Ways of Resistance

I listened to Obama’s recent acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize. It was eloquent, as usual. He, in fact, performed some fine rhetorical gymnastics as he contradicted himself on at least one very important point. Brian McLaren unpacks it for us:

Two paragraphs in the president’s speech struck me in particular. After acknowledging with humility the complex circumstances around his being named the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, he said he was:

mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same ceremony years ago — “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life’s work, I am living testimony to the moral force of nonviolence. I know there is nothing weak — nothing passive, nothing naïve — in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King. But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism — it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.

The unresolved irony of those two paragraphs wrestles under their composed and muscular syntax. On the one hand, “there is nothing naïve in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.” On the other hand, “I face the world as it is … evil does exist in the world.” It’s hard to read the latter in any other way than denying the former: King and Gandhi were naïve, underestimating the reality of evil in the world.

That’s a difficult point to deny, right? Wrong. A commenter takes McLaren to task on it:

Man, this whole argument of McLaren’s rests on the assumption Obama was calling Luther King “naive”. He wasn’t. He was saying it was naive to believe that nonviolence would always work as a solution to radical evil. Um, he mentioned Hitler, didn’t he? You missed that. How would nonviolence have stopped the rampaging Hutus in Rwanda? It is just self-serving one’s own ideology to think Obama was making an either/or statement.

So, against my better judgment (they can get a little feisty), I weighed in:

I think I remember reading a story in Claiborne and Haw’s book (Jesus for President) about a Rwandan man whose family was murdered and, essentially, became a target himself as he began to directly forgive his enemies. His example, of self-sacrificial enemy-love, is far more powerful and intelligent than any “smart bomb.” Of course, one only has to read the Gospels and learn the stories of early Christians to understand how this works. I suspect there are some situations where Christians cannot do anything to stop “radical evil,” that is, aside from giving one’s own life. But shouldn’t that be the call of those who follow a resurrected man?

Now, mind you, I have no personal experience with that kind of stuff. In fact, I doubt I am strong enough to die for most folks, much less my enemies. I just can’t seem to justify a behavior that Christ and early Christians so readily condemned (both in behavior and teaching), simply because I suck.

Anyone want to take me to task?

Occasionally, I feel greatly inspired. Perhaps it doesn’t take much, but I appreciate it when it happens. The idea was to spend the day mostly “taking it easy” with my family and some church friends. Julissa and I had a super long, but amazing day yesterday with a newish group of lively rabble rousers for our Saturday “Coffee & Theology” gathering and then spent the rest of the day with the Price family walking at the park, taking pictures, cooking Lomo Saltado (and, later, creme brulee, thanks to Joshua!). So, today was meant to be restful. And it was. But it was also inspiring.

I had some beautiful conversations with friends about life and pain and friendship and trust. I may have convinced the church I go to to stop using styrofoam cups for coffee, in favor of the hospitality volunteers washing some thrift store mugs I promised to provide for our coffee drinking pleasures. Julissa and I had a great time earlier in the afternoon playing with our son, Santiago, who has totally gotten away with my thinking/feeling/love/heart.

Finally (and I could say more, including a short bit about how awesome it was to hear some old Kevin Prosch played for worship this morning), Julissa and I watched a film short by some of the folks who participate in the 24-7 prayer movement (think UK/Pete Greig/ Boiler Rooms…not IHOP/Kansas City/Mike Bickle) in Germany. Anywho…it documents a few community rhythms that I am more and more fascinated with: hourly prayer, co-housing, and service. It’s inspiring to think of other folks doing things that I am only starting with and hoping to engage. It’s (en)couraging because I need examples of life-giving community to strengthen my faith (not just for me, but also for our family). It’s beautiful because I could see the gleam in Julissa’s eye as she saw how the rhythm was worked out with so many different family types and singles.

I hope/pray our household/family dreams becomes a true incarnation of Christ’s love for the Chapman/Mulberry neighborhood. It’s inspiring, you see. More to come on that later…

All in all, I’m feeling pretty good…weird, huh?

Paul Munn says in his post “technology and the collective”:

…our mechanized and technologically-driven society tends to dehumanize us and detach us from the natural way of life God created us for. And much of our technological equipment even seems to push us further from each other and from God. But I’ve heard many people blame this on technology itself, as if it is somehow inherently evil, and I don’t agree with that. I think the problem is deeper.

I’ve written much about the idolatry of the social collective, how we organize and institutionalize gathered human beings to form “We, the People,” a power much greater than any one person, a terrible substitute for the Body of Christ. I think our technology, as it has developed, has become a clear reflection of the evils of the social collective. No advanced technology can develop apart from this organization of people, and it necessarily reflects the values of the group. Technological developments have to be funded and so are driven by money and the purposes of the group, because what serves them well is what sells. Technology doesn’t drive itself, though it seems to (yes, I’ve read Ellul’s book). And it doesn’t drive people. People are driven by the power of the collective, driven to develop technology in a certain direction and driven to use it and serve it—or be cut off from the group, the source of life.

