The Occupy London camp outside St Paul's cathedral was unique. No other protest in hundreds of cities across the world was so passionately engaged with the church. That gave the church a chance to learn from the movement. In an essay called "the Judgement of the World" Archbishop Rowan Williams writes about the way Christian identity has always been worked out in relation to what lies beyond its borders. The church may even find out what scripture itself is saying in her confrontations with the world. The Christian community may be enlarged in understanding and even in some sense evangelised in such encounters. Christians rediscover their own foundational story in the parables of the acts and deeds of others.
The Occupy movement seemed to exemplify this "judgement of the world". Christians could learn from the movement about the injustice and destructiveness of capitalism. We could discover our won complicity and complacency. We were reminded that we worship God or mammon, not God and mammon. But Christians who visited the camp could experience more than this kind of judgement. David Graeber, the anthropologist who was one of the initial organisers of the Occupy Wall Street protests, speaks of a pre-figurative politics. It's one thing to say "Another world is possible". It's another to experience it, however momentarily. People expecting lists of demands were missing the point of the movement. Pre-figurative politics is not about demands. It's about being the change you want to see in the world. And joy, festivity, laughter and desire are a revolutionary impetus that brings an alternative future into the present.
The Occupy camp at St Paul's could feel like an enclave of Friday night in the perpetual Monday morning of the City. It could feel like church on a good day. Perhaps its pre-figurative politics could even enlarge the Christian understanding of the realised eschatology of Jesus who brought the great banquet of the future kingdom into the present in the festivity of his meals with sinners?
So I hope that the church will not turn its attention away from this pre-figurative politics after the eviction of the Occupy camp outside St Paul's. I hope that it might even learn something also from the response of the Protestant churches in Communist East Germany to dissident groups.
Churches there had been taught by the martyr theologian Dietrich Banhoeffer and the Nazi era that the words of the church lose their force when it is more concerned with self-preservation than with the service to others, such as the Jews. So they wanted the church to be a "church for others", a church that stands up for more than just the faithful.
In the 1970s groups began to be founded to oppose the injustice and destructiveness of communism, not in the name of capitalism, but of "Justice, Peace and the integrity of Creation". Some of these groups were Christian. Many were not. They still found shelter in space found by the church, just as in London. The Stasi denounced the leaders of these groups as "fanatics who want to shine politically". The churches of East Germany provided these groups with the use of its roofs and its rooms, and also with protection, inspiration, pastoral care, and help with networking and communications.
Inside the church the seeds of a revolution were sown and tended. The church of St Nicholas in Leipzig still has a banner up that says "Open to All". In October 1989 thousands of people lit candles and prayed there for peace at evening services organised by its pastor. They took candles out onto the streets to demonstrate against the communist system. They had an incredible experience of power of a non-violent revolution by candlelight.
Could a church within capitalism imitate this church within socialism? Could a beautiful friendship develop out of this chance encounter at St Paul's when the movement was unable to occupy the Stock Exchange as it originally intended? And could the crisis of capitalism and an intensifying fear of ecological catastrophe even provide "a last chance for Christianity" as the East German Green thinker Rudolf Bahro asked ironically? Although he was an atheist he argued that these are ultimately spiritual problems that demand spiritual solutions. "No order can save us which simply limits the excesses of our greed. Only spiritual mastery of greed itself can help us. It is perhaps only the Prophets and the Buddhas, whether or not their answers were perfect, who have at least put the questions radically enough". Could Occupying Faith release a power that will change the world?
Written by Revd James Lawson
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Speech for St Paul's Institute Discussion - Practical Possibilities for churches
I hope you will all indulge me, as I have prepared a little speech. I am a Christian who joined Occupy London on the 15th October 2011, when the Occupy here in London first began outside St Paul's cathedral, but was intended for Paternoster Square.
Before Occupy I had never been an activist, although I guess in a way I have always been against the injustices that I have lived through in our world. I am from South Africa and grew up under the inhuman social and economic injustices of the undemocratic Apartheid system. Personally, I believe that the Holy Spirit is moving like a jet stream through the Occupy movement and I feel God’s hand in His desire for us to confront those who are fighting to keep the iniquities of the City in place.
Occupy London has been striving, as part of the wider global Occupy movement, to raise awareness of the economic, social and environmental injustices that are being committed by the corporations, the governments and the banks.
