Please Tell them Father

Have you ever felt embarrassed? Well, I did. This was when I was just about to start saying Mass.
Did you say Mass? Yes, when I was just about to start saying Mass. A young boy came to me and asked me about giving. "Father John, is not that the Bible says 10% of our income belongs to the Lord?"
"Yes", I responded with great suprise.
Looking straight at the congregation, the young man said to me , "Then, tell them father!"
Not knowing what to say or do, I pretended to ignore him. But the young man did not have it. He repeated, "Father John, tell them. Go ahead! Tell them!"

I immediately held his hand and said to him, "help me to the congregation." I am not sure what the congregation thought I was after when I slowly moved to the mic and said, "The young man has something to say to us all." I gave him the mic and in simple words, he made his case.

"The Bible says 10% of our income belongs to the Lord! Not me! But the Bible. 10 % !"

After this experience, I asked myself so many questions. Why did the young man insist that I should tell the congregation about giving 10% of their income? Is it that he sensed that I am afraid to do so? Or was he just pointing to some shortfalls in my sermons? Maybe, he was sent by God to remind me that I should tell people the truth about what requires! Whatever was the case, I remained convinced that God speaks to us in different ways!

As a minister, I am afraid to speak like that young man about what God requires from us. As such, I misdirect people into thinking that the Bible has nothing to say about giving. Yet, the Bible is full of bigger demands to "give" not just our 10% but all that we have and all that we are. Indeed, if we totally give ourselves to God, to an extent of speaking like St. Francis of Asisis, "My God My all," the question of giving 10% of our income to the Lord will fall in place. In fact, you will not need Father John or my young man turned prophet to remind you. Is this not Jesus meant when he said "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."Matthew 6:33

Is God a boy or a girl: A sunday School answer

Two weeks ago, I had a chance to ask the Children of Christ Church, Hyde Park, what they thought of God. I had so many good answers but two were surprisingly theological. One boy told me that he had seen God in the Church standing in front of the altar. When I inquired about this vision, the boy told me that God was speaking to me!

Wait a minute, "you mean God was in Church speaking to me?" I immediately followed up the question with another child. This time, it was about the gender of God. "Do you think God is male and female?" After pausing for sometime, the young girl spoke softly, "I think, .....God must be both?" After the service, I walked to the girl and asked her why she thought God was both. Her answer is even the more revealing. "Because God created both male and female. It is only fair that God is both."

I have struggled with the girl's answer and I am forced to reflect on it. Why should God be both in the world where gender seems to define one's role in Community? I am a father of girls and I love them so much but I hate it when people feel sorry me for having only girls. I am proud of my girls but the world still think boys are better. Honestly, I love my girls very much and I will let you have your boys with pride.

So is God a girl or a boy? I am aware of what theologians call "a God problem." Feminist have rightly argued that traditional theology ignored the feminine attributes of God. For this reason, God has been presented as a male almighty with unlimited powers over the earth and humanity. For this reason, they advocate a return to a feminine Goddess Gaia. Conservatives on the other hand have argued that God should always be called Father. After all, Jesus called God father. So is God mother or Father?

My Sunday school girl taught me something, however. God should be both. Imagine how many seminars we have held to prove or disapprove the gender of God. The little girl provides us with a theological answer, God is both. God is our Mother and Father, a very present help in time of need. What a lesson for us all who need a loving Mother and Father on our side.

Seeing the land of the promise

"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, ... 4 And the LORD said unto him: 'This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying: I will give it unto thy seed; I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.'

As I read this passage of Deuteronomy 34:1-6, I realized that we have reached the last of his story. At first, I was filled with rage that how could God allow him the torture of seeing? Is this another indication that our God is not fair?

In fact, nobody knows where he is buried. At least I am happy that he is among the two prophets who appeared with Jesus on the mount of the Transfiguration. Well, I am not going to dwell on the details of where his body went.

Why did God show Moses the land of the promise but not allow him in. Of course, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not see it but it was Moses who was asked to bring these people into the promised land. Moses died just before the promise became a reality.

Why did God allow him to see the land but not to enter it? It is because he broke the tablet of stones! I would not want to join the debate on the reasons. My concern as is to look at the positive aspect of Moses' end! He had seen the land of the promise but never entered it.

