What is "the matrix?"

The matrix is the space that we as humans develop culturally. We are all human social beings, we are born into community, a world that exists beyond us, yet we influence it as we choose. The matrix is inescapable. To exist in isolation biologically the human would die off. To exist in isolation psychologically the human would go insane. Consider for instance that the harshest punishment that the United States judicial system utilizes next to the death penalty is solitary confinement. If you want to get just a glimpse of the effects and trauma that solitary confinement has for the human being, watch the National Geographic documentary "Solitary Confinement." To exist in isolation socially makes the human socially dysfunctional. Thus, we cannot escape community and continue to exist or maintain any level of health, therefore it becomes paramount to consider who we are culturally as we practice "faith." The matrix is our culture, we are bound to it, can be bound by it and from second by second we think from our cultural "lens."

Every morning no matter where we are on the planet we each get up and even when we have 20/20 vision we each put on our cultural eyeglasses. The matrix is our cultural thinking that then directs our actions. The matrix is our mind and the "eyes" that we culturally see the world through.

(Utilized with permission: See www.SeniorLiving.org )

Culture is composed of a variety of things, including the foods we eat, style of dress, language, norms, values and most importantly our way of thinking. Our sociocultural thinking is termed "worldview systems." Worldviews are our cultural "philosophies" or theories of existence. They are the lenses we use to make sense of the everyday world.

So let's pretend. Pretend we go back to antiquity and we are philosophers sitting on a mountain and we are considering our connection to the stars, contemplating what is "truth", how to explain the unseen, and ultimately we consider how we should interact with each other on a day-to-day basis. These thoughts and ideas all overlap and they must reinforce each other or the entire cultural philosophy makes no sense. This pretending is the "thinking" of worldview systems and every minute of every second we take for granted that what we know, believe, and think is cultural; not universal as we all forget until we typically come into contact with someone who culturally thinks differently than us.

We need to dig deeper, continuing to ask more fully "what is culture?" and "what are worldviews?"

What you should understand is that the "African worldview" does not mean every person born on the continent of Africa believes and thinks this way, rather it is the agreed-upon dominant historical interpretations that African Studies and Black Studies have collectively presented as an historical ethos that weaves through modern day African cultures. The most amazing thing about cultural thinking is that it is NOT dictated by race, gender, sexual orientation, political position, social status, or geographic location. So, you could be born in America, Africa, Peru, Europe or Asia and think colonial or African or somewhere in between. Most world cultures follow dimensions of the African worldview, while the Colonial worldview is clearly the dominant way of thinking nationally and internationally. Who is free in their mind? Worldviews weave through and construct our everyday thoughts, interactions, perceptions of truth and reality and how we should treat "others." Therefore, this matters very much when it comes to theological interpretations of ethics.

What is theology?

Theology: theos + logos = God talk

>language or reasoning about God
>thinking, speaking and writing about God
>discourse about God, the Christian life and human life in the Church
>Disciplined reflection and interpretation of all reality in light of the main beliefs, values and symbols of the Christian community

To think theologically is to think critically utilizing a religious paradigm in making a social analysis or critique of human, thought or behavior. Therefore, in order to really do any adequate exegesis one must be awakened to their own cultural worldview as these shape and direct human thought and behavior and are the lens with which we interpret theology. In order to "be" theological one is attempting to understand the "mind of God." In order to understand the mind of God we must first understand the mind we've taken in from the world as this impacts how we interpret and ultimately see God.

How to do theological reflection?

Theological reflection is characterized by being rooted in sacred canon and Spirit centered, as well it takes on a cyclical nature of read/reflect; listen/reflect; dialog/reflect; research/reflect; write/reflect. Worldview systems impact what we see, hear, say, understand and argue. Thus, to do theological reflection one must understand the history of their own cultural thinking. More than that, we can clearly see that the Colonial worldview does not view the universe as composed of Spirit only measurable matter that originates from an explosion that mathematically aligned our solar system. Therefore, if one is operating from a colonial worldview where the structure of the universe is inherently divided and in conflict where only the fittest survive, and truth has to be measured while our day-to-day interactions suggest isolation from "other" is life-- this clearly impacts Biblical interpretion. The Bible which is itself in clear contrast to all of these colonial positions and with the cyclical nature of theological reflection undoubtably then the exegetical summary would look quite different from an African worldview. The African worldview has often been dubbed "backward" "uncivilized" "not modern" when in reality it is the starkest polarity to colonialism where all other cultures fall onto the spectrum between the poles. Thus culture in the form of our thinking expressed through our worldview lenses on a daily basis shape and impact our theological reflections and this is "the matrix."

