Blogging Towards Sunday

August 26, 2007

Are We ALL

- each and everyone -

REALLY Called by God?

The texts from the Christian Bible that I'm preaching on this next Sunday are Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Luke 13:10-17.

In the past weeks we've been talking about disovering the Will of God. We tend to think it's some sort of Secret Truth, or objective knowledge that we have to acquire in order to finally grasp the will of God for the world. We're unable to figure it out. So in our uber-individualistic world we thus feel disempowered, distant from God, unworthy of the faith that we claim as foundaitonal in and for our lives. Yet many theologians and disciples have reframed the question. It's not about acquiring some difficult truth, but rather more about perspective, purpose and participation. God's will is easily understood: Love God with all of who you are. Love your neighbor as God loves us. Love the excluded (the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner) with particular intention and passion. Rather clear. The trickier part is applying it to our lives. Often we turn in circles, waiting, praying, hoping, and then being disappointed that we haven't been struck by a lightening bolt as we hear God's voice boom from the heavens. Instead we should ask ourselves 3 simple questions:

1. What are the great needs around us?
2. What might God be doing? What might we be glimpsing?
3. How might God be inviting us to join in, to participate in the work that God is already doing?

Are we really all called by God, created by God, meant to be involved intricately and integratively in what God is doing in our world?

The passage from Jeremiah is about Call and Transformation. Jeremiah has this experience of God's holiness and power around 627BC. He's either a small boy or a young man still living in the home of his priestly father Hilkiah in the village of Anathoth (near Jerusalem). This experience of God forms him. God says that he was born, intended and created for a special purpose: to be God's prophet at a unique time in the history of Israel, in particular during the final years of the Judean Monarchy before it's ultimate destruction. But Jeremiah is reluctant to accept, even refusing. God says "NO" - he can't turn down the call, for God doesn't ask him to participate....rather God says this is what you are meant for. In experiencing God's holiness (like Moses reluctant to be a leader in Egypt and like Isaiah seeking to avoid God's Call) Jeremiah is changed forever.

Often we say that we are each and everyone called in a same manner by God. But I haven't had such an experience. I haven't seen a burning bush, seen an angel fly with coals to my lips, or had God touch my mouth. Maybe it's all just some narrative ploy to make us feel good about ourselves, feel loved by God, included in the pantheon of the disciples. But is it?

In Luke 13 Jesus pushes the envelope. He is trying to open the eyes of the Religious Leaders of his day. Yet they fail to discern the significance of what is happening in the present moment. They're so focused on following the laws and traditions given in the past, maintaining the status quo, afraid of being the ones to get lazy on their watch, that they miss what God is doing in their midst. They fail to see what Jesus is teaching, that this crippled woman is more important to God than observing the Sabbath law, that people are more important than "principals", rules, or traditions. She is even integral in the Will of God in that moment, time, and place! Jesus tries to open their eyes, to give them a perspective of the world transformed by God's holiness (like Jeremiah), yet they are stuck and as they're shamed by their failure to "get it" in public they decide that the only thing left to do is to eliminate the threat to their power that Jesus represents.

The conclusion of the story rings true for the predicition in Luke 12:49-53 that Jesus will ultimately bring division. In my own life I've often naively thought that if I could just figure out the will of God for me then everything would work out just right. The reality is that God's will isn't just for me, that isn't not just about me and what I can do on my own initiative. It's about what God is already doing - and how you and I together are an integral part in God's purpose and passion for the world. Yet when we doing participate in what God is doing it doesn't always result is our wildest-dreams-coming-true. Often it can lead to difficult relationships, fear of the unknown, rejection by friends/family that don't understand or share the same vision. We mean well but often the desire for power, the fear of rejection, the shame of being confused and the anger at being excluded lead to division rather than collabration, to destruction rather than construction, to death rather than life.

Recently I heard a discussion about who is righteous and who isn't (the Mormon church articulated a new take on their perspective of holiness in terms of homosexuality today). I think such talk misses the boat. In Luke 13 Jesus isn't talking about who is with God and who isn't. He's trying to get everyone into the boat, to open all eyes to the significance of what God is doing in the moment and time in order for them to enter in to God's emerging work. We often want God to break into our lives and speak to us. But rarely are we content when God breaks into our world to transform it and to transform our experience of who God is and how God wants us to be with one another as co-participants and colleagues in God's work of good news and justice right here and now.

So are we all called like Jeremiah? The witness and testimonies of the Bible and the words and actions of Jesus say "YES." We all are called to love and be loved by God. We all are called to love each other and be loved in that same grace-full, peace-making and justice-doing way. Wether we seem to have a lot to offer (like Jeremiah) or not (like the crippled woman) is besides the point. It's not what we have to offer, or what we can do that is the crux of the question. It's what God is doing and how we respond to the invitation to join in with God's people to transform the world into what God longs for it to be.

So the 3 questions remain:

1. What are the great needs around us?
2. What might God be doing? What might we be glimpsing?
3. How might God be inviting You and I to join in, to participate in the work that God is already doing?

4 Square, Rejuveniles and the Church

The Chronicle has a cover page article on the power of FUN, in particular 4 Square, in terms of rejuvenating rejuveniles and other tech-employed workers throughout Silicon Valley and the Bay Area (Hip to Be Square). Makes me wonder about the church. We often have so much tension caused by fear: fear of being forgotten, of having one's ideas overlooked or ignored, of being irrelevant, of being unwanted. Most church community decisions seem to be based upon reactions to such voiced or subconscious fears as opposed to be thoughtfully and creatively imagined, articulated and implemented in response to a perceived need, acknowledged vision, or stated mission. Maybe having more creativity inducive and flexibility reinforcing activites - like 4 Square in the Office (Sanctuary?) - would change the culture of our church communities...making them more fun, creative, imaginative, integrative of our wider societal culture and constructive as opposed to reactionary? Anyone want to play?

Blogging Towards Sunday

August 19, 2007

Lindsay Lohan, Barry Bonds, Jesus & Your Hair

This week at our church we're having a garden-themed worship celebration, as a guest preacher teaches on "Finding God in our Gardens". The scriptures we'll be centered upon are Luke 12:4-7 and Job 12:1-10.

I'm struck by the words of Luke 12:6-7 in particular:

6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

In age in which we are so marginalized and dehumanized by massive Chinese-made toy recalls, failing national infastructre and a seemingly powerless presence in our democracy...it's easy to feel that we're inconsequential, not merely unwanted and overlooked but completely inconsequential in the midst of our Global technologically enhanced society. Only the uber-powerful/rich/beautiful are lifted up as individuals - for good or for bad - such as Barry Bonds, Karl Rove, and Lindsay Lohan. How radical of a word then that Jesus says that we are important enough to and for God that all the details of our lives are know, even the number of hairs on our heads.

You might reflect a materialist knee-jerk reaction that such a comment is just some sort of proletariat-dupping statement to make us content with our lives and places as cogs in the global captialist machine...yet I find it transformative. Jesus is saying you don't have to take steroids (or not take them - I don't want to be sued by Mr. Bonds for slander), work as/for the President, or be a Hollywood bad girl to have importance and make-meaning in the universe. Who we are is infinitely important, not because of what we've done or what we may do, but because we ARE, because we are the beloved children of God, because God in Christ made us for, and redeemed us to, such essential existential importance.

