I was reading an article in the August 9, 2011, issue of the Christian Century by Amy Frykholm entitled, "Reform That Works". It is a story about how we need to become engaged in education reform to allow future generations to be successful. One line in the article that caught me by Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond was that "America's education system borders on being an apartheid system in which the children of the wealthy enjoy the latest equipment and a rich curriculum and are put on the track to college while only one in ten low-income students goes to college and a higher percentage see the inside of a prison."
Wow, talk about pulling me up short. It is true, however, that my High School aged children are growing up in a very affluent part of the country and are surrounded by opportunity. Not far away (less than 10 miles) are children that struggle with poverty and English-as-a-Second-Language and a host of related issues. My children have every opportunity to succeed - the others, far fewer opportunities. It makes me wonder where the justice is, and what I am called to do about this issue? Because it is a form of apartheid - and I'm currently implicit in its existence. My health, wellness and wholeness, along with my community's are challenged and lessened by this issue.
I found it interesting that two groups are working with faith communities to change the scenario. They are engaging faith communities and the broader community in changing how education is delivered and how relationships are fostered. The first is "Faith for Change" (www.faithforchange.org) which enlists the ecumenical support of members of faith communities to positively impact the education and lives of pre-K through High School aged children. They do this without the imperative to impose religious doctrine or to evangelize. Their Mission Statement says it all, "The Faith for Change team and its supporters are people of faith who believe in putting our faith in action to help young people realize their full potential through education and empowerment. We work to implement strategies that change the life trajectory of at-risk youth through education." The second group is the "Coalition for Community Schools" (www.communityschools.org). Currently, about 5% of all schools have adopted some or all of the Coalition's ideas. There is some federal money available for this initiative, and I would highlight this as an important outreach from faith communities.
At the beginning of a new school year, I encourage you to think more broadly about education and social justice. I implore you to check out the sites listed here and to use the information that you find in a discernment within your faith community. Finally, if we at Possibilities Journey, Inc (www.possjrny.org) can be of service, we'd love to partner with you. Watch our website for information on what we are doing on this important issue.
Peace and grace,
Dan
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Human Vulnerability...
Seems like it has been a long time since I last "penned" some blog thoughts - but it's only been a bit over a week. Much has happened in that time, and some healthy spiritual challenge and reflection has occurred. I caught up with my Christian Century reading last week and in the August 9, 2011, edition there is a book review that caught my attention. The book is written by Kristine A. Culp and is entitled, "Vulnerability and Glory: A Theological Account". It got me thinking about vulnerability as a key component in our health, wellness and wholeness.
As living organisms we are vulnerable to many "attacks". To put it in current computer terms, our physical "fire walls" are constantly bombarded by "hackers" which are intent on penetrating our defenses and causing havoc. Real viruses, fungi, bacteria, allergens, etc., in myriad shapes and sizes interact with our many layered defenses. Sometimes they penetrate and cause illness (the summer cold that is making its way around my house) and most often they are repelled effectively by both cellular and humoral defenders.
Though the worldly culture we live in will not admit this vulnerability, and will do everything in its considerable power to deny, we are all living inside bodies that will one day fail to carry on, and we will die. Even with all of our medical sophistication, still today the things that will do us in are our own self-destructive behaviors that break down our defenses, and the microscopic attackers that do what they are created to do. Even our cells are programmed to die once they have had a life cycle (the process of programmed cell death is termed "apoptosis") and if they do not, they become "immortal" and cause cancers. Thus we have a culture that denies the very core of who we are as living organisms, the fact that our bodies are frail and vulnerable and finite. Not hard to see how this leads to our communal dis-ease!
So how do we deal with this vulnerability as a reality - not as a weakness or in a negative light? Those of us who choose to believe in God see human vulnerability along with free will as God given attributes. Our vulnerability makes us need each other (and a "higher power"). We are called into community because of this innate attribute - no person is an island. Unfortunately, our current worldly narrative of rugged individualism and isolation flies right in the face of this key component of who we are. This sets us up to battle ourselves and our very natures. Loneliness is rampant precisely because we are created to be vulnerable and in need of one another. People die from sustained loneliness every day just like they die from anyother physiologic cause.
We have been created to be in right relationship with each other. To deny that is the cause of our most pervasive dis-ease as humans. Yet, we seem to be so far down the path of isolation that we don't even know our next door neighbors - and we're so busy that we don't create space to encounter them. One response to creating community might be found in a book by Peter Lovenheim entitled, "In the Neighborhood: the Search for Community on an American Street, one Sleepover at a Time". If you still have some summer left, I encourage you to read these two books (especially the latter).
