Why should I be so concerned about black/white imagery in church songs? You know the imagery, right? Black equals sin and white equals purity. Black equals confusion and white equals clarity. Black equals wrong and white equals right. Black equals Satan and white equals God. It's just a metaphor ... right?
Hell no!! White people - pay attention. This is important.
Thanks to Harriet's Daughter for posting this video.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Curiouser and Curiouser
Philippians 1:1 - 30 and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*
The difference between Paul and Alice, is that Alice knows that her world has become strange and is astonished by it, while Paul knows that his world has become strange and believes things to have finally turned right-side-up. He knows it's strange to other people because he says things like this is verse 12:
I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.
Paul knows that to most people that is going to sound odd, but he explains it as if they shouldn't be astonished. He doesn't say, "Isn't it amazing?" or "As odd as it sounds..." He says that he wants them to know that this is a good thing, because they seem confused and concerned.
Paul also talks about being "hard pressed between" the notions of wanting to live or wanting to die. Now, I have had similar moments in my life. Some of these moments have lasted years, but I wasn't so upbeat about it. He sees advantages to both and just can't decide which he prefers. My decision was far more tortured than that. I am going to take a guess that for those of you who have also struggled with that same question, it wasn't about which wonderful thing you preferred. So Paul's thinking through this, for most of us, may seem a little abstract or distancing.
Alice is sure that she wants to have this experience in Wonderland, but she is equally sure that she doesn't want to live there. She loves the adventure and she loves the stories that she will be able to tell, but she knows that she wants to go back to the world where she feels like she belongs.
What Alice and Paul have most in common is their tenacity. They try something, there's a consequence - sometimes pleasant and sometimes not. They try something else and see what happens then. They learn from the consequences and just keep going. When Paul learns, though, it leads him to conclusions. When Alice learns, it most often leads her to want another adventure so she can learn some more. Alice does come to some conclusions during the course of the story, but what I notice is that her astonishment and curiosity never goes away. She notices the changes and the oddness. She seems to almost revel in it. And her desire is for more. She doesn't want things tied up in a neat bow. The story doesn't end with an answer to a question or a resolution to a problem. Wonderland goes on as strange and dysfunctional as it did when she arrived. The conclusion is that she has stories to tell and that she can make connections with people and situations that others can't because of the experiences that she's had.
Both Paul and Alice go through a lot of changes in the way they think about things, in their perception of what's real , and in their environments. Paul's Wonderland is the reality that he invites people into. Alice's Wonderland is a reality she stumbled into.
Paul lives in a strange world that is very curious to me. In verses 15 - 18 he talks about the different motives people have for proclaiming Christ. His attitude is that however it's done, regardless of the motive, he is rejoices that Christ is proclaimed. I'm not so generous most of the time. I think motive is a big deal because I think it frames how we talk about things. For instance, Paul says some folks preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase his suffering. People who would do this seem to me to be apt to preach Christ out of other selfish ambitions too. It's hard for me to say, "What does it matter?" with Paul.
I have to be more like Alice when I stumble into Paul's Wonderland. I have to watch more and listen more. Why is it okay with Paul for Christ to be preached out of selfish ambition? That's curious to me. And what of his imprisonment actually encouraging others to speak out rather than making them afraid to? Why is it a privilege, in verse 29, to suffer with Christ? I have to be more like Alice and not judge these ideas based on the way that I have been taught to think, but look at Paul's life and environment.
Thinking like Alice, though, doesn't mean agreeing with everything. She did not adapt everything that she saw in Wonderland to her life back home. She saw fabulous things ... incredible things. She interacted with beings very much unlike herself. She made mistakes and offended some of the beings as she learned to navigate this new place, but she figured out how to be Alice in a new world - a world unlike her own.
Paul starts his letter to the Philippians saying that he is confident that the one who began a good work in this community and in this people would bring it to completion. Paul is confident for this community. That encourages me also. I need someone to be confident on my behalf. I am confident on behalf of this community. I believe that what was begun has been and will continue to be fruitful. In Paul's words, I think we will produce a harvest of righteousness. But there are curious juxtapositions of belief and suffering, of living worthily and striving, and of living in the tension between life and death in this faith journey.
I want us to remain more like Alice - astonished and curious. I want us to take in all the conflicts and contradictions of this journey of faith that we are on, and be the best us that we can be in all the strange situations we end up in. I don't want to us assimilate into someone's idea of Christianity or buy into popular myths about Jesus.
We need to be us, to not resist change but to resist assimilation, and to observe everything that we can and say, "Curiouser and curiouser." Making hard and fast decisions and insisting on reducing life to polarized opposites does not seem like the teachings of Jesus to me. We may flounder and offend sometimes, but I am confident that we can learn to know ourselves, live as ourselves, and walk through this strange dysfunctional world while we participate fully.
*Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Ariel Books/Alfred A. Knopf, 1983. Pages 20 - 25
The difference between Paul and Alice, is that Alice knows that her world has become strange and is astonished by it, while Paul knows that his world has become strange and believes things to have finally turned right-side-up. He knows it's strange to other people because he says things like this is verse 12:
I want you to know, beloved, that what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ; and most of the brothers and sisters, having been made confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.
