Since I started this blog, nearly 3 years ago, I haven't voted for, believed in, nor put much energy into anything that came out of the US federal government. (I do support, listen to and challenge, when necessary, local and state governments.) I refuse to participate in something that is so profoundly broken. I didn't trust the whole '08 election frenzy of change and promise, sounded too much like false prophecy to me.
This entry isn't to pat myself on the back now that the economy is faltering and times are scary uncertain. I have no interest in saying I told you so. My desire is to state that I've found, and am still discovering, what I was looking for all those years ago.
I've learned what true allies and friends look like.
In short, know your community: when the recession deepens, when the depression gets at you, when you are wholly disillusioned, when your plans fail, when there seem to be no viable choices, when there are no options, when there is no way out, put away your pride and your quest for independance. Find the true community. True friends will give you work that satisfies, food that is filling and love that will quench your thirst.
Now you don't have to wait until rock bottom, although many will hold onto this dying system for as long as possible. Which is too bad, because the communities I'm describing are living now, partying now and are creating heaven on Earth for everyone they encounter. They are all around us; in every city and town and rural area.
There is no healing to be found anywhere else in this world or the next. My prayer is that you seek them out sooner rather than later and find the kind of freedom and liberation that is your birthright.
Showing posts with label Kingdom of Heaven. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kingdom of Heaven. Show all posts
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Monday, September 14, 2009
Of War and Health Care
No one should die because they can't afford health care, no one should go broke because they get sick. True.
Health care is a moral issue. True.
The government handling of health care is the only solution. False.
Walking around the Jefferson Memorial last spring, I was struck by the words of The Declaration of Independence:
How often I've glossed over the Declaration. Yet at that April morning I had an insight. Jefferson states that the Creator has endowed men (a specific class of men; foreshadowing the limited scope of freedom the Congress at that time was willing to bestow) with rights due to the equality of their being. Here he implies that without proper government these unalienable rights cannot be upheld, which is false if they are indeed absolute. The next assertion, which says governments exist because the people allow themselves to be ruled, is a tautology. He continues saying that when governments fail the people have the right to revolt. Furthermore, says Jefferson, the means of revolution is only possible through the bloodshed of tyrants and patriots. Yet historically violent revolts have only established different systems injustice. This statement of positive violence must be rejected if we desire true peace and justice for all.
Jefferson appears to worship humanity in the Declaration, he claims governments are founded by the people and that the people can change them. Yet while the first part of the statement is true, the second part is not so simple. We easily build our prisons, but we cannot escape them unaided. Over time more and more authority is given to the government by the people. In the history of the US, power has become more and more centralized into one person, into one office -the executive branch or the war branch. The President is not called Commander in Chief without reason.
I find it contradictory that Jefferson who so openly loved humanity, as a citizen and President, engaged and promoted warfare himself. War is the destruction of the best of humanity. The battlefield dead can no longer pursue their unalienable rights. And the surviving soldiers return home knowing they have ended the lives of many; that they have on some level killed their mirror images. Can these veterans sleep knowing they have made sons and daughters into orphans? Can they ever again return to the pursuit of happiness? Who is the victor, who is more noble, the dead or the dying? Only the State can claim victory during times of war.
John Adams, the second US President, summed up the low order of war pragmatically when writing to his wife, Abigail: "I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine." (Unsurprisingly, his son John Quincy Adams, became neither a scientist nor an artist, but followed in his father's footsteps and became a politician and President.)
What if no one studied war or politics, but pursued everything else? What if everyone could joyfully sing the spiritual?
So what does all of this have to do with health care? Simply that governments justify their existence with the gun and jailhouse. Hear me out: Governments exist to enforce their own laws. They use violence or the threat of violence to maintain the rule of law.
For example, the teachings of many faiths say, 'It is wrong to kill, do not do it.' In contrast, the government says anyone who kills must be thrown in jail or put to death. Unless that person is a soldier, then the law is reversed and the more a soldier kills the more he is praised. For the government nothing can be above its laws, even if they are illogical. Yet for the community of faith the law was made to serve the people, the people were not made to serve the law.
