All About Jesus
Friday, October 24, 2008
(Jonathan Bukiewicz) - This past summer I had the opportunity to head out to a few different Christian festivals with my wife and our kids. We loaded up the car with sleeping bags, a tent and a camping stove and made the trek to both PAPA Fest and Cornerstone Festival in different parts of
Who were they supporting? For which candidate were they campaigning?
Well, in a nutshell, they were all about Jesus.
Throughout the course of their book and their speaking tour, Shane and Chris - the book's authors - set out to awaken the "Christian political imagination" of believers throughout the nation. They, like many of us, found themselves in disbelief over the state of politics, greed and consumerism rampantly finding its way into every aspect of our society, and wanted to begin a dialogue about it. What better way to do this than to write a book and travel the country having conversations with people?
Needless to say, there are many conversations that need to be had about the state of politics, the state of the economy, the state of the nation and the state of injustice throughout the world. Undoubtedly, you've been bombarded with messages from every direction in an attempt to persuade you towards one candidate or another. And undoubtedly, this will only increase until November 4th, when one of the candidates is elected and the other half of the country calls into work sick the next day.
The point I've come to personally is in knowing that, whoever is elected, there are aspects of our culture, government and our world that need changing. Will this happen with whomever is elected, be it McCain or Obama? Do I really believe that one of the candidates is going to sweep in on a chariot and make the wrong things right? That if "my" candidate is elected, he'll do a better job than "your" candidate?
Honestly, no.
Obama or McCain, Democratic or Republican parties, I can take them or leave them.
Call me cynical, but I've gotten past putting trust in a government system that continues to favor class divisions, military conflict and corrupt economic growth while meticulously squeezing out space for accountability, both in the
In our culture, abounding grace and forgiveness is not the norm. Turning the cheek when struck is not the norm. Favoring the poor, or uneducated, or those who don't contribute to society as we're taught we should, is not the norm. Loving above all else, even if it costs your life is not the norm. Selling your possessions and giving to the poor, this is not the norm. Instead it is the Way that speaks of nonviolence, living with less, sharing what we've got, and seeing to find imaginative and creative ways to make change. So in light of a message of Jesus that transcended the ways of society, including the government systems of his day, aren't we called to something greater than casting a vote and putting the change in the hands of politicians?
I want to be apart of a movement in the Church that seeks creative ways to look at the "key" issues in light of Christ's message and find ways to subversively infect the areas of greatest concern with love. How do we start? Get on our knees.
For further reading:
-The Myth of a Christian Nation (How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church)
-Jesus for President (Politics for Ordinary Radicals)
-Everything Must Change (Jesus, Global Crisis and a Revolution of Hope)
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With Respect to Life
(Captain Thom Moffitt) - My friends on the Right will argue that “life” is a social justice issue from the perspective of both those born and those unborn; that ALL life should be protected. My friends on the Left will say that it is a social justice issue for the woman and child who find themselves in such a situation as to consider a “choice” as their only option. There seems to be then an obligation required of both political parties to address the issue in a way that seeks a just outcome.
The introduction to The Salvation Army International Headquarters Position Statement on Abortion reads, “The Salvation Army believes in the sanctity of all human life from the moment of fertilization. It considers each person to be of infinite value, and each life a gift from God to be cherished, nurtured and preserved. The Salvation Army supports efforts to protect and promote the welfare of the weak and defenseless person, including the unborn.”
One may argue that The Army’s position is non-political in nature and to suggest otherwise – especially in the case of the American political debate - is to take it out of international context. However, whereas Salvationists are positioned neutral in matters of party politics, there is implicitly an international understanding that The Army will enter the political debate with regard to matters of social need and the welfare of humanity. Based on Biblical expectation, this position statement makes our position as “young” Salvationists of voting age clear. The political position of all Salvationsists should be one that upholds Biblical statements of sanctity and dignity of all human life. And our attitude on that issue alone stands as the basis for how we respond to all other social, economic and political issues.
