Apocalypse Now!

What comes into your mind when you hear the word apocalypse? Most of us think of us think of the total destruction of the world, or at least life as we know it. Think zombies roaming the streets, feasting on brains. On the other hand, my sarcastic generation is doing a pretty good job of using apocalypse as a silly word. I remember a few years ago when we had a large winter storm here in Washington, DC; it was instantly dubbed Snowpocalypse!

The English word apocalypse derives from the ancient Greek apocalupsis, which is the original title for the infamous Book of Revelation. Revelation involves a lot of fire, smoke, battles and things generally blowing up, so it’s understandable that today we would associate apocalypse with end-times battles. However, the word apocalypse contains a much deeper meaning. Far more profound than the long-awaited zombie hordes – or even the end-times prophecies of some churchgoers – this ancient, misunderstood word is an essential tool for comprehending the world we live in.

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Bank of America: Cease Your Evictions of My People!

Thus says the Lord God: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and do what is just and right. Cease your evictions of my people, says the Lord God. - Ezekiel 45:9

Yesterday, Occupy Our Homes DC paid a visit to Bank of America's Home Loans Office in the historic African-American U Street neighborhood. We rallied on behalf of Michael Vanzant, pastor of Faith Temple Church, the first LGBT-affirming, African American church in the District of Columbia. For decades, Michael Vanzant has selflessly served others - opening his home to those in need, leading Bible studies, and shepherding a congregation that welcomes men and women who are often excluded from fellowship in other churches. Since the 1980s, he has been a pillar of his community.

During this time, Michael's home has served as a center of community life. It has been a place of study, prayer and hospitality for the stranger. His home is a refuge for for those seeking a deeper life of faith. Unfortunately, that is not how Bank of America sees it.

When Bank of America looks at a home, they do not see a residence, a place of sanctuary and a center of community. They see a property - an engine of percentage-based profit - and if by evicting the current owner they can produce a few percentage points more per year, they will do it. The human element does not even enter into it.

When Michael Vanzant became disabled in 2008, he had trouble making his full mortgage payment and he approached Bank of America for a loan modification. They flatly denied him. For Bank of America, an uninterrupted profit stream was more important than a disabled pastor's home, and the stability of his whole community.

Our job at Occupy Our Homes is to remind Bank of America that human lives are precious. We were not created to be bought, sold and thrown out of our homes because of circumstances beyond our control. Our mission is to help Bank of America see that there is a cost when they violate the basic dignity of individuals and families. When the banks intrude on the intimacy of our homes just to make a little more profit, there will be a response.

Bank of America is learning that when they attack our communities, our families and our faith leaders, we will no longer remain silent. Occupy Our Homes DC is part of a broad and growing coalition of grassroots organizations across the United States that is resisting the unrestrained greed and predatory lending practices of financial institutions like Bank of America. Together, we are insisting that the needs of our families, faith communities and neighborhoods take precedence over the endless thirst for bigger and bigger profits.

For me - and, I suspect, for members of Faith Temple Church - I am discovering that we stand in a rich biblical tradition of witness for economic justice. Those ancient Hebrew prophets - Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and so many others - are coming alive with freshness and meaning.

We are re-discovering that God stands with the poor and needy. God denounces the unchecked greed of the wealthy, those who devour the homes of the defenseless. The prophetic tradition reveals that God is not satisfied with pretty words and pious ritual. The true and living God demands justice and equity, mercy for the poor and liberation for those who are in bondage.

I stand with pastor Michael Vanzant, and with the brothers and sisters at Faith Temple Church, as we explore what it means to stand in the tradition of the prophets, to call Bank of America to stop evicting our people. Together, we stand in faith that the God of Israel is not sleeping, but is at work in this dark night that can be felt.

Will you join with us in shining a light on Bank of America's unjust lending practices? Will you stand in solidarity with Michael Vanzant as he fights to stay in his home and retire in dignity? How might God be calling you into the work of the prophets - naming and revealing the predations of the powerful, calling all of us into the Peaceable Kingdom where there is enough for everyone when we are willing to share? Can you feel the motion of righteous love within you?

Together in the Truth

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire. - Hebrews 12:28-29

In my last post, I imagined what it might mean for a whole community to respond to Jesus' challenge to us as his disciples: to follow him without reservation and without safety net. I used the image of burning down a meetinghouse as a metaphor for what it might look like for us to surrender to God as a community, to lay down all of those things that get in the way of child-like faith. It turns out that this was really shocking imagery for some of my readers, and I got a lot of pushback from commenters here on the blog and on Facebook. Unfortunately, it seems that many people got so stuck on the image of a burning meetinghouse that they could not see through to the underlying message of renewal.

In retrospect, I should not have been surprised that the image of a torched meetinghouse upset some members of my online community. Despite our insistence to the contrary, we Quakers are just as attached to our "stuff" - buildings, rituals, procedures and endowments - as any other religious group. This is not necessarily a bad thing. An important function of religion is to provide a stable community where we can grow deeper in the knowledge and practice of the love of God. That function would not be served by constantly calling every aspect of the community's life into question. Stability and unity within the Church are helpful.