Ethical implications of cultural thinking?

I recently completed an ethics course and I went into the course asking the question, “What does it mean to be a Christian ethically?” I spent the entire semester pondering, analyzing and creating a response. I conclude that “to be” a Christian ethically is to love and seek justice.

Love and justice are social creations and products of our cultural worldview systems. Again, if we pretend we are on that mountain as philosophers from another time and we are creating what it means "to love" and "do justice" first as a thought, a perception shaped by our position cosmologically, epistemologically, ontologically and axiologically then perhaps we get out of the mindset "that's just the way it is." We humans decide what and how to love and do justice, some seek religious interpretations in order to consider how God views love and justice ethically. I have been lecturing and teaching at the university level on worldviews since 2005, thus as I created this analysis I was operating from an African worldview, yet I never state it; however once you can "see" the matrix it becomes clear.

Here is my analysis and argument in its entirety.

The ethical implications of cultural thinking is that if we have been successfully colonized and this shapes, shades and overshadows interpretations of what it means “to be” a Christian ethically, then are we Christian? This question of identity is tantamount to future social change. We are operating on a mass scale in the roles of oppressor and oppressed; our daily society of gun violence, domestic violence, terrorism and bullying in America exemplify what we think culturally and ethically. My own father is in his late 60's and the Civil Rights Act did not pass until he was 19 years old. My grandmother, who was my babysitter and closest friend until I was 14 years old worked her entire life in rural Mississippi as a sharecropper on Mr. Griffin's farm making $19/bail with NO medical or retirement for a life of hard labor. She passed the test to become a school teacher even with never having completed more than elementary education, yet because she could not buy the books for her classroom and students she could not teach and she worked the farm until 1964 when she snuck away in the night with her children to Chicago. My father went to all segregated schools his entire life, he worked as a sharecropper beginning when he was six years old and then started plowing when he was nine and during crop season none of the children could attend school. All of my grandmothers children have been diagnosed with forms of lung cancer, lung disease and pneumonia that has been traced to the pesticides in the fields that they had to work as children. My father is a part of the largest generation in American history, the Baby Boom generation. By all American standards my brilliant, powerful father has the "American Dream" and as the first generation of my family off the plantation, I see that many structures from this same generation are operating in a mindset that can no longer be hidden. This is "the matrix."

Christians need to minimally be asking if we think like Christ, talk like Christ, behave like Christ and ethically live in community like Christ. Our faith commands us to transcend and take off culture to take on the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:15-16). I argue this is an ethic of love and justice that transcends the matrix of cultural worldviews that substantiates and gives voice to my family and others oppressed by social reality.

Are you colonized? Do you live in a simulated reality? No matter what is hidden; I see your thoughts, I see the history of your thoughts, do you?

This is the Theological Matrix: Worldviews Exposed.

The news is filled with stories of violence and death.

Troy Davis was unjustly executed and killed by the legal structure of who believe they have the right to take life. Trayvon Martin was gunned down in the street for his appearance and then the nation polarized to justify openly killing a teenager in America. While non-profits struggle to secure funding to tend to those most in need, Americans are donating money in mass to fund the legal defense of the man who openly shot an unarmed teenager. This is violence and death.

One in four women is abused in America. Thus, women are unsafe in their own homes en masse and every male Republican Senator voted against the Violence Against Women Act, as well as against the Equal Pay Act.  We have, then, social system that oppresses its women oppresses every generation.

Children are being sexually exploited and oppressed by priests and university administrators. Some children are being held back multiple years at the elementary level (K-5) for not testing well on standardized tests inspite of grades because of the No Child Left Behind policies. Prison projections are based on 3rd grade literacy rates. This is violence and death.

Young people in pain in some of the poorest communities now have access to military grade weapons that top national leaders do nothing about and offer no explanation for where they are coming from. The divorce rate is at a steady fifty percent and even more are completely opting out of marriage as a viable choice and the result is that children are the largest population in American society in poverty. Instead of demanding the accountability of men and fathers, society labels and stereotypes single mothers as a social ill. There are over 14 million Americans out of work, and news of cannibalism, kids publicly bullying elders, national terrorists shooting up college campuses, movie theaters and places of worship overwhelm us. This is violence and death.

Surely more of us need to care and join the dialog around violence with some preventative measures we can take because the dis-ease of our social system is erupting in dangerously violent ways. I believe that we must take a therapeutic approach to the dis-ease of growing violence in society. Collectively we share a common existence; we need to learn how to handle our own stressors in healthier ways, we need to learn to resolve conflict without resorting to violence, we need to acknowledge that where we are headed is not good for the masses and we have the choice to do something healthy about it. Being healthy is a choice, just like reacting violently is a choice. This is hope and life.