How might such knowledge transform us and shape the way we interact with other people? If in our urban day-to-day fight-or-flight reality we remember and act from the affirmation that we are loved, we are known, we are each and all important, when we relate to one another on the street, in the long line at the register, in the crowded BART train, in that committee meeting when that one super-talker just won't shut-up, when we're irritated by other's seemingly incoherent choices and actions? How might it impact the way that we shop in terms of buying products that are manufactures at the expense of those living in the Majority or Southern World?; our actions/silence in terms of injustice and genocide in such places as Darfur and Zimbabwe? And how might such an affirmation of faith and human importance transform the way that we think about ourselves?; and feel about our own importance in terms of making meaning and fighting for justice in our neighborhoods, city, and global economy?

For me I have to believe in a God who loves all people, who loves us deeply, who loves us radically (which is what the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is all about), and who invites us to love each other and oursevles in the same manner. But it's not just a love-fest. It's an outward turning knowledge, a community of participation, passionate meaning-making, and life-affirming faith-given purpose.

Vacation Update
Who knew that Jersey is pretty?

We recently returned from a great vacation back East. Many have asked how it was, so I thought I'd share a few memories and an enlightening video.

Went for a wedding which was actually a never-to-forget martha stewart/bollywood production party banquet-fest
Shopped at the Playmobil mother ship store
Discovered that New Jersey is more than asphalt and traffic
Discovered the only Dry, Methodist, nearly church-run, gay, beach town to exist [Ocean Grove]
Sweated to the Oldies with Elmo and friends at Sesame Place
Gained 5 pounds visiting Deep Run
Survived the Hershey World of all things chocolate
Ate half a dozen cheesesteaks

Had Ice Cream every day - peach cobbler was the best!
Sat on the tarmac in the plane for over 6 hours before taking off (like most of America this summer)

In the midst of all of that we encountered this princess prefering boogie board goddess on the beach at Ocean Grove. My favorite highlight of the trip (next to the cheesesteaks!)

I was Poked by a Friend

on the Social Graph!!!

Is that legal? Is it consentual?

This week's edition of Newsweek contains an instightful article on Facebook.com and the power of social networking, or what Facebook creater Mark Zuckerberg calls the "social graph" in our lives, social world, and the global marketplace/21stcenturyreality. You can read it HERE.

Mark expects every human being on our shared planet to soon be an inetgrated part of the facebook world (granted in my life-experience I know many folks who won't make the evolutionary jump...they already have enough problems with their BETA machines!) I find it amazing how technology - facebook, myspace, etc. can not necessarily create connections (although the Newseek article proves me wrong) but can reinforce and deepen existing and emerging relationships. When we're so busy commuting to and from work, multi-tasking while we prepare dinner, create a spread sheet on our blackberry in line for a triple no-foam latte at Pete's while reading the paper...maybe such online social networking is the natural progression of relationships...or at least communication that can be so foundation and formative for relationships in a post-911, globalized, mutlicultural world?

I don't have a philisophical answer...but I'm hooked. Does that mean that I'm a geek if I'm always wondering who has contacted me, or what old friend I can rediscover on facebook - even if they're now living in a cave in Katmandu? Is it adultery if you're excited - even in your heart- by being poked by a stranger, or better yet an old friend?

How Much Should Public School Cost?

Yesterday SF Chronicle Magazine contained a thoughtful article about the shameful need for public schools in California (and throughout the USA) to raise significant amounts of money to afford the educational program and offerings they wish to provide. (You can read the article "Going, Going, Gone!" HERE)

Being the parent of an entering kindergartner beginning school in a matter of days, as well as seeking to be involved with the schools in the area where I live and minister, I was struck by the harsh reality that I've already experienced, witnessed and worked within. There is not enough money going to our public schools. We live in the richest country, not only in the world, but in the history of the world. Our golden state of California would be the 7/8th richest nation in the world if we were independent. We are the land that is the home of Hollywood, Silicon Valley, the University of California, and significant contributors to science, the arts, engineering, and future-oriented industries. And yet public schools - whether rich suburban, affluent urban, and struggling communities with economically disadvantaged students all must turn to such fundraising events as PTA sponsored raffles in order to fund what should be stated mandated, supported and empowered educational offerings: computer programs, P.E. teachers, gardening programs, foreign language instruction, and field trips (this list comes from the article).

Earlier this year I blogged about the challenges of seeking to get our child into a health/stable/vibrant public school in Oakland and my reactions to visiting nearly 20 public elementary schools and half a dozen private ones. As we enter more concretely into the new community of our public school I'm impacted by the reality (as in all of life) that the whole thing is not about the destination (in this case finding the right school) but the journey (helping to improve the school). My - and your - children will live in a technologically advanced and based society characterized by multilingualism, multiculturalism, and a cultural fluidity that our world may not as of yet known. Obesity and early onset diabetes will no doubt continue to be rampantly emerging in their generation facing the fears and unknown consequences of climate change, instant communication, a global urbanization transformation, and global market for which schools in India, China, Japan, Singapore, Australia and Europe seem to be preparing their children, while we spend our time seeking to raise money to hire a librarian or computer aid so that we can unlock the doors of our existing school libraries and computer labs.

My wife and I are delighted by the school community that we were blessed to get into here in OUSD. The staff is excellent. The principal out-of-this-world. Yet something must be wrong when the Orientation Night for New Parents in a school community in the Bay Area of California deals mostly with the paramount need for parents to contribute money and time in order to balance out or make-up-for the significant resources that our state doesn't allocate to her public schools.

What would it be like if we valued education as much as we say we do with our lip service?

Roles, Reversals & Remembering

I opened the paper today and read a interesting article (Southern Baptist Seminary to offer ABCs of Homemaking) that got me thinking. OK didn't take much as I've been offline for 2 weeks. Why is it that we have such a reversal remembrance of the past? Why in particular do we so often seem to only review the past through rose-colored glasses, remembering how good, pure, easier, and cheaper things were? It seems like it's more of a denial sort of reversal of our memories in order to either make ourselves feel better about our current worldviews that struggle to grasp what's happening around and within us, or a way to flee our current fears to some golden-aged past that is locked away like a horocrux in our memories.

In particular this creative memory reversal seems to be some sort of maladie that plagues in particular portions of the Christian Community here in our Country. Ironic, since Christ calls us to live fully present - not in the past, but here, now, today.... I fail to understand how offering a BA in Homemaking will re-instill the "family values" that these folks are aiming to resurrect, reincarnate or reinvent. Were we really so much better off when we forced women to "stay home" in order to have meaning in life? Was it more effective when we denied the roles or women outside of the home in such a way that we made women, such as French writer Georges Sand, take pseudonmyns and quasi-identities of men in order to not only be appreciated and recognized but to be actual participants.

On vacation I began working through a new book, The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson, in which the last chapter I read talked about the urgent need for us as Christians to find our identity and to root it not in our consumeristic choices and/or the passive roles that modern media and captilalism fosters upon us. We need to remember that we're called to find our indentity in our baptisms....that we are new creations in Christ - neither female nor male, greek nor jew, slave nor free - that we are first and foremost the children of God. I fail to see how making sure that we maintain "traditional" gender roles (of course whose tradition is it?) is the most true form of being Christian? We seem to so often mistake Christ's call for us to know Jesus as the way in which we live our life for some sort of "truth" that we must enforce and legislate upon others through force, political power of a homemaking degree? Plus - how come men aren't allowed to enroll in this program? I'm not against one of the partners in a family being the principal homemaker...but how is that decided?

