Nine Months Writing in Mexico

I had the wonderful pleasure of leaving NYC after over 12 years to live in a small apartment a half a block from the Pacific Ocean and work on my book. I wasn't sure how long I would stay but it ended up being a whole nine month school year.

I made wonderful friends in Ensenada, had a good number of trips two hours north to my hometown of San Diego, enjoyed the constant auditory and visual presence of my long lost friend - the Pacific Ocean, and most significantly wrote over 600 pages of my now vast and unorganized and unedited first book -- a new theology of love as told through story -- to be titled, The Trainee. John and Juan, Ovador and Ivonne the major characters in the book are my new constant companions. From 1949 to 2037, from America South to America North, from China to the very outer edges of our expanding universe the story of what love is unfolds...

ps. a new web presence will accompany the book's release - here in the workshop it's the sound of hammers and the flowering bursts of bright sparks from the welders corner...

The Shack in NYC

One of the great things about NYC is the incredibly talented people here in such abundance and the wonderful little serindipitous connections you make.

My good friend had been telling me about the Shack and so I went to Barnes and Nobles to read the first half a few weeks ago, and then got to the second half the other day at a different B&N.

The book really touched me and I started hearing more of the phenomenon it's becoming and I have been really thrilled that so many people are seeing a side of God that hasn't been seen as much, and of the implications it says that people are wonderfully comfortable with the image of God as a black woman, which I think has got to be the best press God has gotten in a long time - and could do much to heal racial injustice - and of course the typical cluelessness of those who have come out against it is just another sign of the bankrupt religious culture we are happily emerging from.

Anyways, so the day after I finish the Shack, I'm at a little internet cafe in El Barrio - Spanish Harlem, my neighborhood, and I meet this great guy, Danny Serrano, around my age that appears to be a writer from what I overhear him saying to someone else and so we start talking and he tells me about his book, Gunmetal Black which is being published by Hachette in September, and the thrill of getting signed to a publisher and all that.

So I tell him a little about myself, that I'm writing a book, and it was cool because I happened to have Pete Rollins two books with me in a package that were just sent to me by his publisher because I'm hosting him here for a conference and some other stuff in November - and so I felt kinda cool like I'm connected to writing and publishing too!

Then he says, "Have you heard about this new book, the Shack"? And I'm, "Yeah, I just finished reading it yesterday". And so he goes on to tell me that last week he was at his publisher's office for the first time for his author's tour, where they take you around show you the place, introduce you to everyone who will be working on your book - and it's a big fancy NYC publisher Hachette right on Park Avenue. And he says that William P. Young the author of the Shack was also there for his publisher's tour, which was a considerably bigger event than Danny's with champagne and such, and so they take him over to meet him.

And here's the deal - inside the publishers very secure building where the public is not allowed, there was a line winding through the office to get a chance to meet William P. Young and have him sign your book - and it was all employees of the publisher! Now you have to understand the wonder of this story - this is hip Park Avenue NYC publishing people - the kind's of people you see in Sex in the City and in cool joints around town - and here's the kicker - he says, "the amazing thing is how many of them, when they got to the front of the line to meet Mr. Young, were compelled to reach over and hug him".

These hip NYC literati had all read his book and been deeply touched by it. My friends... after living in NYC for 12 years and experiencing the very European kind of detached attitude toward religion of this crew of people, and longing to know how to reach them, spending years of my life grappling with how to speak to them of God - this blew my mind. How wonderful.

And so apparently The Shack folks have hooked up with Hachette to expand their audience. Check out my new friend Danny's book - he's not a professed member of Christianity, but a lover of Jesus and feels the story is his way of telling the message of Jesus.

My Angel Hawk

Thought you'd like to see the Hawk that watches over me in Harlem.

I've photographed him flying around before, but this time I looked out my window and there he was perched on my building! I was fumbling to put the battery in my camera and got this shot right before he lifted off.


Here he is a few minutes later flying off back to heaven to update them on my progress.

Mission Bows

This is from a great blog I've been coming to love called, The Work of the People. That phrase is the actual meaning of the word, "liturgy". Isn't that interesting, the liturgy of our worship gatherings is the work of the people, or as I would further embellish - the artwork of the people for communal worship of God. This group in particular creates, "film for sacred spaces". I hope to get to know them over time, a great group of people. Here's a piece from their blog, with their text following it (I think the piece was made by another group, but it illustrates something they're interested in talking about).