Paul knows that to most people that is going to sound odd, but he explains it as if they shouldn't be astonished. He doesn't say, "Isn't it amazing?" or "As odd as it sounds..." He says that he wants them to know that this is a good thing, because they seem confused and concerned.
Paul also talks about being "hard pressed between" the notions of wanting to live or wanting to die. Now, I have had similar moments in my life. Some of these moments have lasted years, but I wasn't so upbeat about it. He sees advantages to both and just can't decide which he prefers. My decision was far more tortured than that. I am going to take a guess that for those of you who have also struggled with that same question, it wasn't about which wonderful thing you preferred. So Paul's thinking through this, for most of us, may seem a little abstract or distancing.
Alice is sure that she wants to have this experience in Wonderland, but she is equally sure that she doesn't want to live there. She loves the adventure and she loves the stories that she will be able to tell, but she knows that she wants to go back to the world where she feels like she belongs.
What Alice and Paul have most in common is their tenacity. They try something, there's a consequence - sometimes pleasant and sometimes not. They try something else and see what happens then. They learn from the consequences and just keep going. When Paul learns, though, it leads him to conclusions. When Alice learns, it most often leads her to want another adventure so she can learn some more. Alice does come to some conclusions during the course of the story, but what I notice is that her astonishment and curiosity never goes away. She notices the changes and the oddness. She seems to almost revel in it. And her desire is for more. She doesn't want things tied up in a neat bow. The story doesn't end with an answer to a question or a resolution to a problem. Wonderland goes on as strange and dysfunctional as it did when she arrived. The conclusion is that she has stories to tell and that she can make connections with people and situations that others can't because of the experiences that she's had.
Both Paul and Alice go through a lot of changes in the way they think about things, in their perception of what's real , and in their environments. Paul's Wonderland is the reality that he invites people into. Alice's Wonderland is a reality she stumbled into.
Paul lives in a strange world that is very curious to me. In verses 15 - 18 he talks about the different motives people have for proclaiming Christ. His attitude is that however it's done, regardless of the motive, he is rejoices that Christ is proclaimed. I'm not so generous most of the time. I think motive is a big deal because I think it frames how we talk about things. For instance, Paul says some folks preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but intending to increase his suffering. People who would do this seem to me to be apt to preach Christ out of other selfish ambitions too. It's hard for me to say, "What does it matter?" with Paul.
I have to be more like Alice when I stumble into Paul's Wonderland. I have to watch more and listen more. Why is it okay with Paul for Christ to be preached out of selfish ambition? That's curious to me. And what of his imprisonment actually encouraging others to speak out rather than making them afraid to? Why is it a privilege, in verse 29, to suffer with Christ? I have to be more like Alice and not judge these ideas based on the way that I have been taught to think, but look at Paul's life and environment.
Thinking like Alice, though, doesn't mean agreeing with everything. She did not adapt everything that she saw in Wonderland to her life back home. She saw fabulous things ... incredible things. She interacted with beings very much unlike herself. She made mistakes and offended some of the beings as she learned to navigate this new place, but she figured out how to be Alice in a new world - a world unlike her own.
Paul starts his letter to the Philippians saying that he is confident that the one who began a good work in this community and in this people would bring it to completion. Paul is confident for this community. That encourages me also. I need someone to be confident on my behalf. I am confident on behalf of this community. I believe that what was begun has been and will continue to be fruitful. In Paul's words, I think we will produce a harvest of righteousness. But there are curious juxtapositions of belief and suffering, of living worthily and striving, and of living in the tension between life and death in this faith journey.
I want us to remain more like Alice - astonished and curious. I want us to take in all the conflicts and contradictions of this journey of faith that we are on, and be the best us that we can be in all the strange situations we end up in. I don't want to us assimilate into someone's idea of Christianity or buy into popular myths about Jesus.
We need to be us, to not resist change but to resist assimilation, and to observe everything that we can and say, "Curiouser and curiouser." Making hard and fast decisions and insisting on reducing life to polarized opposites does not seem like the teachings of Jesus to me. We may flounder and offend sometimes, but I am confident that we can learn to know ourselves, live as ourselves, and walk through this strange dysfunctional world while we participate fully.
*Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. New York: Ariel Books/Alfred A. Knopf, 1983. Pages 20 - 25
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Unexpectations
Acts 6
This week, as I was waiting for the Metra, I saw something that I didn't expect. There was a row of Queen Anne's Lace next to the train tracks. They were growing in the rocks next to the steel. It was inspiring. It made me feel like anything was possible. I have similar feelings when I see dandelions growing in sidewalk cracks or daisies growing in a paved parking lot. If they can push through and live then so can I.
Seeing those flowers unexpectedly made me think about what I did September 11th. I wanted to do something positive and life-giving. I wanted to turn around the inertia of hate - the hate of racial profiling, the hate of revenge, the hate of self-righteousness. I decided that the best way for me to do this was to plant some seeds. I brought my planters upstairs and bought some seeds and some potting soil. After putting the seeds into the soil, I watered them and set them in the sun. I did all that I knew how to do to make the conditions right so that these seeds would grow. Some of them have. Some of them haven't. Maybe they haven't yet, but it looks like the seeds didn't take.
