an island on earth

Have you ever heard of Nuku Hiva? Neither have I. But, maybe you have. Maybe you just know random facts or maybe you are or were an avid watcher of Survivor. Nuku Hiva was the site of Survivor in 2002. The island has a population around 2,600. The island is in the middle of nowhere. Not the-middle-of-Nebraska-nowhere, the-middle-of-the-Pacific Ocean-nowhere.

Some how, some way, thousands of years ago people arrived on this island. It boggles my mind how someone could get there. Why would someone choose to go out into the ocean and just paddle, and paddle? What makes a person stop at one island or to go on to another one? These are just a few of the questions I asked as I looked at this little island in the middle of the Pacific on Google Earth.

Of course these are nice warm weather islands. As I traveled around Google Earth I found much bleaker islands. What about the Svalbard? It’s an island that is part of Norway. The island was used for years for whaling. One of the cool aspects of Google Earth is that people can take pictures and tag the pictures of where they took them. So besides seeing topography of the island you can actually see what some of the island looks like. There are pictures of the islands shores, buildings, and even polar bears. You get a small glimpse of what it is like.

Lastly, the Tristan da Cunha, a small island between South America and southern Africa. The island is over 1,700 miles away from South Africa. First look as you zoom into the tiny island is that it is a definitely a volcano. Wikipedia, and factual as it can be, gives some great information about how the little island is run. With about 270 people and 80 families it is a tight-knit community. The community looks like a nice quant village even with a church, post office, and lush farm land.

These islands are only a tip of the iceberg of planet earth and what is on Google Earth. It is a great opportunity to explore the world, to see the fringes of the outer limits of earth, and to see a new glimpse into your own community.

For more info go to: Google Earth

bhm: all bets are off

We can celebrate a whole month of black history (BHM), but once money is involved all bets are off. We can feed hungry, greedy, corrupt should-be-bankrupt banks millions of dollars, but cannot put a nickel into the hearts of black America. Black history I think feels like one of these things in America where people are feeling ‘what do we do with this?’ The simple answer was presented on the radio last week on NPR. The statement was made that basically said until African American history or any other ethnicity besides white is taught in schools that there is a need for Black History Month.

There seems to be some consensus on this. You do not see a lot of uproar over the month. Certainly no one is saying it is reverse discrimination. Why is there no uproar over this compared to say affirmative action? There are easy answer to this and hard answers. First, BHM takes no energy. Outside of school (and I would even say elementary school) people don’t have to learn or hear about it. What a shame. So, it doesn’t take any thought. Second, after a country blindly puts a people into slavery for three-hundred plus years what better way to give-back then to celebrate a whole month of it. Oh – and it is the shortest month of the year. Third, BHM takes no money from white people.

Once money is involved all bets are off. Just look at the cases against welfare, helping the homeless and the poor. It all involves taking money from one person and giving it to another for the sake of making someone else’s life a little better and making life a little more just. Money also involves power. Giving money involves giving a little white power away and giving a little white power to other ethnicities.

Let’s take a look at affirmative action. White people hate these two words. Hate. But affirmative action doesn’t just help ethnic minorities. Affirmative action helps women. It’s created equal opportunities for women to play sports, learn, and get a job. The reverse, when affirmative action is dismissed (as it was in Michigan) sometimes schools such as a school for all girls are dismissed.

The claim against affirmative action is, of course, that it is biased and unfair. Of course no one says that for athletic scholarships, or relatives who help you get a job or into the college you wanted. No one makes an uproar about these. But, when affirmative action is mentioned all bets are off.

Like NPR and BHM the easy answer is until black America is given equal rights in schools, in employment, in housing, health care, etcetera, affirmative action is more than a two word phrase - it is needed.

irish at the corner of elston and kedzie

On February 14 you know that all the local Italian and French restaurants are going to be packed. It’s a given. That’s why this February 14 when I found myself not at an Italian or French restaurant I was pleasantly surprised.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Italian and French food. My taste buds thrive on pasta and French cuisine. My taste buds also have a very relaxed sense of food. That is, if taste buds can be relaxed. I like burgers and pizza. Nothing exquisite there. So when I found myself in an Irish Pub with a menu full of meat and potatoes, bangers and mash, fish and chips, and a selection of great Irish and English beers I was in heaven.

