IRAN: when elections are more than advertising consumption

The recent protests over Iran’s disputed election results demonstrate the importance politics plays in the life of many people in the world.  The stakes are high and some people have been killed by Iranian militias during a rally that attempted to storm the militia’s compound in Tehran.  People are not just protesting the injustice of a system that they feel has stolen their vote.  They are fighting for the demand to have what many Americans take for granted; basic liberties that provide the substance for a society’s significance. 

The basic liberty to choose the leader’s of one’s nation in a fair and just vote is taken for granted by Americans who display contempt and cyncism towards politics.  The source of this malevolence towards the political system is the contrast between the messages that bombard the consumer through PR stunts, advertisments, and stump speeches and the human significance found in having the liberty to create enjoyment in life that is peaceful and just. 

 The American voter is not voting to ensure a better society with significance for the nation as a community.  Instead politicians are appealing to the American voter on the basic human level of fear and self indulgence.  Advertising and consumerism do not manipulate the person as much as they appeal to the self indulgent desires of the person attempting to convince them that those desires will be fulfilled by the product or idea being offered to them.  It’s the consumer’s own desire that fuels the whole system.  In politics this means the message and vote are not about creating a better society but what appeals to the basic desires of the voter in order to get their commitment and win the election. 

The contrast between the consumer voter in the US and the Iranian voter is vast.  In Iran people are voting for politicians who embody a reality, an ideal that will mold their country in particular ways that either provide them with the kind of significance in life they’re searching for or will strip them of that significance.  Of course, which politician provides this significance depends on one’s perspective; that’s what an election is all about.  But, the vote carries a significance for the people in and of itself because it provides them with the means to wrestle with contemporary issues and embody a vision for their nation that gives them purpose and direction. 

The significance in the Iranian vote is the reason people are willing to risk their lives at mass demonstrations.  While Americans can become vocal and bitter about the results of an election and even contest the fairness of one in the courts.  It’s doubtful Americans would stand up to political oppression in order to guarantee their vote was heard because it doesn’t have any significance for them.  The general attitude is that we can always vote again in four years and besides, politicians do whatever is expedient for them anyway so there’s no real substance to the vote. 

Violence is never the answer to any act of injustice.  May God be with the Iranians to find a just and equitable resolution to their political crisis that ensures their vote continues to have significance in setting the course and vision of their nation.  But, may God also be with us to transform our consumer vote into something that is truly worth voting for.  Instead of appealing to our selfish desires or even fears but instead to make a vote count by having politicians who are willing to risk their careers (life?) for what is good for this nation.

The Trinity: Authentic Life, Authentic Community

There are a lot of thoughts today about how to live a good life.  Book stores are packed with stuff on how to be a better person or how to create a holistic society.  Good stuff but did you ever wonder if it was just rehashed garbage that really didn’t make a difference other than providing someone with a paycheck.  Not that we shouldn’t be concerned about improving our lives and bettering the planet.  I’m all for improving the environment and helping people overcome the problems of life.  It’s just that I’m wondering if we’re going about it by accepting insanity as a substitution for truly trans-formative actions. 

What does it mean to live in community with one another anyway?  How do we know we’re bettering our lives when it seems like we’re constantly having to run after the latest fad in order to live in an increasingly dysfunctional world that appears to be teetering on the verge of annihilation (overstatement perhaps but you get the point).  Perhaps we need to start with a bigger picture of reality that allows us to go deeper than the consumer rehash of burned out ideas.

There’s a story of Jesus relating to a blind man who sat by the side of the road.  This blind man had no access to health care or medical treatment.  Being blind he was unprofitable to the society at large and totally dependent upon the compassion of strangers, family, and friends for support.  His world was one of poverty and oppression by foreign rulers so the support that came was minimal.  The man’s existence was marginal and dehumanizing, he didn’t have a meaningful connection to society and was treated with disrespect.  A person to be ignored like all the others that have slipped through the cracks.

Now Jesus is walking along with a crowd of people and this blind man hears whose approaching and starts to call out Jesus’ name.  The people around him tell him to shut up thinking that he’s not worth much and shouldn’t be acting this way.  But, the man is stubborn and refuses to listen to their voices.  Jesus comes to him and asks him what he can do for him to which the man replies that he wants to see.  So Jesus heals him right there on the spot.  Jesus humanizes someone who has been rejected by giving him time, listening to him, and meeting his needs with respect and dignity.