¨Concientizacao¨, ¨Concientizacion¨, or ¨Awareness raising¨ is a concept with roots in the pedagogy of Paulo Freire, a revolutionary Brazilian educator who worked to empower the poor and disenfranchised. One of Freire’s learning methods was to use codes (in the form of dramas, pictures, photographs, etc.) to help people reflect critically on their lives, attitudes, patterns, and behaviors.

Although, the Freirian method is mostly used in contexts of oppression among people who are illiterate, the following video satire can be considered such a code for those of us in the context of power, resource, and privilege. It may not seem politically correct to some. And, it may possibly be downright offensive to others. But, if we allow the contents to help us reflect critically on some attitudes, patterns, and behaviors in our own lives, we will learn much.

The scenario presented should raise questions about how we perceive the ¨poor¨ around us, and how our good intentions may be perceived by those receiving our compassionate acts. Our reactions to the images should cause us to wonder if the solutions we propose to the problems of this world seem ludicrous to people in certain contexts. Does it make you wonder how we may possibly be doing harm when we operate from the same frameworks and systems that produced the problems in the first place?

While the video is critical of a pattern of marketing the poor that is more and more prevalent as the sexiness of eradicating poverty increases among religious and popular groups, we should be careful not to project negatively onto many legitimate and innovative programs that are reaching the most vulnerable groups in this broken and hurting world. But, it is good to be reminded that we must always be aware that even our good intentions can be perceived as somewhat of a contradiction when we do not stop to reflect on the way we are doing “good”.
(¨Stop doing wrong and learn to do what is right¨ Isaiah 1 16b -17a).

Incredible

The Yes We Can Song
by will.i.am

I was sitting in my recording studio watching the debates...
Torn between the candidates

I was never really big on politics...
and actually I’m still not big on politics...
but 4 years ago, me and the black eyed peas supported Kerry...
And we supported Kerry with all our might...
We performed and performed and performed for the DNC...
doing all we could do to get the youth involved...

The outcome of the last 2 elections has saddened me...
on how unfair, backwards, upside down, unbalanced, untruthful,
corrupt, and just simply, how wrong the world and "politics" are...

So this year i wanted to get involved and do all i could early...

And i found myself torn...
because this time it’s not that simple...
our choices aren’t as clear as the last elections ...
last time it was so obvious...
Bush and war
vs
no Bush and no war...

But this time it’s not that simple...
and there are a lot of people that are torn just like i am...

So for awhile I put it off and i was going to wait until it was decided for me...

And then came New Hampshire...

And i was captivated...

Inspired...

I reflected on my life...
and the blessings I have...
and the people who fought for me to have these rights and blessings...

and I’m not talking about a "black thing"
I’m talking about a "human thing" me as a "person"
an American...

That speech made me think of Martin Luther King...
Kennedy...
and Lincoln...
and all the others that have fought for what we have today...

what America is "supposed" to be...

freedom...
equality...
and truth...

and thats not what we have today...
we think we are free...
but in reality terror and fear controls our decisions...

this is not the America that our pioneers and leaders fought and
died for...

and then there was New Hampshire

it was that speech...
like many great speeches...
that one moved me...
because words and ideas are powerful...

It made me think...
and realize that today we have "very few" leaders...
maybe none...

but that speech...

it inspired me...
it inspired me to look inside myself and outwards towards the world...
it inspired me to want to change myself to better the world...
and take a "leap" towards change...
and hope that others become inspired to do the same...
change themselves..
change their greed...
change their fears...
and if we "change that"
"then hey"..
we got something right...???...

1 week later after the speech settled in me...
I began making this song...
I came up with the idea to turn his speech into a song...
because that speech effected and touched my inner core like nothing in a very long time...

it spoke to me...

because words and ideas are powerful...

I just wanted to add a melody to those words...
I wanted the inspiration that was bubbling inside me to take over...

so i let it..

I wasn't afraid to stand for something...
to stand for "change"...
I wasn't afraid of "fear"...
it was pure inspiration...

so I called my friends...
and they called their friends...
in a matter of 2 days...
We made the song and video...

Usually this process would take months...
a bunch of record company people figuring out strategies and release dates...
interviews...
all that stuff...
but this time i took it in my own hands...
so i called my friends sarah pantera, mike jurkovac, fred goldring, and jesse dylan to help make it happen...
and they called their friends..
and we did it together in 48 hours...
and instead of putting it in the hands of profit we put it in the hands of inspiration...

then we put it on the net for the world to feel...