All too often, however, stability gives way to hardness of heart, and unity degenerates into group-think. In our desire to maintain a conflict-free community, we may come to value conformity over prophetic witness. Our tendency can be to freeze the community at a particular point in time - whether past or future - and to seek to maintain that "perfect" moment indefinitely. But a living, breathing community cannot be perfect in this sense. True life is found in dynamic tension. Living communities change and grow; they reproduce themselves in a diverse array of shapes and sizes, suited to their own times and places.

Life depends on a vibrant dynamic between stability and change, the new and the old, creation and destruction. Neither a constant turmoil, nor frozen "perfection" present fertile soil for the work of the Spirit. How do we balance the need for corporate unity with God's call to radical faithfulness? How can we embrace the God-given stability that we need for our community to thrive while remaining open to new teaching from Christ?

Such questions are too complex and contextual for me to give firm answers here. These are questions for us to live into as a body. That being said, I do believe there are steps we can take to encourage the stable flexibility that our communities need if they are to be places where we grow together in maturity and love. One of these steps is to consider the generational dynamics that are at play in our religious society.

I write from my perspective as a 29-year-old man - a Millennial - who is pretty close to aging out of the "young adult" category. I speak out of almost a decade of experience of being a twentysomething among Friends - first as a seeker; then as a new member of a small Quaker Meeting in Kansas; later as a seminarian at ESR; and finally as a Friend doing ministry in the wider world. I have watched for years as so many in my generation have fallen away from Quakerism, sometimes to join another religious community, but usually drifting into the wider, secular culture. I carry a concern for these younger Friends who have not found a place within their religious community, and I have opinions about how we might change to become more relevant to our present context.

This is a place where I get into trouble a lot. Many folks - especially those of older generations - get very defensive when I start talking about generational challenges. And, it is true, I probably go a little too hard on the Boomer generation at times. I am sorry about that. But I would like to encourage Friends to keep things in perspective. Adult Friends under the age of 40 are an incredibly small minority in our communities here in North America. When I first became a Quaker, I was the only person under fifty in my Meeting, and was one of only two young adults who were active in my Yearly Meeting. In Ohio Yearly Meeting, where I am currently a member, I can identify only perhaps half a dozen Friends under the age of 40 who are active in the life of the Yearly Meeting.

I realize that I can come across to some older folks as an "angry young man" who blames all the challenges facing Friends on older generations. But take a moment to see the world from my vantage point. In my life in Washington, DC, I am surrounded by adults in their twenties and thirties. We are young professionals, activists, writers and intellectuals. We are energetic, earnest and hard at work throughout the city.

Yet, when I participate my Yearly Meeting, or other Quaker groups, my peers are nowhere to be found. I am surrounded by people who are decades older than me, with very different life experiences, assumptions and worldviews. I am too young to clearly remember when the Berlin wall came down, yet most of my brothers and sisters in the Quaker community had their worldviews shaped in the context of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War! I love my older Friends, and I lean on a number of them for eldership, support and counsel. But, over time, it can also be alienating to be a part of a community where my different life experience is often unrecognized.

So, I apologize for anything I have written or said that has made my older Friends feel attacked or devalued. While at times I may say some things that feel like insults to our older members, I hope you will hear where my concern really lies: not in tearing down older Friends, but in lifting up the particular gifts, experience and concerns of younger Quakers. How can our religious community value and empower the gifts and ministries of younger Friends? How can all of us come together in the Truth?

Our God is indeed a consuming fire, and all of us - young and old - have dross to be melted away as we wait in that refining Presence. How must we change so that we can wait together as a body, receiving the teaching of the Holy Spirit? If all our forms and structures and buildings and finances are tools that God has given us for blessing the world, what does it look like for us to faithfully exercise those tools, those gifts? And how do we avoid making the tools and gifts our focus, rather than God? How can we live into these questions together, as an intergenerational community?

Burn Down the Meeting House

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.- Luke 12:32-34

A friend of mine recently suggested that perhaps the best thing that twentysomething Quakers could do would be to burn down a Yearly Meeting meetinghouse. What would happen if the young adults of the Yearly Meeting were to show up one evening with torches and openly burn that ancient, venerable, valuable piece of real estate to the ground?

Of course, the most biblical thing to do might be to sell the meetinghouse and give to the poor. If we had it in us to do such a thing, this would certainly be a powerful witness. But can you imagine an entire Yearly Meeting finding unity to sell the community's flagship real estate investment? I can already hear the objections. We would be admonished to be more responsible, more realistic. We would be reminded of the building's substantial history and the role that the property plays in outreach.

It is hard to imagine a Yearly Meeting selling one of its most visible symbols of establishment. I have an easier time imagining the twentysomethings of the community banding together to bear prophetic witness to the wider body. The Yearly Meeting as a whole may not be ready to release the dead weight of the past - the fear of losing money, status and security - but younger generations might call for a break with stagnation and decline. What would happen if we put the movement of the Spirit ahead of property management?

