J4P – Imaging another world one step at a time (part 2)

Daniel Farrell – Guest Blogger for the Community Book Review of Jesus for President.

Be sure to check out part 1 as well.

God’s Streets

Crime is the next topic on our agenda.  They used the example of a church in Chicago that started their own nonviolent security team.  I feel like there is a lot of room for something like this here.  Crime is less of an issue in Richmond than it was just a few years ago, but the answers that people come up with(block captains programs that work with the police and neighborhood watch) just funnel people into the prison system instead of trying to help them recover.

My only thought here on resources would be the Richmond Peace Education Center which does conflict resolution training and other helpful things.  Again, if you know of other resources please leave them in the comments.

Living with Old People

This is a topic I’m less than familiar with.  They used the example of a couple they know who adopted an elderly woman with Alzheimer.  We have a penchant for just pushing the elderly away into retirement communities and nursing homes.  These can be some of the lonely places around.  Does anyone know of groups that visit shut-ins and nursing homes?

Give to Uncle Sam what is Uncle Sam’s

Taxes.  They say there are 2 guarantees in life, death and taxes.  But what do we do when nearly 50% of our taxes go to fund war and war related activities?  They give some examples of groups who have chosen to live completely simple lives and stay below the poverty and tax line.  While I don’t think that an easy transition to make it is something to consider.  Beyond that they offer some creative options but nothing that I really found practical.

Make Stuff

And the final stop in our rapid fire things to make the world better is in making our own stuff.  Expressing your creativity is a way to show that you are made in the image of a creative God.  It’s also a way to avoid being a part of exploitation.  Much of our clothing was made in sweatshops around the world by workers forced into awful situations.  Making your own clothes means that there will be less demand for clothes made in sweatshops.  Beyond sweatshops it’s also a way to practice resurrection by creatively reusing things and also a way to demonstrate that we can be sufficient without being fully dependent on the global economy.

I would have liked to see some more thought given to fair trade and local economies around this section.  But I guess that means I should write about that some myself.  But this rapid fire look at alternative ways of living was helpful to inspire me some and I hope it helps inspire you as well.

Daniel Farrell is a follower of Jesus, a husband to Alicia and owner/operator of Farrell IT. He lives, works and plays in Richmond, VA. You can follow along the Pilgrimage that Daniel finds himself on here

J4P – Imaging another world one step at a time (part 1)

Daniel Farrell – Guest Blogger for the Community Book Review of Jesus for President.

There is a lot to cover in these sections.  Shane and Chris rapid fire through a few topics that mean a lot to me.  I’ll try to rapid fire a little overview and some Richmond focused resources.

Good pattern for God’s Good Creation

Using less resources has many personal advantages but there is something bigger being talked about here.  The authors advocate and live(and share about others who also live) radical alternatives to the normal american use of natural resources.  While I have some concerns about the sustainability of large scale use of vegetable oil as a fuel, at this point and on a small scale it is a great thing that they do.

Some quick things you can do to use less resources are getting CFL lightbulbs for your house, use reusable grocery bags, bike any place you can and switch to green or wind energy.  Also connect with groups like the Back Porch Energy Initiative who are focusing a lot on this.

Practicing Resurrection

A phrase the authors use a lot is practicing resurrection.  There is a lot of room in urban environments to breath life into things that look dead.  They have done creative things like turning old refrigerators into compost bins.

Beyond that type of stuff in this section they also address our food. They encourage everyone as “one of the most revolutionary practices you can participate in” to grow your own food.  So much is wrong with how the world food system works that we can’t really go into it here.  But there is a way out.  Besides our gardens, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farms are a great way to get local sustainably grown food and support the local farmers.  SproutRichmond is a great group that will help connect you with a local CSA.  We are also blessed to have Ellwood Thompsons Local Market here with it’s commitment to getting locally grown food.  For gardening resources I can recommend connecting with Tricycle Gardens for some of their workshops.

Setting the Captives Free

Next on the agenda is our prison systems.  The authors point out a couple of very disturbing things in this section.  First is the connection between slavery and our prison systems.  Slavery was outlawed in America with the 13th amendment but it also said that it was only illegal if the person has not been convicted of a crime.  This allows our prison system to provide cheap labor to corporations.  Combine that with the fact that around 1/3 of black men in America is in prison and you have a new slavery.  The other connection was between the welfare system and our prisons.  Philadelphia was used as an example, when they asked a city official how they were preparing for welfare cuts he responded by saying they built 4 new prisons.  How these combined ideas don’t lead us all to be outraged is beyond me.

I don’t actually know of any good prison ministries in Richmond.  If you know of any please leave them in the comments.