So often the Christian Community is uber-concerned with reaching out to those outside of the church, to 'save' them from the lost-ness of our current culture...yet how is reinforcing old stereotypes like women as homemakers going to do that?

Unplugged for Vacation

I'm unplugging myself for a much needed rest.

I'll be back to skew you more in mid-August.

In the meantime enjoy this clip from one of my favorite movies (Vacation)...

hoping my time off doesn't work out like the Griswald's vacation did.

Disclaimer

It's a rated R bit from a movie,

containing much cussing - massive amount of F-Words -

so if this bothers you

or if you'll judge me because of it,

take a moment before you pay it.

But the clip is really funny.

Haven't Read Harry Potter Yet?

Try another Novel

The Historian

OK - I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet - my wife sleeps with the book firmly enclosed in her arms at night...not even a peek yet!





I just finished a great novel - The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - a vampire novel focused upon History and the vocation of an Historian. It was a good read...not too bloody or anything (I'm thinking Lestat), but scary enough. There's a review and summary on wikipedia [HERE].

There's an audio review of the book on NPR [HERE].

I enjoyed the history (not that it's all 100% accurate)...but the book felt to me a bit like the Da Vinci Code throughout Eastern and Southern Europe, on the trail of Dracula as opposed to the Holy Grail. Great vacation reading.

Laurel Music Festival

Saturday, August 11th

Don't miss the fun, free music and community building

in East Oakland!

Click HERE to link to the Laurel District Website with more festival music info and even a video.

Deepening Your Spiritual Roots

Listening and Discerning God's Voice

in Our Lives through the Practice of

Lectio Divina

This is a reprint of something that I created for our church community to encourage and empower folks to deepen their spirituality and mature their faith through a regular experience and discipline of reading scripture...not as an intellectual excerise, but as a spiritual experience and practice. Lectio Divina is an ancient form of meditation and scripture reading that is meant to empower us to turn "off" our head and to think and listen with our hearts and lives to what God is doing around us, in us and inviting us to let God do through us.

What is Lectio Divina?

The Bible is the Word of God which is always alive and active, always new. Lectio Divina is a traditional way of praying the Scriptures so that the Word of God may penetrate our hearts and that we may grow in an intimate relationship with the Lord. "Lectio Divina", a Latin term, means "divine reading" and describes a way of reading the Scriptures whereby we gradually let go of our own agenda and open ourselves to what God wants to say to us. In the 12th century, a Carthusian monk called Guigo, described the stages which he saw as essential to the practice of Lectio Divina. These are:

lectio (reading) where we read the Word of God, slowly and reflectively so that it sinks into us. Any passage of Scripture can be used for this way of prayer but the passage should not be too long.

meditatio (reflection) where we think about the text we have chosen and ruminate upon it so that we take from it what God wants to give us.

oratio (response) where we leave our thinking aside and simply let our hearts speak to God. This response is inspired by our reflection on the Word of God.

contemplatio (rest) where we let go not only of our own ideas, plans and meditations but also of our holy words and thoughts. We simply rest in the Word of God. We listen at the deepest level of our being to God who speaks within us with a still small voice. As we listen, we are gradually transformed from within. Obviously this transformation will have a profound effect on the way we actually live and the way we live is the test of the authenticity of our prayer. We must take what we read in the Word of God into our daily lives.

The practice of Lectio Divina as a way of praying the Scriptures has been a fruitful source of growing in relationship with Christ for many centuries and in our own day is being rediscovered by many individuals and groups. The Word of God is alive and active and will transform each of us if we open ourselves to receive what God wants to give us.

God is still speaking…we often have a hard time listening and/or recognizing God’s Voice. For the past month we’ve been talking and reflecting upon hearing God’s voice in Scripture, relationships, events in our lives and our community life together. It can be difficult to discern God’s Will for and with us in the midst of the many voices that we hear in our daily life. Some of these competing voices/wills include: the media, our culture, our daily to-do-list, our family, our selfish desires, our well-meant intentions that are too stubborn to conform to God’s timing, our doubt in God, and even our self-doubt, disbelief that God would speak to me, ever need me, or choose to work through me.

I want to offer you a challenge of practicing Lectio Divina on a weekly basis this summer in view of deepening and/or discovering your own personal faith spirituality. Below is a list of scriptures from Luke for the summer months. They’re the scriptures that we’ll listen to each Sunday in Worship at Fruitvale Presbyterian Church. Take 15-30 minutes each week to reflect, pray and listen your way through these scriptures. You can try this spiritual practice using the following 3 lectio divina-based questions each time you pray through a scripture:

What word/phrase/image grabs your attention as you read the scriptures?
Where does this words touch your life – or our life as a church community – today?
How is the Spirit of God inviting you to change, or act through this scripture?

Three gospels in the New Testament offer similar portraits of the life of Jesus; Luke is the third of them. Its author, traditionally Luke the physician who accompanied Paul on some of his missionary journeys, draws on three sources: Mark (via Matthew), a collection of sayings (known as Q for Quelle, German for source) and his own source. It is a gospel that emphasizes God's love for the poor, the disadvantaged, minorities, outcasts, sinners and lepers. Women play a more prominent part than in the other gospels. Luke never uses Semitic words; this is one argument for thinking that he wrote primarily for Gentiles.

Throughout June, July & August we’re reading sections from Luke that scholars repeatedly call a “mini-school of discipleship.” They contain many parables, stories, and teachings meant to invite us to deeper, maturing faith.

The Gospel according to Luke in

July & August

July 8 Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

July 15 Luke 10:25-37

July 22 Luke 10:38-42

July 29 Luke 11:1-13

August 5 Luke 12:13-21

August 12 Luke 12:32-40

August 19 Luke 12:49-56

August 26 Luke 13:10-17

If you have questions, comments or want to talk over your discoveries email me at mcclainmonte@sbcglobal.net or leave messages on the blog itself to encourage and empower others in their faith journeys...

Another great link I know of provides you with a daily experience of Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer. Here's the link to Sacred Space - an online Jesuit resource from Ireland...fantastic! [HERE]

Blessings - Monte

National Night Out

Tuesday, August 7th

Make Community Connections

National Night Out is one of the greatest things for our city of Oakland, as well as any city. It's a chance to not just meet your neighbors, but to spend time with them, to build relationships and connections for good and to deter bad. There are numerous block parties already planned, but you can also plan your own.





Here's some helpful information - including links - that I found on Councilwoman Jean Quan's Website.



Register for National Night Out Now; the nation's night out against crime is Tuesday, August 7, 7-9 pm. Research shows that when neighbors know each other and look out for each other crime goes down. Last year District 4 had over 60 parties, join with their neighbors to have a neighborhood block party, ice cream social or other outdoor event to build neighborhood spirit and unity - the first defense against crime. My staff and I, police, and other city staff will visit each party. Register your party online, or contact Brenda Ivey with the Oakland Police Department at 238-3091. The deadline to register is 5:00 pm on Friday, July 27th. Only registered groups will be eligible for a visit! Block Party Guide

Blogging Backwards towards Sunday
July 22, 2007

Faith Formation and Coming Home

I'm a day late (plus a week) in getting this post up. I think I'm already on vacation. Anyway...these passages are so meaningful and rich that I couldn't resist.

At church yesterday we celebrated Homecoming Sunday, a worship idea from the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (in particular Kenya). The passages from the Lectionary and meant to compliment the gospel selection (my choice) were Psalm 1 and Luke 10:38-42.

I was and am struck by the word of God in these passages.