It would probably be premature for Friends of my generation to start burning down meetinghouses. As powerful as this sign might be, it would be an act of desperation rather than a first step on the path of prophetic engagement. What might these first steps look like? How could twentysomething Quakers serve a wake-up call to their Yearly Meetings in a way that older Friends can hear?

The image of burning down a meetinghouse is a powerful one, spurring me to think about what might happen if twentysomething Quakers decided that we were done sitting at the kids' table. Rather than waiting around for older generations to invite us into responsibility and leadership, the image of burning down the meetinghouse represents younger Quakers rising out of the silence and declaring God's truth as we have experienced it. Even when it makes the gray-hairs uncomfortable.

One thing is clear: The status quo has been failing us for decades, perhaps even generations. We find ourselves today in the midst of the greatest economic, technological, cultural and religious transition in human history - a momentous shift that virtually the entire world is participating in. This generation faces a stark choice. One option is to continue on as we have for many years, warming ourselves by the dying embers of an ancient tradition. We can huddle together in our creaky, historic buildings, drafting minutes and sinking deeper into irrelevance as our young people drift away to other communities that can provide a more satisfying framework of meaning. We can choose comfort over challenge, anesthetized death over the messy and sometimes painful business of life. This is what the meetinghouse represents.

Or we can change our minds. We can turn back to the same God who taught our ancestors how to lead lives of radical faithfulness. We can embrace the exhiliration and the riskiness that comes when we choose to walk beside Jesus on the water. This will mean venturing out from the safety of the meetinghouse - all of the beliefs, processes and possessions that we cling to for our sense of identity as Friends. The community that arises from the ashes of the meetinghouse will have the clear-eyed aspect of a person who has given up everything to fully invest in the present moment, walking in faith with our ever-present Guide. Burning down the meetinghouse is a metaphor for the true freedom that we find when we renounce all the things that we put before God.

What would it look like for younger Friends to take responsibility for leadership within our Yearly Meetings, not waiting for permission or validation? How can we invite our entire religious community, young and old, into a shared journey of radical transformation and openness to the new thing that God is doing in our time and place? What in us needs to die in order for new life to grow?

My Day In Jail - And How I Got There

Yesterday morning, some friends and I attended the sessions of the Senate Banking Committee. We did not intend to get arrested; we just wanted to have a word with Jamie Dimon, the man who leads the corporation that is trying to throw our friend, Deborah Harris, out of her home. When Deborah learned that Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, was going to be in town to talk before the Senate Banking Committee, she felt that she could not pass up the opportunity to speak to the man who is responsible not only for the unjust foreclosure of her home, but of the devastated lives of so many families that relied on JP Morgan Chase's financial integrity. Several of us from Occupy Our Homes DC felt that we had a responsibility to accompany Deborah, and to stand with her as she spoke truth to power.

For me, accompanying Deborah in her visit to the Senate Banking Committee was not about "protesting." It was not about a cathartic release, nor did I feel much need to have my voice heard. But it felt deeply important to me that Jamie Dimon, a man insulated by immense wealth and privilege, be allowed to hear the voice of one woman whose life is being turned upside down by the predatory practices of JP Morgan Chase. I was there to hold Deborah in prayer as she bore prophetic witness to the abuse of authority and public trust that Jamie Dimon represents.

The consequences for our actions were swift. We delivered a message to those who sit in authority, and the hand of Authority was upon us immediately. We expected to be warned and asked to leave, but instead found ourselves roughly escorted out of the chamber and handcuffed. We spent the next seven hours being confined to small spaces - a police van, narrow benches, jail cells. We were moved between different rooms incessantly - in my case, I was probably transferred to a different location at least fifteen times. I was literally chained to the wall for much of my stay.

I was surprised by how traumatizing the experience was. Though I did not expect to be arrested, I assumed that this kind of "political crime" would result in a brief trip to jail and a quick release after paying a fine. Instead, we were held for most of the day. My case was particularly stressful, since the FBI computer mistakenly identified me as being a certain Mr. Perez. I was repeatedly interrogated by my jailers as to my real identity, threatened with prolonged incarceration and locked away for long periods of time while I waited to see if they would confirm that I was really me. It looked like I might face an extended stay in jail.

With my wrists locked in steel and my every movement controlled, my mind was drawn repeatedly to Paul's writings about powers, principalities, authorities, thrones and rulers. Without a doubt, I was in the power of the men and women of the Capitol Police. They could do anything they wanted to me, and I had no ability to resist. As someone who is accustomed to having some measure of control over his own life, this was a difficult experience for me. For most of the day yesterday, I was reduced to a number and an object, and my very identity was called into question by multiple interrogators. Added to this was a prolonged period of involuntary fasting. I felt numb, empty and increasingly distant from life beyond the jailhouse walls.

