Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Something's Stirring in Spain
[Written by Randy Gonzales, CRM Ethne Spain Team Leader]
Steve Addison in his book, Movements that Change the World, writes, “Movements are characterized by discontent, vision, and action. Discontent unfreezes people from their commitment to the way things are. If the vacuum created by discontent is filled with a vision of a different future and action to bring change, then a movement is born.”
In a terrain notably affected by spiritual abuse of authority, collusion between the church and political structures, and most recently haughty secularism, it is no wonder that the Spanish population’s posture to religious overtures is indifferent at best and contemptuous at worst. After the Franco regime (1935-1975), Spanish evangelical leaders hopefully assumed that since the oppression was now lifted and new freedoms were instituted that their countrymen would come flocking in droves to the Protestant churches. They miscalculated the whims of the human heart significantly.
No one could have estimated how the long years of political and church oppression, the seething emotions and scarred psyche of the Spanish populace would catalyze a sizable societal shift towards unabated personal freedom and the disintegration of religious/moral underpinnings. The secularism that has supplanted the mistrusted church and State in Spain runs rampant in a majority of the systems that orbit the lives of the Spanish people.
Within this milieu the Spanish Protestant church has gained ground, though it has been little and hard-fought, and not without personal sacrifice. Because of the significant difficulties inherent in building the church, over the past 50 years the natural result has been that the church became territorial, divisive, and lacking harmony. But praise God there are new winds blowing... something is astir on the coast! The ingredient of discontent hangs in the air and a mingling of generations is becoming increasingly restless to come together and see God work!
In the last few years a generation of emerging leaders have been seeking God and his plans for redeeming Málaga. And God seems to be favoring this stirring. At the same time He is stirring the hearts of senior leaders who have have been faithful warriors and have cultivated hard won influence to provide openings. He is stirring the emerging generation of leaders who are diving into their surrounding society’s problems hoping to bring redemptive action and change their world. As these young leaders move along with the impulse of the Holy Spirit, their march has been contagious. What began as a small group crying out to God has now begun to spread along the coast. The relational connection and the passion of these young leaders creates spiritual momentum that is enlisting others to serve their hurting world in a counter-cultural move that highlights the healing and calling of the authentic Savior!
Do I daresay this is a movement? That will be determined in the unfolding future. But something is definitely stirring on the Andalusian Coast and it’s a joy to give testimony to this! This move of the Spirit is melting the ice of secular affliction, touching the outcasts with the compassionate hand of the Father, overcoming the works of the enemy, and healing the brokenhearted. He is binding up the wounds.
I want in on this! I want to see God’s hand transforming Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. I want to roll up my sleeves and link arms seeing God use my gifts and experiences to help coach, encourage, and equip these emerging leaders towards the Lord’s vision for Spain. I want to see the glory of God poured out through the very vessels he is raising up here on the Coast. Let it be, Lord. Let it be.
[Read more from Randy Gonzales about the Historical & Modern Religious Contexts of Spain]
Steve Addison in his book, Movements that Change the World, writes, “Movements are characterized by discontent, vision, and action. Discontent unfreezes people from their commitment to the way things are. If the vacuum created by discontent is filled with a vision of a different future and action to bring change, then a movement is born.”
In a terrain notably affected by spiritual abuse of authority, collusion between the church and political structures, and most recently haughty secularism, it is no wonder that the Spanish population’s posture to religious overtures is indifferent at best and contemptuous at worst. After the Franco regime (1935-1975), Spanish evangelical leaders hopefully assumed that since the oppression was now lifted and new freedoms were instituted that their countrymen would come flocking in droves to the Protestant churches. They miscalculated the whims of the human heart significantly.
No one could have estimated how the long years of political and church oppression, the seething emotions and scarred psyche of the Spanish populace would catalyze a sizable societal shift towards unabated personal freedom and the disintegration of religious/moral underpinnings. The secularism that has supplanted the mistrusted church and State in Spain runs rampant in a majority of the systems that orbit the lives of the Spanish people.
Within this milieu the Spanish Protestant church has gained ground, though it has been little and hard-fought, and not without personal sacrifice. Because of the significant difficulties inherent in building the church, over the past 50 years the natural result has been that the church became territorial, divisive, and lacking harmony. But praise God there are new winds blowing... something is astir on the coast! The ingredient of discontent hangs in the air and a mingling of generations is becoming increasingly restless to come together and see God work!
In the last few years a generation of emerging leaders have been seeking God and his plans for redeeming Málaga. And God seems to be favoring this stirring. At the same time He is stirring the hearts of senior leaders who have have been faithful warriors and have cultivated hard won influence to provide openings. He is stirring the emerging generation of leaders who are diving into their surrounding society’s problems hoping to bring redemptive action and change their world. As these young leaders move along with the impulse of the Holy Spirit, their march has been contagious. What began as a small group crying out to God has now begun to spread along the coast. The relational connection and the passion of these young leaders creates spiritual momentum that is enlisting others to serve their hurting world in a counter-cultural move that highlights the healing and calling of the authentic Savior!
Do I daresay this is a movement? That will be determined in the unfolding future. But something is definitely stirring on the Andalusian Coast and it’s a joy to give testimony to this! This move of the Spirit is melting the ice of secular affliction, touching the outcasts with the compassionate hand of the Father, overcoming the works of the enemy, and healing the brokenhearted. He is binding up the wounds.
I want in on this! I want to see God’s hand transforming Málaga, Andalusia, Spain. I want to roll up my sleeves and link arms seeing God use my gifts and experiences to help coach, encourage, and equip these emerging leaders towards the Lord’s vision for Spain. I want to see the glory of God poured out through the very vessels he is raising up here on the Coast. Let it be, Lord. Let it be.
[Read more from Randy Gonzales about the Historical & Modern Religious Contexts of Spain]
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity
- Red Dots: Less than 2 percent evangelical. Some evangelical resources available. No active church planting within past two years.
- Orange Dots: Less than 2 percent evangelical. Initial or concentrated church planting within past two years.
[Link to original map. Each point approximates 50,000 people. Global statuses are calculated by Global Research, IMB, January 2013. Robinson World Projection. Physical Basemap by US National Park Service. Geography by ESRI 2012.]
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Historical & Modern Religious Contexts of Spain
Here is a brief summary on the religious historical and modern contexts of Spain and CRM's current work there.
[written by Randy Gonzales, CRM Ethne Spain Team Leader]
Spain is a country with a rich spiritual heritage yet the culture bears the distinct scars of both the ancient and modern history marked by the abuse of authority under the pretense of religion. As a result, there is disillusionment and suspicion among the people of Spain concerning the Church and an overall feeling of apathy towards God, especially among those in their 20s-40s.
In a terrain notably affected by spiritual abuse of authority, collusion between the church and political structures, and most recently haughty secularism, it is no wonder that the Spanish population’s posture to religious overtures is indifferent at best and contemptuous at worst. After the Franco regime (1935-1975), Spanish evangelical leaders hopefully assumed that since the oppression was now lifted and new freedoms were instituted that their countrymen would come flocking in droves to the Protestant churches. They miscalculated the whims of the human heart significantly.
No one could have estimated how the long years of political and church oppression, the seething emotions and scarred psyche of the Spanish populace would catalyze a sizeable societal shift towards unabated personal freedom and the disintegration of religious/moral underpinnings. The secularism that has supplanted the mistrusted church and State in Spain runs rampant in a majority of the systems that orbit the lives of the Spanish people.
Within this milieu the Spanish Protestant church has gained ground, though it has been little and hard-fought, and not without personal sacrifice. Because of the significant difficulties inherent in building the church, over the past 50 years the natural result has been that the church became territorial, divisive, and slow to shift. To some degree there is a sense that we're living the ecclesiastic realities that the developed Western nations lived in the 1970s.