Psalm 1 talks about faith growth. It's the opening Psalm to the entire collection of Psalms, a sort of introduction to a larger group, the first thought in a theological relfection on the relationship between God and us - the human community. It's about faith education and spiritual formation - but through a different world view. The poet proclaims that we learn faith not in a school room, nor in a lecture hall. We learn about faith - about the desires of God's heart - the divine project or pasison for creation - through study of God's Law the Torah and through relationships with God and God's people. The Gospel selection in Luke 10 echoes and affirms the same thing. We often think that Jesus is shaming Martha for spending time cleaning the house and offering hospitality. He's not. Jesus is saying that relationship - time in community - with him is the essential aspect and foundational experience of Christian faith. Jesus isn't criticizing hospitality, showing love, social action, or doing works of justice and compassion, rather Jesus is saying first and foremost be in relationship with me and then let everything else flow from that.

In the midst of a culture and world view that portrays education and growth as based upon content, presenting and acquiring the correct information these ancient scriptures offer a totally different worldview and pedigagocial approach. Faith growth is like the growth of a tree - the tree in Psalm 1 planted near a stream. It continually is fed and strengthened by its relationship with the source - water, earth...the gifts of God meant for the gift of life.

In church I've often heard that you have to read the Bible, have a daily quiet time, and pray in order to grow as a Christian. I think it's true - but it's often been packaged and proclaimed to me in an all-too-easy package. We also need each other. I think about the times, places and things that I've learned about God - Sunday School, Worship, Sermons, Personal Reflection, Mission Experiences....what sticks with me is the example, mentoring and words of other people..the way in which they incarnated faith in God through Christ for me, to me and with me. That's what Jesus is calling us to - first and foremost to testify to our faith by being in relationships with God through Christ, to demonstrate that (to make our walk mirror our talk) in what we do, say, decide, how we spend our money, how we articulate our feelings, and in our relationships. Who has modeled faith for you? What do you remember? I'd bet that it's most likely similar to my expriences, memories and reflection...much more about relationship than content, yet relationships that mirror, integrate and reflect the content-matter of deep faith. How are we doing that as individuals and as a faith community?

4.2 Earthquake Last Night

The earthquake last night was recorded as a 4.2 on the r scale. Looks like it was centered right in East Oakland up near Juaquin Miller Park.



You can see several maps and info about the quake here.

Thanks to a neighbor friend on Rhoda for the tip.

GARBAGE

Still Piling

I received this helpful info from a friend in Ignacio de la Fuente's District. Good informaton and follow-through actions in case your trash hasn't yet been picked up.
________________________________________________

Keep your unemptied garbage on the curb, all 3 cans.

If Waste Management fails to provide collection by the end of your regular service day, report the service failure to WMAC Customer Service at 510-613-8710.
ALSO, report the failure to pick up to the City at our Recycling Hotline 510-238-SAVE (7283) or recycling@oaklandnet.com We will use this information for documentation in our legal actions.

AND, call Alameda County Environmental Health Department at 567-6700 where there is a health hazard. The County needs calls from residents so that they can declare lack of trash pick up an official health hazard.

When you see a particularly bad build-up of garbage, please also contact the recycling@oaklandnet.com and copy us. We are especially concerned about apartment buildings and restaurant/commercial areas and any other situation where health and safety will be affected.

Please call the the PWA Call Center at 615-5566 if you notice any illegal dumping on the streets.
Find updates on our Oakland Recycles webpage.

gifts?
An editorial , Fruitvale Presbyterian Church

When I stand before God at the end of my life,
I would hope that I would have not a single bit of talent left and could say
"I used everything you gave me"
- Erma Bombeck

I received the above quote in an email from a church community member this past week. It’s good food for thought! We live in a culture and time in which we’re often told we have to be perfect in order to do something. We’re told by the stores that want to sell us things: that other people do a better job – so just buy what they made, or pay them to do it for us. We’re told that things are tough; there isn’t enough time; you don’t have the necessary skills; so don’t bother. Maybe that’s why so many people love the Harry Potter books so much. It tells the story of a young boy, becoming a young man, who seems to be no good at anything, not wanted by anyone, of no importance, who turns out to be important – not for what he can do as much as for how he brings people together in relationship and community. We all are gifted like Harry Potter. We all are given unique talents, diverse gifts that are intended not just for our benefit but primarily – and foundationally – for the good of our community – church, neighborhood and even the whole world. The Apostle Paul says that in his first letter to the church of ancient Corinth (Greece) 12:7-12:

“4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;
6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God

who activates all of them in everyone.
7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

- 1 Corinthians 12:7-12

Our church is facing challenges (but aren’t we always doing so?). No one person has the answer, but Paul’s words – and the story of Harry Potter among other things – remind us of the mysterious faith that we confess together each Sunday in worship. We are all loved by God. We are all created in God’s image. We are all redeemed, healed and transformed by the radical love of God we know and experience in Jesus the Christ. We are all gifted by the living Spirit of God with unique talents, gifts and visions meant to build up the community through the putting-into-practice of the gospel, in other words for the “common good.” Some of us are gifted at music, others teaching, others understanding Scripture, others making great coffee, others in leadership, others in prayer. Our world often tells us that we aren’t unique, that we aren’t gifted, that we need more than we are needed. Yet our faith in Jesus the Christ reminds us, invites us to believe that we are not just loved by God, but needed by God to accomplish God’s vision and mission for the world! We don’t always know what that looks like. We don’t always understand or know how to do it. Yet if we believe that God calls us today just as God first called Abraham, Sarah, Moses and Myriam, Ruth, Nehemiah, Peter, John and Paul…then we need to be looking, working, seeking, praying, yearning to discover our gifts, to name them, and to use them for the common good. This month’s edition of the Voice details many ways that you can do just that in the life of our community whether that be the Commissioned Lay Pastor Program, hosting Coffee Hour, helping with COPE, special music, standing for Peace, or praying. God is calling us today, here and now. How will you respond with the gifts that you’ve already been given?

Peace to you and yours,

17 Days and Piling

Waste-ful Management

Many homes and businesses still haven't had their trash collected and removed. I took pictures of neighbor's trash still lining the sidewalks near the church where I work around MacArthur Blvd., Coolidge Ave. and Rhoda.


Many folks in and around the Dimond and Laurel districts still have not had their trash emptied in over 17 days.


The Oakland Tribune reports that a judge ordered Waste Management to pick up the trash...yet folks are still waiting. Read the article "Judge to Waste Management: Pick Up the Trash" here.


SF Gate reports that the Union and WM met today, and will continue tomorrow. While - like many of us have experienced - WM claims to have restored service to normal, yet the trash continues to pile up and "Residents Fume over Stinky Garbage"

Some folks have reported that their "grey" cans have been picked up (recycling). Others have claimed that trash has been picked up on a regular schedule - as if nothing was happening - in Montclair and other "hills" neighborhoods. Jennifer Crawford, a policy analyst for Councilwoman Jean Quan emailed earlier that this is incorrect. The recyciling or 'grey' cans are picked up in some neighborhoods by another company than WM. Which explains why they've been collected, while supposedly all the trash - wether in the hills or flatlands - continues to pile up unless the trash fairies are protecting you like those on the block where I live. Our block was serviced last week - while no one on the nearby streets and blocks were.


Kron4 News reported tonight of some neighbors in the Laurel (Octavia) who took matters into their own hands, forcing the WM temporary workers to collect their trash which had gone uncollected since late June. Watch and hear the story online here.

