Christian Responsibility

I just read an article on CNN about crucifixes. It appears that many religious shops in the US are selling, unawares, crucifixes made in sweat shops in China.

The owner of Singer Co., a religious goods store stated, "Whether they came out of a sweatshop, we do not know...We asked Full Start to sign off that there are no sweatshop conditions involved, and no children and that they abide by Chinese law. This is a black eye for us."

CNN quotes Bill Anderson, president and chief executive of the Christian trade association, as saying: "While we occasionally hear this issue raised, and believe there are factories in China where human rights are violated, we believe claims that products sold through CBA member stores are made in these shops are irresponsible and unfounded."

I am assuming the very best about Christian bookstores and religious goods organizations; that they would never knowingly purchase and sell goods made in sweat shops that prey on women and children. But, I also think the responses given in this article are appalling.

Just recently, Gap ran into a nasty situation in which one of their subcontractors used child labor to make dress shirts for their baby gap stores. I'm not saying I'm fond of Gap's overall policy, but at least they took the information seriously and did something about it.

I would think that as Christians, purchasing a representation of God's sacrifice for humanity, that there would be an added responsibility to be aware of where the items come from and do something about it if you found out it was different than originally thought. What a horrible possibility that a crucifix would be made in a sweat shop. It seems ignorant to respond by saying that they know it happens in China, but that the reports for their products must be unfounded. It's also naive to fall back on the fact that the contractor was asked not to use sweat shops. When something is contracted clear across the world in an area known for corruption, it just makes sense that it might impact your merchandise.

I think we have a tremendous responsibility. In reading the response of these individuals to the allegations, I'm challenged in my own response. I often turn a blind eye. I justify my decisions based on my own convenience rather than allowing myself to feel the full consequences for whoever is at the other end of my purchasing choices. I'm not going to change overnight, but I will acknowledge that the situation is real and I need to take action.

The Insightful 3-year Old

Today my daughter picked up a journal (Priscilla Papers) from Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE). The picture on the front was of a group of five people praying. The camera was angled from the ground to look up at their faces.

My daughter saw the picture and laughed, saying, "Mommy, why are they all sleeping together?" I responded saying that they weren't sleeping, they were praying. She then pointed out one of the men in the picture and asked why that man was sleeping. Then, she laughed again, saying, "He's not sleeping, he's praying, Mommy." I asked her what she thought they were praying about.

She replied, "He's praying for all the girls."

Profound.

The Lord Came Near

This has been a week where I felt the Lord came near. I did not feel God's presence in an emotional way, but a very practical way.

Wednesday was the epitome of the week. Besides it being my husbands birthday, my brother was scheduled to defend his thesis, a moment long anticipated.

While getting ready to head out the door in the morning, I received a call I've been waiting on for five and a half long months. It was at that point that one of my closest friends packed up herself and her family to take her husband down to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. They had been told that the chances of receiving a life-saving liver transplant for her husband here in Colorado was unlikely do some particulars in his disease that are different than most liver diseases and therefore not factored in to transplant priorities. At the time they moved, the average liver wait was 4-6 weeks. They assumed it would be a 2-3 month time period and then they would all move back to Colorado.

Needless to say, it didn't happen that way. Instead, they have had a difficult path to walk, including the complete removal of Roald's colon due to a high likelihood of the development of cancer. It began to feel as if this moment would never arrive. They received a call that there was a potential liver at 7:30 Wednesday morning. Roald was put through all necessary pre-op procedures, but it wasn't until 7:30 that evening that they showed up in his hospital room with the wheelchair and the news that this was it.

Roald came through surgery very well and seems to be recovering even faster than the doctors originally anticipated.

My brother passed the defense with just a few changes to make before the final.

My husband successfully marked off another year on the calendar.

I am blessed by God's continued presence.

Redemption of the Whore

OK...I couldn't help the title. You think my words are strong, try the book of Jeremiah.

I have to admit as I first started digging into Jeremiah, I struggled. There's some strong language used in regard to the people of Israel. For instance, in Jer. 2:23-25, God says,

...See how you behaved in the valley;
consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-calmel
running here and there,
a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,
sniffing the wind in her craving -
in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire
themselves;
at mating time they will find her.

I laughed when I read this. God sure didn't mince words in this description of Israel's unfaithfulness. I also struggled when I read this. I have a hard time accepting God's anger. Although as I think about it, I can understand God's anger, but trying to reconciling the love and anger together gets me.

Yet, throughout Jeremiah, it is evident that there is this ongoing dialog of God's anger and love. In fact, almost in response to the graphic language in the above reference, chapter 31 has corresponding voice of redemption:

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:

I have loved you with an everlasting
love;
I have drawn you with unfailing
kindness.
I will build you up again,
and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.
Again you will take up your timbrels
and go out to dance with the joyful...

Wow. When this verse is considered in comparison with the verse above, you cannot help but see a message of restoration. In our world that loads an extra "sin factor" on sexual sin, I find it quite amazing that God has restored the "she-camel in heat" to a virgin. This is obviously a biblical theme. Hosea is a great example of that. God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. The relationship between Hosea and his wife was used to provide a mirror as to God's relationship with the children of Israel. It seems that God is pretty interested in communicating that despite the most intimate form of adultery, despite the prostituting of God's people to other gods, this God of love restores and restores with purity.

I still don't really understand the interplay of God's anger and mercy. But in these stories, I do find this intense desire for restoration on God's part. I may not understand, but I find that I can trust.