I don't know if I did something wrong for those seeds or what, but those pots are just full of dirt with no sprouts. It happens. And apparently it also happens that Queen Anne's Lace grows alongside the railroad tracks sometimes.
Although I planted my seeds with the best of care, I also planted them at the wrong time of year. I'm not sure how they will do now that the days are getting shorter and not longer. It was a risk that I took, planting them in September; in the autumn instead of in the spring. It was a risk that I felt like was worth taking. It was important for me to try to plant life-giving energy to counter the hate that I was perceiving. So conditions were not perfect, but really, they seldom are. And even when conditions appear to be perfect, there is no guarantee that things will turn out as planned. There is so much that we can't see - that we can't know - that we can't control. It's maddening sometimes.
Consider Job, or Naomi, or even Mary and Joseph. Conditions were pretty good for them and then - wham - out of nowhere there is crisis and confusion and all sorts of unexpected things. Now consider the condition of the Queen Anne's Lace, or Harriet Tubman, or George Washington Carver. Conditions were terrible! But somehow, through a lot of pushing and persistence and maybe a little bit of grace, they were ultimately successful.
I think it's good to do the best you can to make conditions favorable. After all, I didn't plant any of my seeds in the couch. I didn't put them in the drain of my kitchen sink. But I also didn't wait for spring.
In Acts chapter 6, Stephen was selected, along with six others, to make sure the Greek widows received their daily food distribution. They were in charge of their local "Meals on Wheels" program. The qualifications for these food delivery stewards included being in good standing and being full of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom. Stephen, it says, was full of grace and power. He did great wonders and signs among the people. He might not be what we think of as your typical delivery person.
Some folks who believed differently than him decided to pick a theological fight with him and they lost. That ticked them off so much that they started lying about him and got him in all kinds of trouble. By the end of chapter 7, Stephen was stoned to death. It doesn't make sense. Here he was, a man full of the Spirit of The Holy, doing great wonders and bringing food to widows and they killed him.
Stephen is set up as an example of living the teachings of Christ. He lived what he believed, he walked in power and professed boldly what he believed, he was challenged by those in authority, and he was executed for no good reason.
There are at least two things that feel unexpected to me in this story. One is that he would end up stoned because he was full of power and doing a good work, and the second is that his ministry of delivering food resulted in so much more than widows getting fed. Widows being fed is not a trivial thing in my mind. It is powerful and important on its own. But it sounds like there were ripple effects that happened in this man's ministry. It doesn't say what the wonders and signs were that Stephen performed, but in the gospels that usually means healing the sick, raising the dead, and deliverance from demons. It's a clear example to me that you just can't predict what will happen. You can't know what will lead to what.
The same is true of us, here at Grace Baptist. We can't predict what will lead to what. Here we are in this interim period, transitioning from the past to the future. In a sense we always are, but during this time we intentionally reflect on who we have been and how it informs who we are now and who we may become. We are in a discovery phase. This interim period is a time for ideas and visioning - a time for exploration and imagination. And it seems like the transition of the seasons that we are in now, this time of equinox when the light and the dark come to a place of total sharing for one day - this seems like a good time to me to transition from reflection to vision. It shouldn't be an abrupt change, any more than the seasons are. We still have some closure on our reflective period and we have to gain some momentum in our visioning.
I come to you today with an idea. I've shared this idea with a couple of people. It has been mentioned in the business meetings that I have an idea. Now I think it's time to share this idea with you. I want to make all kinds of prefaces and caveats - this isn't THE idea, and no decision by anyone has been made to do this, and so on and so forth. It's just an idea - a passion of mine that I'd like to share with you all and see what you think.
I am concerned about the homeless youth in Chicagoland. I am especially concerned about queer homeless youth in Chicagoland. We are not a people of extravagant monetary resources, but we are a people of extravagant resources of other kinds - love, compassion, sacrifice, etc. In Chicago there are opportunities for groups like ours to participate in community gardening. My idea is that we do that in an area where these young people hang out. We would grow vegetables that we could share with them and if they wanted we could teach them to grow their own. My big picture vision is that these young people would end up creating a positive community of growing food together and sharing it with anyone in need. It's a counter-cultural, counter-system vision.
I think it's wrong that people go hungry and homeless. I think it's wrong that people have to compete for food and shelter. I think it's wrong that young people are thrown out of their families because they are not heterosexual or because their gender identity does not meet the system's criteria. I like to believe that there are options to being a part of this oppressive system. This idea is my way of trying find those options.
It might not work. It might. Maybe we would end up with Queen Anne's lace on the railroad tracks - something completely different than we had imagined. Maybe we'll end up being stoned. Maybe we'll end up helping some young people eat and showing them love. There's no way to know.
Below is some information on community gardening. Please give this some thought and some prayer. See if it resonates with you at all. Maybe it will kick start another idea.
This is not a time for expectations. It is a time for unexpectations. A time for visioning, for reaching with our spirits and connecting all that we can vision with our intellect, our feelings, and our bodies.
I'll close with Ecclesiastes 11:6 "In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good."