San Francisco's half-recovery

San Francisco made the USA section of the Economist this week. Good article on the economic recovery that has been manifesting itself in the past years, as well as refletion on the major demographic transformation happening - wether we see it or not.

Read it at www.Economist.com or go straight to the article here.

Confessing the Muggle Truth

OK - I'm a junkie. The next - and final - Harry Potter novel comes out this coming Saturday - the 21st at 12:00am. I'm rereading the last books preparing - ok I'm a geek. At least I own up to it. But I love it. 4 days and counting. I'm checking the following site each day for fun and creative posts.


Mugglenet.com


It seems that Talk of the Nation on NPR is doing something on Harry Potter every day this week too. Check out their offerings here.

The Oakland Tribune also has an article entitled "Pigging Out at Hogwarts," which is helpful is you're planning on reading all night once you get your copy at midnight and will eventually need to refuel to finish the book before dawn.

Enjoy!

Urban Ideations

A Podcast I've participated in

We've been talking and dialoguing about Communication a lot this past week. I've been participating with a friend Bruce Reyes-Chow in doing a monthly podcast talking about Christian Faith and Community from a more progressive point of view as well as urban life. We taped our most recent edition this past Sunday night in San Francisco, talking about American Christianity and the Myth of Being able to Raise a Perfect Child.

If you want to listen, or to sign-up for the podcast you can do so through Bruce's blogsite here...plus there's more info about the others in the recording and past/future editions.

Thanks to Bruce for sharing his gifts and resources in making this happen.

Let me know what you think by leaving a post on the monteskewed blog.

Bridezilla - Groomacula

and the PERFECT American Wedding

Preaching at a wedding this past weekend I referenced a book review that I recently read on SFGate. The article is called "Here Comes the Bill" talking about the recently purblished book "One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding" by Rebecca Mead.

The ideas of the book made for a great introduction in the sermon...reflections on the modern American Wedding and the myths that we have been fed by corporate America over the past 100 years in regards to what constitutes and what doesn't make a traditional wedding.

Every Saturday in July there are an average of 11,00o weddings in America, which cost an average of $27,852 (which equals 8 months of the median salary in our country).

The author of the book, Mead, has an interesting theory about modern American weddings:

"Overblown weddings result from a couple's feeling of emptiness; there's a void at the center of the ceremony that needs to be filled. With the decline in relgious authority, she argues, a wedding no longer has the meaning it once did. With more people delaying marriage until they're older, it no longer marks the transition from childhood to adulthood as it once did. Many people live on their own before getting married, have had sex before marriage and may even have children togther - or from other relationships. The wedding itself, then, becomes the 'traumatic experience' to overcome. The survivial of self-imposed financial hardships and unrealistic expectations becomes the rite of passage. And thanks to our willingness to accede to a consumer-oriented society with its "I buy therefore I am" mantra, wedding planners, gown sellers and travel agents offer therapy. We purchase - things or experiences - to make ourvselves feel emotionally whole."

Shocking words...is it a sign of the decline of our civilzation - like I wrote of yesterday about the decline of reading among youth? Is it a call for a Re-Christianization of America? Is it a call to overthrow the shackling cultural propoganda diffused subversively by corporate America into our values, ethics, and worldviews?

As I reflect on the article, the wedding this past weekend (in which the scripture was Luke12:22-34 - Jesus saying, "Do not worry about what you'll eat, wear or where you'll live. Consider the flowers of the fields, the birds of the air. If God cares for them, won't God care for you who are created in God's image?" I suspect many couples spend so much time worrying about the small details, that they miss out on the whole meaning-making experience of being wed publicly with family, friends and one's community present as witnesses. The writers of the New Testament often write about the Christian Church as the Bride of Christ, articulating the mystery that somehow through Christ and his resurrection, we as part of the community of believers are united - or married - to God in a mystical and real union. I can't help wondering if in our rush to copy what we see in Martha Stewart Weddings or on E! we've settled for becoming Bridezilla instead of dreaming of being the Bride of Christ?

My worldview and belief system form my perspective that God's presence, purpose and passion are at the root, foundation, and the force that brings us together in all relationships - married or not. What does it mean if we're empty at the core? If the major meaning-making events/experiences in life (not just weddings, but births, death, major life transitions) are simply becoming opportune times for us to purchase this or that item in order to satisfy what we can't fill within oursevles and our lives?

Communication(4) in a Virtual World

Is Communication as we know it

over the hill?

Is Literacy going the way of Harry Potter?

Snape?

Voledmort?

or Dumbeldore?

Should I be circulating my resume as Pastor-Dancerella?

I enjoyed a great article on SFGate this morning: "Kids reading fewer books despite Harry Potter hoopla" Read the entire article here.

Here's some of the excerpts I found poignant:

"We seem to be doing better than ever at teaching younger kids to read, but when kids enter adolescence, their reading - and reading ability - falls off. The power of the electronic, commercial entertainment media seems to be taking teenagers away from reading."

also

"While some experts worry that a drop-off in reading is an early warning sign of a culture in collapse, others interpret the results as part of a general shift toward electronic-based commnications, which will simply require new ways of measuring potential. 'You have to be careful when you say kids are reading less,' says Michael Kamil, a professor of education at Staford University. 'It doesn't mean they are incapable of reading. It means they choose to do other things instead.'"

It made me think:

1. Have the new medias and new techonologies available to us transformed the way we communicate in such a way, or to such an extent, that we can't go back? Is it all for good? Or is it a mixed bag? Maybe we are reading more - yet differently. Is it about quanity or quality? How do we quantify literacy in an image-based culture in which we spoon fed 30 second bits of information so that we don't change the channel, turn the page, or lose our attention?

2. What does it mean that children (those most immersed in our new communicative culture) read less and less? Is that a sign of the decay, decline and iminent destruction of our culture/society? Or is it an indicator/consequence of a radical worldview shift? Are we shifting back to some dark ages cultural world in which the priveleged (maybe in the future based on intelligence and reading capability) will rule the world in a big-brother-Brave-New-World sort of way?

3. What does this mean for the way we relate and communicate with each other? I've blogged a lot this past week about communication....are we struggling to communicate (an inalienable part of the human condition I believe) in new and particular ways because of the media shift that's emerging and already partially happened? Are we still fully human if we communicate principally and primarily via technology-enhanced means? It's like email converstaion...it's great! Helpful. Efficient. Fast. But I don't believe it can replace face to face conversations, dialogues and communication. I think it enhances it...but only in a complimentary not a sustitutionary way. Does it make us more passive and reactionary than active and participatory?

4. Specifically what does this shift mean for the way tha we relate and communicate with each other in the context of Christian community, in particular a local church? Here's an example: My daughter received her wildest-dream-come-true present for her birthday recently - Bella Dancerella. If you have no idea what Bella Dancerella is let me bring you up to speed. It's an example or incarnation of what the new media/technology are doing to our communicative reality. Basically it's a DVD dance class. It comes with all the goods - a ballet bar, some dance steps on a nifty plastic carpet (different carpets for different ballets) and some DVDs of Bella - the best ballet dancer (according to her)...who dances her way through swan lake while teaching the watcher the moves. Basically it's a dance class that you don't have to leave home to do. It's a dance community of like-minded friends that are all virtual. And Bella is also an expert at cheerleading, tap, hip-hop, you-name-it, she'll teach it to you in the safety, comfort and isolation of your own home. Here's a youtube clip I uploaded to give you a taste of what it's like.