Governments are legal institutions, but they are not moral agencies. Do not put your faith in them. Don't abdicate your moral responsibilities to the State because it seems like the only solution. It is the easier solution but it is not the ethical one.
Again, governments believe that the proper use of evil can overcome evil; that war can create peace; that killing can save lives; that in order to save a village it has to be destroyed. But understand that the use of violence only breeds more violence; indeed evil can only be overcome with good; that only the blood of martyrs dulls the executioner's axe.
The community of faith is in danger of losing its soul when it is no longer willing to bear the burdens of social justice and relinquishes its conscience to the whims of the government. Those who believe in a greater authority are called to care for their neighbor in sickness or in health. Health care must be carried out on a relational level, face to face. The sick are healed by our compassionate presence, not by legislation.
If you think I am being naive then I point to the mission of the Catholic Worker, which has been caring for the least of these without State assistance since the Great Depression (the Catholic Worker houses generally do not operate as a 501c3, and therefore are not tax exempt, but as such they are free from coercion by government). If you think I am being too critical of the President and the connection to war then I ask: Does it makes any sense to fall farther into national debt when not one politician is willing to consider re-allocating funds from a bloated military budget? Does it make sense that the poor might be fined for being unable to afford health care? Rather I pray you believe that by even the smallest act of compassion the world is changed more dramatically than the grandest of laws.
Do not be convinced that the government can do what we, God's children, are made for... the government cannot give much thought to the poor, it cannot truly care for the sick, the broken, the veteran, the weak... it is too busy enforcing its laws and waging its wars.
Believe that you and I are made to care for each other, to love each other. Believe that the truest response to someone in need is not in the petition to your congressperson but to stretch out your own hand. The moral issue depends on whether or not we open our own wallets and accept the responsibility of caring for our neighbor as ourselves. I tell you the poor and the sick will not be greatly helped if we let the government assume this duty.
Governments cannot truly change, despite high minded rhetoric. The new boss is the same as the old boss... Only we, the people, are agents of change. Even President Obama and the founding fathers concede that much.
If I eat it is because you fed me,
If I sleep it is because you sheltered me,
If I am warm it is because you covered me,
If I laugh it is because you comforted me,
And if I stand it is because you supported me.
Health care is a moral issue. True.
The government handling of health care is the only solution. False.
Walking around the Jefferson Memorial last spring, I was struck by the words of The Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
How often I've glossed over the Declaration. Yet at that April morning I had an insight. Jefferson states that the Creator has endowed men (a specific class of men; foreshadowing the limited scope of freedom the Congress at that time was willing to bestow) with rights due to the equality of their being. Here he implies that without proper government these unalienable rights cannot be upheld, which is false if they are indeed absolute. The next assertion, which says governments exist because the people allow themselves to be ruled, is a tautology. He continues saying that when governments fail the people have the right to revolt. Furthermore, says Jefferson, the means of revolution is only possible through the bloodshed of tyrants and patriots. Yet historically violent revolts have only established different systems injustice. This statement of positive violence must be rejected if we desire true peace and justice for all.
Jefferson appears to worship humanity in the Declaration, he claims governments are founded by the people and that the people can change them. Yet while the first part of the statement is true, the second part is not so simple. We easily build our prisons, but we cannot escape them unaided. Over time more and more authority is given to the government by the people. In the history of the US, power has become more and more centralized into one person, into one office -the executive branch or the war branch. The President is not called Commander in Chief without reason.
I find it contradictory that Jefferson who so openly loved humanity, as a citizen and President, engaged and promoted warfare himself. War is the destruction of the best of humanity. The battlefield dead can no longer pursue their unalienable rights. And the surviving soldiers return home knowing they have ended the lives of many; that they have on some level killed their mirror images. Can these veterans sleep knowing they have made sons and daughters into orphans? Can they ever again return to the pursuit of happiness? Who is the victor, who is more noble, the dead or the dying? Only the State can claim victory during times of war.