I don’t need to highlight the global economic crisis, as I am sure that everyone reading/hearing this is fully aware of the global crisis, but when it comes to asking the question “what can we do?” I have to speak as a Christian first - we can stand up and protest against what may seem an insurmountable task to try and influence changing the system. This is the narrative that Christ taught us, he too protested peacefully.
We must action our faith.
Many Christians feel that the church has lost it’s way. The very cathedral in which this speech will be heard, has collaborated with the iniquitous City of London Corporation to evict the Occupy London Stock Exchange camp that tarnishes the views of the historic Wren building.
But I ask you, is the building more important than the narrative of Christ? The churches were built to protect and house the alter - a place of sacrifice - but since Christ was the sacrifice, and communion the means by which Christians remembrance of that sacrifice is taken, then the building is surely less important than the narrative. The church needs to be dynamic, but always in keeping with the values and principles given to us through scriptures.
In Habakkuk, Chapter 2 vs 5 to 8 it clearly says:
"Wealth is deceitful. Greedy men are proud and restless - like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves. The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show scorn for them. They will say, 'You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?'
But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you! You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities."
For the cathedral to have played a role in supporting the City of London Corporations eviction case, through the testimony of Nicholas Cottom, simply because the camp is an eyesore and has attracted some of the marginalised and problematic people that make up our society, it seems forgotten that Jesus was homeless and mixed with those marginalised in His society … tax collectors, lepers and prostitutes. The Occupiers outside the cathedral doors may seem like the lepers of today, as we struggle to engage the establishment in addressing change. The preservation of a building was not what Jesus taught for He challenged the authorities, He challenged the law and in 1 Peter 2 vs 5 it says "Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple ..."
That spiritual temple is the one we should be focussing on as Christians and as community, because we are all part of this global community. Surely there is a better way, a way that encompasses faith, love, understanding and respect for all people with a desire for peaceful resolution towards an equal, just, sustainable and democratic global community.
In practical terms, there is much that the church can do and consider through collaboration, through pursuing the philosophy that all faiths teach us, and through encouraging conversation and forging relationships to foster discourse with those who are actively challenging the system.
The Occupy movement has much to offer in collaborating with the church and the church needs to recognise that for any of us to achieve structural change to the nefarious system that currently dominates our world, we need to share our skills and knowledge to challenge that which is unjust, in order to attain the shared values we hold.
Occupy Faith UK is an affinity part of Occupy that has recently started, autonomous in some ways, but acting on and engaging in the wider Occupy movement ideals and principles. In the United States Occupy Faith has over 1000 churches affiliated in support. I am happy to share some of the plans Occupy Faith UK has at the moment, that would be mutually beneficial for the church to be participant in, and we are open to discussion and receiving support on some of these initiatives. We need the churches involved in some of these initiatives, but mostly we need people to remember we are all bound together with shared values, regardless of faith.
Before Occupy I had never been an activist, although I guess in a way I have always been against the injustices that I have lived through in our world. I am from South Africa and grew up under the inhuman social and economic injustices of the undemocratic Apartheid system. Personally, I believe that the Holy Spirit is moving like a jet stream through the Occupy movement and I feel God’s hand in His desire for us to confront those who are fighting to keep the iniquities of the City in place.
Occupy London has been striving, as part of the wider global Occupy movement, to raise awareness of the economic, social and environmental injustices that are being committed by the corporations, the governments and the banks.
I don’t need to highlight the global economic crisis, as I am sure that everyone reading/hearing this is fully aware of the global crisis, but when it comes to asking the question “what can we do?” I have to speak as a Christian first - we can stand up and protest against what may seem an insurmountable task to try and influence changing the system. This is the narrative that Christ taught us, he too protested peacefully.
We must action our faith.
Many Christians feel that the church has lost it’s way. The very cathedral in which this speech will be heard, has collaborated with the iniquitous City of London Corporation to evict the Occupy London Stock Exchange camp that tarnishes the views of the historic Wren building.
But I ask you, is the building more important than the narrative of Christ? The churches were built to protect and house the alter - a place of sacrifice - but since Christ was the sacrifice, and communion the means by which Christians remembrance of that sacrifice is taken, then the building is surely less important than the narrative. The church needs to be dynamic, but always in keeping with the values and principles given to us through scriptures.
In Habakkuk, Chapter 2 vs 5 to 8 it clearly says:
"Wealth is deceitful. Greedy men are proud and restless - like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves. The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show scorn for them. They will say, 'You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?'
But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you! You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities."