So who supplied this bliss of food? None other then Chief O’Neill’s (and my awesome fiancé). It’s a great little pub with a bar, dining room, and outdoor seating. It may not feel like an authentic pub in Ireland, but the owners do a great job of celebrating Irish heritage and feel. I recommend this little pub to anyone that is around Elston and Kedzie.

i could have done more

Someone at my office got laid off this week. In my own department no less. It is the first layoff where I work. I guess an impressive feat in an economy that is making every company struggle. It’s the first, but it won’t be the last. Intellectually I get it. It had to be done. The budget just cannot support the amount of people in the office. But my heart doesn’t get it - at all. Not surprisingly a movie comes to mind. This time it’s a movie based on a true story – Schindler’s List. If you don’t know anything about Schindler’s List or Oskar Schindler I recommend looking it up.

Toward the end of the movie Oskar, who saved nearly 1,200 people cried out: “I could have done more.” He takes off a pin on his suit coat and says “I could have sold this and saved another life”, and so on. In the end no one gets mad at Schindler for not doing more. He amazingly did more than anyone could ever imagine. He turned his business and his life upside down not for himself, his 401K, his stocks, but for people.

As an industrialist in Germany during the war, I am sure Schindler could have made thousands of dollars. Instead he sacrificed profits for life. Are companies doing this today? Are companies, top CEO’s, Presidents, and the like sacrificing profits for life? Are top bank officials from places like Citi giving up their half-million dollar bonuses to keep employees at their company? Are smaller companies doing the same? Are there any top executives taking pay cuts for the good of the company? Are we doing all we can be doing? Are we sacrificing for the sake of stocks and profits, or for lives and relationships?

new feature added: twitter

I signed up for Twitter today. If you haven’t heard of it go here. I’m not sure how much I’ll use it. I will basically be using it to keep up with my family. But, just in case I have added a Twitter side bar. It keeps the five latest updates that I add to it.

finding the book of luke in hitch

Have you seen the movie Hitch? It’s this romantic comedy with Will Smith. Alex Hitchens, played by Will Smith, is a date-doctor who helps men set up dates with the women of their dreams. Toward the end of the movie, Albert Brennaman, played by Kevin James, comes to Alex to fix the relationship that he set-up. Alex, baffled by his own love life, tells Albert to shut it out and move on. Albert in misery comes back at Alex with: “You’re selling this stuff, but you don’t believe in your own product.”

And this is the line that got me thinking. Much of the tension between Christians and non-Christians (and quite honestly between Christians and Christians) is this sense that as Christians we are trying to live out a life that is holy, loving, merciful, gracious, Christ-like. You get the point. But, we are human. We fail and that comes across as hypocritical.

The hypocritical trail is everywhere. One of the most recent examples is Ted Haggard, a former pastor in Colorado, who was caught soliciting homosexual sex. Ted openly opposed same-sex marriage. One that always stuck out to me was in high school when the same kids who led Sunday school on Sunday were out drunk the Saturday night before. This isn’t about being hypocritical though.

What is it about then? Simply put by Albert, “You’re selling this stuff, but you don’t believe in your own product.” It’s not about saying one thing and doing the other. It’s about saying one thing and not believing what you are saying you believe. As Christians we talk about the amazing grace and love of the triune God. We sell God as the God of love and grace, but do we believe in our own product? When grace should be shown to others, do we? When we are supposed to love those we are to love, do we? Or do we not believe in our own product? Do we instead believe in the product of judgment, condemnation, hate, jealously, etcetera? Do we merely act like the rest of the world? Do we hate the ones we are supposed to hate and love the ones we are supposed to love? What good is this? (Luke 6:27f)

It is easy to judge and condemn. It is easy to turn a head to the poor or be ignorant of the inequality in the world. If we are to believe in our own product we must take up hope, we must take up faith, and we must take up love.

in the midst of a crisis

In them midst of economic crisis there is something strange going on with the Church of the Brethren. Everyday now it seems like thousands of people are losing their jobs. Billion dollar companies are asking to be bailed out. People are losing their jobs, their money, their houses, their lives. Even in the midst of this we hear the stories about CEOs receiving million dollar bonuses with their companies imploding beneath them. There are the crooks on Wall Street swindling away millions of dollars from people and walking away ‘scott free’. What we don’t hear are the stories of giving.

