Trying to follow

“Though most religions shun warfare and hold nonviolence as the only moral route toward political change, religion and its language have been co-opted by the violent people who govern societies. If someone were to come along who would not compromise, a rebel who insisted on taking the only moral path, rejecting violence in all of its forms, such a person would seem so menacing that he would have to be killed, and after his death he would be canonized or deified, because a saint is less dangerous than a rebel. This has happened numerous times, but the first prominent example was a Jew named Jesus.”

— Mark Kurlansky. 2006. ‘Nonviolence: Twenty-five lessons from the history of a Dangerous idea’

I just finished this book recently, which I would highly recommend, and was struck by this statement. Rob Bell actually mentioned it in a sermon he preached at Mars Hill about being Peacemakers. I think we miss seeing Jesus in this way, and I found Mark’s words extremely profound and challenging.

The point is that, though most religions teach the danger of violence and lay out a moral path, few if any are willing to follow that path in all of its implications. Jesus was a Moral man, thus a rebel. Isn’t that interesting? We live in a society and a world, and many believe in religions, that esteem values and morals that we choose not to live up too. I’m not just talking about Christians, I think every single one of us, if we are honest with ourselves recognize that we are hypocrites. I think every parent has probably come to a point were they acknowledge they are trying to teach their children values they know are right, but they themselves do not even live up to, even more they choose not to live up to those values at times.
And so Jesus is a radical, he is a rebel. In a society that says one thing and does another, a person who would have the audacity to actually follow through and live out his beliefs must be killed and hidden. Jesus has been hidden, his radical life has been hidden in our deification of him. Regardless of whether you believe Jesus Christ is a deity or not, at the least we need to recognize that his life was far more rebellious then we acknowledge.

These words come from a Soldier who has fought in this battle. The news article reads:

Sgt. Mathew Gonzalez said his decal that reads “Lord please forgive me, I have committed sins for our freedom” is a message he created to show that as a Catholic he believes he did sin by killing someone in Iraq.

Today marks four years since our country declared war with Iraq. Noble men and women, innocent children, killed and being killed on both sides of this war. It’s no secret that I think this war is wrong. I think all war is wrong, I don’t believe it is ever the necessary or best option. However, my goal today isn’t to make a case for or against, I believe this is a moment and a time to lament the lose of the past four years. Lament the lose of soldiers, Iraqi and USA. Lament the deaths of children, elderly, Muslim, Christian, brothers and sisters.

• US Troop Casualities - 3,205 US troops; 98% male. 90% non-officers; 78% active duty, 13% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 10% African-American, 11% Latino. 19% killed by non-hostile causes. 54% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 68% were from the US Army
• US Troops Wounded - 24,042, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries (total excludes psychological injuries)
• US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home
• Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualities have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian casualities at over 600,000.

Please take sometime today to read the names of the men, women and children who have been killed in Iraq. These are not numbers, they are names, real people whose lives have been changed, impacted, and ended by this war. (Download the PDF, about 2.5mb)

Corporate Responsibility Mondays enters the footwear industry. As always, Josh will be highlighting a company with a negative record, and I’ll be pointing you to some alternatives. Footwear is a topic I lamented over a few months ago searching out ethical options. In an industry whose pinnacle brand is also the poster child (or should I say, it’s child laborers) for the sweatshop industry, you’ll be happy to know you don’t have to walk around barefoot to be fair consumer. Because different people enjoy different types of shoes I’m going to try and hit the different styles by highlighting some great companies doing some ethical shoe sales.

For the Casual Shoe Wearer:
There is a great company doing a world of good as a shoe shop. The mission is simple: When you buy a pair of shoes, and a pair is given to a child on your behalf. TOMS Shoes is a neat company with a neat story and the goal is to provide you and children around the world with comfortable feet. The one thing I couldn’t find detailed information on is about were the shoes are made. It was mentioned that he found shoe manufacturers in Argentina were he is giving away the shoes, so you would assume they are made under ethical conditions. Just to be sure though, I’ve emailed the founder and asked about the details.

A new shoe option that’s just started up is a group called: BuyShoesSaveLives.com which sells shoes made by people in Iraq and the profits fund heart surgeries for Iraqi children dying from lack of health care. The shoes are called klashes and the website explains most of the details.

For the Classic Chuckies Wearer:
All those looking for a comeback of their old converse need look no further. Both No Sweat Apparel and Adbusters have their own fair trade version of these classic shoes. No Sweat Apparel has a wide range of choices when it comes to sneakers including the stylish ones pictured here. And No Sweat has a simple Union-Made mission to providing ethical footwear:

No Sweat defines the market for goods that support independent trade unions - the only historically proven solution to sweatshops. We market direct to consumers, relying primarily on internet sales for distribution.

They’ve got a great selection of choices of other products as well, I’m sure I’ll highlight them more at a later date.

Adbusters is a little more in-your-face when it comes to their product tactics with their Blackspot Shoes. Their primary goal is to be the non-consumerist, unbrand shoe: “This is your chance to unswoosh Nike’s tired old swoosh and give birth to a new kind of cool in the sneaker industry.” Their shoes are ethical as well:

* 100% organic hemp upper
* made in a union shop
* hand drawn logo & sweet spot
* designed by John Fluevog
* produced by Vegetarian Shoes

For the Athletic Shoe Wearer:
The options thin out a little when you start looking for a sports ready shoe. I’m not sure of soccer cleats or the like available from a union or fair trade store out there. One option for running shoes though is high quality, custom made, by a guy and his wife up in Maine. If you want a shoe with a story behind it and quality at that, Hersey Shoes is the ones you want. The price initially seems pretty steep, but Bart Hersey points out the truth:

A pair of Hersey Customs built just for you will last far longer than off-the-shelf shoes, even if you never resoled them. Also consider that your Herseys can be resoled at least several times before they finally croak, at a fraction of any new-shoe price. And when you finally do need a new pair, we still have your model.