At about six hours in, the officers finally decided that I was indeed who I said I was. At that point, they started calling me "sir" and relating to me as a human being, rather than an object to be moved, recorded and stored. They also let me call my wife, which was a great encouragement. She told me how proud she was of me, and that the media was really covering our action at the Senate hearing. It was good to be reminded again that this was not about me; it was about Deborah and others who are being trampled by the super-rich and their machinary of insatiable greed.

Finally, I was released. To my amazement, it seemed like my jailers really wanted me to thank them. One of them remarked, "we treated you very well." I was too shell-shocked to respond, but I thought to myself, "I would hate to see what you do when you decide not to treat someone well." I did not have it in me to argue with them at that point, but by no means was I going to assuage what I interpreted as a nagging feeling of guilt on their part. Let them sit with it.

As I was leaving, several people called the station, asking about me and calling for my release. The officer in charge spoke to the last person saying, "could you please tell everyone that Micah has been released? We have been getting calls every minute!" I felt so grateful for the support that my friends showed - and to know that the pressure would have only increased if they had held me longer or transferred me to another facility.

But - once again - this is not about me! I would not have chosen to be arrested, but I hope that by telling the story of my ordeal I can once again draw attention to the plight of so many families that are being forced out of their homes by the Big Banks. If you have not yet, please learn about Deborah Harris' case, and consider how you might be able to take part in the movement for justice. If this incident can help build greater support around Deborah, I will be satisfied.

Finally, I must give glory to God. The experience of being incarcerated was an amazing opportunity to lean on Jesus. While other human beings had absolute authority over my body, the only freedom that remained for me was in my spirit. As I was chained to walls and locked in a cell, my connection to God was the only thing that could cut through the anxiety, claustrophobia and sense of helplessness that I was experiencing. I know that the Lord will not present me with any challenge that he does not also equip me spiritually to endure.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the rock of my

heart and my portion forever.

- Psalm 73:26

Your Sons and Your Daughters Shall Prophesy

And may not the Spirit of Christ speak in the female as well as the male? Who is it that dare limit the Holy One of Israel? For the Light is the same in the male and in the female, and it cometh from Christ. . . . And who is it that dare stop Christ's mouth? - George Fox, early Quaker evangelist

Something that set early Quakers apart from many other Christians was their witness to the spiritual equality of women. Mindful of the scriptural admonition against quenching the Spirit, all Friends - young and old, women and men - were encouraged to preach the gospel as they were led. While the established Church singled out a smattering of passages that seemed to justify the subordination of women, Friends prayerfully examined the entire testimony of the Old and New Testaments and found that the Spirit was leading them to affirm the spiritual equality of women and men.

As one might imagine, the early Friends' insistence on the equal ministry of women stirred up trouble. Indeed, many Quakers were beaten, tortured and imprisioned; many more lost social standing or had their property seized. If the ministry of women had been a secondary concern, Friends might have understandably given way. Better to compromise on a non-essential than to see your friends and family attacked, even killed! So why were Quakers willing to suffer terribly to uphold the ministry of women? The answer is simple: The spiritual equality of women is not an "extra" that Christians can take or leave - it is one of the essential marks of a people who are being led by the Holy Spirit.

The foundational discovery of the Quaker movement is that Jesus Christ is literally present with us, and that he will change us from the inside out. At a time when most Christians believed that human sin and depravity were inescapable facts of life, Friends testified to their own experience of being inwardly transformed. As the Holy Spirit moved in their lives, these women and men found that their entire nature was being changed. As they grew in faithfulness, they experienced redepmtion from the fallen state of Adam, being re-formed in the image of Christ.

The Quaker experience is a profound reversal of the natural order. Where death once reigned, we are now abundantly alive; where we had previously been enslaved by hatred and selfishness, we find freedom. Quakers recognize that this amazing transformation is the fulfillment of God's intention for the creation. When we are in Christ, everything old passes away and there is a new creation. None of the old rules of sin and death apply.

One of the hallmarks of the old, fallen order is the subordination of women to men. Though in many places patriarchy is still the unquestioned status quo, Quakers believe that this social arrangement is a result of humanity's fall from grace. When human beings are living in the image of Adam and Eve, man rules over woman. Yet, in Christ we experience the first fruits of the New Creation. Our lived experience of transformation by the Holy Spirit is exactly what Paul described in Romans: Though "death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses," Christ has brought a new reign of life! Adam dragged humanity into the reign of death where male domination was the norm. But now Jesus is empowering his friends to resist the death-dealing culture of patriarchy.

It is because we have tasted this new life that we know a new day is dawning in Christ. As we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit, darkness loses its grip on us. We are re-born into a life of spiritual freedom that includes all of us. We find that we are living in the days when the Lord says:

In the last days it will be, God declares,

that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy...

Even upon my slaves, both men and women,

in those days I will pour out my Spirit;

and they shall prophesy.

When the Lord is present, human distinctions fade into the background. It is not about us anymore. Instead, all our focus is on Jesus. When we are gathered in his power, we discover for ourselves that "there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of [us] are one in Christ Jesus."

