Today is the anniversary of Beethoven's birth, it is also the beginning of the Christmas novena which in the Mexican culture is marked by a series of posadas that are supposed to mark the pilgrimage of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.
Several years ago I sang in the choir of the Methodist church in Puebla, Mexico. Protestants don't observe Posadas but it is hard to compete against them so they had Noches Invernales, winter nights, which were bland except for the fact that the choir usually rehearsed before the party. I remember learning Beethoven's Alleluia which made the trek to Bethlehem more solemn than any posada.
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard, one of my favorites is a string quartet he wrote after he almost died. Another is the Kreutzer violin sonata which was originally written for a mulatto violinist who was quite the performer. Sonata Mullattica is a book of poetry by Ria Dove that tells about that sonata which the mullatto George August Polgreen Bridgetower did play, but Kreutzer pronounced unplayable. But for most people Beethoven and the Ode to Joy are synonimous. That piece is, of course, part of the 9th Symphony which Beethoven composed but never heard.
The Christmas story is beautiful and inspiring, but so are the life stories of people like Beethoven and Bridgetower who overcame incredible odds and left a legacy of beauty and musical complexity that continue to inspire, and I dare say, will go on enlivening spirits for many years to come.
Ignacio Castuera
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Religious Wars?
I was interviewed on Spanish TV tonight and the wonderful thing is that I never left the comfort of my room. I just turned on my Skype, the station called and voila! The topic was a Tshirt that someone who calls himself Nobama is selling asking people to "pray for Obama" followed by the text Psalm 109:8 It seems like a supportive gesture but it is not. When one looks up the text it is a Psalm of lamentation where the writer complains about the king of those who have mistreated the people of Ancient Israel. The person prays that this king may die and his children also and that nothing be left of his name. Understandable feelings for those who have suffered the ignominious mistreatment of occupying soldiers:
Psalm 109:8-13
8: Let his years be few; let someone else take his position.
9: May his children become fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10: May his children wander as beggars and be driven from their ruined homes.
11: May creditors seize his entire estate, and strangers take all he has earned.
12: Let no one be kind to him; let no one pity his fatherless children.
13: May all his offspring die. May his family name be blotted out in a single generation.
A similar feeling is in Psalm 137 which concludes with the curse disguised as a blessing: Babylon, Babylon, you who kills the prophets! Blessed be the ones who take your children and dash them against the rocks. Not very uplifting or edifying sentiments. Sheer frustration, pain and desire for revenge.
The interviewer wanted to know if I thought this was a death threat and I said no, it is a misuse of Scripture but it is not a direct threat. People may pray for a terrible fate for someone but we who follow Jesus know that God would not listen to such a terrible prayer. Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us hence Jesus' Papa, God, would understand but ignore prayers that express a desire to cause harm.
The interviewer then asked if in the middle of religious wars such prayers are not unwise. I replied that the prayers are unwise but that we are not in the middle of religious wars. We are involved in an illegal, immoral and unjust war motivated by desires to extend hegemony, control resources and humiliate people. It is the war machinery that wants us to believe that we are in a religious war and the excuse of 9/11 needs to be unmasked for what it is, an excuse.
The interviewer concluded with a promise to bring me back to explain more on what I mean by the statement that 9/11 is just and excuse. I hope he fulfills his promise to me and to his public.
Ignacio Castuera
Psalm 109:8-13
8: Let his years be few; let someone else take his position.
9: May his children become fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10: May his children wander as beggars and be driven from their ruined homes.
11: May creditors seize his entire estate, and strangers take all he has earned.
12: Let no one be kind to him; let no one pity his fatherless children.
13: May all his offspring die. May his family name be blotted out in a single generation.
A similar feeling is in Psalm 137 which concludes with the curse disguised as a blessing: Babylon, Babylon, you who kills the prophets! Blessed be the ones who take your children and dash them against the rocks. Not very uplifting or edifying sentiments. Sheer frustration, pain and desire for revenge.
The interviewer wanted to know if I thought this was a death threat and I said no, it is a misuse of Scripture but it is not a direct threat. People may pray for a terrible fate for someone but we who follow Jesus know that God would not listen to such a terrible prayer. Jesus taught us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us hence Jesus' Papa, God, would understand but ignore prayers that express a desire to cause harm.
