Typically in my late night rantings and ravings I am wrestling with ghosts. I am struggling with theologies and philosophies, debating Kant and Plato. Struggling to make sense of inherent rights and bestowed worth, to make sense of the human condition and the problem of evil. I make no effort to disguise that I understand these things from a Christian perspective and believe that my faith informs my worldview. However, I also try to argue in a way that leaves room for debate. If you don’t believe in the same things I do, I don’t want my orthodoxy to prevent our being in dialogue and struggling together through this thing called life in community. But tonight I find myself in a difficult situation.

In recent days, Glenn Beck has drawn press for calling Americans to leave their church if their pastor makes any mention of social or economic justice. Even further he declared social justice to be a perversion of the gospel. I won’t go into the reasons why because that is a pointless debate. I will say this. I wish I had Glenn Beck’s faith. I wish I believed in the Bible and Jesus he believes in. Because that would sure be a lot easier than believing the Jesus I find in the Bible. The Jesus I know has called me to be an advocate for the poor (Matt. 25:45). The Jesus I know came to preach good news to the poor and freedom to the oppressed (Luke 4:16). The Jesus I know declares the poor are blessed and are the true inheritors of the Kingdom of God (Luke 6:20). The Jesus I know reminds me that the things of this world are fleeting and can be taken from me as easily as they came, but that I belong in body and soul to God alone and no earthly power can take me from Him (Matt. 22:21). The Jesus I know has called me, above all else, to love God with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength, all my mind, and to love my neighbor as I love myself (Luke 10:27). The Jesus I know has given us a model for how to do these things together in community (Acts 2:42-47). And the Jesus I know makes no excuses about how hard it will be to do these things (Mark 8:34-35). The Biblical narrative of justice begins in the Prophets and continues through the Gospels and the Epistles (Isaiah, Amos, Micah, Matthew, Luke, Philemon, & James). Indeed it is difficult to read the Bible and NOT see justice as a primary concern of God. I wish I was called to an easier faith.

I wish.

I wish.

I wish.

But I am here today not because of what I wish, but because of what I believe. I am here today because I believe that at the beginning of time God spoke my name and had a plan for me. I believe that God has called me, a broken and fallen man, to work for the restoration of His Kingdom until that day when it is completed in the return of His Son Jesus Christ. I am here today to say that I cannot stop calling for justice for the poor and oppressed and I will not be silent because that is what the powers of this world want, I am not theirs to command. I am here today to call for the restoration of relationships, for compassion and mercy, for peace and justice. I am here today to be a voice for healing and comfort. I am not calling for these things now because my voice is more eloquent than others, nor am I saying that I am doing these things better than anyone else. I struggle with vanity and conceit, with lust and greed, with selfishness and cynicism. I am here today to do these things because to choose not to, to walk away from these things to which I have been called is to walk away from my God. And in a world where there is so much pain and suffering, so much hate and injustice, I cannot turn my back on the One who is working through love to restore justice.

Filed under: faith by Jonathan on Friday, 12 March 2010
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We were talking the other day about the StrengthsFinder assessment in class so I went back and dug out my results. I think where I am today makes perfect sense when you look at what my strengths are. Have you taken the StrengthsFinder? What were your results?

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Strategic

The Strategic theme enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route. It is not a skill that can be taught. It is a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. This perspective allows you to see patterns where others simply see complexity. Mindful of these patterns, you play out alternative scenarios, always asking, “What if this happened? Okay, well what if this happened?” This recurring question helps you see around the next corner. There you can evaluate accurately the potential obstacles. Guided by where you see each path leading, you start to make selections. You discard the paths that lead nowhere. You discard the paths that lead straight into resistance. You discard the paths that lead into a fog of confusion. You cull and make selections until you arrive at the chosen path—your strategy. Armed with your strategy, you strike forward. This is your Strategic theme at work: “What if?” Select. Strike.

Empathy

You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person’s perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person’s predicament—this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings—to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.

Input

You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information—words, facts, books, and quotations—or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If you read a great deal, it is not necessarily to refine your theories but, rather, to add more information to your archives. If you like to travel, it is because each new location offers novel artifacts and facts. These can be acquired and then stored away. Why are they worth storing? At the time of storing it is often hard to say exactly when or why you might need them, but who knows when they might become useful? With all those possible uses in mind, you really don’t feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. It’s interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.

Connectedness

Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected. Yes, we are individuals, responsible for our own judgments and in possession of our own free will, but nonetheless we are part of something larger. Some may call it the collective unconscious. Others may label it spirit or life force. But whatever your word of choice, you gain confidence from knowing that we are not isolated from one another or from the earth and the life on it. This feeling of Connectedness implies certain responsibilities. If we are all part of a larger picture, then we must not harm others because we will be harming ourselves. We must not exploit because we will be exploiting ourselves. Your awareness of these responsibilities creates your value system. You are considerate, caring, and accepting. Certain of the unity of humankind, you are a bridge builder for people of different cultures. Sensitive to the invisible hand, you can give others comfort that there is a purpose beyond our humdrum lives. The exact articles of your faith will depend on your upbringing and your culture, but your faith is strong. It sustains you and your close friends in the face of life’s mysteries.