By now, you must be thinking about Martin Luther King Jr and his I've been to the Mountaintop speech. Like Moses, King gazed on the promised land but never entered it. For those of us who are worried about his fate, King said, "it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." Through his personal sacrifice, we have Barack Obama running for president.

Or maybe you were thinking about those brave women who saw a day when women will be allowed to vote and lead this nation. Susan B. Anthony, yes even Lydia Chapin Taft! Most of them looked over the land but never entered it. Yet their labor led to our won Barbara C.Harris, becoming the first woman Bishop in the Anglican Communion. Hillary Rodman Clinton, the first woman to challenge men for president!

Friends, our stuggle against sexism and racism might take more than 40 years but that does not mean change will never come. We might die before our cause wins, but it does not mean we have lost. Remember, seeing the land of the promise is the greatest honor we can experience since it allows us to see how the world would become when our battle is done. It allows us to see the beauty of life without isms and gives reasons to exist.

As Christians, we are called to love others as ourselves. We may not enter or live in that land yet helping others get into that land makes us enter it before they do. Imagine where the world would be without people like King Jr, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Stephen Bantu Biko and countless others who saw the promised land but never entered it?

This is my Story

Tell me about that woman

This is my story

Which I have longed to tell

To all those who are willing

To help me find my way!

This is my story

Which the world needs to hear

To learn how to treat humanity

As valuable despite their sex

One sex is the image of God

Another is the image of the devil

It is the devil’s gate way

That theologians have condemned

As being responsible for the fall

That led man to die

And so I am punishable for that sin!

Wherever I go

I see that woman

The daughter of Eve

Paying for her sins

Blamed on her mother

By the world of men!

Wherever I go

Women are found

Without them nothing moves

Yet in pain they all live

Persecuted and ignored

As though that is what they exist for

In this world of men!

Mother is Supreme!

Mother is Supreme!

When I forget to thank my mother

For all the burdens she endured

In bringing me into this world,

And for all the lessons she taught me,

Then my Wells will dry up

For soon or later I learn

Mother is Supreme!

Life is Uncertain

Life is uncertain

Especially for An African Woman

Belittled, beaten and butchered,

Taken as nothing but property

With no education, no employment

She hardly runs away

Longing for the running brooks

The brooks she never finds.

Rocked in hunger, poverty, and death

Her society blames her

Nobody trusts her

Sorrow is all she knows

As she tries to feed her child

Like nature she longs

Running brooks

She desires

That never comes.

Where shall I go?

She asks

Give us our daily bread

Awaitin' just enough to feed

She sleeps without food

Only to awaken the dawn

For daily bread

She longs

Like a thirsty deer longs!

My body is food

My blood is drink

She receives with determination

Amidst her hopelessness and gloom

Longing for death

Not running waters anymore

Thus She understands

Life is uncertain

Death is certain

Happy are those who have trodden

For soon or later

All shall all join

In longing for brooks

That weaves her vision to yours!

Dedicated to Doro-phie

My beloved sister whose death, I will always seek to honor.

We will not fear Change

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble

We will not fear

If the earth should change

The mountains shake in the heart of the sea

And its waters roar and foam

And mountains tremble with its tumult.

Would you not fear if the earth moves or changes? How about if the mountains shake in the heart of the sea? Who is courageous enough to be at peace when waters roar and foam? Ask a fisherman what this means. Call them tornadoes or hurricanes! Katrina is still in our minds. If Peter and James were here, they would tell you that you are out of your mind to be at peace when waves rise, even with Jesus in the boat! In fact, only a confused person would tell me to be at peace when the earth changes or to sit when the water starts getting into the ship? The two movies, Titanic and Poseidon illustrate what I I am talking about. If you do not like history, the Tsunami, Katrina and Ike are the best examples!

Was the Psalmist aware of what would happen when the mountains shake in the heart of the sea? We all saw the waters coming from the sea and today we are told that the earthquake was felt across the planet. How on earth would the Psalmist invite us to say that God is our refuge and strength in such a situation? How on earth would Jesus tell people of New Orleans and other places affected by floods not to be afraid?