The interviewer then asked if in the middle of religious wars such prayers are not unwise. I replied that the prayers are unwise but that we are not in the middle of religious wars. We are involved in an illegal, immoral and unjust war motivated by desires to extend hegemony, control resources and humiliate people. It is the war machinery that wants us to believe that we are in a religious war and the excuse of 9/11 needs to be unmasked for what it is, an excuse.
The interviewer concluded with a promise to bring me back to explain more on what I mean by the statement that 9/11 is just and excuse. I hope he fulfills his promise to me and to his public.
Ignacio Castuera
Monday, December 14, 2009
Words under siege
I went to see Invictus last night and highly recommend it. The film is based on a true story involving Nelson Mandela and the way he understood the power of symbols, words and images. It is also about his incredible power to convey forgiveness and reconciliation to those around him.
Central to the story is the reference to the poem that kept Mandela's spirit strong during his times of deepest doubt and suffering. The poem is by William Ernest Henley and in the movie it is referred to as a "Victorian" poem. Henley wrote the poem while confined to a hospital bed, Mandela remembered the poem while incarcerated in South Africa. The power of words across time and space could not be more dramatically demonstrated than through this story. A white, sickly confined poet wrote words that strengthened a revolutionary black man more than a hundred years later, in another continent but under similar circumstances.
The power of words to move and inspire is further demonstrated as this poem becomes the source of strength for the captain of the South African Rugby team who then inspires his companions to perform high and above their capabilities leading them to the World Championship in 1995. This event helped unify South Africa and convey to whites there that their black president understood them, supported them and wanted to lead them to become a better nation in the same way that the rugby plaers became a better team.
Words are powerful but words, especially written words, are under siege. All manners of distractions prevent people from reading. I wonder how many children and youth commit poems to memory as Mandela did. The hope we memorize, the words we learn "by heart" can help us through difficult times. One of the hosts in Iran in the 70's was a Christian pastor who survived by remembering Bible verses he had memorized. What are we memorizing these days when words are under siege? Will remembering a movie or a TV show or a Nintendo game have the same power as remembering a poem like Invictus?
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Central to the story is the reference to the poem that kept Mandela's spirit strong during his times of deepest doubt and suffering. The poem is by William Ernest Henley and in the movie it is referred to as a "Victorian" poem. Henley wrote the poem while confined to a hospital bed, Mandela remembered the poem while incarcerated in South Africa. The power of words across time and space could not be more dramatically demonstrated than through this story. A white, sickly confined poet wrote words that strengthened a revolutionary black man more than a hundred years later, in another continent but under similar circumstances.
The power of words to move and inspire is further demonstrated as this poem becomes the source of strength for the captain of the South African Rugby team who then inspires his companions to perform high and above their capabilities leading them to the World Championship in 1995. This event helped unify South Africa and convey to whites there that their black president understood them, supported them and wanted to lead them to become a better nation in the same way that the rugby plaers became a better team.
Words are powerful but words, especially written words, are under siege. All manners of distractions prevent people from reading. I wonder how many children and youth commit poems to memory as Mandela did. The hope we memorize, the words we learn "by heart" can help us through difficult times. One of the hosts in Iran in the 70's was a Christian pastor who survived by remembering Bible verses he had memorized. What are we memorizing these days when words are under siege? Will remembering a movie or a TV show or a Nintendo game have the same power as remembering a poem like Invictus?
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Advent Trilogy Part 2
Most Sundays I preach and being in the midst of Advent I started a three part series entitled HOPE against hope. St. Augustine said that Hope has two beautiful daughters: anger and courage. Anger at things as they are and courage to change those things. Advent is a season of HOPE and a time to unmask false hope. The theme for the third Sunday in Advent is Joy and the reading from Philippians has the apostle Paul urging the followers of Jesus from Philippi to "rejoice in the Lord always" later on he adds, "again, I say rejoice!" This message seems to be is sharp contrast to the Gospel lesson where John the Baptist as a good prophet warns people about impending doom. His speech starts with a very direct insult "You brood of vipers, who warned you flee from the wrath to come? In spite of this greeting the crowds remain and manage to ask "What then shall we do?"
