The Underground Railroad

I Happen to Love the Dark

I am one of those freaky people who loves it when it gets dark by 4pm. I love the snow... I love the early sunsets... I love being hushed by the dark on my way home from work.

Please don't misunderstand me: I've struggled with my share of depression related to long dark days without sunlight. I know it can be taxing on body and spirit when we live in darkness for too long. Perhaps that's the point... 

There was a time when all darkness held for me was sheer terror... ghosts... demons... memories... pain... agony... when all things evil were related to the dark, there was no possibility for me to see the beauty in the darkness. Deep healing and freedom needed to come so that I could encounter Jesus Christ in the darkness -- the darkness He created, the darkness His Spirit hovered in while over the face of the deep (Genesis 1), the darkness He came to Nicodemus by, the darkness that showed His natal star...

Such wonder! Awe... beauty... quiet... somber reflection as I tell myself the story of Advent in the reaches of the night... 

I close my eyes, and I see snow-laden paths in a wood -- 2 paths diverging away from each other, yet other than that, equally adrift with snow, equally dark 'round the bend, equal in every respect. There are no footprints, no signs, no light but the wan moon trying to break through the deep clouds. Which do I take? 

Neither. 

This sacred space is a crossroads for me to stop... to remember... to wait... Advent is preparation, waiting, and desiring. I need not move from this untouched scene. It is cold. It is dark. I can feel winter's chill, but the journey is also about stopping before moving on. So here I am in Advent... loving both trails into the forest... eager to explore both... yet sensing the Spirit closer than my own frosty breath on the air soaking into my own soul. He dwells here. So here I dwell. He enjoys this place. So I enjoy it. I need not fear of becoming stagnant. He will tell me when to move on. I need not fear evil invading this place, for it is not allowed -- no temptation of mine, no evil of others, no demons of the pit. For now... for tonight... I am to be enveloped by the all consuming silence, but for the snowflakes tapping against my coat.

This is my prayer for our young children, bought and sold around the world.

Anyone who has worked with people exploited by the slave trade, especially the sex trade (or any form of abuse, for that matter), will know that the night holds a special kind of terror and bondage for them. I was never bought or sold. But I understand the terror. Acting out, tantrums, freak outs often all happen at bedtime or during the night. This is where the darkness -- created by God -- has itself been abused and exploited. This is when deeds of evil are gleeful. This is when many acts of exploitation are at their peak. The memories of these things are no less violating than the acts themselves.

So as I move into Advent... still in the darkness of the wood, snow, and Spirit... it is my fervent prayer that our youth will know darkness as beauty... as safe... as restful... as peaceful... as Spirit-filled. It will not be an easy road to come to. I know this as a truth. For some, it will take a lifetime.

But the Spirit moves and dwells in the dark as He does in the Light, exposing deeds of darkness (darkness here referring to evil, rather than the Spirit-created darkness). When freedom comes, may it come not only with tears and toil, but with a tired, weary, young head laying her head down on a pillow, breathing slowly... softly... as a child should... secure that her Lord and Shepherd is guarding her very essence, her body, her dreams... her life.

Lord, may it be so.

Amen. 

Conspiracy Christmas Challenge 04: Creating Advent

Every year for the past few years, I've encouraged readers to follow the great Advent Conspiracy -- claiming that Christmas can still change the world. It can only happen, however, if we as ordinary people of God change our spending habits.

"Like it's going to help."

"It's not like it's wrong to own an XBox. Just chill."

"Some of us have more money than others. Why are those others envious just because we can afford certain things for our kids?"

This isn't Advent, folks. This is consumerism; and while we think we are the consumers, each year I am more and more convinced that we are the ones being consumed -- by greed, lust, and deceit that we NEED to have the latest gadgets, games, wheels, threads, or what have you. We are being eaten alive and the worst part about it is: we like it. We have justified it in every way. 

So this year's challenge is simply this: find our way back to Advent -- the waiting in expectation and pregnancy before Christ comes. Journey on this road towards this holy place, and walk thereon. Many evangelicals do not adhere to the church calendar, and these "rituals" are often glossed over since they aren't seen as an inherent need to salvation. Some even deride these practices because they are not based in Scripture.

Well if we're going to go THERE, then perhaps we should start with the true meaning of the Christmas tree?... mistletoe?... holly?... how about Christmas itself not technically being mentioned as an observance in the Bible? No? Save that for another day. Fair enough. 

So many of us are starved at Christmas -- not physically, but spiritually malnourished. Our cores are screaming for connection and nourishment from something Deeper than an iPod or a Halo game. There's GOT to be more than this... there HAS to be... If not, why the stupid tree?