For the cathedral to have played a role in supporting the City of London Corporations eviction case, through the testimony of Nicholas Cottom, simply because the camp is an eyesore and has attracted some of the marginalised and problematic people that make up our society, it seems forgotten that Jesus was homeless and mixed with those marginalised in His society … tax collectors, lepers and prostitutes. The Occupiers outside the cathedral doors may seem like the lepers of today, as we struggle to engage the establishment in addressing change. The preservation of a building was not what Jesus taught for He challenged the authorities, He challenged the law and in 1 Peter 2 vs 5 it says "Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple ..."
That spiritual temple is the one we should be focussing on as Christians and as community, because we are all part of this global community. Surely there is a better way, a way that encompasses faith, love, understanding and respect for all people with a desire for peaceful resolution towards an equal, just, sustainable and democratic global community.
In practical terms, there is much that the church can do and consider through collaboration, through pursuing the philosophy that all faiths teach us, and through encouraging conversation and forging relationships to foster discourse with those who are actively challenging the system.
The Occupy movement has much to offer in collaborating with the church and the church needs to recognise that for any of us to achieve structural change to the nefarious system that currently dominates our world, we need to share our skills and knowledge to challenge that which is unjust, in order to attain the shared values we hold.
Occupy Faith UK is an affinity part of Occupy that has recently started, autonomous in some ways, but acting on and engaging in the wider Occupy movement ideals and principles. In the United States Occupy Faith has over 1000 churches affiliated in support. I am happy to share some of the plans Occupy Faith UK has at the moment, that would be mutually beneficial for the church to be participant in, and we are open to discussion and receiving support on some of these initiatives. We need the churches involved in some of these initiatives, but mostly we need people to remember we are all bound together with shared values, regardless of faith.
Monday, 16 January 2012
Celebrating Martin Luther King Day - My speech
Racial segregation in South Africa started in colonial times and was already in force by the British colonial government before South Africa gained independence. This racially based segregation became more oppressive and detailed through the Apartheid laws after the 1948 general election.
What makes South Africa's apartheid era different to segregation and racial hatred that have occurred in other countries, is the systematic way in which the National Party, which came into power in 1948, formalised it through the law. These laws became know as the Apartheid laws - Apartheid in Afrikaans means Separateness.
I was born and grew up in South Africa and the legacy of Apartheid not only still affects South Africa in its struggle towards equality, but affects me when I think of the thousands of people who lost their lives in my lifetime in the struggle for freedom and social and economic justice in South Africa.
I think of Steven Biko …. His loss to the country and what could have been, I cannot put into words. His death was something that affected the consciousness of all, regardless of the race divide the Apartheid government strived for, and actually bound together many of the very people it was trying to divide by this politic.
Thankfully my parents were anti-Apartheid, as they believed in equality, social justice and that South Africa would one day be free of the fascist, racist oppression that Apartheid held over millions of people. The day Nelson Mandela was released was one of the highlights of my life.
I came down to Occupy on the 15th October last year, without any predisposed ideas of really why I was here, except that I felt strongly that things are very wrong in our society and the world today. I’ve read a section of a speech by Dr Martin Luther King that sadly is still relevant today. Social, economic and political injustice still dominates the world we all live in.
Martin Luther King had a righteous anger as a man of God and as a political activist who truly believed in the struggle to fight non-violently for a better world, one that addressed the problematic issues of poverty, prejudice, war, oppression and the lack of fairness and equality in our global society.
He truly sought justice for all and his anger was directed at the iniquities of a system that divides, polarises and oppresses.
We have not since the Depression of the 1930s been in such a desperate spiral of economic crisis, injustices and social degradation of human rights, which has the potential to lead the world into another era of scapegoat ideology, in which the rise of fascism, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia and racist nationalism finds a place in the vacuum of logic, reason, equality and justice.
We need to strive to avoid a world that is based on such hatred and prejudice, we need to find a peaceful path that will rally against tyranny, exploitation, and oppression, in which our own governments deny the voices of dissent. People feel disenfranchised. We need to rise up and challenge the nefarious system that brings about prejudice and hatred through division.
We must stand together, united as one against a system that wants to alienate us as communities, destroy our shared values, and in which our governments attempt to control, suppress and at times persecute people who rise up against this failing global system. We need to be united, as one race - the HUMAN race and put aside our differences, but respect and love our diversity as humans.
If we look at Dr King’s belief in the method of non-violent resistance as unsheathed from its scabbard, the entire community, society, and the people CAN become mobilized to confront the adversary of social, economic and political injustice.