Until recently, the media controlled my analysis of the disaster and I joined thousands of people who blamed God for this. I asked the same questions the media asked, “Where was God in all this?” Little did I pay attention to all those who survived those mighty waters. I remembered that little girl, that little baby and that old lady. I remembered those who survived floating and holding onto trees. I also remembered those who helped others. I asked myself, how did all those young kids conquer the Tsunami? This is also true with many sad stories. The Rwanda genocide is another example. Despite being evil, Hotel Rwanda shows God at work. Of course, disasters can come but God is ever present with us. Only those who have eyes can see the ark surviving the floods. To me, this is the meaning of the story of calming the storms. Amidst the troubled waters and waves, the disciples called on Jesus for help. Amidst the Rwanda genocide, some people entered Hotel Rwanda. Amidst the floods of HIV/AIDS, many babies are saved. Amidst the flood of cancer, we have many survivors. To this we may all shout amen!! If we ask many of them how they survived those situations, their words will have much in common with the Psalmist, “Because our God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Longing for the Running brooks!

Longing for the Running brooks!

Death is certain

Life is uncertain

Especially for An African Woman

Belittled, beaten and butchered,

Taken as nothing but property

With no education, no employment

She hardly defines herself

Longing for the running brooks

The brooks she never finds.

Rocked in hunger, poverty, and death

Her society blames her

Nobody trusts her

Sorrow is all she knows

As she tries to feed her child

Like nature she longs

Running brooks, she desires

The brook that never comes!

Where shall I go? She asks

Give us our daily bread! She prays

Awaitin' just enough to feed

She sleeps without

Only to be awaken by the dawn

For that daily bread

She even the more longs

As a deer longs!

My body is food and my blood is drink

She receives with determination

Amidst hopelessness, joylessness and gloom

Longing for death

Not running waters anymore

Thus She understands

Death is certain

Life is uncertain

Happy are those who have trodden

For soon or later all shall join

In longing for brooks

That weaves my vision to yours!

A Christian without Love: Lesson from Fanning

When Barack Obama visited Fayeyyeville N.C. "One woman yelled, “Socialist, Socialist, Socialist — get out of here.”

According to Caren Bohan, who covered Obama's visit to North Carolina restaurant, the woman is Diane Fanning, 54, who according to the report "was among several patrons who had just come by after services at the local Presbyterian church. She said she was annoyed that the Illinois senator had stopped in at the restaurant that she regularly visits."

The audience was suprised that even when Obama went to Fanning's table and extended his hand towards her, she did not shake his hand. Nobody has the right to shake somebody's hand and Fanning should not be blamed for not doing so. What bothers me, however, is the fact that we were told that Obama was a Muslim, then terrorist, and now socialist.

I am a Christian and I am highly disappointed by my sister Fanning. How can she justify her anger towards Obama just minutes after worshiping Christ? Christ taught us to love even our enemies and if Obama is that bad, Fanning should have extended her love towards him. Our enemies can change simply through loving them.

In addition, Obama has not done anything to deserves her harsh words. Running for president is not a sin that would make somebody hate him so much. After all, Fanning had the right to reject Obama through the Ballot.

Here is my take on the entire story. Being annoyed that somebody has come to the restaurant Diane Fanning regularly visits does not make sense. The point of Fanning's unspoken truth is hatred she holds against black people. Or maybe, it is that Fanning is a racist who thinks that a black person has no right to enter what was once a white man's place. What a joke! I thought that we have moved so much in our race relations but Fanning does not think that way.

Do we have a Christian American?

As I waited for Collin Powell, former Secretary of State to appear on "Meet the Press," I was interested in getting his views on Obama and John McCain. What I did not expect was his take on his Party's attitudes towards Muslims.

"I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said, such things as, "Well, you that know Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America."

As though that was not enough he went to speak about Karim Rashad Sultan Khan, a Muslim aged 20, whose headstone "didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have a Star of David. It had a crescent and a star of the Islamic faith."

I stopped for a while to think. Did I really get that right? Why is it that it took Powell to make a point that Muslim, Jews, Hindus, Christians and non-religious persons are involved in keeping America safe?