In Spain, you note a Catholic Church that is shrinking in many respects. Among the Protestants you hear of an Evangelical Church that has experienced a high percentage of division. There is a spirit of Kingship in the land where everybody wants to be a king. You notice the independent spirit in things like national incohesiveness; Spain is more a collection of independent regions than a unified nation. Because there has been a history of imposing authority, imposition is something people still fight but at the same time religious people still embrace it as a mode of operation.
Though the Protestant Church in Andalusia is sometimes characterized by outmoded systems and rudimentary features, there is a fresh and growing "movement" among the emerging leaders that is catalyzing a passionate encounter with and service to God. This generation is longing to palpably be a light among society's dark places, that wants to reclaim territory from the enemy.
As unbridled and committed as these emerging leaders are, they are also marked by challenges which need healing:
- Character Formation - knowing themselves in a genuine way and opening up to inner transformation. Understanding their own Achilles Heels.
- Spiritual Formation - Having a genuine understanding of who God is and an authentic image of the Father; Understanding their gifting and how it connects with the advancing of the Kingdom.
- Understanding Healthy Leadership and what it take to both develop and grow as a healthy leader and as a follower; Understanding healthy authority and followership dynamics.
- Battling with understanding healthy sexuality and godly boundaries.
- We've been surprised at how wounded this generation is and how they have suffered much in their relatively short lives. Here there is a great need for mentors, coaches, and counseling.
- Among this generation there is a push for social justice and a holistic gospel. They are looking to be a force in this world for the Gospel in Power and Deed. Some areas they are involved in, and we to through our coaching and engagement with them are:
- Human trafficking and Prostitution - Málaga is a major European hub for the human sex trafficking trade.
- The poor and oppressed Gypsy populations
- Among this population we also see a lack of connectivity with their past experiences (family of origin) and their current struggles; those major shaping events in their lives which God wants to redeem and transform for His purposes. We work to help them make that connection for healthier life experiences and more effective and balanced ministry involvement.
- Marriage counseling is a significant need. Both in marital issues of existing marriages and pre-matrimonial orientation.
Presently our work flows into the lives of emerging 20-30 something leaders. Using the Clinton principles of Leadership Emergence Theory, Spiritual Accompaniment, Coaching, Mentoring, and Personal care we take people through personal discovery processes in order to:
- Awaken them to THEMSELVES (Self-Awareness & Development
- Awaken them to GOD (embracing a healthier image of the Father)
- Awaken them to their CALLING in the Kingdom (their contribution)
[Read more from Randy Gonzales about what's stirring in Spain]
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Some Thoughts on “Call”
As many of our dear friends and family know well, our discernment process has been a long journey often wrought with confusion, tears, wondering where God was and what he was doing, transient feelings of excitement about various possibilities, disappointments at their eventual demise, feeling like we had no skills to use in work or ministry. Why did we even begin this journey? We have a great set-up in Pasadena: dear, lifelong friends, awesome church community, fulfilling work at Fuller for Matthew, marriage groups for both of us, couples therapy for me, great community of kids and moms for our boys, ready access to nature and a plethora of options for family fun and entertainment (LA zoo, hiking the San Gabriel mountains, Descanso Gardens, LA Arboretum, outdoor parks, indoor playgrounds, the fountain at Paseo, free concerts in every park during the summer, beaches, ethnic food of all varieties….oh the list could go on). Yet despite our fondness for life in Pasadena, we both are left with a deep, persistent sense that this is not where we belong, dare we admit to it, not where we felt…. “called.” And thus began our discernment process to inquire of God where this may be.
And what does “call” even really mean? Is there such a thing as “call?” Neither of us resonates with the idea that God’s will is like a train track--rigid, unforgiving, inflexible and non-relatable. Rather, we think of our lives as a boat in the ocean, gently guided and directed by God’s will, the wind; most certainly driven yet responsive and flexible to our moves, ever with us and journeying with us. But the lingering question was: does God have ONE specific route for us? An eventual settling place? Or is it rather a combination of our desires, God-given characteristics and giftings that, when submitted to God, can look a variety of ways, all with God’s approval and blessing, even design? Or can it be either way depending on the person?
So you can see how our process has been a long one.
Recently we went to Spain to inquire into a particular leading we felt from God. This was the result of years of prayer and discernment and more recently several months of conversations with some people ministering there to Spaniards and the Spanish church. As a result of this experience, I (Melinda) have several thoughts about “call,” or at least God’s very palpable, discernable guidance in our lives since we began intentionally asking him to reveal to us what he’d like us to do. I don’t presume to think this is how God works in everyone’s life; I trust God is much bigger and wiser than me and can work just as he sees fit in others’ lives. But this has been our journey; hopefully it can provide some encouragement to other peregrines seeking God’s specific invitation.
Our discernment process intentionally began in Jan. 2011. Three months later we learned, to our surprise and initial disbelief, that I was pregnant. Changes had to be made immediately—our housing, work, and financial situation did not support the growth of our family. We ended up moving back into Fuller housing (asking “what’s up, God? Really? Back onto campus again? Are we stepping backwards?”), selling a car to save money since Matthew could walk to work. Another family moved into our complex on the same day—the Nix family, CRM staff who re-introduced us to CRM. Fast forward several months (and another beautiful baby boy larger!), and we get a random loud knock on our door. To our surprise it is Jeff and Sara Simons, dear friends we had been out of touch with, and CRM staff in Spain. They were supposed to meet friends for dinner and thought they were knocking on their door! We reconnected with them, spoke at length about our discernment process and what we had learned thus far, and they connected us with a CRM mobilizer who ended up inviting us to Greece to lead their MK youth at their agency-wide staff retreat. At this conference we met and were pursued by Randy and Doralicia Gonzales and Charissa Pletcher, CRM staff in Spain. Several in-depth conversations later and we were invited to take the next step with them to visit Spain and get a feel for them, the team, and the ministry they are doing with Spaniards. And in the midst of this process and series of no-doubt Divine appointments were several confirmations, answered unspoken prayers, unexpected connections and amazing provision.
Now, looking at this list one might wonder how we could possibly have felt the feelings listed at the beginning of this entry—seems pretty clear that God has been present and very much involved with our process. Yet, all of this took place over the course of two years; most in the second year. Looking back and connecting the dots I am able to see God’s presence and work behind the scenes of my anxious, doubting self. I’ve learned in so many profound ways how God does not rush us to a future goal; our journey is precious and he uses it to gently, slowly (as we think of it!), mold, shape, and change us. To make us more like Jesus. This is God’s ultimate “goal” for us.
It has been such a joy and deep encouragement for me to read back through my journal over the past few years and to be able to connect the dots. At the time it felt painful and lonely. Now it is reassuring. [Mel, God’s got you. He’s got good stuff planned; stuff that includes all of who he created you to be and all he’s allowed you to experience—suffering and joy alike. There will be challenges along the way, but He’s with you and always has been. Now step forward, and trust. Wheh. Ok, God, help my unbelief!]
So is there such thing as “call?” I think so. At least, I know that God wants us to seek his presence and active involvement in our lives. When we do this, he invites us to be a part of what he’s doing. I think “call” can be fluid, seasonal, with various degrees of specification. But I’m confident God is present, active, with us. Maybe we won’t feel this in the moment or in particular seasons of life and it will take time before we can look back and see the beautiful intricacies of the tapestry he is weaving in our lives. But the certainty of his presence and involvement is all I really need to know.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Joshua Tree. a couple article links...and some pics
on the massive kopjies of the mojave desert
--drinking chai.Now you must check out the (totally unrelated, but worth your read) articles:
Sunday, June 03, 2007
A Series of Questions V
A friend of mine has undertaken writing an article for Food for the Hungry in an effort to mobilize folks in the fight against the affects of AIDS. He asked me to reflect on several questions he posed to me as a catalyst for the article (this one is actually a question I was asked by his father-in-law). Here's the result. This is question five of five.