In therapy self-inventory is necessary, our existence is a culmination of our experiences. As a society, the baby boom generation grew up during the time of segregation and open oppression, members of that same generation are now the elders of society. They are the members of Congress, Senate, the Supreme Court and in many of the leadership positions in America. These elders were socialized as children to hate, to feel superior, to justify inequality as biologically inherent, to divide from “others” who are lessor, and to bully through the legal and education structure.  We have before us a necessary and sober task—to question where and how the social world we have grown up in has shaped us directly and indirectly in unhealthy ways. This is hope and life.

The first therapeutic step for our society is to face the reality of our dis-ease and the roots of it. To face lingering generational pain that we may not even understand is the reality of our current society; we have to heal because the alternative is this path of erupting violence and dis-ease. People have been told to be silent, to suffer in silence, to cover up or drown the pain in anyway necessary.

People are addicted to alcohol, pharmaceuticals, pornography, food, shopping, and empty relationships to fill the places of social pain. Generation upon generation is walking around with behaviors that we have collectively created or allowed and it’s obvious that those from every race, gender, and economic bracket are impacted and suffering.

After we face who we are then we need to deal with self. Self-control is a habit that must be developed; our society is detached morally but technologically drunk on the lifestyle of wealth and affluence that always brings periods of height and collapse throughout world history. Pride always comes before the fall. Now is our opportunity to make a humble healthy change; individually and collectively. This is hope and life.

It is no longer possible to ignore violence because it’s in your city, your suburb, your rural community, your temple of worship and it is not going to change until we collectively decide to change and reach for those who need more assistance in working through the reality of our sick social world.

No longer is there someone to blame, a group to stereotype as “violent people.” What has happened generationally is impacting where we are right now, we shall either choose to collectively heal by dealing with self so that we can deal with each other or we shall destroy ourselves together by way of a violent death.

My hope is that each of us will determine to begin to authentically deal with self, we are the only change that is coming to address and heal the growing violence plaguing society. We are the change, let us heal. This is hope and life.

Photo by loop_oh, via Flickr Creative Commons.

As I have spent a good bulk of my seminary experience in pastoral care classes, I keep hearing over and over from professors that spiritual leaders are "burning out" because of lack of self-care. Wellness is a life choice. It is a life choice I have been slowly walking for more than 15 years.

Recently I had the great pleasure of attending the first session in a series of three workshops on "Wellness and Self Care for the Busy Life Style" facilitated by Maisie Sparks being held at McCormick Theological Seminary, organized by the Center for African American Ministries and Black Church Studies (CFAAM) and the Pan African Student Organization (PASO).

Wellness is something every person needs to consider, especially if in occupations serving the emotional, social, and physical needs of those hurting. If we are are depleted and dis-eased, our service will be hindered by our physical inability. Often we are juggling so many responsibilities and roles that self care becomes a last priority, but we cannot begin to love our neighbor as ourselves if we never get around to loving ourselves.

Since most of you will not have the benefit of attending these wonderful workshops led by Ms. Maisie Sparks, I would like to offer a brief recap of some of the most important affirmations and insights I have gained so far. The (4) key points tackled in the first workshop were:

>Breathing
>Rest
>Silence
>Journal Writing

One of the first major points that Sparks touched on was breathing. Often we take our breath for granted. "Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor" (Hanh Thich Nhat).

Remembering to really take the time to breath slowly, relaxing each major muscle group on purpose with purpose and learning to clear the mind is a lifestyle tool that can be practiced any time, any where to calm and center. The data on the physiological benefits of breathing practices are so far spread and accessible that I will not go into it more deeply here. In my own faith tradition, God imparts the breath of life; thus, breathing has become sacred in how I practice my faith. Wellness is a responsibility we all have to make, it is a daily personal priority. No one but you can command you to take the time to breathe healthy. Self care is key to wellness.

Next, Sparks discusses rest and being still. She noted how technologically driven our culture is and how even when we say we are "resting" we are doing something like answering emails, making phone calls, and/or watching television. Resting is countercultural, according to Sparks, because it is a complete retreat from that which is the world into the peace of the One who created the world. True rest then is a spiritual practice, cultivated through detachment from the temporal to that which is sacred.

The third major point that Sparks taught us at the workshop on wellness was the practice of silence. As a group, we the participants vowed to an hour of complete silence. We continued listening to the facilitator lecture in collective silence, and we had bathroom and snack breaks in silence, but for some to not talk was very agitating and challenging. For me, this was by far one of the most renewing activities; I adore and appreciate silence as a lifestyle practice. It is renewing to be quiet; to exercise self-control is healthy.