I think technology (broadly defined) and the power of “We, the people” are almost the same idea (which is to say that both technology and “We, the people” are ideas). Wendell Berry, a good Luddite, demonstrated how his refusal of a certain technology (a computer) amounted to a great social rejection/offense/marginalization, even among otherwise sympathetic environmentalists. Foucault utilized the term “technologies of the self” to describe this similarity. Wikipedia explains the interaction or overlap like this:

According to Foucault, technologies of the self are the forms of knowledge and strategies that “permit individuals to effect by their own means or with the help of others a certain number of operations on their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and way of being, so as to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection, or immortality”…

Foucault argued that technologies of the self must be understood as inextricably linked to his notion of governmentality: the guiding rationalities whereby individuals and social structures regulate and police norms of thought and behavior. Burchell states, “government, is a ‘contact point’ where techniques of domination and technologies of the self ‘interact’. According to Foucault, this “contact point” is where “technologies of domination of individuals over one another have recourse to processes by which the individual acts upon himself and, conversely,…where techniques of the self are integrated into structures of coercion.”

Anyway, I’m not sure I necessarily disagree with Paul’s clarification about technology (not inherently evil), however, its connection and perhaps even similarity to the collective seems to merit more than just a toss-out neutrality.

Our Dark Mother (“To be at His disposal”)

“Let Him do with me whatever He wants
as He wants for as long as He wants.
If darkness is light to some soul—even
if it be nothing to nobody—I am
perfectly happy—to be God’s
flower of the field.”

You mean it, Mother?
Suffering, surrendered like a
petal dropped and wasted. No matter
how thinly you felt His Absence
or how callousedly your heart beat?

Did your watery eyes even pinken,
with signs of hope drooling away?
Or sometimes did you say, “I have to
refuse what He desires to take,”
perhaps at night or in your mourning?

Is it true you longed to love Him,
Dark Mother, His Hiddeness—His
dark Passion too? Your Poverty
on the Cross with His, a Victim
for us and, you, a victim for Him.

“I can’t express in words—the gratitude
I owe you for your kindness to me.—For
the first time in this 11 years—I have
come to love the darkness.—For I believe
now that it is a part, a very, very small
part of Jesus’ darkness & pain on earth…
More than ever I surrender myself to Him—
Yes—more than ever I will be at His disposal.”

Editor’s note: Jessica DePriest is a friend who, as you will tell, has a passion to communicate. In this challenging and personal missive she invites each of us to truly know our neighbors–no matter where they live or sleep. Read and let her know what you think.

It seems an epidemic is rising and not just here in Chico. There is an overwhelming growth of homeless people than ever before. Some of you may not even care that there are families out on the street, or that there are struggling drug addicts. I say to look at it in a completely different view.

Homelessness is a growing problem for many United States cities. It is starting to become a more and more widespread problem due to our ever not recovering economic situation. There is a dwindling amount of jobs and opportunity in the work force.

The homeless situation is a sad one. Most people just look away and have nothing to say because it is more of a gesture that if people don’t or choose not to see it. It is not happening. Well folks and readers it is. Going once every few months or even monthly to a Jesus Center or a Soup Kitchen is not enough. These people need more than just average or punitive attempts to make you feel better. Most need clothes or shoes. Some just need someone to talk to and have someone listen instead of trying to talk to Joe or Bob that has heard it all and seen it all being one of those loveable tramps we all know and see.

In Sacramento there is an overwhelming growth in the homeless community. They have about 2500 homeless and down on their luck men women and children. The even sadder thing is that there is only accommodation for about 1200 people and that is only more so in the winter time. There’s absolutely nothing more shameful than when you have to ask for someone for a few bucks or whatever they will give you. It is sad to hear some of the things that passerby’s will say or do to you just because you do not have what they do.

Personally to me the over egotistical college kid that brings money into Chico is half the time or more responsible for the vandalism, DUI’s, Assault and Battery that happens in this town but is so eagerly overlooked for the sole purpose that they bring in money.

There is too much that the college kids get away with and it is a shame. Now do not get me wrong I have seen my own fair share of what the homeless community has done but it is not all of the community that even does stupid antics. On another note it is also a saddening thought that even in the most powerful and socially booming country that we even have to call the homeless a community.

Also, In the close of this rant and rave. Please make an effort to go out and do more for the community as a whole not just the areas that you are comfortable in. There is so much that you can do for your country and your community. I say to you No, I challenge you to stand up and make an effort for the good and not for the comfort ability that is so near to you and yours.

Jessica DePriest