SHARE
In time of danger, of occupation, people need to come together and share. Jesus was born in an occupied country, John the Baptist preached to people in an occupied sector. Scarcity accompanies occupation so it was natural that the Baptist would suggest to people that survival would depend more on sharing than on hoarding. This applies today to both those who live under the occupation of foreign troops and those who finance soldiers to occupy far away lands. We must share with one another at this time of scarcity, of foreclosures, of hunger and want. Hoarding will not insure the countries prosperity, it will only offer the false security of money and position.
REFORM TAXATION
Tax collectors were also in the crowd of people who stayed to hear the rest to John's incredible message and who came forward to be baptized. To them the Baptist said change the way you operate as tax collectors. In other words reform the tax system. Tax collectors were collaborators with the occupying forces from Rome. They were required to collect X and their salary came from whatever they added to X. Jesus reached out to tax collectors partly because they were so despised and partly in an effort to continue the task his cousin John the Baptist had started. Nicodemus changed his ways and paid back the extra taxes he had collected. This translates to our day into converting our taxation into a fairer system where the wealthy and the corporations pay proportionately to their exorbitant incomes. If corporations and rich people paid what is "prescribed" the middle class would not have to pay as much and we would have enough to go around, especially if we end our wars of occupation.
MILITARY REFORM
Strangely enough soldiers are also convinced by the harsh words of the Baptist and ask And we, what shall we do? It is most interesting that soldiers are included in this passage. The only soldiers there would have been the soldiers who were part of the occupation forces! Romans, kids far away from Rome and family forced to work in the dusty hinterlands of the Empire. They knew they had much to repent from. They had to "obey orders" and probably had tortured and crucified people abusing the power they had. The Baptist advices these occupying soldiers not to abuse their power, not to bring people into "justice" though lies, not to exact money by force, not to accuse people who were innocent and to be satisfied with their wages. Soldiers, then as now, looted and raped and hurt others but they were doing that because of policies established in the heart of the Empire. Our young soldiers too are in Iraq and Afghanistan and many act in ways contrary to their best judgement because our policies have put them in a position where they find it hard to distinguish between friend and foe. Many mistakes are made in such situations and the reason we have such high rates of suicide is that we have forced these young, poor people to be in unnatural situations. PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is rampant and I read in the NYTimes that the rules for military psychologists exclude true confidentiality. Naturally many of these young soldiers cannot talk freely about their feelings and cannot express their doubts. Wars of occupation hurt the locals and the invaders even if the effects for the occupiers takes longer to appear, they also linger for a much longer time. We have not had an honest, just war since WWII. All other military engagements since 1945 have been most questionable.
It was particularly sad to read what President Obama said in West Point and in Oslo. Never before had the Nobel Peace podium been turned into a bully pulpit to justify wars of occupation. I urge you to read those speeches, take time to read them, do not let the Empire of Illusion distract you with Spectacle. Read, turn off your TV, read. Images can be manipulated more easily than words, you can re-read paragraphs, you can't always rewind and re-play deceitful image laden messages.
Father John Friend, a Jesuit wrote a great statement about our New War President. You can read the whole article at http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/our-new-war-president. I love Jesuits if for no other reason than they are members of an order established by a great Basque, Ignacio de Loyola. Please read his post, I am most impressed that the National Catholic Reporter published his writings, I applaud them and commend you to his wisdom. His message is in keeping with John the Baptist's word for this Third Sunday in Advent.
Ignacio Castuera
SHARE
In time of danger, of occupation, people need to come together and share. Jesus was born in an occupied country, John the Baptist preached to people in an occupied sector. Scarcity accompanies occupation so it was natural that the Baptist would suggest to people that survival would depend more on sharing than on hoarding. This applies today to both those who live under the occupation of foreign troops and those who finance soldiers to occupy far away lands. We must share with one another at this time of scarcity, of foreclosures, of hunger and want. Hoarding will not insure the countries prosperity, it will only offer the false security of money and position.