Futuristic

“Wouldn’t it be great if . . .” You are the kind of person who loves to peer over the horizon. The future fascinates you. As if it were projected on the wall, you see in detail what the future might hold, and this detailed picture keeps pulling you forward, into tomorrow. While the exact content of the picture will depend on your other strengths and interests—a better product, a better team, a better life, or a better world—it will always be inspirational to you. You are a dreamer who sees visions of what could be and who cherishes those visions. When the present proves too frustrating and the people around you too pragmatic, you conjure up your visions of the future and they energize you. They can energize others, too. In fact, very often people look to you to describe your visions of the future. They want a picture that can raise their sights and thereby their spirits. You can paint it for them. Practice. Choose your words carefully. Make the picture as vivid as possible. People will want to latch on to the hope you bring.

Filed under: life by Jonathan on Monday, 8 March 2010
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This is the latest response I had to write for my Community Development class. Our topic this week was about the environment and development issues, specifically those related to clean water.

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“One day—and it won’t be long—we are going to wake up and it is just going to be too late.” This quote from Mahesh Chaturvedi, in the 2006 New Yorker article “The Last Drop” by Michael Specter, we read perfectly sums up my feelings after the readings this week. I am afraid we have reached this point. We are past the point of no return when it comes to the environment and rather than discovering how we can fix it, we will just keep discovering how much we have ruined it. We have read in several places about the belief that regardless of the problems of today, the technology of tomorrow will save us. We are now living in the tomorrow of the 1970s. Yet as much as fantastic advances have been made in solar and wind power, hybrid cars, and even “fuel efficient” jets, technology is also increasingly telling us that the planet is changing for the worse and changing faster than we ever realized it could. Our vision, or at least my vision, of the future is shifting from utopia to dystopia.

One thing I had not ever really thought of though was the application of the Tragedy of the Commons to resources like air and water, even markets depending on how you look at things. When I learned about the Commons in undergrad, I think we usually talked about it more as a thought experiment proving people’s tendency to act greedy and selfish . The more I have read this week for class the more I’m realizing just how poorly we are managing perhaps the most precious resources we have—air and water. I liked Hardin’s example of how providing food aid has never led developing countries to plan better for the future. The more I read about the water situation in the American southwest the more it became clear that the problem is not that no one is regulating the Commons there; the problem is that whenever lack of water has come up against development, more water was brought in from outside and development continued. Rather than realizing these huge megalopolises were being built in the middle of a desert where they had no right to exist, more water could always be brought in to meet growing needs. As a result, the Colorado River doesn’t even drain into the ocean anymore and one of the “regulators” has proposed piping in water from east of the Rockies!

But the costs of this system are starting to become clear. Farmers in Northern California and the central valley will tell you how restrictions on the water they can use for irrigation is hurting their business. Our growth and development is outpacing the ability of the planet to sustain us. Even in the West where we have historically looked to technology to save us when the environment doesn’t we are starting to realize the costs of our decisions. We need to drastically change how we allocate and use our resources if are to avoid catastrophe. Will it really take faucets running dry in Los Angeles before we start?

Filed under: life by Jonathan on Friday, 5 March 2010
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A while back I wrote about how crappy I think Geico’s advertising is. While I’d like to claim some credit, I’m probably out of line thinking it was because of my little blog. You can check out their new ads here if you haven’t seen them yet.

Well, in this second edition I want to point to another example of a company that “gets it” when it comes to advertising. The lesson this time is that you should sell something more. What I mean is that just because your product is mundane and utilitarian doesn’t mean your marketing has to be that way. Take the case of Stouffer’s. Stouffer’s makes frozen meals. That’s pretty much it. They pre-make millions of meals, put them in boxes, and sell them in the freezer aisle. Now, I’m sure you could do an ad campaign about how kids like the taste of Stouffer’s lasagne or about how many moms prefer Stouffer’s over Hamburger Helper. But what Stouffer’s does instead in their newest campaign is sell you a better life. Their “Let’s Fix Dinner” campaign is about the importance of spending time together as a family around the dinner table. And again, instead of going with simple infographics or a single family around a table, the whole commercial is presented in this really cool stop motion animation. It’s about families sharing their stories with each other. It’s about restoring relationships. You should buy their product because it helps fix your family. Hyperbole for sure, but I bet you didn’t know you could get that from a frozen dinner, now did you? Check out their ad and let me know what you think…

Filed under: Advertising, art by Jonathan on Friday, 12 February 2010
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I had to write a mission statement for one of my grad school classes, so here it is…

It is the desire of human beings to be known. We desire to be known by our God, our families, our friends, and our neighbors. Being known is being loved. The rich often have easy access to the tools and audience needed to make themselves known, but the poor are often excluded. Being known restores dignity and identity to the marginalized and oppressed. A powerful method for knowing someone is hearing their story. The power of a story can change the world, but only when it is heard and shared. I will help all people—but especially the poor—access the tools, medium, and skills they need to tell their story.

Filed under: gradschool, life by Jonathan on Sunday, 31 January 2010
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