Have you had this experience of Christ's transformative power? What are ways you have seen the Holy Spirit break through human distinctions? How can we participate in the abundant life and radical liberation that the Spirit brings?

The Seed That Dies - Great Plains Yearly Meeting 2012

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. - John 12:24-25

Great Plains Yearly Meeting has been thinking about dying for a long time. Back in 2001, Great Plains - a fellowship of Quakers in Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma - had dwindled to only five local congregations, and Friends considered seriously whether GPYM's time was up. Yet, for some reason - whether a nudge from the Spirit or the lure of nostalgia (perhaps a bit of both) - Friends re-committed themselves to existence as a Yearly Meeting.

Over the nine years that I have attended GPYM, I have watched Friends wrestle with what continued existence would mean. Is GPYM primarily a family reunion - an assembly of "good people" who like one another? Does the Yearly Meeting primarily exist as a connection with Quaker institutions on the East Coast? Does GPYM have something unique to say to its own context in the American heartland? Could the Yearly Meeting be a base community for a shared life of radical discipleship and loving action for liberation and justice in the Great Plains region?

During my time attending Great Plains, it has seemed like the default mode for GPYM is to operate as a place of comfort, security and self-affirmation. The Yearly Meeting provides a sense of identity and connection with the wider Quaker world, a touchstone in a region with few Friends of like mind. Often, the posture of folks in Great Plains Yearly Meeting has been fatalistic - resigned to the sleepy decline of our Christian fellowship.

But we were not left without a witness. Over time, I have seen God prodding Friends to choose a path of renewed life and vitality as Christ's Church. God has raised up a number of prophetic ministers who have called the Yearly Meeting to a deeper engagement with our shared experience of Jesus Christ, and his call to be salt and light in the world. These prophets have not always been well-received, but their ministry has had a clear effect over the long haul.

This year, the clerk of the Yearly Meeting brought a proposal that she be financially released (Quakerese for "hired") for part-time service to the Yearly Meeting. She explained that she felt called to dedicate a substantial portion of her time to nurturing Meetings throughout the region and helping to spur the development of new leadership that could help to sustain the work of the Yearly Meeting in the years ahead.

In 2009, after a season of traveling ministry among Friends in the Great Plains region, I had laid a similar concern before Great Plains Yearly Meeting. At that time, however, Friends were not ready to provide support for such an out-of-the-box proposal. GPYM's Ministry and Counsel minuted, "Our Yearly Meeting simply is not yet at a place where we can corporately affirm an apostolic ministry" (M&C 09-17). Three years later, however, the ground seems to have been cleared enough that Friends are seriously considering supporting just such an apostolic call.

Jesus teaches us that the way to everlasting life is through apparent death, and that by clinging to what we already have, we deny ourselves the riches that are to come. Have we reached a place where we are ready to die to our comfort and nostalgia - to bury that which once was so that we can reap that which God is bringing into being? What does it look like for the Church to die to itself, and to be raised again, clothed in Jesus Christ? Are we willing to let go of the dirty rags that we cling to in order to put on the fine linen of Christ's wedding banquet? Can we embrace the self-death that leads to overflowing life in the Spirit?

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. ... - 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

Does God Need Us?

When Gentiles, who do not posess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They should that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness... - Romans 2:14-15

But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? - Romans 10:14

As a Quaker, it is my conviction that every person - regardless of their status or circumstance - has access to the inward light of Jesus Christ. I confess with the authors of both Old and New Testaments that, "the word is very near to [us]; it is in [our] mouth and in [our hearts] for [us] to observe." Despite all the hurdles that keep us away from God, the living presence of the Holy Spirit draws near, pressing at our hearts and inviting us into the loving embrace of our Savior.

At the same time, I am also convinced that the good news needs to be preached. Hearing the gospel story - the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus - has the power to transform us, when we receive it in the light of the Spirit. The inspired preaching of modern day prophets has the power to call us into deeper relationship with God. In my own experience, God has used other people - living and deceased - to shape my walk. I cannot imagine how I ever could have been saved from the death-dealing worldview of the present order without the faithful witness of so many brothers and sisters.

So, which is it? Does God directly inspire and draw us into Christ's Kingdom without the need of human intermediaries? Or does God work through people who are called to the work of proclamation? As is often the case with the things of the Spirit, the truth seems to be found in the midst of paradox. The above passages, both taken from a letter that Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, demonstrate the tension between two truthful answers. Yes, God's witness in the human heart is sufficient for Christ's sovereign work of grace. And yes, God uses human beings as instruments of grace, mercy and salvation to the world.

My take-away from this is two-fold. First, I am convinced that God is in control. In a certain sense, God does not "need" us. Our wrong actions - whether out of willful disobedience or simple ignorance - are never able to foul up God's long-term purpose for the cosmos. This is deeply reassuring for me. No matter how badly I - or humanity in general - screws up, God will find a way to enact his loving purposes.