Finally, the last major topic that Sparks went over during this first workshop was journal writing. Journal writing is a form of expressive therapy. Journal writing is a personal space to say and feel whatever you feel and being able to express it productively without projecting it at a person. Journaling allows us to go back and see places within ourselves that more self care needs to be taken emotionally, physically and spiritually. The workshop facilitator offered some general guidelines for journal writing that I would like to leave with you. Spark's journal writing guidelines:

>get relaxed before writing
>write the date, time/place of entry
>keep your journals, utilize the lessons in them
>don't think, feel what you feel and WRITE
>start writing and keep writing
>cut to the chase, don't make excuses for your feelings, freely be yourself
>protect your journal
>be your authentic self

Wellness really does begin with something so simple as a single breath. Self care really does begin with something so simple like resting our physical, emotional and spiritual selves. Wellness is actually enhanced with silence. Self care really is a personal responsibility that requires us to deal with self, and one way to see who we are and what we feel is through journaling.

These wellness lifestyle practices are not religion specific, yet are substantiated by many traditions, including Christianity. It is my hope that as we seek the divine and what is spiritual, that we not become too detached as to overlook the practical. The practical, like living well, with what we have, doing what we know to do, as to be well and optimally functioning as conduits in the earth.

Wellness is a life journey, lived every day, with moment by moment choices, breathes, moments of silence and strokes of a pen. My faith tells me to teach you, "to get up, pick up your mat and walk." Wellness is an aspect of faith lived out practically. Remember to breathe, rest, be purposefully and intentionally silent and get your feelings and thoughts out on paper, these are practices to live well.

The photo is copyright Pam Brophy and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The core of this class exposed seminary students to five different faith traditions. Each week students read a chapter and supplemental materials on the differing faith traditions and then the following week as a class we took field trips to the differing temples of worship that corresponded with the previous week’s readings.

"Religious Pluralism" is a religious and cultural immersion experience for McCormick seminary students. As a sociologist and mother, I think that immersion and exposure is one of the best teaching methods for students and children to truly learn, thus I promote it in the classroom, as well as my own personal life.

For as long as I can remember, I have personally had an interest in learning about other faith traditions, even though this is often shunned within some Christian faith traditions as idolatrous. In addition to the Bible, I have read the Bhagavad Gita, the Quran, attended Native American worship services, and studied under traditional Priests in Ghana, West Africa over the last fifteen years of my own faith journey as a Christian. In each of these personal experiences, I found that the affirmations and challenges to my own faith helped me to better understand what I believe and why, while inversely teaching me how to respect other peoples traditions as something sacred to them.

I have continually held a longstanding desire for unity among Christians, but after completing this semester and assisting with "Religious Pluralism," I realize that my desire for unity extends beyond Christian unity. I realize that unity among Christians is only a portion of what I long to see happen on a global scale with people of faith. Deep in my soul, I hope to see people of all walks of life, all faith traditions working together for the common good of humanity, especially and including Christians.

As Christians we are disjointed, often pitting our denominational branches over each other and against each other. But, we not only stand over and against each other as Christians, we also often take this same position with people of differing faiths. Yet our greatest commandment as Christians is to love.

Love is respect.

We need to respect our denominational differences as Christians and we need to respect other people's faith traditions. I am forever impacted by how Christianity has historically showed itself globally. On my visits to Ghana, West Africa as I stood in the slave dungeon smelling the stench of death of my ancestors that still lingers in the air; there in the middle of the dungeon was a "church." It is forever etched into my consciousness how my faith has been used to oppress and justify oppression and I refuse to be silent and allow the liberating life and message of Jesus Christ to be misrepresented to a world I care to see well.

Gandhi says and I believe many would agree, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

As I visited the Synagogue, the Mosque, the Sikh temple, the Buddhist temple and finally the Hindu temple I learned more completely how not to judge other peoples faith and worship as lower than my own. I do not feel challenged about my own faith by being respectful of other people’s faith traditions. I do not feel compelled to "make" other people believe my religion is better or more right. The Bible teaches in Matthew 7:1-2;

1Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves.
2For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you [use to] deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you. (Amplified)

What I did find during this interfaith immersion experience was that other people’s faith traditions have great similarity to my own and this experience helped to illuminate places where we as Christians can take lessons that are affirmed in our own faith tradition.

