Justice and Peace

Justice and Peace- each an end and mean in itself. What do those terms mean in our world today? As I look around, I see very little of either. Thomas Aquinas said, "Peace is the work of justice indirectly, in so far as justice removes the obstacles to peace; but it is the work of charity (love) directly, since charity, according to its very notion, causes peace."

      Just like the Israelites are accused in Isaiah 58 of exploiting the poor and ignoring the hungry and deprived, our generation is so consumed with self gain and distracted by "making the most of life" that people in need are far too often marginalized and ignored. Yes, even those of us who choose to bear the name of Christ are guilty. I have driven by many an earthly brother or sister with a card board sign and looked away on my way to more entertaining ventures. I have spent many of my paychecks investing in my own happiness and comfort without sparing any to the needs of those who don't have a change of clothes or a bed at night. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Without justice, there can be no peace. He who passively accepts evil is as much part of it as he who helps to perpetrate it." I may not be the one passing unjust laws or fighting an unjust war, but my chosen ignorance and silence makes me party to it. I look at all of the things going on in the world and all of the hurt that is being acted out daily, and I feel heartsick and overwhelmed. How can I make a difference? What can I possibly do to counteract all of the injustice in the world? 

     I will make a confession to you now. I started writing this about 2 weeks ago and felt so befuddled by the aforementioned questions that I chose to take a couple of weeks to really think about it and pray over it. I don't want to sound like a pretentious preacher telling you that I've figured it all out and am ready to save the world. However, I do want to share a challenge with you. In my thinking/praying/seeking/reading these past 2 weeks, a recurring theme has emerged. Peace through relationships and community. This idea first came out of a reading of Luke 10 that has actually been shared with me on numerous occasions to the point that I recognized it must mean something, but had yet to understand its application to my life. Jesus sends out 72 followers ahead of him to spread the news about him. He sends them in pairs (in relationship) and instructs them to share their peace upon entering a household. They are told that their peace will sometimes be received and sometimes will return back to them, but their response is to be the same. Their calling in Christ is just to share their peace in community. He also tells them to not move from house to house which I interpret as building a relationship with the person who is offering them hospitality. The instruction is to stay and be in community with the people of the house. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says in his work The Cost of Discipleship, "The followers of Christ have been called to peace. . . . And they must not only have peace but make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. In the cause of Christ nothing is to be gained by such methods . . . . His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce hatred and wrong. In so doing they overcome evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate." Once again the idea of fellowship emerges. By choosing to not be part of injustice and to overcome evil with good we become peace makers.  Naim Ateek, author of A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation, says of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, “The reality of the Israel-Palestine conflict is an injustice that reflects our broken and selfish humanity; it is a reality that has expressed itself historically in the failure of Jews and Palestinians to love each other. This failure has given birth to the conflict and is the source of its continuation.” I feel that the best way to address injustice is to be in relationship with one another in love and together give voice to the suffering we see. 

      This is a fluffy way of saying that peace and justice can start with us and can take root in the world through our communities if our collective is willing to acknowledge the suffering and marginalization of people and do something about it. I will leave it to God to compel and direct the actions of his people, but my challenge to you is to actively start loving the people around you and start talking about the broken society around us. Dietrich Bonhoeffer also said, “For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe.  Peace is the opposite of security.  To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself.  Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes.” Dare to be peace makers in a world driven by war! Dare to be uncomfortable in a world that breeds injustice and corruption! Dare to have a voice in a world that would rather you sit down and shut up! Dare to be part relational in a world consumed by individuality and selfishness! However God speaks to your heart on this, just take the dare. It is time that we as a people stop perpetrating evil through passivity and start being Christ’s light through love and peace! 

Ok. There is my rant for the week. :) 

Peace and love to you all!

~Kate

"God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God." ~Matthew 5:9

A Fearful Tale

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face..." ~Eleanor Roosevelt

Fear...timidity....apprehension...anxiety...unease...trepidation...

I metaphorically walked by a mirror this week and caught sight of myself and realized something kind of scary. I have been living consumed by fear lately! I normally don't consider myself to be a fearful person minus the ever present arachnophobia and ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), but as I reflected on my actions and feelings not only here in Denver but in the past couple of years I realized how fear-driven I've been. I've been afraid of failing or disappointing people. I've been afraid of being along or unaccepted by people. I've been afraid of letting change happen and afraid that it won't. As I thought about it, I realized how many things I haven't done because of fear, how many chances I didn't take. It's the first time I've ever looked back and actually had regrets about something. Mostly I realized that by letting fear drive me, I'm not living into the person God has created me to be. I am one of His chosen people and have the authority of His power and grace. There are a myriad of verses that address fear, but I found the most comfort and challenge in Romans 8:15 where it says, "So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”  I have been in the company of some very bold people, and I so admire the way their assurance is not found in the situation but in a God who is over every situation. My prayer this week is that God will give me boldness and that I will live in courage and strength instead of timidity and fear. 

