Thanksgiving Message 2008

My Dearest Friends and Family,

I find this moment in life to be an extraordinary moment. In the time that I have lived on this earth, there has never been such great challenge and great opportunity. We have all witnessed an historic turn of events and now we wait breathlessly for the things that may be, the dreams to unfold and for hearts of intolerance, indifference and individualism to be healed.

I have noticed holiday lights going up earlier this year, I can’t help but feel it is the desire to bring some brightness into the world and build momentum for celebration.

I find my own desire for celebration. I celebrate so many of you who have supported and been a part of my journey of the last four years. I celebrate my hope for a successful visit in two weeks to my ordination board and a job soon to follow. I celebrate my partner in life and lessons I have learned through the depth of her love. I celebrate the peace I have found in the service of others. Most of all, I celebrate the hope I now, finally feel that the world I wished for last Thanksgiving may be a possibility. I want to make it clear that I am not placing all this hope on one man, I am placing my hope on the fact that he could be and was elected, that the world can see a new way and that there is a conversation that has risen to the surface for the need of compassionate and sustainable relationships with each other and the planet.

So, although it is a repeat of what I sent last year, I send it again for there is much work to do, much hope to be fulfilled and a growing optimism that wishes can come true:

I wish for true peace for the world, a peace built on mutual need to create a sustainable earth for generations to come.

I wish for open hearts toward those in need, for we are all one and in this interconnected world what happens to one truly does happen to all.

I wish for the blossoming of compassion, for all faiths have a compassionate core and all lives crave the kindness of others.

Finally, I wish for you, your families, friends and loved ones, the gentleness of spirit that lies at the heart of the songs and rituals of the holidays and may that spread out beyond to touch us all.

Peace and Happy Thanksgiving

Not to just rise above but to lead beyond

I write this on the night September 11th, 2008. I actually was only barely aware of today’s date during the day. I saw the news online and for the most part was involved with my life as it exists today and not as it existed seven years ago tonight. I was busy today. I was doing the things that life has brought me to seven years later, busy, happy and fulfilled. I tried hard to avoid the political machinations of the current presidential race. I tried to avoid the jingoism of some of the remembrances. I tried to live life, as I know it now, seven years later. But, as much I tried to focus on some work, as much as I tried to focus on channel surfing, as much as I tried to think about other things, I couldn’t help but think about the way I felt seven years ago tonight and seven years ago this week.

It is easy to say all the things that so many have said so many times, I was terrified, horribly sad, furious, and many different other emotions, but I was also aware of something that I am not sure I have ever felt before those days and really not since, I felt something that was transcendent, a sense of national and in some ways, international unity. From these horrible events, there was a feeling amongst strangers, no matter what party, no matter what faith, there was this feeling that we needed each other to get through all of this. Actually it was beyond that, it was that we must rely on each other in order to get through all of this.
(This was true with the exception of those small-minded people overwhelmed with hate who sought out those who in their minds looked and/or worshiped like those who carried out the attacks.)

We looked for what was best about this country in those dark hours. We held up the graciousness, the self-sacrifice, the sameness, the best possible of common denominators. We focused on the things that make this country, with all of its challenges, a place of compassion and a successful experiment in otherness living side-by-side in freedom.

It is unfortunately clear to most of us however, even those who disagree on many political and personal issues of the day, it is clear that there were many opportunities missed and an historic chance to capitalize on this good will that was wasted.

This all makes me think about this moment in time in our country and in the world. I, like many others, believe that we are on a precipice. This country and this world face choices about the future that will have consequences for generations. Once again, whatever political side you take, the economic, environmental, military, and poverty issues that this next president will face are not just issues of this generation, but many generations to come.

The problem with all of this is the process is broken. In fact, the process may not have ever been that great, but it certainly is more broken than it has ever been. We have gotten to a place where it is unbearable to watch the daily tracking polls on who won the news cycle for the story about who could call each other the most names. But it is more than just the news cycle. We are in a cycle that is much more dangerous. This is a cycle of power over policy, about profit over performance. A cycle that is much more about perpetuating violence in our actions and in our speech than about promoting peace. There may be electoral winners in November but in this system no one really wins, we all lose.