John Adams, the second US President, summed up the low order of war pragmatically when writing to his wife, Abigail: "I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy. My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry and Porcelaine." (Unsurprisingly, his son John Quincy Adams, became neither a scientist nor an artist, but followed in his father's footsteps and became a politician and President.)
What if no one studied war or politics, but pursued everything else? What if everyone could joyfully sing the spiritual?
I’m going to lay down my heavy load
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside
Going to lay down my heavy load
Down by the riverside
Ain’t going to study war no more
So what does all of this have to do with health care? Simply that governments justify their existence with the gun and jailhouse. Hear me out: Governments exist to enforce their own laws. They use violence or the threat of violence to maintain the rule of law.
For example, the teachings of many faiths say, 'It is wrong to kill, do not do it.' In contrast, the government says anyone who kills must be thrown in jail or put to death. Unless that person is a soldier, then the law is reversed and the more a soldier kills the more he is praised. For the government nothing can be above its laws, even if they are illogical. Yet for the community of faith the law was made to serve the people, the people were not made to serve the law.
Governments are legal institutions, but they are not moral agencies. Do not put your faith in them. Don't abdicate your moral responsibilities to the State because it seems like the only solution. It is the easier solution but it is not the ethical one.
Again, governments believe that the proper use of evil can overcome evil; that war can create peace; that killing can save lives; that in order to save a village it has to be destroyed. But understand that the use of violence only breeds more violence; indeed evil can only be overcome with good; that only the blood of martyrs dulls the executioner's axe.
The community of faith is in danger of losing its soul when it is no longer willing to bear the burdens of social justice and relinquishes its conscience to the whims of the government. Those who believe in a greater authority are called to care for their neighbor in sickness or in health. Health care must be carried out on a relational level, face to face. The sick are healed by our compassionate presence, not by legislation.
If you think I am being naive then I point to the mission of the Catholic Worker, which has been caring for the least of these without State assistance since the Great Depression (the Catholic Worker houses generally do not operate as a 501c3, and therefore are not tax exempt, but as such they are free from coercion by government). If you think I am being too critical of the President and the connection to war then I ask: Does it makes any sense to fall farther into national debt when not one politician is willing to consider re-allocating funds from a bloated military budget? Does it make sense that the poor might be fined for being unable to afford health care? Rather I pray you believe that by even the smallest act of compassion the world is changed more dramatically than the grandest of laws.
Do not be convinced that the government can do what we, God's children, are made for... the government cannot give much thought to the poor, it cannot truly care for the sick, the broken, the veteran, the weak... it is too busy enforcing its laws and waging its wars.
Believe that you and I are made to care for each other, to love each other. Believe that the truest response to someone in need is not in the petition to your congressperson but to stretch out your own hand. The moral issue depends on whether or not we open our own wallets and accept the responsibility of caring for our neighbor as ourselves. I tell you the poor and the sick will not be greatly helped if we let the government assume this duty.
Governments cannot truly change, despite high minded rhetoric. The new boss is the same as the old boss... Only we, the people, are agents of change. Even President Obama and the founding fathers concede that much.
If I eat it is because you fed me,
If I sleep it is because you sheltered me,
If I am warm it is because you covered me,
If I laugh it is because you comforted me,
And if I stand it is because you supported me.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Statement of Belief and a New Mission Statement
Before I started on my journey five months ago, on advice from a friend, I wrote up a personal mission statement to help guide me:
I walk to heal my wounds, in search of others who also want to be healed. I walk to see God in my brothers and sisters. I am called to walk. Love has called me and so I walk to find it.
Even though I wrote that statement months ago, I never expected to find the healing, peace and love it expresses. Yet here I am amazed that I have actually seen the face of God and I am surprised I found the Love that moves me forward. My last posting was an attempt to describe how I see the world now. This post is about how the transformation happened.
I was wounded, heartbroken when I started out on the road in November. I was running from an abortive relationship.
Yet for some reason I couldn't let her go, we kept talking and texting even as I walked to Philadelphia. By January, I wanted to be free of the old hurt; everytime we spoke I began to hope that maybe it wasn't over.
