Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting and the Text This Week

Sometimes the two aspects of my internship at Saint Peter's Church and the Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC) connect in interesting ways. On the church side of things, throughout the week I've been struggling with how to preach this Sunday's lectionary text from the Hebrew Bible, Hosea 11: 1 - 11. While the selected text itself puts forward a compassionate, even motherly image of God, its written in the context of a wider book that uses a patriarchal metaphor of God as a pious husband and Israel as an adulterous wife. Although I haven't yet come to any conclusions, I do think such strong patriarchy does need to be confronted.

From the UN side of things, I recently wrote the following post concerning the practice of female genital mutilation/ cutting (FGM/C) for Ecumenical Women, and briefly touched on what some faith communities are doing to confront the idea as a social norm. Additionally, the Lutheran World Federation program in Mauritania is working to combat the practice, which you can read about here. While FGM/C is primarily confined to Africa and the Middle East to a lesser extent, the issue serves as a helpful reminder about what social norms need to be confronted while preaching in an American society that still allows and even condones violence against girls and women in a variety of forms.



Earlier this month the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) released a follow-up publication to its first statistical report on female genital mutilation/ cutting (FGM/C) in 2005. The report in its entirety can be found here: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change. While concentrated across a wide swath of African and (to a lesser extent) Middle Eastern countries, FGM/C takes place in a variety of forms for a variety of reasons around the world.  In some countries such as Guinea, Mali and Somalia, well over 90% of girls and women of reproductive age have undergone the practice, according to the report.

In many countries, especially in rural areas, FGM/C is performed by traditional practitioners (primarily older women), but in some countries like Egypt it is frequently performed by trained health professionals.  In nineteen out of twenty-nine countries where FGM/C is concentrated, the majority of girls and women think it should end. While often viewed as a manifestation of patriarchal oppression, rates of support for the practice among boys and men in many countries are roughly equal to that of girls and women according to the report. FGM/C is linked to variety of both short and long-term medical complications such as severe pain, prolonged bleeding, infection, infertility and even death.

Ethnic grouping greatly determines why girls and women undergo FGM/C, with some reasons including social acceptance, beauty, preservation of virginity and a perceived association with religious beliefs (although no religious Scripture requires it). While prevalence of FGM/C amongst younger generations of girls and women is decreasing and many countries have outlawed the practice, faith communities have a major role to play in combating this form of violence against girls and women, especially in areas where it is a deeply entrenched social norm. For instance, some faith communities have removed the cutting aspect from associated rites of passage for young women while retaining the positive aspects of the ceremony overall.

To learn more about female genital mutilation/ cutting and what UNICEF is doing to end the harmful practice, you visit UNICEF's page on the subject here.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Monday, July 29, 2013

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: The Caribbean

Haiti
As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (28 July - 3 August) are the countries of the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. While the paragraph below provides information on current events, check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:
We pray for the people of Haiti as they continue to recover from the 2010 earthquake and subsequent cholera outbreak. We pray the normalization of relations between Cuba and other nations, particularly the United States, while also praying for the Cuban people as they continue to struggle in a post-Soviet economy. We pray for the people of all Caribbean nations as they enter hurricane season. We give thanks for the continued strengthening of regional cooperation through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Friday, July 26, 2013

"UN - I do not want to be poor anymore."


In 2000, world leaders promised to reach eight specific, measurable goals for global development by 2015 called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The most notable of these goals was to halve the number of people living in extreme poverty, as measured by people living on a $1.25 or less. Thanks in part to the strong participation of people of faith, along with many other persons and organizations working together in one massive global effort to fulfill the MDGs, we have made real progress. The number of people living in poverty has fallen to less than half of its 1990 level. Over two billion people gained access to better drinking water. The share of slum dwellers living in cities fell, improving the lives of at least 100 million people!

Yet, we still have work to do. 1.4 billion people remain in extreme poverty. Every four seconds a child dies from preventable causes and over 900 million people, particularly women and young people, suffer from chronic hunger. Climate change threatens to destroy the lives of millions more and undo much of the progress we have made so far. Inequality is growing everywhere and human rights are being undermined, especially in many of the world’s most fragile and conflict affected countries. Even with these great challenges, for the first time in history we have the resources to end extreme poverty while enabling sustainable development. As the 2015 target date for fulfilling the MDGs approaches, a global conversation on these two topics is well underway. Termed the “post‐2015 dialogue,” this conversation has already brought together thousands of government officials, non-profit organizations, business leaders, academics and grassroots activists in order to craft new goals for a global development agenda.

