Righteous Indignation, Ch. 12 (p 87-93)

Righteous Indignation, Ch. 12 (p 85-93)
Redemption for Radicals: Jewish Congregation-Based Community Organizing -- Rabbi Jonah Pesner

(1) While the two primary examples in this chapter relate to health care (general access/coverage and nursing home care), the two over-lapping themes of community organizing and story-telling can be applied to any social justice issue.

The first example of community and stories was especially powerful for me because my wife and I personally struggle with health care access and cost. If there is a time for organizing on this issue, it is now as Daschle begins tackling this issue anew. What is your health care story?

(2) "Though the story of the recent Massachusetts health reform is powerful, it is not unique. It is but one example of Jewish participation in the emerging movement called Congregation-Based Community Organizing (CBCO)" (p 88).

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation website lists three CBCO characteristics:

1. Congregants engage in one-to-one conversations within their synagogue, and often with other congregations, about their social justice passions.
2. Leaders engage in extensive clergy and lay leadership training and development.
3. Synagogue leaders work side-by-side with dozens of faith institutions and progressive organizations in their community, across lines of race, class, and faith.
   

Would your local congregation be open to telling their stories? What social justice passions would you want to discuss? What would it take to get the spiritual leaders of your faith community to engage in this conversation? How open is your community to working with people of other faiths? How open are you?

[More resources at/by Interfaith Funders, Unitarians, DART and YouTube.]

(3) "For people of faith, the first step toward justice is when we cry out" (p 89). The examples given of people who listened to the cry are Pharaoh's daughter, Moses and God.

I once prayed that God would open my ears to the cry of the oppressed. It wasn't long before I was overwhelmed. Cries from every direction were disorienting. Where to start? What to do? What was the first priority? "Okay, God. There is too much. Your kingdom come; your will be done. And how can I be a part of that right here, right now?"

What was the first cry for justice that you remember hearing? When have you cried out? Did anyone listen and respond?

(4) Since this blog is for "ordinary radicals," let's look at the definition of radical given on page 90.

"The radical is that unique person to whom the common good is the greatest personal value.... The radical is so completely identified with mankind that he personally shares the pain, the injustices, and the sufferings of all his fellow men" (p 90; quoted from Reveille for Radicals by Saul Alinksy).

How radical am I? In what ways do I share in the pain, injustice and suffering of others? How does this lead to their redemption? And to my own? If the common good is not my greatest personal value, what is?

(5) "First and foremost, [the Exodus story] teaches that in every time and place, redemption is possible. It begins with a cry... It continues with rage at the injustice, and a willingness to act. It requires leadership and relationships.... The people must begin to articulate their story..." (p 91).

Crying, rage, willingness to act, leadership, relationships and story-telling. Where am I at on these themes? Am I crying or hearing some else's cries (or both)? Do I have rage? At what? Am I willing to act? Am I acting? Am I offering leadership? Am I follow others who are more experienced than I? What condition and quality are my relationships? Are there key relationships I need to focus on to bolster community change? I am telling my story, listening intently on other's stories, providing an environment what words can be shared and heard?

(6) "In the globalized twenty-first century, justice transcends categories of race, class, and faith. Today, standing together for redemption means discovering our shared suffering and being challenged by each other's divergent traditions" (p 91).

What groups do I still not listen to? Why? What barriers am I allowing to stop their story? What stories am I telling myself about these groups? What suffering might I share in common with them? Am I open to hearing anything from this group's faith tradition?

(7) "The power for systemic change emanates from the Divine, but it comes only from authentic relationships both inside the Jewish family and beyond, with other communities who share a vision of a world redeemed. We can harness the power of our relationships and engage together in bold, public action, across lines of faith, class, and race, and address the structural sources of economic and social injustice" (p 93).

"Redemption isn't just for radicals. Redemption is for everyone" (p 93).

May we build relationships across barriers of faith, socio-economic class, age, ethnicity, political party, and every other characteristic we use to describe "them" and "us." And in these relationships, may we find divine power to build a more just world.

Righteous Indignation, Ch. 4 (p 31-37)

Righteous Indignation, Ch. 4 (p 31-37)
Preaching What I Practice -- Margie Klein (Ed.)

I really appreciated the mixture of personal experience and biblical teaching in Klein's essay. I do enjoy a good story of someone's journey now and again.

(1) "How could I move from direct service, with its focus on mitigating an individual's hardships, to social justice, which would address the source of those hardships?" (p 32).

I believe that this is a central question many of us are asking. What's your story? How have you made the jump? Or, what is keeping you back from working at the structural level (I can think of a number of good and not-so-good reasons)?

(2) "Justice, justice, shall you pursue" (Deut. 16:20, read in NIV here).

In all that I do, am I seeking justice? In the grocery store, at work, with my spouse and family, in my free time... am I committed to creating a more just world?

(3) The section titled Sanctifying Our Work was powerful for me (p 33-34). My wife and I keep moving (geographically), so it has been hard to build up a community of co-conspirators. And even back when we had one, I encountered this same spiritual issue--our friends who were active in local nonprofits were our tightest community, and our friends from church had little interest in any type of volunteering or even attending our social issues movie nights. So I love this story of sharing Sabbat dinners.

(4) "King and other religious leaders of the civil rights movement taught that emulating Jesus meant caring for the poor and marginalized in society and working to change the systems that dehumanize them. In Jewish terms, if every person is created in the Divine image, then mistreating a worker is a desecration of God" (p 35-36).

Do you believe you are created in the image of God? Do you believe that everyone you see is created in His image? How might this realization affect how we live, drive, shop and eat if we were to always keep this in mind? I think it can provide a deep, lasting and meaningful motivation for service and social action.

(5) "...like the great prophets in our tradition, we must cultivate a vision of redemption. In the midst of the darkest times, we must likewise envision a better world and prepare to make it so, even though it seems irrational to believe in transformative change" (p 36).

Again, this reminds me of Thomas Merton's Letter to a Young Activist.

Redemption. To redeem. To save. To heal. To mend. To restore. There is no action for change where there is no belief that redemption is possible. We must hold on to our belief in redemption and repentance if we are to do our work for today. What do you turn to when you lose hope?


Just as in every chapter, I have many more passages underlined and starred than I'm able to comment on in this post. Maybe it's more important for me to ask questions than to add commentary.