SHOOTING BY WHITE SUPREMACIST AT THE HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

An gunman opened fire at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. today, firing several shots and killing a security guard. The Washington Post report highlighted the fact that children were among the terrified victims visiting the museum when the shooting occurred.

The man who committed the crime is eighty-eight years old, and a long-time white supremacist. He wanted his very last act on earth, it seems, to be killing Jews at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. This event certainly signals that anti-Semitism is still alive and well in the United States. The fact that the shooter is elderly, and has spent much of his life nourishing his own hatred and that of others by writing racist literature, gives me pause. His life's work was creating hate.

In such cruel and hateful agendas, I find my belief that no one is beyond the love of God compromised. The hatred expressed in this act of terror is a reminder of the sheer evil any of us are capable of. It is especially heinous when we commit evil which we mistake for righteousness.

OPEN DOOR COMMUNITY

One of my former Emory professors recommended that I go to the Open Door Community. I heard a call in his words, and I went last night. Open Door Community is part of the Catholic Worker Movement. As such, it was founded by a group of lay Catholics, and is not officially part of the Roman Catholic Church. Weekly Eucharist is celebrated by a lay person, and all are invited to the table. The most notable figure of the Catholic Worker Movement is Dorothy Day. The key tenets of Day's ministry were pacifism and nonviolent direct action. The communities in the Catholic Worker Movement take justice seriously. Social services are provided daily at the OD: food, showers, medical care, worship, as well as a participation in a community courtyard and other living areas. People have access to foot care one day each week. I am not sure what foot care includes- I assume socks, shoes, and nail trimmers. A spa experience is probably a bit too extravagant for the folks running the OD, although it is notable that a spa for pets opened up just down the street.

When I arrived at the Open Door, I walked under a hand-painted banner, and passed a "Free Troy Davis" sign. I rang the door bell and was welcomed into the living room. I filled out a name tag, and joined in conversation. Admittedly, I was more interested in listening to conversation than speaking. There were divinity students from around town, homeless folks, live-in volunteers, people from the streets of Atlanta, transients. There was an icon of Jesus with dark skin on the wall, and various photos and quotations having to do with justice around the room. We were multi-racial and multi-cultural, spanning economic and social location. There appeared to be a core group of white men and white women in their 50s, Roman Catholics, who have participated in the OD for many years. Personally, I was struck by the sincerity and empathy people had for one another. Everyone who spoke to me used my name.

When it was time for worship, we went into the sanctuary (another room in the house). The altar was dressed in kente cloth. The chalice was pottery, with words of Jesus imprinted in the clay: "I was hungry, and you fed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink." We used a hymnal without notes (only words). The songs we sang were mostly Afro-American spirituals, but I noticed while we were singing that the song "Let it Be" by the Beatles was on the next page.

The sermon was about God being the only one who can help our souls, and thereby liberate us from addiction. The man who preached was black, in his forties, had a Baptist background, and had just returned from a trip to Israel. He stated in his sermon that we are all simultaneously addicts and those who walk with addicts. He quoted Carl Jung and Paul Tillich, and bound together those who have been hurt by addicts with those who are addicted.

During the prayers, various members of the core group asked for prayers for the prison inmates on death row. One person said they asked their friend (who is on death row) if they wanted the community to pray for anything in particular. The friend said that he was watching a Cribs on MTV, and was concerned by the wants of some people in our society. He wanted us to pray that people understand the difference between wants and needs. He also wanted us to pray for forgiveness, because God forgives us, and wanted us to be able to forgive one another.

A lay woman from the core group broke the bread and blessed the wine. She used justice-oriented language. We passed the bread and cup around the room, giving communion to the person sitting next to us. I remembered he last time I participated in communion in this way. I was at a different church, and I was sitting next to Desmond Tutu.

Dinner is served at the OD following the service, at 5 pm. If you are interested in coming to the Open Door, it is located at 910 Ponce de Leon Ave., Atlanta, GA.

GOD IS A LIBERAL

I've seen the bumper sticker that says, "God is not a Democrat OR a Republican."

The wisdom expressed in this ubiquitous fashion is that God is above our political persuasions.

I agree. After all, God is not even American.

But God is liberal.

As charged as the words Liberal and Conservative are, I am not expressing what I believe to be God's politics, and yet may nonetheless influence politics and other aspects of daily life.

I began thinking that God is liberal in a meditation on the word "Om." In the major religions of the world, there is an ubiquitous, sacred word in each used to denote, "Yes." There may be more than one word, and the meaning may vary; literally "yes," as in an answer a question, or acceptance, "Let it be so." There are perhaps more than one word, but there is at least one word, and it is positive, affirmative, and points to a God whose answer tends to be Yes. I am currently interested in "Om" and "Amen."

Om, popularly known in the West through meditation and the practice of yoga, originally meant "yes." Om has a positive, healing meaning, and points to the yes-tendency in the universe. The word affirms a universe that tends toward life, creativity, possibility. Not only the word, but the sound also, Om is considered sacred. I find it very interesting to note that Om is still used to denote "yes," in war-ravaged Sri Lanka.


