intersections

My take on The Good News

My friend, JR Woodward, who is the pastor of Kairos Los Angeles and lives just down the road from me in Hollywood, has an incredible blog called Dream Awakener, which if you haven't seen it, you really need to check out. During the season of Easter he's asked 50 different writer to contribute a 300-500 word piece about the "good news" written for their local newspaper.

Here's how I start my piece off. You can see the list of all the contributors here (some pretty prestigious people) with links to their pieces.

My friends John and Aileen serve breakfast to about 150 hungry people on a relatively quiet sidewalk in Hollywood. They do this every weekday. They naturally have help from friends in the neighborhood. The only way you can distinguish the volunteers from those being “helped” is by the rubber gloves worn by the volunteers. I, too, look like I’ve just rolled out of bed. Some of those in line look more prepared for a job interview than I do. That’s probably where a couple of them are headed next after they finished their turkey sandwich, fresh strawberries and yogurt.

To me, John and Aileen embody the good news.

Read the whole thing here.

Join the fight for affordable housing in LA

Los Angeles Families Phone City Council Urging Passage of a Mixed-Income Housing Ordinance By June!

Housing Advocates establish a hotline this week to urge city council to take decisive action on the Los Angeles Housing Crisis and pass a mixed-income housing ordinance by June. This ordinance would ensure that in every new development in the city would include units affordable to working families.

To learn more and download a Press Release, click here.

Pray for Baha'i Prisoners of Conscience

On Wednesday night I had the privilege of representing the Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the Interreligious Council (IRC), along with 4 other IRC members at a special prayer gathering at the Los Angeles Baha'i Center. The purpose of this gathering was to raise awareness about and pray for the seven leaders of the Baha'i Faith in Iran (pictured above). These individuals have been held in prison for 9 months without being charged and without access to legal council. Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Laureate, is serving as legal council for the accused but she has not been allow access to her clients.

Just last week they were finally charged with "espionage for Israel, insulting sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic republic." The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom stated in their February 13 report, "The accusation of "spying" against these five men and two women is contrived, and has been used as a pretext to persecute Baha'is for more than three quarters of a century."

In my brief comments to the large crowd that assembled at the Los Angeles Baha'i Center I read an excerpt from an Official Statement of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists entitled, "Religious Minorities and Religious Freedom: A Statement of Commitment and Concern"

Throughout history religious minorities have often been subject to discrimination and outright persecution. Today religious intolerance and prejudice are again on the rise. Notwithstanding the affirmation of the freedom of everyone to hold and disseminate religious views and to change one's religion--an affirmation sustained in the United Nations instruments and documents comprising an "International Bill of Rights"--many countries deny this right to their citizens....

In support of Article 18 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments, and in harmony with its beliefs and its history, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is fully committed to promote, defend, and protect religious freedom for everyone, everywhere. To that end, we will continue to cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Commission and other international agencies and religious organizations to encourage every nation to implement the fundamental right of religious freedom. In addition, we will continue to promote dialogue and better understanding between governmental authorities and people who belong to religious minorities.

I was proud to stand with my colleague, Randy Dobbs, in support of his community at this time of crisis and to know that my religious community, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has a rich tradition of religious liberty. After the jump you can read an incredible Baha'i prayer that was read at the service.

Please consider taking some action on behalf of these Baha'i in Iran who are being held unjustly and face execution if convicted.

Click here to learn how you can help and please spread the word!

Come to Los Angeles for re-church, stay for the West Coast Worship Conference

March is shaping up to be a busy month!

As you must know by now, re-church and the Hollywood Adventist Church is hosting a gathering called Beyond Evandalism. Get all the juice here.

But if you plan it right, you can hang out in Southern California a bit longer and take in the West Coast Worship Conference (WCWC), March 5-7 in Simi Valley, California.

I'm excited to be working with my friend and fellow staff member at the Purple Church, Scott Arany, to do a workshop for the WCWC. Here's our workshop description.

