Reeves, provides a week long crash course: "Darfur 101"  for those of us who are still trying to gain some understanding of what is happening in Darfur, Sudan.  This link will take you to the third installment, but if you scroll down, you can read parts 1 & 2.  Eric Reeves has been fighting for two years to bring the Darfur, Sudan situation to public attention.  This crash course is a terrific overview so far. 

As i said in my last post, i am not writing about Darfur, Sudan, only because i have nothing else to write about...but because i  have captured by the truth of the tragedy and i have become convicted by the G-d of justice, who in Micah 6:8 clearly says, "He has shown thee, Oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with Thy G-d." 

I have known this verse for years, mostly because of the praise song which is why i can recite it from memory as above... and back in the day when i used to do cross stitch...(yes, i used to cross stitch, no laughing, now... years ago when i was put on bed rest with my first pregnancy, i cross-stitched up a storm...cause i was a 'good little conservative, christian, suburban, homemaker," trying desperately to fit in at 22 years old;) and all the ladies in my bible study were cross stitching). 

but i digress... back in the day when i used to cross stitch, i once cross stitched part of this verse for my husband, who seemed to live it out so elegantly, thus, the words "walk humbly with thy God"  have been displayed somewhere in our home for the better part of 20 years...and as i think about this verse now, i wonder if i really ever thought about what G-d meant by the words "do justice."  i don't think so, really...until now

these are not words that call me to ..."enact justice on those who wrong me,"  or words that grant me permission to "be Judgemental"  and they are certainly not an admonition to "act in the name of G-d as a vigilante police force and judge those who are not measuring up to the standard of 'the church' or our 'correct' interpretation of the Scriptures." (all of which i have been guilty of at some point in my christian life, i am sorrowful and ashamed to say).  No,  i think these words are a call to act on behalf of others, for their benefit when i encounter them being treated with injustice...   

and that is why i am writing, again, about the genocide in Darfur.  When, I saw the movie Hotel Rwanda, i realized that in 1994, i was more concerned about what preschool my son was going to attend than the reality that people... that children were being massacred with machetes because they were members of the 'wrong' tribe, and i knew that i never wanted to be so blind to reality again.

I am not saying that it is not important to be aware where my son would go to preschool, but realizing that i was so consumed with my own little life that i did not know what was going on in the world, for far too many years brought me great shame and that shame brought repentance... and i have purposed myself to become aware and to do what i can to make a difference, even if it is only a small difference. 

I have struggled with opening my eyes.  They hurt. 

I am reminded of a scene in the Matrix, when Neo first wakes up on the Nebecanezzer, and sees Morpheus.  Neo says, "My eyes hurt."  Morpheus nods knowingly, and calmly states..."that is because you  have never really used them before."

I use this analogy quite often in my private practice, as i try to reassure and encourage those brave souls who open their eyes and face the truth of their stories, their painful pasts and their own sin and its consequential fallout...Now i am aware how profoundly i can relate to this scene.  In opening my eyes, i see injustice everywhere...

And the pain tempts me to close them again...

But the call in Micah links "doing justice" to pleasing God.  And if doing justice is seeing the injustice done to my neighbor and doing something about it...something to care for, to soothe, to offer care, provision, comfort, an advocates voice, food and shelter... something, then that is what i must begin to do.  and thus i cannot close my eyes.

The Darfur genocide is large and loud... it is systematic ethnic cleansing that demands an uprising of voices that cry out...Stop! 

but there are other injustices...everywhere.  in other parts of Sudan, in Uganda, and Burundi...All throughout Africa...There is global poverty that stuns and sorrows me, when i see a video clip stating that in the US, we spend 60 million dollars on cosmetics each year, and i know that it takes $1.00 to save a child from HIV/AIDS or only $1.00 to dig a well in Africa.  And Monday, i found out that it costs only 16 cents to feed a Sudanese refugee for an entire day.  i am not sure what to do with such staggering data.  I do know that i have had to look at my spending habits, the things i buy without thinking, without pause or question...i cannot do so anymore...

Opening my eyes to injustice requires me to see that there is an industry of Human Trafficking that extends from Japan, China, through my  father's homeland of Pakistan/India, Europe, the global South and even to the shores of the United States.  Opneing my eyes to this injustice requires me to see that there is little outcry, that there is virtually no media coverage. In fact, there is more outrage and interest over a runaway bride, than one young woman, a child really, being sold into slavery and prostitution. 