We have the chance to take this time before Christmas to prepare (like Lent before Easter) for the coming Messiah. Each day can be intentional in holiness, wonder, awe, and grief. As Israel was waiting in pain for her Messiah, as Mary was waiting in discomfort and slanderous rumours for her child, as God was waiting for the precise moment, we are able to wait too. We can return to this place of preparation, observe the trasnformation in ourselves and others by God, and sense the entire season becoming one of intense beauty, grief, grace, and wonder.

Come.

Come find this place of Advent.

Come reclaim Christmas that releases us from being devoured, and sets us on a path of relational and agape love winding up at the foot of a manger. 

Fair Trade Black Friday

Happy Black Friday.

Sense the sincere lack of enthusiasm in those wishes? Good.

Forget for a moment the glaring double-standard of people tenting outside of major store outlets or mobbing them once the entrances are opened are now time-honoured Christmas traditions, but Occupy tents and peaceful protesters are pepper-sprayed and forcibly disbanded. This just goes to show where our priorities are. It's sad. 

My deeper concern?

Fair Trade companies, and those micro-businesses and social enterprises working to assist marginalized people groups (women out of the sex trade, villages revitalizing themselves, etc), are jumping on the advertising bandwagon to keep up with Target, Apple, Wal-Mart, and the huge giants that tell us we NEED all their crap.

While I appreciate the need for these smaller operations to stay sustainable and alive as a part of vibrant community living and health, it is my person opinion that using the Black Friday ethos to peddle fair trade wares lives in direct opposition to the reasons why social enterprise and fair trade exists at all.

Why bother?

If these do-good enterprises are only feeding our gluttony, rather than helping to establish a more just and equitable world, why buy from them and not target? We're still perpetuating the cycles of greed and consumerism.

Soap box down.

Now down to the problem solving part.

How can we support both the ethos of social enterprise (peace, relationships, unity, community, equality, etc), as well as the enterprises themselves without falling into the tempatation consuming, consuming, consuming?

Thoughts? Ideas?

Coming Home Goes LIVE!!

Are you as excited as me and little Judy here? Judy is one of the incredible children I met while in the Philippines this past summer. Living in intentional community with her mom, she plays each day with the other children at YWAM Olongapo, while her mom learns lifeskills, helps with discipleship, and lives as an example of a woman being freed from slavery.

Can this happen in Canada?

You bet!

The Coming Home Community is seeking to begin formal groundwork -- Edmonton, Alberta. Want to be part of it? Want to know more? Want to see how community can become family for those youth who have been exploited right in our own country? Check out: The Coming Home Community Project on This Global Village.

Tara Teng, this year's Miss Canada 2011, is being a terrific champion for this fledgling crazy experiment, but it's awesome to have her on board! Thank you, Tara!

What now?

Got a website, but what else?

You can donate through This Global Village and receive a charitable tax receipt. We need over $27,000 between now and December 2012 to lift this project off the ground. 90% of what you donate will be put towards CH's budget, and 10% goes towards This Global Village's technical and administrative costs.

Interested?

Shoot me an email! Would love to hear from you!

Another Voice of Hope in the Dark...

If any of you are familar with Kurt Willems and The Pangea Blog, you'll be familiar with his thought provoking posts, his insights and his questions. Today's post was a book review regarding the sex trafficking of children. 

No easy topic to discuss, as we all know. But I thank Kurt for bearing with the book (which I am now waiting to read!), for furthering his knowledge about the subject, and for seeking the hope and peace of God for all people. Check out "When Children Become Sex Slave and People Turn A Blind Eye: Reflections on God in a Brothel", and see what you think.

For me? I am always glad to have another person on board ready to stand for Life and Love, in order that chains may be broken, and those Songs from the Underground will continue to rise up from the hidden places in the world.

Okay Lac La Biche: Is The Bold Centre for Kids or for Strippers?

So our town has this brand spankin' new community centre called the Bold Centre. Its construction drew a lot of controversy througout the community, but that's moot. It's built. It's here. And it's open for business, like it or not. The Stuart MacPherson Library is housed there, gym/walking track, hockey arenas and curling rinks.

The plan in the works is to move the local high school to the Bold Centre, thus making various support systems more accessible to families all in one stop. Rhyme Time is already operating out of there, and other kid-friendly, family-happy programs. Good. Great!

Does anyone else find The Oilmen's Bonspiel being allowed to invite strippers to their event somehow despicable? It's disgusting! Never mind the huge issue of having liquor being bought and sold where public schools and public kids' programming is taking place, the reality of flaunting the lust and commerce for sex in said family-friendly building needs to cease and desist immediately.

If you want to discuss why it's your right to hire people to strip naked for your pleasure, let's talk. I might able to provide alternate perspectives for you. The issue at hand here is: if we're all going to be using and paying for this all-purpose centre, the kids come first. Period. I don't know about you, but I don't want my youth getting out of class for the day or showing up to evening hockey practice and manuevering around 'exotic dancer poles' being set up, or drunken adults hollering obscenities.