So much of the debate around worship degenerates into a battle over consumer preferences (electric guitars vs. organs, hymns vs. praise choruses). Churches compete to hold the attention of an often dwindling audience such that stylistic considerations and excellence of performance too often dominates the worship conversation.

This workshop will look at the theology of worship in a missional framework with an eye to overcoming surface level debates over style and form to the more important question of the formation of a worshipping community as a place where God would be pleased to dwell. We will share how seasonal rhythms of the church year, scripture, prayer, art, music and sacrament have begun to form a missional imagination at the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church in which our life in God invites us to be the healing presence of Christ in the world and our life in the world drives us back to our life in God.

Aren't you just dying to attend after reading that?

Calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Southern Israel

I have been privileged to be a part of the Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative for the past year or so. Recently the group met to discuss our response to the violence that is destroying the lives of thousands of people in Southern Israel and the Gaza Strip. These are difficult conversations. Imagine religious leaders from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities in the Los Angeles area talking face-to-face about this. The conversation got intense at times, but was always repectful because of the relationships that have been forged over the years. We are not playing at the edges of interfaith conversation. This is really work!

Below is a portion of the statement we drafted that was released at a press conference this morning. I am honored to be a signor.

“We have inherited a big house, a great ‘world house’ in which we have to live together - black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu, a family unduly separated in ideas, culture, and interests who, because we can never again live without each other, must learn, somehow, in this one big world, to live with each other.

– Martin Luther King, Jr., Nobel Peace Prize Lecture 1964

As Christians, Jews, and Muslims, heirs to the great legacy of Abraham, we affirm that all human beings are created in the image of God. We do not discriminate when violence is directed against innocents or when rage, fear and recrimination disturb the quiet of our streets.

As a multireligious community concerned about the security of Israel and the Palestinians, we join with those who seek not only an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire but also a commitment to find new avenues of reconciliation rooted in our shared values of healing, justice, and mercy.

Let us be clear about our immediate priority: the dire human suffering in Gaza and southern Israel must be brought to a swift end.

Read the whole thing here.

Hotel Californian sign

I've been wanting to photograph these old signs for ages. Everytime I turn on Riverside Drive to take the I-5 South, I see them and comment to Elysabeth, "I've gotta come down here and shoot these signs." So, I finally did. There's a chain link fence around them which makes it impossible to get all the shots I wanted.

The lighting wasn't perfect. It was late afternoon, which I initially thought would be good, but because of the position of the signs relative to the sun, I think the early morning sun might be better. I'm going to try again.

I did a little research on where this hotel might have been. I found one Hotel Californian in Fresno and one in San Francisco. I wonder who these signs belong to. They seem to be on LA City land with a nice fence around them. Does the city own them? If so, why? Anyway, they're very cool. I love this era of signage. There are literally dozens of this type of sign on buildings in Hollywood. Hopefully I can shoot some of them too, one day. In fact, I have a little fantasy about the Hollywood Church. I'd love to replace our ugly sign on the freeway with one of these that stands up from the roof.

You can picture it can't you? Oh yea!

More pictures of the Hotel Californian signs here.

After the earthquake

UPDATE: Here's the definitive emergency preparedness document from the LA Fire Dept. You should download and read it carefully. Then get prepared. You never know.

At 11:42 AM today, an earthquake hit the Los Angeles region. I'm sure anyone reading this knows that by now. My staff and I were all at the church and we were actually gathering a small group to walk to the Metro Red Line to head to City Hall for a committee meeting regarding affordable housing. The small quake (officially 5.4) rattled a few books and other things off my shelves, which aren't anchored down.

I was sitting at my desk when the rumbling started and I thought to myself, "Hmmm, an earthquake." But I kept working for about 2 seconds until there was a big punch. I can't imagine how quick I jumped out of my chair and ran for the door. Our staff was tripping over each other on the way out.