Daniel Farrell is a follower of Jesus, a husband to Alicia and owner/operator of Farrell IT. He lives, works and plays in Richmond, VA. You can follow along the Pilgrimage that Daniel finds himself on here

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Jesus For President: a Community Book Review

I am well aware that the title to this book and post could drum up an unsettling reaction in some of its readers. For some it is the uneasy feeling of mixing faith and politics, church and state, and Jesus with President. The scars of the religious right may still be too fresh. For some its the thought that religion has seemed to have done more harm than good throughout the annals of history, so why even entertain such a thought? And for others it just might instill a little hope, a hope that is set not in religion but rather in Jesus and the radical nature of his teachings. So wherever you find yourself on this continuum, I personally invite you to join a respectful conversation that is taking place this summer through this blog and on July 23rd when Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw come to Richmond, Virginia for their Jesus for President book tour.

When: July 23rd @ 7:00 p.m.

Where: Tabernacle Baptist Church (located on the corner of Grove and Meadow)

Below is the schedule of blog post and the posters. You might notice that there are still a few posts that have not been spoken for… if you are interested in writing (Review, Editorial, or just simple questions to start conversation) feel free to contact me.

5-26 Introduction – Brent Underwood

Section 1 – Before There Were Kings and Presidents

5-28 In the Beginning, The Flood, The Tower, Exodus – Matt Sadler

5-30 For Every King There is a Prophet, Big Beast and Little Prophets, When Kings Cry – Keila Underwood

6-2 Power in Weakness, Branded by God: The Purity Code, Set Apart for Something Better – Mark Sprinkle

Section 2 – A New Kind of Commander-in-Chief

6-4 A New Kind of Commander-in-Chief, A Little Political Backdrop, Riots and Revolutions – Anna Miller

6-6 Herod the Not So Great, The Royal Birth, Political Seduction in the Desert,Commencement Speech – Sterling Severns

6-9 A Security Plan That Will Never Win an Elections, Jesus’ Policy on the “War on Terror”, The Way the Kingdom Grows (Or, Was Jesus Like Che?), The Mustard Seed Revolution – Daniel Farrell

6-11 On Citizenship in Heaven and Being Born Again, Down-to-Earth Politics,Take My Yoke, Not Rome’s, Occupied by a Legion – Daniel Farrell

6-13 Jesus and Taxes, Go Tell That Fox,The Anti-Triumphal Entrance intro Jerusalem,Ruling with a Towel – Matthew Freeman

6-16 The Last Prayer, Jesus’ Inauguration Ceremony, Caesar’s Coronation and Procession, Jesus’ Coronation and Procession, The Human Temple – Dean Miller

Section 3 – When The Empire Got Baptized

6-18 When The Empire God Baptized, Washing the Dirty System Off of US,The Empire Has No Clothes, On the Political Fringes of Empire – David Wolf

6-20 Alluring, Pious Rome, Revolutionary Subordination, Constantine and the “Fall” of the Church, Compassionate Imperialism – Matt Bell

6-23 Another Exodus, The Collision of Identity, The Imperial Baptism Continues, The Gospel of America and Beyond – Eric Hasha

6-25 Idols and Images, In the Market We Trust, Co-opted and Confused, Flags on Alters – Faith Martin

6-27 God Bless America, What About Hitler?, The Dangerous Meshing – Daniel Farrell

6-30 Then There is Logan, War Stories, Another Soldier Who Said “Enough”,A Closing Confession – Brent Underwood

Section 4 – A Peculiar Party

7-2 A Peculiar Party, Good News, Looking Like Jesus, What Do You See?, The Issues – Keila Underwood

7-4 Political Misfits, Cultural Refugees, Politics for Ordinary Radicals, Vagrant Campaigning (No SUV’s or Secret Service) – ?

7-7 Good Pattern for God’s Good Creation, Practicing Resurrection, Setting the Captives Free, God’s Streets, Living with Old People, Give to Uncle Sam What is Uncle Sam’s, Make Stuff – Daniel and Alicia Farrell

7-9 A Real Security Plan, The Third Way of Jesus, Bustin’ Out a Can of Grace, Like King David, Lydia – ?

7-11 Practicing Forgiveness, Fighting with Fruit, Getting in the Way: Christian Peacemaker Teams, Amish for Homeland Security, Bearing a Cross – ?

7-14 Practicing Revolutionary Patience, What to Do with Kings Gone Wild?, The Gates of Hell, Revolutionary Subordination, Alternative Economics, Relational Tithe, A Village of Interdependence – ?