The sanctity and dignity of human life is the prima facie argument for all other social justice issues. We care about the homeless because we affirm the quality of all human life wherever it may reside, we are interested in asserting the rights of the oppressed because we value human dignity for all people, we defend and seek to rescue the sex trafficked because living means more than just simply surviving through it, but rather being restored to a new life; we support fair trade issues as we seek to treat human laborers humanely with a decent wage for decent work; and differently than that of an animal doing similar work. And with regards to the War … we seek to end all war, but in a way that continues to protect the freedoms of life and liberty for all humanity. Our response to these issues will always come back to our perspective on life. What will your vote this November say about your perspective on the sanctity and dignity of human life?
With less than three weeks to Election Day at the writing of this article, I encourage every voter, whether you have decided who you will vote for or not – as most of us will likely vote for a variety of local and state candidates as well as Federal - to take the time to consider more than simply who you will support for President. Read through each party’s platform as it pertains to social justice issues.
It is from those positions that each party will respectively lead.
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Pray for San Francisco! Now!
Monday, October 20, 2008
The time has come to pray urgently for San Francisco and to get the word out that about a bill called Proposition K.
Below is an email that I received from Lisa Thompson, the coordinator of the Salvation Army's national initiative against sexual trafficking. She explains that if passed, Proposition K would prohibit the enforcement of anti-trafficking laws in San Francisco, a well used hub for trafficking in the States. Please read the email and the following article and then send this info to any friends you have in SF area or California in general. You should also check out the website mentioned which spells out exactly what Proposition K is and what could happen if passed (http://www.noonk.net/).
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Dear Friends:
Earlier today I spoke to Dr. Melissa Farley of Prostitution Research and Education. She gave me an update the efforts that she and many other people have been making to defeat Proposition K, a ballot initiative in San Francisco that would prohibit the enforcement of anti-trafficking and prostitution laws in the city. While many community leaders and experts have voiced their opposition to Proposition K, including the mayor and the district attorney, the vote is expected to be close. Dr. Farley and others have organized a political action committee called the Committee Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation. You can visit their website at: http://www.noonk.net/.
Should Proposition K pass, it will be a major victory of sex industry promoters and profiteers (i.e. pimps). It will also be a set back for the U.S,'s international efforts to combat sex trafficking. U.S. foreign policy clearly makes the link between legalized prostitution (by this I mean all aspects of the trade, like brothel keeping, pimping, and solicitation being legalized and regulated) and sex trafficking. Therefore the U.S. encourages foreign countries to make efforts to limit or eradicate their sex industries, not normalize them as Proposition K will if passed. Thus, you can see how foreign governments will get a very mixed message from the U.S. if Proposition K passes. The PAC hopes to raise $20,000 before or by Oct 27 so that a mass mailing can be sent to registered voters in SF explaining the terrible consequences (to victims of sex trafficking in the U.S. and abroad) of Proposition K -- see the website for more information. Please forward this email to friends and family in the San Francisco area.
Abolition!
Lisa
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Why You Should Vote No on SF’s Proposition K
Prop K was put on your November 2008 SF ballot by groups
that claim to be in favor of protecting “sex workers”
Masquerading as a progressive initiative Prop K this legislation will harm women, children, and the San Francisco community as a whole. The measure directs San Francisco Police Department and the District Attorney’s office to refuse to enforce the State of California’s prostitution laws. These sections include the laws used to investigate and prosecute traffickers and those involved in exploiting children. Non-enforcement of these laws would put all of us at risk, and send an invitation out to pimps, traffickers, and johns.
This dangerous legislation is a ploy to shift attention away from those who profit from sexually exploiting women, children, men, and transgenders in the sex industry. It is a ploy to take the focus away from pimps and johns. If enacted, the measure will empower pimps and offer no new protection for prostitutes. In fact, it jeopardizes the very existence of the few exit services and harm reduction programs that are currently available.