For a few seconds we wondered whether we should ride the Metro ("maybe there will be aftershocks") but I remembered hearing that the Metro tunnels are some of the safest places in Los Angeles during an earthquake.

For a while now we've been hearing that Los Angeles is due for a "big one." Today wasn't it. Many say we dodged a bullet. As a kid growing up in Southern California I've endured many an earthquake. I was on the third floor of Granger Hall at Pacific Union College for the 1989 earthquake that rocked San Francisco and safely in the Sacramento area for the Northridge earthquake of 1994. This is the first one since I moved back three years ago. It has made me realize that I'm really being stupid by not being more prepared. So I'm pledging to take this summer and make sure my family and I are prepared. This is a wake up call.

Interreligious Council of Southern California

Click image to enlarge
Yesterday I met with the Inter-religious Council of Southern California (IRC) (sorry no website yet - it's coming soon). The picture above is a good representation of our council. We are Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Baha'i, Sikh, Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Quaker and Protestant denominations of all kinds.

The occasion of the photo is the signing of our Bylaws. The IRC has been in existence for a long time but we're just now getting our official status sorted out. I've only been a part of the IRC for the past six months. I officially represent the Southern California Conference, along with Betty Cooney, the Conference Communications Director. In fact, at the meeting yesterday I was elected to be the Treasurer for the group for the next 12 months. I'm honored to serve.

Next Thursday, June 12, at the Hollywood Adventist Church, we will be having our Annual IRC Service Project. This year we have been collecting items which will be assembled on June 12 into hygiene kits and other important items to be distributed through three agencies to survivors of Domestic Violence.

CLICK HERE to download a flyer with all the details about the event.

The three agencies we are supporting are:

• Jenesse Center
• The Center for the Pacific Asian Family
• Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles

If you're in the area, please come out to the Hollywood Adventist Church from 5-9 pm. If you want to make a donation, please contact me or download the flyer and see what items we need to have donated.

Memorial Day peace service

On Memorial Day (May 26th) I'll be participating on the chancel in a prayer service at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, convened by the Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative. If you're in the LA area I hope you can join us. All the details are in the press release below...

******************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Franci Levine-Grater, Coordinator
Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative
francilg@myway.com
(626) 683-9400

Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative To Convene Memorial Day Interfaith Prayer Service
To Be Filmed and Broadcast Throughout the Middle East

Los Angeles, CA – April 29, 2008 – The Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative (AFPI) will convene an interfaith prayer service on Monday, May 26, 2008 at 11:00 a.m., Memorial Day, at All Saints Church located at 132 Euclid Avenue in Pasadena, California.  The prayer service, which will be filmed and repeatedly broadcast via satellite throughout the Middle East thanks to the generous donation of a supporter, is intended to illustrate to the people of the Middle East that Christian, Jewish and Muslim Americans are working for peace and understanding between nations and faiths.  The event also provides an opportunity for people from throughout Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley to join together with like-minded worshippers in the pursuit of peace on a day that commemorates the tragic losses of war.

“Not all Americans support the current war in Iraq; not all Americans support war in general.  We want the people living in the Middle East to be exposed to an alternate point of view – Christian, Jewish and Muslim-Americans of faith are working hard for peace.  Many of us believe that our faith demands we seek peace and justice for one another, and we are striving, together, to make our voices heard and to assert that peacemaking – as a concept and an action – is absolutely central to Islam, Judaism and Christianity,” says Rev. Dr. George Regas, long-time peace activist and co-founder of AFPI, Rector Emeritus of All Saints Church and Executive Director of the Regas Institute.

Downtown Art Walk

The second Thursday of every month in Los Angeles is the Downtown Art Walk. It officially runs from noon to 9:00 pm, but my sense is that it doesn't really get started until after dark.

Yesterday was my first experience of the Art Walk and I didn't get to do much, but I did stop by the Crewest Gallery where there were a couple dozen graffiti artists painting on boards and canvases. Photos after the jump.