At the synagogue, the Jewish temple of worship, the Holy Scripture is revered with such respect and adoration that it was so comforting to see a people singing and dancing in the aisle as their holiest of books was passed among the community, people kissing the pages as it passed by. This experience reminded me of how holy I hold the Bible personally. It allowed me to see that just because I am supposed to dissect every detail in scripture in seminary and often may hear a disregard for the holiness of the Bible as theological argument, I can still hold onto my reverence, as I dance down the aisle of my heart kissing the pages of my own holy book. I was encouraged and empowered in my own faith and beliefs by visiting the synagogue.

At the mosque, the Muslim temple of worship, it was encouraging to see that worship and going to the temple does not have to be a fashion show and that prayer should be central to any faith tradition. I often want to go into my own place of worship and bow with my face to the ground during prayer as this is often how I pray at home, yet in many churches this would be deemed inappropriate or out of line. But in the mosque, women and men freely pray, sometimes in isolation and other times as a community. Being able to witness this and to be among Muslims as they practiced their faith also encouraged me as did visiting the synagogue. I realized that just because some churches do not make prayer a central part of their worship services or choose to recite "churchy" catch phrases as a method to "do" prayer does not minimize my passion for talking with and communicating with the divine and bowing humbly in reverent prayer. Humble prayer is something all faiths can learn from.

At the gurdwara, the Sikh temple of worship, I learned about songs of scripture and hospitality. During the Sikh worship service, the musicians are singing their scripture as a poem as they play instruments. Though I could not understand the language, I heard the sweet melody and tender love that flowed from the voices of the musicians. In their music I heard adoration and reverence, it was not a music concert, it was not lead by those who were deemed the best singers, but it was the singing of their faith.

We should all sing a melody of our faith that even if people can not understand what we are saying, they still understand the love and reverence that shines as a radiant light of faith. After the worship service of song, we were fed a vegetarian meal. We were served and did not get up to get anything, we were fed until we could not eat another bite, it was food that was healthy and nourishing for our bodies and it tasted wonderful. As we were packing up to leave after dinner the host asked if we would like tea, most of my peers said no, yet I spoke up with bright eyes and a smile and said I would love some and they went and made some for us all to take on the drive home. I realized from this faith community how to sing my song of faith for the world to understand even when our languages are different. As well, I learned what hospitality and being accepted kindly as an outsider within a completely different faith feels like. I was respected, treated as an honored guest and treated as an insider through action, this all faith traditions should offer.

At the Buddhist Meditation Center, I was reminded that the ego, pride, and self-centeredness are tasks to be tackled daily by faith. I was reminded that in order to get into a place of prayer that it is important to clear out the clutter of the mind and all the daily hustle and bustle that keeps us from focusing solely on the God we profess to love. I was reminded that retreat from the worldly materialism all around us is a necessity to reconnect with the divine within us and all around us. It was also affirmed to me that times of solitude are necessary, dealing with self and our own inner issues allow us to then truly be in a place to serve those in need all around us from a healthier place. I also learned that most outsiders misinterpret the symbolic nature of other people's faith traditions, where one would assume statues present in the temple were to be worshipped, really they are symbols to speak of the ineffable lessons of their own faith.

Judgmentalism is often taught as a faith practice, rather than asking those of differing faith traditions what they actually believe and what their symbols means. This is one of the most present examples of ego and pride being at the center of too many people's faith practices. From the Buddhist faith, I learned that inner peace and health is what creates outer peace and health. Our societies are chaotic and sick because we're individually and collectively in inner turmoil and dis-ease, thus we have little power to improve the state of society because we refuse to stop long enough to deal with self. Instead we medicate with materialism and judgment of others. From this we can all learn how to be better stewards of our faith.

Finally, from the Hindu faith tradition, I found the connection between the cosmic, the scientific, and faith. The Hindu faith places significance on understanding our connection to the stars, solar system, consciousness, energy, matter, and the masculine and feminine found in all creation. Often those who profess to be Christian want to debate science, while those who profess science as their faith often attack Christians and from the Hindu faith it was reaffirmed that rightness is both/and not either/or. In the Hindu faith tradition, when someone bows with hands in a prayer position and says, "Namaste" this translates as, "I am bowing to the divine in you in peace."

Humility and honoring the divine in every person is a faith practice we could all learn from, rather than being jealous, competitive, and judgmental of each other as though the only place to exist is as a superior individual in relationship to each other. We all should bow to the uniqueness of God in every human being regardless of race, gender, class, or sexual orientation differences and want them to have peace.