It's a good thing. I love it. My kids adore it. Yet what does it mean? Are we headed towards some radical sci-fi futuristic imagined reality becoming what we live here and now? Will the future resemble somthing like the school scene in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure where the learning, teaching, and classroom setting are virtual? For education it is actually amazing - the new seemingly limitless opportunities. But what would that mean for things in which community - being with other people - is foundation, paramount and the raison d'etre? I think of Christian Worship - a time and a space in which we gather in community because our common faith gathers us together. Can you gather in such a way through virtual community? Does that cheapen the experience? Are we fooling ourselves into accepting the isolation that most of us seem to constantly be running from in our modern urban life? And what will happen to our gathering "worship" or "church" in which we gather around and are primarily gathered by a written text? Should I be circulating my resume or be enrolling in more programming classes so that I can create my own Pastor-Dancerella type worship videos that can be streamed live to every ipod/mp3 player and iphone in my parish neighborhood? Church isn't a spectator sport. You can't watch it, download it, or observe it. You have to participate in it. So what will the future hold?

Blogging Towards Sunday

July 15, 2007

Who is my neighbor?

What do I care?

This week at Fruitvale Church I'm preaching on two of the Lectionary List Scriptures proposed for Sunday, July 15th. Psalm 82 and Luke 10:25-37.

Psalm 82 is a poetic affirmation of God's justice and judgment, the declaration that the God of the Bible is on the side not of the rich and the powerful, the bold and the beautiful - but for all people, in parcticular the weak and the orphan the lowly and the destitute. It reminds me of other sciptures - the prayer of Hannah at the birth of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:1-10) and the song of Mary (the Magnificat) as he response to the news that God will come into the world through Jesus the child of her womb (Luke 1:46-56).



The passage from Luke 10 is commonly called the parable of the "Good Samaritan." Ironic as a title, for Jesus never says that the Samaritan is good. It's a striking example of the depth, honesty, and transformative teaching and presence of Jesus of Nazareth. As I've studied it every day this week in theological works and reflective meditation and prayer, I'm struck by the simplicity, truthfulness, and salvation power in Jesus' relational interaction with the lawyer (student of the Torah) that he tells this parable to as well as in his teaching.



1. The Lawyer comes to test Jesus. He thinks he's better than Jesus. He comes not wanting to learn, dialogue or deepen a relationship, but with a hidden agenda. He comes wanting to trap Jesus, to trick him into saying something foolish, or better yet to agree with what the laywer thought. Jesus surprises him, for he turns the situation around. The lawyer becomes the student, the one who is challenged in his worldview, religious convictions, and personal faith.

2. The Lawyer has the right answers but doesn't live them. There is a total disruption between his thoughts/mind and his heart/life actions. He doesn't walk his talk.



3. Jesus tells a parable that we miss because of the cultural/historical contexts. The injured man may or may not be Jewish. If he's not, then touching him makes one ritually unclean, spreading a contagion that was based upon ethnic division and a worldview based on racial superiority.



3a. The Priests were at the top of that society. They knew everything. They gave their life to following the Torah laws, living a life based on righteousness and purity because of their application of God's laws. The Priests is the ultimate "good guy" in that culture - probably both esteemed for their dedication and judged for their priveleged lives. The priest not only doesn't help but seems to go out of his way to walk around the hurt person.



3b. The Levites were in 2nd place in the hierarchical ladder of social privelege. The Priests were chosen from among the Levites. They too would be expected to help, yet would also seek to keep themselves pure, not wanting to spiritually defile themselves by touching an unclean and/or Gentile person.



3b. The Samaritans were the unwanted, black sheep. As Jesus told the story his listeners most likely would have expected the hero of the parable to be a laymen, an ordinary Jewish man. They might have expected Jesus to be teaching about the equality of all people, that ordinary Jews were as holy, righteous, and involved in God's ways in the world as the Priests and Levites. But Jesus goes farther. The hero is a Samaritan. They were like distant cousins of the Jews who had remained in Palestine during the Jewish exile in Babylon some 400-300 years earlier. They worshipped God not in Jerusalem, but in other places. They were like the bastard cousins, the ones who weren't good enough, who had a blasphemous faith, who thought there were equal but who weren't. They were the butt of the jokes - like some ethnic groups are oftentimes in jokes I hear these days.



4. Jesus teaches that faith and community gathered in God's name has nothing to do with socio-economic privelege or ethnic identity. God loves all people equally. God speaks to all people. All people - and maybe those that we oftentimes least expect to do so - speak, act, work, and live for God and God's justice - grace - and peace - in our world.



5. Jesus doesn't condemn the lawyer for his pride, racism, or elitism; but rather invites him to conversion, to transformation, to freedom from the lies and -isms that trap him in a small worldview and a faith in which the God of the Bible is held prisoner in a small box. Jesus doesn't give the answer. He asks the lawyer to answer the question that the latter asked the former, "Who this is my neighbor?" - the question that started the telling of the parable. The lawyer is most likely so angry, so trapped in his worldview, so unable/unwilling to change that he answers without saying aloud the words at which he cringes "The Samaritan is the neighbor." Instead he answers correctly but with general pronouns. Jesus invites him to a radical conversion, a deep transformation of his worldview: the way in which he makes sense of life by applying his faith, makes meaning of his relationships, and defines what his community is. Jesus invites him to a larger worlview, a wider definition and experience of community - yet he seems unwilling and unable to move into it.



So what does this word mean for us? In a week of continued talks about unionization in Oakland in our stores as well as the lock out at Waste Management, when the President and Congress talk about Iraq and the future there, in regards to Libby's potential pardon, and many other events in our life together as a city/nation and our personal communities and relationships.



In my week up at Summer Camp in the Redwood Forest I was struck each day by the mysterious beauty of the forest, in particular the redwoods. I was speaking and teaching on the parable of the sower and the seed (Matthew 13:1-9). Talking about seeds with 2-3rd graders I was hit by the notion of how God defines and nurtures community incarnate in the forest around me. Redwood tress grow both from seeds and in groups. They spread out from the "mother" tree in a circle shape. Their roots are actually quite shallow, so such tall trees should easily blow over in the wind. But as they grow in groups their roots grow together, making each other stronger through their mutual growth, giving and receiving of strength. The redwood tree is a perfect icon/image of community and what Jesus is trying to teach us even today through the Parable of the Samaritan. The same question is asked of us today..."Who is our neighbor?" In an era in which our neighbors might be those that have lived here forever, or those that can afford a skyrocket high mortage, or those that are stuck in the same economic circumstances that we are it's easy to feel like we don't have a choice in who our neighbors are. Yet it's not just about fences and property lines. Who do weconsider your community? Is it just those that share ouropinions, beliefs, worldview, ethnic backgrounds? Or is it something different? How do we treat our neighbors? Is our faith or are our 'basic values' evident in how we talk with, act alongside, relate with, and live alongside those who are our neighbors?

New Preschool Opening in Redwoods Heights

I heard on the Glenfriends Web Group about a new Preschool Opening in Redwoods Heights this Fall. Can't tell you if it's good or bad, can't recommend it to you as I personally don't know anything more about it than what I've inserted below. I do remember the challenge of finding 1) a good preschool for our kids, 2) something that was local, 3) something that was affordable, and 4) something that we could get in to.