One night, I ranted at her for a bit and then told her to do what ever she wanted to do, just don't involve me in it.
For the next several weeks, I cloistered myself away. I was convinced I was healing and better off. I hardly thought of her.
Then one morning, on January 22nd I woke up with a weight on my chest. It felt like someone had their heel on my sternum. I meditated and prayed. Nothing would get rid of the pressure until I finally thought: I should give her a call. The foot was lifted at that same moment.
I got out of bed then, showered, ate and procrastinated. Eventually I sat down to the phone. But I was angry and afraid; why should I call her? I feel good now and calling will only make me suffer.
I can't explain it in any other way than this: a small quiet voice spoke, 'You should call her because I love her as much as I love you.'
My anger was gone. When I called, I got her voicemail and left a message. She immediately called back. We spoke briefly as she was just about to get on a plane. She had been on vacation and I had reached her between connecting flights. It was amiable and short. I didn't tell her then what made me call.
I was confused; I couldn't understand the point of talking to her. It hurt like hell. It was as if the last few weeks never happened. I lay there with this longing, this loneliness, this gnawing heartache. By my bed was the Tao te Ching. I opened it up to a random chapter and read:
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?
My heart burned then as if I was being consumed. I died on the night of January 27th and discovered that I still lived. (Would it help if I say the ego died then? Or that I was born again? Or enlightened, awakened?)
Understand I am not boasting here of being beyond human, nor of my own perfection. What I am saying is I went looking for a pearl of great worth and by the Grace of God found it. I knocked on doors and they were opened. I have discovered the narrow gate and the hidden way to life.
The self must die, so that we might live. How many times have I heard those words and didn't understand? The St. Francis Peace Prayer ends with, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.
And Luke 9:23-24 (NIV) Then [Jesus] said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." There is, again and again, this statement of death leading to life.
(In my excitement, I've skipped part of the story. I was not allowed to stop loving her, even to the breaking point. What I found wasn't despair or depression, but a new life. Think about it, Christ suffered and died because he loved us, but triumphed over death. We are to partake in the life the of Christ as believers. Our love of others, especially those who hurt us is central to our faith. I used to tell myself my love for her was unconditional. But I was decieving myself. Before that night, my love was contingent on being loved in return. Truth be told she and I still talk and it still hurts, but it is the love that gives the pain meaning.)
I'm telling you it is the very nature of our self-preservation that separates us from God and our neighbors. We plan for the future, but thieves break in (AIG) and moths destroy (Bernie Madoff). We hoard our wealth because we fear there isn't enough to go around. We lie, to protect our self-image, because we don't want to be judged. We steal because it is easier on our pride than asking for help. We slander and go to war because it is easier than forgiving those who hurt us. We masturbate in secret because we are afraid of rejection. The self is the root of all sin.
Why am I telling you all this? Because "No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light." Luke 8:16 (NIV). But also because "...your liberation is bound up with mine."
As long as we believe in the illusion, it will have power over us and we will never be free. As long as we believe that security comes from money and safety comes from force of arms, we will never be secure nor safe. As long as we have guest rooms that are empty, and bank accounts that are full, there will be homelessness and hunger. There is another reality waiting to be born. Aren't we ready to believe in the words that are spoken every Sunday in our churches?
"If you are content with the old world, try to preserve it, it is very sick and cannot hold out much longer. But if you cannot bear to live in everlasting dissonance between your beliefs and your life, thinking one thing and doing another, get out of the mediaeval whited sepulchers, and face your fears. I know very well it is not easy." -Alexander Herzen
Again I do not boast, but say I have given up everything for the work of the kingdom. Because I believe in the covenant God made with Abraham, Moses, and David. I believe in the Christ and the kingdom he proclaimed. I work for the day when you and I and all the people we love will be together, singing, dancing and celebrating. I walk for a day when war and poverty no longer exist. This is not only my dream, but the dream of our ancestors and all the prophets who came before us.
Hope is as hollow as fear, because it is by your actions and the grace of God that the world is changed. Do not wish for a better world, nor despair for this one, but do as Christ said: ask, seek and knock and you will find the peace God has promised you.
