I know a man who knows Obama! (name drop)

I recently attended the best training course I have ever attended, covering so many life-changing ideas and issues in a four-day period. It was led by the man who trained Barack Obama in community organising, and it was a rollercoaster ride! We already see the fruits of the method, with Obama having not only become the first black President of the US, but having done so through building a broad-based coalition of people, many of whom had never given to any such campaign or who had never thought politics was about them. Politics is about everyone. I knew this before, but I meet many people who doubt that it has much to do with them. In fact, as the training course made clear, we have been led over several decades to retreat from the public arena, our lives preoccupied with almost anything other than public/political engagement - after all, power is dirty, isn't it, and corrupting, and politics is always disappointing, so why get into such a world? Well, because it's where things change. So I am thinking more and more that I should reclaim a public life, that my commitments and values should be demonstrated publicly - and I don't just mean the things of faith, but support for Amnesty, or fairtrade, or sustainable bio-diversity - all these things are matters of public concern. And, even more frightening, I recognise that it is Ok to have ambitions for public influence: that we are entitled, and called, to want to build public relationships, and broad-based coalitions of people, with a view to making changes for the sake of justice and peace. Too many people believe such talk is naive, or 'getting above ourselves', because of countless disappointments or how we are conditioned to be cynical, but progressive values, and progressive Christian values, need to be realised in the public realm - but what this means for me, or you, or our communities, I'm not yet quite sure, but watch this space, because, in answer to the questions, 'can we really do it?', all we can say is, 'Yes we can.'

When it's hard to show care ...

There are some people I find it really hard to show care to. Even though stuff happens to them, real shit, often again and again, sometimes I find it really hard to put myself in the position of the person offering care. The problem is that, whenever I visit or meet such people, I want to disagree with so much of what they say, and to challenge so many of their attitudes, that I find it really hard to concentrate, simply to listen to what they say in its own right. And there are people who seem to co-opt you into their world-view, who assume (by your silence) that you agree with them, that you know they are likely then to quote you as reinforcement for their view - even if you said nothing. Or to bring it back to me - even though I said nothing. But is that the very nature of care? We can't always control how it will be used. It will sometimes be draining. It will sometimes put us profoundly on the defensive; but we must simply listen and bear it.

And yet ... because there are times when we know it will be so hard, I can't help feeling that there's nothing wrong (at least some of the time) with not putting ourselves in that position. If I know I won't be much use in a particular situation, why put myself there?

And yet ... who am I to know whether I'll be useful or not? People will find my presence useful, and helpful, perhaps more than I'd have imagined, so long as I don't answer back! Oh, but god I need to be able to acknowledge when it's hard to show care ... you know the kind of person?

Chaos/Kairos Theory & Climate Change

It was one of the first posts on this blog - an explanation of the chaos/kairos connection, in the sense that, if a butterfly flapping its wings might be an initial cause of a hurricane on the other side of the world, so a small thing can be an indication of God's kairos-action - the opportune event which changes the course of reality. So it is that Climate Change can be read this way: not as God's action, but as having that profoundly unpredictable cause-and-effect dynamic - by which I mean, not that we can't comprehend its causes or predict its effects, because so much of it is frighteningly clear (the rich world has caused it, but the poor world will suffer more), but that the effects of climate change are sure to be somewhat chaotic. There will be unpredictable weather events, and shocking levels of suffering - and yet we continue to resist seeing this as a crisis (kairos) moment, rather as a continuation of chronos (normal time), whereas it is essential that green politics, individual behaviour, ecological consciousness and so on should become integrated and we seize this kairos - opportunity for radical lifestyle change/s - with both wings flapping.

One world - can we see it now?

Time for a self-righteous rant ... Food becomes more expensive, as oil costs increase, because of increases in demand, because China and India develop more western-style economies - and we can't complain, because it's how we live, consuming as though fossil fuels will last forever, consuming as though we inhabit three Earths, not one. It's also because of the pressure on land, because of increasing demand for beef, as China develops more western tastes, and cows need a hell of a lot of grain, taking up land which would otherwise be used directly for human food production - and again, we can't complain, because it's how we live, consuming as though it doesn't matter how much food we throw away, consuming as though we inhabit three Earths, not one. We thought biofuels were the answer, shifting from carbon, but they use valuable land, and aren't so bio-efficient after all - and have in fact fuelled food price increases. So the world is one, and we must learn to live as one, which means embracing green politics for hard-headed reasons, not to hug a tree, but also for big-hearted reasons, caring about those who are starving (more of them) because of food prices rising, also because of climate change spreading deserts and disease - so now is not the time to turn to the right, as though free markets will solve it all (just look at the reckless banks, demanding public help, though usually they demand to be left alone!), but to the left, to State intervention, to being led by governments on the environment (if only they will lead), and to solutions which we will resent - curbing transport growth, preaching against waste, even moving away from such a meat-oriented diet ... if only we (including me) have eyes to see ... do we? (except I like my car, my steak, my shirts, my freedoms ... hm!)

Letting go ...

(Excuse the presumptuousness of this, but I thought it might be fun to pretend to be Jesus for a moment...)
Dear Disciples,
It's time you let go. That's why I left you - you know, as you described it, how I 'ascended into heaven', which I guess was your way of handling how I'm there but not there ... Anyway, it's a really important thing for you to appreciate: that discipleship involves letting go; that following me involves not holding on to me; that learning from me involves beginning to teach each other. After all, I never wanted you to be totally dependent on me - though I've clearly given you resources, symbolic actions, and I've nurtured in you distinctive kinds of attitudes - political strategies, in terms of including the excluded, being in solidarity with the least and the last - and it's not always been easy. But now, now you must get on with it, you must live it, you must be my witnesses, carry on the message, demonstrate God's kingdom ... You must 'let go' of things being just as you want them, or other people being as you perceive them, and you must learn to see with new eyes, to hear with renewable ears, to speak with the words of those who are not usually heard, letting go of security, self-preservation, a concern with your own desires, daring to believe instead that a new world is created - or the old is renewed - only if you let go, not only of me as you would 'own' me, but of each other, and of the Gospel, letting go of it that you might learn to receive it again and again, from the most unexpected people ... so ... let go!
love
Jesus.
(again, excuse the presumptuousness, as I try to let go of any pretensions!)