What would ending “enforcement of California’s prostitution laws” really mean?
It would mean turning a blind eye to young people, immigrants, and others who are the most vulnerable to prostitution and trafficking – those who are marginalized because of their poverty or their race or ethnicity. The average age of entry into prostitution is 12 to 14 years.
One of the provisions of this misguided proposal would de-fund services to victims of trafficking.
This initiative prohibits the City and County of San Francisco from applying for and receiving State and Federal grants to fight Human Trafficking. The cynical allegation is made that service provision to trafficking victims is “racial profiling.” In fact many victims of trafficking to San Francisco are from Asia and Latin America. In order to reach out to these victims, services must be offered in their languages. Far from racial profiling, it is absolutely necessary to offer culturally relevant services to people who are likely trafficking victims.
Ending enforcement California’s prostitution laws is to tell people who are exploited in the sex industry and prostitution that their safety is not our priority.
Millions are trafficked into the global sex industry
This flawed petition calls for law enforcement to ignore the extremely dangerous and harmful activities happening in San Francisco. San Francisco is both source and destination for sex trafficking. Women, men, transgendered people, and children are trafficked in the U.S. into the sex industry.
In 2005 Operation “Gilded Cage” rescued over 100 Korean women who had been trafficked into Bay Area massage parlors. Many of the trafficked young women were vulnerable because of limited access to language, systematic abuse by clients and pimps, threats against their families back home, and debts that they were continually tied into by their traffickers.
Victims of trafficking have received support and services from organizations like the Asian Women’s Shelter, Cameron House, La Casa de las Madres, Riley House, Safe House, and SAGE Project - all organizations that the ballot measure seeks to de-fund.
This proposal fails to recognize that prostitution is harmful to those in it
Prostitution can never be a safe industry the way most people think of safety: a safe place to live, freedom from sexual violence and harassment, and the right not be treated with verbal abuse and contempt. As a john explained, prostitution is “renting an organ for 10 minutes.” Decriminalization of johns will make no difference to the physical and the emotional safety of women in prostitution. Regardless of its legal status, prostitution is extremely harmful to those in it. There is little difference for the prostitute between legal and decriminalized prostitution.
Sexual abuse, assault, and rape of people who “work” in the sex industry is normalized in prostitution. Whether it is in a john’s house, car, a hotel, massage parlor, private dance room, strip club, legal brothel, or the street prostitution is incredibly dangerous. Researchers, service agencies, homeless shelters, and battered women’s shelters all tell us that more than 90% of those in prostitution want to escape it.
In a 2008 study after l0 years of operation, San Francisco’s SafeHouse
for Women Leaving Prostitution clients’ surveys report:
• 75% had extended periods of homelessness
• 90% had major mental health diagnoses
• 90% suffered severe child abuse and/or incest before age 18
• 90% had long-term drug addiction
• 57% never completed high school
• 75% are mothers with children in the system
• They averaged 19 years in prostitution beginning as young as 12
Prop K cuts funds to help prostituted women change their lives
Don’t abandon them
Vote NO on K
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Forts
Friday, October 17, 2008
(Sarah Kincaid - Oakbrook Terrace Corps) - When you hear the word fortress, what do you think of? I first think of a fort. The idea of forts transports me to back to the 4th grade when my neighbor Emily and I ‘built’ a fort in my backyard. Behind the house my family lived in were loads of trees and brush type bushes that met a swamp. We hollowed out a grouping of the bushes and bent tree branches to create a dome shaped fort. We swept clean the dirt floor of twigs and debris and I ripped off the backcovers of my mom’s Reader’s Digest magazines that always had reprinted painting on them to hang from the skinny trees within the fort. I remember being very proud of the fact that our fort wasn’t too girly but it was clean and well decorated. We would seek refuge in our hollowed out bush fort when we didn’t want to play with her brothers anymore and when my older 8th grade sister wasn’t around. It would have been really shameful for Emily, a 6th grader, to be caught playing in a fort decorated with Reader’s Digest pictures, with me, a 4th grader. Although I do remember being offended by her rejection, I understood in some way her dismissal of me. Even at a young age, it made some sense to me that at some level people in my life would eventually let me down and in some respects fail me. Despite getting ditched I still would retreat to our ‘fortress’ to escape any issues occurring in the house and to probably read the ‘Laughter is the best medicine’ section of those Reader’s Digest magazines I had slightly vandalized. I remember looking up through the canopy of branches and tiny leaves and seeing a little bit of the sky and feeling safe, protected and that good feeling when you’re alone, because you’re not really alone.