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/staff/detail.cfm?StaffID=4
http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/cook/reports/i244/index.html#Article_3
http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/search/stateresults.cfm?cx=013441887324743351507%3Afnavtnakbe4&q=urban+gardening&sa=Search&cof=FORID%3A11#1099
http://www.garden.org/home
This week, as I was waiting for the Metra, I saw something that I didn't expect. There was a row of Queen Anne's Lace next to the train tracks. They were growing in the rocks next to the steel. It was inspiring. It made me feel like anything was possible. I have similar feelings when I see dandelions growing in sidewalk cracks or daisies growing in a paved parking lot. If they can push through and live then so can I.
Seeing those flowers unexpectedly made me think about what I did September 11th. I wanted to do something positive and life-giving. I wanted to turn around the inertia of hate - the hate of racial profiling, the hate of revenge, the hate of self-righteousness. I decided that the best way for me to do this was to plant some seeds. I brought my planters upstairs and bought some seeds and some potting soil. After putting the seeds into the soil, I watered them and set them in the sun. I did all that I knew how to do to make the conditions right so that these seeds would grow. Some of them have. Some of them haven't. Maybe they haven't yet, but it looks like the seeds didn't take.
I don't know if I did something wrong for those seeds or what, but those pots are just full of dirt with no sprouts. It happens. And apparently it also happens that Queen Anne's Lace grows alongside the railroad tracks sometimes.
Although I planted my seeds with the best of care, I also planted them at the wrong time of year. I'm not sure how they will do now that the days are getting shorter and not longer. It was a risk that I took, planting them in September; in the autumn instead of in the spring. It was a risk that I felt like was worth taking. It was important for me to try to plant life-giving energy to counter the hate that I was perceiving. So conditions were not perfect, but really, they seldom are. And even when conditions appear to be perfect, there is no guarantee that things will turn out as planned. There is so much that we can't see - that we can't know - that we can't control. It's maddening sometimes.
Consider Job, or Naomi, or even Mary and Joseph. Conditions were pretty good for them and then - wham - out of nowhere there is crisis and confusion and all sorts of unexpected things. Now consider the condition of the Queen Anne's Lace, or Harriet Tubman, or George Washington Carver. Conditions were terrible! But somehow, through a lot of pushing and persistence and maybe a little bit of grace, they were ultimately successful.
I think it's good to do the best you can to make conditions favorable. After all, I didn't plant any of my seeds in the couch. I didn't put them in the drain of my kitchen sink. But I also didn't wait for spring.
In Acts chapter 6, Stephen was selected, along with six others, to make sure the Greek widows received their daily food distribution. They were in charge of their local "Meals on Wheels" program. The qualifications for these food delivery stewards included being in good standing and being full of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom. Stephen, it says, was full of grace and power. He did great wonders and signs among the people. He might not be what we think of as your typical delivery person.
Some folks who believed differently than him decided to pick a theological fight with him and they lost. That ticked them off so much that they started lying about him and got him in all kinds of trouble. By the end of chapter 7, Stephen was stoned to death. It doesn't make sense. Here he was, a man full of the Spirit of The Holy, doing great wonders and bringing food to widows and they killed him.
Stephen is set up as an example of living the teachings of Christ. He lived what he believed, he walked in power and professed boldly what he believed, he was challenged by those in authority, and he was executed for no good reason.
There are at least two things that feel unexpected to me in this story. One is that he would end up stoned because he was full of power and doing a good work, and the second is that his ministry of delivering food resulted in so much more than widows getting fed. Widows being fed is not a trivial thing in my mind. It is powerful and important on its own. But it sounds like there were ripple effects that happened in this man's ministry. It doesn't say what the wonders and signs were that Stephen performed, but in the gospels that usually means healing the sick, raising the dead, and deliverance from demons. It's a clear example to me that you just can't predict what will happen. You can't know what will lead to what.
The same is true of us, here at Grace Baptist. We can't predict what will lead to what. Here we are in this interim period, transitioning from the past to the future. In a sense we always are, but during this time we intentionally reflect on who we have been and how it informs who we are now and who we may become. We are in a discovery phase. This interim period is a time for ideas and visioning - a time for exploration and imagination. And it seems like the transition of the seasons that we are in now, this time of equinox when the light and the dark come to a place of total sharing for one day - this seems like a good time to me to transition from reflection to vision. It shouldn't be an abrupt change, any more than the seasons are. We still have some closure on our reflective period and we have to gain some momentum in our visioning.
I come to you today with an idea. I've shared this idea with a couple of people. It has been mentioned in the business meetings that I have an idea. Now I think it's time to share this idea with you. I want to make all kinds of prefaces and caveats - this isn't THE idea, and no decision by anyone has been made to do this, and so on and so forth. It's just an idea - a passion of mine that I'd like to share with you all and see what you think.
I am concerned about the homeless youth in Chicagoland. I am especially concerned about queer homeless youth in Chicagoland. We are not a people of extravagant monetary resources, but we are a people of extravagant resources of other kinds - love, compassion, sacrifice, etc. In Chicago there are opportunities for groups like ours to participate in community gardening. My idea is that we do that in an area where these young people hang out. We would grow vegetables that we could share with them and if they wanted we could teach them to grow their own. My big picture vision is that these young people would end up creating a positive community of growing food together and sharing it with anyone in need. It's a counter-cultural, counter-system vision.