Dr King’s greatest legacy for us to learn from is that he recognised that economic injustice facilitates all injustices, all forms of hatred, division, oppression, and social injustice. I have seen first hand the bitter devise racial hatred and prejudice bring, and we need to be vigilant in times of strife and crisis to ensure that racism and fascism do not find a place in our society.
We are living in times impoverished by spirit. Apathy and a sense of powerlessness has pervaded for so long, but NOW is the time to look at ourselves in light of Edmund Burke’s recognition, that all it takes for evil to triumph, is for good people to stand by and do nothing. I don’t want to be a person who stands by and does nothing … do you?
“God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense, in order to shame the wise, and He chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful.” 1 Corinthians 1 vs. 27.
And as Dr Martin Luther King said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”.
What makes South Africa's apartheid era different to segregation and racial hatred that have occurred in other countries, is the systematic way in which the National Party, which came into power in 1948, formalised it through the law. These laws became know as the Apartheid laws - Apartheid in Afrikaans means Separateness.
I was born and grew up in South Africa and the legacy of Apartheid not only still affects South Africa in its struggle towards equality, but affects me when I think of the thousands of people who lost their lives in my lifetime in the struggle for freedom and social and economic justice in South Africa.
I think of Steven Biko …. His loss to the country and what could have been, I cannot put into words. His death was something that affected the consciousness of all, regardless of the race divide the Apartheid government strived for, and actually bound together many of the very people it was trying to divide by this politic.
Thankfully my parents were anti-Apartheid, as they believed in equality, social justice and that South Africa would one day be free of the fascist, racist oppression that Apartheid held over millions of people. The day Nelson Mandela was released was one of the highlights of my life.
I came down to Occupy on the 15th October last year, without any predisposed ideas of really why I was here, except that I felt strongly that things are very wrong in our society and the world today. I’ve read a section of a speech by Dr Martin Luther King that sadly is still relevant today. Social, economic and political injustice still dominates the world we all live in.
Martin Luther King had a righteous anger as a man of God and as a political activist who truly believed in the struggle to fight non-violently for a better world, one that addressed the problematic issues of poverty, prejudice, war, oppression and the lack of fairness and equality in our global society.
He truly sought justice for all and his anger was directed at the iniquities of a system that divides, polarises and oppresses.
We have not since the Depression of the 1930s been in such a desperate spiral of economic crisis, injustices and social degradation of human rights, which has the potential to lead the world into another era of scapegoat ideology, in which the rise of fascism, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia and racist nationalism finds a place in the vacuum of logic, reason, equality and justice.
We need to strive to avoid a world that is based on such hatred and prejudice, we need to find a peaceful path that will rally against tyranny, exploitation, and oppression, in which our own governments deny the voices of dissent. People feel disenfranchised. We need to rise up and challenge the nefarious system that brings about prejudice and hatred through division.
We must stand together, united as one against a system that wants to alienate us as communities, destroy our shared values, and in which our governments attempt to control, suppress and at times persecute people who rise up against this failing global system. We need to be united, as one race - the HUMAN race and put aside our differences, but respect and love our diversity as humans.
If we look at Dr King’s belief in the method of non-violent resistance as unsheathed from its scabbard, the entire community, society, and the people CAN become mobilized to confront the adversary of social, economic and political injustice.
Dr King’s greatest legacy for us to learn from is that he recognised that economic injustice facilitates all injustices, all forms of hatred, division, oppression, and social injustice. I have seen first hand the bitter devise racial hatred and prejudice bring, and we need to be vigilant in times of strife and crisis to ensure that racism and fascism do not find a place in our society.
We are living in times impoverished by spirit. Apathy and a sense of powerlessness has pervaded for so long, but NOW is the time to look at ourselves in light of Edmund Burke’s recognition, that all it takes for evil to triumph, is for good people to stand by and do nothing. I don’t want to be a person who stands by and does nothing … do you?
“God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense, in order to shame the wise, and He chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful.” 1 Corinthians 1 vs. 27.
And as Dr Martin Luther King said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”.
Friday, 6 January 2012
We are all called to be Watchmen
We are living in troubled times, however, in all known history there has never been a single moment in time, when there has not been war, poverty, plagues, famine, drought, destruction, oppression or dissent. Every day the newspapers carry stories of wars in distant lands that we are part of through our own government's participation, civil wars and genocide in North Africa, dissent and oppression in places like Syria and Nigeria, famines throughout parts of Africa, the global economic crisis throwing whole nations into poverty, the continued misuse of resources affecting whole continents like Africa, Asia and South America, corruption which perpetuates the poverty that already exists globally, incompetence by government, greed by the banks, murders based on hate ... the list is endless.