Certainly, as a Christian I can find clear differences in what I believe from all of these faith traditions when considered in the broadest and more specific terms, however what I came away from this interfaith immersion experience with is again a richer understanding of what I do believe and why. I also came away from this experience being able to apply different lessons from all these faith traditions to practices that my own Bible teaches me. I found a deeper respect for what other people believe. I found that I am even more staunchly against tearing down other people’s faith practices to justify rightness as a Christian. If I can not draw others to Jesus Christ and wanting to know the God I serve through reverence of my scripture, humble prayer, singing psalms of praise, offering unending hospitality, dealing with my own ego so that I can better serve, and honoring the divine in each person I come into contact with, then I suppose I have no understanding of how to love as Jesus loved and fall short at honoring my own faith tradition.

Love is respect.

Herein lies the key for me in how we have authentic, empowering interfaith dialog. Respect is setting aside our notions of superiority, rightness and pride to listen to others. Listening is an art. It requires our undivided humble attention. It requires us to acknowledge our own social location, opinions, values, self-righteous arguments and being able to set those aside so that we can really hear with our hearts. If differing faith traditions stopped needing to "prove" they have all the answers and do everything the correct way, perhaps we could all find the commonality in our faith traditions and make the world a more peaceful, healthy, equitable place to co-exist.

We all mourn, know joy, bleed, and the one thing all human beings need no matter what faith we follow is love. Let us love each other by offering each other respect. Then let us all be disciples of our own faith traditions by living as examples to this crumbling world as lights of how our faith empowers us to be better people and reveals the divine in and through us.

Faith is a lived reality. Faith is exemplified in how we treat ourselves, our neighbors and our planet. If I were to orbit into space and use my sociological lens to view the planet with a critical macro lens, I could hypothesize there are very few of faith based on our relationships and treatment of each other and the whole creation. Interfaith dialog is an opportunity for us to come together inspite of our differences for the common good of all, love never fails and respect is the key.

Picture Source: Alternetekev (Attribution via Flickr Commons)

While preparing for class recently, I read an article by Walter Brueggemann “The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity” which takes a Christian theological analysis to the notions of abundance and scarcity. This article roots the historical biblical concept of scarcity in pharaoh’s desperate need to maintain power over resources. This becomes important to consider because over 75% of Americans self-identify themselves as “Christian” according to the CIA with over 2 billion Christians worldwide. It is important to assess the dominant American theological paradigm guiding our collective social interactions around economics and resources.

As I read the Brueggeman article my mind immediately started wandering and making connections with a CNN article I had recently read on the Occupy Wall Street movement and its global shifts to Europe, Asia and Australia with focused protests surrounding corporate power, grinding poverty and government cuts. Brueggeman asserts that money has become a type of narcotic and consumerism specifically has moved beyond being a market strategy to become a kind of “demonic force” in American culture. The mindset of scarcity is a fear based social lens and belief system assuming that there is “not enough” for everyone of which Occupy Wall Street has taken direct issue with.

After watching the documentary “The One Percent” I became more aware that this mindset and social philosophical scarcity lens is deeply held by those holding the most wealth in society and has spread to the masses of people like a plague, including American Christians. At this very moment in history, the top 1% of the American population controls nearly a quarter of all income, which is the highest wealth control since 1928 according to the Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality (SCSPI).

As of 2007, the top ten percent of the American population held 73.1% of the wealth nationally, while the bottom sixty percent of the population held a mere 4.2% (SCSPI, 2011). The SCSPI also found that in 2000, the average CEO was making one thousand thirty-nine times the average worker pay, thus we can hypothesize this has only gotten worse.

These unsettling figures give credence to the Occupy Wall Street movement. From a global view, Occupy Denmark says they want more money spent on the bottom 99% of the population with a redistribution of wealth and less spent on wars. If we use Christian biblical theology as our historical lens, we know that before any wealth redistribution is considered death, wars, and philosophical warfare will ensue in order to maintain power, legitimacy and control by those holding this scarcity view.

As human beings we inhabit a beautiful planet, full of life and abundance; yet the masses of people, including Christians, have been socialized into a mindset of fear that has developed into a philosophy of scarcity. Many Americans are in a state of constant fear believing that there is not enough for them, let alone everyone. While the top one percent is flourishing economically, we find that 21.9% of American children are living in poverty and in 2007 alone 8,100,000 children under the age of eighteen went without insurance (SCSPI, 2011).

What is more exemplary of this scarcity mindset is that we find a national agenda attempting to deal with the issue of obesity in America, while literally children and adults around the world are starving to death because of lack of food. I believe this has a direct correlation with the scarcity mindset and the need to consume more and more to quench our unrelenting narcotic fix concerning money and resources.