REFORM TAXATION
Tax collectors were also in the crowd of people who stayed to hear the rest to John's incredible message and who came forward to be baptized. To them the Baptist said change the way you operate as tax collectors. In other words reform the tax system. Tax collectors were collaborators with the occupying forces from Rome. They were required to collect X and their salary came from whatever they added to X. Jesus reached out to tax collectors partly because they were so despised and partly in an effort to continue the task his cousin John the Baptist had started. Nicodemus changed his ways and paid back the extra taxes he had collected. This translates to our day into converting our taxation into a fairer system where the wealthy and the corporations pay proportionately to their exorbitant incomes. If corporations and rich people paid what is "prescribed" the middle class would not have to pay as much and we would have enough to go around, especially if we end our wars of occupation.
MILITARY REFORM
Strangely enough soldiers are also convinced by the harsh words of the Baptist and ask And we, what shall we do? It is most interesting that soldiers are included in this passage. The only soldiers there would have been the soldiers who were part of the occupation forces! Romans, kids far away from Rome and family forced to work in the dusty hinterlands of the Empire. They knew they had much to repent from. They had to "obey orders" and probably had tortured and crucified people abusing the power they had. The Baptist advices these occupying soldiers not to abuse their power, not to bring people into "justice" though lies, not to exact money by force, not to accuse people who were innocent and to be satisfied with their wages. Soldiers, then as now, looted and raped and hurt others but they were doing that because of policies established in the heart of the Empire. Our young soldiers too are in Iraq and Afghanistan and many act in ways contrary to their best judgement because our policies have put them in a position where they find it hard to distinguish between friend and foe. Many mistakes are made in such situations and the reason we have such high rates of suicide is that we have forced these young, poor people to be in unnatural situations. PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is rampant and I read in the NYTimes that the rules for military psychologists exclude true confidentiality. Naturally many of these young soldiers cannot talk freely about their feelings and cannot express their doubts. Wars of occupation hurt the locals and the invaders even if the effects for the occupiers takes longer to appear, they also linger for a much longer time. We have not had an honest, just war since WWII. All other military engagements since 1945 have been most questionable.
It was particularly sad to read what President Obama said in West Point and in Oslo. Never before had the Nobel Peace podium been turned into a bully pulpit to justify wars of occupation. I urge you to read those speeches, take time to read them, do not let the Empire of Illusion distract you with Spectacle. Read, turn off your TV, read. Images can be manipulated more easily than words, you can re-read paragraphs, you can't always rewind and re-play deceitful image laden messages.
Father John Friend, a Jesuit wrote a great statement about our New War President. You can read the whole article at http://ncronline.org/blogs/road-peace/our-new-war-president. I love Jesuits if for no other reason than they are members of an order established by a great Basque, Ignacio de Loyola. Please read his post, I am most impressed that the National Catholic Reporter published his writings, I applaud them and commend you to his wisdom. His message is in keeping with John the Baptist's word for this Third Sunday in Advent.
Ignacio Castuera
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Hanukkah a PS.
This morning I posted a statement that mentioned both, the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Hanukkah. I concentrated on Guadalupe and said very little about Hanukkah managing to misspell the word. I was much gratified to read a column in the New York Times by David Brooks where he digs behind the "fun" parts of the celebration and presents the all too human realities of the story. I urge you to log on to the New York Times and read the full column. I want to tempt you to read the whole article by sharing a couple of paragraphs:
Tonight Jewish kids will light the menorah, spin their dreidels and get their presents, but Hanukkah is the most adult of holidays. It commemorates an event in which the good guys did horrible things, the bad guys did good things and in which everybody is flummoxed by insoluble conflicts that remain with us today. It’s a holiday that accurately reflects how politics is, how history is, how life is...
But there is no erasing the complex ironies of the events, the way progress, heroism and brutality weave through all sides. The Maccabees heroically preserved the Jewish faith. But there is no honest way to tell their story as a self-congratulatory morality tale. The lesson of Hanukkah is that even the struggles that saved a people are dappled with tragic irony, complexity and unattractive choices.
Please read the whole article and then ask yourself what myths and legends in your own religious or national history should be looked at with the same honesty with which Brooks looks at his own celebrations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/opinion/11brooks.html
Peace!
