Purple trumpets
shine out
from a grey-green background.
Central Park, Manhattan
27 October 2012
Monthly Archives: November 2013
Purple flowers, Central Park 7
I’ll take the challenge – how about you?
I have signed up to participate in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Food Stamp Challenge.
November 17-23, 2013 the PC(USA)’s denominational leaders, Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, the Moderator Neal Presa and Presbyterian Mission Board Executive Director Linda Valentine will engage in the SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge. We invite the rest of the church to join them, either by taking the actual Challenge or by joining in solidarity through various activities, including child and adult education, outreach in communities, and prayer.
The SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge is a discipline to draw attention to the gross injustice of poverty and hunger in the U.S. and to open new opportunities for education, understanding, compassion and solidarity.
This Challenge is not only a call to hunger and poverty awareness, but also a call to action. We are called by God to be in the world and to seek to make it a better place. Changing hearts and minds are the starting point of building a movement and improving policy.
The Challenge simply means choosing for one week to live on the average amount of food stamp support in your state. This means spending only the average allowance, per person, on everything that you eat, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, seasonings and drinks.
Join us November 17-23, 2013!
I’ll try to let you know how I do.
See you along the Trail.
Reflections on the World Council of Churches General Assembly
The World Council of Churches recently concluded their 10th Assembly. The Assembly met in Busan, Republic of Korea.
When I traveled to Korea this spring, I had the privilege to address the Busan WCC Preparatory Committee.
I did not return for the Assembly. Part of me wishes I had. A large group of Presbyterians attended, including colleagues and friends. Hearing of their experiences reminded me of my Korean connections.
In addition to the news accounts from the WCC and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), many of the participants wrote and blogged about the Assembly. Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly, wrote several reflections.
For analysis of the Assembly through the lens of gender and racial justice, check out the blog of my friend Laura Mariko Cheifetz. Here are her current postings along with some teasers.
I know, I should really appreciate everyone’s voices being shared. I should make sure that any decision-making process allows for all voices. But consensus is just as complicated a process as is Robert’s Rules/parliamentary procedure, and the process combined with limited time allowed for discussion really can quash serious disagreement and discussion (unless you’re a dude, according to this meeting).
- A Challenge to Unity: Bigotry Against Migrants
- Theological Foundations for Community, a.k.a. Why Being Reformed is Kinda Awesome
We have theological and Biblical reasons for our long-standing ecumenical activity. Succumbing to our desire to hoard our diminishing resources and the influence of the isolationist/conservative element in the PC(USA) would be a theological statement – that we believe we do not have enough. We believe in scarcity. We believe that our own institutional preservation is of greater theological value and import than our commitment to being part of the larger Christian family.
There is a line between tokenizing and fetishizing young people’s voices, and genuinely holding up their leadership. Let’s be clear, the church is usually behind other social institutions in giving young people real responsibilities and taking them seriously.
- Community Bookends: Day 2, WCC GA
- Eating and Not Sleeping Enough: Day 1 – WCC GA
- Exhilaration, Hope… and a Tiny Meltdown
And a highlight of my day, besides the mens’ statement, was going to the steps outside the convention center with hundreds of other participants in the pre-assembly for a group picture, with women from all over the world singing “We Shall Overcome.” This, from women who had just been discussing trafficking of women and children, and sexual violence. There is plenty of hope here. I can’t wait for tomorrow, for the beginning of the assembly.
A woman selling food by the beach gave me a look when I said I was American. I took that to mean that she didn’t quite believe me because of my looks (this is a frequent problem I have when traveling in other countries – I don’t look white, don’t have blond hair or blue eyes, and I like spicy food, so I do not seem very American to some). I said my mother’s family was Japanese, and she walked away. I know that just because my family wasn’t in Japan, and spent a few years locked up in concentration camps in the U.S. for being Japanese, does not make much of a difference to a people who were systematically terrorized by a brutal and dehumanizing regime.
Like many with privilege, I want to squeeze myself into a corner and not take up too much space out of an awareness of that privilege. Of course, as an under-40 woman of color, there is another part of me that knows disappearing is not the answer. Making myself small and withholding my contributions to the work is just another way to exercise privilege, or to allow those from my denomination and country with more personal privilege to dominate. So I will participate. In fact, I think I’ll be working my ass off, dancing between contributing the appropriate amount and making sure my contributions are not dominant over the contributions of others with less economic and social power in this religious world. At least I’m aware that I should not dominate the conversation.
Laura also posts a number of photo blogs:
- Photos from November 6 & 7: WCC GA
- Photos from November 5th: WCC GA
- Day 3: WCC GA – the photos
- Photos at the WCC: November 4th
- Days in Photos – in Busan
If you want to learn more about the WCC General Assembly, check out Laura’s work. She says more will follow.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Antiracism, Current Events, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Purple flowers, Hyde Park 7
Life cycles of
purple flowers
in one location.
Hyde Park, Chicago
15 October 2012
Filed under Photo
Daddy Don’t Go – you can help make it happen!
Daddy Don’t Go is a documentary that chronicles the lives of 4 young men in NYC who are trying to be good dads against the odds. You can help make this documentary happen through Kickstarter.
Here’s the scoop on the film:
Daddy Don’t Go is a feature length documentary that captures a year in the lives of four young men in New York City as they struggle against poverty to reach their full potential as fathers. The film poses urgent questions that expand the ongoing national dialogue concerning fatherhood. Can a man be a good dad in spite of not being a great provider? How does being a father shift a man’s identity? In true vérité style, Daddy Don’t Go will capture the crucial, intimate father-child relationship over time and without censorship. Alex, Nelson, Omar and Roy shatter the deadbeat dad stereotype, redefining what it means to be a good father for all men.
You can help make this documentary happen through Kickstarter.
Here’s the trailer:
You can help make this documentary happen through Kickstarter.
Here’s my connection to the project:
My friend Andrew Osborne is a co-director. Andrew and I met some ten years ago at a Presbyterian Peacemaking Program conference. Andrew worked the tech for the conference. I provided much of the content that he projected. Truth be told, our relationship got off to a rocky start. I asked for presentations that stretched the capacity of our equipment. When things did not go easily, I stormed off. Upon my return, I discovered that Andrew had patiently and carefully worked through things and a beautiful friendship began. We have nurtured the friendship since. We worked a couple more Peacemaking Conferences together and we made a video for the Peacemaking Program’s twenty-fifth anniversary. Over the past couple years, Andrew has helped with several video or photographic projects for the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations. He has done so professionally and well. I believe in Andrew and his work. I am proud to support Daddy Don’t Go.
You too can help make this documentary happen through Kickstarter.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Friends, Movie, Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations
Along the Graybeard Trail 