Christians are to be a light to humanity of love, peace and compassion. Yet, as a nation overflowing with Christians, we exemplify limited and minimal national or global compassion with sharing of the rich abundance that we have so freely received by the grace of God, especially the wealthiest. Rather, we maintain this notion of “it’s mine”, “I earned it all by myself”, “if I give I won’t have”radical scarcity individualism that contradictions the very core of our faith tenants. This is a charge not only to Christians but to all faith traditions, as LOVE in action is the core of all of our collective traditions.

There should not be a needy one among us when we have the power to fill that need. If we acknowledge and become liberated in our thoughts, beliefs and philosophies to realize that truly our planet is a place of abundance of which we are responsible for its stewardship and care, we would freely uplift and empower each other out of this abundance. What the global economic crisis and now the Occupy Wall Street movement has most illuminated is that we are not isolated individuals, rather we are inter-dependent persons and what impacts some will eventually impact us all, including the wealthiest top one percent.

Let us overcome the myth of scarcity to which we are now collectively enslaved and instead walk in the knowledge of our collective abundance, not abundance for the top one or ten percent, but abundance for us all. Change is coming by demand in the form of a global unified voice that can not be denied. If we have not money to share; surely we have a piece of bread, a slice of joy, a cup of water or a plate of compassion to offer to our neighbor. Faith is not a title; rather it is a lived abundant reality.

This image of Sir Wilfrid Laurier was obtained from Fotopedia via the Creative Commons, which assures that images are approved for use. It was originally uploaded to quinn.anya's photostream.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and I am driven to bring awareness to this social pandemic.  A “pandemic” is a dis-ease prevalent throughout an entire country, continent or the whole world.  I declare that Domestic Violence is a pandemic that needs our collective and immediate attention.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) assert that 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.  According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, an estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical abuse annually by an intimate partner, making up 85% of domestic violence victims.  The Allstate Foundation National Poll on Domestic Violence (2006) found that nearly 3 out of 4, that is seventy-four percent, of Americans personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence.

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence states “most cases of domestic violence are never reported to police.”  However, in 2007 alone, the Chicago Police Department received on average 565 domestic violence calls daily (Chicago Police Department Quarterly DV summary, March 2008).   Almost one-third of female homicide victims that are reported to police were killed by an intimate partner.  The CDC, reports that the annual cost of domestic violence exceeds 5.8 billion dollars, with direct medical and mental health services making up 4.1 billion of this total.  Yes, indeed domestic violence is a social pandemic.
Between Friends, a non-profit organization has created an abuse checklist to assess if perhaps you or someone you know is in an abusive relationship.  Does your (or their) partner:

_____ embarrass, make fun of or humiliate you publically or privately?
_____ put down your accomplishments or goals?
_____ make you feel like you are unable to make decisions?
_____ use intimidation or threats to gain compliance?
_____ tell you that you are nothing without them?
_____ treat you roughly; grab, push, pinch, shove, or hit you?
_____ call or show up checking to verify that you are where you said you would be?
_____ use drugs or alcohol as an excuse for saying hurtful things or physically attacking you?
_____ blame you for how they feel or act aggressively?
_____ make you feel there is ‘no way out’ of the relationship?
_____ prevent you from spending time with family and friends under threat?
_____ try to keep you from leaving or leave you somewhere after a fight to teach you a lesson?
_____ threaten to kidnap or hurt the children when angry with you?
_____ kicked, choked, punched or thrown objects at you?
_____ threatened or hurt you with a weapon?
_____ continually criticized, called you names or shouting at you?

If you checked multiple items in the above checklist then you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and should seek help.  One of the social stigmas of domestic violence is shaming and ostracism.  Victims are often called “stupid” or blamed for the situation, however ONE IN FOUR women experiences abuse in her lifetime.  That means when you are on your job, at your worship service, in class, on public transit, at the stop light, standing in the grocery checkout; if you look to your left, your right, in front of you, or behind you--one of those women has been or is being abused.  SILENCE IS THE PROBLEM!

From the data, we see clearly that domestic violence is a pandemic.  Though domestic violence is most often perpetrated against women (85% of the time); men too are victims, thus this is not a sole gendered problem, it is a social problem affecting every corner of humanity.  However, knowing the data is not only what impassions my call for action in addressing domestic violence.  Rather it is my testimony of overcoming a life of violence personally that gives me power, motivation and fortitude to raise my voice and extend my hand to others in need.

I was that women choked until passing out.  I was that woman being slapped down to the ground.  I was that woman being hit with open car doors as the car was thrown in reverse, knocking me down the street.  I was that woman called stupid, ugly, and pathetic.  I was that women being victimized with infidelities.  I was that woman, yet STILL I RISE!

I rise with a voice calling forth women and men to believe that you deserve better.  I rise calling society to account for turning a blind eye to the abuse of women, men and children.  I rise declaring that freedom is a choice that must be taken not requested.  I rise to be a shining example that no one can keep you a slave in your own household because the power to change your reality is in YOU!