Despite the unprecedented openness and inclusivity of the post‐2015 dialogue, people of faith have yet to fully engage in the conversation. This is unfortunate, because as major players in fulfilling the MDGs, people of faith have much to contribute ‐ they have rich grassroots experiences to share and their members and neighbors have a major stake in what happens after 2015. For instance, the ELCA’s well-known “Make Malaria History” campaign directly relates the MDG 6, “Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases,” and thus Lutherans should be very concerned about what global development goals follow the MDGs.

Even more importantly, faith communities are often the only grassroots networks that directly reach people living in poverty and other underrepresented global citizens. Thus, as people of faith, and specifically as Lutherans, we need to do our part in amplifying the voices of those who most need a strong set of new development goals – people living in poverty and communities and organizations who accompany them. We must practice what we preach, what we teach. It's about directly accompanying people concretely, not merely multiplying words. If we, as people of faith, do not confront "the scandal of poverty," then we are part of the problem.

People living in poverty and those who accompany them have unique gifts to share with the global community as it prepares a Post‐2015 Development Agenda. After countless consultations, reports, meetings and debates, we largely know what needs to be done and that we have the necessary resources to end extreme poverty. What we do not yet have at the United Nations is the political will to make it happen. In late June, during yet another meeting at UN headquarters in New York, a man from Latin America stood up, and in one startling statement got everyone’s attention. He simply said, “UN – I do not want to be poor anymore.” It is such dignified, hopeful people, people living in poverty and those who directly accompany them, from whom we need to hear more in the post‐2015 dialogue, for only they can build the political will to end poverty in our time while enabling sustainable development.

Inspired by that startling example of speaking truth to power, the New York offices to the United Nations of Caritas Internationalis and The Lutheran World Federation recently launched a new conversation on the World We Want platform entitled “UN ‐ I do not want to be poor anymore: a collection of faith‐inspired voices of people living in poverty.” If you're someone who has served in a soup-kitchen, if you’re someone who has gone on a mission trip, if you’re someone who worships with people living in poverty and especially if you have experienced poverty yourself (however you define "poverty" in your local context) please contribute to this conversation by going to http://www.worldwewant2015.org/voicesoffaith. By creating a user profile and answering four simple questions, you’ll make your voice heard by leaders at the United Nations and greatly contribute towards ending extreme poverty while sustainably growing our world!

If you have any additional questions, feel free to email me at dustin.wright@elca.org. Thanks so much for reading, and we hope you can participate with other people of faith around the world in this important global endeavor!

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Preaching Video: Trayvon, Malala and the Good Samaritan

What follows is video from me preaching on Sunday, 14 July following the acquittal of George Zimmerman on the gospel reading for the day, Saint Luke10: 25 - 37. I'd love to hear what you think.


Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Ordinary Time 16C Sermon: Chillaxing in Community

What follows is a draft of the sermon I preached this Sunday at Saint Peter's Church for Jazz Vespers.  It's primarily on Genesis 18: 1 - 10 and Saint Luke 10: 38 - 42, two of the appointed lectionary readings for the day.

So I have a confession for all of you… for much of my life, I wasn’t a big fan of going to church… I really disliked it actually, because I thought it was a waste of time. It wasn’t that I didn’t love Jesus, or faith or Christian community or anything like that… I’ve pretty much always really dug those things and have found them immensely meaningful in my life. But the specific act of what many call worship, the roughly hour and a half of sitting and standing in the pews, the singing, praying, listening to typically boring folks like me talk for typically way too long up front Sunday after Sunday about archaic things I couldn’t care less about… I never really got the point of it. And furthermore, as someone that’s always been really into the service and social justice side of faith… feeding the hungry, accompanying people living under the oppression of poverty in their long walk to freedom, organizing the community against all manner of social ills, I definitely thought the immense time and resources spent by most Christian communities on the act of worship was simply a distraction from what was truly important. And while my thinking on such matters admittedly started shifting after I entered seminary, even last year you’d have typically found me sending out emails about an initiative to make campus more environmentally friendly and or supporting the local Occupy movement rather than attending daily chapel services. Even once I starting getting a vague notion of its importance, I still didn’t think I had time for worship, or to put it slightly more colorfully, I didn’t think I had time to “chillax” with God and by doing so “chillax” with my sisters and brothers in Christian community.