Watching Powell speak against the long held assumptions that Muslims are not fit to be called Americans also reminded me of Obama's gaffe my Islamic Faith, a gaffe that attracted attention from the Religious Right and other Christian Conservatives as confirmation that Obama is Muslim. I know that there is nothing wrong with being a Muslim and American just as it is not an issue for somebody to be Christian and American. Are we suggesting that religious affiliation is now a qualification for public office. I know so many people who are not Christians but have bigger hearts. Mahatma Gandhi, despite the respect he has won across the globe was not a Christian.

I understand the Obama campaign's fears of associating with Islam. Americans have been made to believe that every Muslim is evil. No wonder political analysts and reporters have ignored the role Muslims will play in this coming election. As such, Jerome Corsi can go away with lies that demonizes Obama. Ironically, such a book could not find audience in Africa, where religious plurality is now a given.

Nobody can be a president of Iran, Iraq or any Islamic state without carrying the Islamic credentials. In America, however, we believe in Freedom of worship and this should be respected. In fact, freedom of worship as a democratic right finds support in our constitution and is confirmed by the Separation Church and State.Yet when it comes to politics, we are slowly becoming like China and Iran.

Ironically, the Religious Right is concerned about lack of freedom of worship in the middle East and some parts of Asia. Yet it is the very group that opposes other religions and preaches hatred against them.

Indeed, Powell was right. I'm equally troubled by people who want to view American as belonging to Christians alone. After all, not every Muslim, Christian or Jew is peace loving.

Is the Iraq war about Allah and a Christian God

My daughter asked me, "Dad, Is God a Republican or democrat?" Honestly, I did not have an answer for her until I heard the Rev Arnold Conrad of Grave Evangelical Free Church with a Christendom oriented prayer offered at a McCain rally in Davenport, Iowa. The Rev. Conrad was convinced that God’s “reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their god -- whether it is Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that his [McCain] opponent wins, for a variety of reasons.”

The Rev. Conrad went ahead to explain his reason for praying for McCain “because they're going to think that their god is bigger than you if that happens. So I pray that you will step forward and honor your own name with all that happens between now and Election Day.”

After listening to this prayer, I made sense to my daughter’s question who loves Obama. If God is a Democrat, Obama should win but if Republican then he loses. I know my daughter is not a pastor and her question definitely made sense for 10 year old girl. But Rev. Conrad’s prayer does not make sense. How can a pastor attribute Senator McCain’s lose to non-Christians praying to their gods?

The Reverend Conrad should have known better that Hindu and Buddha are not "gods." In fact, out of three gods to which millions are praying, he only got one right, Allah, the name for God among Muslims. It is not by coincidence that he got Allah right since the Christian Right is preoccupied with Islam.

Without saying it aloud, Rev. Conrad places the 2008 elections in a contest of Religions where McCain is aided by Christianity while Obama is represented by a non-Western religion in this case Islam. While this is another way of saying Obama is not a Christian but Muslim, it also indicative of how the Religious Right views Christianity. To them, only those who share American Christian Right views have the right to be called Christians.

Since we know that Barack Obama is a Christian, the population of Christians in the world comes into play. Not long ago, during the 2008 Christian Right Values Voters Summit, the Bishop Minns reminded the conference about the number of Christians in the global South as outnumbering those of the global North. In other words, we have more Christians in Islamic lands than all Christians in America combined. In addition, we have more Christians in Africa than Europe and America combined. Is the Christian God in those areas different from the one worshiped in by the Religious Right?

Without dismissing the Reverend Conrad prayer, it is important to understand the mindset or theological lenses through which he and his counterparts interpret events. To them, everything is about power contests (my god is bigger than yours). Threatening as it might sound, this mindset controls conservative understanding of the Iraq war and other Middle East conflicts. To them, these issues are power contests between Allah and God.

It is saddening that the concept of "power contest" between gods can be invoked in 2008. Historically, ancient people waged wars in the name of their "gods," believing that it was God's will to defend his territory. In fact, Biblical wars were controlled by this understanding. The belief that “winning wars” translated into "one god prevailing over the other" controlled much of Christendom waged crusades. Unfortunately, the Christian Right wants to bring this thinking into today’s world. One example of this kind of thinking is found in Gov. Palin understanding of Iraq was as God's plan. The consequences of of this reasoning is the Christian Right and other cultural conservatives including President Bush's insistence on winning the Iraq war. Withdrawing from Iraq will mean "Allah is stronger than their God."