As a young wife, I went to the church seeking refuge and I was told to forgive my then husband.  I did this, however it came after many years and it came not as a way to keep silent and refrain from the religious stigma of divorce.  Rather, forgiveness I found was for my liberation, it released the anger, hurt and betrayal that kept me in silent inner bondage.  So, too I rally others to forgive, freedom awaits you.  If you are in a relationship of domestic violence where the cycles of tension, violence and temporary honeymoon phases run in and out of your daily life, I reach for you knowing there is a better, a freer way, seek help, you are not alone.  Forgiveness does not mean allowing the violence to continue.  You too WILL rise!

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  Choose to break the silence, choose to be the nonjudgmental alliance, choose to be the change in your community; domestic violence is occurring on your every side, it is a social pandemic affecting us all.

His case drew the support of organizations, leaders and nearly one million concerned citizens.  Amnesty International, the NAACP, Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former FBI Director and judge William S Sessions and fifty House of Representatives spoke out on Troy Davis's behalf.  As well, nearly one million people signed petitions urging the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles for a grant of clemency for Troy Davis.

On September 21, 2011 as I went to attend my seminary History class, I learned that Troy Davis's execution had been delayed while his case was being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.  I felt relieved as I was preparing in the library for class that perhaps our justice system was indeed more just than I had historically perceived.

As I sat in the quiet still of the library, I had thoughts lingering in my mind of a letter I had read on-line written by Troy Davis on September 10, 2011 that was addressed "To All."  His final thoughts in the letter rang through my mind like a resounding charge,

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in   physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

'I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!'

Interestingly enough, in the quiet still of the library, as these words danced through my thoughts, the class preparation I was reviewing was on the martyrdom of Vivia Perpetua.  She was a young twenty-two year old woman who was a Christian convert, not yet baptized who was sentenced to death for refusing to denounce her faith.

Like Troy Davis, she claimed her freedom in the mist of being held captive and found renewed strength and confidence in the mist of her suffering as a future hope and vision carried her forward.  As I sat taking notes for class, I did not then perceive that Troy Davis would become a martyr for the inequitable justice system.  Rather, I went into class with the confident hope that justice would prevail and his case would be heard as so many leaders, citizens and social justice organizations had pleaded on his behalf.

Hours of class went by and I had little time to consider the case until the last hour of class when we began to discuss Vivia Perpetua in our small groups.  Indeed in the mist of talking about this feminine Christian martyr, up arose the Troy Davis case from my peers and together we started discussing the parallels and our hope that justice would be served this time, in this era on behalf of Troy Davis.

As we left class around 9pm, we left believing that his case would be considered for at least one to seven more days before the Supreme Court.  I, in fact was so bold as to believe that indeed at least 5 of the 9 justices would hear the pleas of so many, on this man's behalf and stay his execution.  Yet, with only four hours of deliberation the Supreme Court ruled to end another human beings life and within their legitimated power they now acted as gods deciding death and life.  In Troy Davis's case they chose death.

I laid in bed upset, wondering how many other African American men, like my beloved father, my brother, my son, my dearest friends that this type of injustice could impact with so little regard for human life and with tears I prayed not knowing what else to do.  I needed to understand, so I found myself in the midnight hour milling through varying news articles looking for answers and yet I found little comfort.  In fact, I found salt for open wounds.

State Attorney General Sam Olens said in a statement, "Justice has been served for Officer Mark MacPhail and his family."  The widow of Mark MacPhail, Joan, told the Associated Press that now that Davis had been executed it was finally time for healing and that she will grieve for the Davis family because now they could understand her family's pain and hurt.

I ponder if in fact we live in an eye for eye society in America.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu says, "To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice."  I disagree with Sam Olens that justice has been served by killing another human being.  I lament for Joan MacPhail's lose, yet her healing does not rest in the execution of another human being, but in forgiveness and grace that should have come many years ago for her own liberation.  For her to know the deep and agonizing pain of death and to want another family to feel that pain is so far from an authentic place of justice and healing that I pray for her heart.

I found my solace coming from the final thoughts of Troy Davis, "For those about to take my life, God have mercy on your souls.  And may God bless your souls."  Here indeed I found a free man, a man who forgives by the power of grace and love, while standing tall as a dignified person free in his soul, he is Troy Davis and he is free.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us while sitting in the Birmingham jail on April 16, 1963 that "Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere."  It is my hope and prayer that Troy Davis's life and story illuminate the true injustice of the legal system in America this day September 22, 2011.