Bring out the foresight here, and put the rest back in your pants. 

Would Grandpa Approve of My Pacifism?

He flew Spitfires and Hurricanes. He was trained in a special opps unit. He was at London... Dunkirk... North Africa... he is a decorated veteran. 

He killed people. People tried to kill him. More than once, God literally broke through Mother Nature and saved his life to bring him home. It was war. He was a teenage man who fought for the Allies. I've heard the stories. The G.A.M Thomas -- Murray Thomas, Grandpa Thomas -- has become legend, as he was a man. 

Every year now around Remembrance Day, I struggle. Pacifism is not a popular stand to take. I've been accused of being anti-troops, anti-Canadian, an ungrateful Christian, a coward, and worse. Yet the name calling aside, I've always wondered: Would Grandpa be proud of me? Him... a decorated war hero who survived the atrocities to come home and father four amazing children, one of whom turned into my godly, wise and incredible father?

You know what?

I think he would.

Grandpa was a man of few words. Especially as the Alzheimer's took hold more and more each passing year, it became harder and harder for him to communicate as we understand communication to be. Since our part of the family lived on the other side of the country, my access to him as a child was even more limited. Yet I do remember my interactions with him. One encounter I remember vividly is when my parents saved up for us all to take the train across Canada back to Ontario to visit our families over Christmas. Uncle Joel and Aunt Joy lived on an acreage by a river then, so skating was popular in the winter and swimming was a delight in the summer.

I was 9. My little legs could not keep up with my older cousins. I remember my ankles hurting, and my knees aching, and my balance refusing to cooperate. Suddenly, from behind me, there came a gentle hand on my back. Grandpa quietly came alongside me, put one arm around me, and held my other hand.

"It's okay," he said softly. "here's how we do it. 1...2...3... glide... 1...2...3...glide"

He matched his skating strides to my little ones and every step we took he counted softly: "1...2...3..."

And that's how I learned to skate.

A man of such quiet steady calm is a man of war?

I know and understand the Just Way Theory... the Redmeptive War theory... and the circumstances of "choice" when WWI and WWII were declared. Am I proud of Grandpa? You bet I am. Do I believe he would do it again?

I don't know.

Dad recalls a story of when he was a boy and they were all taking a vacation in Ontario's cottage country. Through a series of unfortunate events, certain people assumed that Grandpa's family were Jews -- his children being named Stephen, Rebecca, Joel, and Benjamin. Without giving way one way or the other, Grandpa is reported to have said: "Does it matter?"

And he took his family home.

From what I know of Grandpa and from what few stories he told me, I believe he would be proud of me for standing up against injustice, just like he did, yet doing so without bloodshed. He saw too much -- including "enemy soldiers" reflecting the same look in his eyes: "Why are we doing this?"

The documentary Soldiers of Conscience describe how only 20% of the soldiers in WWII did 80% of the actual killing. Most men and women of both Axis and Allied forces simply could not pull the trigger. The sanctity of life on both sides was still so reverent that enemies began to find common ground in the futility of killing one another for a cause not their own. The documentary goes on to describe the brutal indoctrination tactics militaries of "free" countries use to that men and women do not feel such loathing when they kill another human being.

We want our citizens to lose their conscious? Deliberately?

Pacifism is not "non-action". Non-action would be laziness. It is rather active, deliberate, and hard working. It seeks peace through peaceful means, rather than war so that all parties may see, know and eventually come to accept one another without the taking of life. The misused "eye for an eye" phrase from the Bible becomes rationale for bloodshed, and yet... is our world in any greater state of peace than before WWII? Grandpa once said that the First World War was supposed to be 'the end', that the fighters said 'never again', but then he was thrust into a plane. It happened again.

I cannot imagine what he went through, but nor can I forget the questions he had about war and violence and all the tragedy it caused for all countries and ethnic groups. As he led me through forests, teaching me about trees, berries, birds and bird calls, his faraway look made me feel sad. Yet his steady presence made him a giant in my eyes.

Yes... I believe he would be proud of me. He would be proud because he found ways to create peace without picking up a gun again. He saw two futures: one where we continued to kill one another, and blood was on all of our heads (thinking of the time he shot down a civilian plane); and he saw a world without war when everyone laid down their machines of war.

This piece of artwork was posted by my cousin, Rachel, today. This is her interpretation of a famous family photo of Grandpa. It is beautiful, heroic, and brave... not just because of what he did during WWII, but also because of what he did afterwards and the legacy he left his family.