Ignacio Castuera
Tonight Jewish kids will light the menorah, spin their dreidels and get their presents, but Hanukkah is the most adult of holidays. It commemorates an event in which the good guys did horrible things, the bad guys did good things and in which everybody is flummoxed by insoluble conflicts that remain with us today. It’s a holiday that accurately reflects how politics is, how history is, how life is...
But there is no erasing the complex ironies of the events, the way progress, heroism and brutality weave through all sides. The Maccabees heroically preserved the Jewish faith. But there is no honest way to tell their story as a self-congratulatory morality tale. The lesson of Hanukkah is that even the struggles that saved a people are dappled with tragic irony, complexity and unattractive choices.
Please read the whole article and then ask yourself what myths and legends in your own religious or national history should be looked at with the same honesty with which Brooks looks at his own celebrations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/opinion/11brooks.html
Peace!
Ignacio Castuera
Guadalupe and Hannukah
I grew up in Mexico and was raised Roman Catholic. When I was around 9 years old my parents took my brother Pepe and me to Mexico City and the two places I remember the most are the Chapultepec Park and the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe. The feast of Guadalupe is observed on 12/12 with masses, pilgrimages, feasts, drunkeness and violence. For years the expression "peregrino Guadalupano" has been used as a synonym of stupid by the middle class, partly because it disguises the crass term "pendejo" and partly because it is a classist -even racist- way of describing the majority of those who go from their little towns in the country to the great basilica, most of them indian and poor.
The basilica I visited with my parents has been replaced by a larger, more opulent, building which stands in stark contrast with the masses of poor people who crowd into the place for a chance to offer prayers both pleas and thanksgiving for some special attention paid to the pilgrims or their family.
The virgin of Guadalupe is at the top of the popular religious pantheon. She is the mother of God and the one who can take the prayers of the pilgrims to Him. She is the mother of Mexico and the Empress of the Americas. Of course no one is told that she was already worshiped in Spain and is one of a collection of dark Madonnas that have graced the Roman Catholic population of Southern Europe. Guadalupe was from Extremadura, as was Hernan Cortez, the conqueror of the Aztecs. No one is told that the name Guadalupe is not Mexican and not even Spanish, it is Arabic and it is not clear whether it means River of love or -if combined with Latin- River of wolves. Details, mere details, that must be kept from the faithful lest they stop and think and wonder, "what am I doing following the mother of the conquistadores?"
I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the worship of a mother goddess in Mexico and traced the practice back to ancient Nahuatl roots and the Al Andaluz lands from where the bulk of the conquistadores went to the New World. I defended the thesis that the elevation of women in the abstract is highly correlated with the devaluation of women in the concreteness of life. I did not have to go to a University to pose the issue, I just had to remember the weekly beatings of poor women in the pulqueria across the street from where I lived.
So today men will go and ask forgiveness for all their sins, will get drunk and will beat their wives in front of their children. Some things have changed and the number of men doing that might have decreased, but I can guarantee that many people will die today as a consequence of a celebration that needs to be analysed and restructured if women in Mexico and in the Americas are to have longer, less violent lives.
Across the ocean a festival of lights will be started in Israel without a concomitant festival of human rights for Palestinians. Mexico or Israel, just the same incredible gaps between pronouncements and performance.
Ignacio Castuera
The basilica I visited with my parents has been replaced by a larger, more opulent, building which stands in stark contrast with the masses of poor people who crowd into the place for a chance to offer prayers both pleas and thanksgiving for some special attention paid to the pilgrims or their family.
The virgin of Guadalupe is at the top of the popular religious pantheon. She is the mother of God and the one who can take the prayers of the pilgrims to Him. She is the mother of Mexico and the Empress of the Americas. Of course no one is told that she was already worshiped in Spain and is one of a collection of dark Madonnas that have graced the Roman Catholic population of Southern Europe. Guadalupe was from Extremadura, as was Hernan Cortez, the conqueror of the Aztecs. No one is told that the name Guadalupe is not Mexican and not even Spanish, it is Arabic and it is not clear whether it means River of love or -if combined with Latin- River of wolves. Details, mere details, that must be kept from the faithful lest they stop and think and wonder, "what am I doing following the mother of the conquistadores?"