My journey is one of peace, but it will no doubt cause anger. For one, I wholly believe in the separation of church and state. Radically separate in that the church must not allow itself to be connected with any government. Governments exist to serve those who do not yet believe, but not even the best government will last. I also am calling on people who are willing to live radically, outside of the normal definitions of activism and religion. I am searching for brothers and sisters, who like Christ, reject Caesar's authority, the High Temple's piety and the Zealot's bloody sword.
I have much more to say, I can't wait to visit you and talk more about the movement of the Spirit in our generation.
Peace and love,
Curtis Villanueva Jantzi
I walk to heal my wounds, in search of others who also want to be healed. I walk to see God in my brothers and sisters. I am called to walk. Love has called me and so I walk to find it.
Even though I wrote that statement months ago, I never expected to find the healing, peace and love it expresses. Yet here I am amazed that I have actually seen the face of God and I am surprised I found the Love that moves me forward. My last posting was an attempt to describe how I see the world now. This post is about how the transformation happened.
I was wounded, heartbroken when I started out on the road in November. I was running from an abortive relationship.
Yet for some reason I couldn't let her go, we kept talking and texting even as I walked to Philadelphia. By January, I wanted to be free of the old hurt; everytime we spoke I began to hope that maybe it wasn't over.
One night, I ranted at her for a bit and then told her to do what ever she wanted to do, just don't involve me in it.
For the next several weeks, I cloistered myself away. I was convinced I was healing and better off. I hardly thought of her.
Then one morning, on January 22nd I woke up with a weight on my chest. It felt like someone had their heel on my sternum. I meditated and prayed. Nothing would get rid of the pressure until I finally thought: I should give her a call. The foot was lifted at that same moment.
I got out of bed then, showered, ate and procrastinated. Eventually I sat down to the phone. But I was angry and afraid; why should I call her? I feel good now and calling will only make me suffer.
I can't explain it in any other way than this: a small quiet voice spoke, 'You should call her because I love her as much as I love you.'
My anger was gone. When I called, I got her voicemail and left a message. She immediately called back. We spoke briefly as she was just about to get on a plane. She had been on vacation and I had reached her between connecting flights. It was amiable and short. I didn't tell her then what made me call.
I was confused; I couldn't understand the point of talking to her. It hurt like hell. It was as if the last few weeks never happened. I lay there with this longing, this loneliness, this gnawing heartache. By my bed was the Tao te Ching. I opened it up to a random chapter and read:
Hope and fear are both phantoms
that arise from thinking of the self.
When we don't see the self as self,
what do we have to fear?
My heart burned then as if I was being consumed. I died on the night of January 27th and discovered that I still lived. (Would it help if I say the ego died then? Or that I was born again? Or enlightened, awakened?)
Understand I am not boasting here of being beyond human, nor of my own perfection. What I am saying is I went looking for a pearl of great worth and by the Grace of God found it. I knocked on doors and they were opened. I have discovered the narrow gate and the hidden way to life.
The self must die, so that we might live. How many times have I heard those words and didn't understand? The St. Francis Peace Prayer ends with, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.
And Luke 9:23-24 (NIV) Then [Jesus] said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." There is, again and again, this statement of death leading to life.
(In my excitement, I've skipped part of the story. I was not allowed to stop loving her, even to the breaking point. What I found wasn't despair or depression, but a new life. Think about it, Christ suffered and died because he loved us, but triumphed over death. We are to partake in the life the of Christ as believers. Our love of others, especially those who hurt us is central to our faith. I used to tell myself my love for her was unconditional. But I was decieving myself. Before that night, my love was contingent on being loved in return. Truth be told she and I still talk and it still hurts, but it is the love that gives the pain meaning.)
I'm telling you it is the very nature of our self-preservation that separates us from God and our neighbors. We plan for the future, but thieves break in (AIG) and moths destroy (Bernie Madoff). We hoard our wealth because we fear there isn't enough to go around. We lie, to protect our self-image, because we don't want to be judged. We steal because it is easier on our pride than asking for help. We slander and go to war because it is easier than forgiving those who hurt us. We masturbate in secret because we are afraid of rejection. The self is the root of all sin.