V. As a pastor/church leader, how do I get my congregation involved?
Getting the info out is a necessary first step, but you gotta light the fire in folks’ hearts (as well as do the necessary accounting juggling) if this is going to be an ongoing, sustainable ministry of the church. Get some folks overseas to see this stuff for themselves. The folks who’re touched deeply by what they see/experience will be your strongest champions. And any project without a champion/cheerleader will fizzle.
Foster relationships; “adopt” a program, ministry, group, village, or family. This also allows accountability—critical follow up on where the money’s going, allowing flexibility to allocate funds where they’re best needed and not getting stuck in a policy rut. Getting involved somewhere only to pull out 2 or 5 years later can often do more harm then good. For example, someone who starts on anti-retroviral medication (ARV’s) will be worse off when that regimen is abruptly stopped then someone who never took the drugs but was rather taught how to eat a healthy, affordable (read--SUSTAINABLE) immune boosting, balanced diet. AIDS has no cure—if you get involved in this battle, there is not foreseeable end.
V. As a pastor/church leader, how do I get my congregation involved?
Getting the info out is a necessary first step, but you gotta light the fire in folks’ hearts (as well as do the necessary accounting juggling) if this is going to be an ongoing, sustainable ministry of the church. Get some folks overseas to see this stuff for themselves. The folks who’re touched deeply by what they see/experience will be your strongest champions. And any project without a champion/cheerleader will fizzle.
Foster relationships; “adopt” a program, ministry, group, village, or family. This also allows accountability—critical follow up on where the money’s going, allowing flexibility to allocate funds where they’re best needed and not getting stuck in a policy rut. Getting involved somewhere only to pull out 2 or 5 years later can often do more harm then good. For example, someone who starts on anti-retroviral medication (ARV’s) will be worse off when that regimen is abruptly stopped then someone who never took the drugs but was rather taught how to eat a healthy, affordable (read--SUSTAINABLE) immune boosting, balanced diet. AIDS has no cure—if you get involved in this battle, there is not foreseeable end.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
A Series of Questions IV
A friend of mine has undertaken writing an article for Food for the Hungry in an effort to mobilize folks in the fight against the affects of AIDS. He asked me to reflect on several questions he posed to me as a catalyst for the article. Here's the result. This is question four of five.
IV. Hey, it’s really easy to not get AIDS – stop having extramartial/premarital sex. So why should I give my hard-earned money to these people who are obviously just really promiscious?
I guess my first response to someone who asks this would be—“So tell me, are you a virgin”. But really, for someone asking this question, I don’t think I’d go into the economic and cultural factors that drive someone to depression and a fatalistic outlook on life that fosters a mindset of “I’ll take everything I can get. Life is too shity to not at least get a little cheap sex.” I would want to, but also would probably not, go into the reality of the massive social pressure on teenage boys and men in many African cultures to have multiple sexual partners. In many cultures worldwide, men gain status correlative to the number of lovers/mistresses they have. Many young boys are pressured and taunted by their own fathers, friends and peers to have sex or they’ll be teased and outcast as a weakling or homosexual. (Don’t we do this in the US? In highschool don’t we assume someone’s gay if they’re not promiscuous or sleeping with their girlfriend? Don’t we honor and envy the jock who gets all the girls?) And I won’t even go into the story of the 17yr old girl who turned to prostitution because both of her parents died of AIDS and how else is she going to feed her two little sisters?!
So while these things might be going through my head, I think I’d hold my tongue and rather focus on something that might engage their heart, not their head. While these are all real issues, I think the type of person who’d be asking this question understands life as black and white—“life is what we make it”. First of all, that’s a really privileged and rare (in terms of percentage of world population) perspective—let alone reality. I think for this question I would try to focus on the women and children around the world who have AIDS at NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN. Millions of women and children are perpetrated against daily by virus-carrying sex-addicts. These women and children literally have no way of changing their circumstances (and may not even know there is another way of life) unless someone breaks into their world to offer them something different. In many cultures (and again, we don’t even have to look beyond our own) woman have no authority in the home and cannot refuse sex. She would be beaten severely (then likely raped) if she even tried to resist. Her husband, likely in the business of seeing his other lovers/mistresses if not prostitutes, has contracted AIDS and will now pass that along to his wife. She will give birth to an HIV+ child. These very women and children make up over 50% of Africa’s HIV/AIDS victims! Don’t you dare tell these women and children to simply stop being promiscuous!
IV. Hey, it’s really easy to not get AIDS – stop having extramartial/premarital sex. So why should I give my hard-earned money to these people who are obviously just really promiscious?
I guess my first response to someone who asks this would be—“So tell me, are you a virgin”. But really, for someone asking this question, I don’t think I’d go into the economic and cultural factors that drive someone to depression and a fatalistic outlook on life that fosters a mindset of “I’ll take everything I can get. Life is too shity to not at least get a little cheap sex.” I would want to, but also would probably not, go into the reality of the massive social pressure on teenage boys and men in many African cultures to have multiple sexual partners. In many cultures worldwide, men gain status correlative to the number of lovers/mistresses they have. Many young boys are pressured and taunted by their own fathers, friends and peers to have sex or they’ll be teased and outcast as a weakling or homosexual. (Don’t we do this in the US? In highschool don’t we assume someone’s gay if they’re not promiscuous or sleeping with their girlfriend? Don’t we honor and envy the jock who gets all the girls?) And I won’t even go into the story of the 17yr old girl who turned to prostitution because both of her parents died of AIDS and how else is she going to feed her two little sisters?!
So while these things might be going through my head, I think I’d hold my tongue and rather focus on something that might engage their heart, not their head. While these are all real issues, I think the type of person who’d be asking this question understands life as black and white—“life is what we make it”. First of all, that’s a really privileged and rare (in terms of percentage of world population) perspective—let alone reality. I think for this question I would try to focus on the women and children around the world who have AIDS at NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN. Millions of women and children are perpetrated against daily by virus-carrying sex-addicts. These women and children literally have no way of changing their circumstances (and may not even know there is another way of life) unless someone breaks into their world to offer them something different. In many cultures (and again, we don’t even have to look beyond our own) woman have no authority in the home and cannot refuse sex. She would be beaten severely (then likely raped) if she even tried to resist. Her husband, likely in the business of seeing his other lovers/mistresses if not prostitutes, has contracted AIDS and will now pass that along to his wife. She will give birth to an HIV+ child. These very women and children make up over 50% of Africa’s HIV/AIDS victims! Don’t you dare tell these women and children to simply stop being promiscuous!
Monday, May 21, 2007
A Series of Questions III
A friend of mine has undertaken writing an article for Food for the Hungry in an effort to mobilize folks in the fight against the affects of AIDS. He asked me to reflect on several questions he posed to me as a catalyst for the article. Here's the result. This is question three of five.
III. I’m a businessman. What’s in it for me? What do I stand to gain by wiping out AIDS in Africa?
I’m sure I could think of a dozen ways that the global economy would be dramatically impacted and accelerated if Africa were to regain health and rise above it’s debt. And I’m sure I could find some way to eloquently display how the results probably will not be evident in this generation, but that getting involved is the best way to ensure the financial stability of the global economy for your great grandchild. But honestly, what I’d like to say to this person… Get over your ******* selfishness.
OK. Perhaps when I calm down i will come back to elaborate on those points...
2 weeks later:
First of all, I believe that business is a God-given blessing and mandate. Many talk of it as a necessary evil or simply as a means to another end. But work/labor was a gift and an integral part of being human from even before the Fall.