I think it's wrong that people go hungry and homeless. I think it's wrong that people have to compete for food and shelter. I think it's wrong that young people are thrown out of their families because they are not heterosexual or because their gender identity does not meet the system's criteria. I like to believe that there are options to being a part of this oppressive system. This idea is my way of trying find those options.
It might not work. It might. Maybe we would end up with Queen Anne's lace on the railroad tracks - something completely different than we had imagined. Maybe we'll end up being stoned. Maybe we'll end up helping some young people eat and showing them love. There's no way to know.
Below is some information on community gardening. Please give this some thought and some prayer. See if it resonates with you at all. Maybe it will kick start another idea.
This is not a time for expectations. It is a time for unexpectations. A time for visioning, for reaching with our spirits and connecting all that we can vision with our intellect, our feelings, and our bodies.
I'll close with Ecclesiastes 11:6 "In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good."
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/staff/deta
http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/cook/repo
http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/search/st
http://www.garden.org/home
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Diane Schroer Wins ... and so do we
Go Diane!!
Diane has been fighting to keep her job at the Library of Congress as a terrorism research analyst. The job that was offered to her and then taken away when they found out she was, well, who she was. You see, she went into her job interview as David but she was in transition. When she was offered the job she told them that she would be coming to work as Diane. The next day the offer was rescinded.
Here is an excerpt of her profile:
"Diane Schroer is not one to shrink from a challenge. As an Airborne Ranger qualified Special Forces officer, the 49-year-old veteran completed over 450 parachute jumps, received numerous decorations including the Defense Superior Service Medal, and was hand-picked to head up a classified national security operation. But when she retired as a Colonel after 25 years of distinguished service in the Army, she faced one of her biggest challenges yet: coming out to her friends and family as a transsexual woman."
http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/transgender/12255res20050602.html#profile
Diane and the ACLU have fought a long hard battle, and they have won.
After winning she said this,
"It is especially gratifying that the court has ruled that discriminating against someone for transitioning is illegal," said Schroer in a statement from the ACLU, which represented her in court.
"I knew all along that the 25 years of experience I gained defending our country didn't disappear when I transitioned, so it was hard to understand why I was being turned down for a job doing what I do best just because I'm transgender. It is tremendously gratifying to have your faith in this country, and what is fundamentally right and fair, be reaffirmed."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/19/transsexual.discrimination/index.html
and this
She added, "I hope, too, that employers, family members, friends and co-workers will begin to understand variations in sexual orientation and identity from a basis of knowledge and not fear."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Health/story?id=5843396&page=1
This is good news! Thank you Diane. Thank you for putting yourself out there and not giving up. Thank you for being willing to take the fall but keeping the faith. Thank you for ... everything.
Diane has been fighting to keep her job at the Library of Congress as a terrorism research analyst. The job that was offered to her and then taken away when they found out she was, well, who she was. You see, she went into her job interview as David but she was in transition. When she was offered the job she told them that she would be coming to work as Diane. The next day the offer was rescinded.
Here is an excerpt of her profile:
"Diane Schroer is not one to shrink from a challenge. As an Airborne Ranger qualified Special Forces officer, the 49-year-old veteran completed over 450 parachute jumps, received numerous decorations including the Defense Superior Service Medal, and was hand-picked to head up a classified national security operation. But when she retired as a Colonel after 25 years of distinguished service in the Army, she faced one of her biggest challenges yet: coming out to her friends and family as a transsexual woman."
http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/transgender/12
Diane and the ACLU have fought a long hard battle, and they have won.
After winning she said this,
"It is especially gratifying that the court has ruled that discriminating against someone for transitioning is illegal," said Schroer in a statement from the ACLU, which represented her in court.
"I knew all along that the 25 years of experience I gained defending our country didn't disappear when I transitioned, so it was hard to understand why I was being turned down for a job doing what I do best just because I'm transgender. It is tremendously gratifying to have your faith in this country, and what is fundamentally right and fair, be reaffirmed."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/19/transs
and this
She added, "I hope, too, that employers, family members, friends and co-workers will begin to understand variations in sexual orientation and identity from a basis of knowledge and not fear."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/He
This is good news! Thank you Diane. Thank you for putting yourself out there and not giving up. Thank you for being willing to take the fall but keeping the faith. Thank you for ... everything.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Trouble The Water
This from ColorOfChange.org
"Trouble the Water is a remarkable film that tells a gripping story about two survivors of Hurricane Katrina. It opens in Chicago this weekend, and if enough people go to see it, the chances are greater that it will be released in theaters across the country and spark much needed discussion and real change."
Where in Chicago?
Century Centre, Chicago, IL Fri & Sat, Sept 19 & 20 at 5:00, 7:30 & 10:00pm
Also...
On Friday, 9/19, Tia Lessin will be present for Q&A after the 5 and 7:30 show and will introduce the 10:00 screening
On Saturday, both Carl Deal & Tia Lessin will be present for Q&A after the 5 and 7:30 show and will introduce the 10:00 screening
Check out the website for Trouble the Water.
Watch the trailer below.