7-16 Another World is Possible, Conversion, We Need New… Celebrations, Language, Rituals, Heroes, Songs, Liturgy, Eyes, Holidays – Chris Backert

7-18 Vote the Rock – Anyone who would like to write their concluding thoughts

J4P – Allegiance and Burdens

Guest Blogger: Daniel Farrell

Coming off learning about different parts(Economic, Security, Terror and PR) of Jesus’ platform the authors move a little more into the thick of “what does that mean for us” type of stuff. How are those onboard supposed to live? Wanting to be very careful that we can’t get off on the easy side of “that means I’m supposed to give money to the church and then wait for heaven” they dive right into citizenship and allegiance. This kingdom of god/heaven is like a normal kingdom in that there are citizens and it does require allegiance to operate. Can you imagine a state/kingdom without any citizens? Would it really still exist? I feel like it might just disappear. How about a state/kingdom that no one had any allegiance to? What would that look like? Unfortunately for most of my life that is all I have seen the church be a part of. It was a part of a kingdom where everyone considered themselves to be citizens of someplace else first. It was a part of a kingdom where very few would pledge any allegiance to, especially not like they pledge allegiance to their country. What would it look like for us if we had more concern about being citizens of Jesus’ kingdom than of the US? What would it look like if our allegiance was to Jesus’ kingdom of love first?

Moving on from allegiance they talk about yokes and burdens. Yokes and burdens being the weight that is placed on all of our backs. Think “this is my burden to bear.” I’ve heard it said that we are all slaves but if we are lucky we get to choose what we are slaves to. That is the basic idea here, that being a slave/servant to Jesus is a whole lot better than being a slave to empires, kings, corporations, middle managers, sweatshop bosses, brands, consumerism, tv, video games, etc, etc. Do you feel like you have a burden to bear in life because of the culture we are in? Is that as simple as “live the american dream?” I feel like that idea is a burden to me that I fight against.

One thing I think the authors do very well in the book so far is to always connect things to a global perspective. Because our times are not unlike Jesus’ time, but our position in the story is very different then the Israelites position. We are like those living large in Rome, or if not living large then getting by and getting to enjoy some of the hand me down “large life” things of being on “the winning side.” The Israelites were much more like Iraqis, or poor South American farmers or those working in the sweatshops in east Asia. They were like those that get the raw end of the empire of global capitalism. Until we can read the story with some of that understanding we will always be looking to spiritualize or marginalize any part of it that could challenge our privileged lifestyles. Are the parts where they try to connect with a global context helpful to you?

Daniel Farrell is a follower of Jesus, a husband to Alicia and owner/operator of Farrell IT. He lives, works and plays in Richmond, VA. You can follow along the Pilgrimage that Daniel finds himself on here.

J4P – Security, Terror and PR Policies

Guest Blogger: Daniel Farrell

After covering Jesus’ economic policy (Jubilee) in the last section they move on to his security, terrorism and PR policies in this section. For his security policy they reference the Sermon on the Mount(Matthew 5-7) and specifically focus on Matthew 5:38-42 where Jesus talks about turning the other cheek, going the extra mile and surrendering your undergarments when someone sues you for your clothes. This is a radical passage when put into it’s context which the authors do. They then share Walter Wink’s interpretations of what those mean. For those not familiar with Wink his interpretation is that these were not passive, let yourself be taken advantage of, teachings. That in context they illustrate a 3rd way to respond to oppression outside of violent resistance and passive acceptance of abuse. The 3rd way is creative nonviolence resistance. It’s doing something to put the oppressor in an awkward situation and forcing them to either back off or shaming themselves/getting in trouble. That is what Gandhi saw in Jesus and tried to emulate in his context. Obviously those actions must be culturally relevant so as to actually fulfill the intended purpose. What do you think those types of actions would be in our society?

Following from there they dealt with the parable of the wheat and tares(Matthew 13:24-30) as Jesus’ ideas for how to handle evil, his terrorism policy if you will. It’s pretty much the opposite of the “kill them all and let God sort them out” that was coined by Arnaud-Armaury (the Abbot of Citeaux) during the crusades. Jesus was saying “let them all live and let God sort them out.” The 2 points they take away from the parable are:

1. You cannot easily distinguish the weeds from the wheat. (It’s not so easy to say, “We are all good and they are all evil.” Sometimes only God can distinguish.)

2. Destroying evil might destroy good.

How do you feel about the idea of just letting evil be? Does it rub you the wrong way?