Second, it is imperative that any businessman/woman understand that they cannot (indeed should not) enter into philanthropy or striving to affect social change without the willingness and expectation that they themselves and their business will change as a result. As we get involved, we will change. We will become more humane. We will increase our capacity for compassion. We will mature as persons and become more Human. This is a significant return on investment. What other type of investment can yield that kind of quality return?
I could list off a dozen high-profile corporate scandals from just this past year. I believe that in every case at some point in the progression of each crime greed grew to such a degree that it surpassed the individual’s/corporation’s desire for truth/justice/legal action. One piece of each of these ethical failures resulted from a narrow focus on a financial profit bottom line. And whenever our focus on profit becomes too narrow, we will always push the limits of the law.
Partially in response to these scandals but for many other reasons as well, there has been increasing focus on corporate social responsibility. I believe there is significant research if not just popular belief that corporate social responsibility will make a business more profitable in the long term. It is a long-held (quantifiable) fact that values and principles enhance the company. This should be common sense. But for the deviants, I’m sure if you google “corporate social responsibility” or "stakeholder theory" you’ll discover a wealth of literature that could statistically prove a truth that everyone should have hard-wired in them already.
Again, it’s important to stress the long-term effects of this kind of investment. I don’t even want to try to come up with some kind of helping hand model for businesses that will immediately boost their revenues. If there are ways for an American business to affect change in a socially responsible and sustainable way, while at the same time boosting their immediate revenue, (and I’m sure there are several examples) I don’t expect that the return will be sufficiently motivating from a purely economic perspective.
Africa for one has been raped and beaten down for so long it seems like many of its leaders are acting like neglected orphan children who, lacking a mature parental model, act out of their hurts and insecurities, foolishly imitating the actions of it’s colonial rapists and megalomaniacal progeny on national and continental levels. Again, I would site here the very real potential that Africa, without our immediate and generous involvement, will detonate. (Remember the UN warnings of the collapse of social stability and national security? Sited in question 2) HIV/AIDS is the blazing fuse to this bomb. Refusing to involve our businesses amounts to affirming that we would prefer our own children be forced to sort through the debris and aftermath that will certainly been compounded by our failure to act. It's my sense that the sane and mature would choose preemptive immediate involvement over a legacy of devastating apathy.
III. I’m a businessman. What’s in it for me? What do I stand to gain by wiping out AIDS in Africa?
I’m sure I could think of a dozen ways that the global economy would be dramatically impacted and accelerated if Africa were to regain health and rise above it’s debt. And I’m sure I could find some way to eloquently display how the results probably will not be evident in this generation, but that getting involved is the best way to ensure the financial stability of the global economy for your great grandchild. But honestly, what I’d like to say to this person… Get over your ******* selfishness.
OK. Perhaps when I calm down i will come back to elaborate on those points...
2 weeks later:
First of all, I believe that business is a God-given blessing and mandate. Many talk of it as a necessary evil or simply as a means to another end. But work/labor was a gift and an integral part of being human from even before the Fall.
Second, it is imperative that any businessman/woman understand that they cannot (indeed should not) enter into philanthropy or striving to affect social change without the willingness and expectation that they themselves and their business will change as a result. As we get involved, we will change. We will become more humane. We will increase our capacity for compassion. We will mature as persons and become more Human. This is a significant return on investment. What other type of investment can yield that kind of quality return?
I could list off a dozen high-profile corporate scandals from just this past year. I believe that in every case at some point in the progression of each crime greed grew to such a degree that it surpassed the individual’s/corporation’s desire for truth/justice/legal action. One piece of each of these ethical failures resulted from a narrow focus on a financial profit bottom line. And whenever our focus on profit becomes too narrow, we will always push the limits of the law.
Partially in response to these scandals but for many other reasons as well, there has been increasing focus on corporate social responsibility. I believe there is significant research if not just popular belief that corporate social responsibility will make a business more profitable in the long term. It is a long-held (quantifiable) fact that values and principles enhance the company. This should be common sense. But for the deviants, I’m sure if you google “corporate social responsibility” or "stakeholder theory" you’ll discover a wealth of literature that could statistically prove a truth that everyone should have hard-wired in them already.
Again, it’s important to stress the long-term effects of this kind of investment. I don’t even want to try to come up with some kind of helping hand model for businesses that will immediately boost their revenues. If there are ways for an American business to affect change in a socially responsible and sustainable way, while at the same time boosting their immediate revenue, (and I’m sure there are several examples) I don’t expect that the return will be sufficiently motivating from a purely economic perspective.
Africa for one has been raped and beaten down for so long it seems like many of its leaders are acting like neglected orphan children who, lacking a mature parental model, act out of their hurts and insecurities, foolishly imitating the actions of it’s colonial rapists and megalomaniacal progeny on national and continental levels. Again, I would site here the very real potential that Africa, without our immediate and generous involvement, will detonate. (Remember the UN warnings of the collapse of social stability and national security? Sited in question 2) HIV/AIDS is the blazing fuse to this bomb. Refusing to involve our businesses amounts to affirming that we would prefer our own children be forced to sort through the debris and aftermath that will certainly been compounded by our failure to act. It's my sense that the sane and mature would choose preemptive immediate involvement over a legacy of devastating apathy.
Monday, May 14, 2007
A Series of Questions II
A friend of mine has undertaken writing an article for Food for the Hungry in an effort to mobilize folks in the fight against the affects of AIDS. He asked me to reflect on several questions he posed to me as a catalyst for the article. Here's the result. This is question two of five.
II. I’m an American Christian. What about the poor people in America? Shouldn’t I help them?
Absolutely. But my guess is that if you have to ask the question, you probably aren’t. (Most people who would ask this are either selfishly avoiding responsibility or are immobilized by the enormity of the problem.) So I’d say, absolutely. Start helping the poor in your own community. You’ll find that giving is actually a blessing. And the more you give, the more you’ll educate yourself to the needs.
My guess is that folks who’d ask this question probably have a certain eschatology that assumes the world is gonna end sometime in the next couple of generations. Well guess what. EVERY generation has thought that. If the Church doesn’t jump into action on behalf of the nearly 20 million orphans and 50 million people living with HIV/AIDS, …WHO WILL? Reality check: as the Church, we are God’s hands and feet on this planet. He does not have a back up plan. You and I are it. And we don’t know when to expect his return. So don’t just think we can continue to ignore the issue like we have for the past 25 years. We’ve got to get involved. Listen to these dire words from the 2006 United Nations Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic:
"A quarter century into the epidemic, the global AIDS response stands at a crossroads. The AIDS response must become substantially stronger, more stretegic and better coordinated if the world is to achieve the 2010 Decleration of Commitment targets. The countries most affected by HIV and AIDS will fail to achieve Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, hunger and childhood mortality, and countries whose development is already flagging because of HIV and AIDS will continue to weaken, potentially threatening social stability and national security, if the response does not increase significantly." (you should glance over the 28 page executive summary chock full of statistics at: http://data.unaids.org/pub/GlobalReport/2006/2006_GR-ExecutiveSummary_en.pdf )
The UN is warning here of collapsing social stability and national security! It is not at all a stretch then for me to predict that we will be sending troops to Africa in the next 10-15 years as a direct result of the dramatic decimation AIDS has brought to that continent—the epicenter of the epidemic.
Furthermore, who did Christ call us to serve? The same He came to serve--the marginalized, poor, neglected. Another UN finding is that the vast majority of current projects fail to reach those who are at the greatest risk. If the Church is not getting to those who are at the greatest risk, WHO WILL?
II. I’m an American Christian. What about the poor people in America? Shouldn’t I help them?
Absolutely. But my guess is that if you have to ask the question, you probably aren’t. (Most people who would ask this are either selfishly avoiding responsibility or are immobilized by the enormity of the problem.) So I’d say, absolutely. Start helping the poor in your own community. You’ll find that giving is actually a blessing. And the more you give, the more you’ll educate yourself to the needs.