In his first inaugural address on March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson spoke words with a style and substance rarely heard today, words that could easily provide us with wisdom to learn from our history, our successes and our failures as a nation. On that Wednesday in March, Jefferson offered:

All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions.

Our presidential candidates have been sucked into a broken system, a system that feeds media and creates issues that take away from the truly momentous topics that must be discussed, debated and deliberated. I have no answers for how we solve this cycle of the politics of destruction, of this appeal to the least common denominator, but I deeply feel we must “restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.”

So can we demand better, can we all stop demonizing, is it possible for our voices to cry out demanding that it is the problems we face that must be addressed versus the schoolyard behavior that we currently spend our time assessing? Can we rise up and insist from our grassroots that these times call for our leaders to be better, think loftier, and pull us together instead of pushing us apart? As many of you know, I have been an Obama supporter but I believe it was an egregious error not to meet John McCain in a series of face-to-face town hall meetings. At least then we would hear the candidates discuss the issues versus listening to the surrogates throw insults and the television ads provide carefully construed misinformation. They know that what they are saying is bad, but we have constructed a system where we must win whatever the cost and the cost is truth, honestly, integrity, kindness, and social harmony.

It has been a long day, it has been a long seven years where the leadership of this country played to fears and looked to the past. There have been many days lately where I have been filled with hope, where I have believed in the possibilities of the future. Is it time to look to that future? Is it time to change the tone of our emails, the substance of our interactions? It is time for each and every one of us to take responsibility not to just rise above but to lead beyond? I believe the time has come to put this chapter of our history to sleep and hopefully awaken to see that the bad dream is over and that the hope we all so desperately seek really is possible.

My Dear Friends and Family,

Mid-May another transition will begin. One of my self-defining roles will end and another will begin; I will be a graduate of the Claremont School of Theology. I NEVER thought this would be a stop in the journey of my life but now, three years later, I can honestly say that it feels like it was meant to be.

After three years at this liberal, ecumenical, Methodist seminary, it is hard to describe what a transformative experience this has been for me. It is not as simple as "now I understand Christians." I actually have a much deeper understanding of myself, my calling (although after three years of theology school I am still trying to find out who or what is on the other end of the line), my place in the world and how I have strengthened my belief that there must be a new way in order for this planet to survive.

Many of you have played a substantial role in that transformation. Your kindness, love and support have been a transformational experience in and of itself. This is an emotional time. I will miss school and all the friends that have become so dear to me, but for perhaps the first time, I feel like I now have the training and substance to impact the world in the manner I have desired for so long. I have learned, peace is not a passive act and I hope that I will use these wonderful resources wisely to help us all build a more compassionate and peaceful planet.

With my degree, I will receive an Emphasis is Social Transformation and as one of my professors has brought to my attention, I have spent the last three years exploring issues of violence and peace. I still strongly define myself as a culturally Jewish Unitarian Universalist, but I also have come to learn more about and deeply appreciate theologies I never even knew existed before my CST education. One of the resources of my education that I have come to respect is the theologian Walter Wink. In his book The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium, Wink talks about the Myth of Redemptive Violence when he writes, “The story that the rulers of domination societies told each other and their subordinates is what we today call the Myth of Redemptive Violence. It enshrines the belief that violence saves, that war brings peace, the might makes right. It is one of the oldest continuously repeated stories in the world.”

The other side of this coin is not passivity however. In fact, that is one of the things I most appreciate about Wink and his theological interpretations of the message of the New Testament and the words of Jesus. Wink points out that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was not asking us to be passive in our opposition to violence and the powers, he was in fact asking us to resist, but to do it nonviolently. Wink notes that the “Greek word translated “resist” in Matthew 5:39 is antistenai, meaning literally to stand (stenai) against (anti),” as opposed to what translators have most often translated antistenai to be, a technical term for warfare. Wink goes further in his explanation that it is not just about warfare and resistance, but about how that resistance is manifested. “The image is not of a punch drunk boxer somehow managing to stay on his feet, but of soldiers standing their ground, refusing to flee.”

