more on health care …
I've received a lot of positive response to my open letter on health care. Here's a sample:
Dear Brian McLaren, Your open letter to Christian Conservatives about health care reform is one of the best presentations I’ve seen since this all began. I will take it to my Republican Congressional Representative’s office this week, along with my views, concerns and position on the subject, all to be offered in resolute courtesy. I have blood relatives who know of my support for health care reform and the criticism they have heaped on me has been shocking, eye-opening, down-heartening, and testing. I did not engage them, they sought me out and, now in bewilderment, I wonder if the old familial warmth may ever be rekindled, for now it is cold. Discourse has dropped into ad hominem hate speech against almost anyone who disagrees with them, and all in the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ “who hates the anti-Christ and all his demons” of which, apparently, I am one. This boggles me. Thanks for your help
More after the jump ...
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Ramadan 2009: Part 1 What’s going on?
Ramadan is the Muslim holy month of fasting for spiritual renewal and purification. It commemorates the month during which Muslims believe Mohammed received the Quran through divine revelation, and it calls Muslims to self-control, sacrificial generosity and solidarity with the poor, diligent reading of the Quran, and intensified prayer.
This year, I, along with a few Christian friends (and perhaps others currently unknown to us will want to join in) will be joining Muslim friends in the fast which begins August 21. We are not doing so in order to become Muslims: we are deeply committed Christians. But as Christians, we want to come close to our Muslim neighbors and to share this important part of life with them. Just as Jesus, a devout Jew, overcame religious prejudice and learned from a Syrophonecian woman and was inspired by her faith two thousand years ago (Matthew 15:21 ff, Mark 7:24 ff), we seek to learn from our Muslim sisters and brothers today.
Muslims observe Ramadan in the same basic way world-wide: they fast from food, water, sex, etc., from dawn to dusk. We Christians who are joining in the fast will share these four common commitments:
We, as Christians, humbly seek to join Muslims in this observance of Ramadan as a God-honoring expression of peace, fellowship, and neighborliness. Each of us will have at least one Muslim friend who will serve as our partner in the fast. These friends welcome us in the same spirit of peace, fellowship, and neighborliness.
We will seek to avoid being disrespectful or unfaithful to our own faith tradition in our desire to be respectful to the faith tradition of our friends. For example, since the Bible teaches us the importance of fasting and being generous to the poor, we can participate as Christians in fidelity to the Bible as our Muslim friends do so in fidelity to the Quran.
Among the core values of Ramadan are self control, expressing kindness, and resolving conflicts. For this reason, if we are criticized or misunderstood by Christians, Muslims, or others for this endeavor, we will avoid defending ourselves or engaging in arguments. Instead, we will seek to explain ourselves humbly, simply, and briefly when necessary, connecting with empathy to the needs and feelings of others as we express our own.
Our main purpose for participating will be our own spiritual growth, health, learning, and maturity, but we also hope that our experience will inspire others to pray and work for peace and the common good, together with people of other faith traditions.
May God bless all people, and teach us to love God and love one another, and so fulfill our calling as human beings.
I'll share my personal story about deciding to join in the fast in the next few days, and I'll also share regular updates and reflections here on this blog (brianmclaren.net) leading up to, during, and after Ramadan.
If you'd like to consider this observance, or just would like more information, here are some good links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan
http://www.holidays.net/ramadan/
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old dogs can learn … and so can young pups
My daughter Rachel has three shiba inus. But when #3 came into the family, he and #1 couldn't ... get along. Now, as the pictures below show, they've become buddies. If two dogs - old and young, brown and white - can stop growling and scrapping, can't people?
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Sojourners is doing something about it … and you can too
As a fan, subscriber, and former board member of Sojourners, I have huge respect for their work, and they've developed a way to take action on the concerns I wrote about the other day.
You can sign a health-care creed that becomes a message to Congress here ...
And you can stay updated via their health care resources page.
When some Christians are spreading ridiculous and harmful misinformation about "death panels" and so on, it's time for the rest of us to speak up and say, first, "they don't speak for - or to - us," and second, "we approach this issue in a different way, and here's how...."
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the latest on darfur, sudan …
Those of us who have been involved in the Darfur genocide and associated humanitarian crises know that Eric Reeves has been a tireless voice for achieving a real resolution there. He voices real concerns that the Obama administration (led by special envory Scott Gratian) will be excessively optimistic in his recent Boston Globe editorial here. Quotable:
Most disturbing, Gration gives no evidence in any of his public comments of understanding the ruthless nature of the security cabal that rules Sudan and is determined to retain its stranglehold on national wealth and power; like many before him, he is convinced that the National Islamic Front is controlled by men who can be reasoned with, cajoled, rewarded, made to do “the right thing.’’ He ignores the basic truth about these men: during their 20 years in power they have never abided by any agreement with any Sudanese party. Any rapprochement that is not preceded by clear and irreversible actions to establish unimpeded humanitarian access, create freedom of movement and deployment for peacekeepers, and meet the critical benchmarks of the north/south peace agreement is doomed to fail.
Reeves' suspicion reminds me of the sagely advice of a friend of mine who has spent his entire career in foreign service. "The key issue, again and again, is regime continuation," he said. In other words, those in power want to stay in power, and those out of power want to get in and stay in. Many of us would agree - the Khartoum regime has already had a lot of continuation without much to show for it except broken promises, death, displacement, and defiance of international concern. Let's pray for peace in Darfur. And let's pray that our leaders will push and pull in the wisest ways possible.
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