My guess is that folks who’d ask this question probably have a certain eschatology that assumes the world is gonna end sometime in the next couple of generations. Well guess what. EVERY generation has thought that. If the Church doesn’t jump into action on behalf of the nearly 20 million orphans and 50 million people living with HIV/AIDS, …WHO WILL? Reality check: as the Church, we are God’s hands and feet on this planet. He does not have a back up plan. You and I are it. And we don’t know when to expect his return. So don’t just think we can continue to ignore the issue like we have for the past 25 years. We’ve got to get involved. Listen to these dire words from the 2006 United Nations Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic:
"A quarter century into the epidemic, the global AIDS response stands at a crossroads. The AIDS response must become substantially stronger, more stretegic and better coordinated if the world is to achieve the 2010 Decleration of Commitment targets. The countries most affected by HIV and AIDS will fail to achieve Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, hunger and childhood mortality, and countries whose development is already flagging because of HIV and AIDS will continue to weaken, potentially threatening social stability and national security, if the response does not increase significantly." (you should glance over the 28 page executive summary chock full of statistics at: http://data.unaids.org/pub/GlobalReport/2006/2006_GR-ExecutiveSummary_en.pdf )
The UN is warning here of collapsing social stability and national security! It is not at all a stretch then for me to predict that we will be sending troops to Africa in the next 10-15 years as a direct result of the dramatic decimation AIDS has brought to that continent—the epicenter of the epidemic.
Furthermore, who did Christ call us to serve? The same He came to serve--the marginalized, poor, neglected. Another UN finding is that the vast majority of current projects fail to reach those who are at the greatest risk. If the Church is not getting to those who are at the greatest risk, WHO WILL?
Thursday, April 26, 2007
A Series of Questions I
A friend of mine has undertaken writing an article for Food for the Hungry in an effort to mobilize folks in the fight against the affects of AIDS. This will be a four part Q&A. Here's part I.
Great questions Tom. There are so many angles to come at this—I appreciate the different voices you’ve brought to it. Anywho, here are my thoughts as they came out—not too organized or censored. If you would like more detail/elaboration on any point, please do respond. I would be more than happy to jump into a lengthier conversation on any of the points. Thanks for taking this on brother.
I. I’m a middle-class American teenager. What good does donating money to AIDS projects in Africa really do?
First of all, donating your money means you’re way more likely to pay attention to what’s going on. Second of all—don’t let anyone limit your vision of the impact you can have on the world—even at your young age. And finally, as a middle class American teenager, you are more wealthy than most of the worlds population to say nothing over your peers worldwide. If you don’t get involved, who will?
There’s a family in Africa who’s father/husband has died of AIDS. Before dying, he passed on the virus to his wife. She is now sick and trying to care for her three children. Because she’s unable to work as long/hard as she used to, her children are now forced to go to work for abusive bosses who are likely to take advantage of them economically and sexually. The mom, as well as the kids, are discriminated against because HIV still carries so much negative stigma. They will have to drop out of school. So when/if they grow to adulthood, they will not be able to make a living wage and the cycle of poverty will repeat itself. This has been happening before our eyes for the past 50 years in Africa. But lets rewind. Someone decides to donate a dollar a day to this family. One dollar a day would provide for the mother’s Anti-Retroviral medication that would allow her to live a healthy, prolonged life. So now she can continue to work to provide for her family. Suddenly there’s hope that he children will be able to finish school so that when she gets too weak, they will be able to enter the marketplace to provide for her and the family. This is just one example. Our donations could help fund clinics that distribute and monitor these meds. We could fund food programs that provide nutritious meals to folks with HIV/AIDS—medication is only as effective as their diet is healthy. We could fund other social services that intentionally break the cycles of poverty/shame/abuse/ignorance that perpetuate HIV/AIDS.
Because HIV/AIDS is a manageable illness here in the US most folks are hard-pressed to see that it is indeed a worldwide crisis of pandemic proportions. In South Africa, one of the nations hardest hit, there are thousands of school buildings full of hundreds children each with only a handful of teachers tasked to teach them—often one teacher to a hundred-plus students. Thousands of the teachers that once were in place to provide a more adequate education are either dead or bed-ridden because of AIDS. And this doesn’t even touch the issue of orphans—there will be 5 million orphans living in South Africa by 2010! (and this is in many ways a conservative estimate—history continues to show us that our projections, particularly with AIDS, have been devastatingly low.) How can any country handle that kind of foster-care/child welfare crisis? How will South Africa deal with a new generation with such a large percentage of orphans? The fact is, they can’t. There simply is no way. Even if they redirected every possible resource to this issue—they could not train the necessary social workers, foster parents, counselors, teachers, child-care providers, etc. to meet the titanic demand. By every account—even the worlds most powerful/brilliant leaders (listen to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s sobering words any time he speaks on the issue)—all our efforts to combat the global disastrous effects of HIV/AIDS, as significant as these have been, have NOT been sufficient. Further more, things are NOT getting better! They continue to get worse! This is where our help MUST come into play.
I know the question was about money, but let’s say you don’t have money to donate. There are so many ways you can partner with others by being willing to serve with your time. HIV/AIDS awareness and education among youth has been grossly inadequate. What if you went with an organization that taught in rural schools in Africa for a summer?
Great questions Tom. There are so many angles to come at this—I appreciate the different voices you’ve brought to it. Anywho, here are my thoughts as they came out—not too organized or censored. If you would like more detail/elaboration on any point, please do respond. I would be more than happy to jump into a lengthier conversation on any of the points. Thanks for taking this on brother.
I. I’m a middle-class American teenager. What good does donating money to AIDS projects in Africa really do?
First of all, donating your money means you’re way more likely to pay attention to what’s going on. Second of all—don’t let anyone limit your vision of the impact you can have on the world—even at your young age. And finally, as a middle class American teenager, you are more wealthy than most of the worlds population to say nothing over your peers worldwide. If you don’t get involved, who will?
There’s a family in Africa who’s father/husband has died of AIDS. Before dying, he passed on the virus to his wife. She is now sick and trying to care for her three children. Because she’s unable to work as long/hard as she used to, her children are now forced to go to work for abusive bosses who are likely to take advantage of them economically and sexually. The mom, as well as the kids, are discriminated against because HIV still carries so much negative stigma. They will have to drop out of school. So when/if they grow to adulthood, they will not be able to make a living wage and the cycle of poverty will repeat itself. This has been happening before our eyes for the past 50 years in Africa. But lets rewind. Someone decides to donate a dollar a day to this family. One dollar a day would provide for the mother’s Anti-Retroviral medication that would allow her to live a healthy, prolonged life. So now she can continue to work to provide for her family. Suddenly there’s hope that he children will be able to finish school so that when she gets too weak, they will be able to enter the marketplace to provide for her and the family. This is just one example. Our donations could help fund clinics that distribute and monitor these meds. We could fund food programs that provide nutritious meals to folks with HIV/AIDS—medication is only as effective as their diet is healthy. We could fund other social services that intentionally break the cycles of poverty/shame/abuse/ignorance that perpetuate HIV/AIDS.
Because HIV/AIDS is a manageable illness here in the US most folks are hard-pressed to see that it is indeed a worldwide crisis of pandemic proportions. In South Africa, one of the nations hardest hit, there are thousands of school buildings full of hundreds children each with only a handful of teachers tasked to teach them—often one teacher to a hundred-plus students. Thousands of the teachers that once were in place to provide a more adequate education are either dead or bed-ridden because of AIDS. And this doesn’t even touch the issue of orphans—there will be 5 million orphans living in South Africa by 2010! (and this is in many ways a conservative estimate—history continues to show us that our projections, particularly with AIDS, have been devastatingly low.) How can any country handle that kind of foster-care/child welfare crisis? How will South Africa deal with a new generation with such a large percentage of orphans? The fact is, they can’t. There simply is no way. Even if they redirected every possible resource to this issue—they could not train the necessary social workers, foster parents, counselors, teachers, child-care providers, etc. to meet the titanic demand. By every account—even the worlds most powerful/brilliant leaders (listen to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s sobering words any time he speaks on the issue)—all our efforts to combat the global disastrous effects of HIV/AIDS, as significant as these have been, have NOT been sufficient. Further more, things are NOT getting better! They continue to get worse! This is where our help MUST come into play.