For Wink, Jesus is in fact calling for us to find a different way to resist. To change the story that has been told since the beginning of time:

Jesus is not telling us to submit to evil, but to refuse to oppose it on its own terms. We are not to let the opponent dictate the methods of our opposition. He is urging us to transcend both passivity and violence by finding a third way, one that is at once assertive and yet nonviolent. The correct translation would be the one still preserved in the earliest renditions of this saying found in the New testament epistles: “Do not repay evil for evil” (Rom. 12:17; 1 Thes. 5:15; 1 Pet. 3:9). The Scholars Version of Matt. 5:39a is superb: “Don’t react violently against the one who is evil.”

Once again, calling for strength in our resistance but not violence is Wink’s clear theological interpretation of how we deal with evil.

I believe that we do have a choice, a choice of breaking through the “Myth” to embrace a world that recognizes the need for wholeness, dialogue, compassion, the gift in otherness and that interdependent web of which we are all a part. The time has come; there is an urgency in the air. I intend to continue my training and then incorporate in to my ministry all that I have learned to support and facilitate this new way.

Many have asked what is next. From graduation we will spend a little time moving into a new apartment, (our current home is going condo), then this summer I will begin six months of half-time chaplaincy at Children’s Hospital in San Diego to fulfill my one required unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, and from now until the first week in December, I will be studying and preparing for the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, (our ordination board). Then, when and if passed, I will be eligible to look for a job.

So much has happened in these three years. So many gifts have been shared. I am deeply humbled and so very grateful for everything, the challenges, the joys, the love and support. I would be severely remiss if I did not mention how profoundly grateful I am for the woman who has read my papers and heard my sermons, at least twice, and has walked this journey by my side; thank you.

And to all of you, I wish us all peace and I offer you my warmest thanks.

Ready for Change

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.”
- Robert Kennedy

After a couple of drafts that skirted the issue that I really wanted to talk about, I have decided to put my thoughts on the line and say what I really want to say.

My earliest memory was the death of John F. Kennedy. I remember I was downtown Chicago with my mother and people were standing on a street corner looking up at one of those signs that scrolled the news in lights. I remember standing with a bunch of stunned adults, on a cold, windy and grey Chicago day, I was 4 years old. Through the years I have written about the legacy of hope in my memories of John and Robert Kennedy. I have spoken of my desires for a world where we value hope and conversation over fear and violence. For the very first time in my life, since those early days of hope, I believe we are on the verge of real change.

I am ready.

I am ready for change in the way we talk to each other about the problems that face our country. I am ready to work with each other differently than we have before. I am ready to stand up for the earth and not be labeled as anti-economy. I am ready to address the real problems of our future like poverty, oppression and the effects of the corporatization on the resources and people of the world. I am ready to work to change a small portion of events that I can help change, I am ready to vote.

The act of faith that I view as having the biggest possible affect on life as I would like it to be is; I am going to walk into that polling place, ask for a paper ballot, I am going to exercise my democratic responsibility and I am going to vote for Barack Obama.

Let me tell you why. I don’t care that he doesn’t “have experience,” it is the ones with experience that have gotten in the mess that we are in. I want change. I want hope. I want something very different than what we have come to know.

It is amazing that I have spent this much time and money to prepare myself for ministry in order to do what I can to change the world and the world changing action I have chosen for this year is voting. You see, when you study theology there is some history of the world thrown in. We learn about the rise of recorded civilization and the beginnings of religion. We understand how institutions have shaped the world. We also learn how one person can have an affect on the course of history. To me, after spending some time studying this, I have come to the conclusion that this election truly is as consequential as it seems. There is just too much going on in the world of deep significance.

Four years ago, I named this blog “change2008.” I had grown disgusted with the politics in this country and I was pleading, begging and praying for change. In an excerpt from my first entry, I wrote, "I am thinking myself and would like to encourage any of you who are taking the time to read this to think about these questions. What can I do to get involved and change the level of political discussion in this country? How can I resist getting stuck fighting just about the issues (I don’t want us to totally give up the fight while we work on the bigger picture), and contribute to a principle/value-based progressive movement built on compromise, mutual benefit and a nondenominational spiritual connection with each other and our planet?"