When you are truly inspired..
magic happens...
incredible things happen...
love happens..
(and with that combination)

"love, and inspiration"

change happens...

"change for the better"
Inspiration breeds change...

"Positive change"...

no one on this planet is truly experienced to handle the obstacles we face today...
Terror, fear, lies, agendas, politics, money, all the above...
It’s all scary...

Martin Luther King didn't have experience to lead...
Kennedy didn't have experience to lead...
Susan B. Anthony...
Nelson Mandella...
Rosa Parks...
Gandhi...
Anne Frank...
and everyone else who has had a hand in molding the freedoms we have and take for granted today...

no one truly has experience to deal with the world today...

they just need "desire, strength, courage ability, and passion" to change...
and to stand for something even when people say it's not possible...

America would not be here "today" if we didn’t stand and fight for
change "yesterday"...
Everything we have as a "people" is because of the "people" who fought for
change...
and whoever is the President has to realize we have a lot of changing to do

I'm not trying to convince people to see things how i do...
I produced this song to share my new found inspiration and how I've been moved...
I hope this song will make you feel...
love...
and think...
and be inspired just like the speech inspired me...

that’s all...

Thank you for reading and listening...
will.i.am

My oh My, they tell me beards are in....

...well right here on this blog and on my face I've been practicing this lifestyle. In March of 2006 I was on the cutting edge of this trend and finally a wider audience is catching up.

Just look at some of the quotes from this week's Time magazine article:

"I am growing a beard," he explained. "They are sooo in right now."

"Beards are back," says Allan Peterkin, a pogonologist (a.k.a. beard scholar)

Like the rise and fall of women's hemlines, the presence and shape of hair on men's faces has often been a barometer of the national mood.

In the past year, male models have been strutting their scruff on runways, in fashion magazines and in ads for stores like Banana Republic. Brad Pitt walked the red carpet with one at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

"It is an act of rebellion. Men are trying to prove that they are no corporate slave."

For some, it's again a way to set themselves apart at a time when people are unhappy with the country's political and business leadership and uncertain about its economic future. Matthew Turtell, 25, an associate marketing manager at Rodale, says that his on-again, off-again beard helps him feel different from other working stiffs. "Even when I'm in a suit and tie, my beard helps remind me that I'm not conforming," he says.

So that's it, I am in the same mood as the country...Go OBAMA!!!!

Everything Must Change

It's true, it's the name of a book, and the name of a traveling event. Starting in a few weeks, Brian Mclaren and his team will be hitting the road across America to talk about the future. In eleven cities as diverse as New York, New York and Goshen, Indiana...Boise, Idaho and St. Petersburg, Florida a weekend carnival of new ideas and music and art and most importantly new friendships will delight and inspire those gathered.

Since September I've been working behind the scenes to coordinate the involvement of Emergent Village Cohorts across the tour route to join up with the tour when it comes to their region. We've got a host of activities to bring together our various cohorts at the tour to further connect with each other, get some training, have some dialog and of course enjoy all the tour has to offer.

One of the things I've been working on is a three minute video of Emergent Village, with a focus on the cohorts to be shown at all eleven cities. The video is coming together really well, cohorts are sending in footage they've shot on their cellphones and digicams and we've found some great filmmakers in the Bay area to edit it well for us - the whole thing with a budget of zero.

I'll be speaking about the cohorts after the video and we'll have sign-up tables for people who'd like to find a cohort in their city or start a new one, and we'll be able to train them right on the spot that weekend. Working over the last few years with the cohorts, I have seen time and again the hope that people receive in being able to talk about all this new stuff and meet fellow journeyers at the cohorts. A big motivation for my involvement in the emerging church in general and Emergent Village in particular has been my concern for and fascination with watching people make this transition from being terribly discouraged about the church, embarassed or hurt or really badly burned or intellectually offended to discovering hope again by finding that there is a whole group of people who've been there and know how lost the church has become and are humbly and enthusiastically journeying together toward some new thing that is ahead.

I think this tour is going to be a big moment in the history of whatever it is that's happening.

Barack and Hope and Black Despair

I’m writing this on the morning of Jan. 4^th, 2008, the morning following Barack Obama’s exciting win in the first official tally of the 2008 Presidential election, the caucus in Iowa. A few nights ago, I sat in a room of about seven or eight people, and I was the only white person – something I experience quite frequently living in Harlem.

