I so appreciate Walter's reflections on the church's season on Lent, I wanted to share them.
“Lent is when we in the church do our heavy lifting and our hard work. It is when we replicate the disciples in their decision to follow Jesus into Jerusalem, there to face the power of Rome and the colluding local authorities. It is when we echo the daring of the early church to be witness to the good news of the gospel in the face of the empire that evokes intimidating interrogation of the disciples. The church is forever re-deciding about following…or not. We know the outcome of the story, but knowing that outcome of the narrative does not lessen the risk or the threat of the decision. If Lent is the hard work of that decision about following and replicating and echoing, then Lent is intense. It is intense because of the grip of the empire is so strong….”
Walter Brueggemann - Journal for Preachers Vol XXXV Number 2 - Lent 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Living into the Beatitudes
Soon after the Christmas story and then the emergence of Jesus as the adult being baptized by John the Baptist, the gospel narrative moves us into focusing on Jesus' ministry and focusing on those to whom he ministered. The Beatitudes in Matthew was his first public speech - and it serves as his "core values" speech and the focus of God's attention. Imagine being one of the poor, in first century, that meant that you had no power, imagine sitting on that hillside and listening to a teacher say, "I know you are poor, but blessed are you now for God is paying attention to your plight." Now that statement from Jesus did not get published in the gospel, but I imagine him saying it and for those who heard these words, I imagine hope began to bloom in their hearts because blessedness in those days always seemed to go toward the wealthy and the powerful. Jesus was drawing in the Beatitudes an alternative religious prospective - one focused on the meek, poor, peacemakers and those left out of the normal power circles.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
School of the Americas Watch
Hi, All:
For those of you interested in my Human Rights activities, I spent this past weekend at Columbus, Georgia, attending the School of the Americas Annual Protest, both as a witness and observer, and also as a lawyer for the demonstrators.
This is the 21st Annual demonstration. As in the past, many people of faith and conscience gathered at the gates of Ft. Benning to call for the end to the notorious School of the Americas (SOA), now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). This year there were fewer demonstrators, probably between 4-5,000 people in all. Four people were arrested for illegal entry onto Ft. Benning property to protest the continued existence of SOA/WHINSEC. They have been arraigned and will expect trial during the next 45 - 90 days, with a likely sentence of up to six months in jail and up to a $5,000 fine. The protesters knew in advance of the possible penalties and voluntarily undertook their civil disobedience as an act of faith and conscience.
The more interesting events took place outside the formal demonstration area. Last year the "Puppetistas" (people who hold parts of huge puppets) marched outside the permitted zone, then returned with no incident. This year, when they marched out, they were arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Also, the people who went out with the puppetistas were themselves arrested if they stopped to watch what was going on. The charges were unlawful assembly and failure to disperse. Many innocent people were swept up in the actions. When they got to jail, they were informed that bail was set at between $4,200 and $5,200 for each arrestee. Needles to say, many of the 24 people taken to jail did not have the money to pay the bond, so they stayed in jail until the hearings on Sunday afternoon.
Those arrested included three or more journalists, including two from a Russian news service. When they got out, they had a lot to tell the Russians about freedom of the press and speech and assembly in the United States, from the perspective of one arrested for trying to exercise those rights. The article and YouTube postings are:
http://cpj.org/2010/11/journalists-arrested-at-school-of-the-americas-pro.php#more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_6wYSx2e_E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKU-on3sUTg
Another interesting development took place among those who decided to walk out into the street with their banners, disrupting traffic in acts of civil disobedience. There were 12 people who went into the street and were arrested. But there were only seven when they got to the jail. In fact, one of the undercover police officers actually testified at the trials on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, the arrested people appeared in Recorder's Court before Judge Michael Cielinski, who proceeded to hear the evidence and find everyone guilty. He even found guilty a local barber, who had done nothing more than step out of his shop to take a picture of some puppetistas on stilts. In fairness, we had been warned that this judge would find everyone guilty. During the proceedings we had negotiated penalties with the local police chief (yeah, I know it's strange that there was no public prosecutor, and the Judge and the police chief pretty much ran everything). We had negotiated fines of $100 -$500, and all the State charges were to be sent to State Court upon $1,000 bonds. Then the judge found everyone guilty and assessed fines and bonds as previously agreed. The fines and bonds were significantly lower than the bail amounts previously assessed.
