intersections

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...

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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.

Envision '08

There is a very exciting conference happening June 8-10 in Princeton, New Jersey called Envision: The Gospel, Politics and the Future. The focus will be Christian Engagement in the Public Square. Not unlike the theme of my post here and the upcoming Adventist Forums Conference (check it out here). Uncanny, huh?

I was going to post on this later, but I just realized that the early bird registration of rate of $99 ends today. It's an amazing deal because tomorrow it goes up to $249. My understanding is that a donor paid down the registration fee for the early registrants.

I wouldn't usually travel across the country for a conference where I'm not speaking, but this seems like something special to me. Also, my dear friend Samir Selmanovic of Faith House Manhattan, is co-presenting with Miroslav Volf on pluralism or something. Actually, I don't even care what they're presenting about. Whatever it is is worth hearing.

I'll say more about this in the future, but right now I'm just wondering if any of you are going to be there. If you are, leave a comment to that effect. I'd like to organize a 'meet up'.

'It is political, obviously!'*

A quick glance at the category cloud on this blog (left column) will reveal that 'politics' and 'religion' are two topics that I write about frequently. Those who know me know that I believe that the deep practice of Christian faith is unavoidably 'political'. But this statement is far from self-evident within the church and society today, whether you're talking about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in particular or the Christian church more generally.

It is easy to throw around glib phrases like "politics and religion don't mix," but what does that really mean. Tony Campolo is credited with saying that mixing politics and religion is like mixing horse manure and ice cream. It doesn't hurt the manure very much but it sure messes up the ice cream. However, Campolo's life in Christian service reveals that he has engaged in many causes that would, by most measures, be considered 'political.'
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*This is one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies, Nacho Libre.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Bill Moyers Journal

Did any of you catch the interview that Bill Moyers had with Rev. Jeremiah Wright on Friday? I didn't see it when it aired, but I saw it online and it was very, very good. For an hour, without commercial interruption, Rev. Wright shared very personally and directly about his life, ministry, Trinity Church and his comments that have become so controversial lately. Bill Moyer probably spoke for about 5 cumulatively on the broadcast.

I have not waded into this controversy on this blog, but I have shared others places. But today I am here to say that if you have been effected by this controversy or have taken a stand on it, you really must watch this interview. He is intelligent and articulate. He is definitely not the whacko that some in the media have tried to make him out to be. I am convinced that this is a man of God!

Watch the interview here (in two parts)

Really involving the church in the community

For two years the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church has been working alongside an amazing community organization called LA Voice. LA Voice is one local affiliate of the PICO National Network.

PICO is a national network of faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities.
With more than 1,000 member institutions representing one million families in 150 cities and 17 states, PICO is one of the largest community-based efforts in the United States. Together we are lifting up a new vision for America that unites people across region, race, class, and religion
From The PICO Network about page.

Our affiliate works very hard on the issues that affect our members. In Hollywood we are particularly focused on the issues of homelessness and affordable housing but around the city our work includes youth violence, citizenship, public safety, health care and education. Our organization is comprised of 25 members congregations across the city. And we are growing. Recent additions to our organizing work includes the largest synagogue in the Western US - Stephen S. Wise Temple.

The video above was created by our church media team to help explain to our own members what LA Voice is and how this work is the work of the gospel in our community. LA Voice is now using this video to help explain their work to other congregations, foundations, and others in the community.

We have been very blessed, as a congregation, to participate in God's work in our community. I would encourage any Adventist congregation to get involved in this vital work by visiting the PICO website and see if there is an affiliate in your town or city.

Cross posted at the Spectrum Blog.

UPDATE: Mireya Pena, the Hollywood Church's leader of our community organizing work, has written a really good post about her perspective on this work. You can read it at our church's community blog - We Are Hollywood.

Constantine's Sword

There's a documentary that I've been very eager to see. It's called Constantine's Sword, based on the book by James Carroll by the same name. There will be much to discuss after seeing this. It's screening in New York City a week from tomorrow. If you're in the Los Angeles area, you have a chance to see it from April  25-May 1 at the Laemmle Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills. Leave a comment below if you want to go. I will definitely be seeing this film sometime during that week. Find more screenings here.

From the website:

CONSTANTINE’S SWORD, by Oscar-nominated documentarian Oren Jacoby, is an astonishing exploration of the dark side of Christianity, following acclaimed author and former priest James Carroll on a journey of remembrance and reckoning. [More]

Why are intolerance, violence and war so deeply ingrained in religion?

