Shane Claiborne in Esquire Magazine

"To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity."

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/shane-claiborne-1209#ixzz0XQ1fWBP4

A Timely Prayer

Bring us home, O Lord.

When our bodies ache, our minds fail, our cells turn against our very being---bring us home, O Lord, to your perfect healing of our mind, body and soul.

When we are angry and impatient with our brothers and sisters, when we are unfriendly to the stranger, when we harbor fears and resentments---bring us home, O Lord, to your perfect love.

When our money runs low, our homes are lost, our children go hungry---bring us home, O Lord, that we might have life and have it abundantly.

When we tolerate human suffering, ignore the plight of the foreigner, allow nation to rise up against nation---bring us home, O Lord, that we might live in your perfect peace....

Paul Mowry

via Inward/Outward

That's MY hubby! :D

Went with Keith to Saint John on Monday as he presented before a task force on mental health issues in the Province. He made the paper! I'm so proud of him!

Telegraph Herald - New Approach Advocated

World AIDS Day 2008

I received this in my email today - and loved it's thoughtful encouragement for all of us as we face World AIDS Day on December 1st.

Dear Heidi,

My name is Lt. Colonel Shane Kimbrough and I am on the International Space Station orbiting 200 miles above the earth.

During the 90 minutes it takes us to circle the earth, we do not see borders or boundaries. From up here, the task of solving the world’s biggest problems seems less daunting. But when our shuttle lands next Sunday, we will return to a world where border disputes and financial crises lead the nightly news. Those challenges define our world and their solutions will define our future.

That’s why I joined ONE. I believe with my voice and yours and millions of others taking on the challenges of extreme poverty and preventable diseases, these problems become less daunting and more solvable.

I wouldn’t be here today if President Kennedy hadn’t called on America to make space exploration a priority. In 1961 he said, “We face an extraordinary challenge. Our strength as well as our convictions have imposed upon this nation the role of leader in freedom’s cause.” He called on America to marshal its courage and creativity, its intelligence and determination to put a man on the moon.

There were skeptics. Some said it wasn’t possible. Some thought we should instead focus on other concerns here at home. But President Kennedy – and the American people – would not be deterred. We set a goal; we made a plan; we put a man on the moon; we changed the way we saw our world.

President Kennedy’s vision forced us to look to the moon and raise our expectations of what is possible. Looking back at the earth with the same perspective as those early astronauts, Kennedy’s philosophy about our own planet is with me today: “Our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children’s futures, and we are all mortal.”

Today, a renewed courage is sweeping the world. People are dreaming boldly and, more importantly, they are ready to turn those dreams into actions.

On World AIDS Day, December 1st, we are celebrating our success in helping to bring lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment to 3 million people globally, including 2 million Africans. But there are 7 million more people who are in critical need of AIDS drugs and don't have them. There are also millions at risk of becoming infected with HIV.

We can drastically reduce poverty and preventable diseases, including HIV/AIDS, on our planet. But it will take all of us working together as one to achieve that goal. As Bono has said, ending extreme poverty could be our generation’s moonshot. This could be our new frontier. We should focus our attention to those on our planet who need help the most.

That’s what I believe. That’s my story. And that’s why I am a member of ONE.

What about you? Why are you ONE in the fight against global poverty and preventable diseases? Share your story at:

http://www.one.org/shareyourstory?id=766-821571-bs1n9rx&t=2

ONE plans to feature what we have to say on its website, to inspire more people to add their voices to ours, and to make a real difference for those who are fighting hard to break free from extreme poverty. Use your webcam or your keyboard. Send in pictures. And spread the word.

Up here, we see one world, one home we all inhabit.

I’ll check in again when I’m back from orbit.

From the International Space Station,

Lt. Colonel Shane Kimbrough
Mission Specialist, Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-126)

God made poor

Jesus is God made poor. His coming was prophesied to bring social revolution, and his kingdom would turn things upside down: The mighty would be brought low, the rich sent away empty, the poor exalted, the hungry satisfied (Luke 1:52-53). Jesus identified himself with the weak, the outcast, the downtrodden. His kingdom undermines all economic systems that reward the rich and punish the poor.

The early Christians shared their goods with one another and with the poor. The Jubilee redistribution was fulfilled among them, no longer just at periodic intervals, but as a way of life. The apostles taught that one could not profess love for God while ignoring the needs of hungry neighbors.

Jim Wallis, The Call to Conversion

via

Blogging against poverty

I used to think that poverty was all about money. Just a lack of generosity, will or opportunity, both given and taken. I used to think that people could make simple choices that could raise them up out of poverty if they just really wanted it enough. I was incredibly naive.

I have come to learn that poverty isn't just about income. Poverty isn't about finances. Poverty isn't about jobs.

Poverty is pervasive. It depletes and erodes and siphons away at all it touches. Poverty is subtle and sly. It is a glutton that munches around the edges of life, eating at the structure and stability humanity relies on. Poverty is no respecter of persons.

I didn't know that when we moved to New Brunswick we would be on the very edges of the Appalachian chain of mountains that stretch down the eastern seaboard. There is a pervasive poverty that is attached to these mountains. They hold great beauty and richness, both in people and in culture, but there is also a profound brokenness that infiltrates and cultures a deep scarcity that has affected generations. It is a poverty that wounds and magnifies itself forward into the lives of it's descendants. It is a poverty that has little to do with money.

This is why trickle down economics never works. It is why programs about programs cannot seem to make a dent. It is why Jesus said "the poor you will always have with you" - because he knew that poverty of soul was far greater than the poverty of the pocketbook.