What we need isn’t another self help idea or some new model for community.  What we need is the willingness on the part of average everyday people like you and me to step out of our comfort zones, leave behind what is normal, right, and safe for us and find ways to humanize, love, listen to and positively interact with the other, the stranger, the enemy.  We need to stretch out our hands and touch the sick and stop waiting for some government agency to do it for us.  It’s time to get off the couch with it’s mind numbing control of programs and methods that don’t change hearts and only provide a band aid and start loving the other and humanizing the stranger.  Then true community will be created and experienced.

Palestinians and Jews: both are human beings

With the current hostilities raging in the Middle East with no end in sight many scrambling for ways to bring the two sides to the table and talk.  But, neither side seems willing to stop the bloodshed till their demands for a ceasefire are met.  This is not a spontaneous display of anger though it is a show of power; the power of destruction that transforms the human being into a cog of destruction that grinds the innocent into dust as if they were lifeless objects.  It’s not till enemies can see the other as a human being and have love in their hearts that they will be willing to take the risk of peace. 

Hammas and Israel have calculated the cost of their furious attacks on each other in a gamble to gain leverage in the Palestinian/Jewish dilemma.  Who gets to dictate the terms of peace and how it affects the people is the ongoing question.  The one who has the power, not necessarily military power, but more importantly political power, world clout, the backing of the people will be the one to dictate the terms of peace.  But, if one side doesn’t have the power to dictate peace they’re capable of using terrorism or overwhelming military might to delay peace till they win a more favorable position.  Otherwise, all this fighting and bloodshed is for a war that fighting will never win and in the end it’s the people who suffer as two powers duke it out.

True peace, however, isn’t going to come thru any kind of negotiated terms.  Neither will lasting peace that brings justice and harmony in the region be won by building walls, arming checkpoints, or rockets.  Peace is only possible when both sides are willing to accept the other as a legitimate human being who has just as much a right to justice, land, and all the blessings life has to give as they do.  It’s only when enemies lay down their weapons and seek each other’s well being that they’re is true peace. 

The conditions for true peace to become reality require seeing the world thru different eyes.  Instead of using power and might to achieve an agenda (and this would include the military underdog using terror) both sides need to put aside the agenda itself.  An offer of forgiveness needs to be given to the victimizer.  A table of food set in the midst of the wasteland that invites everyone to come and eat together so that everyone can step into the other person’s shoes and see the world from their perspective.  Till Israelis are willing to see the world from the perspective of the Palestinians and Palestinians see the world from the perspective of the Israelis it’s difficult if not impossible for either side to understand why their fighting and find a solution to the hostilities. 

God stepped into our world in Christ and took on a human perspective of life.  The result was death, not one that is meaningless leading to nihilism, but a death filled with meaning because Christ laid down power in order to bring life.  Instead using whatever power Jesus had as the Son of God (remember he was doing all these miracles including raising the dead like Lazarus) he lets go of his power and becomes weak.  This weakness shows the way to true forgiveness just as Christ forgave his killers while hanging on the cross.  Enemies in any conflict need to lay down their power and forgive even if it means death otherwise they really have no desire for true peace.  The result of Christ’s death and forgiveness was life, the resurrection, which was only possible by dieing first.     

Peace in the Middle East will only come when all sides lay down their arms, thier power, and take the vulnerable act of stepping into each other’s shoes; even if this cost them their life.  It’s the only way to bring a lasting change.

You’ve Got to be Kidding! Commercials

Has anyone noticed the new Americentralism?  How American corporations seem to think that there products are so awesome that the world should sit at their feet and consume them.  The arrogance to think that a whopper brings enlightenment to the uncivilized.  Or that a cup of Folger’s coffee will light up the face of the poor.  These commercials highlight the colonial attitude American corporations have towards those who don’t share American values; in particular consume American products.  This is about spreading American idealism, that consumption brings fulfillment. 