To chillax… it’s a “word” I think I first heard sometime in high school and have occasionally used ever since when attempting to sound hip around folks a bit older than me or when vainly trying to impress a girl or the like. It occurred to me this week though that such a word could be repurposed for the far more noble use of summarizing both the importance of worship I have learned this year from all of you at Saint Peter’s and the immensely good news that is at the heart of today’s gospel message. For combining the two verbs ‘to relax’ and ‘to chill’ into ‘to chillax’ really ends up making for a profound concept. It means not only to take a pause, to take a breath in the midst of the chaos that surrounds you, but to do so not for your own sake, nor under your own initiative. Instead, chillaxing is solely done for the sake of the other and solely as a work of God. You see, when chillaxing a pause is made, a breathe is taken, a separate space is created away from one’s own life in order to see another being for who she or he is truly is, to listen carefully to that being, and in fact to share in the realization of a sacred moment with another broken yet beautiful child of God. To chillax… it’s what worship and what today’s readings are all about… and the simple reminder to chillax, the simple invitation that we can’t help but say yes to, that simple invitation my sisters and brothers is immensely good news.

Let’s look at our first reading today from Genesis… God shows up at Abraham’s tent in presence of three men, perhaps in what Christians would later call the Trinity, in the middle of a hot summer day at Mamre, in a place that would later become one of the three most important and busiest marketplaces in ancient Israel. Despite the sweltering heat, Abraham is invited by God to take some time along with his wife Sarah to first recognize the physical needs of his three visitors by providing them with water. A sumptuous meal is then prepared and a holy moment is shared under the shade of a tree while the meal is enjoyed. In other words, Abraham chillaxes with God and then Abraham and Sarah receive the immensely good news that God will soon return to them in this face of a newborn child.

Today’s gospel story from Saint Luke also puts forward a powerful of message about chillaxing with God and with one another, and this time without the inherent patriarchy of the Genesis passage. The story takes place immediately after the Good Samaritan story we heard last Sunday... Jesus shows up at Martha and Mary’s house, and much like with Abraham and Sarah, He does so to invite them into a holy moment over a meal. In other words, Jesus shows up to chillax. Martha welcomes Jesus into her home, and gets to work busily preparing a meal. Mary on the other hand, defies the gender norms of her day by sitting as a disciple at Jesus’ feet, listening to him. Martha in turn reasonably gets pretty upset that she has to do all the work. Lovingly, Jesus proclaims back to her, and to us in this time, in this place, in this exceptionally busy of cities, the immensely good news that at the heart of the matter it’s not about what Martha, or what Mary or what you or me, or any of us are really doing at all… Rather, it’s about the most amazing act of liberating love God is working in Christ.

For you see, what I’ve certainly come to learn this year from all of you, is that when we gather around this table, and when we chillax with beautiful Spirit-filled jazz and join in mutual conversation, a most divinely holy moment, and most profound space of liberating love occurs. A space where folks who live on the streets and folks who can afford plane tickets to fly in from all over the world gather together and mutually recognize each other as broken yet beautiful children of God (and thus learn from each other) is created in Christ. And in such a space, supported by each other, we can’t help but cast ourselves into the arms of a God who is lovingly aching to share Her presence with us. God chillaxes with us, welcomes us, gathers us up in loving arms into community with Herself and one another and thereby strengthens us to go out and proclaim Her message of liberating love to a city and world profoundly hungry for the gospel. And this sisters and brothers, is profoundly good news. Amen.


Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Preaching Video: Marriage Equality and Christ's Liberating Love

I realized yesterday I never posted this video of my sermon from a couple Sundays back, preached at Saint Peter's Church where I serve as Vicar on June 30th, 2013.  It's primarily on an appointed reading for the day, Galatians 5: 1, 13 -25, and the recent federal recognition of marriage equality.  Would love some feedback.


God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Trayvon, Malala, the Good Samaritan and Christ's Message of Liberating Love

So after hearing the news of George Zimmerman's acquittal last night, I realized I needed to write a whole new sermon for this evening at Saint Peter's where I'm serving for a few more weeks as Vicar... What follows is what I came up with, based on the gospel reading for the day, Saint Luke 10: 25 - 37.  I'd love to hear what you think!

It’s been an odd sort of week in the life in our nation … As many of us returned from a long holiday celebrating our freedom with friends and family, we also returned to an odd sort of news environment… comprehensive immigration reform maybe happening, maybe not… all the CIA leak and NSA spying stuff… Congress failing to do anything about student loan interest rates rising, a farm bill that leaves out funding for food stamps… geesh. It’s been an odd sort of week, and of course, it was capped off by the truly disappointing, saddening and even outraging news last night that the friends and family of Trayvon Martin will not be able to rest at least a little easier anytime soon. No, my sisters and brothers, Trayvon’s parents Tracy and Sybrina did not lay down to sleep in the reassuring arms of justice last night. And people of color throughout this nation went to bed not only knowing that the simple act of going out to get a snack could get one killed, but furthermore that such a murder may go unpunished. And we all sought sleep last night racked by the painful reminder that the long held burden of racial fear and hatred still weighs heavily upon this country, and that at least for now, that burden ain’t getting any lighter. My sisters and brother, these sorrows must be voiced. These sorrows must be mourned. And these sorrows must be changed. And may we all do the difficult work of keeping everyone affected in our prayers, including those holding different views from our own and even Trayvon’s killer himself.