In the past few months I have been very conscious of the concept of ‘fortress’ and working to figure out what that means in relation to who God is, not really who God is but what God is. I’ve sang in congregations, youth meetings and Bible studies the hymn ‘A mighty fortress in our God”. We’ve corporately sung the traditional version and versions with added choruses and bridges and faster tempos. But the lyrics and theme are all the same, well maybe a little different here and there with the lyrics from being translated from German, but surely the same theme. Verse two says, “Did we our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing; were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is he; Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle.” Yes! What an awesome verse. This hymn is in inspiration of Psalm 46. Verse 1 and 2 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;” This truth applies everywhere in my life and in yours. From getting ditched in the 4th grade, to feeling completely disconnected and alone in high school to when you feel helplessly afraid your family will fall apart. He is a very present help in trouble. “From age to age the same, He must win the battle.” The battle is His, not yours; He is your refuge and fortress. The last verse of the hymn sings, “That word above of all earthly powers, no thank to them abideth; the Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; the body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still, his Kingdom is forever.” He is above all earthly power and comfort, and from age to age he is the same, and His kingdom is forever. That is some truth I can find refuge and fortress in.
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Gird Up Your Loins Boys
(Justin Rose - Mayfair Community Church) - One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament comes from 1 Kings 18. God tells the prophet Elijah that he is tired of his people serving other gods. The Israelites were worshipping the god Baal, as was their king Ahab (and his wretched wife Jezebel); so God sent a drought on Israel. Elijah is instructed by God to take Ahab, the Israelites, and the 450 prophets of Baal to the top of Mount Carmel and says that whichever god (Baal or God) sends fire down from heaven is the true God. So the prophets of Baal went first. They took a bull and prayed to their god to send fire; they cried, danced, screamed, and even cut themselves, but nothing happened. So after many hours of this it was Elijah’s turn. He built an altar, took a bull, and poured twelve huge jars of water on it, to prove that God can do the impossible and show God’s provision since that was a lot of water to waste during a drought. Elijah then said a simple prayer and, of course, God sent fire down from heaven proving that he is the one true God. So the Israelites killed all the prophets of Baal, showing that they will no longer serve other gods, and proclaim “the LORD indeed is God.”
Immediately after this another amazing thing happens. Elijah prays another simple prayer to God and the three and a half year drought ends. A small cloud about the size of a hand started to come over the water and Elijah knew that this meant his prayer was answered. So he told King Ahab to get in his chariot and leave before the rain comes and the mud makes it impossible to pull the chariot.
After this, the Bible tells us that Elijah “girded up his loins” (KJV) and ran before the chariot of the King all the way to the city of Jezreel. I always thought that this meant that his hips got filled with gasoline or that the Flash took over his body for a second and he ran way faster than the horses and beat the king. I had the mental picture of roadrunner out running coyote by making his legs move so fast that it just looked like a blur.
But this is not actually what happened. In the time of Elijah it was customary for kings to have runners in front of the chariot to announce the king’s presence and clear any obstacles. Elijah, being from Gilead, had been trained to run like a marathon runner, and was showing his loyalty to the king as God’s anointed. He girded, or tied up, his robe so that he wouldn’t trip and fall on his face while running.