I know the question was about money, but let’s say you don’t have money to donate. There are so many ways you can partner with others by being willing to serve with your time. HIV/AIDS awareness and education among youth has been grossly inadequate. What if you went with an organization that taught in rural schools in Africa for a summer?
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Faith-Based Organizations Major Contributors to Fight Against HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa
(adapted from: KaiserNetwork.org)
Faith-based organizations are playing a major role in the fight against HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a World Health Organization report released this week. According to the report -- titled "Appreciating Assets: Mapping, Understanding, Translating and Engaging Religious Health Assets in Zambia and Lesotho" -- Christian hospitals and health centers provide about 40% of HIV/AIDS medical care in Lesotho and manage nearly one-third of treatment facilities in Zambia. The report found that faith-based organizations seldom are credited for their efforts to increase access to antiretroviral treatment and provide care to those living with HIV/AIDS on the continent, IRIN/AllAfrica.com reports. According to WHO, faith-based organizations make up 30% to 70% of the health infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa. Patrick Purtill, director of new partner outreach in the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, said failing to recognize that faith-based organizations "possess an extensive geographic reach and a well-developed infrastructure in the developing world" could hinder efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. Francois Venter, director of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, said that churches and faith-based organizations are "uniquely positioned to help realize the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in Africa as a result of their stature in the communities." Ted Karpf, partnerships officer in WHO's HIV/AIDS Department, in a statement said, "This data demands that we continue to explore and expand the field," adding that the report is the "first serious study of FBO engagement in HIV/AIDS, but it cannot be the last" (IRIN/AllAfrica.com, 2/13).
Faith-based organizations are playing a major role in the fight against HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a World Health Organization report released this week. According to the report -- titled "Appreciating Assets: Mapping, Understanding, Translating and Engaging Religious Health Assets in Zambia and Lesotho" -- Christian hospitals and health centers provide about 40% of HIV/AIDS medical care in Lesotho and manage nearly one-third of treatment facilities in Zambia. The report found that faith-based organizations seldom are credited for their efforts to increase access to antiretroviral treatment and provide care to those living with HIV/AIDS on the continent, IRIN/AllAfrica.com reports. According to WHO, faith-based organizations make up 30% to 70% of the health infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa. Patrick Purtill, director of new partner outreach in the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, said failing to recognize that faith-based organizations "possess an extensive geographic reach and a well-developed infrastructure in the developing world" could hinder efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. Francois Venter, director of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, said that churches and faith-based organizations are "uniquely positioned to help realize the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in Africa as a result of their stature in the communities." Ted Karpf, partnerships officer in WHO's HIV/AIDS Department, in a statement said, "This data demands that we continue to explore and expand the field," adding that the report is the "first serious study of FBO engagement in HIV/AIDS, but it cannot be the last" (IRIN/AllAfrica.com, 2/13).
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
part of my application to audit classes at Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary has an extraordinary maintenance staff. I know that is not the lead-in you expected…but hang with me a second. As the most recent addition to the Building Services crew I have witnessed and begun to enjoy the rich friendships and motivating camaraderie that can be had among the team. No, it’s not all rosy and, yes, we are—all of humanity—rough around the edges. But look at this snapshot. The electrician is a full time pastor of a small, poor, yet generous and powerfully missional church. The locksmith is regularly invited to the pulpit to teach on a Sunday morning at his church. The housing maintenance man is a doting father and generous gifter. The supervisor is a pastoral counselor…and I could go on. My point is, these guys are now a huge part of my community, my present Christian experience. In an unexpected way, my co-workers have reminded me of the privilege I have in both serving and being a member of the Fuller community.
I have a renewed motivation to pursue my passion for future ministry by investing my free time into academic study. As mentioned above, I believe that God has uniquely gifted me to work with abused, neglected, exploited, and otherwise marginalized individuals. How fitting and providential is it that Fuller offers select classes specifically catered to leaders entering just such fields? I believe that attending classes at Fuller Theological Seminary is God-honoring stewardship of my time. I would be remiss if I were to fail to take advantage of the opportunity I have to sit under the instruction of minds and hearts that so many are not privileged enough to experience. I am excited about and motivated to take full advantage of this opportunity to audit select classes in the various schools of Theology, Psychology and Intercultural Studies. It will be my utter joy to see the fruit of these classes move from sharpening my own thinking to maturing and blessing lives back on the mission field.
I have a renewed motivation to pursue my passion for future ministry by investing my free time into academic study. As mentioned above, I believe that God has uniquely gifted me to work with abused, neglected, exploited, and otherwise marginalized individuals. How fitting and providential is it that Fuller offers select classes specifically catered to leaders entering just such fields? I believe that attending classes at Fuller Theological Seminary is God-honoring stewardship of my time. I would be remiss if I were to fail to take advantage of the opportunity I have to sit under the instruction of minds and hearts that so many are not privileged enough to experience. I am excited about and motivated to take full advantage of this opportunity to audit select classes in the various schools of Theology, Psychology and Intercultural Studies. It will be my utter joy to see the fruit of these classes move from sharpening my own thinking to maturing and blessing lives back on the mission field.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
new resolution: no more violence
This new year I would like to live a less violent lifestyle. As congenial and politically correct westerners, we don't typically think of our lifestyles as violent. But it doesn't really take much effort to see that our lack of deep thought can really hurt others. I hope we can all lend a few pensive moments this new year towards a less violent lifestyle. 
Following is an exasperated (and unsensored) exerpt from my journal about 6 months into our work in Cape Town:
It is impossible to live non-violently in South Africa. My lifestyle aggressively oppresses the poor. I shop almost daily at Superspar where the cashiers make only $100 a month, forcing them to live in kayamundi township where it is impossible to raise a healthy family, not to mention the crime, fear, rape, depression and hopelessness of that community. Let alone the massive fire that broke out today devastating dozens of homes just rebuilt from the conflagration of two months ago. I buy petrol that feeds overweight conglomerate executives and wealthy whites while leaving the pump man a squib R2 (30cent) tip and a s**t-eating smile. I drive, in my nearly empty minivan, past dusty and exhausted mothers, grandmothers and daughters dragging their wares miles back to home each day. Although we’re going the same way, they’ve stopped even bothering to ask for a lift. Because I’m a white bastard and I’m not allowed to give a hand to a race the rest of my brothers are trying to exterminate. I live in an all white neighborhood—casting in my lot with this band of brothers who would gladly take up arms for me should I ever suspect a black man is eying my stuff too closely. If I hire a maid or gardener I will pay them just enough to survive. Not enough to live. And if I don’t hire, I will deprive two individuals of employment jeopardizing the lives of their children—or at least their education, health, and future.
By stepping on the tail of this dark, venomous, and beautiful continent we have become objects of wrath, targets and complicit partners in one of the world’s worst race wars of all time. By running from this place, I would become another casualty, another jaded and hopeless white spineless wet rag of a wash out.