Peace and community,
Dan
As living organisms we are vulnerable to many "attacks". To put it in current computer terms, our physical "fire walls" are constantly bombarded by "hackers" which are intent on penetrating our defenses and causing havoc. Real viruses, fungi, bacteria, allergens, etc., in myriad shapes and sizes interact with our many layered defenses. Sometimes they penetrate and cause illness (the summer cold that is making its way around my house) and most often they are repelled effectively by both cellular and humoral defenders.
Though the worldly culture we live in will not admit this vulnerability, and will do everything in its considerable power to deny, we are all living inside bodies that will one day fail to carry on, and we will die. Even with all of our medical sophistication, still today the things that will do us in are our own self-destructive behaviors that break down our defenses, and the microscopic attackers that do what they are created to do. Even our cells are programmed to die once they have had a life cycle (the process of programmed cell death is termed "apoptosis") and if they do not, they become "immortal" and cause cancers. Thus we have a culture that denies the very core of who we are as living organisms, the fact that our bodies are frail and vulnerable and finite. Not hard to see how this leads to our communal dis-ease!
So how do we deal with this vulnerability as a reality - not as a weakness or in a negative light? Those of us who choose to believe in God see human vulnerability along with free will as God given attributes. Our vulnerability makes us need each other (and a "higher power"). We are called into community because of this innate attribute - no person is an island. Unfortunately, our current worldly narrative of rugged individualism and isolation flies right in the face of this key component of who we are. This sets us up to battle ourselves and our very natures. Loneliness is rampant precisely because we are created to be vulnerable and in need of one another. People die from sustained loneliness every day just like they die from anyother physiologic cause.
We have been created to be in right relationship with each other. To deny that is the cause of our most pervasive dis-ease as humans. Yet, we seem to be so far down the path of isolation that we don't even know our next door neighbors - and we're so busy that we don't create space to encounter them. One response to creating community might be found in a book by Peter Lovenheim entitled, "In the Neighborhood: the Search for Community on an American Street, one Sleepover at a Time". If you still have some summer left, I encourage you to read these two books (especially the latter).
Peace and community,
Dan
Friday, August 12, 2011
The Big Why
I'm up on vacation and the local grocery chain is named "Big Y". Funny how my mind works sometimes, but it struck me that I've spent a lot of time in my life wondering about big "why's". I'm certain you have as well. Seems to me that our whole lives are wrapped up in a search for meaning - why I am here, what am I to do with my life, what legacy do I leave behind, etc. The word "why" plays a key role in our search for meaning and thus our search for wholeness.
The word why can also lead one down a rabbit hole of questioning without answers and that often results in more brokenness rather than healing and wholeness. My wife had a good friend who was murdered in a foreign land exactly one year ago today. All of the close friends and family have spent the last year wondering why. The local police have charged a person with the crime and he is in jail, but the why's continue. It appears that those questions will never be adequately answered - no closure will come from repeated questioning. So my wife and her friends are left adrift, each in their own grief, each with their unanswered questions, each at a loss as to how to move forward.
This is not a unique situation. I've seen it hundreds of times in my work in the intensive care unit. Major illness, injury and significant diagnoses bring with them questions - often questions of why (especially "why me?"). The word why becomes all encompassing and people can not find their way out of the morass of needing to know. They go further down and down and find themselves slaves to "why" instead of dealing with the issues at hand and living in the moment.
Mystics (persons with an ongoing relationship with God) show us the way beyond why. People like Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, and many others re-cast the big questions of life, and do not ask why. They know that life is not ruled by questions and answers - and that for some questions, there are no answers. Thus they develop a relationship with unknowing - the ability to hold the tension of wanting to know with trusting that all shall be well (in the words of Julian of Norwich). Holding that tension allows one to move forward in a situation that has no ready answers. It allows one to find the healing that is waiting - it is forward movement that "why" doesn't alow.
For your healing this week, discover the writings of one of the mystics. Spend time with the wisdom of trust and faith. Set yourself free from the tyranny of "why" and from needing to know. You will discover a peace beyond all understanding.
Peace and grace,
Dan
The word why can also lead one down a rabbit hole of questioning without answers and that often results in more brokenness rather than healing and wholeness. My wife had a good friend who was murdered in a foreign land exactly one year ago today. All of the close friends and family have spent the last year wondering why. The local police have charged a person with the crime and he is in jail, but the why's continue. It appears that those questions will never be adequately answered - no closure will come from repeated questioning. So my wife and her friends are left adrift, each in their own grief, each with their unanswered questions, each at a loss as to how to move forward.
This is not a unique situation. I've seen it hundreds of times in my work in the intensive care unit. Major illness, injury and significant diagnoses bring with them questions - often questions of why (especially "why me?"). The word why becomes all encompassing and people can not find their way out of the morass of needing to know. They go further down and down and find themselves slaves to "why" instead of dealing with the issues at hand and living in the moment.