Ask yourself - is this the world I want to live in?
Then ask yourself - What role do I play in this happening? Am I doing anything to change this? Do I end up supporting this because I do nothing to stop it?
And finally - If I am not part of seeking a solution, then am I part of the problem?
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".
Edmund Burke
Do you want to be one of those people who 'does nothing'? Or do you think that you do not have the ability to stand up and protest against what seems an insurmountable task in changing the system? One little voice in the wind will not be heard, but many voices together can rise like the roar of a lion. I want to be part of that roar, I want my voice heard in unison with others who believe that we can stand together and bring about change, we just have to have faith and let our voices of dissent be heard as one giant roar. Then we must action our faith.
One of the many problems people are facing today is dealing with the effects of the economic crisis, which was caused by greed, avarice and incompetence by the banks and the governments. Government deregulation in banking has had a direct consequence on why the banks have brought the modern world's economy to its greatest crisis since the 1930s Depression, and yet, the governments seem to think that the role of the public is to bail out the privately owned banks and for the public to face severe cuts to health, welfare and education, as well as facing austerity measures that plummet not only the poorest of the poor, but the average person into further poverty and debt. All this, whilst the banks continue with public funding, even though they are privately owned. And when these banks that created the crisis have been bailed out; once they get back into profit, not only do they not pay back the bailout funding, but they pay obscene bonuses and pay rises of 49% to executives, as though they should be rewarded for their shocking behaviour and lack of morality and ethics. Then we are faced as a public with interest rates going up, inflation increases all the while the banks gain assets by repossessing the houses of those they have so unjustly brought to their knees through debt.
Occupy Faith needs to be dynamic, but always in keeping with the values and principles given to us through scripture by God.
"Wealth is deceitful. Greedy men are proud and restless - like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves. The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show scorn for them. They will say, 'You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?'
But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you! You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities."
Old Testament: Habakkuk - Chapter 2 vs 5 to 8
The authorities need to pay heed to the voices of dissent, and those of us strong enough to stand up against the unjust, undemocratic and unsustainable system and its proponents need to do so now, for their nefarious actions must be brought to an end. We will have our voices heard, but we must stand together and trust each other, respect one another, and rise up in unison against the greater evil of those who wish to continue enslaving us in this iniquitous system.
Tanya
Ask yourself - is this the world I want to live in?
Then ask yourself - What role do I play in this happening? Am I doing anything to change this? Do I end up supporting this because I do nothing to stop it?
And finally - If I am not part of seeking a solution, then am I part of the problem?
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".
Edmund Burke
Do you want to be one of those people who 'does nothing'? Or do you think that you do not have the ability to stand up and protest against what seems an insurmountable task in changing the system? One little voice in the wind will not be heard, but many voices together can rise like the roar of a lion. I want to be part of that roar, I want my voice heard in unison with others who believe that we can stand together and bring about change, we just have to have faith and let our voices of dissent be heard as one giant roar. Then we must action our faith.
One of the many problems people are facing today is dealing with the effects of the economic crisis, which was caused by greed, avarice and incompetence by the banks and the governments. Government deregulation in banking has had a direct consequence on why the banks have brought the modern world's economy to its greatest crisis since the 1930s Depression, and yet, the governments seem to think that the role of the public is to bail out the privately owned banks and for the public to face severe cuts to health, welfare and education, as well as facing austerity measures that plummet not only the poorest of the poor, but the average person into further poverty and debt. All this, whilst the banks continue with public funding, even though they are privately owned. And when these banks that created the crisis have been bailed out; once they get back into profit, not only do they not pay back the bailout funding, but they pay obscene bonuses and pay rises of 49% to executives, as though they should be rewarded for their shocking behaviour and lack of morality and ethics. Then we are faced as a public with interest rates going up, inflation increases all the while the banks gain assets by repossessing the houses of those they have so unjustly brought to their knees through debt.
Occupy Faith needs to be dynamic, but always in keeping with the values and principles given to us through scripture by God.
"Wealth is deceitful. Greedy men are proud and restless - like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves. The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show scorn for them. They will say, 'You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?'
But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you! You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities."