And giving is what congregations of the Church of the Brethren are doing. With people and businesses beginning to think about how to save money and to cut costs, the Church of the Brethren at the beginning of 2009 began a matching grant opportunity for domestic hunger. Through support of two of the Church of the Brethren programs, Global Food Crisis Fund and Emergency Disaster Fund, allocated $50,000 to be matched towards food banks and pantries. Congregations could match up to $500.

Within the first four weeks of the grant the $50,000 has already been matched by over one hundred Church of the Brethren congregations. Congregations have come from large churches along with small churches. Youth groups have gotten involved. It has inspired churches to go beyond their limit for the love of others. Youth have encouraged their church by not leaving the church until $500 was raised to give to their local food bank. In total, congregations in twenty-one states have given over $75,000 with $50,000 that has been matched for a total of over $115,000.

The grant has been so successful and churches continue to send in requests that the Global Food Crisis Fund and Emergency Disaster Fund are working on creating another grant for $50,000 to continue to support local food banks and pantries.

The Church of the Brethren who has over a three-hundred year history continues to be a church rooted and devoted to peace in the United States and around the world. Although most of the denomination’s churches exist in Pennsylvania and Virginia, there are many spotted through the country.

For more info go to: www.brethren.org

the quarter problem: white privilege and the search for missio dei

I learned about the quarter problem today while at work. It’s a problem that plagues many of in the United States. In fact I find myself having the problem as well, and I bet you do too.

I’ve done one international mission trip in my life. I don’t intend to do another. The mission trip was great, don’t get me wrong. The trip was to one of the most beautiful best-kept secrets in Europe – Prague. I remember raising money to go on the two week expedition. Our church was going to help at a family and women’s shelter in Prague. We stayed onsite and during the two weeks there completed numerous projects. Many of the projects involved painting, construction, and renovation. We also did a couple of programs for the families that stayed at the shelter. The second part of the trip involved much sightseeing in Prague and visiting a castle forty-five minutes away. In the end I felt that the mission trip was more of a trip than a mission anything. After the two weeks we left Prague and went back to our normal lives.

Back to the quarter problem. The problem was described like this: My co-worker (let’s call him John) had a friend (let’s call him Jerry) while in seminary. Jerry described that he didn’t know what it felt like to be poor or homeless. So, he decided to leave his cushy apartment with all it’s things and heat, take a train downtown and live on the street for a couple of months. After a couple months on the street Jerry was talking with John and was describing the quarter problem to John. Jerry kept bringing up that he had this quarter problem.

John finally asked Jerry about the quarter problem. Jerry told John that although he was living on the street, at any moment he could pick up a quarter and go back to the life that he had before. He could go back to his warm apartment with its amenities. He could put on a suit, with his educational background, support system, and most importantly, his network and go back to his job. Jerry, although he was living on the street for two months, was not living on the street. He, unlike others, could pick up a quarter and go back to the life he had. He truly did not know what it was like to be homeless living on the streets, to be without an apartment, without support, without a network. Jerry’s invisible knapsack would always be full. And the people that he tried to know about on the street would always have an empty knapsack.

In the same way I learned in short-term missions that I have the quarter problem. After two weeks I can walk away. It’s an amazing idea to go to other countries and help the helpless. But like many of the depleted inner-cities of the Unites States it isn’t about problems, but about the assets in that community. That is why in most situations outside consultants that come into poor communities fail. And also why local asset based community development flourishes in poor communities.

In much of the same way we are saying, “Oh, those poor fill-in-the-blank! They need my help.” In a world where Malaria is easily treatable in Africa, where AIDS rips through the old and young alike, and poverty is poverty, people do need help. However, when I think about going over for a week to help out my fellow brothers and sisters, I have to ask: are they capable of doing the same job that I would go over for? Can they not build the same building? Can they not dig the same well for water? Could my money, my wealth, be put to better use? Are we forgetting about their assets? Is this real community when hierarchy is created between two different people? Is this really community when a power is asserted upon another? In the end there is a quarter problem. In the end I can choose to do or not do, I can choose to listen or not listen, I can choose to be in community or to not be.