I’m not against good and creative commercials with the intent of selling a product.  However, there needs to be a recognition that commercials are not neutral visuals and stories but an influential form of art designed to motivate and manipulate a person into accepting a particular idea that is connected to the product being sold.  For example, the whopper idepict what Americans perceive to be distant and remote locations in the world, places where there are no Burger Kings, where there are virgin whopper eaters.  These places are then introduced the whopper with the result that people enthusiastically endorse the product.  The message is that even people who’ve never been “tainted” by fast food will choose the whopper over their own food.  It’s an ideal of fast, cheap food being promoted as tasting better than even the poor food of “far away” people so that it must taste better than the food of those of us who are watching the commercial. 

Folgers is not much better showing a Romanian family where a humanitarian volunteer is giving his time receiving a care package that contains a jug of Folger’s coffee.  The message is that the packaged, mass produced coffee is better than the lifestyle and culture of the poor family who find themselves overjoyed by the coffee in spite of the fact that their economic situation has not changed. 

In a global economy the culture of the powerful, the dominant overthrows the culture of the weaker.  This happened in the Roman Empire two thousand years ago when the expansion of the empire meant the Romanization of others whose cultures suddenly became irrelevant.  What’s ironic about the current “romanization” is that it’s being done by a nation who believes in freedom and choice.  While we don’t use military force (or do we) to impose our ideals thru our products we use advertising and economic dominance to manipulate and cajole. 

A true global world is one where each and every culture and language is legitimate because all of humanity is significant.  Thru the Virgin Mary God took on flesh and dwelt among us giving significance to humanity regardless of culture and language.  In other words, in Christ one culture or society is not better than another but all of humanity and it’s diversity is recognized as being good and part of the world God has created (something the church has not always recognized). 

This isn’t to say that people’s lifestyles and cultures are always just or good.  Obviously the current American culture needs to be challenged with it’s dominance but there are good aspects of American culture; I’m happy to be an American and live in a free nation.  But, respecting and cherishing this freedom should not cause us to turn a blind eye to our sins. 

It’s time for corporations to be held responsible for the messages they send and to promote a global diversity that respects all of humanity and provides holistic opportunities for all of humanity without forcing them to become like us.

The Machine (Reality Check Conversation)

Every year as Christmas approaches I often say or hear people saying “Christmas comes earlier and earlier every year”.  This year with the economic turmoil found around the world it will probably come even earlier so that those retailers that are still alive will be able to make a profit in this increasingly unprofitable quagmire.  And so once again we’re confronted with the spectacle of a consumer Christmas from which there appears to be no escaping. 

That Christmas is a time to make money shouldn’t surprise us because it’s a natural part of the system we’re all connected to.  A system that promises to satisfy our need for things that give us happiness and pleasure because it tells us that if we’re not happy then we’re not living.  To be happy is to have anything we desire so long as it doesn’t harm any other.  But, if we don’t have access to fulfilling these desires or they’re threatened by others then we find means to keep and protect the very stuff that rots when we leave this world.  Of course, some have more than others and this upsets the balance of the system forcing us to create means for all to have an equitable share in the pie and ensure that the whole enterprise keeps on functioning (government bail out plans). 

On and on the wheel of consumption turns like a great machine that continues to generate and produce services, products, materials, whatever it is that a person could ever want to be happy.  But, we’re never happy because our faith is in a product, a thing, an object that in and of itself is nothing without the power given to it by our desire for it.  Once we desire this thing, believing that possession of it will lead us to happiness then it controls us; we’re willing to do whatever to get it from borrowing to credit, any financial means provided to us to allow us to monetarily access happiness.  This is a fundamental ingredient for successful advertising in that it motivates us to desire something by informing us that true happiness is to be had.  

But, if we were truly happy then we would no longer need to purchase things and the economy would come to a stand still.  Fortunately, for marketing and the economy we’re not happy and so we need, or so we believe, to purchase new products that are constantly being created to fulfill that elusive need.  Except that true happiness can’t come from having something but only comes from living a life of significance and meaning in the context of community.  Our humanity is relational in nature and without fulfilling that relational need we’re left feeling empty and anxious.  So the true need is not happiness but peace between self and neighbor. 