Old Testament: Habakkuk - Chapter 2 vs 5 to 8
The authorities need to pay heed to the voices of dissent, and those of us strong enough to stand up against the unjust, undemocratic and unsustainable system and its proponents need to do so now, for their nefarious actions must be brought to an end. We will have our voices heard, but we must stand together and trust each other, respect one another, and rise up in unison against the greater evil of those who wish to continue enslaving us in this iniquitous system.
Tanya
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Friendship
Friendship is such a funny thing, it often dates back to the people we met in childhood, people we still rely on and call our friends not just into, but enduringly in our adulthood. My best friend Natalie was a person I met when I was nine years old, we have been through trials, tribulations and both terrible and wonderful things together. We live on different continents, don't speak that often, but are always there for one another regardless of the divergent paths we have taken, how often we communicate or whether we see each other or not. I always know if I need her she will be there for me and I for her. She is a person I love, and always will, she is a friend, but she is also a chosen family member for me.
Jesus treated his disciples as both friends and as his family. Love transcends all the differences we have, love is the one thing that can bind us. We choose our friends, but we also choose a family for ourselves through the community we are part of. We need to stop looking at ourselves as a divided global separation of nation, but a family of diversity and beauty in that difference, in our global community, our global family, our global friendship base. A family that stands together and is also friends with the members of the family we are part of, that way we are all accountable. If we could see ourselves as all family within the human race, and all friends as part of the global community, we would understand that we will differ, argue at times, disagree, but ultimately be able to love, laugh, share, weep, and understand; transcendent of all our differences and all our disagreements. We need to go back to being the children that God created, created out of love and to love.
"And any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart." Matthew 12 vs 25
For in viewing our world as a place we should be able to be one, many things must be respected.
"By the Heaven and Him that built it; by the earth and Him that spread it; by the soul and Him that moulded it and inspired it with knowledge of sin and peity; blessed shall be the man who has kept it pure, and ruined he that has corrupted it!"
Translated from the Koran Chapter 91
We spend so much energy on corrupting our lives, our world, our families, our friends ... isn't it time to stop and say, "I don't want to be either corrupting or corrupted".
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace" - Jimi Hendrix.
So in this brief blog I hope that we can think of love as being so important not only in family, but in friendship and see that if we viewed everyone we came into contact with as both friend and family, we can strive to be in a better world, one in which we would be able to be participant in, without self gain or the ambition to crush others to get there. As family and friend, we would have both the ability to disagree, but also the path that holds us united in one relationship.
I just spoke to a friend from Barbados, who I met once before inviting him to stay in my home for a couple of weeks. The beauty of the friendship was that we got to know one another in the time he was here, we learned about one another, disagreed, agreed, laughed, cried and just shared so much. My youngest daughter grew to love him, and he has such a soft spot for her. If we hadn't taken the risk of sharing a living environment in the first place none of us would have gained that wonderful time together. Friends are so special, we need them, we sustain ourselves through friendship. They are there in times of joy and time of need, they create times of joy, they sometimes create times of need ... but they are our chosen family, part of who we define ourselves as. We should seek friendship wherever we are in life, it is so very rewarding and valuable.
Love, peace and solidarity
Tanya
Jesus treated his disciples as both friends and as his family. Love transcends all the differences we have, love is the one thing that can bind us. We choose our friends, but we also choose a family for ourselves through the community we are part of. We need to stop looking at ourselves as a divided global separation of nation, but a family of diversity and beauty in that difference, in our global community, our global family, our global friendship base. A family that stands together and is also friends with the members of the family we are part of, that way we are all accountable. If we could see ourselves as all family within the human race, and all friends as part of the global community, we would understand that we will differ, argue at times, disagree, but ultimately be able to love, laugh, share, weep, and understand; transcendent of all our differences and all our disagreements. We need to go back to being the children that God created, created out of love and to love.
"And any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart." Matthew 12 vs 25
For in viewing our world as a place we should be able to be one, many things must be respected.
"By the Heaven and Him that built it; by the earth and Him that spread it; by the soul and Him that moulded it and inspired it with knowledge of sin and peity; blessed shall be the man who has kept it pure, and ruined he that has corrupted it!"
Translated from the Koran Chapter 91
We spend so much energy on corrupting our lives, our world, our families, our friends ... isn't it time to stop and say, "I don't want to be either corrupting or corrupted".
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace" - Jimi Hendrix.
So in this brief blog I hope that we can think of love as being so important not only in family, but in friendship and see that if we viewed everyone we came into contact with as both friend and family, we can strive to be in a better world, one in which we would be able to be participant in, without self gain or the ambition to crush others to get there. As family and friend, we would have both the ability to disagree, but also the path that holds us united in one relationship.