Why am I telling you all this? Because "No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light." Luke 8:16 (NIV). But also because "...your liberation is bound up with mine."
As long as we believe in the illusion, it will have power over us and we will never be free. As long as we believe that security comes from money and safety comes from force of arms, we will never be secure nor safe. As long as we have guest rooms that are empty, and bank accounts that are full, there will be homelessness and hunger. There is another reality waiting to be born. Aren't we ready to believe in the words that are spoken every Sunday in our churches?
"If you are content with the old world, try to preserve it, it is very sick and cannot hold out much longer. But if you cannot bear to live in everlasting dissonance between your beliefs and your life, thinking one thing and doing another, get out of the mediaeval whited sepulchers, and face your fears. I know very well it is not easy." -Alexander Herzen
Again I do not boast, but say I have given up everything for the work of the kingdom. Because I believe in the covenant God made with Abraham, Moses, and David. I believe in the Christ and the kingdom he proclaimed. I work for the day when you and I and all the people we love will be together, singing, dancing and celebrating. I walk for a day when war and poverty no longer exist. This is not only my dream, but the dream of our ancestors and all the prophets who came before us.
Hope is as hollow as fear, because it is by your actions and the grace of God that the world is changed. Do not wish for a better world, nor despair for this one, but do as Christ said: ask, seek and knock and you will find the peace God has promised you.
My journey is one of peace, but it will no doubt cause anger. For one, I wholly believe in the separation of church and state. Radically separate in that the church must not allow itself to be connected with any government. Governments exist to serve those who do not yet believe, but not even the best government will last. I also am calling on people who are willing to live radically, outside of the normal definitions of activism and religion. I am searching for brothers and sisters, who like Christ, reject Caesar's authority, the High Temple's piety and the Zealot's bloody sword.
I have much more to say, I can't wait to visit you and talk more about the movement of the Spirit in our generation.
Peace and love,
Curtis Villanueva Jantzi
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Staying Out of Ditches
Thankfully, as one friend recently noticed, I'm not dead in a ditch. =)
About 5 weeks ago, I left this house (I'll be in Akron, PA and NYC and Goshen, IN over the next few days; the joys of holiday!) to walk. While that's not a full explanation, at the time it was enough, and it was all I had to tell. Walking allowed me to slow down, get away from technology and simply listen, in other words a spiritual journey. Ultimately, the goal was to meet people along the way, to share and connect with them; walking was also the vehicle that started conversation, the icebreaker.
Out of this beginning, a question: What is the purpose of this walk?
I arrived in Philadelphia almost four weeks ago. There as everywhere is a suffering city, but in the midst of it people live in hope. Here is a small map of the places I encountered hope.
In North Philly, on Norris Street, is New Jerusalem Now a very literal place of recovery and rebirth.
To the east in Kensington is The Simple Way house, where they practice being good neighbors and advocates for change.
Nearby, on Lehigh Ave is a Catholic Worker house that runs a free clinic for the community.
In Center City, I visited Broadstreet Ministries that daily welcomes and feeds anyone who walks through their doors.
Farther south, on the corner of Broad and Alter Street, is one of many places that Circle of Hope worships and builds community.
Over the Schuylkill, in University City, is a Vineyard Community Church congregation that welcomes and reaches out to college students and neighbors.
Just a few blocks west, on Baltimore and 48th, is where West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship worships and works for peace.
Far from a complete list, in the end these are just places; what matters are the relationships started here. I could also mention all the chance encounters on the street, the small group and cell meetings and the meals shared, which all occurred outside of these spaces.
And then over the past two weeks I've been pondering this question: What was the purpose of making these connections and acquaintances? I know I am called to return to Philadelphia, but meeting people and making connections is no longer enough. It's like a treasure hunt. I'm not given all the pieces. I have to go searching for them.