But the thing that I want to focus on is that verse 46 says the “power” (NIV) or the “hand” (KJV) of the Lord was upon Elijah. Elijah just had one of the longest days of his life. It must have been physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining. Elijah met with Ahab, summoned the people to Mount Carmel, watched the prophets of Baal humiliate themselves, then built an altar, watched God send fire from heaven, killed the 450 prophets of Baal, and then prayed up on the mountain for rain which would make a very long a draining day. Then at the end of that very same day he ran in front of a chariot, which was carried by horses, eighteen miles to Jezreel. That is a long and tiring day.
I know that Elijah must have wanted nothing else than to curl up under a tree and sleep. After running for about six minutes I have to stop and hold my side or else I feel like it is going to either fall apart or explode. But Elijah truly was strengthened by God to be able to do all that in one day. This shows us that God truly does strengthen his people, both physically and spiritually to be able to overcome great obstacles. Not only did Elijah have physical strength but he also had enough faith in God to back a king that up until a few hours ago was serving a different god. In the New Testament, Paul writes “For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13, NLT). When the hand of God is upon you, all things are possible.
Several years ago I was a counselor at a Salvation Army camp and there was a certain teen in my cabin who was open about the fact that he did drugs, had sex, and did not care about God. This was hard for us counselors to hear, so we started to pray for the young man and asked God to give us the words to say. We prayed faithfully for him and half way through the week he believed on Jesus and was saved. This made us ecstatic and we thanked God for what he had done. A few days later the young man came to me and said, “I had this when I came to camp, but I’m different now. God doesn’t want me to have this.” and he handed me a bag of marijuana. The hand of God came upon this new Christian and he realized that he now had the strength to be different and make a conscious choice to change the way he was living.
When the Hand of God is upon us we can do amazing things. Jesus even told us that we would do greater things than he himself has done (John 14:12). With God’s Hand comes his power to do all things (Matthew 19:26). God has sent his power to the weak so that the world will see his glory. Elijah was weak, but the Lord made him strong. I know he can do the same in your life and mine.
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The Salvation Army Uniform
Friday, October 10, 2008
How Can A 19th Century Tradition
Be Effective In The 21st Century?
(The Salvation Army Uniform)
Be Effective In The 21st Century?
(The Salvation Army Uniform)
(Colonel Dennis Phillips) CHANGE! We are hearing a lot about “change” these days. “Change you can believe in.” “Change you can trust.” Democrats and Republicans alike claim to have the winner’s edge on change, yet neither party—nor anyone—has a monopoly on it. How easily we are beguiled into believing that “change alone” will correct everything that’s wrong even while we are not told what we are changing to.
“Don’t ever change the uniform.” I can still hear those words as the honored guest held my arm while pointing to my wife’s brilliant white uniform….hat and all. We were at Governor’s House in
I was crossing
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For history on the Salvation Army uniform, check out this piece.
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Chicago Temple Coffee House Night
You have been cordially invited to Chicago Temple's
Coffee House
Coffee House
Coffee House
Chicago Temple
Friday, October 17, 7pm
God talk, games, family fun, food
Be sure to come out and support them! For directions to the Chicago Temple Corps, click here.
(Coffee House graphic courtesy of B. Nilson.)
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New Territorial Commanders
Monday, October 06, 2008
In case you didn't know, this Sunday the new leaders of the Central Territory will be not only be welcomed but also installed. Following the retirement of Commissioners Ken and Joy Bailey almost one month ago, Commissioners Barry C. and Sue Swanson will be assuming command. While they are certainly not complete strangers to the Territory, they will be welcomed by National Commanders Israel L. and Eva D. Gaither, the Chicago Staff Band, the CFOT Chorus, and, wait for it, the Taste of Metro. All proceeds of the Taste will go directly to World Services. So eat well, within reason, and enjoy an awesome time of fellowship.
When: Sunday, October 12th, 7:00 p.m.
Where: Mayfair Community Church; 5020 N. Pulaski Rd.; Chicago, Ill.
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