"Trouble the Water is a remarkable film that tells a gripping story about two survivors of Hurricane Katrina. It opens in Chicago this weekend, and if enough people go to see it, the chances are greater that it will be released in theaters across the country and spark much needed discussion and real change."
Where in Chicago?
Century Centre, Chicago, IL Fri & Sat, Sept 19 & 20 at 5:00, 7:30 & 10:00pm
Also...
On Friday, 9/19, Tia Lessin will be present for Q&A after the 5 and 7:30 show and will introduce the 10:00 screening
On Saturday, both Carl Deal & Tia Lessin will be present for Q&A after the 5 and 7:30 show and will introduce the 10:00 screening
Check out the website for Trouble the Water.
Watch the trailer below.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
What Happened to the Intersections? Complicating White Privilege
This is from the blog, Diary of an Anxious Black Woman.
I had to take some time to ponder Tim Wise's "This is Your Nation on White Privilege," which many of my readers had already critiqued when they added their comments in response to his commentary. I, like many others, appreciated the succinct way he cut to the chase and highlighted what is so problematic about the way Americans, and specifically the media, have responded to the different campaigns run by McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden. Yet, the definitions of white privilege were much too simplistic and really didn't get at why it would be easy for a number of voters, including feminist-identified ones, to side with a ticket, indeed a woman, who had no interest whatsoever in upholding feminist principles. It's not simply the workings of whiteness, but also the intersections of gender and class.
Read the rest here!
I had to take some time to ponder Tim Wise's "This is Your Nation on White Privilege," which many of my readers had already critiqued when they added their comments in response to his commentary. I, like many others, appreciated the succinct way he cut to the chase and highlighted what is so problematic about the way Americans, and specifically the media, have responded to the different campaigns run by McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden. Yet, the definitions of white privilege were much too simplistic and really didn't get at why it would be easy for a number of voters, including feminist-identified ones, to side with a ticket, indeed a woman, who had no interest whatsoever in upholding feminist principles. It's not simply the workings of whiteness, but also the intersections of gender and class.
Read the rest here!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Easter - Phoenix Paper
1 Corinthians 15:12 – 19
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – pages 206 and 207
Today is a day of Easter celebration. It is a day that we celebrate a Phoenix rising. It is a day of celebrating – paper.
Yes, today I bring you the new paper that we made out of the old paper that held the etchings of our pain and sorrow and fractures and whatever else was on them. Today, rising from the shreds, is this phoenix paper. Rising from the tomb of the blender is this Easter paper.
We know that Easter is the celebration of Jesus being resurrected after his death. The Phoenix was a symbol early on in our Christian story. It was used by early Christian theologians about 150 years after Christ. It was a symbol used in early Christian art and literature – it represented the resurrection, immortality, and the life-after-death of Jesus the Christ.
Our faith as Christians is centered on the Easter event – the resurrection. The way that we believe in the resurrection of Jesus may differ from denomination to denomination and from person to person, but resurrection in some form is central to the Christian faith.
In our reading today, in 1st Corinthians, Paul is talking specifically about the physical resurrection of Jesus. He is teaching those in the church who believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, but who for some reason don’t believe that everyone else who dies will be raised from the dead too.
Whatever each of our beliefs is about resurrection from physical death, I believe that we experience death throughout our lives in many different ways. It is the resurrection from those deaths that I want to celebrate today. Specifically, I want us to celebration the resurrection of this paper that represents the death of many of us. While these pieces of paper don’t look like a bird or a holy risen messiah, they look like hope to me.
Look at them – take a good look at them. They are the same pieces of paper that we wrote on and that we shredded, but they are completely different. They are beautiful, aren’t they? They are transformed – resurrected – reborn. These are pieces of Phoenix Paper. They are new and fresh, ready to be used – and yet, they hold within them the past. Like the Phoenix that bursts into flames, turns into ash, and rises from the ash new born, these sheets of paper are fresh and new.
They represent us and the way I believe we are to live this Christian faith. We take who we are, what we’ve been given … all the components of our lives … and we renew ourselves year by year, month by month, week by week, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Verse 19 says, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” If for this life…. If for the life of the past, the life of the moment that we thought made the most sense … if that’s the life that we are going to cling to in our hope in Christ, then we are not fully celebrating the resurrection power of our faith.
I don’t much talk about faith in Jesus. I talk about following his teachings and living our lives using his as an example, but I don’t talk much about faith in him. Faith in Jesus as the Christ is very important to me. His audacious teachings about God and social justice, which led to his torture and execution, which resulted in his resurrection – all of those components combined with the Holy Spirit – are the core reasons that I call myself a Christian.
Jesus as a Christ, one who leads us and who cannot be defeated. Jesus as a Phoenix, one whose life cycles from birth to death to rebirth, who overcomes and overcomes and overcomes. This Jesus, who I celebrate as resurrected every day because I call myself a Christian, this Jesus has demonstrated to us that we too have resurrection power. Because Christ died and rose from the dead, therefore we see what resurrection power looks like and we reach out for it and find ourselves lifted up from the burning ashes of our periodic deaths.