Jews, Christians, and Muslims use the word Amen, which means, "Let it be so." While it does not retain the exact meaning of Om, Amen affirms the positive presence of God in the universe. Amen affirms belief in a God whose joy it is to to say yes to us; to create and save and sustain life. Using the same prayerful word, there is an underlying, though often unaccepted, oneness among these three religions. A oneness between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is quite a remarkable claim, considering our bloody past. Yet, it simply is. There is tremendous potential for healing in this one word.

The result of believing that God is liberal is that we may become liberal. We are free to say yes. Conversely, if we believe God is conservative, we are justified in being closed. When we limit those who belong, we find that God has also limited those who belong. Has God not increased those who belong?

Yes to loving others.
Yes to food for the hungry.
Yes to call.
Yes to the pain that call may cause me.
Yes to the universe.

To be liberal is the tendency to be open, rather than closed. What captures me in these sacred words of the world's religions is that they are similar affirmations. It isn't merely an act or actions, but the tendency, habit, or disposition of God to create and recreate, and whisper yes into every living thing. In prayer, this means that God is inclined toward yes. Who are we to say no?

HOPE, AND GOODNESS

Martin Luther was in a pub, drinking beer and discussing theology. Someone asked him, "If the world was ending tomorrow, what would you do?"
Luther said, "I would plant a tree."

Today, people are dying from a strange new virus. The story above inspires me to pull myself away from fear and anxiety, and to reflect on my belief that the world is infused with the will toward life, and that creation is essentially good. Planting a tree, an act of hope, affirms that. God is still here.

I will now go and plant my metaphorical trees.

MICHELANGELO?

"Masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common, of thinking by the body of the people, so that the experience of the mass is behind the single voice." -Virginia Woolf

The Italian government's Culture of Ministry shelled out 3.3 million euros/$4.2 million dollars for a crucifix which might have been rendered by Michelangelo. Might. Such a crucifix rendered by another artist from 15th Century Florence would cost 100,000 euros/$129,700. The problem of identifying the artist could take more time, but does this mystery need to be solved? To take a risk, it could it be an inhibited understanding of art (or an uninhibited publicity stunt) that led the Italian government to pay the going rate for a Michelangelo piece for a crucifix of mysterious
origin.

I propose that one of the reasons Michelangelo was a great artist was the time and place in
which he lived and worked. Art does not occur in a vacuum. Indeed, the reasons a 15th century
artist in Florence could produce a crucifix mistaken for a Michelangelo piece is that they
were tremendous artists in their own right. Perhaps they were influenced by Michelangelo's
work. When people with a shared interest, matched skill and talent come together, they create
more than art. They create an inspiring environment. The same goes for virtually any discipline: science, math, theology, political movements, literature, and the list goes on. We
become relevant when we take part in a conversation.

Does it really matter if the crucifix is a Michelangelo piece? Perhaps. Whether or not the
crucifix is his, it speaks volumes about the talent in Michelangelo's midst. Read more about this in The New York Times.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

First, I love this movie.
The acting, cinematography, story, music, dance....I loved everything. I loved the co-themes of movement and destiny, drenched with irony, that run throughout the movie.

Movement is the opposite of stagnation or oppression, but it is always in the interest of the upper class to keep the poor where they are. Historically, the caste system of India has been particularly brutal in this regard, as class became mixed with religious beliefs.The class a person was born in was interpreted to be their destiny, and very difficult to leave. Modern India has made much more mobility possible. In the recent Indian elections, the incumbent party actually purchased the rights to the theme song of Slumdog Millionaire, "Jai Ho," or "Independence." The words "ja" or "jai" are used throughout the movie to indicate movement. However, this movie portrays the struggle a Chaiwalla must still endure, if he wants class mobility.

The movie's aim is to show that it is Jamal's destiny to win the Indian version of the game show, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" The events of his life provided the answers to the questions. Born in the slums, poor and Muslim, no one expected Jamal to get very far in the contest. As an adult, Jamal works as a Chaiwalla, one who serves tea to more socioeconomically advantaged people. He is humiliated for having the job as a Chaiwalla at the game show, and flashbacks show that he suffered much humiliation, due to poverty, throughout his life. He is tortured by the police, because the show's host thinks it impossible (by honest means) that the Chaiwalla knows the answers, while educated people never got beyond the first few questions. While underscoring that destiny is at work in the universe, instead of being destined for poverty, Jamal the Chaiwalla is destined to win this game show, which will free him from poverty, allow him to have a stable existence, and be with his childhood love.

The character Salim, Jamal's brother, is fascinating to me. Salim became a gangster at an early age, streetwise and tough. He says morning prayers, and then goes off to work as a gangster. He prays for forgiveness every morning before work, which involves injuring and sometimes killing people. At the end of the movie, he sacrificed his own life for his brother's happiness. Before dying from several gunshot wounds, he says with his last breath, "God is great." It was particularly poignant that he died with these words, as his own life was rife with violence and brutality.
Most interesting.