Why did the Cross become a rallying symbol for persecution?

How does one man who loves the Church confront its history of crusade and conquest?

Watch the trailer here.

The Daily Kos review of the film.

The Scandal of Jesus

By cartoonist Signe Wilkinson of the Philadelphia Daily News.
Found in the LA Times Opinion section, Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008.

Things I'm thinking on Good Friday

There's a lot on my mind this Good Friday. There are so many things I've been wanting to write about but alas, so little time. So, the following are some things that are converging in my mind and Good Friday seems to provide the fertile soil for just such a convergence.

The cruciformity of our faith. The foundation of our faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus. There is no cross-less Christianity. Try as we might, we simply cannot get around the scandal of the cross. It wasn't that long ago that it occurred to me that the cross of Jesus was not just a means of forgiving my sins - a forensic act that justified me as in a court of law - but a way of life to which Jesus constantly invited his followers and would-be followers. I am frequently reminded of this cruciformity in Hollywood. There are signs of resurrection as well - lots of them, in fact - but that's a different post for a different day. For now I am reflecting on the fact that I am realizing more and more that my role is to follow Jesus - to take up the cross and follow him. That means I go where he wants me to go.

America embraces torture. Even though no one will admit it, the US government, a few weeks ago, official embraced the use of torture as a possible strategy against our enemies. When I read this story in the LA Times I felt like I was going to lose it. I thought to myself, what kind of country do I live in these days? Out of one side of our mouths we say, "We don't torture people!" and then the president vetos the legislation that would rule it out. What's worse is that the House of Representatives can't muster a 2/3 majority to override this veto. You mean to tell me that we don't have 2/3 of our elected representatives in the House who will stand against torture?

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture has been trying to shine a light into this mess. Click here to learn how you can get involved in this faith-based campaign against torture. Especially during this season when we remember how Jesus was tortured and executed by the empire of his day, it is haunting to reflect upon the direction our country is headed on this Good Friday.

5th Anniversary of the Iraq war. - Earlier this week America remembered the 5th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. That this war can continue after it has been discredited at every level is an astounding fact. That it could be a political wedge issue in the current political campaign is equally unfathomable. We have now lost 4,000 American lives in this pointless war, to say nothing of the Iraqi lives. Iraqbodycount.org estimates between 82,000 and nearly 90,000 Iraqi civilian deaths due to war violence. The long term cost of the war is approaching $3 trillion.

Race in America. Who could have missed the burgeoning controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sound bytes and the speech given by Barack Obama. I personally felt that Sen. Obama's speech was an incredible example of handing a difficult issue with grace and directness - moving our country forward together on a issue that has long kept us apart. This was not more political fluff, hand waving, and disingenuous distancing of himself from his lifelong friend.

Very helpful in my own processing of these events, given that I am a white man, were the two blog posts written by my friend Melvin Bray over at God's Politics blog. You can need to read them here: Part 1 and Part 2. On this Good Friday, as we reflect on the suffering of our Lord that was our suffering, it is discouraging for me to reflect on how must suffering still remains in this country and how much blame and name-calling still goes on.

I'd better stop here and hope Sunday comes soon! We need resurrection, people!

The Truth about God and Sciences

My friend and professor at the Loma Linda University School of Religion, Johnny Ramirez-Johnson, is conducting a survey and would like as much input as possible. I took this online survey myself and it only took maybe 15-20 minutes. Would you help him with his research? Please read his message below and then take the survey!

PILOT STUDY "TRUTH ABOUT GOD AND SCIENCES"
Sponsored by the West Coast Religion Teachers Conference of SDA 2008 at Loma Linda University School of Religion.
By taking the survey you are giving consent for the researchers to use the completely anonymous data gathered.

To take the survey click here.

If the above link does not work copy-and-paste the link below to  your web browser.
http://www.surveyshare.com/survey/take/?sid=68087

Friendship Has No Religion

A friend of mine, Christoph Silber, was a script consultant on a film that is just opening in Manhattan this week. It's called Arranged and you can check out the website here. They've already won a variety of festival awards and if it does well in New York it will like be in Los Angeles for limited run.

If you live in New York, please go see this movie and tell us all about it. Check out the trailer below.