This Christmas we’ll opt out of this peace because it can’t be purchased and therefore can’t be boxed into pretty wrapping paper that allows us to take it home and put it on the shelf and say now I have one too.  This Christmas we’ll feed the economic machine that has given birth to our false desire for happiness thru materialism, consumption, and desiring the latest thing.  And this Christmas more land, more water, more air, will be stripped, raped, abused, polluted to provide the material output that leads to a happiness that’s over as soon as the wrapping is off of the gifts.  This Christmas we’ll destroy more of ourselves and the world we live in like an addict who can’t escape their own prison.

It’s a machine that sucks blood like gasoline

Demanding our life to grease it’s gears

Till there’s no green left 

STORY OF LAZARUS

A wealthy man once owned a vast estate where the basic needs of life were never in doubt.  He never knew what it was like to wonder whether you would have a roof that didn’t leak or bread to feed your children.  The man’s power was like that of a god who has unlimited resources for fulfilling their needs.  He found significance, a sense of self-worth in the accumulation of his wealth.  No longer was living about enjoying Creation but about getting, getting, getting more and more of whatever he desired and whatever filled life with happiness.  Worse yet, the more he had the more power coursed through his veins making him drunk with greed and allowing him the horrible ability to destroy others as needed. 

At the gates to the vast rich man’s estate sat a homeless beggar named Lazarus who lost the little he had and held little if any hope of having anything.  Day in and day out Lazarus understood what it was like to starve and wonder if this was the end as the rain, sun, cold, and wind beat upon his bare skin that was never washed and smelled like a rotten stain.  He could gaze upon the rich man satisfying every desire of his heart desperately wanting nothing more than moldy bread that sustained his miserable life.  One day death relieved Lazarus of the hellish life he lived on earth and to Heaven he went to rest with father Abraham. 

The rich man while relieved to not have to be reminded of life’s precariousness in Lazarus’ begging discovered that no matter one’s riches death comes knocking to everyone’s door.  Upon crossing into death the rich man found himself in a place of torment and burning fire that stripped away all the things he’d ever accumalated except his naked desire that could never be met adding fuel to the fire’s torment. 

The rich man looked up to see across a great divide Lazarus in a place of peace and light resting in father Abraham’s company.  His ensnared and burning mind still saw others as his means to self pleasure and begged Abraham to send Lazarus with water.  But, Lazarus was free from suffering, enjoying the life that was never given to him before death and no longer answered to the rich man’s schemes regardless of his pleas. 

So the rich man begged Lazarus to send someone to warn his brothers who were still living that Hell awaits those who live for themselves and don’t provide for others.  But, father Abraham told the rich man that he and his brothers were already told everything there was to know about how to live a real and true life by the prophets.  Even if someone came back from the dead to warn them they wouldn’t listen because of their self-centeredness. 

In Christ’s death meaningless consumption is confronted

At the cross the wounds of the machine’s teeth are healed

Death’s corpse is buried to fill our veins with the Resurrection’s life

In the Body of Christ we become human in the communion of peace

All we need is love that makes the world turn round

I’m back

Hi everyone, it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything.  I’m hoping to develop a new series of reflections on the God Story and Life.  Please send me your thoughts and comments to my reflections whether or not you agree with me.  Let’s enter into a dialogue together to search for truth in the midst of life’s challenges.

The Story of the Justice of the Sheep and Goats

There once was a herd of goats who were always looking for green grass.  Not that they didn’t have enough to eat but they always wanted the juiciest and tender clippings because those tasted the best.  As soon as the best blades were eaten they’d wonder on leaving behind a big mess from their hoofs and discarding of waste.  Worse yet they were taking the best food for themselves leaving meager portions for the other animals.

At one point the other animals banded together to confront the goats.  It wasn’t that the other animals wanted to get rid of them but they wanted the goats to understand that all of life is intertwined and one group’s actions effects the other.  If they wanted to live in peace and harmony then they had to help each other.  But, the goats felt the other animals were being lazy and told them that if they worked a bit harder perhaps they would be able to acquire better food too.

The herd of sheep were not readily known for being the wise ones in the group of animals.  They even caused more than their share of damage to the pastures at times.  But, they had big hearts and were always willing to help.  In fact, they were so willing to help at times that they would give away all the grass they had to keep the cows and deer and Buffalo’s from starving when times were tough.  The sheep found it difficult to protect themselves from predators being slow and clumsy on foot so they organized themselves along with the other animals into neighborhood watch groups that constantly looked out for wolves and lions on the prowl.  The sheep accepted that though the other animals were brighter and faster that they all needed to work together to create a safer world for their children.