The miracle is that a picture is forming, as I walk, a vision is revealed. The writing is on the wall. But it's in a language in which I'm not yet fluent. Yet, I'm not the only one who feels it. Coincidences happen daily: Strangers tell the same anecdotes my friends spoke about days ago, newspapers print stories on the conversations we had in living rooms, institutions implement plans I had secretly dreamed of while walking. What exactly is happening? Is this 6 degrees of separation in action? Am I seeking out people and groups who are unknowingly connected to each other? How sensitive are we to the trends around us? Do we really share the same ideas? The idea of justice in an world that acts unjustly. Or peace in a world that lashes out with violence. Is this Christ and God, hidden, but ever present in our lives?
How many times these past few months did you feel that something odd, something new is happening? From the highs of President-Elect Obama's acceptance speech in Grant Park to the lows of a system so clearly broken that even the comfortable, the intellectual, the rich are unsure of the future. Do you see the same signs of hope I see? Is this mess of a "filthy, rotten system" just chaos or is it also the labor pains of a new birth?
I look forward to seeing you all again soon. Many blessings this holiday season.
In Peace, Hope, Faith and most of all Love,
Curtis Villanueva Jantzi
About 5 weeks ago, I left this house (I'll be in Akron, PA and NYC and Goshen, IN over the next few days; the joys of holiday!) to walk. While that's not a full explanation, at the time it was enough, and it was all I had to tell. Walking allowed me to slow down, get away from technology and simply listen, in other words a spiritual journey. Ultimately, the goal was to meet people along the way, to share and connect with them; walking was also the vehicle that started conversation, the icebreaker.
Out of this beginning, a question: What is the purpose of this walk?
I arrived in Philadelphia almost four weeks ago. There as everywhere is a suffering city, but in the midst of it people live in hope. Here is a small map of the places I encountered hope.
In North Philly, on Norris Street, is New Jerusalem Now a very literal place of recovery and rebirth.
To the east in Kensington is The Simple Way house, where they practice being good neighbors and advocates for change.
Nearby, on Lehigh Ave is a Catholic Worker house that runs a free clinic for the community.
In Center City, I visited Broadstreet Ministries that daily welcomes and feeds anyone who walks through their doors.
Farther south, on the corner of Broad and Alter Street, is one of many places that Circle of Hope worships and builds community.
Over the Schuylkill, in University City, is a Vineyard Community Church congregation that welcomes and reaches out to college students and neighbors.
Just a few blocks west, on Baltimore and 48th, is where West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship worships and works for peace.
Far from a complete list, in the end these are just places; what matters are the relationships started here. I could also mention all the chance encounters on the street, the small group and cell meetings and the meals shared, which all occurred outside of these spaces.
And then over the past two weeks I've been pondering this question: What was the purpose of making these connections and acquaintances? I know I am called to return to Philadelphia, but meeting people and making connections is no longer enough. It's like a treasure hunt. I'm not given all the pieces. I have to go searching for them.
The miracle is that a picture is forming, as I walk, a vision is revealed. The writing is on the wall. But it's in a language in which I'm not yet fluent. Yet, I'm not the only one who feels it. Coincidences happen daily: Strangers tell the same anecdotes my friends spoke about days ago, newspapers print stories on the conversations we had in living rooms, institutions implement plans I had secretly dreamed of while walking. What exactly is happening? Is this 6 degrees of separation in action? Am I seeking out people and groups who are unknowingly connected to each other? How sensitive are we to the trends around us? Do we really share the same ideas? The idea of justice in an world that acts unjustly. Or peace in a world that lashes out with violence. Is this Christ and God, hidden, but ever present in our lives?
How many times these past few months did you feel that something odd, something new is happening? From the highs of President-Elect Obama's acceptance speech in Grant Park to the lows of a system so clearly broken that even the comfortable, the intellectual, the rich are unsure of the future. Do you see the same signs of hope I see? Is this mess of a "filthy, rotten system" just chaos or is it also the labor pains of a new birth?
I look forward to seeing you all again soon. Many blessings this holiday season.
In Peace, Hope, Faith and most of all Love,
Curtis Villanueva Jantzi
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