I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the worship of a mother goddess in Mexico and traced the practice back to ancient Nahuatl roots and the Al Andaluz lands from where the bulk of the conquistadores went to the New World. I defended the thesis that the elevation of women in the abstract is highly correlated with the devaluation of women in the concreteness of life. I did not have to go to a University to pose the issue, I just had to remember the weekly beatings of poor women in the pulqueria across the street from where I lived.
So today men will go and ask forgiveness for all their sins, will get drunk and will beat their wives in front of their children. Some things have changed and the number of men doing that might have decreased, but I can guarantee that many people will die today as a consequence of a celebration that needs to be analysed and restructured if women in Mexico and in the Americas are to have longer, less violent lives.
Across the ocean a festival of lights will be started in Israel without a concomitant festival of human rights for Palestinians. Mexico or Israel, just the same incredible gaps between pronouncements and performance.
Ignacio Castuera
Friday, December 11, 2009
Justice and Peace
I belong to a group that was created the evening of 9/11/2001. A group of religious activist met and decided that our Muslim colleagues might be in danger of becoming victims of retaliations against the followers of Muhammed since the news about the World Trade Center's destruction blamed Muslims for the crime. This small group of leaders summoned "the usual suspects" to meet at 7:00 am the following Friday, September 14. The group chose as its name Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace and chose as its motto: Religious Communities Must Stop Blessing War. (Later on "violence" was added to the original statement.)
Ever since then between 30 and 60 people gather every Friday to hear a witness and to work on possible programs that will promote peace and justice. Today around 50 people showed up for a Holiday party attended by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Unitarians and assorted individuals who have found our meetings edifying, instructive and energizing.
In the last few months we have opened the meeting with a statement from one of us sharing his or her journey of faith and grace. Today it was Tom Honore's time and his story was as inspiring as each and everyone of the other stories we have heard and, I am sure, all the stories we will hear.
Tom was a Roman Catholic priest who left the priesthood but retained his faith. He and his wife are very active in their local congregation and also in national events through a progressive Roman Catholic group that constantly challenges the "official" line of the church.
I usually car pool from Claremont to Immanuel Presbyterian Church on Wilshire (about 70 miles round trip.) My traveling companions are an Episcopalian Priest and a Presbyterian pastor active in the United Methodist Church. All three of us are part of a growing body of trans-denominational believers who stand on one tradition but participate in congregations or organizations that are "walking the walk." ICUJP is that kind of organization and our weekly trips are always exciting as each of us shares what we have been reading, hearing or watching. We share videos and books and so keep our costs down. All three of us participate also in another organization called Progressive Christians Uniting which seeks to spread the message that the Christian Right does not represent all those who try to follow Jesus.
Tom Honore's sharing inspired me to continue a project organizing my memoirs. He had a very exciting life, so far, and it promises to get better since he is in touch with the likes of me and others at ICUJP.
If you wish to learn more about either of these organizations check us out in the internet. ICUJP has a web site at www.icujp.org and Progressive Christians United's web address is www.progressivechristiansuniting.org. Either one of these organizations deserves a look and a following. If you live in the larger metropolitan area of Los Angeles drop by, if you are in another part of the country start a group like ours and then let us network and create a real national movement along with others who are dissatisfied with the blandness of most churches or religious institutions and wish to make an impact in society through communities of faith.
Ignacio Castuera
Ever since then between 30 and 60 people gather every Friday to hear a witness and to work on possible programs that will promote peace and justice. Today around 50 people showed up for a Holiday party attended by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Unitarians and assorted individuals who have found our meetings edifying, instructive and energizing.
In the last few months we have opened the meeting with a statement from one of us sharing his or her journey of faith and grace. Today it was Tom Honore's time and his story was as inspiring as each and everyone of the other stories we have heard and, I am sure, all the stories we will hear.
Tom was a Roman Catholic priest who left the priesthood but retained his faith. He and his wife are very active in their local congregation and also in national events through a progressive Roman Catholic group that constantly challenges the "official" line of the church.