Mystics (persons with an ongoing relationship with God) show us the way beyond why. People like Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, and many others re-cast the big questions of life, and do not ask why. They know that life is not ruled by questions and answers - and that for some questions, there are no answers. Thus they develop a relationship with unknowing - the ability to hold the tension of wanting to know with trusting that all shall be well (in the words of Julian of Norwich). Holding that tension allows one to move forward in a situation that has no ready answers. It allows one to find the healing that is waiting - it is forward movement that "why" doesn't alow.
For your healing this week, discover the writings of one of the mystics. Spend time with the wisdom of trust and faith. Set yourself free from the tyranny of "why" and from needing to know. You will discover a peace beyond all understanding.
Peace and grace,
Dan
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Time Away...
I have matriculated into vacation time after a busy week spent on mission trip. This process of busyness to vacation is one that takes a bit of practice - one has to live into it. I can't go from "full on" to "full off" instantly (though my wife says that I can make the transition fairly rapidly). I need some wind down time in order to begin to operate at a pace that is more relaxed. When I finally reach that more sane operating pace, I find myself at peace.
Peaceful living is healthy living. Operating in a non-stressed manner allows me to more fully appreciate the world around me. I have time to savor the passage of time, to feel what a full hour feels like when I'm engaged in nothing but breathing and observing and being. What a wonderful healing process that is! I'm surrounded by living water and the natural world. Hearing birds, watching the ebb and flow of the tides, just sitting and being, all return me to a place of unity. It is from this unified place that I can then move out into the world again, refreshed and renewed.
All of the major spiritual literature talks of these times of finding space. For it is when we are alone with ourselves and our thoughts that we can encounter the God that is inside us. True healing and wholeness comes through that encounter and we are called to that relationship again and again. Jesus went off to reconnect with God and to rejuvenate his "spiritual battery". So we are called to do the same.
This week my prayer for each of you is to find space (or create it) so that you can be in relationship with the Creator. Discover for yourself the healing power of space.
Peace,
Dan
Peaceful living is healthy living. Operating in a non-stressed manner allows me to more fully appreciate the world around me. I have time to savor the passage of time, to feel what a full hour feels like when I'm engaged in nothing but breathing and observing and being. What a wonderful healing process that is! I'm surrounded by living water and the natural world. Hearing birds, watching the ebb and flow of the tides, just sitting and being, all return me to a place of unity. It is from this unified place that I can then move out into the world again, refreshed and renewed.
All of the major spiritual literature talks of these times of finding space. For it is when we are alone with ourselves and our thoughts that we can encounter the God that is inside us. True healing and wholeness comes through that encounter and we are called to that relationship again and again. Jesus went off to reconnect with God and to rejuvenate his "spiritual battery". So we are called to do the same.
This week my prayer for each of you is to find space (or create it) so that you can be in relationship with the Creator. Discover for yourself the healing power of space.
Peace,
Dan
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Mission Health
I find myself on mission trip with a group of high school-aged people. We are out in the wilds of Western Maryland doing house rehabs and getting to know each other better. From the health side, this is both an improvement and a risk. The health risk is stress of weather and worksite environments (not to mention food poisoning at local eat joints). The relative lack of sleep and constant community is also a risk for poor health. On the positive side, there are new relationships popping out all over the place, good interactions with families at the worksite - wholeness is everywhere.
The devotion refrain for this morning is "help us to serve in our weakness, Lord: and to see your power to come down." This is a great message for all of us as we seek to become healthier and more whole. Dealing with our weakness and understanding our vulnerability is an important step in decreasing our stress and anxiety. We well know that stress and anxiety lead to decreases in immune function and overall health. Understanding our needs and our need for each other empowers us to be true seekers of that which will lead to our health, wellness and wholeness.
So this week, seek to be in mission for your health. Look to your vulnerabilities and those life choices which are leading to your dis-ease. Take the opportunity to go into mission and help others to become healthier and more well and whole. this is what we at Possibilities Journey, Inc (www.possjrny.org) are doing - come join us.
Peace,
Dan
The devotion refrain for this morning is "help us to serve in our weakness, Lord: and to see your power to come down." This is a great message for all of us as we seek to become healthier and more whole. Dealing with our weakness and understanding our vulnerability is an important step in decreasing our stress and anxiety. We well know that stress and anxiety lead to decreases in immune function and overall health. Understanding our needs and our need for each other empowers us to be true seekers of that which will lead to our health, wellness and wholeness.
So this week, seek to be in mission for your health. Look to your vulnerabilities and those life choices which are leading to your dis-ease. Take the opportunity to go into mission and help others to become healthier and more well and whole. this is what we at Possibilities Journey, Inc (www.possjrny.org) are doing - come join us.
Peace,
Dan
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