One year a drought hit the land and caused a famine among the animals.  The sheep and goats gathered large quantities of grass to keep them through this terrible predicament.  As the famine spread and worsened the predicament of the animals grew dire.  The sheep did their best to help the others by supplying much needed food that they themselves had gathered and needed to the others.  The sheep were consumed with helping animals that were less fortunate and keeping the greedy vultures away from those dieing in the hot sun by tending to their needs.

The goats had gathered a large store of tender, juicy grass that they hoarded in a well built store house.  Many animals pleaded with them for help but the goats always said that if the others would have planned better then they wouldn’t be in this predicament.  Never mind the fact that the goats had organized themselves into a vast army that had swept across the best pastures gathering up grass.  The goats did relent to hand out grass that had become moldy or wasn’t the choicest pickings after some animals died of starvation in front of the door to their store house.

Once this great famine was over Jesus visited the devastated valley.  He tended to the wounds of the animals and blessed the sheep for their hospitality ensuring them that though they sacrificed without any thought of receiving a reward they would be given green pastures in Paradise.  But, when Jesus came to the fortified store house of the goats he found them to be fat and lazy though everyone else was lean and skinny.  Not only were the goats rebuked but their inheritance was the now dried out wasteland that they had helped to create.  After they protested and said that they had helped the less fortunate during the famine Jesus held up the bones of the animals who died in front of the doors to their store house.  The goats became silent as tears fell from the Lord’s eyes upon the bones causing them to rattle, skin to reform, and life to return to what had been death.  But, the goats received no tears or compassion for none was given by them.

entering the synergy

Welcome to the world of disillusion where lives become dust blowing in the wind as the machine grinds away at your soul burning what’s left of life into a polluting viral smog that blinds the spirit and kills the body.  A world of death where decay is the only real thing to hang on to as isolation invades the senses building walls between hope and what’s within grasp of rotting flesh. 

We float like barren islands in a sea of pain unable to connect with the other as another becomes a monster that must be killed or kill to keep from the killing of one another.  Barren isolation ripping the soul to shreds in a sea of phantoms that burn the heart but can never be touched. 

Into this divided world of isolation comes a light, a hope, truth, a word that transforms and unites; the Creation of the possibility of the impossible, wells of life in the desert.  The wasteland becomes a source of life filled with the possibility of unity among islands of barrenness.  The word fills and surrounds the impossible with the powerless power of love uniting all that is empty with life to be fused with the Spirit that gives life through the breathe that God breathes upon the world to call it back into the paradise originally created to be it’s abode. 

The monsters of death, the powers of Hell come face to face with their enemy, their doom, their demise as the empty tomb made holy by the body of the Son reveals the glory of God’s chosen one.  Now the One within whom creation and Heaven have been fused together in a unity the monsters of isolation and corruption have been overcome.  Through the risen body the physical and the spiritual, the seen and unseen, the created and the uncreated are fused together to bring the life of love into the isolated creating a synergy of life.  

CHRIST HAS RISNE 

What’s in a name?

Apparently the McCain campaign is highlighting the fact that Barak Obama’s middle name is Hussein and interpreting this fact as something to fear because it’s a Muslim name.  This raises some serious questions about how we interpret life and understand cultural differences.  I would also beg the question as to whether or not our nation is capable of sustaining the diversity of religion and ethnicity that we espouse to if religious fear is exploited during campaigning; in other words, are we a nation of bigots, but that should be for another blog.

Names are powerful because they connect us with a person or thing.  We don’t identify ourselves with our social security numbers when greeting people.  We introduce ourselves with our name because that’s who we are.  Sometimes names can identify our ethnicity and sometimes our faith.  In my Mennonite church tradition there are certain last names that identify you as a cultural, cradle Mennonite because it’s a name that has been part of the Mennonite church for generations and can be traced back to some sort of German or Dutch roots.  What’s ironic is that in today’s plurality and change in demographics there are many people with these last names who are no longer part of the Mennonite church but they still have the name.  What does this mean?  So a person has a Muslim name does that make them Muslim?