I usually car pool from Claremont to Immanuel Presbyterian Church on Wilshire (about 70 miles round trip.) My traveling companions are an Episcopalian Priest and a Presbyterian pastor active in the United Methodist Church. All three of us are part of a growing body of trans-denominational believers who stand on one tradition but participate in congregations or organizations that are "walking the walk." ICUJP is that kind of organization and our weekly trips are always exciting as each of us shares what we have been reading, hearing or watching. We share videos and books and so keep our costs down. All three of us participate also in another organization called Progressive Christians Uniting which seeks to spread the message that the Christian Right does not represent all those who try to follow Jesus.
Tom Honore's sharing inspired me to continue a project organizing my memoirs. He had a very exciting life, so far, and it promises to get better since he is in touch with the likes of me and others at ICUJP.
If you wish to learn more about either of these organizations check us out in the internet. ICUJP has a web site at www.icujp.org and Progressive Christians United's web address is www.progressivechristiansuniting.org. Either one of these organizations deserves a look and a following. If you live in the larger metropolitan area of Los Angeles drop by, if you are in another part of the country start a group like ours and then let us network and create a real national movement along with others who are dissatisfied with the blandness of most churches or religious institutions and wish to make an impact in society through communities of faith.
Ignacio Castuera
Thursday, December 10, 2009
In the beginning
In the beginning was the blog, and the blog must not become a god but an attempt to lead people back to literacy and involvement.
I started this blog at the urging of church members at Trinity United Methodist Church where I am a pastor. The idea is to spread the word via blog so that younger "wired" folks may know what we really want to accomplish as parishioners at Trinity United Methodist Church (TUMC from now on!)
It was also felt that I needed to expand the pulpit beyond the walls of the church into the virtual world in the hopes of attracting people to some of our activities but, at a minimum, make them aware of a kind of Christianity and Spirituality that is not as visible as more conservative forms but that offers a passion for peace and justice based on Scriptural integrity.
I am part of a movement that is committed to theological clarity, meaning that we aim to account for our faith using the best tools available to us. These tools go back into our past, our tradition but we also want to couple them with electronic media in order to spread our word in effective and attractive ways.
As we find ourselves in the middle of the Advent season it is good to remind -or instruct- readers that the Christian Year was created to indicate that believers measure time in a different way and march to a different drummer. Our year starts on the first Sunday in Advent, usually late November or occasionally the first Sunday in December. With this simple move we wish to signal that our faith leads us to be in juxtaposition to the dominant culture. Christianity was co opted by the Roman Empire but it is basically opposed to all governments. It is obedient to the secular rulers but it also speaks boldly and lovingly when those in power act in ways that are opposed to the vision that Jesus brought into the world as he presented a God that could be addressed in the babbling sounds of babies relating to their parents.
This Advent season I am engaged in preaching a trilogy on Hope against hope. The traditional theme of Advent is Hope. All texts, songs and liturgies promote Hope in various ways. The lighting of the Advent candles stand for the ways people ought to anticipate the birth of Jesus as the bearer Hope, Peace, Joy and Light. The Gospel readings come from the Gospel of Luke this year and the Old Testament lessons come from the prophets who announce that a better world is possible and it is coming. For Christians that better world was ushered by Jesus and his birth, celebrated in December, is a way of connecting with ancient customs of anticipating the return of the days with more light at the darkest moments of the year. Symbolically Advent acknowledges the dark times in which we are living but announces that dark nights will be followed by ever increasing days of light, love, joy and peace.
President Obama made a strong case for war in Oslo today, ironically while accepting the Nobel Peace Price. Yet, even in that apologia for war Obama acknowledged that the examples of Gandhi and King cannot be ignored. He did not mention Jesus but without Jesus' example King would not have had the theological strength that sustained him. Gandhi acknowledged Jesus influence in his work as well. So in the spirit of Advent we affirm the path that Jesus, Gandhi and King trod and denounce the war path that President Obama so cleverly defended.
