a justice creed

We believe that God is just and that God loves justice.
God delights in just laws and rejoiced in just people.
God liberates those who are oppressed by injustice
And is grieved by unjust people and the unjust systems
they create and sustain.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
And God's kingdom belongs to those willing to be
persecuted for the sake of justice.
To God, justice is a weighty thing that can never be ignored.
We believe that Jesus came to display the justice of God,
In word and deed, in life, death, and resurrection.
The justice God desires, which he taught, must
surpass that of the hypocrites,
For the justice of God is a compassionate justice,
Rich in mercy and abounding in love for the last, the least,
the lost, and the excluded.
On his cross, Jesus drew the injustice of humanity into the light,
And there the heartless injustice of human empire met
The reconciling justice of the kingdom of God.
The resurrection of Jesus proclaims that the true justice of God,
Naked, vulnerable, and scarred by abuse, is stronger
Than the violent injustice of humanity, armed with weapons,
conceit, deceit, and lies.
We believe that the Holy Spirit is here now,
Convicting the world of sin and injustice,
Warning that God's judgment will come on all that is unjust.
We believe that the kingdom of God is not a matter of
superficial things
But is justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Empowered by the Spirit, then, we seek God's kingdom and
we seek God's justice,
For the world as it is has not yet become the world as
God desires it to be.
And so we live and work and pray,
Until justice rolls down like water,
Until justice flows like a never-ending stream.
For we believe that God is just, and the true and living
God loves justice.
Amen.

So You Want to Be a Writer

by charles bukowski

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

Free Thinking

As I continue to expand my mind by pondering the difficult and somewhat tangent questions of life and the cultures in it, I become more and more "liberal" as compared to my conservative upbringing. This journey is one that changes as the days go by. The most current branch is the exploration of Confucian thought and the realization of how true his principles are with my spirit. The central thought is one of relationships and how our beings are continually transformed and changed by them. I'm liking it but definitely want to understand more about this before making a conclusion.

I Am

spoken word by Eric Mata... I am; who are you?

"Multi-Ethnic" week

Here at ****** we have experienced yet another week of “multiculturalism”, “multi-ethnic programs”, “diversity awareness”, or whatever you would choose to call it. Take your pick because each title is pretty much the same.

Yet, I believe that if we seriously desire unity within our community, Jean Vanier’s From Brokenness to Community helps to point the way. It does not and will not give us a formula to follow or a how-to but a deeper understanding of ourselves and our fellowman.

However, I must warn you, it will challenge you. It will stretch you. It will cause you to rethink yourself and the God we profess to serve. It will make you uncomfortable to call yourself a Christian if you are wearing a mask or doing the Christian life by quantifying your spirituality.

Vanier describes community but what got me was his concept of communion. He defines communion as "love and friendship"..."Communion means accepting people just as they are, with all their limits and inner pain, but also with their gifts and their beauty and their capacity to grow: to see their beauty inside of all the pain. In the relationship of communion, you are you and I am I; I have my identity and you have yours. I must be myself and you must be yourself. We are called to grow together, each one becoming more fully himself or herself” (16-7).

Knowing and loving people as they are, this type of communion and not community, is what we should strive for. Community is nice and good, but communion with one another–that would blow my mind. We could be a bunch of Jesus-loving, radical-about-people, world changers. And you ask, “How would Vanier’s idea of communion be possible?”

“We can only truly love people who are different, we can only discover that difference is a treasure and not a threat, if in some way our hearts are becoming enfolded in the heart of the Father, if somewhere God is putting into our broken hearts that love that is in God’s own heart for each and every human being ” (20-1).

It is by knowing people, first and foremost, with God’s love for them that will transform our community. And no matter how highly we think of ourselves, I know I’m not there yet. There are times I resist God’s love for others and its continual attempts to enfold my selfish, conceited, egocentric heart. And no matter how much I choose the weaker impulse (God’s desire for me to love my spiritual brother or sister), there are just as many times or more that I choose the stronger (my fleshly desire).

Introduction

Awareness isn't enough. Awareness should lead to reconciliation, reconciliation with God and our fellowman. Reconciliation isn't enough. Reconciliation should lead to justice: justice socially, justice economically, justice. You have been informed. You are now aware (feel free to take the next step).