We got to talking about politics and Barack Obama’s candidacy which I always bring up with bombastic statements about my assuredness that he will be our next president. We went back and forth on a number of trains of thought, but the prevailing sentiment in the room, much to my surprise was that though they were all positive about Barack’s ability to be a good President, none thought he had a chance to win.

Even more nakedly revealing was the slow emergence that this was because of deeply held sentiments that plenty of white people were still racist enough that they simply would not vote for a black candidate. They can say all they want in public, “but behind the curtain” they won’t flip the Obama switch. This idea of behind the curtain of the voting booth people act out who they really are and they really are not ready for a black president came up multiple times. Wow, this was deeply instructing to me of the depth of black (and Hispanic) despair and pessimism about the progress of their people in this country.

I feel so deeply for these friends of mine, and the many others they represent, it is so horrible that we (my family, my friends, the overall system we've created) have beat them down so repeatedly that for many the inner hope glows very dim. For many despair is greater than hope.

But I have some perspective on this that is hopeful.

There are sins of commission – you hit someone, you did an act that was bad. But then there are sins of omission – you didn’t help someone you should have, it is the omission of an act that is bad.

Racism in America has changed from a sin of commission to a sin of omission.

In my Grandpa’s day down south, white people were repugnant in their dislike of black people. They wished they were still slaves and the fact that a bunch of people up North had forced them to end slavery and free the black people was an infected little festering burr under their skin. The combination of their bitterness over the civil war and their general disdain for black people caused them to feel physically repugnant to the actual presence of a black person. Short of a decent education and full of such potent feelings it’s easy to imagine how lynchings and the KKK thrived.

But that all ended a long time ago. In the last seventy years or so with the rise of Jazz and the Blues, which lead to rock and roll, the rise of black entertainers, the rise of the black middle class, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, slowly but surely white attitudes have changed toward black people. Anyone 50 years old or younger grew up in an environment where outward racism was socially unacceptable. Of course private simmerings still existed, but social pressure has a big effect over time. Finally, for the last twenty years young white people have grown up listening to rap and hip hop and quite frankly and hopefully, many of them are black wannabes.

Here is the place we have come to; there is still a big divide between blacks and whites, but it is for much different reasons than in the past. Racism today is not the committing of a hatred against another, it is the omission of exerting the energy to get to know the other – which we should be doing. White people are not repulsed by black people, they just don’t know them. There’s a big difference and it’s a very hopeful situation where the potential is amazing with a little push.

And so, of course black people still feel it in all the ways that really hurt, in ways white people just don't notice. Because of the divide, it's easier to hire a white person you're comfortable with. It's not that you don't like black people, it's just you're more comfortable with white people. People want to be comfortable, and they are drawn to others that are like them. What white people need to learn is that in the omission of forcing themselves to cross the divide and be more comfortable around black people, they are causing black people to actually suffer the loss of what could have been. Because white people have power - the power to hire, the power to open doors, the power of relationships to networks of influence, when they prefer the white person they are comfortable with, they directly affect the black person who could have received that benefit but didn't. This happens enough times and it adds up to racism - but not racism by commission, racism by omission. Even though the net effect is the same - the Black person suffers, the importance is that this change places us much further down the highway, closer to the finish than we may have thought.

Black and white culture is still very different and our history of separation is still very recent and we just need a little push to come together.

If you invited me over to your family’s big Sunday meal where twenty family members all got together – it would be a very different experience if it was a white family or a black family. The food, the talking and laughing would all be different. Cultural differences are just enough where it would take moving out of our comfort zone to be comfortable together. So there is an act of walking across the divide that is still necessary to the healing of our country. We must not continue the sin of omission of not walking across the divide. Others worked and bled and died to get us here – so close, we just need to make the final walk over and embrace one another.

So back to Barack.

I was an early Barack Obama enthusiast. I followed his Senate race in Illinois where it was clear that all kinds of white people loved him. It’s a lot harder to give money than it is to pull a vote lever – and so when he started raking in donations, I knew that was a sign that people were serious about their enthusiasm for him and that would equal votes, ie., you’re not going to give money, and then when you get behind the curtain suddenly get racist.

And so last night was very gratifying. Barack Obama won in every category in a state that is 98% white. He got the young people, the old people, the men – and against a famous woman candidate, he got the women. The guy is just charismatically amazing and makes people feel like he could lead our country in so many hopeful ways. White people simply will not have a problem voting for a black candidate if they are attracted to the person and feel they could do a great job. That would not have been true in the past, but things have changed.