They have a nicely constructed website for the school
-http://www.oaklandgardenschool.com/

Here's the entry that I read on the Glenfriends Yahoo Group:

"Our son¹s daycare is opening a brand new preschool in Redwood Heights. It¹scalled the Oakland Garden School and has begun taking applications. It¹sgoing to be a unique and amazing school with 3 separate classrooms for eachage group. The garden is about 1/2 an acre filled with fruit trees, asandbox with a water play area, and a deck with an outdoor kitchen for thekids. Tae, the director believes in nurturing children to express themselvesas individuals. Check out their open house every Sunday 4 ­5 pm, until thelast Sunday of July. For more information, check out their website:oaklandgardenschool.com "

Communication 3

Dolores Umbridge

The Pope

Martin Buber

Flipping the Bird on the 580

What's the connection?

I escaped for a mini-mental health break yesterday to watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. As I left the Bayfair Movie Theatre and merged onto the 580 I had an "ah-ha" experience. As usual the crowd at the last stoplight was thick. When I finally got onto the on-ramp I was side by side with another car. They were in front of me, so obviously (to me at least) they should pass in front of me in the merge. They hesitated and I looked over and made eye-contact with the driver, waving him forward ahead of me. As he merged and sped ahead I saw his right hand reach up into the air. Suddenly I was pissed, expecting to see him flip me off - yet what he did was wave generously his gratitude for our merging encounter. I had expected a rejection, and yet the wave seemed to be an invitation to dialogue and relationship. It got me reflecting on urban life, communication, the Harry Potter Movie I'd just come from and some of the recent sharing around "communication" on the blog.

In the Order of the Phoenix the bad gal is Dolores Umbridge, a quasi-fascist governmental official who takes over the Hogwarts Wizadry School. She assumes control with the goal of purging the school community of the impure, the dis-obedient, and what she considers "hateful lies" among the words and thoughts of the students. She asserts her power by coercion, manipulation, and even physical abuse. She's interested foremost and entirely in achieving the results she expects, not in any way in the people she's been called to serve or with whom she lives, works, and exists. Having never shown compassion, humility or any desire for relationship, she falls - rather is taken down violently - by the children of the school when they get the chance to overthrow the shackles of her egomaniac power regime. At the end of the film she mutters to herself, "I hate children." It's in her downfall that we discover the foundation of her self-righteous, persecution-based, power-tripping: she doesn't really care about anyone, she cares only for what she perceives as "order", the "common good," and that things return to the way that they've been, the way that they should always be. She has no interest in relationship. She has no relationships. She - having taken over the school community - has neither an intellectual idea of what community is nor an experience of community.

I read of the Pope's recent comments about the Catholic church being the only true church, asserting that she alone has the apostolic succession needed, and required, in order to be the truth, authoritative church within our world. While it seems archaic, elitist, divisive, destructive, and out-to-lunch in terms of the post-modern organically connectional world in which we live (and it is) it's based upon his notion that there can only be one relationship format in the world Christian Community. It has to be based upon the primacy of the Catholic Church. That's what legitmizes his power, place, and purpose. So how can he say that and at the same time seem to place such emphasis on relationships with other Christian Communities, the community of Islam, and other religious contexts? Can he really be in relationship with others that he treats as objects, while demanding that he and the Catholic Church be the subject of and in everything. A good sumamry article is on sf gate "Pope: other Christians Not True Churches"

In an earlier communication entry I talked a bit about the work of Jewish philosopher/theologian Martin Buber and his seminal book entitled "I and Thou." He talks about relationship - community - between two subjects, in which "I" addresses not "it" but "Thou." His idea that he develops across philosophy and into Theology is that God seeks to develop, empower, and birth in and between us such subject-to-subject relationships. Such community is the essence, purpose and passion of life. It is not possible when we objectify God, each other, or ourselves. It is not possible with anonymity, for it's all based on knowing each other and being known as a subject, a creature that acts, speaks, creates, listens, responds, and constructs with others.

In the car merging onto 580 I expected the driver to flip me off in a Dolores Umbridge-sort-of-way, to treat me as an object, or as less-than-equal. I was surprised by the opposite reaction. Having done several marriage counseling sessions this week talking about the importance of communication, I was taken aback when someone actually was initiating communication in an "I and Thou" way when I had expected the opposite. Maybe we all have that expectation. Someone in one of the communities in which I live has several times told me to "F*%@ Off" whenever I had a different opinion than them, or asserted my own opinion. That person has no desire to be in relationship with me. In fact they're the closest thing I know to Dolores Umbridge in the flesh - a person with no relationships with anyone except themselves. Maybe that's what we're use to in our urban life in which we have to react before we're treated badly, assert our will before we steam-rolled by others, flip off that driver in the other car before they flip us off - or worse pull out a gun. Maybe we're communicationally-challenged because we often don't know what we most long to have: relationships, living in an "I and Thou" sort-of-community.

Maybe that's what Paul is talking about is 1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a
noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Maybe we've become so use to noisy gongs and clanging cymbals, both around us and coming from our own communication, in our urban lifestyle and survival needs, that we have forgotten what Community can be like, what life-in-relationship is about, and how we're incomplete in our isolation.

Sherwood Forest Snapshots
Summer Camp @ Westminster Woods

I've had a great week some of the children of our church community at Summer Camp (Sherwood Forest to be precise) at Westminster Woods Camp and Conference Center. If you're part of our church community and know the kids enjoy the photos! And even if you're not yet a part of our faith community...enjoy the pics and any memories that they may bring up in you about laynards, campfires, crafts, archery, field games and good times!

If you want an e-copy of an photo, email me and I'll try to help you out! The kids come back on Saturday...we'll celebrate camp and share more photos in worship @ Fruitvale Church this coming Sunday.

More Garbage News

Here's the most recent recent update on the garbage situation that I received from Jennifer Crawford, a Policy Analysit for Jean Quan. It comes from their most recent e-newsletter. Read it in its entirety online here.

Keep your garbage on the curb, all 3 cans. WM is giving out contradictory information. They have hired 200 replacement workers, but are clearly not well organized. A few lucky people had their brown and fewer yet had their grey cans picked up, but most of my district's Tuesday pick-ups are still on the street. Some people were told to put their cans back, only to be missed when a random truck came by. Note: Those of us who live north of Lincoln Avenue have uninterrupted recycling (gray bin) services from California Waste Solutions, they are not affected by the lock out.

If Waste Management fails to provide collection by the end of your regular service day, report the service failure to WMAC Customer Service at 510-613-8710.

ALSO, report the failure to pick up to the City at [the]Recycling Hotline 510-238-SAVE (7283) or http://us.f833.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=recycling@oaklandnet.comWe will use this information for documentation in our legal actions, including possible rebates of your garbage fees. The hotline has increased staff to handle calls.

If you cannot wait and must haul your own garbage to the Davis Street Station, 2615 Davis St , take your WM garbage bill and they are suppose to waive the fees. One [district 4] constituent was charged and we made arrangements to have the fee rebated.

Please call the the PWA Call Center at 615-5566 if you notice any illegal dumping on the streets.
If you see a particularly bad build-up of garbage, please contact the http://us.f833.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=recycling@oaklandnet.com and copy [Jean Quan's office or your supervisor's office] . [They] are especially concerned about apartment buildings and restaurant/commercial areas and any other situation where health and safety will be affected. Luckily, most restaurants and stores use other companies.

Find updates on our Oakland Recycles webpage.