I want to take note of something especially heartwarming and moving. During the time the people were in jail, others stepped forward and gave money to help bail the people out or pay their fines. Additionally, some of the people offered to put fines and bail on their own personal credit cards. As a result of the generosity of these people and others, SOA Watch raised more than $19,000, which was sufficient to pay the fines, bond out the people and pay appeal bonds for those contesting their City convictions. Everyone (except one Federal defendant, who chose to stay in jail) is now free.
We do not really know what will happen next. Everything is in flux, but we may expect to eventually go to trial on the Federal trespass charges, and possibly to trial on the State and City charges as well. At this writing I expect to take many more trips to Columbus before it is all over.
In closing, I ask for your thoughts and prayers for these people who were caught up, many involuntarily, in the system and have learned first-hand the price of exercising the freedoms that all of us possess.
Frank Schneider
For those of you interested in my Human Rights activities, I spent this past weekend at Columbus, Georgia, attending the School of the Americas Annual Protest, both as a witness and observer, and also as a lawyer for the demonstrators.
This is the 21st Annual demonstration. As in the past, many people of faith and conscience gathered at the gates of Ft. Benning to call for the end to the notorious School of the Americas (SOA), now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). This year there were fewer demonstrators, probably between 4-5,000 people in all. Four people were arrested for illegal entry onto Ft. Benning property to protest the continued existence of SOA/WHINSEC. They have been arraigned and will expect trial during the next 45 - 90 days, with a likely sentence of up to six months in jail and up to a $5,000 fine. The protesters knew in advance of the possible penalties and voluntarily undertook their civil disobedience as an act of faith and conscience.
The more interesting events took place outside the formal demonstration area. Last year the "Puppetistas" (people who hold parts of huge puppets) marched outside the permitted zone, then returned with no incident. This year, when they marched out, they were arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Also, the people who went out with the puppetistas were themselves arrested if they stopped to watch what was going on. The charges were unlawful assembly and failure to disperse. Many innocent people were swept up in the actions. When they got to jail, they were informed that bail was set at between $4,200 and $5,200 for each arrestee. Needles to say, many of the 24 people taken to jail did not have the money to pay the bond, so they stayed in jail until the hearings on Sunday afternoon.
Those arrested included three or more journalists, including two from a Russian news service. When they got out, they had a lot to tell the Russians about freedom of the press and speech and assembly in the United States, from the perspective of one arrested for trying to exercise those rights. The article and YouTube postings are:
http://cpj.org/2010/11/journalists-arrested-at-school-of-the-americas-pro.php#more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_6wYSx2e_E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKU-on3sUTg
Another interesting development took place among those who decided to walk out into the street with their banners, disrupting traffic in acts of civil disobedience. There were 12 people who went into the street and were arrested. But there were only seven when they got to the jail. In fact, one of the undercover police officers actually testified at the trials on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, the arrested people appeared in Recorder's Court before Judge Michael Cielinski, who proceeded to hear the evidence and find everyone guilty. He even found guilty a local barber, who had done nothing more than step out of his shop to take a picture of some puppetistas on stilts. In fairness, we had been warned that this judge would find everyone guilty. During the proceedings we had negotiated penalties with the local police chief (yeah, I know it's strange that there was no public prosecutor, and the Judge and the police chief pretty much ran everything). We had negotiated fines of $100 -$500, and all the State charges were to be sent to State Court upon $1,000 bonds. Then the judge found everyone guilty and assessed fines and bonds as previously agreed. The fines and bonds were significantly lower than the bail amounts previously assessed.