[picture by Bryan A. Adkins]
Following is an exasperated (and unsensored) exerpt from my journal about 6 months into our work in Cape Town:
It is impossible to live non-violently in South Africa. My lifestyle aggressively oppresses the poor. I shop almost daily at Superspar where the cashiers make only $100 a month, forcing them to live in kayamundi township where it is impossible to raise a healthy family, not to mention the crime, fear, rape, depression and hopelessness of that community. Let alone the massive fire that broke out today devastating dozens of homes just rebuilt from the conflagration of two months ago. I buy petrol that feeds overweight conglomerate executives and wealthy whites while leaving the pump man a squib R2 (30cent) tip and a s**t-eating smile. I drive, in my nearly empty minivan, past dusty and exhausted mothers, grandmothers and daughters dragging their wares miles back to home each day. Although we’re going the same way, they’ve stopped even bothering to ask for a lift. Because I’m a white bastard and I’m not allowed to give a hand to a race the rest of my brothers are trying to exterminate. I live in an all white neighborhood—casting in my lot with this band of brothers who would gladly take up arms for me should I ever suspect a black man is eying my stuff too closely. If I hire a maid or gardener I will pay them just enough to survive. Not enough to live. And if I don’t hire, I will deprive two individuals of employment jeopardizing the lives of their children—or at least their education, health, and future.
By stepping on the tail of this dark, venomous, and beautiful continent we have become objects of wrath, targets and complicit partners in one of the world’s worst race wars of all time. By running from this place, I would become another casualty, another jaded and hopeless white spineless wet rag of a wash out.
[picture by Bryan A. Adkins]
Sunday, December 17, 2006
speeding ticket plea
20 April 2006
Dear Sir / Madaam,
My name is Matthew Talley. I was driving the vehicle mentioned in the enclosed notice on the date mentioned. I am writing to humbly request the nullification of the stated fines for the following reasons:
· I was sighted at these speeds as I was leaving Stellenbosch both mornings. I am aware that that upon entering Stellenbosch the speed limit is reduced to 60KPH. Upon leaving Stellenbosch, however, one can visibly see the 100KPH sign from the Kayamandi camera. It seems legitimate to me that one could accelerate after departing the Kayamandi intersection in full view of the 100KPH speed limit sign further up the road. Acceleration from this juncture seems fitting and safe.
· As a foreigner volunteering my time with an SA-registered non-profit NGO, I depend entirely upon the charitable donations of others for my livelihood. Furthermore, I was only recently made aware of the use of speed detection cameras. Having received two tickets (enclosed) from the same camera and with my financial status in mind, I ask for mercy regarding the enclosed fines.
Thank you kindly for hearing my request.
Sincerely,
Matthew Talley
Dear Sir / Madaam,
My name is Matthew Talley. I was driving the vehicle mentioned in the enclosed notice on the date mentioned. I am writing to humbly request the nullification of the stated fines for the following reasons:
· I was sighted at these speeds as I was leaving Stellenbosch both mornings. I am aware that that upon entering Stellenbosch the speed limit is reduced to 60KPH. Upon leaving Stellenbosch, however, one can visibly see the 100KPH sign from the Kayamandi camera. It seems legitimate to me that one could accelerate after departing the Kayamandi intersection in full view of the 100KPH speed limit sign further up the road. Acceleration from this juncture seems fitting and safe.
· As a foreigner volunteering my time with an SA-registered non-profit NGO, I depend entirely upon the charitable donations of others for my livelihood. Furthermore, I was only recently made aware of the use of speed detection cameras. Having received two tickets (enclosed) from the same camera and with my financial status in mind, I ask for mercy regarding the enclosed fines.
Thank you kindly for hearing my request.
Sincerely,
Matthew Talley
Thursday, December 14, 2006
yearning
Several years ago I wrote this for the year-end anthropology newsletter at Wheaton. As you read (or hum) von Schlegel's words, I wish you an encouraging season of reflection on the advent of the Christ-child.
I’m not a (full fledged) conspiracy or limited good theorist; but trust me, this world wouldn’t be any worse off if all the conspiracies were true. [I’m not sure why I started off with that…there must be some deep connection…I was reading Craig Barnes' "Yearning" at the time.] But I praise God that after he gave (almost) everything to Adam and Eve, at the center of the Garden was a limitation, a forbidden completeness. That iron case around my heart that keeps it from swelling to euphoric capacity, that denied final ounce of breath that fails to fill the last bronchiole branch--those tell me that my God lives and He wants to be that which fills me. Far from a mopey Christianity, this is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"!
I’m not a (full fledged) conspiracy or limited good theorist; but trust me, this world wouldn’t be any worse off if all the conspiracies were true. [I’m not sure why I started off with that…there must be some deep connection…I was reading Craig Barnes' "Yearning" at the time.] But I praise God that after he gave (almost) everything to Adam and Eve, at the center of the Garden was a limitation, a forbidden completeness. That iron case around my heart that keeps it from swelling to euphoric capacity, that denied final ounce of breath that fails to fill the last bronchiole branch--those tell me that my God lives and He wants to be that which fills me. Far from a mopey Christianity, this is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"!
Be still, my soul! the Lord is on your side;
bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
leave to your God to order and provide;
in every change He faithful will remain.
Your best, your heavenly friend,
through thorny ways, leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul! your God doth undertake
to guide the future as He has the past.
Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake;
all now mysterious will be bright at last.
Be still, my soul! the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.
Be still my soul! the hour is hastening on
when we will be forever with the Lord,
when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
sorrow forgot, love’s pure joys restored.
Be still, my soul! when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
–Katharina von Schlegel
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
last christmas
Amani Christmas—one side of the story. [I wrote this just after new years 2006 while on Christmas break in South Africa]
Break-ins, murder, carjacking, suicide, security, lasers, guard dogs. Feels like dozens of my conversations over the past few weeks have been picking tender scabbed flesh off of a stinging wound. We got the run down on the “code words” for the trained killers at Amani. Still trying to figure out the myriad security codes to punch into the satellite-connected consoles. So we get away for an evening, Christmas eve, only to find our discussion turned to why they’ve covered the pedestrian overpasses with heavy-gauge fencing. Our pastor warned us as we said our cheery “Merry Christmas, and Thank You!” goodbyes, he said, ‘stay alert, I always keep a keen eye along the N2. They call it ‘Death Alley’ you know. Just yesterday another guy was nearly killed when some bloke dropped a brick from a bridge. They’ve been known to take people out, decapitate them really, then lift the car.’ “Oh, great, thanks. Merry Christmas to you too! And thanks again for the lovely meal. Oh, and I’ll try not to get my face smashed in on the way home.”
Then Christmas night, conversations with Rian, our ex-cop tactical weapons trainer night guard. As we shared coffee and pecan pie he talked about the overrun prisons, crooked corrections officers and “the number”—the cultish prison gangs. Of course he regaled us with gruesome tales of robberies and a cuckoo estate-owner who is out to murder anything that moves on his property (and who turns up to be our near neighbor just down the hill).
We find ourselves at Obzside Scuba and we just passed our theory course work. Over a celebratory beer Sean tells us about how a group of guys tried to jack his car last night. They slowed down to a crawl in front of him—he felt it was fishy and so passed them up quickly. They stayed hot on his tail chasing him for a while then mysteriously called it off. Sean sneered a bit and laughed it off, swigged a gulp and moved on to other conversation. All in a (cape town) day’s work…I guess.
Two days later on our way to the dive shop, we drive slowly in procession past some cones, flares and flashing lights. Then the nondescript, pile of a shirt and trousers loosely covering a contorted body, lifeless inside them. We read about it in the paper the next day over a cup of French press and iced chai at the Somerset Mall—a desperate suicide dive off the overpass. I’m starting to wonder, ‘what kind of world do we live in where I have to dodge decapitation and depressed people launching themselves in front of my speeding car! Sounds like a scene out of Huxley’s Brave New World.