Working "Upstream" and becoming a Feminist

I found the following quote in the quarterly newsletter from the local women's shelter.

One day a woman was walking along a river and was astonished to see many women struggling in the water. She saw some people pulling the drowning women out of the river. The woman thought for moment, then she ran upstream to find out why the women were falling in the water in the first place and to do something about it." - Source Unknown

I've run into a couple blog conversations latelely, one at CBE and the other at Amateur Theology, that end up addressing, at some level, what those "upstream issues" might be.

The CBE discussion centers around a law passed last year in Spain mandating that crosswalk signs equally balance pictures of men and women. The discussion tended toward how they were to characterize the woman sign (wearing a skirt and hair up in a pony-tail). The question also came up as to the many other worthy efforts towards equality this money could have been used towards.

At Amateur Theology, a discussion on feminism garnered a comment about going too far by some in signing a card "from women and men of such and such." Geoff gave a terrific reply that addressed just what the quote above is referring to.

As I read the newsletter from the Women's Crisis and Family Outreach Center, I couldn't help but ask what can we do to change the upstream issues. Are changing street signs that important? Maybe. Is it important to sometimes change up what might be a common idiom to be purposeful in raising awareness of equality? Quite possibly. I think both of these efforts are a good start to challenging culture to change assumptions. Will either of these, by themselves, stop some of the downstream issues such as rape and abuse? Unfortunately, not anytime soon.

So, what else can we do to change ingrained stereotypes? How do we challenge a status quo in which we have accepted a certain way of viewing women and men? I have recently heard people say that they support equality for women, but turn around and say something like "But, I wouldn't want a woman as a senior pastor because she'd be much too emotional when it came to 'that time of the month.'" Or, state that a women cannot speak as well publicly because women's voices are too grating. Or, if a girl dresses a certain way, she deserves to be raped. The first two comments are concerning. The last is appalling. All these comments are from educated, caring people..and yet what they claim to support is still not implemented in practice. That these ideas are reflective of our Christian community, as well as systems within our culture, makes me incredibly sad.

I wish I had a comprehensive answer for my questions. I don't. I do know that I choose to be a person that promotes change. I've silently called myself a feminist for quite a while. For me, acknowledging this description publicly allows me to challenge the status quo. In explaining myself to others, I challenge stereotypes and assumptions. It is simply my attempt to give a voice to upstream assumptions so critical to changing reality for both men and women, made in the image of our Creator God.

How about you? What are the upstream issues that concern you and what are you doing about it? I'd love to know.

Celebration of Love

Today my husband and I celebrate nine years of marriage. To be quite honest, the last year has had some significant bumps in the midst of good times. The eight years before had their own issues as well. We are coming to understand each other as we are rather than the person we would like the other to be.

I've been reflecting on what it means to love in the context of marriage. While reading a book, Exiles, I came across a quote by Madeleine L'Engle that seems to describe love as I have come to understand it.

My love for my husband and his for me is in that unknown, underwater area of ourselves where our separations become something new and strange, merge and penetrate like the drops of water in the sea. But we do not lose our solitudes, our our particularity, and we become more than we could alone.

This is mystery. I cannot explain it. But I have learned that it makes up for our clashes, our differences in temperament, our angers, our withdrawals, our failures to understand.

No long-term marriage is made easily, and there have been times when I've been so angry or so hurt that I thought my love would never recover. And then, in the midst of near despair, something has happened beneath the surface. A bright little flashing of hope has flicked silver fins and the water is bright and suddenly I am returned to a state of love again-till next time.

I've learned that there will always be a next time, and that I will submerge in darkness, but that I won't stay submerged. And each time something has been learned under the waters; something has been gained; and a new kind of love has grown. The best I can ask for is that this love, which has been built on countless failures, will continue to grow. I can say no more than that this is mystery, and gift, and that somehow or other, through grace, our failures can be redeemed and be blessed.

Today we celebrate the blessing that comes with nine years of joys and failures, of fulfillment and disappointment, of unity and of seemingly uncompromising division. We celebrate the bravery in continuing to travel together. In that place we find the mystery, we find love, we find each other.

Happy Anniversary, Eddie. I love you.

UnChristian Meme

I've been tagged by Happy on a new meme going around. (You can find out more about meme's in general and this on in particular at her site).

This meme is based on a book unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why It Matters.

The tasks for the meme are to note three negative stereotypes of Christians and then one thing for which Christians should be known for.

Negative Stereotypes

Christians don't care for the poor. (Notice I didn't say that they don't "think about"). I have found that Christians are better at talking about and giving money to the poor or those we consider in need in any variety of ways much more than we are willing to get involved in actual lives and care for these same people. I say "we" because I find a fair amount of fault in myself on this one.

Christians are not willing to engage in thoughtful intellectual discussion. I find this one especially the case in "hot topic" areas. It is much easier to slam the door on the discussion than to engage and think and reason through. My thought is that this has a lot to do with fear.

Christians' primary concerns are fighting abortion and homosexuality. These are both hot-button areas and as such tend to get a lot of attention from media. I think the perception can easily be these are the issues for Christians.

What Christians should be known for

The bringing about of God's shalom, God's amazing peace and wholeness, to all of creation.

I'm captivated by what shalom means in the Bible and what that should then mean to followers of Christ today. What would life be if we viewed ourselves as God's peace-makers, as creators of wholeness and rightness within our world. Not in the sense of conquering and teaching right ways to others, but in serving?

Now, I tag:

Katie
Brad
Pastor Jim