It is a real death, not a supposed one. I think it’s a mistake to talk as if the death wasn’t really a death because there was resurrection. No, it was a real death – often quite painful. But it doesn’t end there. Life begins again. We begin again.
There’s another parallel that I see between the Phoenix and Jesus the Christ – it is the healing powers of both. As we live into our destiny of resurrection, which includes us living our lives in the same power which made Jesus a Christ, we will also flow more powerfully in our destiny as healers. I’m not saying what form this healing will take. There is a lot that need healing and lots of ways to heal. We each have our gifts. But it is, I believe, the power of the resurrection that gives us the hope and the audacity to live into our gifts – these gifts of every type of healing.
Will you celebrate with me and together this specific resurrection – this specific rebirth. We know that there is more to follow, more to think about, more to do … but today, in this moment, it is a time to be joyous and be filled with awe that what was once dead is now reborn, transformed, and filled with the power of hope.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – pages 206 and 207
Today is a day of Easter celebration. It is a day that we celebrate a Phoenix rising. It is a day of celebrating – paper.
Yes, today I bring you the new paper that we made out of the old paper that held the etchings of our pain and sorrow and fractures and whatever else was on them. Today, rising from the shreds, is this phoenix paper. Rising from the tomb of the blender is this Easter paper.
We know that Easter is the celebration of Jesus being resurrected after his death. The Phoenix was a symbol early on in our Christian story. It was used by early Christian theologians about 150 years after Christ. It was a symbol used in early Christian art and literature – it represented the resurrection, immortality, and the life-after-death of Jesus the Christ.
Our faith as Christians is centered on the Easter event – the resurrection. The way that we believe in the resurrection of Jesus may differ from denomination to denomination and from person to person, but resurrection in some form is central to the Christian faith.
In our reading today, in 1st Corinthians, Paul is talking specifically about the physical resurrection of Jesus. He is teaching those in the church who believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, but who for some reason don’t believe that everyone else who dies will be raised from the dead too.
Whatever each of our beliefs is about resurrection from physical death, I believe that we experience death throughout our lives in many different ways. It is the resurrection from those deaths that I want to celebrate today. Specifically, I want us to celebration the resurrection of this paper that represents the death of many of us. While these pieces of paper don’t look like a bird or a holy risen messiah, they look like hope to me.
Look at them – take a good look at them. They are the same pieces of paper that we wrote on and that we shredded, but they are completely different. They are beautiful, aren’t they? They are transformed – resurrected – reborn. These are pieces of Phoenix Paper. They are new and fresh, ready to be used – and yet, they hold within them the past. Like the Phoenix that bursts into flames, turns into ash, and rises from the ash new born, these sheets of paper are fresh and new.
They represent us and the way I believe we are to live this Christian faith. We take who we are, what we’ve been given … all the components of our lives … and we renew ourselves year by year, month by month, week by week, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Verse 19 says, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” If for this life…. If for the life of the past, the life of the moment that we thought made the most sense … if that’s the life that we are going to cling to in our hope in Christ, then we are not fully celebrating the resurrection power of our faith.
I don’t much talk about faith in Jesus. I talk about following his teachings and living our lives using his as an example, but I don’t talk much about faith in him. Faith in Jesus as the Christ is very important to me. His audacious teachings about God and social justice, which led to his torture and execution, which resulted in his resurrection – all of those components combined with the Holy Spirit – are the core reasons that I call myself a Christian.
Jesus as a Christ, one who leads us and who cannot be defeated. Jesus as a Phoenix, one whose life cycles from birth to death to rebirth, who overcomes and overcomes and overcomes. This Jesus, who I celebrate as resurrected every day because I call myself a Christian, this Jesus has demonstrated to us that we too have resurrection power. Because Christ died and rose from the dead, therefore we see what resurrection power looks like and we reach out for it and find ourselves lifted up from the burning ashes of our periodic deaths.
It is a real death, not a supposed one. I think it’s a mistake to talk as if the death wasn’t really a death because there was resurrection. No, it was a real death – often quite painful. But it doesn’t end there. Life begins again. We begin again.
There’s another parallel that I see between the Phoenix and Jesus the Christ – it is the healing powers of both. As we live into our destiny of resurrection, which includes us living our lives in the same power which made Jesus a Christ, we will also flow more powerfully in our destiny as healers. I’m not saying what form this healing will take. There is a lot that need healing and lots of ways to heal. We each have our gifts. But it is, I believe, the power of the resurrection that gives us the hope and the audacity to live into our gifts – these gifts of every type of healing.
Will you celebrate with me and together this specific resurrection – this specific rebirth. We know that there is more to follow, more to think about, more to do … but today, in this moment, it is a time to be joyous and be filled with awe that what was once dead is now reborn, transformed, and filled with the power of hope.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Planting in September
I am assuming that we all know this date. We all have some terrible memories and feelings that still haunt us. I don't want to push away those memories and feelings, but I do want to live in and have hope for today and tomorrow.
Yesterday I bought seeds. Today, I planted them - well, most of them. So far I have planted Fennel, Basil, and Cumin. Later today I will plant Echinacea and Catnip.
Is my act of planting seeds due to my desire for transformation simply symbolic? I don't think so. Will my planting seeds on September 11, 2008 make a change in the world? Maybe. It is an act of hope. It is also an investment in life. My life. Your life. Non-Human life. All life.