And closer to home, in my county, one of the richest areas in the United States, there are people with full time jobs, who cannot afford housing.  There are many who cannot afford health care, there are children who are in unsafe homes and environments and the list of injustices goes on...and i haven't even mentioned the city of Washington DC, only 30 miles away.

I am overwhelmed.  I do not know what my response is supposed to be.  i know at times that being overwhelmed can result in me becoming paralyzed...unable to do anything at all, except to want to numb myself...pour myself a glass of wine and turn on the TV...to plug back into the Matrix so i do not have to know the truth or live in the land of the real!

Please understand, I am not against the enjoyment or pleasure of a good meal, good wine or even a great movie or an enjoyable evening with friends, for these are part of the truth and the real as well... i just know that both truths must remain on my radar screen, in my prayer life and on my daily agenda...

I know that I cannot do everything, but i can do something...and for now, on some days my something...is a blog post... while on other days it is planning a peace vigil... everyday it is wearing a green band, and a white ONE band, so that when people see them and ask what they are for i have an opportunity to share, (and for those of you who know me well... this is a real sacrifice, given my propensity for funky and fun bracelets... i mean "live strong" type bracelets have become all the rage, but they do not compliment many outfits...seriously! so i wear the white & green bands as an act of "doing justice..." even though they clash with most of my clothes ;D  and prevent me from wearing the funky cool bracelets i have...

and even as i write those words i think to myself..."well maybe if you hadn't bought funky bracelets and had given the money to HIV/AIDS research..then you wouldn't think twice about the green/white bands...OK, note to self, no more bracelet purchases...but the green and white bands still wouldn't look great with my outfit;)  (OK, see the mess that goes on inside my head ;D   because now i am going to argue with myself in yet another vein, but it is really an important one in this whole justice conversation... so i will take it out of my brain, and thus parentheses and bring it to the table...)

regarding buying things for ourselves, enjoying the blessing we have... this is a hard one for me and i would love to hear your thoughts on this.  i have learned a great deal from one of my friends at church, who loves Jesus, and is very involved in social justice, but is willing to embrace and enjoy the gifts of financial blessings in moderation. she seems very at peace when she buys something new.  When i asked her about this she said it is because she and her husband have set aside a certain amount of money that they will use for living expenses, while other monies are designated for mission, tithes, etc.  Thus when she purchases a new shirt or book, it is from designated funds, and she enjoys the purchase... this has helped me. 

I have come to believe that we are not called to total denial of our wants, but that we are called to a lack of excess and overindulgence.  I know that G-d calls us to provide for and care for the widows, orphans and aliens... and so i can buy a funky bracelet, wear it and enjoy it...without guilt, if i am a good steward of the money, time and other resources that G-d has given me... this is where i have settled for now, but i am wrestling with this, while living in an affluent suburb of DC, raising teenagers in the self indulgent, spoiled, excess oriented, "disposable everything" mentality culture ...this is hard stuff to talk about and live in the midst of...like i said, sometimes i want to close my eyes... but i know that i cannot do that  ever again, so i welcome your thoughts/advice/input...

i know that this is a long, hard post... (thanks for reading this far) ...but it has been brewing and i guess it is part of why i have not written much of late... theology must move toward praxis...(a fancy way to say:  our thinking and talking about G-d must translate into action...)  and so as i have posted lots of info about Darfur, it is my way of moving toward action, and i guess this post is a bit of an offering of my thoughts about G-d and life with G-d in the midst of this glorious mess we call life...

Following after the way of Jesus..."Dear Sudan, Love..." a grassroots effort to support humanitarian efforts in Sudan

I know that i have posted a number of times on the crisis in Darfur, Sudan and it is not because i have nothing else to post about... it is because the Genocide and other atroicities are real and tragic... and i cannot believe that it is happening in our lifetime, in our world! GENOCIDE...systematic, ethnic cleansing, rape used as a form of terror and warfare, government sponsored militias attacking villages and refugee camps, killing an entire generation of children, raping women and young girls, murdering the men and boys.  This artwork is done by children of Darfur.

After the Holocaust, the world said, "Never Again!"  And then after Cambodia, it said "Never Again"  and after Bosnia & Rwanda the world paused briefly and said "Never Again!"  Now Genocide is occuring AGAIN and will the world say, "Never Again, Again!?" 