I think it’s worth mentioning one big name shoe company for those who can’t order shoes online or elsewhere. New Balance, of all the major shoe companies, seems to have kept their ethical slate as clean and neat as possible. There has been some indication that their new factories in China, which are extremely difficult to monitor, have utilized sweatshop practices, but there has been only one account of that. So, if you must by a brand, make it New Balance. And when you do, be pro-active and write them and tell them why you purchased them over the others, and encourage them to clean up their act even more.

So, as you can see their are options when it comes to choosing your footwear. Hopefully you haven’t become so tied to brands and styles that you aren’t willing to branch out and find some footwear that supports your ethics and values. In case the links above weren’t enough, here’s a few more sites to check out:

• Vegan Line
• Vegetarian Shoes
• Green Shoes
• Freerangers
• Veja
• Ethical Wares
• Educating for Justice
• Sponsored Link: Mephisto Shoes

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I haven’t been writing many devotionals lately, so I’m going to start. I think there should be some explanation of what I intend to do here. First, I know that there are many folks who read my blog who are not ‘Christian’ and many who do not see the Bible as an authoritative document. There are others who read this who will understand the Bible passages I reference as God’s Word and it will carry that authority. I hope these brief devotional thoughts (which I intend to write weekly on Sundays, not Daily yet) will be beneficial for both types of readers. For some this will be an authoritative and challenging word to pursue their faith even further. For others, I hope this will be an informative lesson into the teachings of Jesus Christ. The title of my blog, Trying to Follow, is a reference to my attempt to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. My life has been changed by Jesus and his words, my hope is they have an impact on you as well, regardless of your faith and beliefs.

Today, I want to talk about a something Jesus said in his famous Sermon on the Mount, one of the most radical speeches, I would say, of all time. We’ve been talking about this at Mosaic a little bit and I had to share my two cents on the topic. Here are my thoughts for your enjoyment.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -Matthew 6:18-21

First of all you have to notice it’s a dichotomy. “Do Not…But…” If Jesus wanted to put a disclaimer in I think he would have, and if he wanted to say you could do both at the same time (treasures on earth and in heaven) he would have said it differently. Jesus is giving advice on how you should live, and were we should be investing our money and energy. It’s a pretty radical statement, Don’t store up treasure on earth. To some degree it’s a pretty straight forward statement, and yet we might have a hard time figuring out how exactly this is carried out in our current lifestyle and society. I think some more context will help.

Jesus has already said some life-changing, paradigm-shifting, wealth-challenging, irrational (by our logic), sacrifice-requiring types of stuff. And remember this is all in the same sermon…

“Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. -Matt 5:42″

Love your Enemies and pray for those who persecute you. -Matt 5:44

“But when you give to the needy…” -Matt 6:3

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God…But woe to you who are rich, for your have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.” -Luke 6:20,24,25

Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. -Luke 6:31

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” -Luke 6:35

So, just to recap, you’ve got Jesus telling folks to give to anyone who asks, he even tells us to lend to our enemies (talk about an unwise investment). He exhorts you and I that are riches will be our comfort, and points us to the poor who have been given the kingdom. This is the Jesus who says do not store up treasure on earth.
My bike has been stolen multiple times and every time I think of this passage, and I have to question whether I was storing up treasure on earth were at thieve DID break in and steal.

Oh, and just in case you think Jesus might not really be saying “Do not store up treasures on earth” read the next passage. In case your thinking, but obviously Jesus doesn’t want us to be irrational and not store up for this or that…

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? -Matt 5:25-27

I’ve used the word “irrational” a few times here, because I think that acknowledges the attitude that we tend to feel when we hear something like this. Jesus is challenging our way of life and it does not seem rational to us. Look at Jesus, he’s wandering around, without a home, preaching and healing people, no treasure on earth, and leading as an example of storing up treasure in heaven. I’m not sure exactly what this should look like in a ‘Christians’ life, but I’m confident it does not look like the majority of Christians and churches in our society. Does it mean we don’t store up in IRA’s and invest in properties or stock or things of that nature? Maybe. Until Christians begin to gather together, stop justifying their lifestyles, and begin to struggle with the words of Jesus, we should question our taking of the term “like Christ.”

In the Month of November, my friend Zach Swee wrote a fiction book, The Profane Conspiracy. I ordered a copy and read it within 24 hours. I’m biased, because Zach is a wonderful friend, but I think it is a great book. Here’s the brief synopsis:

Explore what happens when God touches people’s lives and brings them together to do His work. Nothing is impossible for those who follow His call. This is the story of two young men, Jon, a high school dropout living on the streets, and Chris, a committed Christian who always has a smile on his face. When God brings them into each other’s lives, anything can happen.

Now, I think you should all read this book and I’ve got a brilliant way for you to do it. Zach self-published this book, which is a really neat opportunity technology has provided us. It also means that it’s going to take a little work on our part to get the book distributed. This won’t cost you a penny, it will just take a few moments of your time. I want to make sure a copy of Zach’s book, The Profane Conspiracy, is available at the Nashville Public Libraries. And here’s what I’m hoping you can do to help…

Click this link to Request a Book at the Nashville Public Library.
Enter this information:

Author: Zach Swee
Title: The Profane Conspiracy
Publisher: LuLu Publishing, 2007
Where you saw this item mentioned:
http://www.lulu.com/content/701413

You don’t have to enter any barcode info, just hit submit. And if your really interested in helping, request the book at your own local library. Let’s spread the word!