Since then, much has happened in this country and I do believe that we are conscious of the need for change. But as I reflect on the word, I also reflect on how my concept of change has, well, changed. I think four years ago, I would have been happy for the anti-Bush, in fact, looking back on it, I think that was a little bit how I felt about John Kerry. But, I feel differently now. It not about just having someone different, it is about doing it differently.

Four years ago I said, “I don’t want us to totally give up the fight while we work on the bigger picture.” Quite frankly, I am tired of fighting. I want someone who is willing to talk. I want someone who is willing to think beyond surface politics. I want leaders who are willing to converse in the effort to build understanding and creative ideas. I want someone who is willing to consider not only the needs of America, but how addressing the needs of others in the world will help America be safer, healthier and not just a leader but a partner living up to its truest ideals.

We are now more aware than ever that we are truly interconnected and our connections are troubled. Our western way of life is leading to depleted resources and a wounded planet. This grand experiment of democracy is surviving with a damaged government.

People need help. The policies and laws concocted in Washington do matter. They do make a difference in our lives and if you don’t believe that ask the family of a loved one serving, killed or wounded in Iraq. Ask the parents of a school age child with too many benchmarks and not enough attention. Ask one of our neighbors losing their home to a greedy mortgage deal. Perhaps we should ask someone being sent to an overcrowded jail instead of receiving competent treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. The people we elect matter.

The spirit of the people needs a lift. The spirit of the people is ready to accomplish new and wonderful things. The spirit of the people need to see that that they, and not just the rich, are worthy of care and compassion.

There is a firm foothold in the mind of America that there is a deep need for change. And at this point, if this country elects a democrat, there will be a change in the presidency like we have never seen. But, to believe that any of these people alone are the answer to the problems we face would only be setting us up for disappointment. These are not perfect people. You don’t rise to this level of our political system by being perfect, but guess what; I don’t expect them to be.

We the people are becoming very engaged in this election but that engagement has to last beyond the voting booth. We are so close to this new path, this truly could be a change in direction, a movement of the spirit and a hope for a new path. “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.” For our generation the time is now. I know that most of those who will read this will vote, but I think the time has come to vote for hope, for change, and I hope, for Barack Obama.

End of Summer Report

It is August 15, 2006 and summer is essentially over for me. In the coming days, I am finishing up my first summer job in 28 years, I am headed back to school to assist in orientation for the new crop of students and I am preparing to begin another major part of my journey, as an intern minister.

Just a quick note on the job; what an experience going from $100 an hour back to $9 an hour. (I must really want to be a minister.)

I became a manager for the first time at the age of 20. Since then, I have pretty much been in management or an ownership position in almost every job I have had. One possible exception was when I was a cook for sororities when I returned to school to finish my bachelor’s degree after a 6 year hiatus, but that is a story for another day. Working at a little bed and breakfast just down the block from my house was a strange and wonderful experience. It was humbling, frustrating, fun, and perfect for what I needed to help support me this summer. It was also the first job I have had since this new path in my life began.

I will return to the job in a moment but first let me explain another profound experience of my summer. I have had some awakening around some thoughts on life. All summer I have been meeting with my friend Lee who I met through the Network of Spiritual Progressives. He is a warm, wise and wonderful man with a loving spirit and a gentle heart. We have spent much time talking about where we are in our lives and how that relates to the world we live in. As I wrote in an earlier blog entry, I heard a speaker at the NSP conference in Washington say, “don’t follow your bliss, follow your heartbreak.” Well, we two are following our heartbreak and in some strange way it has given me a great deal of bliss.

We have spent much time talking about “the Movement.” In my opinion, the movement is happening all over and needs to happen in the face of an equally increasing sense of violence as the answer to differences and division as a political strategy. It has been written about by many authors such as Jimmy Carter, Jim Wallis and Michael Lerner, and it is being tested all over in religious and political circles. To me, the movement is about the growing knowledge base and brewing strategies that are attempting to answer the question; how do we really, finally, and truly build a different world? How can we build a more loving world, a more generous world, a kinder world, a more respectful world, a more peaceful world and a world more in tune with sustaining the life and beauty of our planet?