On the other hand, I am convinced that God's intention is to use each of us as agents in the holy work of healing the world. How are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? God wants us to share the good news that we have received! God wants to use our lives to proclaim the riches of his glory, through our words and deeds, through our family life and daily work. Amazingly enough, each of us is truly necessary for the work of the Holy Spirit in the world. Though it would seem to us that God does not need us at all, in some mysterious sense we are indispensable!

What is your experience of the way God pours out love and salvation? How have you seen God transforming your life and the lives of those around you? How have you made sense of the paradox of God's work, which needs no intermediaries but yet is so often accomplished through the faithfulness of particular women and men?

A Golden Calf for Congress

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ - Exodus 32:7-8

Yesterday morning, I helped deliver a golden calf to Congress. Starting off at the Occupy DC encampment in McPherson Square, we bore a shining paper-maché bull approximately two miles to the US Capitol Building as a sign of our spiritual condition as a nation that worships greed rather than God; a society that values profits over people. This demonstration brought together people of faith - especially Christians and Jews - who bore witness against the unjust economic systems that have taken root in our nation.

The image of the golden calf is an ancient one, shared by the three Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It represents the fearful worship of money; the denial of God in the rush for man-made security and prosperity. Human society is always a struggle between our tendency to worship the golden calf of our own frightened selfishness and our true calling as children of the God of mercy, justice and truth.

Unfortunately, our nation is caught in a downward spiral of Wealth-worship. We live in a country where billionaires and giant corporations pay little or no taxes; yet this same nation is cutting social services for the mentally ill, homeless, disabled, and working poor. We live in a society where working families are being evicted from their homes while the banks that dreamed up their bad loans have been rewarded - bailed out from a mess that the poor and middle classes have been left to clean up.

Today, as we stood before the halls of power in the wealthiest country in human history, we proclaimed God's righteous anger; anger against an economy and government that oppresses the poor so that the rich can inflate their already obscene wealth. We sought to remind lawmakers of God's judgment against those who abuse their positions of authority, abandoning the most vulnerable in our society and instead taking sides with those who have the most.

For me, this public witness was an outgrowth of my faith in the Lord Jesus, who began his ministry with a sermon from the sixty-first chapter of the prophet Isaiah. As we stood before the Capitol Building in prayer for our nation, I read aloud a portion of that passage of Scripture:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, 

   because the LORD has anointed me 

   to proclaim good news to the poor. 

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, 

   to proclaim freedom for the captives 

   and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a] 

  to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor 

   and the day of vengeance of our God, 

to comfort all who mourn, 

   and provide for those who grieve in Zion— 

to bestow on them a crown of beauty 

   instead of ashes, 

the oil of joy 

   instead of mourning, 

and a garment of praise 

   instead of a spirit of despair. 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, 

   a planting of the LORD 

   for the display of his splendor.

   They will rebuild the ancient ruins 

   and restore the places long devastated; 

they will renew the ruined cities 

   that have been devastated for generations. - Isaiah 61:1-4

I pray that this Scripture will be fulfilled in your hearing. I pray that we as a nation will receive the grace that the Lord gave to Nineveh. I pray for God to fill our hearts with the spirit of repentance, inspiring us to put the needs of the poor and marginalized first. Let us imitate the Lord Jesus, who laid aside all honor and glory so that he could become a servant to all.

The Occupy Movement Needs A Prophetic Church

In many ways, Jesus was alone in his mission to a confused and rebellious world. Even his own disciples did not understand his purpose. Jesus provided guidance and direction for his disciples; but he himself had no one to rely upon except his Father(1). Jesus had none of the advantages we enjoy today. As the pioneer of our faith, he blazed all the trails for us, showing us his new Way.

Since Pentecost, when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to unite and guide us, we have been able to draw on the shared wisdom, faithfulness and experience of the Church - the community of faithful believers in the world. While no longer physically with us, Jesus is present in our midst.

Weeks of intense involvement in Occupy DC have reminded me of my own need of his presence. Just as Jesus withdrew on a regular basis for prayer, I have been careful to make space for time alone with God. I seek to continously wait on the Holy Spirit to direct my steps throughout the day. But I know that I am not as strong as Jesus was. I need more than solitary prayer - I need the support of Christian community.

The Occupation is a broad movement that brings together individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, faiths and worldviews. The goals of the movement are couched in largely secular terms, and decisions are typically made based on human wisdom rather than a search for God's guidance.

It would be easy to lose perspective in such an environment. I could easily start believing that I am in the streets to promote "democracy," demonize the rich, or oppose capitalism. In order to stay grounded in the Truth, I need help from the community of disciples here in DC. The Church and our witness need to be the primary reference point in my life.

There are many Christians involved in Occupy DC - I discover more all the time. Nevertheless, the overall culture and worldview of the Occupy movement is a lowest-common-denominator, generally left-wing set of assumptions. So far, almost all of the discourse at Occupy DC has been about "restoring democracy," "building power," or the plight of "the 99%." I have not heard anyone - including the folks whom I know are Christians - talking about the Kingdom of God and Jesus' mission to liberate the poor and oppressed.

