Thursday, January 17, 2008

Election 2008

 I'd like to address, as a segway mostly, a "fiery" conversation I found myself in the midst of earlier today. I do not intend to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. The election, our countries leadership, is indeed extremely important. However, is my involvement, given the circumstances which I will discuss shortly, also "extremely important"? I'm a person who stands on solid rock of belief, faith, hope, and Love. I stand up for what I believe, I seek to defend what I believe. I believe, then, that our leadership is important, and I do not seek to encourage political apathy. I believe, then, that my vote is powerful, and that, however small, it DOES make a difference. Look at the chads, right? My vote does make a difference, and so, that is precisely why I intend to exercise my right to NOT vote in the upcoming election. Many candidates are good, but none of them are "good enough." If I vote, I WILL vote for someone who's leadership I do NOT respect or endorse, so why would I endorse him/her? So that covers the "voting" in the title up there.

Let's dialogue about, though. If you think I matter, you'll try to convince me to vote and you may even "convert me."


Thursday, January 10, 2008

Going Green

I had conversation a few months ago with a family member. She was frustrated that APU, and other Christian communities have become so concerned about "going green," and felt that it was a distraction from, I suppose, what Christians "should" be spending their time doing. I think this is an inconsiderate approach, and an ultra-conservative viewpoint that needs to be exposed. I believe that Going Green is actually an essential responsibility of Christians, and I want to say exactly why.


I'd like to begin with a confession. I'm no "tree-hugger" or "eco-hero" and much of my life is not eco-friendly by any means. I also work for Starbucks, a corporation which, I can say firsthand, generates an immense amount of garbage and "wastes" an immense amount of resources. That being said, I'd like to make some general points in this debate.

First off, let's be honest. The Christian community, at large, has until recently almost entirely ignored the environmental crisis which the world, and particularly America, is in today. As a result, the environmental movement has become increasingly non-religious, and perhaps even "pagan." This is a serious problem. Since non-religious people are the ones that have seemed to care most about the environmental issues we face, I think the Church at large has now been classified as dispassionate and insensitive. The answer then, is not to continue walking a path of insensitivity, but to acknowledge our mistake and jump on board with the physical restoration of this world, which I believe is a God-given responsibility (citation: the whole Pentateuch?). 

The reason the environment, the world, God's wondrous and indescribable creation is important is because God granted humanity rulership over the physical state of this earth. Just like any other issue, we have been allowed to destroy the physical world with our inherent sin-natures. Just as we have been allowed to destroy the world in many ways, we are allowed to "fix it" or at least slow down natural processes that result from mass industrialization and the  over-commuting culture of America. I don't think being "eco-friendly" needs to be "difficult." In fact the only point I want to make with regard to our response is a very simple and easily applied statement: Why not?

Why not carry some things in your backpack instead of in a plastic bag?

Why not buy a Toyota Prius (sp?) instead of a Suburban?

Why not re-use bags you accumulate from shopping?

Why not recycle cans?

Why not sort recyclable materials?

Why not throw your trash in a "garbage receptacle" instead of on the ground? 

Why not carpool instead of "meeting people there"?

It's not hard to LISTEN to environmentalists, heed scientific warnings about the environment, and just take opportunities to do the MORAL thing when it comes to the once-beautiful, now-not-so-much, world in which we live. We don't have to become activists, but we can do the simple things and at least ENCOURAGE and SUPPORT the activists. 

We have an opportunity, that is, the Christian church at large, to combat not only environmental issues, but also to combat a frustration against the church. 

Why not take advantage of that opportunity?

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

LOVE

And so it begins. 


On tuesday I met with about 10 students at APU. On wednesday I met with about 7 other students at APU. We opened by saying the prayer of Saint Francis Assissi together, as one:

"Lord, make us instruments of your peace
Where there is hatred, let us sow Love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may mot so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be Loved as to Love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen."

And so, those are our objectives; to sow Love, pardon, faith, hope, light, joy and to also allow ourselves to be embraced by these things, so that we may combat the evil which exists in their void. 

One of the primary ideas I wanted to share was that Christians constantly refer to God as Love (God=Love), but I think there's a lot more to it. I think if God is Love, Love must ultimately lead to God, that is, if God DOES exist, Love is what will expose His presence in our lives (1 John 3:11, 4:7; John 13:34; I Corinthians 13:13). Basically, we use the rules of simple algebra (& reason) and we flip the equation, making it: Love=God. My hope in this project is to convey that point, to convey God & the Gospel, just by simple extending hands of Love toward my peers and colleagues. 

At our meetings, me and some exceptionally caring people tried tackling the challenge of this movement. That is, HOW?  We decided a couple things. 

First off, we want the whole thing to be somewhat underground, completely free, and very dependent on word of mouth. We want to remain unique, special, and moving this way. We stay underground so that our wristbands are somewhat unexpected and those who are hoping to gift the wristbands are somewhat secret. The idea of grace is VERY important when we discuss Love, that's why it HAS to be free. It has to be a free, unearned, token of appreciation, which brings us to our next point.

Our second stipulation is that we make efforts to give each band a special meaning and an associated story. We want each and every band to remind someone of something they did, something someone did for them, someone that appreciates them, etc. You're not a trick-or-treater and this isn't halloween. 

Given these ideas, there is also a question of WHO. Do we target any particular group of people?

I want that to remain somewhat open. I want us to be free to target whoever we feel honestly needs to be touched and moved by this endeavor. It's your own perogative, just try not to water down the token of Love which I believe the wristbands can be, however silly that may sound. 
Finally, we must remember that this is not REALLY about the wristbands. It's about Loving each other. It's about keeping our head up on the sidewalk so we can smile and say hello to passersbies. It's about walking with those who walk by themselves, eating with those at empty tables, and remaining open to be Loved and embraced by others.

That's about as simple as the summary is going to get. I hope to see this project become successful at APU, that is, I hope to see this project increase the friendliness and openness and Love found at APU. We should stand out, as a private Christian school. 

We should be different, more Loving, and we should provide that atmosphere that no one else can provide. 

We should want to encourage Love at APU, not for the sake of "obeying" rules or religious stipulations, but because we believe in the restoration power of Love.