This is not a simple task, especially when faced with the horrors of dead children caught in an over rationalized crossfire of violence (not just in one area, but in too many places). This is also not about an election, a new book, or some new policies; to me this is about a true shift in the way the world operates. Lee and I have decided that this must begin with us. I am not saying that the whole movement will begin with us, but we must live and breathe the movement if we ever want to make sure that we can help create that movement in the world.

Now, how does my summer job fit in? It has been a fascinating experience to have this clerk’s job in the middle of all of this. I have really been living so many different roles this summer. Preacher, pastoral care listener, partner, hourly employee, nonprofit consultant, student on break and a host of others. Of the experiences that came from this, none were more surreal as the day I helped lead a service at church speaking to around 400 people, glowing in the excitement, warmth and love of this calling, feeling that I have truly found my place in the world and then an hour later, sitting at a desk answering phones and taking breakfast orders at my little B&B down the street. Even though I was back in my clerk’s role, the transition of that day and how I define myself was much easier with this purpose, movement, (or calling if you will) in mind.

It isn’t that I did not know some of these things, but being a clerk this summer allowed me once again to see how hard the immigrant women maids worked for such a relatively small wage. How the issues of health care, child care, stereotyping and immigration affected many of them on a daily basis. I saw and experienced how challenging it is to treat ourselves and each other with love, generosity and respect in the realities of this small business. This summer I was steeped in observing how we can live in the boxes we have so long defined for ourselves and each other.

I also found myself struggling to know how to apply this movement in my job, not being in a leadership position that I have become so used to over the years. I decided that the best way was to do my utmost to treat others with love, respect, kindness and generosity. To think of all of us as in some way as being wounded and in need of healing and love, to being special and in need of expression, to deserving respect and in need of kindness and to be searching for our own truths and in need of support and connection.

I am clearly training to be in a position to have a voice and a place to express it, but I also learned from this summer’s experience that the words from that pulpit will ring hollow if I do not live the values I preach.

So I finish the summer with a flurry of activity in preparation for my next phase of life. I need to have my car serviced, I must fill out scholarship applications, I have been asked to assist others (new students) in their transitions on their journey, and I strive to balance the substantial new commitments away from home with my on-going commitments in my own home. But, most of all, I hope to continue my call to do what I can to facilitate enlightenment, awakening or whatever you may call it in myself and others. I am not naive about what it may take to build a better world, I am just convinced that it is possible. As my friend Lee says, “Shift Happens."

Many blessings and peace to you all.

More on the Middle East

I am Jewish, I am American and I am studying to be Unitarian Universalist Minister. I do not see my choice of religious practice (such as it is) having anything to do with reducing my "Jewishness."

A few years back, in a search for an emotional center to my own cultural roots, I went to the Holocaust Museum and while on a trip to Europe, I went to Dachau. In a third of some sort of triple crown of experiences, I saw Schindler's List. After the movie, I remember just pulling off to the side of the road and weeping. I was overwhelmed with pain and sadness. I was processing for perhaps for the first time what it meant to be a Jew.

This however pales in comparison to those Jews who have suffered persecution in so many ways for so many thousands of years. As a white middle class American who has not been the victim of terrorist violence except on the TV and through second hand experience, I can hardly place myself in their shoes. I can hardly know the pain and suffering of those who have lost so much.

But, here is one thing that I know to the depths of my soul, violence does only beget violence. war has never ever led to peace. The ramifications of one war lead to the contributions of another. These global cycles of violence have been going on for so many thousands of years that we have become used to talking about who is right and who is wrong verses what can be done to break the cycles of violence for good. As I have written any of a number of times recently, the question for me is, who will blink first for real transformation for that is what I believe peace will require.

I have no interest in getting involved in the "Israel's actions" debate. I care about who is right and who is wrong but I just don't think that is really the point. What I am focusing my thoughts on are the official actions of the United States. Can the leading power on the planet whose charter says that all are created equal, actually place that point into policy. Can those who run our government see past the need for oil, their personal religious motivations, their own ambitions and fears and actually lead the world to a safer and more peaceful place where our actions model behavior for others to follow.

The current leaders are modeling violence as the answer and others have now picked that up. I just don't believe that violence works to stop violence, it never really has. At times mutually assured destruction has worked, but my goodness, is that the kind of planet we want to live in, what happens if someone makes a mistake?