I just spoke to a friend from Barbados, who I met once before inviting him to stay in my home for a couple of weeks. The beauty of the friendship was that we got to know one another in the time he was here, we learned about one another, disagreed, agreed, laughed, cried and just shared so much. My youngest daughter grew to love him, and he has such a soft spot for her. If we hadn't taken the risk of sharing a living environment in the first place none of us would have gained that wonderful time together. Friends are so special, we need them, we sustain ourselves through friendship. They are there in times of joy and time of need, they create times of joy, they sometimes create times of need ... but they are our chosen family, part of who we define ourselves as. We should seek friendship wherever we are in life, it is so very rewarding and valuable.
Love, peace and solidarity
Tanya
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Uniting Faith - through the values we share
Welcome everyone to my first blog!
"Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple ..."
1 Peter 2 vs 5
As part of the Occupy London movement, and being a person of faith, much of my involvement has been led by my belief in one thing that Occupy has done as a global movement, which is to unite people in believing that we can stand together and find unity to seek change for the greater good, not to continue being a part of the global system that supports the few at the expense of the many. In the Occupy London initial statement, there is one line that for me holds particular importance: "we want structural change towards authentic global equality".
What is "structural change" one can ask, and how do we achieve this? What is or what could "authentic global equality" be?
I guess for myself "structural change" means a totally radical reformation of the way in which governments, corporations, banks, and society, are created, authorised, and behaves and conducts itself. A change in the way that all of these are structured in attitude, conduct, ethics, values, morality, transparency; and in finding a way to do this with understanding, love, charity, empathy, consideration, compassion, respect and honesty. A socially just and fair society, led by shared values.
This all sounds so very utopian, but if we have no hope, no desire to change, no commitment, no belief that we can change, and no faith driving us so that we can be empowered to be a part of a better world, then we may as well give up on ourselves as a human race. For our role in the destruction, greed, apathy, and our acceptance of the corrupt structure of the world we live in today should not go unchallenged, and this means challenging ourselves first, as we need to change our views and behaviour before we can go out and change the world view. We need to know that we have been a part of the problem until now, and will remain so, if we do not become a part of the solutions for the future.
We need a cross-pollination of communication, experimentation, a true melting pot of ideas and suggestions, to find alternative ways forward towards a stable, just, fair, loving, faithful and valued global community. No-one should want or be forced into a world in which the economic global crisis leads to a similar situation as post the 1930s Depression, with the rise of fascism, racism, elitism, anti-semitism or Islamaphobia, nor to the destabilising of society through the rise of strong leaders with dictatorial political power pushing for war, or the destructive road that leads whole generations to participate in or die in war after war.
Surely there is a better way, a way that encompasses faith and love and understanding and a desire for peaceful resolution towards a just, sustainable and democratic global community. One where we are all brothers and sisters, one in which humanity is important not not just the individual, but that the individual in the greater society and community through their own personal interactions ensure that they feel valued within the greater community.
No-one is above reproach, no-one can truthfully say that they have never behaved in a destructive, selfish or inconsiderate way at times, but now is the time for us to reflect on not only our own behaviour, but our accountability, our role in being responsible for our world, our society, our own everyday actions and attitudes. Faith without action, and action without love, is hollow and dead.
"Three things are equally important: earth, humanity and dew..... without the earth there is no dew, without the dew there is no earth, and without them both there is no humanity."
Genesis Rabbah13 vs 3
How can we achieve structural change is something that we should as a global community, to be talking about, discussing, debating and sharing ideas and possible solutions.
Now I come to the "authentic global equality" ... if only we knew what that meant, what that would look like, how it could be created. The problem with the word 'equality', is that for many people, this seems to conjure up the idea that we should all be the 'same'. 'Sameness' is not equality, and equality is not all being the 'same', equality is to have that ultimate respect for 'other' and for 'each other', to accept our differences, to strive for understanding where we don't have the 'sameness', to embrace our diversity, to focus on what we share as a human race, not be divided in what we don't have in common. Equality is not pushing our own ideas of democracy on others, not proselytising, not judging, not legitimising our own ideas at the expense of others ideas, not forcing our own structures onto and at the cost of other choices, not pushing our own culture onto others, nor our own language, all these lead us further away from the universal language of humankind, universal in that we can respect and love both ourselves and other for our difference and diversity.
