Resurrected Together

Time slipping through my fingers

Is it November 28th already? Has another year come and gone? Am I really 26? Will I actually be 30 when the college freshman from my church back home graduate? To my disbelief the answer to all of these questions is yes. The world looks pretty different than the one into which I was born. In 1980, the Internet simply did not exist. In 1980, giant cell phones were just beginning the test phase. In 1980, vinyl and cassette tapes represented the only music media. In 1980, cable TV consisted of no more than 30 channels. I often wonder how even more intimidating 2006 must be for people like my parents who were born in 1955 in a world of "party-line" telephones and manual typewriters.

25 was a great year. I was able to meet many famous historical actors. I met James Armstrong Sr. who filed suit for his sons to integrate Birmingham public schools. I met his son, Dwight Armstrong, who actually integrated Graymont Elementary in September 1963 at the age of 11. I also met Dr. Ceric who is the grand Muslim mufti of Bosnia. Over the summer I met Marjorie Nelson who was held captive during the Vietnam War and Fred Shuttlesworth who inspired and led the civil rights movement in Alabama. Then just last week I met some of the actual Freedom Riders who tried to integrate interstate travel, but one of the buses was bombed in Aniston, Alabama. 25 also witnessed the wedding of my brother, Marcus and my new sister-in-law, Adrienne. I also returned to Shiloh as counselor for my 7th straight teen session.

What does the future hold for 26? I plan to have completed my M.A. in History. I hope to have moved back to Cincinnati temporarily or back to NYC for good. I plan to teach high school via a fellowship that will pay for my certification, which it might mean I stay with hotel work for a year until application deadlines come back around. I'm fairly confident that I will not be married nor engaged over the next year. Whatever comes in the next year I am tired of living in the comfort of the ivory tower. Now at 26, I feel a sense of urgency now more than ever. At 26, I realize that years are only being subtracted from my life. Like sand slipping through my fingers, I begin to feel the years escape my grasp. I'm ready to confront the hate, fear, and violence that threatens to penetrate the hearts of the children who live on Brook Ave. I'm ready for the children of Brook Ave. to experience the full power of nonviolent unconditional love, which is more powerful than death itself. One cannot expect to bind the wounded from the suburbs, but must reside amongst the wounded if he or she is to apply the bandages themselves. This means that my destiny is intertwined with the fate of the children of Brook Ave. No matter what comes, we will live together, laugh together, dream together, and cry together. If for some reason we should die together, then thanks be to God that we will be resurrected together.

CJE

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Die In Order To Live

Are these the only two choices?

It is election time is upon us once again and once again I will not be participating in the sacred ritual of the American civic religion we call voting. This shouldn't be a shock to my friends who have previously discussed the utility of voting. In fact, it was an email discussion amongst friends about voting that inspired the creation of this blog to provide an easier forum to express sound and ridiculous opinions. My perceptions of voting are not absolute as they once were as I continue to listen to others' views that impact my beliefs. One with no allegiances finds voting to be a rather easy and painless act of democratic participation. The one who claims Christ as Lord, however, quickly understands that voting entails an endorsement of men and women who mostly act in complete contradiction to the will of God. What is the Christian to do? I can't speak for others; I can only speak for myself.

Why do I choose not to vote? In recent years I've to come to see voting as increasingly futile in advancing the Christian's vocation to pursue the will of God. The unfolding of the will of God is not contingent on the existence of democratically elected governments. Earthly governments and its representatives can neither advance nor impede the will of God. The will of God will continue to march on despite the attempts of governments and rulers to lag behind. What is the only institution that has the ability to advance the will of God? Simple, the Church. The Church is not a reflection of earthly governments, but a glimpse of the kingdom before it comes in its fullness. Christ, not presidents or dictators, is head of the Church and we are its representatives. As representatives of the Church we are called embody Christ's presence, which compels us to give, forgive, and love unconditionally. Government representatives consumed with power most often seek to steal, avenge, and love only those who vote them into office. Furthermore, the gulf between the will of the nation and the will of God is so vast that it can never be bridged.

But isn't the Civil Rights Movement (which you love so much) an example of the positive power of voting? First, the civil rights movement did not begin by seeking the right to vote. In postwar America, African-Americans initially organized to obtain the rights of home ownership, which was denied them by discriminatory federal housing loans and racist real estate agents. The second battle of the movement was school desegregation, which was being prevented by elected government officials like George Wallace. Voting represented the final important battle of the civil rights movement. The issue of voting in the movement does give me pause and compels me to recognize the need for voting. The movement leads to me to the possibility of voting for issues like school levys that directly impact the community rather than voting for corrupt individuals who only listen to powerful lobbyists. But Chris, isn't it the corrupt individuals that propose the issues and taxes? Yes, but the voting for issues gives me the ability to check their corrupt nature.

I do, however, also see the civil rights movement as a powerful example of a group of people that for most of their American existence had been denied the rights of citizenship, yet it didn't inhibit their capacity to pursue the will of God for their lives. The Bill of Rights is an amazing document that grants privileges that are unknown to many in the world, but these rights are not essential to the Christian life or sustaining the will of God. As I've said before, the one freedom you will not find in the Bill of Rights is the freedom from death, which is only provided in the amendment of Christ. The choice for the Christian is not as stark as P Diddy (above) would have us believe. Life in Christ is dependent not on the ballot box, but on the cross and empty tomb. In confessing Christ as Lord the Christian had decided not whether to vote or die, but instead chosen to die in order to live.



CJE

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