I pray that the Body of Christ might rise up - not only through the hidden faithfulness of thousands of individual Christians, but also through the explicit engagement of our local congregations and denominational bodies. I, and the countless other individual Christians who are already engaged in this movement need the support and guidance of the rest of the Body of Christ.

How long will we as the Church take refuge in our respectable Sunday services and lukewarm sermonizing? How long will the Church wait before we have the courage to risk our comfort in this struggle for justice? What will it take to unleash the prophetic voice of the people of God?

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1. For a good example of Jesus' isolation and reliance on his Father, see Matthew 26:36-46

Being the Church on Wall Street

Early in the morning, I will be departing for New York City. I have not been there since the summer of 2001. It was a different world back then. That was before 9/11 and Afghanistan. Before the PATRIOT ACT and the invasion of Iraq. So much has changed in the ten years since I have set foot in New York City.

My country seems primed to change yet again. New York has become the epicenter for a new, grassroots movement to call America back to our ideals of peace, democracy and freedom in community.

Many of you may not have heard much about the ongoing occupation that is taking place in lower Manhattan, near Wall Street. It is a shameful fact that the corporate media have almost completely ignored a movement that has the potential to be the beginning of an American version of the "Arab Spring" that has rocked North Africa and the Middle East.

Though we as Americans are accustomed to thinking of ourselves as "exceptional," we have a lot in common with countries around the world that are experiencing unrest as the financial system buckles under the pressure of corporate greed and lawlessness.

I do not completely identify myself with the demonstrators who have gathered on the streets of New York. I think that their analysis, process and organization is incomplete, at best. Nevertheless, I am grateful to these men and women who have taken the bold step of occupying Wall Street and demanding an end to the immoral financial and military systems that the wealthy have used to impoverish and disempower the citizens of the world.

I see lots of problems with the way the demonstrations have gone so far. There are many things that I imagine, if I were in the demonstrators' shoes, I would want to do differently. Yet, it feels wrong to stand on the sidelines and throw stones at those people who have the courage to express their God-given sense of moral outrage. I feel compelled to join my voice with theirs, calling for a more just, compassionate and democratic society in the United States.

It feels important that we not wait for this movement to be perfect before we join in. The occupation is young and fragile, and it needs our cooperation if it is to grow into a mature and broad-based call for righteousness.

Yes, I said righteousness. I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in these demonstrations, calling us to greater faithfulness and christlikeness as a country. I believe that the Church has a responsibility to stand up and offer prophetic witness as the Body of Christ.

Jesus stands against injustice and oppression. He has come to liberate those held in bondage by human greed, and to proclaim good news to the poor.(1) I pray that we as his Church will have the courage to be an embodiment of his love and justice.

As I travel to New York, my prayer is that I might be a vessel of God's love and peace in a highly charged environment. I pray that the Holy Spirit might use me to help ground the demonstrations in the love and truth of Jesus Christ. I pray to be an embodiment of Christ's love, and a witness to his power to transform us as a people.

Please keep me - and all of those on the streets of lower Manhattan - in your prayers. There has been a fair amount of police brutality, and while I am by no means looking for trouble, sometimes trouble finds us.

May the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Peace be to you all.

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This video gives a good introduction to the nature of the occupation on Wall Street:

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1. Luke 4:16-21

Watching the Surf

A friend of mine recently told me a useful story. The tale itself is almost certainly inaccurate, but the principle involved rings true.

Long ago, before Europeans came to the New World, there was a tribe who had never seen the large, wind-powered boats employed by the people of Europe. This kind of vessel was so far outside their experience that, when sailboats appeared on the horizon, the local residents were simply unable to see them. They did not know what to look for.
Nevertheless, these people had lived by the sea for generations and were very attuned to the movements of the ocean. Though at first they did not see the boats, they did notice a slight change in the surf. This change, though very subtle, alerted them that some kind of change was coming, days before the Europeans arrived.


While I have a hard time believing that sailboats could make a noticeable impact on the ocean's movements, or that large sailing ships could appear on the horizon for days before the locals were able to see them, I find this image to give a compelling window into our present situation as a global community.

Many of us today can sense that we are on the edge of a huge change in our entire way of life as a people. While we cannot truly fathom that which is coming, we sense a disturbance in the fabric of our society. We feel this disturbance in so many ways, large and small. We notice the rise of food prices. We see jerky, chaotic fluctuations in the price of gasoline. Natural disaster strikes regularly, each time more catastrophic. We are increasingly aware of the declining international influence of the US Empire.
In Western Europe, the Christian Church has almost completely lost its moral influence and spiritual authority, while Christians in the United States are dropping out of the established churches in droves. Western society is fragmenting as the authorities and powers desperately look for new ways to drive us deeper into consumerism, militarism and fear.

Fear is easy to elicit, because we can sense that this is only the beginning. The tumult that we see across the world is deepening. We can feel in our bones that even bigger changes are in the works. We know that the world is fundamentally changing. Though we are unable to conceive of what the change on the horizon will be like, we are already feeling the ripples of it - and the vibrations are growing stronger.

