Nonviolent Resistance

One of the lasting aspects of Martin Luther King's legacy is his philosophy of nonviolent resistance. This should not be confused with pacifism but rather seen as an intentional, active means of working towards change in the face of violence and opposition. King's philosophy is as necessary now as it was during his lifetime. As a nation, we seem to have accepted the notion that violence is an acceptable form of defense or resistance, that defending with any means and at any cost is the morally correct way to proceed, and that fighting violence with still more violence is the way to forge a lasting peace. Perhaps we need to take another look at King's philosophy, recognizing that he witnessed to our nation a different way of confronting violence and hatred.

The six principles of nonviolent resistance, as articulated by King and described on the King Center website, are:
1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people.
4. Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and inform.
5. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
6. Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.

Of course, these principles are very challenging. It takes great effort to take the way of nonviolence, not just physical nonviolence, but also emotional and verbal. It is hard work to love and to seek reconciliation with those who have hurt us or who seek to do us harm. However, this is the way of Christ - always seeking reconciliation, justice, peace, and love. This is not a naive, stick your head in the sand, fantasy ideology but rather a real world, difficult, life affirming way of approaching all of our relationships.

Soup's On

I wanted to thank everyone who helped out at Soup's On on New Year's Day.

We served approximately 40 meals.

Ellen

What is your dream?

It is my custom each year around Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to read or listen to King's "I have a dream" speech (watch and listen here). I have to admit that I can never get through it with out shedding a few tears. Last summer, I stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and thought about what it must have been like to have been in the crowd that day. With the prophecies of Isaiah now in my mind (we've been reading from Isaiah in church since the beginning of Advent in early December), I can't help but think that King's voice joins that of the Hebrew prophets, Jesus, and so many others whose words transcend time and place. King's words offer hope to the hopeless and challenge to the comfortable. That challenge continues today.

We have spent a great deal of energy here at Emmanuel thinking and praying about one of our dreams - a world without extreme poverty. I dream of a world where no one dies because they have no food or because they have no access to basic healthcare. I believe, as do so many others, that the means to end extreme poverty are firmly within our reach. We just need the will.

As we celebrate the King holiday on Monday, take a few minutes to think about your dream for our world. It doesn't have to look like mine or anyone else's. It could be local or global. Whatever it is, it needs to be yours. It needs to inspire you to action. It needs to create a fire within you. It needs to be informed by your core values. Let your dream energize you - give you a sense of purpose and meaning. Let it shape the choices that you make, the way that you live, the way that you treat the people around you!

Thank God for Martin Luther King, Jr. And thank God for each of you who dares to dream of a better world for all people!

Peace,
Fr. Greg

Got Faith?

Happy New Year from Emmanuel Day School! This past January 3rd EDS turned 2 years old! What a fantastic and faith-filled day it was to wake up to! EDS rounds year 2 and now begins its' 3rd season. The school in this short period of time as experienced success in every way! We have quadrupled our student population in 6 months of opening. We have experienced profit that has helped Emmanuel Church balance some of its' shortfalls, but most importantly it has created a new ministry here at the church that operates in our church-home each and every day. My hope is that we have created a legacy that will sustain itself to the next generation, (and those to come). I could not feel more proud and blessed. I am sure that the people of Emmanuel are equally as grateful and realize what a rich and vibrant learning environment that has been created here.

This month I decided to create a new topic for our EDS pre-k curriculum..."Got Faith?" The title is actually borrowed from the famous "Got Milk?" ads from years past...I used it in a photo series that Terri Traeger Photography and myself did here at Emmanuel with Greg and the Sunday School kids about 3years ago. I thought it appropriate enough to use again as my own personal faith through EDS and the Chapel program on Sunday has been strengthened and brought to new levels of believing. In our new series I am teaching each day in Social Studies some of the religions of the world. It has been so rewarding and exciting each day as teaching anything about God and God's creation is one of my all-time favorite things to do! (actually a friend talked me into this topic for January as a way to boost my winter blahs after the Christmas season that I love so much). I am so glad I did!
Well, I am here to report that after week one, (Judeo-Christian week), I Got Faith! (excuse my grammar). I "Got Faith" in the knowledge this week that are young people really and truly listen to God's word. They astounded me with their questions, but mostly, answers about who this Jesus is!. They have floored me with yesterdays discussion/lecture on Heaven. (A topic I was willing to go there on as many children freeze up when speaking about the hereafter). I addressed their fears not with talk of dying... but with living! The soul is what lives forever, not these soon to be broken-down bodies that are finite. We spoke of light and love. We let our imaginations spin with what Heaven could look like...(The Doctor's waiting room was my personal favorite!) We spoke of seeing people we love and miss there... and of course, our pets! Today we visited God's House. (church proper). We spoke of words such as Service, Mass, Worship. We looked at the Altar, (I always refer to as God's Dining Room Table). The "art" found in churches and temples. We spoke of our favorite parts of church... "praying, the organ, singing, Communion, and the "FUN" one Emmanulite mentioned! (yeah!) We spoke of our local "worship-heroes"... Fr. Greg, Fr. Jack, Pastor Bill, Father McCarthy, and Fr. Anthony! The kids love these hand-chosen representatives from God. One child states, "God can't be here with us, so, He picks special people to take His place!" Who couldn't love that comment?
("My job is great," I thought.)