Communication 2

One80PerspectivePeople

I've been thinking since last night about communication and relationships and my recent experiences/musings I sought to articulate in last night's blog. It seems that we - and I mean me - often so easily lose perspective in the midst of dialogue and in particular debate, whether the subject is unionization in a local store, trash bins uncollected on our streets, lock-outs, family situations, property lines, school enrollment, or national policy, or causes of inequality in our city. It's so easy to move from dialogue to polarization, from discussion to dismissal. I think we live in a culture that's increasingly polarized and polarizing, in which we're required to voice our opinion more in the negative (I'm against this, or him/her as opossed to I'm for this, him/her...). We entrench our positions before beginning to dialogue so that our discussions become like the nightmare battle quagmires of WW1 like Verdun. Most conversations about President Bush, Hillary, our governor or Paris Hilton begin with such statements....He's an idiot! She's a bitch! He should go back to Hollywood! She's a loser!

Granted we don't know those folks - at least I don't - on a personal level, so generalizing comments like that are easy to say, make us feel better in our powerlessness, and often either get a laugh or piggy-back on a previous joke. Living a public life opens you up to such treatment - for good or bad. But what happens when it gets personal, on a local, community-based, or family level? I think we all too often lose perspective. In our bitterness in losing a battle, or sadness in the face of our wounds, or anger in being misunderstood, or elation is emerging victorious...we forget that it's not just "someone" on the other side, but that it is someone's someone. We forget that at the root of it all it's about people - you, me and the other guy/gal.

In reading the paper this morning I ran across an editorial by Newt Gingrinch reprinted by the Oakland Tribune about the new president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy entitled "Sarkozy's lesson for U.S." (Sac Bee E-Version). What struck me is not Newt Gingrich's policy perogative or message per say, but the example of Sarkozy who has emerged as president in a difficult time in France, when change is not just necessary, but absolutely necessary to ensure the future. I don't think he's necessarily Mother Theresa dressed up in a designer suit (most of our friends in France cried the day he was elected, but didn't go out into the street and burn cars). But I'm struck by his words (interpreted by Gingrich from Sarkozy's book) For France - and America - or even the Dimond, Laurel, Maxwell Park, whatever community we're in - to change, to make a One80, we have to not just focus on what we want, or keep our enemies/adversaries in clear-sight, or entrench our positions for battle...we have to have perspective, to not lose sight that whatever and all of what we are doing is about people - you, me, and the "forgotten (wo)man."

Maybe that's part of what Jesus meant in what we've come to call the "golden rule"

‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as
yourself.’ Luke 10:27

or what singer/songwriter/activist Amy Ray means in some lines of her song about Gay Rights and Religious Communities entitled "Let It Ring" on the album "Prom"

When you march stand up straight.
When you fill the world with hate
Step in time with your kind and
Let it ring

When you speak against me
Would you bring your family
Say it loud pass it down and
Let it ring

Let it ring to Jesus
‘cause he sure’d be proud of you
You made fear an institution and
it got the best of you
Let it ring in the name
of the one that set you free
Let it ring

(more lyrics here)

I'm getting preachy...so I should stop. But it does argue a point....do we need to make a One80 in the way we not only talk but even approach each other? Have we forgotten that the person on the other side is first and foremost a "person" before being "on the other side?"

Communication

Chance? Work? A Miracle?

I have been blessed in my life so far to have been impacted an mentored by many people I now cherish. I didn't necessarily appreciate and/or enjoy all of the relationships with some of them during the moment, but I now see how I have been formed and shaped (for good and bad) by them. One of them is an older woman who lived a long fruitful life of many relationships. She was the wife of a pastor who sought to sharpen other people and mature future leaders by basically taking the role of a devil's advocate. Granted many times I wanted to half-nelson her (which would have been totally inappropriate as I was in my 20s and she in her 70s when I first met her - but it sure what have felt good - until I would have had to call 911)...but I digress. The point of the matter is that she taught me a lot. One of the sayings she often repeated was a truism I learned to experience only through her consistent dronings.

"Communication is a miracle."

In my flippant reponses I thought it was stupid, so obvious, too trite to matter...yet on further relfection through life experience, theological wondering, and hopefully personal maturation through social interaction and work experience, I find Isabelle's comment to be so true that it's a bit frightening.


I've thought much about her in the past week or so. I recently posted a blog article entitled "Shop Farmer Joe's". Since then I've heard and recieved several comments by email and phone call about my words/response to the continuing and emerging situation around the unionization debate and spoiled-food-claim-debacle swiming around the Farmer Joe's store in the Dimond and the deep shared desire for meaningful and meaning-making community within the larger context of East Oakland, and specifically the Dimond District (in which I primarily work as serve as pastor of a neighborhood church). Divided between pro-union and pro-business (as we always like to spin our various and diverse positions in a positive light) they all expressed that first and foremost they are pro-neighborhood...excited about the Dimond, proud to live in East Oakland...to have stayed, to have not fled to Piedmont, Orinda, or other safer places through the Caldecot or with a different zip code. They're proud and hopeful that the emergence and opening of Farmer Joe's in the Dimond (after the oringinal store in the Laurel) is a big sign and continuing catalyst of deep, systemic and organizational transformation within our neighborhood seeking to articulate, affirm and embrace the identity - both historic and emerging - of the place in which we move and live and have our being.


In some brief and rapid online reading tonight, I ran across a hot-off-the-keyboard-presses blog entry from Kristine Dang on her Dimondites site entitled "garbage" in which she shares a bit about some of the mis-communication and dis-communication directed towards her in terms of her response and blogging on the whole Farmer Joe's situation. I'm not meaning to take sides, nor taking the easy solution of seeking to be Switzerland. But I can say I deeply appreciate her Dimondites Blog and echo her desire for community and organic, inclusive and participatory dialogue/community within the larger Dimond Context.


Why is it that communication has to be a miracle? In the past week I've had several conversations that went no where. There was no connection. There was no listening because there were either too many elephants in the room or unclaimed baggage needing to be unpacked. I'm not saying I was in the right all the time. Yet the sadness of these multiple encounters were that they weren't encounters or dialogues...they were more like ships passing in the night with horns blowing, or sermonettes preached to another person, or cacaphonic noise. There was no encounter, only failed manipulation, propaganda dissimenation, and endoctrination efforts. Communication is more than just getting a message across. It's more about encounter and dialogue, about two subjects talking with - not just to - each other, in a way that invites and nurtures relationships, births community, and creates initiative towards shared, joint and mutually participatory action. More and more I suspect that there is indeed something sacred about communication. Maybe it is only possible by God's presence, purpose or passion. Maybe a theologian (John V. Taylor) I once read is correct in asserting that the Spirit of God is the "Go Between God" who makes all relationships, inter-personal encounters, and community not only meaningful and meaning-making but also possible. Without something present other than just our will-to-power, or egos, or desires wether spoken or unspoken...no communicaiton, no encounter, can happen.

Reminds me of the words of the apostle Paul in the 13th chapter of his first letter written to the early Christian church community in ancient Corinth

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a
noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as
to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all
my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not
have love, I gain nothing.

Words are cheap - as the saying goes...yet Love is the thing that seems most absent in my recent non-encounters and refelections. I'm struck by Kristine's words tonight...and so many others of the past days. Maybe they're brief encounters that leave me longing for more, deeper discussion and thoughtufl dialogue, pointing towards an emerging initiative for shared action in the context of community, instilling in me a desire for love like Paul writes of or the Indigo Girls sing of when they say "love is just like breathing when it's true."