What conservatives ignore is that humans have "free will" to makes choices which is the greatest gift of democracy. When are we going to learn that God is for everybody?

American Conservatives world view: Vote for McCain

In his weekly mailing entitled "Ideas Personalities, and Morality: Making Voting Decisions" James Tonkowich, the president of Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) questions why Richard Cizik, Vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals would contemplate voting for Barack Obama as "misguided thinking." Tonkowich argues that any evangelical who like Cizik is thinking of voting for Obama is saying that "ideas do not matter." Saying that "I am a conservative", Jim argues is like saying that “I am a conservative” but the “conservative world view should not determine the way Cizik votes. This is the same as saying ideas do not matter- or at least that they do not matter much."

No one in his or her normal mind will dispute the fact that ideas do matter in deciding voting preferences. However, I have a problem with linking ideas with the world view. Jim wants to present the world view as something that cannot be challenged by new ideas. If that was the case, Hans Kuln's paradigm shift would not be possible.

One of the main reasons why we have generational gap has much to do with different world views. It is this reality that is now reflected in how young evangelicals relate to the Religious Right. To suggest that every evangelical should vote for a Republican candidate does not make sense. Young evangelicals are definitely conservative but their conservatism is not to be defined with traditional religious right. In other words, evangelicals do not share the same world view with people like Jim. In this respect, by voting outside the Republican base, they are not saying " ideas do not matter" rather that "ideas that matter are those that make sense to their world view.

Jim raises another fundamental issue that I have struggled with when it comes to neo-conservative reasoning. Jim seems to suggest that the world view is unchangeable. Does this mean that being evangelical means sharing Wesley or Luther's world view? I guess not. Evangelicals like Cizik have point; life is bigger than abortion or homosexuality. Limiting the value of life to one issue as Jim wants to do is ignoring the world in which we live. In addition, the protection of the "traditional family" which has become the center of conservative organizing efforts fails to address the fact like the world view, "values" change with time.

Jim's insistence on ignoring compassion and justice issues does not surprise me . IRD has always attacked mainline Churches for promoting compassion, international and religious freedom, social justice and civil rights issues as part of their social witness. Evangelicals, however, have realized that such issues are important and need to be addressed. Is Jim's letter meant to stop this new marriage between Evangelicals and mainline Churches? After all, behind the question of abortion is justice.

As a neo-conservative, Jim knows that the conservative world view did not accept women as equal to men. While some of them still hold such a view and do not admit women to Church Offices, this world view has shifted to an extent of having Gov. Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket. For better or worse, Jim's neo- conservative world view is slowly losing its grip on new generation of Christians.

Is God among us or Not

In America, it is God bless America! In Africa and among the poor of the world, it is "Is God among us or not?"

Maybe God has heard America's prayers but how about the question of Africa, when is God going to respond?

Let us take some time and think about this. Who are the us and where are they? Recently, the financial crisis brought us to the realization that nothing is secure in this world. Despite the crisis, however, it is the poor person who suffers most. The rich continue to get richer while the majority of the population is struggling.

If we think we are in trouble, let us think about the people of the world. Some of them have never seen a medical doctor in their lives. Billions are living on less than a dollar a day while millions are dying from curable diseases and starvation. Others are strong enough to watch their children starve to death whilst most of us are busy throwing away extra food. This world is surely unfair and I fully agree.

Does this mean that priests and bishops seem not to get it? Are they really out of touch that they continue telling us that God is in control? Yes God is in control but we are so selfish that we care less for the life of others. It is this greedy that led to the Wall Street crisis and yet the very people who caused it are rewarded. What a world we live in.

I am happy to join the poor in asking the question again, "Is God among us or not?" Of course, God is among us. It is our selfishness that has blinded us from looking after the needs of our brothers and sisters. It is our pride that has made it possible to ignore the cries of millions who need our hand. Let us burry our pride and allow God to be among us in this life.

God bless the world and help us to hear the fear of all those who need our support. Help to us to stand up for the voices of the voiceless and give us humility to feel your presence among us.