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an invitation to making a difference

1/13/2021

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Details of date and time are still being worked out, but next month I will co-host a Zoom Meeting for people looking for a place to make a difference.  We will start with an overview of the issues that can make a difference in a legal system needing significant reform on every level. We will discuss things we all need to remember when wishing to "help" because sometimes the best intentions are stymied only because folks need a little more information to consider.

We are offering this because (1) when we believe we can be a part of the solution solely by not laughing at racist jokes or by being disdainful of racist comments, we are fooling ourselves, and because (2) it is not so easy to step into the world in ways that might truly move us all forward. Unless we run a mortgage loan business or have rental property that we have hesitated to offer to a family with a father returning to the free world or handle harassment complaints at our company, it may be a bit overwhelming to figure out how we might make a practical, respectful difference.

I am grateful for every person who prays for justice and for every family that goes without a treat in order to send a check to support organizations that are working for a more just world.  But there is great danger in relying on a check as long as we are able to do more.  There is even more danger if we think that refraining from “doing harm” is enough when there are huge numbers of wounded people all too many of which believe that because they are invisible to the church and professing Christians that they are hopeless!

People who are involved in the WORK of an organization are better able to identify ways to improve respectful, effective programing. Every prison and jail and juvenile detention facility is safer for detainees AND employees when volunteers are on site. Every program for at-risk individuals is more effective (and less susceptible to abuse) because of the relationships -- people-to-people, face-to-face relationships -- that allow people to walk together during difficult circumstance. I have been blessed by contact with a large number of people who are working to stop human trafficking, care for wounded women, children and men affected by the brokenness of the world and of our legal system, and teachers and volunteers modeling healthy relationships to at-risk kids at school and play. The best of them have plans to do more and yearn for volunteers with a wide range of specific skills. Others are less structured. But they all need people whose hearts have been broken by the needs of a world filled with people who have less, worse, people who have lost hope or never known any. These amazingly resilient folks work hard to build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities, so often with challenges most of us would find debilitating and all too often without the support of a healthy, caring community to listen to and love them.

So if you have been thinking that there might be something worthwhile you can do, use the "contact" link above. I will send you information on the class or even arrange to get the materials to you to start with self-study. I can suggest areas where your prayers would be a blessing, especially if you send a note of encouragement too. (If you have never Zoomed, we can help with that too.) If your church is struggling with this and you want to see what we are trying to do (we are a work in progress), you are welcome too. All are welcome.  

NOTE:  If you are dealing with a loved one and/or family member whose criminal behavior or legal issues are adding to your stress, feel free to contact us to arrange a private discussion. If there is enough interest we may be able to add a Zoom support group.

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humble vs. prudent

1/12/2021

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I'm always interested to read how different people have translated scripture because it reveals the interpretation that thousands of Bible scholars over the centuries have considered. I feel some have done a better job than others, but since I don't read Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek or Latin, I'm limited to looking at more recent translations. Footnotes are particularly interesting.

This morning I was looking at one of my favorite verses as I prepare for a small group discussion/study on how we care ACT in ways that promote justice (check back for tomorrow's blog on that topic) and one translation included a footnote indicating some scholars translate a portion of the verse to read "walk humbly with your God" and others might translate it "walk prudently with your God".
​
I would so love to have a discussion with one of the scholars who recommended this footnote because it sounds like an American politician (I'm not sufficiently familiar with other kinds to say "uniquely American") who wants to hedge against hard truths. 

Dictionary.com defines prudent as "acting with or showing care and thought for the future." You see, I do not believe God expects us to be prudent in this sense. Oh, God certainly calls us to not be foolish. But God also makes it clear that we are creatures of the moment because as we exist at this time in this place in eternity our time here is infinitesimal.  Even if the most modest ideas that we have been here for around 10,000 years is used our 70 or 80 or 90 years is a blink of an eternal eye and estimates the earth has been around between 4-5 billion years (according to National Geographic) and humans between 4 and 55 million years (various by source) make it even more striking that human life expectancy leaves us with a VERY narrow margin for making much of a difference in the larger picture. This means that what we DO with each moment has great weight.