I have a friend who has a Muslim name but he’s a Christian.  His family was Muslim and naturally gave him a Muslim name but he decided to be a follower of Christ.  It’s important for us to distinguish between the name embodying who we are in the sense that it connects with a person who has a story and history.  But, to say that a name means your a particular ethnic or religious group is absurd in a world of freedom and choice.  How ironic that at election time when candidates are touting “American ideals” they destroy those ideals by suggesting that a person’s name means they belong to something that they don’t belong to.  Shame on the Republicans (I know the Democrats are not innocent.)

Words are powerful and we must ask what fills the word.  In the gospel of John chapter 1 we read that the Word became flesh and blood meaning that God took on flesh and blood through the Virgin Mary.  If God would never have become human in Christ then God’s words would always have a disconnect from the reality we live in.  It’s only through God’s fusion with the world that the world can be fused with God to transform it and save it.  This is why the name of Jesus is so powerful in identifying a reality; a loving reality that has conquered death.  

But, there are many people with the name of Jesus; a very popular name among various Hispanic groups.  Does that mean that anyone given the name Jesus takes on the same reality as Jesus Christ in the Bible?  Of course not, it doesn’t even guarantee that their Christians.  We do have free choice after all.  So why the big fuss that Obama has the middle name Hussein?

The Republican campaign is playing on fear; an anti-American fear for after all this is suppose to be a nation of religious freedom which means it shouldn’t matter what religion the president is but I guess we haven’t come that far in our belief in religious freedom.  There is an attempt to put meaning into Obama’s name that doesn’t exist.  Barak’s name embodies the story of a particular man who has a particular story and that story reveals who he is and what he believes.  That is what should count, the story that the name connects with.  If we need to resort to fear tactics then perhaps the campaign isn’t worth the air time it receives.  So I pray that the ignorant and dangerous ploys on the part of some people in both parties is put aside so that the story and ideas of all the candidates is reflected on in an open and honest atmosphere enabling the American people to make a decision based on what’s best for the nation. 

Lent: the death of desire

Do the things we desire and seek after control us?  Are our passions the gateway to slavery leading us into an endless seeking after what can never satisfy?  How do we live a life filled with a love that isn’t distorted by our desires to possess and control?

There was once a monk who prayed very hard and practiced many spiritual disciplines with a very devout piety.  His heart desired more than anything to see Jesus and so he prayed fervently day and night that Jesus would bless him with a vision of his presence.  The monk fasted, meditated, and read the Bible to be considered worthy for a visitation from Jesus.  One day a demon clothed in the light of an angel appeared to him and said that tomorrow evening he must climb Mount Athos and when he gets to the top his desire will be granted in having a visit from Jesus.  The monk was ecstatic and spent the whole night and next day in prayer and fasting till it was time for him to climb the mountain.

It was a strenuous climb as he slowly ascended the peak taking in the spectacular views of the peninsula and the rich nature that surrounded him.  His heart was delighted and became more and more eager the closer he got to the top as to what awaited him.  It was evening and getting dark upon the monk’s reaching the summit.  Once there he gazed upon Jesus Christ sitting upon his heavenly throne surrounded by angels and the saints; some of whom he recognized.  Then Jesus told one of the saints to go and fetch the monk and bring him to the throne because he wants to bless him.  At this point the sun was nearly set as the saint approached the monk but as the saint was within arm’s reach the monk saw with horror the horns protruding from his head.  He cried out to the Lord ‘have mercy on me” and instantly everything was gone and the monk was alone in the snow and ice on top of Mount Athos dangerously near the edge of a steep drop to the deadly rocks that lay below. 

Desire seeks only to please the self through possession, control, dominating the other in order to have what does not belong to us.  Desire is not love because love relates without condition while desire seeks to take for personal gain. 

The monk who desired to see Jesus did not do so out of love but personal gain.  If he saw Jesus then he would count for something, have an experience that would make him something, he would be someone because of this vision.  But, all of these things are selfish in that he desired to see Jesus not because of a love that was free to relate to Jesus as another, as God, as a human as someone who loved without personal gain.   

How do we overcome our desire?  How are we freed from the horrid monsters that we become through our selfish exploitation of one another, nature and the world around us?  How do we transform our constant desire to possess the other and take from the other for our own selfish gain?