“Nonviolence is not just an option for peace. It is the only chance for our survival.”—Manash Firaq Bhattacharjee
“The archetype of Apocalypse, which essentially means unveiling, has been activated during wars, pandemics, and other kinds of societal collapse. Apocalypse also is pointing us to the new beginnings that emerge out of those end times; we can look at this as more of a circular pattern.”
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Orphan, Fool, Sovereign, Prophet: Creating New Beginnings in Times of Unraveling – A Self-Study, Online Retreat
What is your felt response to the invitation to acknowledge the possibility of emerging beginnings amid endings on both a micro or macro scale?
“Probably the most important thing we need to know about nonviolence is that it’s not the absence of anything as much as it is a positive force. It is the force of love, though at times it may not feel that way.”—Michael N. Nagler, The Nonviolence Handbook: A Guide for Practical Action
Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, to make widows their spoil and to plunder orphans!
– Isaiah 10:1-2
Voice of the day
Apartheid was legal. The Holocaust was legal. Slavery was legal. Colonialism was legal. Legality is a matter of power, not justice.
– Jose Antonio Vargas, “Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen” (2018)
Prayer of the day
Spirit of understanding, open our eyes to systems of oppression and neglect, so that we can counter their brutal legacies.
“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was Dostoevsky and Dickens who taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive. Only if we face these open wounds in ourselves can we understand them in other people. An artist is sort of an emotional or spiritual historian. His role is to make you realize the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are. He has to tell, because nobody else in the world can tell, what it is like to be alive.”—James Baldwin
So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. ~ The Four Vision Quests of Jesus, p. 141
“There was a reversal of the situation: They had arrived seeing us as their enemies and it ended with a form of cooperation. We weren’t going to help them remove us, but we weren’t going to fight either, we weren’t going to hit them. Once they understood that, they set themselves the goal of not hurting us.”
—Jon Palais, interview Reporterre, (translated from the French by Nadia Mejjati.)
Contemporary American society is the reverse of traditional Native American culture. Whereas Native communities value the group, the dominant society values the individual. In fact, it considers rugged individualism to be a virtue. It looks up to the “self-made” success story. It honors the person who can acquire more than anyone else. It likes heroes who can go it alone and role models who make their own rules. It disparages collective action as a herd mentality and prefers individuals with the right to do as they choose. For millions of people, individuality has evolved into individualism: a cult of personality in which they are the personality. ~ Steven Charleston, We Survived the End of the World: Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope
If we are to be peacemakers, it is essential that we take on what I would like to call a mentality of abundance and put away from us the mentality of scarcity. This sense of scarcity makes us desperate, and we turn to competition, hoarding, and a kind of parody of self-preservation. This greed extends not only to material goods but also to knowledge, friendships, and ideas. We worry that everything we possess is threatened. This is especially true in a society that grows more affluent, experiences more opportunities for hoarding and more fears of losing what has been stored, and in the process creates enemies and war. ~ The Road to Peace
There are many ways of being a peacemaker. We need to experience our own humble task as part of the Body of Christ and encourage others to accept their task. Whatever it is we do, we need to feel sent by the community rather than working as isolated individuals. And we need to pray for one another, for our common life and for our common task. Such intercessory prayer is a basic to Christian community.
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 