"The blind and seeing are not alike, nor are the darkness and the light. The shade and heat are not alike, nor are the living and the dead."
Translated from the Koran, Chapter 35 The Creator
There is much I wish to talk about, but as this is only the start for me on a journey I hope will bring into contact many new people and help us to become both students and teachers in our world. I sincerely hope that anyone who is interested in being a part of Occupy Faith will share their comments and feel free to join and participate in this journey of hope and faith in a new beginning.
Tanya
"Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple ..."
1 Peter 2 vs 5
As part of the Occupy London movement, and being a person of faith, much of my involvement has been led by my belief in one thing that Occupy has done as a global movement, which is to unite people in believing that we can stand together and find unity to seek change for the greater good, not to continue being a part of the global system that supports the few at the expense of the many. In the Occupy London initial statement, there is one line that for me holds particular importance: "we want structural change towards authentic global equality".
What is "structural change" one can ask, and how do we achieve this? What is or what could "authentic global equality" be?
I guess for myself "structural change" means a totally radical reformation of the way in which governments, corporations, banks, and society, are created, authorised, and behaves and conducts itself. A change in the way that all of these are structured in attitude, conduct, ethics, values, morality, transparency; and in finding a way to do this with understanding, love, charity, empathy, consideration, compassion, respect and honesty. A socially just and fair society, led by shared values.
This all sounds so very utopian, but if we have no hope, no desire to change, no commitment, no belief that we can change, and no faith driving us so that we can be empowered to be a part of a better world, then we may as well give up on ourselves as a human race. For our role in the destruction, greed, apathy, and our acceptance of the corrupt structure of the world we live in today should not go unchallenged, and this means challenging ourselves first, as we need to change our views and behaviour before we can go out and change the world view. We need to know that we have been a part of the problem until now, and will remain so, if we do not become a part of the solutions for the future.
We need a cross-pollination of communication, experimentation, a true melting pot of ideas and suggestions, to find alternative ways forward towards a stable, just, fair, loving, faithful and valued global community. No-one should want or be forced into a world in which the economic global crisis leads to a similar situation as post the 1930s Depression, with the rise of fascism, racism, elitism, anti-semitism or Islamaphobia, nor to the destabilising of society through the rise of strong leaders with dictatorial political power pushing for war, or the destructive road that leads whole generations to participate in or die in war after war.
Surely there is a better way, a way that encompasses faith and love and understanding and a desire for peaceful resolution towards a just, sustainable and democratic global community. One where we are all brothers and sisters, one in which humanity is important not not just the individual, but that the individual in the greater society and community through their own personal interactions ensure that they feel valued within the greater community.
No-one is above reproach, no-one can truthfully say that they have never behaved in a destructive, selfish or inconsiderate way at times, but now is the time for us to reflect on not only our own behaviour, but our accountability, our role in being responsible for our world, our society, our own everyday actions and attitudes. Faith without action, and action without love, is hollow and dead.
"Three things are equally important: earth, humanity and dew..... without the earth there is no dew, without the dew there is no earth, and without them both there is no humanity."
Genesis Rabbah13 vs 3
How can we achieve structural change is something that we should as a global community, to be talking about, discussing, debating and sharing ideas and possible solutions.
Now I come to the "authentic global equality" ... if only we knew what that meant, what that would look like, how it could be created. The problem with the word 'equality', is that for many people, this seems to conjure up the idea that we should all be the 'same'. 'Sameness' is not equality, and equality is not all being the 'same', equality is to have that ultimate respect for 'other' and for 'each other', to accept our differences, to strive for understanding where we don't have the 'sameness', to embrace our diversity, to focus on what we share as a human race, not be divided in what we don't have in common. Equality is not pushing our own ideas of democracy on others, not proselytising, not judging, not legitimising our own ideas at the expense of others ideas, not forcing our own structures onto and at the cost of other choices, not pushing our own culture onto others, nor our own language, all these lead us further away from the universal language of humankind, universal in that we can respect and love both ourselves and other for our difference and diversity.
"The blind and seeing are not alike, nor are the darkness and the light. The shade and heat are not alike, nor are the living and the dead."
Translated from the Koran, Chapter 35 The Creator
There is much I wish to talk about, but as this is only the start for me on a journey I hope will bring into contact many new people and help us to become both students and teachers in our world. I sincerely hope that anyone who is interested in being a part of Occupy Faith will share their comments and feel free to join and participate in this journey of hope and faith in a new beginning.
Tanya
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