Holy Resistance

Holy Resistance

“On this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it’s up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences.” Albert Camus

Mahatma-Gandhi.jpg

In his weekly email,1 Jake Owensby gave us this quote about where God calls us in times of difficulty. When we and others are in a difficult situation and use tactics that the cause of the difficulty uses, we become like them. I am especially thinking about in times of war where soldiers may take on the inhuman tactics of their enemy in order to defeat the enemy. When we do this, we become like the enemy that we are giving up our lives to overcome.

The teachings of Christ are that violence never overcomes violence. Love is the only tool we have that can change violence. We are called to be on the side of the victim and not to become like the pestilence that is harming the victim.

This also was the teaching of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. The civil rights movement is not over, but when we use the methods of the oppressors, we become like them.

Owensby reminds us that we are “to act justly in an unjust world.”

How does this apply to our spiritual life? We keep our connection to God by following the teachings of Christ. We believe in the resurrection, and we keep looking for resurrection and modeling resurrection in our lives. We stand by the victims, especially those we have lost hope in the resurrection in the life to come as well as in their lives today, right now.

1Jake Owensby, “Moving beyond Fear, Offering Holy Resistance,” Looking for God in Messy Places, November 16, 2018.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

charleston: different faiths

Charleston: Different Faiths

“Each person defines faith for themselves. Even if we sit in the pews with a thousand others, we all still process what we believe individually. Part of that definition is received, imparted to us by culture and community. Part is internally developed over time and through experience. Faith, therefore, is a process. Being conscious of what faith means to us is being aware of how life works for us. As Socrates is supposed to have said: the unexamined life is not worth living.” Bishop Steven Charleston, Daily Facebook Meditation

meeting of Christians, Jews, and Muslims

meeting of Christians, Jews, and Muslims

Those who come to talk about spiritual direction are usually consciously or unconsciously looking for the examined life, trying to go deeper in their relationship with God. Steven Charleston’s message is a reminder as we talk to spiritual friends to honor and respect their faith that may be different from ours.

In fact, this is how our faith as well as their own grows as we learn about the relationship of others in different faith groups from our own. With so much division in our country at this time, so many ask about what we can do to bring about healing. My experience is that we are called to “bloom where we are planted.”

I hear a call to reach out to and become friends with our neighbors of other faiths. Our schools and the workplace are perfect opportunities. They most often have become where our melting pot is centered. Let others know we want to know more about what they believe. We are called to attend diversity seminars and meetings and services between other Christian groups such as Church Women United, World Day of Prayer, and other faith groups that include Muslims and Jews and Hindus and more.

Sharing a meal together is always a good start and probably the most important part of our attempt to connect to each other. If we pause long enough to eat, we usually are forced to pause ever so briefly to listen to our neighbor.

Joanna joannaseibert.com