I want to take note of something especially heartwarming and moving. During the time the people were in jail, others stepped forward and gave money to help bail the people out or pay their fines. Additionally, some of the people offered to put fines and bail on their own personal credit cards. As a result of the generosity of these people and others, SOA Watch raised more than $19,000, which was sufficient to pay the fines, bond out the people and pay appeal bonds for those contesting their City convictions. Everyone (except one Federal defendant, who chose to stay in jail) is now free.
We do not really know what will happen next. Everything is in flux, but we may expect to eventually go to trial on the Federal trespass charges, and possibly to trial on the State and City charges as well. At this writing I expect to take many more trips to Columbus before it is all over.
In closing, I ask for your thoughts and prayers for these people who were caught up, many involuntarily, in the system and have learned first-hand the price of exercising the freedoms that all of us possess.
Frank Schneider
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Islamic Center
I now join the conversation that is abuzz about the construction of an Islamic Center on 45 Park Place, New York City. The conversation around its building near (4 to 5 blocks) from where the World Trade Center towers stood reveals a much deeper conversation than the building of the Islamic Center. It exposes the use of political propaganda designed to produce the intense polarities within our political world with the goal of grinding this country’s political process to a halt, stalling any legislation that could bring relief to the suffering that comes with our weakened economy, and shaming the “other” side.
Those politicians who passionately oppose the Center are flaming the fires of hate and resentment that resides within the hearts of many people. While the conversation is about the Community Center at a deeper level, it is about the misconceptions we have as a culture about the Islamic religion as a whole. It is about the fear that lives within the hearts of many people that gets directed against people who differ from them. It is about bigotry. It is about political power… Those who oppose the building of the Center would be some of the first who would decry that Supreme Court justices are appointed to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and would challenge justices, not follow their political agendas in interpreting the law of the land. The Constitution is pretty clear about the right of Americans to freely practice their religion and that discrimination based upon religion is prohibited under the Constitution. If the Community Center is prohibited from developing in this location because it is too close to where the World Trade Centers stood, how far away is far enough? Will Manhattan be entirely off limits, or Brooklyn, or New Jersey, or Illinois or Alaska? Where does it stop?
Those politicians who passionately oppose the Center are flaming the fires of hate and resentment that resides within the hearts of many people. While the conversation is about the Community Center at a deeper level, it is about the misconceptions we have as a culture about the Islamic religion as a whole. It is about the fear that lives within the hearts of many people that gets directed against people who differ from them. It is about bigotry. It is about political power… Those who oppose the building of the Center would be some of the first who would decry that Supreme Court justices are appointed to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and would challenge justices, not follow their political agendas in interpreting the law of the land. The Constitution is pretty clear about the right of Americans to freely practice their religion and that discrimination based upon religion is prohibited under the Constitution. If the Community Center is prohibited from developing in this location because it is too close to where the World Trade Centers stood, how far away is far enough? Will Manhattan be entirely off limits, or Brooklyn, or New Jersey, or Illinois or Alaska? Where does it stop?
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Pride Parade
Another wonderful Pride Parade. Throughout the route, voices were cheering our presence in the parade. The parade is always a hopeful time for me when I see 75 people marching to represent welcoming and affirming congregations; there is power in their demonstration to the all embracing love of God.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Annual Fundraiser
Thanks to everyone who contributed, worked and supported our fundraiser efforts during the Old Town Art Fair. I am always amazed at the energy and commitment of this congregation. We had over 55 volunteers, volunteering over 500 hours. AMAZING. Because of the weather and visible lower attendance, our fundraising efforts not up to previous years, but with rough numbers at this point it looks like our net income will be around $5,000. These funds are still a great support for our budget through our summer months.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
El Salvador
Hi, All:
For those of you interested in my Human Rights travels, I went to El Salvador March 19-27 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero on March 24, 1980.
A year ago Salvadorans elected Mauricio Funes, a member of FMLN (the former guerillas), as President. That election has made a
considerable difference in official attitudes in that country.