Growing up, i wondered "How America could remain silent during the Holocaust?" "How could we stand by and do nothing?!" "How could we not know?"  i wondered aloud in history class... and yet, here i am, in America, and the same thing is happening again, and we are remaining silent, doing nothing, and we remain in the dark, again.  How much media time was spent covering Michael Jackson's trial?  Or Tom Cruise's new romance?  verses the killing that has been taking place in Southern Sudan over the past two years, and even more recently, the Genocide of 400,000 lives in Darfur, Sudan?  As I have looked around the news, i have found coverage only on the BBC, as the American News Media is consumed with other "more important" things.   

I have only just recently woken up to the realities of the world and begun to look far beyond my own life, my own concerns and gain a bit of understanding of the call for Christians to be concerned and involved in issues of justice.  I am learning in deeper ways how Jesus was always concerned with the marginalized, the excluded, the forgotten, the untouchables... the poor and needy and in these moments He spoke of the Kingdom of God being at Hand.  This has new meaning for me as i am trying to understand more of what i am called to do and be as i seek to follow after the way of Jesus. 

in that vein...

"Dear Sudan", is an interfaith campaign to support  humanitarian relief in Sudan.  Originating in Petaluma, CA the program, "Dear Sudan, Love Petaluma" purposed to raise enough money to feed 55,000 refuges in Sudan for one day- the population of Petaluma- Each Sudanese refugee requires only 16 cents per day for food provided through a program run by Church World Service. Their goal was $8,800 and they raised over $10,000.

Now the campaign has expanded to "Dear Sudan, Love..." and a new blog was launched today!  They are hoping that many cities and towns will participate in this same type of effort...Imagine, only 16 cents per day for food!  I am interested in this project, but need to put together a committee of folks who would be willing to spearhead this effort with me.  If you are so inclined, please email me @ susie@sojournstories.org and we will see if an interfaith-multi-church team can be put together in order to undertake such an endeavor.  Read the story.

The Dear Sudan blog launch features the above painting, entitled "My Duty," by Beverly Collins, from her "The Invisible Women of Darfur" collection.  Her text for this painting reads as follows:  "My duty to God and my children is to bring forth the will to continue in the face of my oppression."

This came via email today: The ONE Campaign: Make Poverty History seeks support for Global funding to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria

Dear Friend: At the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia and G8 summit in Scotland, you called on eight powerful men to do more to help the world's poorest people, and they heard your call.  Today, in Washington, are you ready call on 100 U.S. Senators to do the same?    Two U.S. Senators have reached across political divides to ask the Senate to add $100 million to keep critical AIDS, TB and malaria programs running around the world. This amendment, proposed by Senators Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania, and Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, would bring total U.S. funding for an important program call ed the  Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to $600 million - a one third share of what's needed to keep existing programs on the ground running. The fund might have a long name, but what it does is simple: it saves lives. Without our help, the Global Fund may have to cut programs that have already begun to have a real impact, delivering prevention, care and treatment to millions of people around the world. Remember, AIDS kills 8,500 people every day, TB kills 5,000 and malaria kills over 3,000 in Africa alone - every day. Together, we can help fight back against these killer diseases. Please call the two Senators from your state TODAY, let them know where you're calling from and ask them to support the Santorum-Durbin Amendment for global AIDS funding. To make sure your voice is heard, ONE has set up a toll-free number that will connect you directly to your Senators' offices in Washington, DC. After talking to one Senate office, be sure to call the number again to connect to your OTHER Senator. Call 1-800-786-2ONE (1-800-786-2663) to be connected directly to your Senators. We've seen the difference we can make when we act as ONE - and we've only just begun. Thank you! The ONE Team P.S. You can learn more about how to talk to your Senators and the important work of the Global Fund.

Peace Vigil for Darfur, @ Crossroads UMC, Ashburn, VA

sunday's worship in the spirit of justice...a call to your conscience...praying in front of the White House

Sunday was the final Worship in the Spirit of Justice, at LaFayette Park, just in front of the White House.  It was a profound service as people of many different faiths joined together to raise their voices and call our leaders to action to stop the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.  It was extremely hot, sweat poured down most of our faces.  I thought of the women driven into the Sahara as I sat for two hours in the sweltering sun before returning to my air conditioned life.  I was humbled by my privilege and the luxuries i take for granted. 

