"We Can Get There"

           A Franciscan sent me a little booklet in the mail last week – “The Salvation of Zachary Baumkletterer” by George Mavrodes and printed by the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in 1976. In its brief 31 pages, we learn about how Zachary, our mild-mannered hero, becomes convinced that the most responsible course of action he could take to oppose global poverty and injustice is to model his lifestyle as closely as possible to the conditions of the very poor: owning only one set of clothes, for example, and eating a starvation diet. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t acceptable at all in his comfortable, middle class professional circles of society.

Beyond Toxic Propaganda: Education, Memory, and a Better Future

I originally offered these reflections on February 6, 2021 for a podcast of the Community Christian Church. They are lightly edited. 

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Fifteen More Minutes of Fame

Springfield, Missouri made a brief appearance on Fox News Flash on January 21, with what I think was meant to be a shocking headline, but what should be common knowledge by now: “Missouri diversity session tells teachers ‘colorblindness,’ ‘all lives matter’ are forms of white supremacy.” (https://web.archive.org/web/20210122032833/https://www.foxnews.com/politics/missouri-diversity-training-teachers-white-supremacy  ) The article described activities and handouts from a local professional development session for middle school teachers that had been “leaked” to the Discovery Institute, an anti-evolution organization.

"To make rich people poorer, and poor people more comfortable"

I delivered an early version of these reflections at the Community Christian Church on December 26, 2020. 

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One of the fascinating aspects of cultural traditions, including religious traditions, is how they have been used in both healing and harmful ways. If we return to an insight made by the feminist and liberation theologian Dorothee Solle in 1984, we can group our religious expressions into two main categories, what she called the “double function” of religion:

“as apology and legitimation of the status quo and its culture of injustice on the one hand, and as a means of protest, change, and liberation on the other hand.” (“The Christian-Marxist Debate of the 1960s,” Monthly Review, 36 (July-August): 20-26).

Antiracism in an Organizational Context: An Example Policy

During 2020, I've been working with a nonprofit on their organizational development, providing an organizational assessment, developing infrastructure, and writing policies. The following is an example of an antiracism policy that intends to support the organization's continued growth in the direction of equity and justice. It is edited to remove identifying details. 

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Commitment to Racial Justice

Antiracism Policy, August 2020

__________ recognizes that commitment to and growth in antiracism is a vital part of fulfilling our organizational mission to “__________________.”

Our Anti-Harassment Policy includes a reference to race, color, national origin, ancestry, and citizenship. This document is meant to further clarify what this commitment means to and for our organization and community, including our BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities.

Our Bodies Will Be Heard: A meditation for grief, healing, and TGNC liberation (TDOR 2020)

I offered this guided meditation as part of our local Transgender Day of Remembrance. This is a simple practice, using our breath to help us get in touch with our hearts. I invite you to participate in whatever way you are comfortable in this meditation for grief, healing, and transgender and collective liberation.

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We return tonight to where we had to begin: by listening to our bodies. In the face of a society that told us we couldn’t, shouldn’t, or didn’t exist as transgender and gender expansive folx, we dared to listen to ourselves. And our bodies told us: “This is what this body is like.”

Breathing in, I am aware of my body. Breathing out, I listen to my body. (bell) 

After All the Votes are Cast: A Call to Continuous Action

I delivered these reflections at the Community Christian Church on November 8, 2020. It is lightly edited. 

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Despite Tuesday’s election results, Donald Trump received widespread support across the USA, signaling a tolerance for, and, in many cases, a celebration of, Trump’s performative fascism and a growing normalization of White nationalism. Understanding that the popularity of authoritarian leaders is a symptom of these deeper problems in our society, we realize that we still have vital work to do to close up the vulnerabilities that make fascism possible. Now is not only a moment to celebrate, but a moment to rededicate ourselves to creating a future where kindness and compassion, justice and wisdom, are not only possible, but real.

Performative Fascism as a Way of Life

Practicing Self-Kindness During a Pandemic

The following is a summary of a teaching I gave at Dinh Quang Buddhist Temple in response to the question of how to sustain our daily practice during the pandemic. 

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The first part of the practice is just this: giving a compassionate, honest look at what we’re actually experiencing. A pandemic is something that brings us into contact with suffering, especially kinds of suffering we often avoid as a culture. And we also experience this suffering more frequently and intensely, and that’s something that deserves our kind attention. In Thich Nhat Hanh’s metaphor, we should be taking care of our suffering like we would a little baby.