On this Human Rights Day I invite all to look in the direction of the religious impulses that provided the impetus for the belief in human rights. From Judaism we learned that all human beings are made in the image of God. All three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, accept this teaching and secular forces adapted this concept to argue in favor of human rights. But we need to build on human rights to include the rights of animals and the rights of plants and, ultimately the rights of the environment. We cannot simply advocate for Human Rights nor defend animals and the environment because of their effect on humans. We must reach back to the idea that the One who created humans had previously created other entities which in Genesis are pronounced "good." We must also learn from other sages from Christianity and from other faiths to love and respect all life forms. Ahimsha, the respect for all living creatures, may come from Hinduism but it has resonance for westerners who understand what the writers of Genesis proclaimed, that all creatures ultimately belong to God and that humans must interact with them with the greatest of respect. I once heard the great African American Mystic, Howard Thurman offer grace for a meal with these words: God, we thank You that so many life forms have been sacrificed so that our life form may continue. In this spirit we conclude today.
I started this blog at the urging of church members at Trinity United Methodist Church where I am a pastor. The idea is to spread the word via blog so that younger "wired" folks may know what we really want to accomplish as parishioners at Trinity United Methodist Church (TUMC from now on!)
It was also felt that I needed to expand the pulpit beyond the walls of the church into the virtual world in the hopes of attracting people to some of our activities but, at a minimum, make them aware of a kind of Christianity and Spirituality that is not as visible as more conservative forms but that offers a passion for peace and justice based on Scriptural integrity.
I am part of a movement that is committed to theological clarity, meaning that we aim to account for our faith using the best tools available to us. These tools go back into our past, our tradition but we also want to couple them with electronic media in order to spread our word in effective and attractive ways.
As we find ourselves in the middle of the Advent season it is good to remind -or instruct- readers that the Christian Year was created to indicate that believers measure time in a different way and march to a different drummer. Our year starts on the first Sunday in Advent, usually late November or occasionally the first Sunday in December. With this simple move we wish to signal that our faith leads us to be in juxtaposition to the dominant culture. Christianity was co opted by the Roman Empire but it is basically opposed to all governments. It is obedient to the secular rulers but it also speaks boldly and lovingly when those in power act in ways that are opposed to the vision that Jesus brought into the world as he presented a God that could be addressed in the babbling sounds of babies relating to their parents.
This Advent season I am engaged in preaching a trilogy on Hope against hope. The traditional theme of Advent is Hope. All texts, songs and liturgies promote Hope in various ways. The lighting of the Advent candles stand for the ways people ought to anticipate the birth of Jesus as the bearer Hope, Peace, Joy and Light. The Gospel readings come from the Gospel of Luke this year and the Old Testament lessons come from the prophets who announce that a better world is possible and it is coming. For Christians that better world was ushered by Jesus and his birth, celebrated in December, is a way of connecting with ancient customs of anticipating the return of the days with more light at the darkest moments of the year. Symbolically Advent acknowledges the dark times in which we are living but announces that dark nights will be followed by ever increasing days of light, love, joy and peace.
President Obama made a strong case for war in Oslo today, ironically while accepting the Nobel Peace Price. Yet, even in that apologia for war Obama acknowledged that the examples of Gandhi and King cannot be ignored. He did not mention Jesus but without Jesus' example King would not have had the theological strength that sustained him. Gandhi acknowledged Jesus influence in his work as well. So in the spirit of Advent we affirm the path that Jesus, Gandhi and King trod and denounce the war path that President Obama so cleverly defended.
On this Human Rights Day I invite all to look in the direction of the religious impulses that provided the impetus for the belief in human rights. From Judaism we learned that all human beings are made in the image of God. All three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, accept this teaching and secular forces adapted this concept to argue in favor of human rights. But we need to build on human rights to include the rights of animals and the rights of plants and, ultimately the rights of the environment. We cannot simply advocate for Human Rights nor defend animals and the environment because of their effect on humans. We must reach back to the idea that the One who created humans had previously created other entities which in Genesis are pronounced "good." We must also learn from other sages from Christianity and from other faiths to love and respect all life forms. Ahimsha, the respect for all living creatures, may come from Hinduism but it has resonance for westerners who understand what the writers of Genesis proclaimed, that all creatures ultimately belong to God and that humans must interact with them with the greatest of respect. I once heard the great African American Mystic, Howard Thurman offer grace for a meal with these words: God, we thank You that so many life forms have been sacrificed so that our life form may continue. In this spirit we conclude today.
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