This future orientation does not to me seem at all what God tells us to be.  God says we are here with God's intent, created with purpose and what we do and who we are matters. So I believe that what we do, for good or evil, matters, often in ways we can't begin to understand on our own.  Because of this I am personally as 'ALL IN" as I know how to be. I can't see the future and the older I get the more I understand the treacherous nature of acting as though I can. 

As one son graduated from college and announced he was going to teach in South America, I remember commenting that the fastest growing Spanish speaking population was one state over in Iowa. I could see all the problems with his delaying his "adult life of work and marriage and children" because he was indulging his fascination with travel.  It did not help that while I have enjoyed traveling when life took me in that direction I have never experienced a longing to travel. And the thought of him finding a wife and building a family on another continent was just depressing. But now, a couple of decades later, I can only say God had a much better plan than I did.  He still lives on another continent but God has such better plans for him that I could have ever conceived. His life blesses his family (Thank you God for the WhatsApp app) from afar and also blesses his amazing family (including his wife who he met while working in Asia and two amazing children born in South America) and his students and their families, colleagues and neighbors in South America. I am so grateful he humbly heeded God's call (in part revealed by his inborn need for travel) and ignored my limited human view of "prudent."

See, this is why I read lots of translations! It refines my thinking, opens my heart to new ideas from God and directs my thoughts to all with which I am abundantly blessed to the degree I am humble, remembering that God has plans that are infinitely better than my own.
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them vs. us

1/10/2021

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Here is the problem. Everyone thinks their candidate (insert any name here) will FIX THE PROBLEMS. The biggest problems are in those of us who elect them and then stand down expecting magic fingers in Washington or the state capital or county and city officials to FIX THE PROBLEMS while we go back to our "normal lives" which is what got us in this mess to begin with.

I have thought a lot about this as 2019's #metoo morphed to 2020's #BLM and on to an election year where justice issues were a no show. I have not frankly read any political party's "platform" since I got old enough to see no correlation between platforms and action, but other than a reported statement that the Democratic platform called for the restoration of all prisons to government management (away from corporate run prisons about which I have great ambivalence since I have personally have seen a well-run "corporate prison" in FL and plenty of scary things in Missouri where prison management has always been in-house) but I heard no real plan to make that happen and certainly very little common sense commitment to changes in how our country responses to the causes of wrongful arrest and conviction, excessive sentences, "plea bargaining" blackmail, societal encouragement of recidivism, victimization of crime victims AND
  • prosecutorial misconduct,
  • judicial misconduct,
  • officers of the court misconduct,
  • barriers to empowerment of the citizens in the most wounded communities,
  • needed educational reforms in support of fewer children quitting that so important job of staying engaged in school long enough to be able to care for themselves and their families,
  • better and earlier interdiction in the domestic violence and sexual assault epidemics that drive overwhelmed and under resourced foster care and all the other factors that make too many children highly vulnerable to being trafficked
just to name a FEW.

And guess what! No law, no law maker, no law enforcement professional, no prison employee, no social worker, no educational or medical professional can drive the changes needed. BUT maybe, just maybe, if we are LARGELY willing to walk with people we don't understand, give others a hand UP without using our limited understanding to "deem them worthy of help," and embrace the possibility that we don't really understand much about those we fear; then, maybe we can give mercy and offer grace by being PRESENT with people who, like us all, are struggling, sometimes lonely, sometimes fearful of being ENOUGH, sometimes wondering if anyone cares about us much less loves us ... then MAYBE we can start to make more effective use of tax dollars and private agency dollars rather than by trying to "help" with a check to a faceless need without a check in with the person we propose to help.

MAYBE we can stop thinking about THEM versus US and start remembering that WE are both the problem and, with God's help, the solution.




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    Jann's son was incarcerated.  She longed for a community where she could connect with others dealing with similar issues.

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