I crave leadership that takes all the history, anger and fear and follows a different path. A path where the "evil ones" are isolated and those who have a tendency to follow are presented with different choices not forced into unfortunate actions. A path where the money is spent on building nations not destroying them. A path where respect, democracy and love are modeled and not belittled by lip-service, political posturing at home and the narrow vision of violent solutions to global issues.

As a Jew I have certainly felt the pain of "otherness" and as I've said, I can never compare my pain to the loss of a mother whose bleeding child is dying in her arms, but I must hold out hope, for that mother and for the others currently to come. As Desmond Tutu writes in his book, No Future Without Forgiveness:

Peace is possible, especially if today's adversaries were to imagine themselves becoming friends and begin acting in ways that would promote such a friendship developing in reality. It would be wonderful if, as they negotiated, they tried to find ways of accommodating each other's needs. A readiness to make concessions is a sign of strength not weakness. And it can be worthwhile sometimes to lose a battle in order in the end to win the war. Those who are in negotiations for peace and prosperity are striving after such a splendid, such a priceless goal that it should be easier to find ways for all to be winners than to fight; for negotiators to make it a point the no one loses face, that no one emerges empty handed, with nothing to place before his or her constituency. How one wishes that negotiators would avoid having bottom lines and too many preconditions. In negotiations we are, as in the process of forgiveness, seeking to give all the chance to begin again. The rigid will have a tough time. The flexible, those who are ready to make principled compromises, end up being the victors.

July 4, 2006

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and State. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Danbury Baptist Association, CT., Jan. 1, 1802 – (Please forgive the male patriarchal language, it was Jefferson’s in 1802 not mine, actually read on, it is kind of the point.)

Knowing that I wanted to write something for the blog on this Fourth of July weekend, I have sat down at this computer any number of times to get working on my latest foray into the blogasphere. I have thought, what is it, what can I write that effectively demonstrates what I feel is happening in this country, where I think we are, where I hope we are going and all the while be insightful and inspirational, and I decided the best way to do that is to start with a quote from an old dead white guy. Yes, I wanted to choose someone more interesting than me and who did I pick, none other than Thomas Jefferson.

I have used many quotes before in this blog, but I have never turned to one of our founding fathers. I have to admit, Jefferson was not perfect. I know that picking a quote from a white male and not one of the many worthy women, people of color, Native Americans or countless others who contributed greatly to this republic could alienate some of my friends, not to mention the woman with whom I share my life. I worry that he owned slaves. I was concerned that he was a man of certain appetites that may lead people to have moral objections. Some of my atheist friends may be mad that he wrote a version of the bible, others, my more religious friends, may be put off that he changed the “real Bible” to be more of his liking. But what ever the consequences I thought, I have to pick a quote from someone. I need a snappy beginning, something that will catch people’s attention and of course that left out most of today’s politicians, so I reached back in time and I found this quote.

But thinking a little more deeply about this, I found myself thinking about Jefferson and those other long dead white guys who are most publicly credited with starting this country. They were products of their generation much as many of us are products of ours. I thought, if alive today would Jefferson use Tide with bleach alternative, or would he shop for the environmentally friendly detergent they sell at Whole Foods? If Ben Franklin were alive today, would he be drinking Coors Light, or Samuel Adams? Would John Adams be in trouble for lobbying his relatives after leaving office? Would Paul Revere buy the good silver or just pick up some stuff at Walmart?

I guess my point is, Jefferson, Adams and Franklin all lived in a time, admittedly flawed by today’s progressive standards, where they were born into a world with all the assumptions, roles and structures that existed at their specific place in history. They were products of a system. Their system had history, habits, traditions, beliefs, prejudices, stereotypes and myths. Although they were at a different place in time, many of our national habits, traditions, beliefs, prejudices, stereotypes and myths have evolved from many of theirs.