That's all for now dear ones! God's Peace to you all!

~Kate

Game Changer

Hello again!

     It's time for an update! I am officially in my Denver CW house and ready for the summer. Last night as I sat out on the front porch in the cool night air, I looked around the neighborhood and looked at the city skyline a few blocks away and thought to myself how incredible my God is with the way He is orchestrating everything all the time. There are just some things in your life that you cannot deny must be part of God's plan because they just fit so perfectly, and that is where I am.
     While I was preparing to come, I was nervous and anxious about giving up some of the selfish conveniences I'm used to like running to the store to buy whatever it is I'm impulsively desiring at the moment or doing whatever I feel like doing whenever I feel like doing it. But now that I'm here, and I've met everyone, I'm just excited to be part of this community/family. I've started looking at life and the world in a little different way. I feel almost like a spectator looking at my habits and ways of life from the outside and realizing that so much of what I do and what I strive for is all part of a societal game. My perception of the goal of this game is that I should have a job, make money, spend money on lots of things like new clothes, newer technology, etc. all for the pleasure and success of myself. In order to achieve that I have had to harden my heart to the needs of others and be selectively blind to the brokenness of people so I can focus on my own game. I can't deny that even now part of me still desires those things, but they seem less shiny and more empty from out here.  In Ezekiel 11, God is going to bring His people back from exile and this is what He tells them, "An I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart." I feel the need to get out of this game of self-seeking, not because I think those things are wrong or evil, but because I can't run the race God has asked me to run for Him while I'm carrying all that stuff. I'm still figuring out what this looks like and how the idea will manifest in my life, but I'm excited for the uncomfortable shift.
    God's peace and love to you!

The Nehemiah Effect

Hello World!

     I have finally caved and joined the blogging masses. I don't really think that I have anything incredible to say, but I do believe that I have an incredible God who is doing things in my life that are worth sharing so here I am. Last summer, I sat on my balcony in the sun and wrote in a journal, praying that God would use the summer time to draw me close to Him and reveal something about Himself to me. I told Him I would spend lots of time with Him (which I didn't) and be an active listener (which I wasn't) and put Him first (which must have been code for top of the list after getting a tan and sleeping). Suffice it to say- I failed Him. But God did not fail me. I did not live up to half of what I told Him I'd do and God in His merciful, loving grace STILL chose to draw closer to me and reveal things about Himself to me.
     That's where this walk began. Last July was the first time I interacted with a community that is part of the Catholic Worker movement. The short, insignificant interaction I had with the people in the community was the catalyst for a major perspective shift. Throughout the year, I have been exploring and seeking what it means to be part of a community and how to be more self-sacrificing. I look at my life and I see an overwhelming abundance and simultaneously an outrageous greed. I have always thought of myself as a caring person who has a good heart. But lately I have gotten to know my heart, and there is nothing good about it. My heart lusts after so many selfish things whether it is new clothes, more money, professional success, a better car, or a shiny new MacBook. None of these things are bad necessarily, just totally and completely selfish. I have clothes (more than I need), a secure income, a great job, a car that runs (most of the time) and a computer that has all the essentials. I should be happy right? But no, I get caught up in the endless pursuit of more, more, more.
     Then, I read Nehemiah. There is something in his story that has arrested my heart right now. I have read and re-read it in the last few weeks and still am struck with a new piece every time. First, it was the way he dropped everything in his life to do the work God set before him, to build his wall. Then, it was his persistence in his mission and the way that he offered up every obstacle to God and then got back to work. Lately, it has been his sacrifice. While building the wall and re-establishing the city, Nehemiah didn't take anything for himself but offered up his own provisions for the oppressed and marginalized people in his community. I'm still in the assembly stages of what this means for my life, but the challenge is clear, and I have accepted.
     Thus I am starting this blog, trusting God to give you some kind of story that will be worth reading. I am headed to Denver this summer to be part of a Catholic Worker community there, and can't wait to see how God is going to use that setting in whatever He is up to. Please be praying over me that I will have the heart of Nehemiah as I walk into this next adventure.
Grace and Peace to you all!
~Kate