I’m so grateful I got to experience that conversation the other night in Harlem and see so viscerally the lack of hope in my friends – but I hope now that they and millions like them will reach out to the hope that it is actually possible that we will put a black man in the White House.

Imagine how that could help us walk the last mile together, to be that last needed push for real unity between two peoples that have shared a long American journey together.

More Shooting in Spanish Harlem

Update: added the photo above, you can't quite see it in the darkness and low resolution, but on the top of that car on the left were three bullet holes. You can see the police car and the streets roped off, this is from the fire escape of our apartment.

I heard some bangs the other night, and thought they were just a cars exhaust backing up or something. A little later my roommate came running in to say that there was a shooting on the street right in front of the building next to mine. I looked out the window from our sixth floor walk-up (that's right) and on the roof of a car now surrounded by police tape, you could clearly see three holes - big holes.

I couldn't believe you could see it from that high up, but there they were. There must have been other bullet holes because we heard what sounded like 5-7 shots in rapid fire.

The weird thing is that they were on the roof, so in our CSI educated world of understanding trajectory, was the shooter in a building shooting down? Or was it a tall shooter on the street who pointed his gun down through the roof?

I've lived in NYC for eleven years now, and I've never seen crime like this.

So I'm experiencing living without a lot of things we take for granted where I come from, and now that includes personal safety.

Somerset Christian College first to hear TNL

I had a great time last night with my new friends at Somerset Christian College. They had a panel discussion on art and faith issues and invited me along with Matt Milliner (millinerd) and Michael Cuozzo to be on it.

I was able for the first time to present publicly my new powerpoint for "The New Love" (TNL) - the book I am writing. The other presenters really gave me some insights and the we had a great dialog with the class.

My friend Keelan Downton is a professor of Narrative Biblical Theology there - he seems really poised to do some great work in this new position. We met this summer when I went to the National Council of Churches conference as a representative of Emergent Village. Besides his mind and basic cool nature, the thing I love about Keelan is that he did his PhD in Theology in Belfast Ireland and lived with Pete Rollins and the IKON community - serious emergent cred.

I'm going to start posting on TNL soon - I have to figure out how to do it well without giving away to much, while gaining from dialog it creates. I'm also considering starting a new blog.

Another post soon on the shooting outside my building the other night - with photo!

Howdy Mark, I love what you said....

I just have to get in on the fun...(anything to get myself to blog)...

I'm a member of the wink revolution...a fun way to poke fundie mouth Mark Driscoll while maintaining kindness, and to document historically the point at which he made himself...uhhh.... - well, when all people do is wink humorously at what you've stated with passion, it says a lot....

If you're wondering why I chose this lovely picture for my wink, it's because even though I look like a Viking warrior on the outside, really I'm just a little girl inside:)

A New Kind of Christian Forms

I have always felt that an important part of the emerging church conversation/movement is about a new kind of church which rises from a union of post-evangelicals and post-mainliners and post-other-traditions. The idea is that we all in humility discover our own weaknesses and discard them, and in a spirit of joyful discovery we uncover the strengths of the other and wholly embrace them - along with embracing one another, and in the end you have a new kind of Christian far closer to what God has been leading his people towards. (and the "post" can be just very personal and not formal, ie. you don't have to leave an organization, some might prefer calling themselves progressive or emergent)

So for a few years now, I have been on what I call my "mission to get inside the head of mainliners", to understand what makes them tick. I've talked to Tony Jones about this numerous times, including last week when he was in NYC, and together we've made some good progress in thinking it through. The fact that the emergent movement appears to be around half and half evangelical and mainline is an awesome comment on the real possibility we have to become a new kind of Christian.

So here's a post about a very specific thing I've been coming to understand - how we have understood the concept of holiness so differently - and this time it's a theologian and a Rabbi which inspires me.

I have always thought of holiness as relating to my personal behaviors...do I choose to not sin in my personal actions and choose to walk with God in prayer and bible eating?...I could entirely judge my own level of holiness by my own individual reality...I know my own heart and thoughts when I am honest with myself, and I know when I am seeking God first, or when I choose to relegate God to the background and seek my own desires first. This entire transaction takes place between me and God individually.

Anecdotally, within our evangelical subculture, we talk about, "being on fire" and "walking in the spirit" and having a lifestyle of consistent "devotions" or "quiet times". We talk about going through seasons and we comfort our own agony at not doing well by imagining we are in a season where God is not as close for his own purposes of teaching us.