A  Muslim man spoke  with eloquence about the brotherhood & sisterhood of all people, having been created by the One God, and proclaimed us all responsible to address and answer for the suffering of one another.  As spontaneous applause broke out, tears came to my eyes, for standing on or by the podium, participating in the service were Christians, Jews & Muslims, setting aside all differences, and joining together for the greater purpose of caring for the "least of these," as they challenged all of us to look at who our neighbor truly is and to love our neighbor.

Sitting in grass, we prayer for our neighbors in Darfur...for the genocide to stop, for the media to take notice, we wrote letters to the President, calling him to act, we sang and affirmed our collective unity in being human and our desire to be come more humane... to do what little we could to make a difference in the lives of the people of Darfur, and not to be silent. 

It is hearbreaking and sobering that after the Holocaust, the world cried "never again"  when the slaughter of the Jews was revealed.  And yet, it happened again, the genocide and ethnic cleansing, the methodical and violent killing of women and children...it happened in Bosnia, in Croatia, in Rwanda...and now in Darfur!  and we have an opportunity to say, No!  this must end, for this is my brother,my sister, my child who is being killed ...and the genocide must end.  This was the cry for Justice from those who gathered, as we humbly acknowledged our shortcomings and complicity through inaction, and we began by taking an action, to do something to make a difference. 

The service ended, and the crowd solemnly walked to the front of the White House in order to pray for the people of Darfur, for our President and for world leaders to take action to stop the genocide, for the world to take notice and seek justice.  I was toward the front of the group and I turned to watch the other worshippers coming. The solemn silence was powerful as the mass of people began kneeling along 16th street, heads bowed, voices raised in quiet song, and then in silent prayer...

When the leader closed in prayer, it was clear that this was only a beginning, but it was something that made a statement in  the face of an overwhelming need that threatens to paralyze us in its magnitude.  We can each raise our voices, our hands and lives in prayer and in action.  Natala has a terrific post on the service, and the small steps that we can each take to do something.   and Matt, as a ton of photos, besides the ones you see here.   

dinner conversation...

Last night, we all sat down for family dinner, a rarity during the summer months between jobs, friends and fun.  My oldest daughter & her boyfriend, both on summer break from college, and my second oldest daughter, a rising senior in high school, discussed the major events of the day with my husband and me.  Rather than the standard "what was your high/low of the day," sharing that punctuates our dinner conversation and catches us up on each others lives, the mood was somber as we discussed the bombings in London, the genocide in Darfur, and the activities of the G-8.

Given the fact that we have encouraged our children to think, to question and to express their differences, it was an intense conversation at times, ranging from anger at injustice to battling cynicism and feelings of overwhelming futility.  In the end, there was silence...contemplative silence as we were reminded that one man or woman could make a difference and we were each wrestling with what we were called to do and be in these tumultuous times...

today, my heart is heavy, sorrow-filled, and quiet.

Fernando, provides a number of good links regarding the London bombings, and send me to this profound cartoon...

bono on forgiving our debtors

Today's Daily Dig from Bruderhof

As We Forgive Our Debtors

Bono

"Now, for all its failings and its perversions over the last 2,000 years—and as much as every exponent of this faith has attempted to dodge this idea—it is unarguably the central tenet of Christianity: that everybody is equal in God's eyes. So you cannot, as a Christian, walk away from Africa. America will be judged by God if, in its plenty, it crosses the road from 23 million people suffering from HIV, the leprosy of the day."

"What's up on trial here is Christianity itself. You cannot walk away from this and call yourself a Christian and sit in power. Distance does not decide who is your brother and who is not. The church is going to have to become the conscience of the free market if it's to have any meaning in this world—and stop being its apologist." 

***Read this companion article from Bruderhof: "A Time to Forgive Debts, the Bible's Radical Solution to Injustice"

The G8 meetings are underway...

In Scotland, the flags of the G-8 nations fly as the annual summit begins today.

G8 Gleneagles 2005 homepage

Yesterday, Desmond Tutu said: "Much has been done, but much more is needed.  G-8 must follow up on debt relief with a smart plan to aid

Africa" 

more

BBC news reports  &  Reuters reports

Profile of the G8

The One Campaign/Make Poverty History and the G8 Summit, July 6-8, 2005...

WHAT IS THE G8 AND WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT?

