Amos 7:7-15 7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see? And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by; 9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword." 10 Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos has said, 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.'" 12 And Amaziah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; 13 but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom." 14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, 15 and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' It is natural to feel uncomfortable when discussing death, exile, and the destruction of cities and peoples. The Lord does not rejoice in the punishment of the wicked but rather desires their repentance (Ez 18:23). Moreover, the Lord has a special concern for the poor, the orphan, and the widow. Jesus' words speak loudly, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:20b-21).
In the book of Amos, we encounter this tension. Amos prophesies exile and death to the people of Israel and even to the king. To Amos, it seems clear that this is punishment for Israel's failure to follow the Lord. However, there are many instances where this clarity is lacking. The story of Job is a prime example, and the psalmist frequently asks, “Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer?” Especially today, it often feels difficult to distinguish an outcome or decision that is purely “good,” and we witness significant decisions impacting the lives of many innocent people. Today, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. Born in 1656 in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, she survived smallpox at age four, although her family did not. Tekakwitha faced additional hardships living with her adoptive Mohawk family, experiencing war against neighboring tribes and the burning of her village by French colonists in present-day Fonda, New York. Influenced by Jesuit priests, she converted to Catholicism and diligently prayed for the salvation of the Mohawk people. At age 11, Tekakwitha joined French priest Jean Pierron to tend to the wounded, bury the dead, and carry food and water to the Indigenous peoples affected by tribal war. Tekakwitha continued to join her tribe during hunting season, carving crosses into trees to remind herself of Christ. She spent her time working, praying, and meditating outdoors. Through visiting priests, she learned catechesis and was baptized after St. Catherine of Siena. When persecution to marry intensified at age 19, she fled her home and moved to St. Francis Xavier, a “Christian Indian mission.” There, she was influenced by the community of Native American converts, making deep connections with them and God. Tekakwitha reportedly slept on thorns while praying for her relatives' conversion and forgiveness, practicing the traditional Mohawk act of piercing her body. She once said, “I will willingly abandon this miserable body to hunger and suffering, provided that my soul may have its ordinary nourishment.” Tekakwitha is also quoted as saying, “I have deliberated enough. For a long time, my decision on what I will do has been made. I have consecrated myself entirely to Jesus, son of Mary. I have chosen Him for husband, and He alone will take me for wife.” She and her friend Marie Thérèse Tegaianguenta attempted to start a Native religious order, but their idea was rejected. She died at age 24. The life of Kateri Tekakwitha can evoke discomfort. Some Indigenous people have mixed feelings about her canonization, as her story is intertwined with the tragedies of colonization. Some believe she was canonized to bolster the Church's image among Native Americans. Nevertheless, she is generally respected among Catholics and indigenous Mohawks, who see her sainthood as a unique bridge between two cultures, potentially fostering unity. Pope John Paul II said of Kateri Tekakwitha, “Even when she dedicated herself fully to Jesus Christ, to the point of taking the prophetic step of making a vow of perpetual virginity, she always remained what she was, a true daughter of her people, following her tribe in the hunting seasons and continuing her devotions in the environment most suited to her way of life, before a rough cross carved by herself in the forest. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the great gift of God’s love, is never in contrast with what is noble and pure in the life of any tribe or nation, since all good things are his gifts.” Like Amos was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, Tekakwitha was not born a prophet, but was instead a hunter and a person of deep respect for Creation. Yet, through God's grace, both became instruments used by God to guide people toward truth and love. How can our connection to Creation and our daily work help us discover and fulfill God’s purpose for our lives? Information taken from: https://www.kateri.org/our-patron-saint/#:~:text=Saint%20Kateri%27s%20feast%20day%20is,Kahnawake%2C%20near%20Montreal%2C%20Quebec https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=154 Caroline Hiler is a Seminary Intern at Creation Justice Ministries.
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Moving Beyond the Defensive Game: A Conversation with Kyle Crider of the People’s Justice Council7/8/2024
Molly Johnson (MJ) spoke with Kyle Crider (KC) of People’s Justice Council about moving from a resilience to restoration approach in the face of climate change.
MJ: Tell us about your “From Resilience to Restoration project?
KC: Restoration is now pretty much our biggest umbrella. In 2022, we were awarded a $300,000 grant from the National Academies to do the “From Resilience to Restoration” (FRTR) program. We were pleased that they loved our approach of reaching out to houses of faith in frontline communities, because as you know very well, these are already acting as resilient centers. But like the wise old coach says, we can't win if we play a purely defensive game. So, we want to shift the needle from resilience to restoration. To do so, we developed this “3 E” framework. 1. Ecological Restoration - we all know why that one that's vital. 2. Economic Elevation - in frontline communities, we're not talking about restoring the economy, we're talking about elevating the economy to a level it's never been. 3. Ecumenical Restoration, which we use in a broader interfaith sense, not just Christian interdenominational in its traditional usage, because we work with houses of all faiths. We have a three tier framework - the top tier is the national resource, where we're sharing wonderful articles that have anything to do with resiliency and restoration. Then we have the state hubs in the Gulf South where we’ve worked with partners from Texas to Florida. Finally, we have restoration plans at the Frontline community level, where our real emphasis is. I'm glad to say thanks to our wonderful partners, we work with dozens of communities across the south. And we have spent a lot of time traveling and documenting their wonderful stories.