President Funes officially apologized on behalf of the government for the violence against the people. He declared March 24th a National holiday. He dedicated a special mural, "Homage to Monseñor Oscar Arnolfo Romero," by Rafael Varela, at the San Salvador airport on the anniversary. He is moving to take civilian control over police and the military (aware of the possibility of a Honduras-type coup if he moves too fast). Things are looking better.
Despite that, there are still major problems in El Salvador. Crime is still rampant (the Chargé at the U.S. Embassy, with whom we met, said there is no safe place in El Salvador). The latest wrinkle is private extortion, where petty criminals threaten to harm members of a person's family unless regular payments are made. Because of impunity (less than 5% of all crimes are even prosecuted), people have essentially only the choices of paying or moving, and many people cannot move all their family members.
A second problem is the continuing contentions of conservatives that Romero was a Marxist Communist who threatened to turn El Salvador into another Cuba or Venezuela. In Cinquera in the North, where the guerillas were active, a new conservative Priest insulted people at Good Friday processions last year by calling the banners containing photos and statements of Archbishop Romero "garbage." He subsequently closed the Church. On December 23, the local Bishop (who is also conservative) came to "purify" the Church. He ordered a group of nuns who had accompanied him to literally tear the photos of victims of the violence from the Church walls and burn them, which they did. The Bishop then excommunicated the congregation and again closed the Church. At a later date, the Priest showed up with 140 people from other communities to tear down the Church. Church members put their bodies in front of the Church ("If you want to put that pickaxe into the Church, you will have to put it through me first," said one woman), and after hearing from community members, the others left without harming the Church.
Even though the Bishop has now been replaced, the Catholics of Cinquera are still unable to attend and worship at the Church in their own community.
The theme of the delegation was "Romero vive! (Romero lives). In El Salvador, I witnessed that in the people.
Frank Schneider
For those of you interested in my Human Rights travels, I went to El Salvador March 19-27 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero on March 24, 1980.
A year ago Salvadorans elected Mauricio Funes, a member of FMLN (the former guerillas), as President. That election has made a
considerable difference in official attitudes in that country.
President Funes officially apologized on behalf of the government for the violence against the people. He declared March 24th a National holiday. He dedicated a special mural, "Homage to Monseñor Oscar Arnolfo Romero," by Rafael Varela, at the San Salvador airport on the anniversary. He is moving to take civilian control over police and the military (aware of the possibility of a Honduras-type coup if he moves too fast). Things are looking better.
Despite that, there are still major problems in El Salvador. Crime is still rampant (the Chargé at the U.S. Embassy, with whom we met, said there is no safe place in El Salvador). The latest wrinkle is private extortion, where petty criminals threaten to harm members of a person's family unless regular payments are made. Because of impunity (less than 5% of all crimes are even prosecuted), people have essentially only the choices of paying or moving, and many people cannot move all their family members.
A second problem is the continuing contentions of conservatives that Romero was a Marxist Communist who threatened to turn El Salvador into another Cuba or Venezuela. In Cinquera in the North, where the guerillas were active, a new conservative Priest insulted people at Good Friday processions last year by calling the banners containing photos and statements of Archbishop Romero "garbage." He subsequently closed the Church. On December 23, the local Bishop (who is also conservative) came to "purify" the Church. He ordered a group of nuns who had accompanied him to literally tear the photos of victims of the violence from the Church walls and burn them, which they did. The Bishop then excommunicated the congregation and again closed the Church. At a later date, the Priest showed up with 140 people from other communities to tear down the Church. Church members put their bodies in front of the Church ("If you want to put that pickaxe into the Church, you will have to put it through me first," said one woman), and after hearing from community members, the others left without harming the Church.
Even though the Bishop has now been replaced, the Catholics of Cinquera are still unable to attend and worship at the Church in their own community.
The theme of the delegation was "Romero vive! (Romero lives). In El Salvador, I witnessed that in the people.
Frank Schneider
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