The G8, or the ‘Group of Eight’ Summit is an annual gathering of leaders from the world’s eight wealthiest and most powerful countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States). This summer, these leaders will gather in Scotland to decide the fate of an entire generation living on less than ONE dollar a day. On July 6th - 8th, President Bush and other G8 leaders will discuss the major social, political and economic conditions that leave nearly ONE billion people living in extreme poverty – nearly half of whom live in Sub-Saharan Africa.  With your support and voice, President Bush and other world leaders will know just how important these issues are, and together as ONE, we can Make Poverty History this July. read more...

Issues  addressed include:  AIDS pandemic, Extreme Poverty, Education, Lack of accessible clean Water, Corruption, Hunger, Orphans, Trade, and Debt Cancellation.

Jimmy at Culture driven life has a great post, on the G8 meeting regarding the Make Poverty History & One Campaign. 

As I prepared this post, i thought about all that i do, consume, take for granted, and waste that costs around $1.00 per day, and i am humbled and convicted....a cup of coffee, a bottle of water, the Sunday Washington Post, another bottle of water, a pack of gum, McDonald's fries, half a gallon of gas, a power bar, a pen or mechanical pencil...all these things that pass through my hands... unnecessary items, luxuries in reality that cost as much as or more than what an entire generation of people live off  each day!  What has happened to make this such an upside-down and sideways world?  How have i been part of making it so?  Oh Lord, forgive me.  And how can I be part of changing it, even in the smallest ways...Lord, help me. 

Please G-d, help me to remember this $1.00 truth, and in remembering to change the way that i live...help me to see the myriad of ways that i fail to love my neighbor as i consume and destroy the resources of this planet.  Forgive me for how easily i forget that a child on this same earth, has no food, no water, and no home, when i am battling for my children's 'rights', or ordering yet another book from amazon.com...help me remember the faces of the other, these my brothers and sisters, and in my remembering, help me to become a different person in the way i live out my faith...i humbly pray, amen.

Incarnational Business Practices

Fast Company has an online article about and ever increasing blurring of the line between product and customer.  The article begins with the following quote:

"The boundary between where a product ends and where a customer begins is changing."  John J. Sviokla, Vice Chairman Diamond Clusters International, Inc.

The article discusses the growing reality that an increasing number of products have built in sensors to monitor customer usage habits and preferences in order to provide better service as well as data for future product development.  It is inevitable that humans will become increasingly comfortable with sensors in products, appliances eventually leading to significant changes in health care  products as well.  For example, our cars have sensors that determine when service is needed, why wouldn't the same technology, an internal monitor, be available to a diabetic?  Business is realizing the need to enter into the culture and lives of the customer.

Isn't this the idea of incarnational ministry...to enter into the culture and life of another?  To cross a boundary that may have been previously unthinkable of crossing?  I mean, who would have thought a mechanical pacemaker could cross the boundary of organic tissue?  In similar fashion, we must cross the boundaries of age, race, socio-economic, gender, and cultural differences that so often keep us from entering into the life of others.

This is The Incarnation. This is the way of Jesus.  This is the way of incarnational ministry... To enter into...to pitch our tent and dwell among, to get to know, to blur the lines...to surprise by inclusion and embrace...not with an agenda to bring others to our way of thinking, but to begin to hear and understand their way of thinking, of living, of being...and to engage and love them...giving and receiving in the way of Jesus.

Darfur...through the eyes of children

Human Rights Watch has a site entitled Darfur Drawn:  The Conflict in Darfur Drawn through Childrens Eyes

"On mission along the border of Chad and Darfur, Human Rights Watch researchers gave children notebooks and crayons to keep them occupied while they spoke to the children's parents.  Without any instruction or guidance, the children drew scenes from their experiences of the war in Darfur:  the attacks by the Janjaweed, the bombings by the Sudanese government forces, the shootings, the burning of entire villages, and the flight to Chad.

Jamil, age 12

"The Janjaweed came on camels and horses, very fast.  Sometimes two on one camel, with guns.  Many soldiers, with guns.  This one is a machine gun.  There were shooting us."

In the same exercise book, Jamil had drawn a man with a radio transmitter, drawn larger than the man:  "We needed help.  There was no one to protect us."

Visit the sight for more drawings and stories. All the names have been changed to protect the children.  It is heartbreaking and sobering.  Children are always