MJ: How does your work encourage “faithful resilience?”
KC: In terms of the ecumenical restoration, we all know that we got to combat the toxic theology that’s put us in this situation - the sort of thinking that Jesus is coming tomorrow and it's all gonna burn so you know why should we care about endangered species or social justice or any of the things Jesus talked about? We have got to combat that toxic theology with love and with a positive restoration theology. Frontline communities are already doing this in a very practical way. They're already acting as resilient centers. I’ve said before, it's almost like the loaves and fishes miracle in the Bible, when we got the representatives of the frontline communities together and talking, we found that this person's needs over here are met by this person's resources over here. We weren’t there to help them, we were just amazed as these connections were made, just by getting the faithful together in the same room. There are some real wonderful stories coming out of all that. That's faithful resiliency.
MJ: What inspired your action?
KC: I think of the quotation about Archimedes lever: “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the Earth”. Well, these houses of faith are a powerful lever to move the Bible belt, the Gulf South and the whole world.
MJ: What would be your hope for the future of this project?
KC: We have lots of hopes. Our first cohort wrapped up in August 2023 after an 18 month grant. We would love a second cohort. We want the first cohort to be the groundbreakers, not the end. So the next phase we want is to take FRTR to the whole South and beyond. One of the immediate needs that requires help from all of our wonderful partners, CJM included, is to match resources for these community needs. Because yes, we have had many Loaves and Fishes moments, but it's hard to find places in the south, anywhere close to where we're working that is not a Justice40 community. We desperately need to funnel federal funding and private grants into the communities. An upcoming project we have, inspired by a conversation with a private funder, is to set up a trip so that funders can visit frontline communities and meet folks in person. MJ: What would you tell someone interested in pursuing a similar goal? What is something you would like the Creation Justice community to know? KC: The last thing I’ll say is that resilience work is vital. We're all doing resilience work. But when you're implying to a frontline community that “we're here to help you become more resilient”, it sounds like “we're here to help you roll with the punches.” We've got to stop pummeling our frontline communities. That's why as vital as resiliency is, it's not enough. You can’t win by playing a purely defensive game. So we want to shift that emphasis to restoration. In ecological restoration, that means native species, biodiversity, preserving the mangroves, planning on the coast, or whatever. For economic elevation, it's things like worker-owned coops, keeping the dollars in the community where they belong, and keeping the dollar stores and community destroyers out. You can see lots of shining examples featured in the FRTR videos. Psalm 123 1 To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! 2 As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until he has mercy upon us. 3 Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. 4 Our soul has had more than its fill of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud. Mark 6:1-13 1 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. The Lord who is enthroned in the heavens, the one whom the people of God serve as their mistress or master, came down to his people, and they dishonored him like the prophets of old. In answer to their prayer for mercy, Jesus came to end the contempt of the proud but was rejected. There is so much that feels backward here. How can God come as part of creation? Why did God come in such a “normal” way that people didn’t even recognize him?
Instead of performing an even greater miracle to prove his identity as God, Jesus sent the disciples out with nothing, asking them to trust God to provide for their needs through the acts of others. Again, I ask myself, why this way? Why choose to work through creation when you can just make things happen yourself, God? These questions lead me to a response of great awe and comfort: God chooses to work through the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. God chooses to deify creation instead of rejecting it and to transform the world through love and faith instead of force and fear. God came through Mary as part of creation. While we know nothing was ordinary about his birth, from the outside, it seemed plain—a child born to an ordinary woman. But God honored and loved the ordinary act of mothering and birthing by being born through a woman. He grew up in Nazareth with his relatives, family friends, and neighbors. His childhood must have seemed ordinary, for the people of the town could not believe the miracles and teachings that Jesus performed when he returned during his ministry. When Jesus visited his hometown, he did what one would ordinarily do—he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. Jesus didn’t say, “Come to the new building I made appear out of thin air and listen to my new teachings!” Instead, he went to the normal meeting place and transformed the understanding of the Scriptures, teaching with boldness. Even the act of performing miracles to bring the kingdom of God to earth shows that God is not interested in leaving or annihilating creation but transforming and renewing it. To bring the Kingdom to earth means to heal bodies and make them well, to see that things are not quite right but carry the seed of the divine waiting to be resurrected. Thankfully, all will be transformed like the resurrected body of Jesus—physical and divine, not a purely spiritual awakening that leaves earth for the celestial kingdom. The firstborn of all creation is the Kingdom of God. Let us see how Jesus came in “ordinary time” to make the extraordinary happen and how we can work with creation to bring the Kingdom of God. Let us see the seed of God in all things, praying for resurrection. Caroline Hiler is a Seminary Intern at Creation Justice Ministries. |
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