From security and terrorism policies they move onto PR and expansion. Obviously Jesus didn’t have access to the type or propaganda available now, but from what we do see it doesn’t seem like he would have taken advantage of it anyways. Here they look at the parable of the seed sower (Matthew 13:3-8). The kingdom message is put out through people spreading it all around. It’s thrown out like seed and left to grow. They contrast it to revolutionaries like Che Guevara and Karl Marx whose message was more “this revolution needs to have now.” Compare that to the farmer who plants for next year and constantly is taking care of the land so that in the future things will grow more. The point? It takes time.

To expand on that a little they look mustard seed and yeast passage in Luke 13:18-21. Both of those examples are something that seems small, but give it some time and it will take over. Mustard plants spread like a weed. Think of that plant in your garden that is always trying to take over everything. For us it’s Canna Lilies that just keep growing and spreading. That’s how yeast works too. Mix a little into some dough and let it work. A friend of mine used to always saw the kingdom spread “like a virus” and it fits well here. A virus won’t infect everyone all at once… but is passed on person to person and can cause an epidemic if it gets to enough people. That is how the kingdom spreads.

Does it frustrate you to be a part of something that could take years to have an effect? In our culture of instant results do you think that approach is even possible?

Daniel Farrell is a follower of Jesus, a husband to Alicia and owner/operator of Farrell IT. He lives, works and plays in Richmond, VA. You can follow along the Pilgrimage that Daniel finds himself on here.

J4P – Shane on J4P

J4P – Looking for help

Starting soon we will be starting a conversation with the book Jesus For President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw. My hope is to engage with this book and what it might mean for the larger community of Richmond. So, I’m inviting a multiplicity of voices to join me in blogging through this book. That means I need your voice! I’m looking for Christians, atheists, red state, blue state and purple people who are willing to read this book and add their voice. I’m looking for people who believe that “Another world is possible” here in Richmond and in the world.

When people hear the title of this book it often comes with mixed reactions. So I’d thought we’d let the authors tell us why this book was written.

This book is a project in renewing the imagination of the church in the United States and of those who would seek to know Jesus. We are seeing more and more that the church has fallen in love with the state and that this love affair is killing the church’s imagination. The powerful benefits and temptations of running the world’s largest superpower have bent the church’s identity. Having power at its fingertips, the church often finds “guiding the course of history” a more alluring goal than following the crucified Christ. Too often the patriotic values of pride and strength triumph over the spiritual virtues of humility, gentleness, and sacrificial love. (17)

In the rest of the introduction Shane and Chris talk of the dangers of not knowing where the state ends and the church begins. To illustrate this point, they use the famous Tony Compolo quote: “Mixing the church and state is like mixing ice cream and cow manure. It may not do much to the manure, but it sure messes up the ice cream.”

This raises all sorts of questions for us. Can a follower of Christ be political? What would it look like to engage in politics as a Christian? Is this what Jesus was warning us about when he said that we can’t serve two masters? Or maybe we need to redefine what it means to be political…

We hope this book will broaden the definition of political. As you’ll find in the following pages, political doesn’t refer merely to legislation, parties, and governments. So while we will insist that the Christian faith be political, we also want to redefine what political means or looks like. We hope to redefine it simply as how we relate to the world.

The book is divided up into four sections.

1. Before There Where Kings and Presidents (Hebrew Scriptures 101)
2. A New Kind of Commander-in-Chief (Jesus)
   
3. When then Empire Got Baptized (How the Unholy union began)
   
4. A Peculiar Party (Stories of Subverting the Empire)
   

We will be breaking down these sections into 24 separate posts. So if you are interested in writing a post and adding your voice to the conversation, let me know and I’ll send you the topics you can choose from. And even if you are not interested in posting your thoughts, we still invite you to read the book and join in the conversation in the comment section.

Peace,

brent

*** Posting should begin by May 26th (that should give everyone time to start reading the book).

Join the Hauerwas Mafia

Monday October 15th Stanley Hauerwas will be speaking at Union Seminary and its FREE.

I was at an Emergent Theological Conversation where Tony Jones jokingly referred to a group within the emergent movement as the Hauerwas Mafia because of its belief in Jesus’ teachings of a radical way of peace. So consider yourself invited to join in.

Details below:

Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity School Dr. Hauerwas will speak at Union-PSCE on Monday afternoon, Oct. 15, at 12:30 p.m. in Lingle Hall. 3406 Brook Road.

Embrace Darfur

I have been working at Embrace Richmond as the Director of Community Development and today our community part just got a little bit bigger.

As of today we are partnering with the Virginia Council of Churches and their Refugee Resettlement Program. Essentially, we will be helping with the families who having been living as refugees in countries like Burundi, Sudan, Tanzania and Vietnam.

Today my world got a little smaller!