It's a huge subject and a core part of evangelical culture.

But here's what I'm discovering...there is an individuality about it which is unique to this time and place in history, and when seen in a certain light, increasingly troublesome. The main insight is the total individual focus to the exclusion of all others.

What I am learning about people of other traditions is that they have simply never experienced that perspective. For them holiness is not as much a personal thing as it is a set of realities that exist amongst a community of people.

When we read Jesus rebuking the Pharisees about their use of the law and the legalism they live in, we interpret that towards ourselves individually - I should try to understand legalism as a wrong way for me to live out my faith, and instead discover what Jesus was teaching and live out that fuller truth in my personal spiritual walk.

Recently I was challenged to imagine that maybe Jesus was rebuking them not for their "personal legalism" but for the way they were using the law to control the society economically to their own advantage. They, living in community with others, were using the religious codes they all ascribed to in order to assert power over others to their own economic advantage....Wow, that's a lot different than how they were reading the book of Leviticus in their quiet times! (this insight from Walter Brueggemann's book "Prophetic Imagination")

This transition from my own claustrophobic personal individual reality to the greater reality of the community I live in is one which entirely thrills me, because it holds promise for me that maybe I won't be so alone.

Here's another recent example of a similar insight from a blog written by a Rabbi who is involved in the New Sanctuary Movement along with me (though we've never met because of geography). It caught my attention because of the title, Calling us to Holiness...my "mission to get into the head" starts asking, "So what does this person imagine holiness to be"? Please Read:

Calling us to Holiness - By Rabbi Laurie Coskey

...In my tradition we call the central passage in the book of Leviticus the Holiness Code. Because if the scroll on which we have written in Hebrew the five books of Moses is unrolled and folded right in half, Leviticus 19 is right in the middle. The passage begins, You shall be holy because I the Lord your God am holy and then it tells us how to be holy including to love our neighbor as ourselves.

The holiness code instructs us explicitly and clearly about just treatment for immigrants. We learn: "When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens, you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt, I the Lord am your God.

Recently a group of clergy leaders were meeting with ICE officials to formally request that they put an end to the raids in San Diego County. (ICE is the old Border Patrol). In the course of the conversation, an ICE officer remarked that "only history could judge" whether a path toward legal residency for 12 million immigrants currently in the country would benefit our great nation. Rev. Scott Richardson the Dean of this Cathedral respectfully replied that "we would have to answer to a voice more demanding than that of history", that God would judge each of us and our nation based on how we treated the immigrants living among us. God expects us to be holy people. The Koran, The Old and New Testaments teach us to respect the spark of the divine in every person no matter on which side of the border that spark was lit. That is the holy path and that is how we will be judged by our Creator...

...Our mission is clear, to become holy people, vessels of God and recognize the spark of the divine. Today we call for humane, effective, comprehensive, immigration reform. AND we will continue that clarion call tomorrow and the next day, because our call to holiness doesn’t begin or end with a session of the congress.

May our stories remind us that justice is not yet fulfilled! May our stories move us to justice!

(To read more - please forgive the format, I'm on a Mac and I don't know how to hyperlink this - http://blog.newsanctuarymovement.org/2007/06/04/calling-us-to-holiness--by-rabbi-laurie-coskey.aspx)

So for her, holiness is an outward obedience within society, not an inward spiritual state of the heart. One could say the outward action reflects the inward state. I think James would like this very much. It is the huge difference in viewpoint that so grabs my attention and allows me to grow and be instructed if I can see more of the other and myself through it.

Her comments on God judging the nation are very insightful to an evangelical culture who's religious broadcasters built it by over and over and over (I swear this is all I heard during my youth in Southern California) warning of God's imminent judgement on our country if we didn't fall in line with a certain limited set of socio-political-religious views. But here is a socio-political-religious view that is totally different and that we have actually opposed in our bases of power (many religious republicans are very happy to deport the very immigrants that she is so passionate to protect). Our focus on the individual nature of our faith has allowed us to hand pick a few issues that we feel passionate about religiously, and to pursue them politically, while remaining unaware of other issues in society that haven't penetrated our eccleisial understanding.

To me this is huge. But one more step on the journey remains - how will others gain from the evangelical focus on the inward - surely a part of the story...For me to really get where I'm going, I need others to gain from me and change, just as I am gaining from them and changing, then we will together walk towards an understandable and liveable balance...