New Year’s eve comes round—we’re tired and decide to head off to bed early. Our SWAT guard, Rian, comes around to let us know he’ll be keeping Charlie—the younger Alsatian bitch—with him tonight. He’s uncharacteristically serious and obviously frightened. Said both of our neighbors below and above us were broken into last night. ‘It’ll only be a matter of time….’ And so we arm ourselves with laser beams, bars, trained killer dogs, a permanent 24hr guard with a small mobile army unit we can deploy at the touch of a panic button or a phone call, and, of course, a maglight. “Sleep tight baby. Let’s keep the window open to the dog pen so the dogs can jump right in and kill the guy as he comes down the hall at us.” ‘Good plan. Happy New year. Luv ya, good night.’
Then with heavy eyelids but throbbing pulse we wonder if somehow someone got in during the day while the lasers were off. What if they’re hiding somewhere inside? Should we have the dogs do a sweep of the entire estate? They’re trained to do that of course. And we lie absolutely still on our backs straining to stretch our ears. Surrounded by the softest Egyptian cotton in our king-size bed, we can’t enjoy the luxury tonight as our recalcitrant minds race back over Anne’s story….
SCREEECH! I pulled a hamstring muscle as I literally jumped bolt upright in bed when the security alarm screamed at me, coldly announcing our first morning of 2006. After a delirious blurry sweep of the house (what would I have done with the a maglight if someone were actually inside?), I comforted myself to think that the automated sprinklers tripped the laser outside our bedroom—I just wanted to get back to my pillow. After typing the code and giving the password to the armed response unit over the phone, I retreated to bed to lower my pulse and let my body absorb all the adrenaline visibly coursing through my neck and eye sockets. New Year’s day braai and of course we have to talk security, disparity, crime, and the hopeless racial struggles of South Africa. Ahhh, and a jolly festive season to you too, as I drain my champagne.
Break-ins, murder, carjacking, suicide, security, lasers, guard dogs. Feels like dozens of my conversations over the past few weeks have been picking tender scabbed flesh off of a stinging wound. We got the run down on the “code words” for the trained killers at Amani. Still trying to figure out the myriad security codes to punch into the satellite-connected consoles. So we get away for an evening, Christmas eve, only to find our discussion turned to why they’ve covered the pedestrian overpasses with heavy-gauge fencing. Our pastor warned us as we said our cheery “Merry Christmas, and Thank You!” goodbyes, he said, ‘stay alert, I always keep a keen eye along the N2. They call it ‘Death Alley’ you know. Just yesterday another guy was nearly killed when some bloke dropped a brick from a bridge. They’ve been known to take people out, decapitate them really, then lift the car.’ “Oh, great, thanks. Merry Christmas to you too! And thanks again for the lovely meal. Oh, and I’ll try not to get my face smashed in on the way home.”
Then Christmas night, conversations with Rian, our ex-cop tactical weapons trainer night guard. As we shared coffee and pecan pie he talked about the overrun prisons, crooked corrections officers and “the number”—the cultish prison gangs. Of course he regaled us with gruesome tales of robberies and a cuckoo estate-owner who is out to murder anything that moves on his property (and who turns up to be our near neighbor just down the hill).
We find ourselves at Obzside Scuba and we just passed our theory course work. Over a celebratory beer Sean tells us about how a group of guys tried to jack his car last night. They slowed down to a crawl in front of him—he felt it was fishy and so passed them up quickly. They stayed hot on his tail chasing him for a while then mysteriously called it off. Sean sneered a bit and laughed it off, swigged a gulp and moved on to other conversation. All in a (cape town) day’s work…I guess.
Two days later on our way to the dive shop, we drive slowly in procession past some cones, flares and flashing lights. Then the nondescript, pile of a shirt and trousers loosely covering a contorted body, lifeless inside them. We read about it in the paper the next day over a cup of French press and iced chai at the Somerset Mall—a desperate suicide dive off the overpass. I’m starting to wonder, ‘what kind of world do we live in where I have to dodge decapitation and depressed people launching themselves in front of my speeding car! Sounds like a scene out of Huxley’s Brave New World.
New Year’s eve comes round—we’re tired and decide to head off to bed early. Our SWAT guard, Rian, comes around to let us know he’ll be keeping Charlie—the younger Alsatian bitch—with him tonight. He’s uncharacteristically serious and obviously frightened. Said both of our neighbors below and above us were broken into last night. ‘It’ll only be a matter of time….’ And so we arm ourselves with laser beams, bars, trained killer dogs, a permanent 24hr guard with a small mobile army unit we can deploy at the touch of a panic button or a phone call, and, of course, a maglight. “Sleep tight baby. Let’s keep the window open to the dog pen so the dogs can jump right in and kill the guy as he comes down the hall at us.” ‘Good plan. Happy New year. Luv ya, good night.’
Then with heavy eyelids but throbbing pulse we wonder if somehow someone got in during the day while the lasers were off. What if they’re hiding somewhere inside? Should we have the dogs do a sweep of the entire estate? They’re trained to do that of course. And we lie absolutely still on our backs straining to stretch our ears. Surrounded by the softest Egyptian cotton in our king-size bed, we can’t enjoy the luxury tonight as our recalcitrant minds race back over Anne’s story….
SCREEECH! I pulled a hamstring muscle as I literally jumped bolt upright in bed when the security alarm screamed at me, coldly announcing our first morning of 2006. After a delirious blurry sweep of the house (what would I have done with the a maglight if someone were actually inside?), I comforted myself to think that the automated sprinklers tripped the laser outside our bedroom—I just wanted to get back to my pillow. After typing the code and giving the password to the armed response unit over the phone, I retreated to bed to lower my pulse and let my body absorb all the adrenaline visibly coursing through my neck and eye sockets. New Year’s day braai and of course we have to talk security, disparity, crime, and the hopeless racial struggles of South Africa. Ahhh, and a jolly festive season to you too, as I drain my champagne.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Sunday, December 03, 2006
"the greatest challenge of our generation"
United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan gave a message in New York on December first. You can read the full text of the message by clicking here. Here are a few highlights:"In the 25 years since the first case was reported, AIDS has changed the world. It has killed 25 million people, and infected 40 million more. It has become the world's leading cause of death among both women and men aged 15 to 59. It has inflicted the single greatest reversal in the history of human development. In other words, it has become the greatest challenge of our generation.
[Accountability] requires business leaders to work for HIV prevention in the workplace and in the wider community, and to care for affected workers and their families. It requires health workers, community leaders and faith-based groups to listen and care, without passing judgement. It requires fathers, husbands, sons and brothers to support and affirm the rights of women. It requires teachers to nurture the dreams and aspirations of girls. It requires men to help ensure that other men assume their responsibility--and understand that real manhood means protecting others from risk. And it requires every one of us to help bring AIDS out of the shadows, and spread the message that silence is death."
Nomafili, a strong and talented young woman, an orphan and one of our youth in Cape Town, wrote a powerful poem about her community's experience of AIDS:
Death
Our people are dying because of this death
we cry night and day for people we love
from the bottom of our heart
God bring dizaster to our earth maybe he knows
Those people cry for this dizaster by taking their people
The whole world cry for this
Some of houses no, no all the houses
Don't switch their light off because of this Death
Some can't close their eyes because they scared.
They are crying night and day
They never stop crying because of their love ones
Those tears falling on the ground until the soil is wet
That you can even get water to that soil and tears
The hearts are full of blood
Heart broken by this Death
Those children who don't have parents
They are living alone no is bringing them food
When the sun goes down
They become scared
They live in darkness
And they become scared and waiting for something
To happen to them because of this Death
Dizaster
Killer
Joke
Nonsense
The Death that no one can say I found it
And I will kill it
No one no, one can find it!!!!!
From Nomafili
Poem of Death
So often I think of our struggle against the viral destruction of AIDS in terms of a battle. And so I find the language of Isaiah 49:25 an encouraging promise: But the Lord says, "The captives of warriors will be released, and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who [that which] fight[s] you, and I will save your children!"