Through the uncertainty and sadness of the news this past week though, there was at least one shining ray of light as well. Perhaps amidst all the trial coverage you were able to pick up on it… This past Friday morning, a young, now sixteen year old woman named Malala Yousafzai stepped up to the podium at the United Nations and gave a rousing, defiant address, speaking truth to power that all women and children, that all people in fact, have a basic right to education. In a world where nearly sixty million children still do not attend primary school, many of whom disproportionately are girls, Malala’s message is not only direly needed, but delivered with great risk. For you see, in her home area of the Swat Valley in Pakistan this past October, Malala was shot in the head at point blank range by the Taliban on her way to school for boldly proclaiming the prophetic message that all girls deserve an education. They shot Malala’s friends too. And while the Taliban failed to silence Malala this past October, they have vowed to try again.

So, you may be wondering what all of this has to do with today’s Gospel story… with the well-known but often misunderstood story of the Good Samaritan. Well, especially since Malala specifically cites not only the Prophet of her own faith, Muhammad, but Jesus Christ as well as a source of inspiration, I imagine she’s certainly heard this parable before and taken its true message to heart. For while Malala’s speech this past Friday was about education for all, it wasn’t about education for the sake of winning, for the sake of getting ahead or individually climbing a social ladder. No, Malala instead put forward a collective vision of society. She said, “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” And she prophetically proclaimed, “Our words can change the whole world, because we are united together for the cause of education.” And it is the quite similar collective vision, a vision of liberating love in community with God and community with each other, which Jesus puts forward in his story of the Good Samaritan.

All too often this parable is misunderstood and mis-preached. All too often the final line of “Go and do likewise” is taken as the central thesis of the story, rather than only a necessary consequence of it true message… Let me repeat that… “Go and do likewise” is taken as the central thesis of the story, rather than only a necessary consequence of its true message. Go and do likewise is taken to mean go out and be perfect… go out and be nice and polite, follow the rules, and whether its explicitly stated or not, go out and show the world and show God how great and pious and holy you are! You doing great champ, just keep on doing what you’re doing and you’ll end up on top! Now, such a message might sound nice at first, but all too quickly such hyper-individualistic notions only lead to one of two possible outcomes… First, we might end up living a life of hate, a life of hate that in its extreme form sounds something like, “Wow, I’m so good and so pious that I can take the law into my own hands. Look at me, look at me, I’m gonna save the day… I can stalk folks I deem dangerous, and if something goes wrong, no matter, I’m strapped and the law is on my side so I’ll just stand my ground.” The other possibility is that such hyper-individualism leads us to a life of fear, that in its extreme form sounds something like, “There are only winners and losers in this world, so I better make sure folks that look like me and act like me end up winning. I just gotta take and take as much of this world’s limited resources as I can to protect myself, my friends and my family… and well, everyone else will just need to fend for themselves... to hell with em!”

My sisters and brothers, the lawyer that tests Jesus in today’s Gospel story was plagued by just such a sense of hyper-individualism. The lawyer exclaims, “What must I do? What must I do? May I further clarify rabbi, in order to justify myself?” And the way Jesus responds, is absolutely brilliant… Jesus says to the elite young man, bro, you aren’t even asking the right question. Stop worrying, just for a second, about who you’re suppose to serve and think about who’s acting like a neighbor to you… check your ego at the door because the fact is that you need some help too… because despite the fact that it seems like you’re in charge, you can’t do it on your own no matter how hard you try! The lawyer, the priest and the Levite… the “winners” in today’s gospel story, would likely do quite well in today’s society… a society that through the politics of racism, and sexism, and classism and a wide variety of “isms” preaches a message to fear folks that are different, because they’re only going to take what’s yours… and a society that preaches hate folks that are different, because they’re nothing next to your perfect, high-achieving, polished self.

My sisters and brother, in today’s Gospel story Jesus presents the elite lawyer and in fact all of us in this time, in this place, in this city with the difficult but profoundly good news that its not about what you, or me, or any other person for that matter is doing at all… it’s about God’s act of liberating love in Christ. For despite the powers hate and fear’s best attempts to kill Christ’s message of liberating love, a message much like Malala’s that no matter how hard we try, we cannot do it on our own, Christ rose. Yes, Christ lives… Christ lives in this time, in this place, in this city, freeing us from all the varied forms of hate and fear, freeing us from our very selves, freeing us from whatever may oppress us into the hope of restored community, into the hope in a beautifully interwoven tapestry of mutuality with God and with one another. Amen. 

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.