Even as the signs of change become clearer, we are still tempted to retreat into denial. The change that is coming is terrifying, because - whatever happens - are forced to acknowledge our lack of control. The days of endless boom, expansion and seemingly limitless resources are coming to an end. Western materialism is crumbling, and we do not know what comes next.

My question is, how are we as people of God called to live in these times of deep uncertainty and fear? For those of us who are wealthy by world standards, how can we stop relying on economic security for our peace of mind? What are ways that we can begin living our lives in recognition that Jesus provides for us day by day, even if not in the way that we would have expected or desired? What would it mean for us to repent of our participation in the idolatrous and unjust economic system that at present seems so inescapable?

Being Publishers of Truth

"Let all nations hear the sound by word or writing. Spare no place, spare no tongue, nor pen; but be obedient to the Lord God: go through the work; be valiant for the truth upon earth..." - George Fox

The early Quakers were serious about preaching the gospel. In the first decades of the Friends movement, the message that "Christ is
come to teach his people himself" was carried out from the Quaker strongholds in northern England to other parts of the British Isles, America, various kingdoms on the continent of Europe, and even into the Muslim world. Young men and women emerged from the fields and towns where they had grown up and, compelled by Christ's call in their hearts, journeyed to distant lands whose languages they did not know.

Wherever they went, the early Quaker missionaries announced the arrival of the King of kings, who overthrew all earthly pretenders to the Throne. They called attention to the Lord's living presence through prophetic signs - such as burning their musical instruments, walking naked in the streets, and heaping burning coals on top of their heads. They preached the good news wherever they could find an audience - whether in the open air, in a crowded bar, or in a government-run church building where they faced beatings and imprisonment for interrupting the state-sanctioned preacher.

One of the most powerful ways in which the early evangelists bore witness to Christ's resurrection presence was through the use of pamphlets. During the turbulent years following Parliament's execution of King Charles I, England was awash in written propaganda from a variety of religious and political perspectives. Print media was new then, and the early Friends took advantage of it to spread the word of God-with-us.

Today, we as Friends in the English-speaking world are, in many ways, experiencing a drastically different context from the Valiant Sixty. We are not, at the moment, living in the kind of intense societal upheaval that characterized the first decades of the Friends movement; and we are not, in general, facing any real persecution for our faith. Perhaps relatedly, we are not - as a general rule - particularly committed to personal evangelism, publicly sharing our faith with the wider culture, or taking risky, prophetic action to witness to the love of Jesus Christ that we have experienced.

How might we today be called to, as Fox put it, "let all nations hear the [gospel] by word or writing"? What might it mean to share the good news of Christ's literal, teaching presence, both within our own culture, and in the wider world? The Quaker community today is overwhelmingly concentrated in areas of historical British influence - Kenya, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - with Central and South America being the only places where there are significant concentrations of Friends without an historic connection to the British Empire. Why have we as Friends failed to reach beyond the English cultural sphere?

Is the good news that Jesus can be personally known, loved and obeyed unique to British colonial cultures? God forbid! Our faith as Friends is rooted in the belief that Christ's presence and power is universal, transcending all national, linguistic and cultural boundaries. How, then, can we demonstrate the practical truth of our faith? How can we share this good, universal news of immediate relationship with Christ, both as individuals and as communities?

As different as our circumstances may be from that of the early Friends, we do have at least one thing in common: We are living in an age of new communications technology. Just as the printing press was a revolutionary breakthrough in the seventeenth century, we are experiencing a similarly game-changing technological shift in the twenty-first. How is God calling us to use the internet, and other forms of electronic communication, to advance the gospel in our day?

There are signs that some Friends are experimenting with these new media. QuakerQuaker.org is an example of creative use of the online blogging community to draw together Friends and seekers to exchange ideas and develop relationships that can serve the Lord. Another recent, if still embryonic initiative is QuakerMaps.com - which, if further developed and cared for, could serve as a modest platform for outreach to non-Quaker seekers, as well as existing Friends. There are other sites that provide information about the Quaker faith, such as QuakerInfo.org, QuakerInfo.com, and Quaker.org. All of these sites are useful and have the potential to reach many Friends and seekers in the English-speaking world. But what about the other 95% of the world's people?

There are some signs of hope. For example, Spanish Quaker Luís Pizarro recently began publishing a blog, Cuaquero.org, that is intended to share the gospel message with the people of Spain. Yet, there is still so much that remains to be done. What if we placed an emphasis on training ourselves to be ambassadors to other cultures, learning another language and familiarizing ourselves with another culture? What if we made it a priority to share the gospel message online in every major language, providing resources for learning about Friends' beliefs, practice, and how to set up a new worship group? Surely Friends already have the capacity to do this sort of outreach in dozens of languages. Are we ready to take the time and effort to live into Christ's call to preach the good news to all people? Do we still believe that we have received a message worth sharing?