It's crazy to think that just a little bit more than a month ago, that we had the opportunity to visit the Philippines and explore the various ways that human rights were being violated by the government at large and how the land of my ancestors was continually plundered and subverted.
Though the situation is dire, the people continue to fight and resist against the forces that seek to oppress them. The call for peace and justice rings out from the mountains of Mindanao, to Jinamoc Island, to the prisons of Camp Bagong Diwa. People of all backgrounds and ages continue to struggle in order to find this justice and to organize together in order to achieve this.
I think back to days of teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and how children are taught to let "the light of Jesus" shine in their lives. Now it is our task as the delegates of the PSV to let Jesus' vision of justice and peace for all people to shine, in solidarity with the people of the Philippines.
From California, to Palestine, to Ferguson, to the Philippines. "We know we can, show solidarity."
Friday, August 29, 2014
Sunday, August 3, 2014
"Reverse" Culture Shock
If you come across an article, a photo, a post on Facebook of injustice that disturbs you... Good - You have a heart. You have your humanity.
If that discomfort or disturbance triggers in you the fight or flight response, take a moment to resist flight, to sit with what you’re feeling that it may move you to fight. To fight injustice. To fight harm. Because something inside you has woken up to recognize injustice as wrong.
Because it means that you’ve been able to feel for/with others outside of yourself, outside of your family, even outside of your country. You’ve been able to find kin in the “other.” This is an act of self-care, of health, of wholeness to be able to allow yourself to be human, to allow your heart to beat for someone Jesus would call your neighbor, to allow yourself to feel indignation, to allow yourself to feel connected to a community bigger than your understanding and imagination, to allow your being to feel that transformative fire within, even for a moment.
If we feel out of place coming back, it is a normal symptom that says the veil of ego and individualistic comfort bred from imperialism has been lifted from our eyes. Our vision can no longer be one of complacency or status quo or even hopelessness.
These are the foundations of being a participant in God’s collective salvation for all people. It’s more than intellectual belief or knowledge. And it’s nothing less than the movement of the fire of the people.
May the reality that has been revealed to our group continue to beckon us to act and to stay connected to the struggle that brings peace to all of God's people and God's Creation.
If that discomfort or disturbance triggers in you the fight or flight response, take a moment to resist flight, to sit with what you’re feeling that it may move you to fight. To fight injustice. To fight harm. Because something inside you has woken up to recognize injustice as wrong.
Because it means that you’ve been able to feel for/with others outside of yourself, outside of your family, even outside of your country. You’ve been able to find kin in the “other.” This is an act of self-care, of health, of wholeness to be able to allow yourself to be human, to allow your heart to beat for someone Jesus would call your neighbor, to allow yourself to feel indignation, to allow yourself to feel connected to a community bigger than your understanding and imagination, to allow your being to feel that transformative fire within, even for a moment.
If we feel out of place coming back, it is a normal symptom that says the veil of ego and individualistic comfort bred from imperialism has been lifted from our eyes. Our vision can no longer be one of complacency or status quo or even hopelessness.
These are the foundations of being a participant in God’s collective salvation for all people. It’s more than intellectual belief or knowledge. And it’s nothing less than the movement of the fire of the people.
May the reality that has been revealed to our group continue to beckon us to act and to stay connected to the struggle that brings peace to all of God's people and God's Creation.
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