With deference to my Professor Elizabeth Conde-Frazier whose class notes I am using, I would like to point out that on a day-to-day basis, many of us do not think about some of the consequences of that previous history and those habits, traditions, beliefs, prejudices, stereotypes and myths. One of the things we do not think about is the societal enforcement, in other words, the ongoing fact that if you conform minimally “they” leave you alone and if you conform maximally, you get privilege and power. Also, aside from the unfortunate fact that if you are not a member of the majority group you are held up as inferior or different, (have you checked any commercials lately) there is the internalized oppression – or as Professor Conde-Frazier calls it, the oppressors from within. That voice that tells us to stay in our place, or that says “in order to get along, go along.”

The point is that the privileged group and those who are not privileged stay in their own cycles; we remain in these roles and become unwilling to interrupt the cycle, because it is just the way that things are. Would there even be a United States of America right now if those white men of privilege had accepted their socialization? Or ponder this, is there a United Stated of America because they accepted their socialization?

So how do we break cycles? One of the expressions I have used lately is, “who are going to be the ones who are willing to blink first?” One of the models that talks about breaking cycles says, one of the first requirements is that the victims of the cycle need the help of allies of privilege. I was shocked and thrilled to meet progressive evangelical Christians at both of the Network of Spiritual Progressives conference. Those are allies who have been very willing to blink. They have also been very willing to enter into dialogue.

Dialogue is a way of creating alliances. Deep dialogue, or speaking out of a place of pain – authentically and honestly helps us overcome the fear and insecurity we have been taught. In truly listening to one another we begin to change our core with the goal that hope will find a way to the surface and working together with shared values will hopefully create more hope. Eventually, we begin to unlearn and unravel the things that have kept us from one another. We begin to co-create.

I do not pretend to simplistically try and capture a whole field of study in a short holiday blog but I wanted to present the flavor of where I feel the hope for America and perhaps the rest of the world lies. Jefferson seemed to know that the excess of power stifles the will of freedom whether through governmental or religious majority. For all the bad things we can say about those guys, (and what their motivations were, which is the subject of much debate), I do believe in the ideals they professed in their documents.

I believe in the unbending separation between church and state, a great example from 230 years ago of a cycle that needed shattering. In today’s Washington Post (as seen at MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13622029/), they concluded a nine month investigation on congressional farm subsidies. Perhaps not a sexy topic, but this is another great example that falls under the category of, “why can not we break the cycle of politics and do what is actually right for farmers and the country?” In this article, among other things, they talk about payments attached to land that have not been farmed in 40 years. So an asphalt contractor is getting a check every year not to farm rice that was last farmed on his land 40 years ago. The article goes on to say:

The payments now account for nearly half of the nation's expanding agricultural subsidy system, a complex web that has little basis in fairness or efficiency. What began in the 1930s as a limited safety net for working farmers has swollen into a far-flung infrastructure of entitlements that has cost $172 billion over the past decade. In 2005 alone, when pretax farm profits were at a near-record $72 billion, the federal government handed out more than $25 billion in aid, almost 50 percent more than the amount it pays to families receiving welfare. The Post's nine-month investigation found farm subsidy programs that have become so all-encompassing and generous that they have taken much of the risk out of farming for the increasingly wealthy individuals who dominate it.

I guess this raises the question, how many of those founders would have bought their fruit from the local family-owned organic farm if alive today?

The real question is what can any or all of us do to break the cycles? War, violence, environmental degradation, religious oppression, colonialism, racism, I still hope and believe are all breakable cycles. By separating church and state, no matter how much it seems at times not to have been successful, those long dead men of privilege did at least recognize the need to break the cycle of state sanctioned religion. As we celebrate this 230th anniversary of the signing of our Declaration of Independence, I hope for a new generation of cycle-breaking idealists who have a vision that will carry them beyond their current self-interest and hold up hope beyond America’s self-interest towards a peaceful world built on mutual respect and shared interest.

Not an easy task, but setting up a new country, no matter how flawed, wasn’t so easy either.

"A government regulating itself by what is wise and just for the many, uninfluenced by the local and selfish views of the few who direct their affairs, has not been seen, perhaps, on earth. Or if it existed for a moment at the birth of ours, it would not be easy to fix the term of its continuance. Still, I believe it does exist here in a greater degree than anywhere else; and for its growth and continuance... I offer sincere prayers." --Thomas Jefferson to William H. Crawford, 1816

Me too.

Many blessings and peace to all of you, and have a great 4th of July.