I am astounded with the depth of need I see around me. Stupefied even. Frozen with the vastness of it all. How can we make a difference? What can we do? What can be done to break this pervasive, generational cycle of poverty so that there will one day be hope for those that follow?

My husband Keith regularly reminds me that far too often when I am overwhelmed and discouraged by the pittance I am able to offer, "Sometimes we can only see the lack and we don't know what could be happening if we weren't here standing in the gap, offering our small contribution." That is a perspective I struggle to achieve. I forget that by "doing small things with great love" the world is changed.

So today, just for today, I will do small things, with as much love as I am able to muster. It needs to be enough. It will be enough.

What puts the "ape" in apricot?

Just ONE question

The ONE Campaign is asking Jim Lehrer, host of the debate on Friday night to squeeze a question in about global poverty:

Only two questions about global poverty have been asked in the history of modern presidential debates - a shockingly low figure. In 2008, voters need to know what Barack Obama and John McCain will do to end the most extreme suffering in our increasingly interconnected world.

You can help make sure that changes, by signing our petition to debate moderator Jim Lehrer urging him to ask "Just ONE Question" on global poverty at the first presidential debate, September 26th in Oxford, Mississippi.

Sign here:

Just ONE Question Petition

Caring for the least of these

Help get this ad on the radio in Ohio:

Matthew 25 Network

Thank you Community Organizers!

Joe Klein: What a Community Organizer Does

Peace for all

Woe to us indeed if we forget the homeless ones who have no vote, no power, nobody to lobby for them, and who might as well have no faces even, the way we try to avoid the troubling sight of them in the streets of the cities where they roam like stray cats. And as we listen each night to the news of what happened in our lives that day, woe to us if we forget our own homelessness.

To be homeless the way people like you and me are apt to be homeless is to have homes all over the place but not to be really at home in any of them. To be really at home is to be really at peace, and our lives are so intricately interwoven that there can be no real peace for any of us until there is peace for all of us.

Source: Frederick Buechner - The Longing for Home

via

Keith's math

Keith was doing some math the other day and I encouraged him to write it down (and even blog about it) so that others might benefit from the calculations of living on the margins. You can read it here:

2 miles in their shoes

Stand by the poor

Seeking Poverty - Anonymous

You seek poverty not for its own sake,
nor from contempt or fear
for the good things God gives you,
but because you want to contribute something
to alleviate the world's poverty,
to make even your own possessions available.
...
Live like a poor person
without parading your poverty.
Stand by the poor wherever they live and work.
Your first love must go out
to the least of these.
Don't tie yourself down to the rich or powerful
of the world.

Source: Rule for a New Brother

via inward/outward

Want to be perfect?

Reading today from "Praying with Jesus, Eugene Peterson" - June 5th. I was surprised by the tone of this small/mondo beyondo verse:

"If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." Matthew 19:21

The young man thought he had kept the Levitical command, "Love your neighbor as yourself," but it had never occurred to him that his neighbor might be the poor man, and love might have something to do with how he spent his money.

Who are some of the unseen neighbors in your life?

PRAYER: I know the commands, O God, but I need your help in seeing the people and circumstances where my obedience is commanded. Open my hands that have been clutching possessions; open my eyes, too long blind, to certain neighbors. Amen.

Disturbed

I needed this today:

It was Argentinian doctor and pop-revolution icon Che Guevara who said, as he was leaving Cuba for Africa, "Let me say, at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love."

But lovers are hard to come by. And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about. We are trying to raise up an army not simply of street activists but of lovers - a community of people who have fallen desperately in love with God and with suffering people, and who allow those relationships to disturb and transform them.

Source: The Irresistible Revolution - Shane Claiborne

via - Inward/Outward

G8 - Keep your word to the poor!

Please join with me in supporting Desmond Tutu in addressing the G8 countries as they meet to discuss their funding (or lack of) for the worlds poor. Avaaz.org has a petion you can sign. Their website states:

This Friday, the finance ministers of the world's richest countries meet to plan the G8 summit in Germany. Two years ago, they pledged to double aid to Africa--but despite their promises, aid from the G8 has actually gone down, and 20,000 children every day are still dying preventable deaths.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has signed on to a letter organised by Avaaz and our friends at the Global Call to Action Against Poverty. The letter will be featured in big ads in the Financial Times and German press on Friday morning, so that the finance ministers are reminded of their promises before they meet. Let's show how many of us want the rich world to keep its promises to the global poor!

TAKE ACTION NOW

My hero on my favorite show

I'll blog about this day soon - it was one of my favorites! Lunch with Tony & Peggy Campolo - what an honor!

My hero on my favorite show! It's over 9 minutes long - but well worth the watch. He looks so young and is so energetic - it just thrills my heart to see him so vibrant and energetic still!

Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort,
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger,
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears,
To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness,
To believe that you can make a difference in this world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Amen.

Make Affluence History!

Make Affluence History - geez magazine has designed this 'sponsor a child' program for rich kids.

From the website:

It's not their fault

It's just not fair. Average children in North
America will grow up taking more than their
share of the earth's wealth.

These are caring kids who never intended
to be far richer than most of humanity.
It just happened.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Our new wealth-reduction program can help.
In this first-of-its-kind sponsorship program,
we're inviting poorer families to sponsor a
child that's well off.

Benefits for the child:
-hope for a less-cluttered, more grounded life
-new friends from other income brackets
-join the movement to Make Affluence History
-discover a cheaper way to happiness (and maybe heaven!)

It's brilliant - I love it. I'm signing Ali & Jake up today.

Thanks to Bart for the head's up!