It made me know that kids "Got Faith"! They want to come here, or their own place of worship and know that God loves them! They know that we all are here to care for their spiritual well-being...and guess what?....They want to learn about it!
I cannot wait to teach in the weeks to come about Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. My hope is that at Emmanuel we can promote diversity and a greater understanding about the world. We have become a global church at Emmanuel , and I am proud to say that,
"I Got Faith!"(explanation point), in all we do here!
Miss Dawn

Counting Prayers

Want to do something simple yet profound in the effort to eradicate extreme poverty and to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals. Go to Counting Prayers at www.countingprayers.org and pledge to say the following prayer every day:

"The world has the means to end extreme poverty. We pray that we will have the will."

This prayer ministry began in September at St. Paul's Chapel (Episcopal) in New York. St. Paul's is best known for the role that it played after 9/11. It is located at "Ground Zero" and became a house of prayer and support for the firemen, police officers, and other support persons who worked the site. The goal is to rally sufficient support that this simple prayer is said at least one billion times (which happens to be the number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide).

We have also signed the pledge as a congregation and will include this prayer during the Prayers of the People each Sunday.

As of this writing , the prayer count is at 129,515. Lets work together to increase this number by praying that God will bless the efforts of all those who are working to eradicate extreme poverty!

Epiphany - ONE Sabbath

This morning, during our Epiphany celebration, we sang the words of the psalmist (Psalm 72):

For he shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress,
and the oppressed who has no helper.

He shall have pity on the lowly and poor;
he shall preserve the lives of the needy.

These words echo the vision articulated by the prophets in Isaiah of a world where the poor are treated with justice and all people have access to the abundance of our world. We have read from Isaiah every week since the beginning of Advent. It would be hard for us to take ourselves seriously as a faith community if we didn't take the vision of Isaiah and the psalmist seriously.

The Feast of the Epiphany gives us opportunity to consider the ways in which God makes God's self known to the people of our world. We believe that we are the Body of Christ - Christ's representatives in this world. We have the awesome privilege and responsibility of partnering with God to bring about this vision of a world where all people are treated well. That's where the ONE Sabbath fits into our celebration of Epiphany. ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, is a grassroots organization of individuals who have made a commitment to do something about global extreme poverty (defined as living on less than the equivalent of $1.00 per day). To date, 2,421,838 Americans (including a number of us from Emmanuel) have signed the ONE declaration:

"WE BELIEVE that in the best American tradition of helping others help themselves, now is the time to join with other countries in a historic pact for compassion and justice to help the poorest people of the world overcome AIDS and extreme poverty.

WE RECOGNIZE that a pact including such measures as fair trade, debt relief, fighting corruption and directing additional resources for basic needs - education, health, clean water, food, and care for orphans - would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the poorest countries, at a cost equal to just one percent more of the US budget.

WE COMMIT ourselves - one person, one voice, one vote at a time - to make a better, safer world for all."

I invite you to click on the link above and to sign the declaration.

The Episcopal Church has formed a partnership with ONE called ONE Episcopalian. "ONE Episcopalian ™ is a grassroots partnership between The Episcopal Church and the ONE Campaign to rally Episcopalians – ONE by ONE – to the cause of ending extreme poverty in our world and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)." As part of its awareness and education efforts, ONE Episcopalian has created the opportunity for congregations to become a ONE Congregation. We spend a great deal of time thinking, praying, and working towards the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals, the first of which is "to halve the number of people living on less than one dollar a day and those who suffer from hunger."

Another effort that we featured this morning is (Product) Red. The (Red) Manifesto reads (click on it to enlarge):

So far, corporations selling (Product) Red items have donated $50 million to the Global Fund, which is dedicated to funding HIV?AIDS programs in Africa.

ONE, (Product) Red, and the Episcopal Church are only a couple of the many organizations that are working to alleviate the extreme poverty and hunger that affects approximately one billion people in our world. While the work seems daunting, it is also very exciting. We live in a world where we can make a tremendous difference in the lives of millions of people. Today, on the Feast of the Epiphany, we give thanks that God continues to make God's self known and that God calls us to bring about the vision of a world of justice, equity, and peace. I am very proud to be part of a church that is active and passionate about its support of these efforts.

Fr. Greg