It is also the act of transformation for myself. I am needing to be differently on this day. I am needing to be active and hopeful. My grieving is changing from being devastated to rebuilding. If I begin to rebuild - in the way I talk and the decisions that I make - then my planting seeds isn't simply symbolic. It is one of many steps toward rebuilding, both internally and externally.
Some of you may not be at the rebuilding place. Some of you may be, but don't know that you can. Some of you may be actively involved in rebuilding. For everyone and for myself, I have planted these seeds and will nourish them. They will serve to change the air around me as well as to be a visual reminder that we can and must rebuild.
Yesterday I bought seeds. Today, I planted them - well, most of them. So far I have planted Fennel, Basil, and Cumin. Later today I will plant Echinacea and Catnip.
Is my act of planting seeds due to my desire for transformation simply symbolic? I don't think so. Will my planting seeds on September 11, 2008 make a change in the world? Maybe. It is an act of hope. It is also an investment in life. My life. Your life. Non-Human life. All life.
It is also the act of transformation for myself. I am needing to be differently on this day. I am needing to be active and hopeful. My grieving is changing from being devastated to rebuilding. If I begin to rebuild - in the way I talk and the decisions that I make - then my planting seeds isn't simply symbolic. It is one of many steps toward rebuilding, both internally and externally.
Some of you may not be at the rebuilding place. Some of you may be, but don't know that you can. Some of you may be actively involved in rebuilding. For everyone and for myself, I have planted these seeds and will nourish them. They will serve to change the air around me as well as to be a visual reminder that we can and must rebuild.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Help Needed in Louisville, KY for Gustav Evacuees
A friend working in New Orleans sends the alert: “I have heard from two folks in the activist community in New Orleans who evacuated to KY and they have been working to address some issues in the shelter in Louisville. They have made a call out for us to ck with our networks about any contacts in Lousville. They need # 1) lawyers or other legal assistance and # 2) other people who would be willing to get email info and respond by making calls to FEMA, Red Cross, mayors office etc.”
She forwards this appeal:
To the Louisville Peace and Justice Community,
As you may know, there are approximately 1,800 Hurricane Gustav evacuees staying right now in a shelter at the Louisville Expo Center, organized by the Red Cross. While much has been done to provide for evacuees’ needs, as FEMA drags its feet and the evacuation drags on, conditions for evacuees are worsening dramatically.
Please take a moment to call and e-mail:
FEMA Director DAVID PAULISON: (202) 646-3900,
the RED CROSS: (502) 589-4450, and loren.mccamey@louisville-redcross.org.
Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson, (502) 574-2003, http://www.louisvilleky.gov/Mayor/contactusmayor.htm
And tell them that you won’t allow evacuees to be treated this way in your name! Please request that they immediately address the following 4 concerns:
1. Stop police harassment of evacuees. Evacuating is not a crime.
Evacuees have reported harassment from some police officers, merely for walking down the road to the convenience store during the day. They are assumed to be criminals and treated with suspicion and hostility by an ever increasing police presence. The Louisville police should be keeping evacuees safe, not targeting and punishing them during their time of need.
2. Stop unreasonable rationing of food, blankets, clothing and medicine, and give evacuees what they need now.
Due to FEMA’s incompetence, many people lost their luggage and have been wearing the same clothes for almost a week. Yet the Red Cross is only giving out one set of clothes per person, and not everyone has even gotten that. Diabetics have been punished for “hoarding” food when they save snacks to maintain their blood sugar. The Red Cross has piles of food, clothes and blankets, but isn’t giving people what they need.
3. Provide evacuees with up-to-date, accurate information as it becomes available, and provide them with more computers and more phones.
More than anything, evacuees are DESPERATE for information. People need immediate access to phone and internet to find loved ones, check on their homes, apply for FEMA aid, get in touch with employers and landlords, and many other essential and time-sensitive tasks. YET THE RED CROSS AND FEMA HAVE PROVIDED ONLY 20 PHONES and 6 COMPUTERS for 1,800 PEOPLE!
4. AND PLEASE TELL FEMA: Send all evacuees home now, with adequate compensation for money they have lost while evacuated.
Evacuees were brought to shelters across the south by FEMA - who put them on buses and planes without telling them where they were going. In some cases, they were put on different planes than family members, told that they were going to the same city, and then found themselves hundreds of miles away from spouses, parents and children. Gulf Coast parishes, and the New Orleans airport, have all reopened, yet FEMA has yet to get most folks home - or even release a plan to tell them when and how they will get home. Meanwhile, many people have spent everything they had - often dipping into money for rent and utilities - on evacuation expenses, and many have missed work while being stranded so far from home.
FEMA and the Red Cross need to know that people are watching to assure that evacuees don’t have to endure another Katrina. Additionally, the mayor’s office will be open tomorrow, Saturday, from 8am-12pm, so please let them know that you care about how evacuees are treated in your city. And please forward this message to your friends and allies. We very much appreciate your hospitality, and your concern.
In Solidarity,
Renee Corrigan and Nicole Gillies,
The Greater New Orleans Organizers’ Roundtable
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