We Are The 7 Billion

Some people are panicking. Others are rejoicing. Still others even raced to have their baby be THE 7 billionth person born on Planet Earth. And still others are totally oblivious to the fact that our world is quickly growing smaller and smaller with each passing day.

How did this happen? (well yes, I know HOW it happened... had that talk a long time ago)... How does this change our view? Should it? Will it? Canada being a multicultural society with political borders generally more open to refugees, and immigrants, what kinds of dialogues must we begin to have.

I don't have researched percentages for you, but I do want to share some realities that could put into perspective how believers can be a part of this teeming 7 billion as kingdom bringers, rather than people destroyers.

- we are running out of fresh water, & other natural resources
- families are still dying due to extreme poverty, or the effects thereof (malnourishment/starvation, disease, conflict in various regions)
- systems are still in place, in free market societies as well as harsher regimes, that oppress people of colour, sexual orientation, social class, education, religion, or location
- in crisis, people naturally react by 'defending their own'
- slaves in the world are numbering 30 million and rising
-... not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea

... and believers are often found targeting marginalized groups of people -- at the very least calling them down as lazy or unwanted or illegal. At the worst... well... history speaks enough for itself what believers have done in the name of God, and yet we insist on still believing that our governments were founded on Biblical principles and godly intentions.

Some thoughts to put some perspective on our populations growth:

- we are ALL the 7 billion... we can choose to seek justice, compassion, and love for our brothers and sisters or we can insist on setting ourselves apart, thus helping keep in place those hierarchies of race, religion, class, or orientation. We are all human, and Christ died once for ALL. Fear has no place for us as we face changes in our futures. We are called to be neighbours -- to everyone. Period. This is a core part of the Gospel we tend to gloss over in favour of high-sounding theology that stemmed from superiority and not grace, despite attempts to erase our histories.

- we will be called to sacrifice... when unjust systems are toppled, as they will be, many of us will find ourselves without work, without sociel networks to supplement our incomes, without pensions even. Do we trust God to provide, or do we trust our governments THAT MUCH that these incomes have become our inherent rights based on our work ethic? If it is the latter, we have neatly nullfied the grace and provision of God. Yet when people suffer because injustice is addressed, how will believers lovingly and eagerly support those who have lost out?

- we will be called to relinquish power... Christians were never called to DOMINATE. Yet this is what we have done for far too long in many countries, but especially in Canada and the United States. When believers panic over too many immigrants coming to our shores, we forget that every person was or is an immigrant on these shores. We forget just how much land and resources we have to share. We forget that we are to gladly welcome the alien in our midst. And we forget that what we have is not inherently OURS. We are stewards... nothing more. So when someone of another religion runs for political office, or helps develop new school curriculums, believers must cease and desist this resistance based on fear. We've lived the high life for far too long. We took this land (still do), its people and called it Christian, so this is where are minds tend to focus our lenses on. "If we don't stop The Global Community, we will have a Muslim for a prime minister, and gays will be teaching our children in schools!"

So?

Either we choose to continue being the bully in the sandbox, or we learn to share.

Believers are called to be in relationship with people around us, loving them above ourselves. I look at the Occupy Movement, and hear believers scoff and snarl at it to the point where I think: "D'uh! No wonder they don't want anything to do with Christ. Christians are pretty damn mean." (not all of us, I hope, but enough that the venom is seeping through our Body faster than we think). Yet Christ did not call us to create "Christian" societies, and force our values onto others. If we're that scared of being led by another of a different faith, put yourself in their shoes. How afraid or angry are they at us?

- we will be called to tear down dividing walls... too often, believers make snap judgements based on urban myths, realities that perhaps were true 10, 20, 30, 100 years ago (but are no longer so), our own selfish desires (see the point about stewardship and being a neighbour), and... you guessed it!... fear. Fear we won't get what we deserve, fear our kids will go hungry, fear that Christianity is coming to an end... fear, fear, fear... how deceptive it is!

- we are and will be called to choose our allegiance... will it be to our relatively young nations and our governments? Or will it be to Christ? You see, we do not get to pick and choose who's a neighbour and who is not. We all are. Canada will tumble. The US will tumble. This whole dying world will topple -- however that looks. If we think our great country is immune to such endings, we are delusional and deceiving others along with us.

We must choose where are treasures lie: in love God and others first, which is a life that will never end? Or futilely defending our relatively safe and secure ways of life that tend to put others on the outs? This option will be stolen by theives, rusted out, and eaten away at by moths.

This 'social gospel' or 'social justice movement' has its roots firmly embedded in Jesus Christ as THE Word. We are not Nazis (as some have purported, afraid that Hitler is returning to destroy capitalism), and we do bear His Truth, unlike current claims to the contrary. So I ask you today: who are you as a believer, and who does God wish you to be?

7 billion are a lot of neighbours... we're going to need some more tea.